Tepotzlan is situated about 30 minutes from Cuerna Vaca and is technically not even large enough to be considered a town, but rather a municipality. Many spoke Spanish, of course, but many more spoke native languages indigenous to the region. I stuck out like a sore throbbing thumb, blonde and pale thing that I am, and had a terrible terrible time adjusting. I never realized that visiting a country so physically close to your own could cause such terrible culture shock. I nearly went home shortly into the visit. But I toughed it out and still remember this travel experience as one of the most important I've ever had.
The school. (that's not me in the picture but another gringa looking quite similiar to myself)
I've not kept in contact with anybody who studied there with me. I've no one to share memories with about the trip. Let me rephrase that. I've plenty of people to tell about this time but no one to talk about, remember this and remember that? It's the only trip I've no one to do those things with. I often dream about Tepotzlan where I'm back there walking the streets back to my house. I miss that place more than I realize sometimes. 
About ten years before I arrived in the village, the locals uncovered a pyramid atop the mountains that surround the town. In the picture above, you can see it in the mid left region of the photo at the top of the mountain. They built a very crude hiking trail to the top which takes about an hour or so to hike, depending on the number of people ahead of you. We went on the 'free' day, thus our hike took a couple of hours as there were SO many people with the same Sunday afternoon plan. Once atop the pyramid, we sat on it, and stared down at the village we had called home for 5 weeks. We left Mexico the following day.
My time in Tepotzlan taught me more about myself than I thought possible in one trip. I learned that I can do it. And by it, I mean anything. And I can do it all alone. And in many instances I have. And I can do it again. I learned what it felt like to be the minority. I know what it feels like to be stared at unrelentlessly because of the color of your skin. I know what it's like to be so frustrated with not being able to communicate your point because of a language barrier. I feel like this trip, among others, taught me lessons that would eventually serve me in being the best teacher I can be; it taught me to put myself back in the student's position as someone who is not a master of the culture's language, who is trying to figure out cultural norms and who is trying to figure out themselves.
I've been wanting to blog about my travels for a while now. I call myself Worldygirly yet I've seen a mere 10% or so of the world. I feel like the title I've bestowed upon myself though goes much deeper than how much I've traveled or how much I've seen. I feel like it also includes being sensitive to those that share the world with us or having the willingness to yearn to learn about other lands. Through conversations with my students, I feel like I step a foot into other worlds every day. Teaching ESL gives me more than a paycheck, more than the satisfaction of helping someone learn, but it also fulfills this insatiable desire to learn more about the world through the amazing and diverse people who fill it.
I plan to write more on Tepotzlan and the adventures that surrounding that experience. I also plan to talk about other travel experiences I've had over the years. If blogging had been around during all of these trips, I probably would have blogged about them then. Too bad for you blogging wasn't as grand as it is now which means you get all of my past travels now. I'm going to wrap them up with a pretty bow for you. Consider yourself gifted. By me ;)
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