Barranca y Tonala

Saturday, one of my roommates and I decided to go "hiking" with Ricky, the son living in our house.  Oh my gosh!  This was not hiking like I have hiked before.  The pictures do not do it justice..it was by far the hardest thing I have ever done.  After nearly spraining my ankles on the way down (the path was nothing but pebbles), we finally go to the bottom of the mountain to find a beautiful river.  The peaceful feeling lasted about 5 minutes due to the fact that we had to hike, or should I say crawl up an abandoned railroad to reach the top.  There were literally points in the path that in order to move forward and not tumble down the mountain, it was necessary to get on all fours!  We opted out when we got halfway up the mountain to exit onto the pebbles and weave our way back to the top.  It was a great workout, but extremely hard. My goal is to go back once a week so that I can one day tolerate going up the whole way on the railroad tracks. 

View from the top of the mountain

Random horses on the trail

On the way up...this pic does not do it justice!!

Sunday, I went to Tonala, which is a huge market about 45 minutes outside of downtown.  It was crazy, but I got lots of souvenirs.  I have one midterm on Wednesday and the other is on Thursday.  I have been a little frustrated in class because I feel like by the time I grasp something, we move on to something more complicated.  Then, I walk out on the street and have no idea what people are saying!  It is so frustrating, but I know I have to be patient in this. We are going to La Puerta Vallarta this weekend, which is a beach about 5-6 hours away.  I am excited, but also anxious in that I am traveling with a group I do not interact with much here. While I do desire companionship here, I also know that the Lord is continuing to teach me to fill myself with Him alone.  I cannot tell yall how much your encouraging emails and phone calls mean to me!  I miss ya'll so much and am praying for you too!