I've been to several interesting things over the last couple of days:
Thursday Javier, Daniela & I went to an area of the town called Xochimilco. We saw an old cathedral (not as nice as many that I've seen, and definitely showing it's age, but still impressive), ate at a market, and went for a ride in "trajineras." There is a canal system in that part of the city, and the trajineras are the most common type of boat there. They are propelled by pushing a pole against the ground, which is about 8 feet under water. We went on a trip of about 1.5 hours. It was very relaxing. There are other trajineras that pull up along side you, offering a variety of services, ranging from taking your picture or selling you food to a real live mariachi performance (and even marimbas if you prefer). Reportedly they are pretty popular for parties at night too.
Friday Aline, Angeles, Daniela, and I went shopping (Christmas shopping of course). First we went to Suburbia, which is a lot like Herbergers, and then to Wal-Mart. After that Angeles dropped us of at Frida Kahlo's former house, which is now a museum/art gallery dedicated to her. She was a painter who lived a very traumatic life. Then we went to a market and had quesadillas and sopas, which are tostadas with beans, lettuce, cream, and steak. The museum is in a part of the city called Coyoacan (my third trip there), and we went to the market in the plaza area, where we tried some new candies.
This morning we went shopping with Aline's friend Miren at the same Suburbia as yesterday. Well, that was after waiting "1/2 hour" (actually more like 1 1/2 hours) for Miren to dye her hair. We had frozen yogurt at a place called Nutrissa, which was very similar to TCBY. We dropped Miren off at her house, and then went home for a afternoon lunch of hamburgers, which were very good.
No special plans for tonight, but tomorrow will be busy with all the relatives coming. It's a very large family.