Buying the car

So, last Monday, the 16th I left to buy a car in the states to bring back down, so we could pack it up and drive home. The hope was to return with a groovy, resellable station wagon by Friday. Turns out that wasn’t very realistic. My wonderful, helpful, generous and kind man friend, Tom came to help check out the car and to drive part of the way back through Mexico with me.

He met me in Ciudad Juarez with this crazy red, gutless rental car that we used for the week. (This picture is actually taken somewhere between Albuquerque and El Paso.)

We drove straight up to New Mexico where I had learned, on the internets, that there was a bigger variety of cars for sale - it seems that in Texas most people are selling pickup trucks.

From the get-go nothing happened particularly smoothly. Even buying a pay as you go cell phone, which was my first task - took a number of tries. BUT we found a great car for a good price quickly, in very pretty countryside 45 minute out of Santa Fe.

After some delays with getting the money to the seller Wednesday afternoon I was ready to title it and drive home to Mexico the next morning.

It turns out though, that unless you live in the state where you are getting the title, you can’t get a title, so I got a 10 day temporary New Mexico registration, (the longest that they give.)

We shot back down to El Paso (a 5 hour drive.) We didn’t want to buy the mandatory Mexican insurance which they sell at the border and find out at customs 30 km. away that we didn’t have the right papers or had done something wrong, so we decided to go to the consulate to make sure we had everything we needed Thursday morning. After standing in a long line - we were given a phone number to call. I called and told the woman my situation and she told me that there was no way to get permit for the car to be in Mexico, because they only give 6 month permits and my car wasn’t registered for that long. In a panic, we went to a Texas DMV to see if I could title the car there - but no, they only give 30 day temporary registrations. I called Oregon DMV to see if I could title it long distance - he said, (very slowly,) that he supposed so and after telling me everything I had to do said it would take 4 to 6 weeks.

I was devastated, defeated and downtrodden and it was around 100+ degrees out. We decided to get a hotel for one more night and figure out what the hell we were going to do. I was thinking of all the possible alternatives for how to get all of our crap home and deal with this new car and still be able to see some of the world between Guanajuato and Portland and not lose a lot of money. There weren’t many. Then I realized that all of this disaster and devastation, (of my little life,) was because of what one person said in one telephone call. So I called back and asked again. This time the person said she was sure it was possible and gave me another number to call and that person said, “No problem.” With renewed hope, we rushed straight to the Texas DMV, got a 30 day registration, there was an insurance place next door, so we got the Mexican insurance and bright and early the next morning got across the border with a permit for 87 days.

Oh my god!! That was a happy day. And I was driving in Mexico!! It isn’t as scary as it looks.

We spent that night in a very pretty little town called Jimenez, a few hours south of Chihuahua.

It was so wonderful to be back in Mexico after 4 days of strip malls and Holiday Inns.

On the advise of a woman at the bank machine we had a delicious breakfast of Nescafe, pork burritos and carrot/beet juice in this bus. It really was delicious! And so clever. And very nice people.

We drove another 8 hours south to the beautiful Zacatecas.

Tom and I parted ways on Sunday morning and I was on my own for the next 5 hours or so on the open road.

When I got home I parked near the Pipila where the car will stay until we drive it away loaded with nine months worth of stuff, a dog and three Oregonians. Butch was HUGE after my 6 days away, the boys were excited about the car and the rootbeer I brought and that we are that much closer to leaving.

Monte San Nicolas

A while ago, a new friend, Liz, took me to a small community outside of Guanajuato to see a three room, 1st-6th grade school. Unfortunately there was some holiday that closed public schools, that we didn’t know about so I just literally saw the school. I didn’t get to see teachers and kids.

The town is Monte San Nicolas and it was a mining town way back when. Now, the mine has closed and it is just a struggling little place on a dirt road about 10 miles from Guanajuato. It is quite beautiful though and there is a very lovely church that is being restored.

(Coincidentally, there was an article about the town last Sunday in the local paper.)

The old school.

New school, which was built a few years ago.

The town is incredibly old and there are ruins that are being preserved.

We drove through Santa Rosa on the way home, which is actually on the highway and Liz took me to this bakery, where they have the best bolillos around in the wood fired oven.  Bolillos are a white bread rolls that are ideally crusty on the outside and soft and bready  on the inside.  They also had a flaky pastry that was just like a croisant, except for the shape.  So GOOD.  The bakery has been in the family for years and is just a door with no sign so you need to know it to go.  It basically looked more like a mechanic’s garage than a bakery, but they sure make good stuff.

Continuing on to Veracruz

We left Tuxpan, and traveled south past orange groves and corn fields, through little towns and over hills that turned to mountains.

It was overcast all the way down and the air conditioning was going strong in the bus so it felt like a cool gray day - so welcome. When we arrived in Veracruz and got off the bus we were blasted by the wet, heat - I was surprised my glasses didn’t fog up.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed with Veracruz. I had seen a movie that I thought took place in Veracruz and I was all ready to be in this charming town whose zocolo was on the water. Turns out it is a great big city on a harbor. There is charm as there is in all of Mexico - but it wasn’t what I had expected. We had a good time though. We stayed in a hotel right on the Zocolo with a room that looked out over the harbor.

I was attracted to the mix of building types and their ages - modern buildings abutting colonial buildings, abandoned wrecks nestled beside fancy fresh facades. I don’t think I captured the mix very well, now that I see these, but here are some groovy buildings.

Below you can see the art deco PEMEX building in the distance. The big building in front of it is all torn apart. There were people using jackhammers up in the middle stories. We wondered if they were whittling it down and if so what it would look like when they were done.

We took the bus to the beach our second day. It was miserably hot so my first dip into the Atalantic Ocean was very very welcome.

The sleepy fellows below had had a few beers before we showed up and slept all day. Their families didn’t seem to miss them to much though.

That night we had a fancy dinner - here is my big bubbly pot of meat and cheese. mmmmmm

the zocolo.

from the hotel

Meanwhile, back at el Rancho there was a wedding

The big exciting thing coming up, has been the wedding of one of Maria’s aunts ( who I believe is about 5 years younger than Maria.) The big day was Saturday and my friend Tom, (of penpal fame, who has come back to GTO for a visit,) and I went to it.

We took a city bus out to Yerba Buena, a community on the way out of town, and after asking directions a few times and, of course walking quite a ways, we found the church. Once we were there, we waited for a while - of course.

It was a long mass with lots of sitting down and standing up. We were standing in the back, so we could relax.

I kept trying to focus on what the pastor said, but soon realized even if it was in English, I probably didn’t have the attention span to follow along, so I spent most of my time looking at cute babies, trying not to eat their pudgie little hands.

After the ceremony we squeezed onto a bus that they had hired to take people from the wedding to the reception at El Rancho, (the home of Maria and her family).

Once everyone was there, we sat under tents and tarps, listening to live musicians ( a guitar and a bongo player,) sing love songs.

And waited for the fellows to cook this wheelbarrel full of meat.

It was served with mole, rice and tortillas and mmmm, was it good.

It had been a very hot day, but the wind began to blow and it started to cool down. It was quite wonderful.

We decided to go before the cake, and the dancing. I don’t think anyone missed us.

Solemne Fiesta al Patriarca SAN JOSE

On Sunday Quince and I went out to Rodeo de San Jose, the little town near Maria’s family’s ranch because it was their patron saint’s day and there was a big celebration that would culminate in eating the most delicious mole in Mexico, which Maria’s mother, Lidia, makes.

We took the city bus way out into the country outside of Guanajuato and got off at a little dirt road. We followed the road which soon became paved and found ourselves in a little tiny town, festooned with papel picado and all the vendors who are generally out for any celebration

There were lots of cowboys of all ages.

The main event while we were there was this jousting/golden ring type event where two guys race at a time and try to get a golden ring onto a stick off of a rope that they ride under.

When someone gets the ring they take it over to the queen and all the princesses who are standing on the back of a truck and give them the ring and give the queen a kiss. They were all a’twitter when this rotund fellow got the ring.

And a little more positive twittering when this handsome young lad got it.

Everyone else watches. Quince and I were wandering around poking our heads in the crowds trying to find good view spots that weren’t too crazy sunny and hot. A few times we found good spots just to decide to move away because of the super drunk fellows that would come and try to talk to us in no comprehensible language. I think we were the only gringas around.

We eventually found Lidia and joined her and a large group who walked across the road to the ranch to sit in the shade and eat the most delicious mole.

This last week…

has been lovely with the Aunties here AND I have been teaching English at Mikko’s school. We planned the Aunties’ tourist week around meals, at favorite restaurants and at home. Therefore, we have eaten very well and had some good card playing time as well. One of the best meals is a city bus ride away at Tamales Purupecha. It is Michaocan style tamales, pozole, and corundas, which are kind of like mini tamales that are wrapped in chard and covered with salsa verde and crema. Oh Yummmm.

Quince and I took nice long walks early early in the mornings. It has been great after my long break from walks during our trip.

Then I took Mikko to school, and generally came home to putter until around 11 when I would go back up and teach. It felt good to be back in the classroom. Everyone should get to take a year off, so they can miss their job, and remember how much they love it. (I have probably said that before and will most likely say it again.)

There were two scorpian sightings, one disturbing one was floating dead in the water that I had just washed my clothes in by hand - which makes me think it was alive in the pile of laundry as I was carrying it around.  The other was up near the ceiling on the wall.  Matthew squished it handily with a book.

Here are some random pictures of the week:

This is right around the corner from Mikko’s school. It has been a good week for burro sightings.

It was the hottest week we have had so far - in the 90s most days. Matthew bought a package of balloons for water balloons - and he Mikko and Mikko’s friend Adam managed to involve the boys across the callejon in some good water balloon fights. Notice the orange blob flying towards the boy in the bue shirt

No puppy news yet.

Just a typical weekend in Guanajuato

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Our friends Victor and Cindy decided to have a little BBQ since everyone was home from our spring break.

They live in a big beautiful house where the kids just run off and you can forget all about them.

After dinner fashion show

After the party we went to pick up Aunties Sue and Quince who arrived from Portland, but I didn’t get any pictures.

SATURDAY

We went into town with Victor and Cindy and their two kids Taner and Kyan.

We stopped in a church to say hi to poor Jesus. Mikko’s friend Adam had us go in so we could see a statue of a saint who was pointing up, St. Jude(?) and who Adam thinks looks like he is flipping everyone off. I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture.

Got a drink

At the Jardin there were some medieval people being interviewed while they waited for the parade. Notice the little gringo trying to get on TV.

Then of course, the medieval belly dancers and bag pipers came along.

and the rest

We followed the parade to the medieval encampment at the baseball stadium.

There were sword fights, and archery contests as well as horsey things. You could also get medieval tacos, gorditas, enchiladas etc.

That night we played cards by candlelight in observance of the “Hour without Power”

SUNDAY

Victor and Cindy live right across the road from this big dam type lake thing, the Presa de la Olla. There are lovely little parks around and many families come and picnic and take out boats on Sundays. We decided to join them.

Cindy got the prize for happiest rower, in our boat.

Kyan got it for cutest rower

I guess I got the prize for pinkest sweater wearing rower.

The other boat kept pursuing us and bombing us with bread that was supposed to be for the ducks. What is the deal with 8 year old boys?

(The big, square looking, white house, on the left is Cindy and Victor’s FYI.)

We had all worked up our appetites, what with all the rowing and bombing and such, so went to an excellent restaurant that not only has very good food from all over Mexico, but the best burgers in town.

Just your average weekend in beautiful Guanajuato, Mexico

4 days in TJ

This is a bit of an epic post, but Tijuana is a bit of an epic place. It is all so big and heavy. I have just barely scratched the surface. Our friend that we stayed with has a blog about living there.

We traveled up Baja through miles and mile of this type of landscape .

This is the first of 6 military checkpoints that we had to stop at. They just chose a few random suitcases to go through, then showed the crowd pictures of things: drugs weapons etc. that they have gotten at that particular checkpoint. I got reprimanded for taking this picture, but he didn’t make me erase it.

At about 2 in the morning they made a bunch of people, including Matthew get off and frisked them. Mikko and I were sleeping like babies, so missed the whole thing.

When we woke up the ocean was right outside and the hillsides were covered with wild flowers.

Jesus was there to welcome us at some point. He’s such a nice guy.

I was very attracted to the dashboard of our bus.

It was much colder, so far north, than we were used to. (Mikko was still a little sick too.)

We were greeted, at our friends’ house by their nine month old Chihuahua, Xoloitzcuintle, Xolito for short. He was a sweet companion, when he wasn’t humping your arm.

Our friends live less then a block from the beach, about 5 or 6 blocks from the border.

This fence runs all the way along the border, so basically is the northern border of Tijuana.

This was a park that represented the friendship between Mexico and the US. They started building the fence just before NAFTA, long before 9/11. The powers that be knew how NAFTA would trash the Mexican economy and that people would be coming north to look for work - so we had to be sure to lock them out.

Families used to picnic on either side of the fence. There were always vendors on the Mexican side selling delicious things, so people would pass food through this hole to the US side where they were miles from a McDonalds. La Migra closed the hole though. There is no one on the US side anymore, except immigration police watching the fence.

The wall has become a site for a lot of art. This shows how once the wall was built and the doors were locked it forced people to risk their lives crossing the desert.

On a lighter note- we went to a soccer game on Sunday. The Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente. (Xoloitzcuintle, is that crazy looking Aztec, hairless dog, BTW.) This is a shot of their fans. They were as loud and rowdy as the Timbers Army in Portland.

And one crazy Mexican hotdog. The Xoloitzcuintle colors are red and black which is why the hotdog comes in a red tortilla, of course.

Unfortunately, they lost. Which was a big deal - I blame myself. Generally when I go to a Timbers game their winning streaks come to a halt too. Sorry.

Another picture I wasn’t supposed to take - so I’m posting it even though it doesn’t really show anything. According to Lynn, the new soccer stadium and everything around is owned by the ex mayor of Tijuana. Including his own private zoo, pictured here. (We could hear lions getting intimate, I believe.)

On Monday we planned to go to some museums to see some artwork of a friend and just generally do some touristy things. Little did we know it was the official holiday celebrating the nationalization of oil, so everything was closed. We saw some pretty park benches though.

The next day we ventured across the border to do a little shopping. I guess I wasn’t supposed to get this picture either.

Ah the beautiful US of A.

And a good ol’ American hotdog.

We found good sushi in Tijuana the next day.

And dropped by a workers’ rights office.

So nice to be around some radical politics, after the ultra conservative GTO.

Though why peace, workers rights and the environment are radical is a mystery to me. (Actually, unfortunately it isn’t a mystery, just a travesty.)

Then on Wednesday we got a ride to the airport, past our last glimpse of the wall, and the art on it. Each cross represents someone who has died making the crossing. At this point more people have died than in 9/11 or US casualties in the Iraq war, since the wall was built.

Tenacatita

On Monday we went to Tenacatita. It is a very sleepy little town on a different stretch of beach that is only beachfront palapa restaurants. We had to take a bus that was headed to Puerta Vallarta and get off on the highway. D and L used to come here 14 years ago and they remembered it being a dirt road that we would need to walk on for a few miles to the town. We got off the bus at a big paved intersection with a highway sign pointing to Tenacatita. As we started walking up the big paved expanse, a beautiful sparkly green pickup truck had pulled over to pick up a woman who had also gotten off the bus. The driver whistled and they both waved for us to come and climb into the back. As we rode and rode and rode down the road, we realized how lucky we were, it was a really long way.

Once in town, we walked down to the end of the strip of restaurants to the restaurant of Mosca, a friend of D and L’s. He was there and they had a happy reunion. They went off to find other friends and Matthew, Mikko and I set up for the day under his big covered eating area that was empty because it was Monday. There were hammocks!! (Some of you may know about my love of hammocks.)

It was another beautiful day of lounging, reading and playing in the waves. When D and L got back we went to a little cove at the other end of the beach, called the aquarium and did a little snorkeling. It was pretty cool, but there were a lot of stingrays around and despite my dad’s reassurances that “they won’t bother you if you don’t bother them” it was a little hard to relax and get into the whole experience.

We went back to Mosca’s and had a delicious meal of shrimp and big whole delectable fish - (I could only have quesadillas but had a few bites of the shrimp and fish without breaking into hives, hurrah!) Mosca gave us a ride out to the highway (we saw the shorter dirt road that we had been shooting for,) and we flagged down a bus headed for Barra.

Matthew took this picture and the one of Mikko in the hammock.

Mosca with his fancy van.

Waiting for the bus.

Guided by soccer and Jesus - we made it home to Barra.

Our last walk together

My walking partner, fellow blogger and friend, Lise has flown home with her family. I’m so sad, I will miss our walks and our connection.

We took our last walk together yesterday - Dad and Laurie came too. We headed back to the Presa Mata, but this time came at it from the other direction.

We took a bus to a tiny town in the countryside called Santa Rosa, and walked from there.

This is from the bus, looking down onto Valenciana and Guanajuato in the distance.

I didn’t take any pix in Santa Rosa, but we walked out past the school and some farms and there was some great fence action.  Those are car hoods.

Lots and lots of car hoods.

We passed the tiny town of San Nicolas on a tiny dirt road.

After walking for ever and ever we finally made it to the water. There’s our little beach in the distance. Once we got there the wind was blowing so hard that we weren’t hot, so none of us got into the water. We had bought some amazing tamales at Mercado Hidalgo though and who really needs swimming when you have tamales?

We went back down to town the usual way and got so hot, we regretted that we hadn’t gotten chilled to the bone in the presa. Lise and I took a cab the last leg of the way - to retrieve our children from the wonderful friends who had picked them up from school.

I’m sure going to miss her.