happy birthday greg!!!!!

caroline, i just emailed greg yesterday because i thought i had missed his b-day on the 12th. trip. either way, hope you guys have a great day and that greg has a particularly wonderful day. maybe he even gets the day off?

some of the best food i have had down here has been paella (rice, crab, shrimp, chicken) and then just seafood in general. we are so close to the ocean that everything is fresh and brought in daily. i eat mostly granola, apples, tuna fish, corn and breakfast bars for lunch and dinner during the week to save money (and because i have no way to cook anything), so on the weekends i eat great. the most amazing drink i have had is called bupu(roughly). it is made by zapoteca women and served in the market in juchitan. basically, for about 50 cents you get a bowl with a liquid made of corn and something else which is warm or hot depending on how you ask for it. then, on top of that, there is this big vat which the women stir and stir to create a foam (like the stuff on top of a ice cream float) and then they scoop the foam onto the top of your bowl. as you drink the liquid you drink the foam as well. the foam is made from flowers and is EXTREMELY sweet (amy d you would absolutely love it). it is pretty filling and super super good. i thought it would be weird at first, but the two tastes mix together pretty well. the sweet overpowers everything anyway. then, you hand the ladies your handmade clay bowl back and pay. amazing stuff.

there are also all sorts of fruit (cherries for example) that they soak in mezcal and other liquor type liquids. i am wary of this type of concoction because i am not comfortable enough to know what has a lot of alcohol in it and i don´t want to act the fool in front of people who are already staring at me. but, i have had a few cherries and they are pretty good. they sit in big huge pickel jar containers (which is unnerving to start with) and are sold on the street in juchitan and othe places.

well, iam off to give a competency test in english on the computer to incoming freshmen. yesterday i was told i was giving it 10 minutes before it started. sweet. love my boss who absolutely refuses to prepare me for anything!

happy b-day greg!