El Palacio de Gobierno

Today my Spanish professor, Ana Maria, took us on a bit of a field trip to El Palacio de Gobierno. The Government Palace is gorgeous. Wow wow wow! Any Minnesota governor, or American governor for that matter, would give anything to work in this sort of place. With offices on the outer part of the building, a beautiful courtyard is located right in the center, with an open roof, and a view of all the beauty within the four walls. Fernando Castro Pacheco painted immaculate murals during the 1970s to illustrate Merida and the Yucatan's history and values through art. Also in the Palace is a salon or hall of an additional set of murals which chronicles the events starting with Merida being founded in 1542 and continuing to the late 1800s. Pacheco's work is breath-taking, with an incredible array of colors and techniques. It was really interesting to me that unlike most paintings found on display in museums, these murals were completed fairly recently! Pacheco is still living and is continuing to receive awards for his work. Our class was able to experience Mexican art, learn some history, practice Spanish and gain some new vocabulary, as well as explore a bit of El Centro with Ana.

The courtyard of El Palacio

Manos de Cortador de Henequen - showing the hard work of the Mayans

My Spanish class

In the salon where Pacheco illustrates Merida's history

Today at lunch my mom, Diego, a friend of Diego's, an uncle, and I all got to spend time together which was really great! We got to talk about some deeper or more scholastic topics, which was wonderful for me to hear and engage in. We talked a lot about comparisons between America and Mexico. With each of us having experience in both countries, we all seemed to agree that the way things get done each place is very different. America seems to be more focused on speed and just getting things done, while Mexico focuses a lot on the process and doesn't have as much of a sense of urgency. One is not necessarily good or bad, just very different mindsets. We laughed about weather differences, the regional accents in the States, and my mom told us about her first experience in the US - New Orleans around Mardi Gras... She was 15, and scared. Ha!

Tonight I would normally go to the English Academy to teach English, but because yesterday was a national holiday celebrating Mexico's constitution, this week was thrown off - I will probably be going tomorrow though!!