October

Well here is a selection of some of the great kids that I came to work with in Mexico. Many of them look better in the Halloween costumes that they wore to our school

Halloween Night on October 28th 2000. Those in the first three photos above are all in my Year 5 class, the others are in various other classes. I have taught them all at some stage over the year.

The cheerful head-stone (left) dedicated to myself has a calavera written on it. This is a kind of poem, and it is something of a tradition to produce calaveras like this for all the teachers. This became quite a busy art project for some Year 8 and 9 children and myself.

In these early weeks of my time in Mexico I was obviously keen to explore the local area. This was not particularly easy without transport of my own, but I had some interesting little adventures using the local transport. The first place I visited on my

own was Bernal, a small town about 20 miles away, in the lee of an enormous volcanic plug that can be seen quite clearly from school.

One Sunday, 16th October to be precise, I attempted my first bus journeys) this was to the nearby town of Huichapan in the neighbouring state of Hidalgo. After confusion at the bus station, it slowly became clear that there wouldn't be a direct bus and that I would have to change at San Juan Del Rio. This was fairly straightforward, and I caught the connecting bus okay towards Huichapan. I got off at a bus station of sorts, but after further confusion it became clear that I had not reached my destination and I had to take taxi the last 5 kilometres. The Sunday market there was quite an eye-opener, and my first introduction to the bizarre and colourful world of the Mexican market.

The following Sunday 23rd October, I wanted to start

doing my weekly laundry. When I went to turn on the

outside hose, I almost put my hand on this spectacular praying mantis.