Hola,

Today is Dia de los Muertos in Mexico and I just finished a long weekend of celebrating. The holiday here is a huge celebration where everyone wears costumes and enjoys themselves for three days. Many people gather at the cemetaries to pay respects to their loved ones by putting things on the grave.People also construct altars as offering to the dead. My group built an altar in one of the local cemetaries. We put a lot of work into it (it took six hours to build) and it came out really well. We made a giant arch out of sugar cane and tied beautiful flowers to it. We placed items such as bread, fruit and peanuts on the altar.

On halloween night I wore a giant tigger costume and had a lot of fun. I wore it to the cemetary tour and lots of people (kids and adults alike) wanted to take pictures with me. I kind of felt like one of those people who dress like cartoon characters at disneyland and take pictures with people.

Last week I was placed at the local hospital. On wednesday I got to go to the ER and observe the doctors there but it was not very exciting. No emergency cases occured and the doctors there seemed a little bit annoyed we were there. Thursday was a whole different story. I got to go to the surgery floor and observe. The doctors were very accomadating and let us peer over their shoulders as they operated. I saw a doctor perform a histerectomy (uterus removal) because of benign miomas on the uterus. It was very interesting but also gruesome to see the doctor cut through the fat, abdominal muscles and whatever other layers he cut through. That same day I also saw two births. One normal and one caesarian. It was the first time I had ever seen a live birth and it was a very interesting experience. The woman who gave birth was on her sixth kid so the birth took about 5 seconds and was a little anticlimatic. I kind of expected a long, agonizing process. I have another week at the hospital so hopefully I will see more interesting things I can relate to you all.

Tomorrow we are going on a tour of the sierras (the local mountain range). As part of the tour we get to do a zipline which I am excited about. On saturday we are going to Puerto Escondido for two weeks for some rest and relaxation on the beach.

Hasta luego,
Max