Amatlan

Buenas Dias. While I was in Amatlan, I wrote in my notebook each night what I did each day. These are my “journal” entries from each day. We went a Sunday to a Wednesday.

Day 1- Well, I got here. We had a session with 3 people who spoke about immigration. I am staying with Callen. The host family we are staying with is super nice. It is like a compound, two of the sons live here with their parents. We helped make tortillas for our comida. Comida was amazing . Veggie soup, tortillas, potatoes and rice. It was a starchy lunch with not much protein. But still very good. After lunch, we went on a walk through the fields to the family milpa ( piece of corm field) We climbed rocks, scared off bulls, climbed fences , went under fences, through fields to our destination. The scenery was amazing . Afterwards , we rested /found two of the girls that are part of the CGE program, and are staying with one of the sons. We chatted for awhile, and then had cena(dinner). Normally cena is small, BUT not evertime. You learn you can not say no. SO, we had hot milk( not a fan of that), a pastry, rice , tortillas , and cheese quesadillas. Then we went to bed at 9:30 in our cage of a tent.

Day 2 &3- We go to bed very early here. I get so tired so easily. On day 2, we were asleep by 9:15. It is so tiring that we can not stay up any later. The food continues to be amazing. Day 3 ( Tuesday) for breakfast , hot coco , quesadillas w/ cheese and other w/ potatoes. We ate 4. Lunch: jimaika juice, soup, tortillas w/ salt, noodles w/ cheese and crème. Dinner: cheese quesadillas, like 4-5 again and lemon tea(that is good for your tummy). We ate a ton because you can not say no. We sit around and eat and talk to our host family, and then they keep shoving food at us. On Tuesdays, the moons are lined up and it is the best day for the limpias. This is the ritual where the Shama ( a spiritual leader in the community) drags an egg al over your body in a special way , chanting special chants at you , and then pressing in certain spots to get the bad energy out of your system. The egg goes everywhere. He told me my pressure was low when feeling my right pulse, and my heart beat is weak when feeling m left pulse. After the egg traveled everywhere, he cracks the egg and then reads what the egg does in the cup of water. The many bubbles at the top of the cup meant that I have been spit on many times by many people. The bubbles rising to the top are problems and worries that I have had but are disappearing. The strings from the egg that look like spider webs were my liver and lungs, which were healthy. Then the yolk was full and circular, which meant I have a full healthy heart. He said overall I am very healthy and have no problems. I am sure my family has a different opinion. After the limpia, we returned home to our cage and were in bed early again.

Day 4: Today was our final day. It was a great day. I had a temascal, which is basically a sweat lodge. But before I get into that, lets start at the beginning of the day. I woke up. I packed. I ate breakfast, which was great and was sopes which I absolutely love. They were spicy, which I am getting use to and my spice tolerance is going up. Super good considering I will be living with Sam and her spicy Thai yummy food, and I love Mexican food. Afterwards we went to meet the rest of the group. Then we went and heard Dona Irene speak about her corn fields.**Added later, but read last post to know more about Dona Irene** Afterwards we then went to the spiritual center where we were going to be baked in an oven while wearing no clothes and being with our fellow classmates. We first learned about the center and learned about the teamascal. Basically the spiritual leaders recommend this practice for people who are cold. Not the normal hot /cold, but people who give off a cold vibe. This type of person could not wear shoes when in the house. Meaning I have a cold soul and the only way to get rid of that is to do a teamascal. Anyhow there were 5 groups of 5 to 6 students and everyone gets naked, puts a sheet around them and then you drink a special type of tea before going into the holding area. There the have a carpet set out and they burn incents and do a ritual before you go into this human size oven. You crawl in butt first because you are symbolizing going back in to the womb of your mommy. So you came out head first ( or if you are like me , whole body first) so you have to go in with our butt first. At the back of this human size oven is a fire going that can stay hot enough for 12 hours of people doing 20 minute sessions. So anyhow you go in butt first, take off your town , and then sit on the sides of this oven thing ontop of leaves. A teamascal dude , or as I am going to call him a TD, sits in the front and fans you with leaves. Basically 3 people can sit on each side of the oven, and then you start sweating almost immediately. IF you stay closer to the ground you do not get as hot. For my group, we all went into the oven, sat down and then freed ourselves of our sheet. So yes, I was sitting with a guy I had never met before totally naked. I have never in my life been so open and willing to drop my clothes. I practiced my yoga breathing and it really wasn’t that bad. We got water to splash on our face , and then we got fanned. Being in the oven with 2 other girls and my intern was a total girl power moment. We totally bonded, and it was fun bonding experience. Anyhow it was really hot in the oven thing, and my new BFF Teamascal Dude told me that the first 4 groups it was much hotter in the oven. My whole body literally was covered in sweat beads. I felt like I took a shower/ went swimming. I have never sweat so much in my life. In all my 12 years of dancing with Sandy I have never been so wet/ sweat so much. I will never complain again when at dance and I am sweating and feel nasty. The weird part about this teamascal was that instead of feeling nasty when I came out I felt majorly clean, and like I just took a shower. It was so interesting. After out 20 minutes in the teamascal, we laid on the carpet thing for awhile to cool off. Mind you it was like 80 outside , but it felt like a spring day after being in the oven for 20 minutes. Overall I am super glad I did the teamascal and think it was a great cultural experience , and one that I will not forget . It will go down in the books as one of the best experiences I will have had during my stud abroad.

This concludes my trip to Amatlan. I had an amazing time visiting and learning in a community struck by so many immigrating to the United States. They were very open and willing to share anything. Besides the great time I had , I was still very excited to get back to Cuernavaca and sleep in my own bed again and not get woken up my the rooster and crazy dogs and cats.