Ruidoso, New Mexico

What a great way to start 2017 by getting to see real snow for the first time in my life! I almost cried. Ever since I was a little girl I have died to know how it is. Where I live it doesn't snow, actually, the last time it did was 21 years ago and really lightly. I visited some relatives in El Paso, Tx. during new year and together we went on a small trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico.

  We went specifically to a place called Ski Apache, located at the top of a big mountain. It was SO cold I could barely feel my hands and my nose started to get runny. I had a bit of trouble to get used to the weather at first, but once I got the chance to go sledding I completely forgot about it. 

  Mescalero Lake

Ski Apache, Alto, NM

Washington, D.C. in just one day

Alee in the White House, baby! This year's summer vacations were invested in nothing less than a nice roadtrip to New York city, but first we decided to make a small stop in Washington, D.C. -which by the way it never captured my attention until now and oh, how beautiful it is-. The thing is I only got to be there for just one day due to the tiring, long way my family and I had been on, definitely worth it though, we tried to visit some of the "must-visit" places in there:

1. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The section I liked the most was a short aisle located downstairs the main entrace, a small painting exhibition made by jewish children.

"We are the shoes, we are the last witnesses,

we are shoes from grandchildren and grandfathers

from Prague, Paris and Amsterdam,

and because we are only made of fabric and leather

and not of blood and flesh,

each one of us avoided the Hellfire"

Moses Schulstein

2. Washington Monument

3. National World War II Memorial

4. Abraham Lincoln Memorial

5. The White House 

Streets and buildings in Washington

Though it was just one day and there were still other places to visit, I left with a really good impression of Washington. Later I felt frustrated when I realized that I forgot to buy a Washington keychain for my collection :(. 

Guanajuato, México

The second place I got to visit on December was Guanajuato. In my opinion is a MUST visit when you come to Mexico! I loved it, it was one of my favorite places to go. First of all, the way the houses are built in here is just lovely and original. Lots of alleys, garages on top of the houses and definitely FULL of colors, which makes a colorful view with that "mexican-rustic" touch.

It also has one of the most beautiful views. I got there at night but still looked beautiful though. This is a monument representing "El Pípila".

 Guanajuato at night

There's also a museum about the mexican inquisition, its called "Palacio de la Inquisición" which was a religious place where priests used to torture people as a consequence of their sins. Some reasons of punishment would be lies, betrayal, unloyalty, homosexuality, pregnancy before marriage and even special conditions such as Down Syndrome or epilepsy. 

This is a representation about the way priests used to torture people. Arms and legs tied, and everytime the person doesn't tell the truth (or if they don't believe them) they used to spin that cross that you see on the left so it would stretch his extremities to the point of separate their bones. Those skulls you see on the red background (prison cells) represent another way they used to torture people. Honestly, this was the most terrible thing they used to do: psychological torture. Story tells people in there usually tend to be relatives of the person being tortured on the wood bed and they would watch and hear their screams. The only way they would let them out is taking the victim's fault. 

Chair of torture full of spikes all over it

This is the outside of the palace. The walls were supposedly built with material that prevents any scream or sound to be heard. 

These were a few things that captured my attention in Guanajuato. 10/10 Would recommend! And don't make me start with the mexican candies that they sell ;) 

-Alexandra