Raton...

So, the pests have grown larger. Yesterday there was a rat in the laundry. Well at least this is what Nadine managed to tell me after screaming bloody murder. I never saw the rat, thought there were a few holes in a shirt left as evidence that she did not make it up. I thought she had been bit by a scorpion or something. A neighbor even came to see what had happened.
I had a cucaracha climb in my bed one night. I woke up and thought I felt something, but I decided it must have been a hair or my imagination or something. But then I felt it again. I jumped out of bed, turned my light on full blast and took all the sheets off the bed. You never know, it could be a scorpion. I saw it scurry up the wall and, now fearless me, smushed it and left it on the floor to deal with in the morning.
Last weekend I went to Tepotzlan. It is an old city that brags a museum, a few churches, a market and a pyramid. I took a bus from Cuernavaca center, a small dark bus, through the bumpy roads and into Tepotzlan. I am not sure how the bus stops worked. None of them made any sense. There were just magically people waiting in certain places to get the bus. Having seen this on the way there at least I was warned and knew to start looking for the bus earlier than I might have, which in turn helped keep me from getting poured on by a sudden thunder storm. Turns out the bus ends at a bus station a little out of town. It took me three policemen and a little bit of exploratory walking and stopping before I figured this out.
But back to the day in Tepotzlan. I started out looking in a few shops after I jumped off the bus. I found the Zocolo, or market, and walked a lap around that before going in search of the pyramid. It took a little bit of walking and faith that I was not missing any of the signs, but I finally found it. You have to walk through a little market before reaching the bottom of the mountain that you must climb to reach the pyramid. I bought watermelon and sat at the bottom of the mountain and enjoyed it.
I thought I should go to the bathroom before the climb, but when I headed back to the place I had seen the bathroom I realized you had to pay and I didn't have a lot of change. So I walked all the way back to the base of the mountain to start my climb.
The climb started with stairs and then degenerated into stair like rocks and then just random rocks. As you climb the mountain you realize that anytime anyone ever wanted to go to the pyramid they had to make this climb. The sign said it was about 2 kilometers, so it wasn't too much, just very steep. The Indians must have had horrible knees.
It was a hard climb, in the heat, with no one to talk to, but it was nice. Having no one with me meant I could take breaks when I felt like it and go for as long as I felt I could before collapsing onto a rock to take a rest. I did talk to a few people on the way up, but it was nice to actually look at the things around me rather and take my time rather than just being concerned with getting up the mountain to see the pyramid. Honestly, if I had done that I would have been severely disappointed.
The pyramid was neat, but very small and mostly fallen down. There were a few carved rocks but the best thing was the view from the top. I guess that's why people bother climbing mountains instead of doing the stair climber in the gym. The view is always so cool and is almost as good as if you could fly. The breeze up there was nice too. I wanted to stay longer, but the sunscreen I had brought ended up being empty and I knew I was getting burned so I headed down.
On the way down I heard these people playing drums. They were on their way up so I fell in behind them and climbed up behind them a little bit. However, I finally looked at my clock and realized if I wanted to do anything else I'd have to get down because I had decided to look for the bus at 5ish.
I went down and went through the market. I found the entrance to the museum but decided I'd save it for another day because I didn't have much more time. As I said before I'm glad my schedule was what it was, or I would have been drenched. I got on the bus just as the first drops began to fall.
This week has been mostly uneventful. I have played with the kids and done my thing. I don't know what I will do this weekend, but we will see.