A stop by Mexico City and Playa del Carmen :)

I wanted to head out and travel some more, so I made some plans for going to Cuba, but I had a couple of stops in Mexico City and Playa del Carmen before I went there. In Mexico City I would stay with my friend, Fernando, from Ollerup. He is studying there, so when he was at school I would have time on my own. I arrived when he was at school so I had arranged to meet a friend of my parents, Susana. She is a member of Servas and was more than glad to show me around in Coyoacán. This was a nice and relaxed part of Mexico City.

The next day when Fer was at school I went exploring on my own. I started at the zocalo and just walked around most of the day. Near the zocalo is a statue of the founding of Tenochtitlan, an Aztec legend says the gods told them to build the capitol where they found an eagle on a nopal eating a serpent. Today Mexico City is built on top of what used to be Tenochtitlan. The zocalo is located at the site of Tenochtitlan's original central plaza and market.

Later I met up with Fer and a friend at the famous cathedral across the zocalo. The rest of the day all of us walked around as tourist, since both of them come from different parts of Mexico. That night we met up with some more friends and we all went to Plaza Garibaldi where you every night can find loads of mariachi's. When we arrived in a car the mariachi's were jumping in front of the car to stop us and try to sell their music. It was crazy!! We went to the famous Salón Tenampa and had some great food and mescal accompanied by mariachi music :)

The next day Fer had a conference near Chapultepec, so I joined him there, and while he was in the conference I walked around in the bousque de Chapultepec. I had heard about the castle you can find in one part of the park, but it was on the other side of where I started so I decided to have a walk through the park before visiting the castle. The park was so big and so pretty!!

When I arrived to the castle it unfortunately had closed ten minutes ago... So I just got some pictures from below.

I still had some time before Fer finished up so I decided to walk to El Ángel de la Independencia. It is an impressive statue in the middle of a roundabout.

Mexico City is huge, and there is soo much to see, but unfortunately I only had 3 days to spend there. Muchissimas gracias por todo Fer!!!

I moved on to Cancún, and stayed there only one night. I met with a spanish guy who knew of a nice hostel in Playa del Carmen where he would be moving on to, so I joined him. Most of the people staying at the hostel at the moment were travellers living by selling their artscrafts. It was very interesting to see how they worked and to learn about how they travelled!

My first trip in Playa del Carmen I figured out on my own. I just catched a van to the ruins of Tulum. This is a ancient costal Mayan city whitch used to serve as a major port.

The next day I had ordered a tour to one of the 7 world wonders, Chichen Itza. This was a very nice and well preserved Mayan city!

My last day in Playa del Carmen I went to one of the theme parks, Xcaret. It was a huge park with lots of things to do and see. I was walking around all day, but I also got to do some snorkelig with turtles :D

Finishing off the day in the park they had an amazing show, telling the story of Mexico from the Mayans untill today! They played ancient games, danced so many different traditional dances and wore amazing and colorful costumes :)

This would end my time in Playa del Carmen, and the next day I had my flight to Havana, Cuba!!

Exploring Puebla and it's surroundings!

I must admit that I haven't really offered time to keep my blog updated. I've just been busy enjoying time with all the great people I have been lucky to meet here in Puebla! At the moment of writing this post I am having some relaxed time of my own on Cuba ;) Puebla is a great city with lots of things to do and see, and I have had some wonderful and helpful people spending time with me and showing me around! One of the first places to visit in Puebla is the zocalo which is a nice and relaxed park with a fountain in the center. The zocalo is right between the palacio, where the governor of Puebla works, and the cathedral.

I have been so lucky getting to know the Condado family! The are just amazing, and have been like a family to me :) They have really helped making my stay in Puebla unfogettable!

Manolo has taught many through his years in gymnastics, and we went to a nice restaurant owned by one of his former students. This was a restaurant famous for it's pozole, a soup with huge maize corns.

After having a tasty lunch we walked on to visit the famous market for arts and handcrafts, El Parian.

One of the things that I have gotten really used to in Mexico is the way they use chile with anything and everything ;)

After a nice day downtown Edgardo invited us to finish off the day with a ride on the worlds biggest transportable wheel. In the back you can se Volcán Popocatepelt.

Every Monday in the luchas arena they have luchas libres, the famous wrestling matches of Mexico. One Monday after classes at the gym we were a few who went to see the mathces. It was crazy!! They were dressed up in funny costumes, there was wild fighting, loud screaming (fighters and spectators) and some beautiful ladies announcing each round.

One day Edgardo had a meeting in Cholula with a principal of a school we would have a workshop with, so we both went for some sightseeing in the city before the meeting. Cholula is known to be the city with one church for each day of the year!

Also they have a church built by the Spanish when they conquered Mexico. They made a hill by burrying a pyramid from the indigonius, and built the church on top of the hill.

We were lucky and got to see the tradition of the voladeros. They are four people dancing upside down while hanging by ropes and swinging around. Normally there would also be a fifth person on top playing a tiny drum and a flute.

Again the Condado family was so kind to invite me out to experience more of the Mexican culture. This time they took me to Atlixco where there is a famous restaurants with a lake nearby where they fish their trouts they serve. There were two ladies making all the tortillas that were served, and I got to try to make my own tortilla ;)

This is the result, my Norwegian tortilla! I can assure you it tasted better than it looks ;)

I have also had a wonderful girl, Veronica, showing me around. She took me to the worlds smallest volcano (or if you want, the largest geyser), Cuexcomate, which only reaches 13m.

We also could climb into the crater ;)

Vero also invited me to Ex Hacienda de Chautla. This park used to be farmerland, but today it is a recreational and cultural center. The park is well known for El Castillo, it's castle overlooking the lake. Edgardo and another friend, Emmanuel, also joined us. Before we got to the park we bought some lunch so we could have a picnic in the park :) Tacos and tequila was a great combination!

A popular meal in Puebla is the cemita, and one of the most famous places to eat a cemita is in Mercado del Carmen. The Condado family invited me to have one of these cemitas, and we went there to see how they prepared them. It was amazing watching how fast they made hundreds of these huge cemitas!

I must admit I am a fan of Mexican food, and I got a great oportunity to learn how to make tamales from a great friend (Comadre) of the Condado family.

Some of the gymnasts from the club made an arrangement to go ice skating. To get there we drove this beauty. Manolo's original buggy from 1962!!

For some it was the first time trying to ice skate, but they did really well and there were no major accidents!

One of my last trips with friends from Puebla before travelling went to Teotihuacan, known for many of the most architecturally significant pyramids. To the right you can see the great Sun Pyramid, and straight ahead you can see the Moon Pyramid.

On the top of the Sun Pyramid there is a point where you can gain energy from the sun by holding your finger there for 30 seconds.

The pyramids had some great spots for doing gymnastics! I am glad to do some gymnastics with my friends. Here I am working with Amèrica :) We also met 4 guys from Taiwan who asked to take some pictures of us perfoming our art ;)

¡Gracias a todos! ¡Voy a extrañar Puebla y ustedes todos!

Condado Fam-Gym :)

Finally we got to Puebla and the gymnastics club where I will be helping out for a while! Condado Fam-Gym has two different gyms, one is run by the son Marox and the other is run by the daughter Rosmy. I am helping out with classes in both of the gyms, plus some kindergartens. This is my first meeting with the bigger gym they have. It is really different from Tempos in Costa Rica. One of the theories of Condado is using different colors to stimulate the kids.

We have classes with younger kids. Here in the smaller gym.

Some older kids, and also kids with special needs.

Also there is a big group of teenagers and grown-ups. At the moment we are preparing a performance with this group and another specially invited teenager group.

Condado used to be a gym for artistic gymnastics, and still they use a lot of the equipments.

Condado has a lot of cooperation with Denmark and Danish teams. The National Danish Performance Team and other Danish teams often come to Puebla or Mexico getting help from the Condado family. The gym has also had some Danish instructors coming to Puebla to help, but I am the first Norwegian to help out in the club. Can you see a difference from the first picture?

  In addition to helping with the normal classes we have arranged for some extra workshops for some kindergarten classes, and for some specially invited from the club.

Thank you Edgardo and Condado family for letting me come to your club!

Exploring Chiapas!

After New Year Edgardo and I would travel a little. We would go further south east to see some places in Chiapas. The first night we arrived in Tuxtla we stayed with some of his family. The next morning we met with one of his old gymnasts and his mother who took us for a great day in Chiapa de Corzo. First we had a nice tour in the Cañón del Sumidero.

At the end of the tour we got a great view of the Árbol de Navidad.

After the boat trip we walked a little bit around in the little city. Now I also have another gymnast to do some gymnastics with :)

We also made a visit to the Christ of Chiapas in Tuxtla. This was a huge building, and quite different than the other Christ statues I have seen. It is actually taller than the statue in Rio de Janeiro!

We ended a wonderful day with these two at a great restaurant, Las Pichanchas, who are known for their special pineapple drink, Pumpo!

At night we took a bus to get to San Cristóbal, where we would spend the next day. We walked around the relaxing downtown, and up many steps to the many churches they have in this city.

We also visited the market where I found so many different kinds of beans!

A little bit outside the city we went to see Las Grutas de Rancho Nuevo.

When we arrived back in the city we met this guy who invited us to see a theatrical play about the Maya'n emperor Pakal.

The play was in Maya'n, but it was subtitled in both English and Spanish. It was an interesting play giving some knowledge about the history of the Maya's, and the costumes where amazing!

We took another bus to get to Comitan where another friend of Edgardo would meet us. The next day him and his girlfriend took us to 5 Lagos de Montebello. The nature was just so fantastic, and the colors of the water was so clear!

At one of the lakes we actually crossed the border to Guatemala.

We spent a lot of time at the lakes, and at the last lake we even rented a raft made by cork tree and paddled to a little island. From there we hurried so that we would have time to go see El Chiflon, a huge waterfall! It was an amazing view, and so powerful!

Thanks to everyone who helped making our trip to Chiapas so wonderful :)