La vida

I have been writing about specific occasions, so today is going to be about the daily routine. Every morning we have breakfast or desayuno at 7:30ish-8:30ish, time in Mexico is a relative thing. This consists of either eggs and chorizo/spicy sausage, eggs and green beans, eggs and ham, or eggs all served with refried black beans, tortillas, spicy chili verde sauce, and super sweet coffee fresh from the slopes of Mount Whosiewatsits. This lasts until lunch or almuerzo at 11-12ish, which is a light snack. Maybe a grain bar, banana, orange, apple or some such. Then the big meal happens at 2:30ish-4ish....comida..or meal. This varies quite a bit, but it is always a very big meal and everyone in the family gathers for it and talks and sits and eats and laughs and have a good time for about 2 hours. It is during this time that ciesta happens all over town and everything is closed. Family is important and this is the time when the family can gather and talk. This lasts a good while, until about 8:30ish-9ish when dinner, or cena is served. This is ALWAYS a small meal here, maybe coffee and some sweet bread, maybe just a little hot meal smaller than breakfast, but never really anything big. This is the time everyone gets home from work, and the family gathers once again to go over the day and prepare for the next one.

I want to also point out the amount of effort this all takes. The mother and often the grandmother as well make all these meals from scratch. We're looking at an hour prep and cooktime for breakfast and dinner, and about 2-3 hours on average for comida. Lunch ya gotta go git yerself. I have noticed also that the men do not get up from the table for ANYTHING, more water, food, etc...nothing.

In the middle of this I am going to school 3 hours a day Monday thru Friday, studying and working on schoolwork for two, and exploring the city whenever possible for conversation and some interesting sights. Every Sunday, I have something different as a mandatory field trip. This past Sunday I was allowed to pass on it as my experience at the Cemetery was equivalent to a school outing in cultural experience. Next Sunday, we go to the Mayan ruins of Tonina.