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.

The Rainy Season has Begun

FINALLY !! It has been cool and gray for the past three days. And it has RAINED!!

We are so happy. It is funny, it does subdue the mood though - it is a kind of a melancholy happiness I feel.

We are having a big birthday party on Sunday for 7 people. So Mikko and I are baking a cake for 50 people, or so. I am having Mikko help me with all the calculations as his math practice.

Today we made a list of about a kajillion kilos of cake ingredients (using lots of math), went to the Commercial ( a US style supermarket,) and bought it all, plus a couple bottles of wine and a ream of paper, planning to take the bus or a cab home whichever came first. As we were checking out, the lights went out and then on, and as we got to the door there was a huge crowd waiting inside because it was POURING outside. We waited a bit but just wanted to get home. We stepped out and I was immediately blinded by all the water POURING down into my eyes and over my glasses. I had this ridiculous notion that we could just step out and get a cab. Unfortunately everyone in Guanajuato had also had that notion a few minutes before I did. We waited for a bus for about a half hour and finally gave up on one coming. An hour and half after leaving the store Mikko and I dragged our sorry soaked through asses over our threshold with our very wet kajillion kilos of flour, eggs, butter, sugar… We had ended up walking back and luckily the funicular was running, though it appeared not to be when we first got there, I was ready to leave our groceries behind and truck up the waterfall that was our callejon.

We have now had hot showers and are each on our computers as Matthew cooks a steak dinner and Ella serenades us. Pretty nice

It rained!!!! Finally!!!!!

The day we went camping….

Can you see the raindrops on the water?

We actually had a wonderful time. We had already had much of the afternoon at the site, swimming and frolicking, when it started thundering and lightninging and then raining. I was convinced it would pass quickly, because the only rain we have gotten here lately has lasted about 5 or 10 minutes. Luckily we had just got the tents set up and we huddled inside and waited it out. ( Though it did chase one of the families that we were with away.) It was actually pretty lovely and wonderful, but I was worried at one point that it would just keep raining and we would end up packing up and hauling everything out in the rain. That’s what would have happened in Oregon. It stopped after about an hour, and we all had dry clothes to change into. It was a chilly evening, but we had time to cook dinner before the sun went down. There were s’mores and guitar playing around the camp fire. I just kept thinking about all the fleece and gloves and hats I didn’t pack because it was 90 stinkin’ degrees as we were packing to go.

Butch did great. She loved being outside and finding sticks and horse poop. The next morning, as soon as the sun came up it was warm and then hot. We took a walk and took frequent dips before

we packed everything up and hauled it out again. Butch got out on a log and dove in to try to follow us, but made a hairpin turn in the water and ran right out. So cute.

Last stop, Puebla

We left Veracruz and headed for Puebla to break up the ride back to Guanajuato. Matthew and Mikko and all spent a month there when Mikko was 2. The centro is very sweet and beautiful, old and colonial, as you walk past the centro you get that mix of architecture that I talked about in Veracruz, (but didn’t get any good pix of it here either.)

We were just there overnight, so didn’t wander far. We stayed on the zocolo again. There was a band playing when we arrived.

One of the nice things about Puebla, is they have a pedestrian street where much of the downtown type shopping stores are. AND it rains.

It poured down rain, and I found a cafe that we used to go to when we were there 6 years ago. We called it Michelle’s cafe because there was a little girl named Michelle who was always there and was Mikko’s age. They played together a number of times while we were eating our delicious enchiladas and chiles enogadas. When we got there this time, there was an 8ish year old girl holding court at the center table, doing magic tricks with her hands, amusing all of the adults around. I went to email Matthew and Mikko and unfortunately she and her parents left while I was gone, but I know it was Michelle.

It was just drizzling when we headed back to the hotel where we sat outside and had some drinks and PLAYED CARDS. There is nothing better than a good drizzle, a drink and a card game. Tom hadn’t played cards in a while, notice how hard he is concentrating.

We left early the next morning and were back in Guanajuato in time for Mikko and I to have our traditional Friday movie night.

It’s Raining!!

There is thunder and lightning and wind and RAIN!!!

I am a very happy lady.

We watched a storm come our way this evening and it veered off into a different direction, we were kind of sad.

But now I am lying on the couch, watching the sky light up every few minutes, with thunder close behind. I have the balcony door open and feel the wind as I listen to the quiet patter of the rain.  Mikko got to stand in it a bit before he went to bed.

Did I mention that I am happy?