Trapped on a Tehuacan Roof

*Sara is in Tehuacan AS WE SPEAK. She details her adventures meeting an iLP director, consuming a mountain of meat, and being rescued from a laundry-laden rooftop.*

These past few days have been crazy busy between our four day vacation and our mid-semester visit. A director from ILP came to visit our teaching group on Tuesday to check up on us, interview us and just spend some American time together.

After teaching, we all got to go out to dinner with the director Jared and his wife. What a blast! We got to eat out and didn't have to pay, that was a good deal. We went to this place between the park and the school. It is known as Teo's Tacos because it is his favorite place to go, so we were all really excited. 

By now, we have become pretty good at ordering food from a menu, but we still love to call our BFF Edwin. Edwin, our Mexican friend, speaks amazing English, loves to hang out with us, and of course be our body guard/tour guide/translator. We always like to know what he is eating first so we can decide for ourselves. Of course, we had to call him and find out what was best to eat...hahah...little did we know his selection was meant for a Mexican man, not six puny white girls.

Bonnie, the bravest of us all managed to order whatever Edwin suggested, and we were a little afraid looking at the price tag. We have come to learn, that in Mexico the amount of food correlates to the amount of money you pay directly. The less you pay the less you get, so you can pretty much gage your plate size before you even get your food. This is nice because we aren't always starved for twenty tacos. But Bonnie should have known that 95 pesos, or about $9 is quite a wad of money for a meal in Mexico.

Yes this mountain of meat and cheese came with four forks and twelve tortillas! Yikes. I am glad I didn't listen to Edwin this time, my three tacos were enough.

We had a wonderful time visiting with the ILP director, but all day today, we still felt those tacos from last night. I actually had quite an eventful morning, want to hear?

I felt so full from the night before, that I decided to go running for an hour today and then go to my Zumba class for another hour. Afterwards, I came home and all of my family was gone at school, church and work.

All alone, I decided to go hang up the laundry on the roof so that it could be dry when my mom returned later that day. Since the family dog lives on the roof, I was sure to close the door behind me, so Croqueta couldn't get loose inside. I hung up all the wet clothes, and then it hit me... I HAD LOCKED MYSELF ON THE ROOF!!!!!!

Yes, it can happen. The door just shuts, and there is no getting in. I locked myself on top of my three story house. Awesome. I must be gifted or something. Not panicking yet, I decided I could probably repel down the side of the house to the next floor down, into a window or something. I even considered roof-hopping to another house, but all that tin looked so shady, I would surely land in someone's living room.

Now in a more serious panic, I decided to yell for help...but I am in Mexico...so of course shouting "Ayuda Me" is the best option. Screaming HELP ME in Spanish wasn't working because I must have sounded more ridiculous that believable. I seriously yelled for help for a good ten minutes. No one came.

Even more afraid, I was SO glad to see my cousin walking down the alley that I flagged him down with the best 'Necesito ayuda' I could give. For some reason, whenever I am in a sticky situation, ALL of my spanish language flies WAY out the window. Crap. I am pretty sure my cousin thought I was joking because the white girl was shouting for help from the roof. I begged him to break into my house and come save me from this predicament like I was in a Disney movie.

Luckily he is smarter than I am, and climbed up to the third floor of his house, out on the roof, and then helped me jump over to his house so I could get down through their door. I must have thanked him a thousand times, and I also told him he was my best friend, and that I would bring him cookies or something...I don't think he knew what I was yapping about, but he said 'No pasa nada' a hundred times telling me it was not big deal, so I felt better.

Did I really get stuck on my roof today? Yes.

Am I still feeling taco pains? Yes.

Do I love Mexico? Yes.