Cacahuamilpa caverns, karaoke with the locals and Jilotepec

After a wonderful breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice, sopes (small, thick tortillas) covered with red or green salsa and cheese, we hopped in the Toyota Rav4 with Reed's colleague (Santiago) and his family to go to the Grutas (caves) of Cacahuamilpa (pic) .  The caves are connected to form a very long (1 1/2 mile) and high (269 ft.) cave.  It took us about 2 hours to tour the cave with a guide who talked about the many stalagmites and stalactites in the cave. 

On Saturday we were invited for beers at the house of another of Reed's colleagues.  Like many people here, his house has been a work in progress for six years.  It is very difficult to get a loan for purchasing or adding-on to houses so often times people live in houses as they earn enough money to complete them.  We sat on the roof which will eventually be a patio and enjoyed the view of Cuernavaca as a thunderstorm moved in.  Later, his friend called, came to pick us up and took us to his house (also unfinished) for karaoke.  I was forced, or rather...encouraged, to sing a song or two in Spanish.  Of course, I didn't know the song or what I was singing about but I received a round of applause when I was done!  I finally found a CD of English songs (Bee Gees, go figure) and sang a few I knew.  We sang and danced (3 men and 3 women) until the wee hours of the morning and then they took us home.  I think it was 4:30am which 

is the latest I have stayed up for many, many years. 

A Fulbrighter/friend of Reed's lives and teaches in a town called Jilotepec.  On Thursday, we took a bus to Mexico City, a city bus from the south bus station to the north bus station and caught another bus to Jilotepec.  The trip ended up being about 5 hours total but as usual, much to see!  Jilotepec is a small town of about 15,000 residents with an altitude higher than Cuernavaca so it was much colder. On Friday we perused the local Tiangis (a 'must' in any town) which was huge! After making several purchases and taking them back to the house, we returned to the Tiangis to eat lunch at one of the small, temporary

 restaurants that the locals set up each week (pic).  As usual, the food was delicious (fresh and full of flavor) and the family serving us was very

friendly.

On Saturday, another Fulbrighter/friend came to Jilotepec from Mexico City and the four of us went to Tequisquiapan, a town about an hour from Jilotepec.  Tequisquiapan has many brightly colored colonial buildings, a beautiful Zocalo and Catedral.  We spent the day walking through the markets, eating and shopping.

Coming next:  Pictures of interesting things...