From the big city out to the nowhere

October 08, 2018

Monday 08 October 2018, El Raudal

It has been more than a week since my last entry, and I feel like I need to update a lot! At the moment I am close to the Village El Raudal, in the State of Veracruz in Mexico. I am sitting in our community room/auditory/working space, with ocean view, slight breeze and homemade watermelon juice. So really o reason to complain!
In this post I'll try to summarize my last days in Puebla and give a glimpse of where I am now and what I am doing.
The second half of my week in Puebla I got to see another site of the city- the old center. Which is a huge contrast to the unorganized, sometime shiny, sometimes shady new areas with their malls, food courts and loads of cars. The architecture in center of Puebla is heavily influenced by the the Spanish which reflects in the 2 or 3 story houses with bright facades and balconies. A Mexican addition is the art of "talavera" which is the local way of making and decorating tiles and any type of pottery.
Another artisanal product of Puebla is products of Onix or marmor which main production is in the village of Tecali. We went there on Wednesday and I could have bought loads of things, but the disadvantage of Onix is that it is very heavy. Nevertheless I bought a turtle lamp and three candle holders. My brilliant idea was to send those things home by post so I wouldn't have to carry it for three month. Coming home all happy with my new possessions Pepe looked at me with an amused face and told me that it will cost me a fortune to send it home and that chances are high it never arrives... once asked at the post office it turned out that it would indeed cost 150euro to send the package. So I changed my plan and left the candle holders as a present and just took the turtle lamp, which is actually very useful and decorative in my current room.
I also experienced something very interesting on Friday- I went out to the countryside with Pepe and Juan Pablo to let their falcons fly. It reminded me a bit of working with horses. All the equipment in the car, the care for the animals, the goal you have for the day but also for the long-term.
Saturday we went with the whole family to a sports club, where they all have a membership and we spent the day playing Fronton (Mexican version of squash?) and in the swimming pool. That Saturday I felt really like part of the family and was actually sad to leave the day after.

So I don't know what I did but somehow I lost the pictures of my SD card :'( So the pictures from Puebla are only the ones I took with my phone..

Churros with Pepe

Traditional in Puebla: Chile en Nogada. A green pepper filled with meat and fruit covered in nougat sauce and sprikled with pomegranate.

Founding name of the city was: Puebla de los Angeles (Village of the Angels)

Out with falcon "Fenix"

Artist neighbourhood of Puebla

On the one hand I was sad to leave but on the other hand I was exited to head to the beach and to start my work with the turtles. The bus ride was very comfortable again, with a 1,5hour stop in Tetziuatlan, whicht turned out to be a nice mountain city. When the bus arrived at the very small bus station in Nautla and opened its doors, the first thing that struck me was the heat. In Puebla it could actually get cold in the mornings and evenings, so when I left Puebla I was wearing jeans, which I definitely don't need here!

Now my first week has passed and I must say that I really like it here. The location of the place is just beautiful and we've got everything we need: food, electricity, running water, a roof and company. My main company at the moment is the other volunteer Jan (or as he is called here: Checo) from the Czech Republic and Lucio from Mexico, who works for the foundation. They are both my age and we are having some good fun. Then there is Ricardo, the director of the foundation and Carla, the administrative worker. There are also three dogs living with us: Tysa, Cassi and Zizou. Zizou has three puppies at the moment, who are very, very cute and get al lot of our attention. And last but not least: Turtles! I want to dedicate a full post to the work we do here for the turtles, so for now only a few pictures.