Attack of the Pigs.

I feel like I'm never in school here. I just got back from our 2 weeks off for Semana Santa and now I don't have school again until May 6th. Semana Santa was a lot of fun, the first week I stayed around Xalapa and spent a lot of time in the adorable neighboring town of Coatepec. I also went to a natural hot springs near Xalapa with my host family which was a lot of fun. I got the cute little granddaughter of my family to swim with me which made the family think I'm a miracle worker since she's been afraid of the water. I didn't tell them I used to teach swim lessons. I just let them think I had super powers with children. Then the second week I was super touristy and went to Playa del Carmen in the Yucatan with two friends. It was beautiful though. The 22 hour bus ride was a little miserable but we endured it.

^life is really hard.^

^an obligatory sailboat picture for my dad^

Now I don't have school again until May 6th because of the swine flu. It's a preventative measure they told us and school's across the country are closed until May 6th, but honestly, I think I'd rather take my chances in our tiny school than this week with very limited things to do. My host family bought us masks to wear when we go out. My friend Ally & I were laughing about them on the way home yesterday because lots of people were wearing masks but still buying icecream and food from the vendors on the streets. Those seem like pretty likely places for germs to be to me! And we learned that the masks are really only good for about 20 minutes and then they lose their barrier but that's not stopping people in Xalapa from wearing them religiously. On the news yesterday morning they showed a church near Mexico City that had a sign on it's doors announcing that mass had been canceled for the day due to the flu. Underneath this announcement was a side note that assured everyone that it wasn't a sin to miss church that day, their attendence would still be counted.

I'm planning on going to the park or something today to pass the time. I'm definitely bringing my camera to take advantage of the chance to take some pictures of the city without so many people and also to capture a few masked men on camera as well.

I knew pigs were going to be a problem when I got here. First they haunt me at each meal in the form of ham. Now they show up in flu form! I can't escape them!