Monday

Wow! Monday night was just a whole new batch of crazy and fun rolled up together in dinner. As Danielle mentioned, the bill was insane. Not only did we have 24 people there, but keep in mind that we are paying in pesos and 1 dollar is equivalent to 450 pesos. You can only imagine how big the check. The greatest part of the night, however, was the dancing. Performers from the stage would pick people from the crowd to dance and I was deadly afraid of being chosen. The dancers slowly came down off the stage toward our table, and my heart beat faster, one came toward me, turned and pointed to Danielle. Yes, I had escaped. I relaxed. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and when I turned around a man in a grass pants asked me to dance. I didn’t have time to respond, and instinctly said yes. Next thing I knew, I was on the stage desperately trying to dance the hulu dance, but failing horribly. Despite my embarrassing dancing it was extremely fun and out of the ordinary. And isn’t that what the whole trip is about.

Tuesday

The morning business seminar routine passed as usual, and the most exciting part of the day approached: lunch time! We went to Donde Augusto restaurant. The name confused us a bit because we thought that donde meant where is Augusto. I decided to use my Spanish to ask a waiter who explained to me that it was a play on words. In Spanish a tu gusto, which sounds a lot like the owner’s name, Augusto, means “to your liking”. Therefore, the name Donde Augusto meant where you can get it to your liking and also the name of the owner. This was an awesome moment because a bunch of the waiters came over to explain it to us and they began to laugh when they saw all of us say “Oooh” in realization. Another great moment was when I got to talk to the man selling fish. He asked me where we were from and even taught me some Chilean slang that did not exist in Mexico.

Then came the scavenger hunt which was a hot mess, literally. In jeans and hot weather, we hiked up Hidalgo Castillo’s hill to take a picture with a canon (required for the hunt). At one point we lost some of the guys. It was strangely refreshing to be thrown out into the city to fend on our own.

Wednesday

In the afternoon, we went to a chemical tour. We got a tour, which would not have been half as fun if we weren’t wearing goggles and a hard hat: a dream come true. Then we walked through the factory which was surrounded by tubs painted with triangles and red symbols. But don’t worry; we would be fine as long as we didn’t get any of the acid on ourselves. No biggy. The coolest part was going up to the top of one of the huge barrels and peering in at the hydrochloride melting the copper plates. After the tour at 5:30 pm, we came back in the bus, but the fun didn’t stop there. As my roommate, Lizzy, and me laid in bed, we heard a slamming of doors in the hallway. We opened our door, and were met by a growing puddle of water and a freaked out classmate calling the front desk. For half an hour, we stood at our room’s door putting towels down to stop the water from coming into the room. Finally, the mechanic came up, fixed the toilet, and Josh attempted to explain the situation in Spanish to them. After a few pictures and a bunch more towels, the floor was somewhat clean and we returned to our rooms. It’s small moments like this with other group members that define the trip. I will always remember the struggle with Josh and Lizzy to speak to the hotel workers and stop the oncoming toilet water.

- Adriana Munoz