So finally got a chance to sign on to the web site... sorry it has taken so long.

That is life in Mexico!

I am loving it, just to start off...

to walk out from behind of Teatro Juarez the first day here and see a group of my friends playing hacky-sack in front of the church and Jardin Union was wonderful...

when they saw me all of them just stopped and stared as if they were seeing a ghost... and it wasnt just my white skin, either... they all started talking at once and a wave of relief washed over me because before I had a little bit of fear about seeing them because I wasnt sure if they would remember me.

They did and it has been a blast ever since... not much has changed...

Some people have gone, some new ones have arrived but it is still the Guanajuato that I love.

I dont even know how to describe the feeling that I have when I am here... content? ...comfortable? ...realxed?... happy?

I wish there was a word.

Really, I dont know how it is possible to feel so at home in a place where I stand out SO much.

From the moment when I saw my great friend Kike at the airport, he brought me and my friend Nicole roses, I knew it would be as incredible as the first time.

There is more rain than before, but that hasnt stopped anything... walking around the streets, I have the most enormous smile on my face... it is imposible to stop!

Everyday someone has come up to me and been like "Celia! You came back! When? Where are you staying? For how long? Where are you going? Lets hang out!"

Some of them I dont even remember (which I do feel bad about) but secretly it makes me feel good that they remember me... and I thought if they remembered me it would be for my hair, but it is an entirely different story.

I am staying with the same family as before and they are as wonderful as always.

I feel a little bad because I am almost always out of the house visiting with friends, but I have a little bit of an advantage this time because I can speak alot better than before... I dont have to struggle with my stories or explain myself as much now... we have REAL conversations!

Nicole, a friend who was here for a week... she left yesterday, asked me, "How did you make such good friends when you didnt even speak the language last time?"

I didnt really even have an answer... I barely spoke last time.

Listening in on conversations and laughing at stories, but barely putting my two cents in is what I remember.  I think the guys are a little surprised at how much I talk now... the companionship is really what it is all about.  The effort to accept one another despite the differences that are SO obvious on the outside.

I realize that there are those who think very little of Mexico, but I have to say... to this date... I believe is is my favorite place.  Guanajuato can be a trap to those who come and visit, I realize that...

Everyone stays in the same groups... people work in the same places... live in the same houses... for years.

I had the luck to come in and meet people from all of the different groups and get to know everyone... and although I now have my friends, the majority of them hang out with different people so I am constantly meeting new people.

Kike and Abraham are more preppy and work at the gym.

Kitty, Yarros, Angel and Nacho work at Bar Fly and are (they want to be) hippies.

Oswaldo and Ivan work at Why Not and have their own style.

Polo lives a little outside of Guanajuato and is a musician.

There are so many more... some of the circles overlap, which is cool... but the best thing is that some of them dont get along, but because I am an "extranjera" I can be friends with all of them and noone gives me grief.

I would love to come back here for a little while to live and work, outside/after of school, just to be here and really envelope myself in it... but I dont think this is a place I would want to stay forever...

one could go a little crazy with the drama... like in any small town.

Guadalajara may be the place for me... I think I am going there tomorrow with Kike...

or I may go with my friend Autumn to her place in San Miguel..,

the options and opportunities are endless in this "Neverland"!

Ok... time is up... love to all

xox cr