My second to the last day in Guanajuato

Because the car buying trip took so long, we have put off our departure one day, that still only gives me two days back instead of three, to get everything packed up and do some reflective wandering, preparing to say goodbye. Yesterday turned out to be a lovely day of doing both of those things.

It was Mikko’s last day of school and his class has been rehearsing for a play that the class will perform on Saturday. Matthew and I came up to see a rehearsal, so that Mikko could have the experience of performing it. He was the rain and he did an excellent job, which I wasn’t able to capture here.

After the play I needed to go get my blood drawn for the last time here, so I walked down our callejon into town.

I had a gordita and fresh squeezed orange juice from the first gordita ladies we ever went to - oh so long ago. Delish.

I bought some flowers around the corner at the Baratillo, for the lady who draws my blood.

After my blood draw and saying goodbye to the señora, I headed down to the market to buy some blankets to protect the car seats. There was a march/demonstration going on which always warms my heart. I believe the issue was living wages. There was sign that said something about $50 is not enough. I asked the women $50 for what, and she said monthly.

Then I bought a mix of fruit with chili and lime - and ate it.

I took the funicular home, because I had forgotten my camera earlier and had already gone up the stairs once, plus I wanted to buy some things at the tourist stands at the top, but they were all closed.

I came home and packed a bunch and puttered and at 2:00 Matthew and I went back up to Mikko’s school for a celebration of San Juan. There was a story and a circle dance…

and jumping over the fire. leaping into the future and leaving the bad stuff behind.

We came home and chilled and packed some more - I found another dog on a rooftop.

There was an excellent rain storm - that let up, just when we were getting hungry and deciding to go eat.

It rains so hard and so fast that all the garbage gets washed to the bottom of the callejon.

We had dinner in a fancyish restaurant on the Jardin - I swear this is candid.

Matthew took off for a pulque date and Mikko and I wandered around town doing some errands. The light was beautiful. Here are some of the things that we saw.

All in all a pretty nice second to that last day. Today is packing and cleaning and hopefully having some wine with a friend. Some kids in the neighborhood have signed on to help us carry stuff up the hill to the car early early in the morning.

This has been an amazing, life changing experience. I have met wonderful people and gotten to experience a wonderful way of life. I met my goal of being comfortable talking on the phone in Spanish- or at least not absolutely terrified of it. I believe too that I will be able to work with students and parents coming from Mexico with a much fuller understanding of where they are coming from - and that can only make things better. It is hard saying goodbye to everyone - and everyone asks immediately, “So when will you return?” All we can say is some day.

We are unhooking the internet in a few hours to return the equipment. Thanks to all of you have left comments and to everyone who looks at my blog and makes those blogstats rise. It is nice to know that I am sharing this experience with so many people.

I’m hoping to post some from the road - but who knows if I actually will get it together.

Everything you ever wanted to know about blood draws and pacemaker tests

December 29th was the 6 month anniversary of my open heart surgery. January 6th was the 6 month anniversary of my pacemaker installation.

Yesterday was an exciting day. I had my first appointment over the phone with the pacemaker clinic. Crazy stuff. I also had to get my blood drawn for my bi-monthly INR test to make sure my blood is thin enough to get through the new valve without clotting and thick enough that I don’t bleed to death from a paper cut.

My friend Lise came along to document the procedure. And, as it turns out blogged about that morning too:

(I also need to let my good friends, who care about these things, know that after seeing these pictures I ran right out and got a haircut.   haircut.jpg  It’s good - not as good as Heather does, of course, but definitely better.)

The lab I go to is on the top floor of a hospital that is in a big old colonial building in the center. We should have taken a picture of the beautiful terrace that is outside her lab. Oh well.

This is the nice señora who sticks a very long needle into my arm every 2-3 weeks and who is very patient with me and my Spanish.

It doesn’t actually hurt that much, it is just the anticipation, sometimes she has to wiggle the needle around to find the vein.

Today was good day though, she hit it right away. Just look at that blood rushing into the needle.

Then she writes down my info in a little spiral notebook on her cluttered workbench and I pay her about 11 dollars, (110 pesos.) She does the test and in the afternoon I get my results in a legal sized envelope in the front lobby of the hospital and take them to a copy place to FAX them to my anticoagulation nurse at Kaiser, who then emails me my coumadin instructions. It’s a great system.

At noon it was time for my pacemaker test. The telephone appointment was scheduled before we left Portland. Someone from the pacemaker clinic called me at the appointed time and I had my little machine ready.

I had little wristbands connecting me to the machine, then I put the handset onto the machine and she got the signal from my pacemaker, all the way up there in Portland, Oregon USA.

Then I had to put this big strong magnet right over the pacemaker - I wasn’t so crazy about that. It flips a switch in the pacemaker to get another reading. I don’t totally understand, (I think they explained it to me in Portland, but I don’t remember.) My heart definitely felt different and I was glad to have it done with. She said it was a clear signal though, and that my numbers were good, so that’s good I suppose. Then we made another appointment for four months from now, hung up and it was done.

Cheese god, my hair was bad!!

10/24

Today was a good day for La Ultima Wipe in beautiful ‘ol Guanajuato. It has gotten quite cold and blustery all of a sudden, so that is nice.

As I was walking to pick up Mikko, up the long long hill (as seen in the following pictures,) I started chatting with a woman who I see each morning. She invited me into her house and I met her husband and son, who was reading La Jornada (the progressive, lefty paper.) She was actually advertising her weekend amusement park type business and encouraging me to come with my family. (At first I thought she was just inviting us to all go out there together, then I realized is was her business.) It looks like fun, there is a trampoline and scooters to ride and other diversions. She was so sweet and after a nice little visit she said I should stop by her house anytime.

It was perfect timing because I was feeling so disappointed yesterday after my acupuncture appointment that was with a woman from Orcas Island. She was very nice, and is involved in some cool things, but she filled me in on some gringo gossip and we spoke English the whole time (obviously.) I keep getting worried that I will just fall into these gringo circles and not get to meet or get to know any real Mexican people, or speak Spanish.

So today was good. I started out at the lab getting my blood drawn and chatting with the lady there in Spanish. Had a whole day of Spanish at school, met the lovely woman on the stairs, then chatted with Victor outside of school, half in English half in Spanish (he is totally bilingual and is very gracious and patient with me.)

Picking up Mikko was a joy. He continues to be very happy and perky. (It turns out there was a boy in his class who was a bit volatile and unpredictable, who has now been expelled, and Mikko has been much happier about school since then.) As Mikko and I were coming down our callejon steps, I told a man coming up carrying a crate on his head that I liked his hat. He didn’t smile BUT Mikko understood what I had said. Then some teenagers were coming up the steps. We live about 2/3 of the way up to the Pipila. The boys were on their way there. When they came around the bend and saw that they still had a ways to go they wailed, and I yelled to them that they could do it!! They smiled and laughed, and trudged on up. That made me feel good. We came home and I had my little lie down and then made delicious enchiladas with the leftover mole.

I went into town to get my blood results, (which were too high, so I am a little worried, but not too worried, mostly just annoyed, ) and went to an internet spot after faxing my results to Kaiser. When I came out it was just after dusk. The air was chilly, there were open shops and beautiful buildings with people shopping and visiting and living their lives and I really felt like I was in Mexico again, not the amusement park that the Cervantino festival turned this town into. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to experience it, but I’m happy to get to experience life after Cervantino now. Then as the total clincher to a good day – I walked all the way up our callejon without needing to stop and rest.

The wind is blowing really hard right now. It is cold enough that I am actually wearing a few shirts and socks for the first time since we got here. I might even put an extra blanket on my bed.