sarah vs the world

Not a video game, not a comic, not a band, but an amazing adventure continues...

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Still in Puebla....

So I have realised that I haven't done an update for a while.  A few things have happened since the last update.  Of course, the rooftop parties have continued, however, we now moved to a hotel in the city, so our rooftop isn't quite as nice.  We do have a pool on our new roof, but are getting a bit busy for that now.  But we managed to squeeze in a Red Wine Thursday and Estonian Independence Day in honour of Tarmo.  Photos of the fun below...
Ian and Karla on Red Wine Thurs
 Darbs and Tarmo after a few red wines...
Me and Karla both wearing Darbs' vest
 Estonian Potato Salad
 Estonian Flag Shots - Blue Curacao, Coffee and Whipped Cream
Darbs, Karla and I managed to get away on a Saturday to see the Africam Safari.  It's called Africam because someone called Camacho (ironically Karla's surname) helped set it up.  You basically get in your car and drive around....seeing lots of animals you may see in Africa, but it is on the outskirts of Puebla!  It was a bit surreal, but fun.
Giraffes
 Parrots
 Pink Flamingoes
 White Tiger
 Zebra
 The Safari Car....just for the workers
 Some safety signage
Following our 2 hour safari which could have been a lot shorter, but we did have quite a bit of traffic, we headed to a little town called Tecali.  There we saw some beautiful ruins of an old Monastery.   The Monks lived there in the 1500s, then for whatever reason they had a run in with the local bishop and just abandoned it.  It was absolutely stunning though.  Made the big day in the car definitely worth the trip.  Photos really speak for themselves. 







We also managed to run into a cute little fair going on outside their local church.  I had to take a photo of this adorable little boy eating corn.  Isn't he awesome?
For about 10 days, I had a visit from Nick Harmos, who I worked with in New Zealand.  He was travelling through the US, and stopped by to visit us.  He got to spend quite a bit of time exploring Puebla, but we also managed to make a trip to Las Luchas.  This is the Mexican Wrestling.  I think we were there for all of 40 minutes tops, because let's face it, once you have seen one go of this, you really don't need to see anymore.  But, like the bullfighting, when in Puebla and it's available, better go have a look!  Photos below.
This is apparently the famous gay wrestler wearing a dress (yes the made us sit behind a net, I think to keep us from throwing things!)
 Me wearing a mask - I did not buy this, however, as I couldn't even see!
We also took a day off and drove to a nearby town called Atlixco.  They were having a big flower festival.  They made a giant mosaic out of flowers.  This was my favourite.  Can you tell who it is?
Nick and I at a dinner where we ate Ant Eggs...
 Nick, Me and Darbs at the big famous tequila drinking night
 Karla, Nick, Bryan, Paulo, Ian, Chiwi and Me at the same night
 Apparently I had a few drinks!
 This is a lovely photo of me in Ola's famous Sombrero
It also occurred to me that I hadn't really put any photos of Puebla itself on it.  So I managed to get a few in here so you can see what this town looks like.  
One of the market areas on the weekend
Teatro Principal
City Architecture


The Cathedral
The back of the cathedral from the balcony of our favourite bar (where the famous tequila night was!)
Over Easter we ended up with a bit of time off.  We debated about heading out of town, but instead we just stuck around.  Karla's husband came back.  We spent a day at an archaeological site not far from Puebla called Cantona.  It was very similar to what I saw in Mexico City not long ago, but the site was a lot bigger.  Also it was hard to work out how they actually built the site as there is no visible mortar anywhere.  The site itself was only recently discovered.  They believe they may have only found up to 10% of the whole site.  Here are a couple of photos from that visit.
Me on top of a pyramid
 One of the typical Sporting Grounds
Karla's husband took this photo of us.  We didn't want to climb another pyramid!
We have also been working on the site for a while.  Here are some funny photos of our team by site sheds. 
Daniel and Bernie - Tech Shed 3
 Joan, Ola, Tarmo & Darbs - Tech Shed 1
 Ian, Me and Karla - Tech Shed 2
 Me in all my safety gear
 Karla and I with Lily our favourite Spanish lady cook nearby
 The First Site BBQ
Fernando hurt his back.  I was helping him!
 Marking out the site...

 The tree got in our way!
 Karla and I in our fancy tool belts
Iztaccihuatl at night (with the fair on the side)

Onsite there is a giant fair going on as well.  It is causing us a lot of headaches, but this was a photo I had to take.  They made a sculpture of the Cathedral out of recycled plastic water bottles!
I can say that the volcano has also been very active as of late.  We are constantly monitoring this, but the other night I actually saw lava erupt from it.  I have to say it was probably one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.  We are quite far away from it, but the ash cloud is constantly present now.  Here is a photo of it.  The alert levels do keep rising, so I will keep you posted on if we need to evacuate!  We have already survived 2 earthquakes!  My first one ever!
Can't really share much else just yet.  But I will do once the show has finished.  Not long to go now!
More to come I am sure. 
Love to you all,
Sxo