Playing Tourist

Sooooooo!! This is part THREE of three of the whole Toluca/Loa visit! Dacia came and stayed here in Puebla and I'm telling you all.......We had such a goooood time!! Just two missionary girls, wandering all over the city of Puebla.

Our first day together, we went to a lake to do some "paddle-boating" and "row-boating". It was a beautiful, sunny day and the ducks were out in full force!

Dacia and I

It felt so relaxing to just sit in the boat and feed the ducks....Aaaaah.... :)

^^Dacia^^ Isn't she she beautiful?!

We rowed out to the island in the middle of the lake and got out.
Dacia tied out boat to a root so we wouldn't get stuck out there and have to swim back :P

As soon as we got out, a lake employee hollers at us that we aren't allowed to get on the island because the ducks are laying eggs. It was true...as soon as we got near the island, all the ducks started honking and hissing at us!
Momma and Daddy duck, protecting their ducklings (in eggs, under the Momma duck)

See the little baby ducks? SO cute! They were chasing us to get more food, but the big ducks were trying to run us off. 

This is what they'd do as they hissed...haha! 

We were rowing along when suddenly we see an egg floating in the water!! We rowed over to it and picked it up. It was cracked on the top and I could see some tiny feather poking out. However, it was leaking and STUNK to high heaven!!! We had the brilliant idea of keeping it so we set it in our boat to take home. (What was I thinking....??) 

We wrapped the egg in 2 paper bags and I tucked it in my purse. It was a big egg though...and my purse was small. We wanted to stop at the market on our way home to pick up some fruit. Halfway thru the market, I stick my hand in my purse to get some money and all I feel is SLIME!! The egg had gotten smashed!!!! 

It is letting off this AWFUL stench and I'm having to dole out money that is covered in egg goo. It was embarrassing! So we get home open the bag to see the egg. Dacia was the photographer, I was the disect-er. If you want to see pictures, maybe Dacia will put some up of it...it is NASTY though, so beware! 

I was had a good ole time opening up the egg and opening the little sac the duck was in........but I'm telling you, I could NOT get the smell out of my hands!! I was all over Google, "How to get smell off hands". Lime, metal spoon, hot and cold water, toothpaste....nothing worked. 

Only time and constant hand-washing. 

A stork ;)

We had so much funnnn!

The next day we went to downtown Puebla. Between all the markets, churches, and people, there is plenty to see and do! 

People waiting in line to confess to a preist

We saw this man carrying the little beggar man. He's just a chest...I've blogged about him before, but if you've never seen him...click here! 

School kids

We got to sit in on mass...it was very weird with the preist and congregation repeating phrases and prayers and crossing themselves. So sad, it is just empty traditions! 

Police on the corner, trying to look important

We ate at "Los Angeles"...on the menu is cow head, eye, snout, cheek, tongue, and brain. Mmmmm! ;)

We just got plain ole deeeelicious tacos with cheese

We then went to a fancy hotel and took pictures of ourselves in a huge mirror!

Then we had a reaaaaaally odd experience....a middle-aged guy came up to us, a bit frantic saying he had gotten his jacket stolen with his passport, plane ticket and money in it. He needed someone to speak Spanish for him so he could cancel his credit cards and see about his flight, which was leaving that night.

We stopped at this payphone as he supposedly talked to American Airlines

It was weeeeird!! I believed him until he asked us if WE had ID's with us.....Nooooo waaaay, Jose! Come to find out, Dacia was suspicious of him the whole time. She claims that he wouldn't even look at her once he found out she was from Texas. Hahaha!! Who knows!! I heard him say on the phone that his name was Erick Wexler. He told us he was a lawyer in Chicago. However...Dacia and I did some detectivating and could not find an Eric/Erick Wexler (that fit our criteria..heh heh) on Google. I guess we'll never know if he was a scammer or not!! :(

He left us, yelling and trying to wave a taxi down. We decided to follow him to see where he'd go or what he'd do. He did NOT get into a taxi, but went into this store for about 5 seconds, then left down the street. 

I don't do very good undercover here because of my hair color...I had to hide in stores and behind walls, but Dacia was darting behind cars and peeking out from behind shelves of merchandise, acting like a professional sleuth! Unfortunately, in all the excitement...we lost him. *Sigh* 

I was telling someone the story later on and they said, "Why didn't you just send him to the police for help?" Me and Dacia both said the SAME thing......."The police?!?! That's the LAST place I'd go!" 

They are the ones stealing the wallats!!....hahahahahhahaha!! Sad, but true. 

A toilet paper machine in the bathroom...one peso for about 2 ft of paper. Funny!! 

In the gardens...

That night, we went to a concert in the town center

When we arrived home, we found out that Elder Wakefield and Bro. Loa had returned from Veracruz. They brought home this crate of mangoes, pineapples, and bananas. 

We spent our last day together at the lake again and Dacia tried Horchata for the first time.
I'm sooo happy she got to come...I enjoy any opportunity I have to hear and speak Englsih. I also reaaaally enjoy playing tourist!
We were walking home from the market when a man selling ice cream looks at Dacia and says, "Ayyy, what beautiful freckles!!" We busted up laughing! 

I'm sure she'll blog about all this too...so go check out her blog here!!! 

~Bethany~