¡hola amigos y amigas!

OK, enough of de Español. So here I am with a brand new blog to chronicle my journey from South Carolina to Mexico. I received a research stipend for the summer to study Mexican tent shows (carpas Mexicanas) in south Texas and Mexico. I plan to write a book on Toby shows with a chapter on carpas and the Pellado character because I find they have a direct relationship to Toby shows. As well, there is little formal scholarship about them.

Maybe I'm finally having a mid-life (it hurt to type that) crisis, but I have never really been out of the country for any length of time. I'm tired of waiting for someone to travel with, so I just decided to go on my own. You know me, I love a challenge. So, Mexico, in the summer, as an Español beginner should be pretty fun. Plus I'm trying to do this conservatively, financially speaking.

I probably should have started this blog earlier because the research for the trip has been really interesting and difficult. I started taking Spanish lessons in the fall in hopes that the research award would follow. It did! The Spanish class experience has been really interesting. I took 3 years of college French and was never able to really converse, though I can read a little and understand a little. As I was practicing Spanish though, my French would come back unexpectedly. My conversational Spanish class ended in December, but I have been using the Rosetta Stone a little and Pimsleur's tapes a lot, and they have really helped. I believe I can speak more Spanish now than I every could French. Maybe that's because I want to?

My plans are to fly to Texas from Missouri around June 17 and visit: Texas A&M, Austin, and San Antonio. I will then fly into Mexico City about June 29 to do research at the library at the university in Mexico City. I have been corresponding with them through an interpreter. I also really want to visit several art museums, sites, etc. while I'm there. Then I will head to Belize around July 6 to lay on the beach for a week (I hope). That's the plan...

Finding information has been interesting...so until I leave, for those interested, I will include you on this journey of finding out what I'm doing and when and how. Then, even the smallest town that I plan to visit, Hopkins, Belize has 2 internet cafes. You get to see the whole thing...well, maybe not the whole thing....