Hula-Hoop Wars

I'm sorry I didn't write a blog entry for a while, I didn't have much inspiration. Today my inspiration came mostly from what we did at recess; in other words, my title. Hula-hoop wars is a game that Jorge made up without really realizing how good it would be. It is a game that doesn't really have any rules, its just two random groups of kids throwing hula-hoops at each other. No winning and loosing, no excluding other kids, not because there's rules against them, but because there's no rules at all. No winning because there are no rules that say doing the object of the game (or anything) makes you win. No excluding because since there are no rules bystanders are the same as players when they start throwing hula-hoops and standing with a group of kids.

Beach and Dismantled Computer

Yesterday we went to the beach. There weren't very good waves, but there was some interesting seaweed. Ruth is currently practicing her cello, she has had 2 lessons so far. I started to take apart one of dad's old computers yesterday, here is a picture of it:

Playing with Phoebe and Frances and a Big Yellow Spider

Today I played with Phoebe and Frances and we saw this really big spider with yellow stripes and spots. Phoebe didn't want to go anywhere near it. I took a picture of it but it's not ready yet, maybe I'll have it on the next entry. Dad is currently pounding on the wall with a big black hammer for whatever reason, I don't know why. It sure is nice to be home. Our garden was a big success. We just picked two cucumbers, I had part of a Zebra tomato this morning and some cherry tomatoes and a strawberry.

Home

I'm home and it's very nice. Besides that, ordinary day.

Mexico City

We got to Mexico City yesterday, and I am currently in our hotel room. We saw this realy neat Diego Rivera mural that had lots of details. I was a little sicck yesterday but today I'm better. We are staying at Hotel Catedral. We are on the 7th floor. Here is a picture of the veiw:
We saw this Aztec pyramid thing, it was really interesting. Sorry this isn't the best entry, I'm not in a very good mood for blogging.

Morelia and Pátzcuaro and Janitzio and Santa Clara del Cobre

Yesterday and the day before that and the day before that I wasn't blogging because we were staying at a 150-year-old hotel and of course it didn't have Internet. According to the schedule, we got on the big UAQ (Universidad something that starts with "A" de Queretaro) bus at 8:00 a.m., Friday. Then, at 11:00 a.m. (You must remember that all the times are according to the schedule) we got to Morelia. At Morelia we went to a Government House that had a big mural of the story of Maximilian and the emperor before him and some other stories. There was also a strike for lower bus taxes outside the Government House. We also went to a museum that exhibited people from 3000 years ago that were teeny and animals from 3000 years ago that were also teeny. Then we had comida. We left for Pátzcuaro at 2:30 p.m. and got there at 3:30. We saw a really neat mural of the history of Mexico and some really cute horses that were the size of dogs. The horses were not in the mural, they were in the plaza. The next day after breakfast we went to a tourist boat harbor with lots of ducks and geese. Then we went in the boat over a lake to the island of Janitzio. Here is a picture of it:
See that big statue on the top? In case you haven't noticed, it's enormous. And we got to go up in the highest part! Here is a picture of the view from up there:
Amazing, isn't it? And that only part of it. The island was like a big tourist stand! They were selling double image paintings almost everywhere. Here is one of my favorites:
I don't think you need to have any help on it do you? Because if you can't see both of the images, just post a comment. Well I can't tell you everything, so how about just two videos of the copper hammering factory?

Benito Juarez and Maximilian

Before I can tell you this entry, I am going to have to tell you the story of Maximilian. Once, for some reason, France sent it's army to Mexico, and made a guy from Austria emperor. The guy from Austria was named Maximilian. Now this was pretty strange, because Mexico had a president already; Benito Juarez. And then, after a while the French decided it was too much trouble, so they took most of their army back to France. But Maximilian wanted to stay, I don't know if he just liked having lots of power, or if he thought that the Mexicans wanted an emperor, or what. Anyway, when his army left, Benito Juarez's army came in and captured Maximilian and executed him with two of his generals. About forty years later, the Austrians asked if they could come and build a monument to Maximilian. The Mexicans said that they could, but that they can't get any help from Mexicans and they couldn't use any materials from Mexico. So the Austians came with boats full of rocks and horses. They unloaded all the rocks on to the horses and took apart some of their ships and put the wood on the horses. Then they took the horses from the coast to Queretaro, which is a pretty long way. Then they built their little one-room chaple with three steps in it for Maximilian and his two generals. Then, about thirty years later, the Mexicans said, "Hey what's this monument doing here of some guy we hated and two of his generals?". So they built this 80-foot-tall statue of Benito Juarez looking down on the teeny one-room chapel that the Austrians built. Pretty weird story, isn't it? Well, my blog entry is that we saw the 80-foot tall statue of Benito Juarez and the little monument of Maximilian.