El C.U, y los camiones

Today I discovered exactly why there are dashboard Jesus figurines and posters of the Virgin Mary all over the public buses, "camiones," of Puebla. Never have I experienced such speed, lane changes, and prayer all in one place. Despite being rather adrenaline-laced, it turns out that the bus system is really easy to use. The buses are color-coded, come so frequently that no schedule is needed, will pick you up on any corner, and will give you change even for large bills (which I also discovered today). I will be using this system to get to and from the larger of the two main campus areas, the C.U. and el Centro. I can walk to the Centro, but the C.U., where I will have half my classes, requires vehicular transport.

Classes begin on Monday and I'm totally psyched! Today we toured the C.U., yesterday we toured the Centro, and tomorrow we will tour el Zocalo, the town square. I can also walk to the Zocalo, where there is plenty of shopping, festivities, and couples making out. (Note: the frequency and passion of such public make-out sessions has completely surprised me; from what I've heard, that sort of thing qualifies as a major no-no, but apparently I have either been misled, or the youth of Puebla are flipping taboos a big fat bird.)

Fruit: Mangoes rock my socks. They rocked my socks before I got here, but I now know that the U.S. public is being lied to; the mangoes we eat in the U.S. are hard, bitter, and fibrous in comparison with the supremely delicate and sinfully delicious Mexican mango. I also have now discovered that "tuna" in its best form is not in fact a large marine fish, but instead the fruit of a cactus which is something like cucumber meets apple. They are also symbolic of virgins, delicious but cloaked in thorns. In either green or red, the little fruit deserves mention. In conclusion, if someone offers you a tuna popsicle, please accept.

P.S. I'm still having picture uploading problems to this blog, but Facebook now ACTUALLY has photos. Also, check out my friend Joelle's blog for more detailed info/another point of view at www.bellajoella.blogspot.com and please know that I didn't ask Joelle's permission to send you there. If you ARE Joelle, please let me know if this bothers you, and I'll remove any reference to your blog. (Joelle has also informed me that the spelling is jitomate, not ghitomate, so if you and Rick Bayless were having a failure to communicate, now you know why!)