Camping at La Pena de Bernal

I got to go camping this weekend at La Pena de Bernal. It is located in the state of Queretaro and the largest monolith in Mexico. It was about an hour away from my city and I went with the AMI group and there were about 30-40 of us that went.
We first arrived at a farm about 20 minutes away from La Pena de Bernal. We set up tents and started a fire. We walked across the street to get some snacks at the gas station. Everyone hung out around the fire singing songs from their country and playing games until about midnight. Because I am the smallest person there (I am sure that doesn’t surprise anyone) I got stuck in this small tent with 2 other people. It was one of those little kid tents, so what I am trying to say was fitting 3 people in there was not easy. Some of us head to bed a midnight, well the people that were still up left the music on which was super loud. To make it worse I had a cold so it was hard to breath. So here I am smooched in a tent, on the hard ground, not able to breathe, let alone sleep. I sleep in 30 minute increments and I hear my one friend whimper every time I wake up. I think it is just something she does in her sleep so I think nothing of it. (This is her first time camping and she is not an outdoors person. You had the option to sleep inside but I made her stay with me). 3am rolls around she gets up and leaves and says she cannot take it anymore she is going inside (music is still blasting outside). She comes back 10 minutes later almost in tears because the door is locked and she cannot get in. So we begin yelling at the boys around the fire with music to stop and we start laughing because at this point that is all we can do. (Meanwhile, our other friend just stays asleep!!) The boys around the fire think it is funny and start banging on our tent and singing at the top of their lungs to us. They finally stop and go to bed around 4:30am. We were just about to fall asleep and then an obviously blind rooster begins to make noise at 4:50am. Then when he was done the cows started mooing. I finally fell asleep and woke up around 7:30am and needed to use the bathroom. The door was still locked so my friend (the one who was camping for the first time) and I had to use a cactus instead. We went back to sleep until 9 when we got woken up by our friends staring in our tent laughing at us and saying “Oh my gosh everyone look, they fit three people in there!” So of course we were like animals at the zoo and everyone came to look at us. When we got out of our tent we realized none of the animals were fenced in. So in reality we could have also been run over by a cow in our sleep. Now that I look back on it, it was hilarious, but at the time we were miserable.
We then drove the La Pena de Bernal. It was so beautiful. We got to climb almost to the top. When I say climb, I mean climb. There was no trail and no railings. You just tried to pick the best way to get there. Once at the top the view was amazing! It was really windy as well. There was even a little church type building in the side of the mountain and it was filled with photos of people who have fallen off the mountain and died. It was a near death experience but definitely worth it!
Later, we explored the city and had lunch. I had two gorditas and a bottle of water and paid about $2 for it. It was delicious. We went shopping in the small stores as well. I bought a few things which I will not disclose because some are presents for you wonderful people back home. But, I bought myself a little framed painting of the monolith. It also was only about $2. I want to go back just to do more shopping. They have great stores and authentic things for cheap!!
We got home around 6pm on Sunday and I was exhausted. I ended up getting a bad cold. I believe it was from the lack of sleep and it being 80 during the day and 50 at night. The next day I woke up and went to my internship. Before, I went to the store to buy cough drops, medicine, and tissues to help me make it through. It was a great day at the internship. My one boss came and talked to me all about my trip and what I am doing next weekend and what other places I should travel. The secretary is a younger girl and she gave me the newspaper because there was a picture of me in it. She told me it was a present from the office. Don’t worry Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa, I saved it and will show it to you when I get home!
After my internship I came home and my host mom knew right away I was not feeling well. She was wonderful. She made me tea and honey, offered to take me to the doctor, gave me some medicine, and told me if I could not sleep to wake her up. So today I am feeling much better. I did not go to spinning at 7am but I will tomorrow.
My salsa class is getting a lot better. Last Friday we got partners and I struggled. I was so bad my partner sat down haha. It was kind of embarrassing. However, today was much better and I am finally getting the hang of it. We are learning turns and a lot of other things. I am really enjoying it.
This weekend I am headed to Acapulco with 20 other international students. We are taking a 9 hour bus ride on Friday night and returning early Tuesday morning. (We don’t have class on Monday!!) So I am excited and getting ready for that. I miss everyone at home and love you!