Thanksgiving(s) in México

We were able to enjoy not one but two Thanksgiving dinners over the holiday.  It was fortunate that Reed had Thursday and Friday off so that we could have a dinner on the REAL Thanksgiving Day.  We made a menu and started shopping the week before because we knew it might be hard to find some of the things here.  As it turned out, we ended up going to 9, yes 9, different locations for the ingredients.  The hardest items to track down were spices for the stuffing, cranberries (had to buy these in a can) and sweet potatoes .  Unfortunately, I had to 'set foot' in Superama (one of the many "Wal Marts" here) to get the cranberries.  (The number of Wal Marts in this town is a story for another blog.)  Reed has a day by day account of our adventure in her blog which is on the right of this blog, at the bottom in the blue box.  ("A different perspective..."). 

For dinner, I invited three fellow students from my school, Reed invited three teachers from her school and we invited a friend of Monica's (Reed's exchange partner) who invited a friend. Dinner was a big hit and it felt just like home!

The next day, we got up early to take the bus to Mexico City then caught another bus to Jilotepec.  One of Reed's colleagues, Jen, was making dinner for three of the Fulbrighters in the area, Ross, who is on an exchange through the British Council and two other friends visiting from the US.  We were able to enjoy another wonderful dinner and dessert. (I think I was able to eat more this time because my stomach was stretched out from the day before!)  We played a rousing game of Apples to Apples late into the night and then Reed, Ross and I walked to the house where he is staying because we needed a place to spend the night.  The next day, we went on a hike in the hills near Jilotepec and in the evening, caught the bus back to Mexico City then another to Cuernavaca. When we arrived at the house in Cuernavaca at about 10:30p that night, I had the turkey sandwich that I had been craving all day!  Mmmmmm!

For pictures, click on this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/regnor11/Thanksgiving#

Coming next:  Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico