valle de bravo!

Ok, so it has been over a week since i last posted and i'm sorry but i either haven't had much to say or had too much to say now =) but here goes...
so, last week not much to talk about, wrote a 5 page paper in spanish and no idea how i did that but sweet, its done. School School, blah blah, friday night we all went to eat again at marco polo's and that was yummy so that's pretty much all that happened last week.
This weekend, though, has been so wonderful. There's a guy here, Alessandro, that I met and he is great and his family lives in Valle de Bravo, about 4 hrs from Cuerna but it is on a lake. It is a BEAUTIFUL area, reminds me a lot of home with the pine trees and hills. He and I and Tayna, Memo, Carlo, and 2 of carlo's friends Grace and Vives came up Saturday. Getting here was nice just because we weren't in a bus and even though there were 5 of us squeezed into a fairly small car, i enjoyed it.
Valle is an old town and the streets are all cobbled, which means the traffic moves slow no matter what time it is and it has been just a really nice change from Cuerna. Alessandro's house is pretty much right on the lake...his mom designs, builds, rents and sells houses and she is good. The house is beautiful. So Saturday we just kind of took it easy, ate a delicious dinner that his mom fixed of pasta, soup and salad. and played cards all night and tried to walk to the lake in the dark which was hilarious because it is really muddy right now because they drained a lot of it in preparation for the rainy season (now).
Sunday...here's where the funny parts start...i got up and made pancakes for everyone and they were good, not to brag or anything =) and then we got around to going to rent a boat to ski and wakeboard with. Well...the boat was really small, i wish i had pictures of it. in total there were 8 people on it, which was probably 4 too many and so basically you couldn't really ski because the boat couldn't go fast enough. so we wakeboarded and i was the only one on the boat who had every done it before, which i thought was funny. Anyway, so we have this driver right, and he is, to tell the truth, HORRIBLE. he would shoot off way to fast sometimes, and sometimes drive too slow, and sometimes turn right when he would begin so you'd have to turn the board as you were getting up and then he wouldn't avoid wakes, and to his credit, the lake was really choppy so it wasn't all his fault. but, seriously, tayna and i were laughing SO much just because we knew that it could be so much easier. and, go figure, when we went down to the dock to get the boat it was bright and sunny but about 45 min into our outing it started raining...so yea, great boating experience in Mexico...Andy i'm ready for Beaver Lake!!! =)
Oh, and we got to ride in the back of their truck which brought memories of home, for sure...and after we 'skiied' we went to watch the finals of the Eurocup at this little place that had really good seafood. Tayna said that it was the best meal she's had here, and coming from her that's a big compliment =) then we came back and had a nap cause it was raining and in Mexico that is the best thing to do while it rains. The two girls had to go back to Mexico city so they left that evening. Yesterday Tayna and I breakfasted on Turkey and dressing that Alessandro's mom made and againd, delicious. Carlo forgot he had to do something for school and had to rush around and go catch a bus back to Cuernavaca. Alessandro and Memo had to hurry and run some errands but before they did they helped Tayna and I get their kayaks into the small river that runs into the lake. We had so much fun! we paddled down the river, which was a little rough in a couple places and Tayna hasn't done much kayaking so she did good getting it down there. and then we just piddled around the lack and watched the storm come in from over the mtns (yes, again, it was sunny and just as we get on the lake it clouds up) still, it was beautiful and we had a great time out in the lake exploring. Since we couldn't get the kayaks back up the river we decided to try going straight from the shore to the house...through the mud. lol oh, you have never seen two girls trying to drag kayaks through mud up to their knees have you? it was a blast. we looked so pitiful that they guys working on a little gazebo area before his house felt sorry and came and helped us carry them the rest of the way. then it started pouring and we went inside and took showers and then decided to play RISK...ha, as some of you may know, i love RISK, but it does get competitive and i have been guilty at times of letting it get too personal and that kind of happened, but nothing too dramatic. Alessandro and I had to go in the middle of the game to get his stuff and pick up some pizza cause they were starving boys (of course) and we got to walk around the zocalo while we waited for the pizza to be done. We were all tired and so we went to bed early last night. we are leaving today and its probably a good thing cause we are missing classes because of this, but i would much rather be doing this than be in class so i'm fine with it. So soon i'll be home and see y'all, i have many more stories to tell!