Memorial Day Weekend

It just so happened that we had big plans and lots of exciting things on Memorial Day weekend, even though that isn’t a holiday here.

Mikko and Matthew and Seamus went camping on the Presa Peralillo. Some friendly fellows came with a boatload of kids, fishing poles and an air gun. They shared it all.

Butch and I stayed home and defrosted the fridge!!! I listened to NPR streaming through my computer, real loud. It was heaven.

Then on Sunday night the boys came home and Little Mary Wheeler flew in from Portland!!

On Monday we went to Escondido, hotsprings outside of San Miguel. This is the only picture from there.  I’d just like to point out - water distorts things.

We had a fabulous time waiting for the bus, with beers, and cards and an amazing girl who chatted, took pictures and played with us while her mother read at a nearby table.

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.

Saturday at the lake

The day after getting home we went out to Presa Mata to swim with our friend, Mary and her son Seamus. Matthew and the boys stayed and camped that night, while the moms got voted off the island and went back into town to do grown-up mom things.

The water has gone down a lot since January when we were there last. And it has warmed up considerably. It was the perfect temperature that completely cools you off, but you can stay in and play for a while.

These lovelies were on the side of the road as Mary and I walked home.

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

Tuxpan

I finally have some time to continue with the tale of our journey to Veracruz.

I learned from that fateful trip to Tijauna that super long days of bus travel are best avoided, so after Xilitla we decided to just go part of the way down the east coast to Tuxpan, which is actually inland a bit and on a huge river.

We got there in the early evening and left the next morning. It was hot and overcast and really quite lovely in a grungy modernish way. We had a good dinner on the zocolo and took a latenight swim in the pool on the roof of the hotel. That was fancy. But those pictures were all a blur.

In the morning we walked to the bus station and I went crazy taking pictures. It was all so attractive to me - not many tourists come to Tuxpan, it seems. Tom ended up having a good time watching the people watching me, the crazy gringa, stopping to take pictures every few feet. I had been completely oblivious to the stares until he pointed them out.

This was just outside a doctor’s office. We wondered how reassuring it is to feel that the doctor will put your health into Jesus’ hands (as pretty as he may be.)

Xilitla

So my friend, Tom, and I decided to go on a trip. We both have been wanting to go to Veracruz, so that was our destination. I have been very curious about Las Pozas, a surrealist sculpture garden in the jungle outside of Xilitla (hee leet la), and it was kind of on the way, so we went there first.

It turns out out it required a somewhat circuitous bus route from Guanajauto to Leon to San Luis Potosi to Ciudad Valles to Xilitla. This is the landscape we were driving through in the morning:

And after arriving around 10 at night, this is what we woke up in the next day:

Xilitla is a beautiful little town nestled in jungle hillsides. It was hot and humid, but the green was so welcome to me I didn’t complain too much. We woke up in the wee hours to the Sunday Market being set up right under out window. Tom had dreamt all morning about someone dragging a huge blanket around. You know how much noise those blankets make.

These birds also made their fair share of riotous racket, right outside our windows for much of the night and morning. It was remarkable.

After wandering around town a bit we headed to Las Pozas. It was a couple mile walk out of town.

It was a pretty amazing place, with all of these poured concrete structures inserted into the jungle.

I just kept imagining being there for a fancy cocktail party.

The best part, by far, was a stream and waterfall and pools where you could swim. I ended up swimming in my clothes because I could not have lived with myself had a walked away from such luscious pools.

We trekked back to town, (me all refreshed, and poor Tom, sweating like a horse in all that hot humidity) where it is equally interesting and beautiful.

I have approximately a jillion more pictures, most of which I have put into flikr so I will figure out how to make that public, sometime soon.

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.

BARRA BABY - the extended dance version

We’re nearing the end of our trip - in our favorite hostel in Morelia - and it has wireless !! As it turns out I found it nearly impossible blog in internet cafes.

So Barra:

The first morning it was overcast and misty - we were in heaven.

Mikko’s first sight of the ocean during the day.

The actual beach in Barra is too steep and rough for comfortable frolicking so we found other places to go to swim. Our first day we took a bus to Melaque, the neighboring town.

It is a little bigger than Barra and more of a Mexican working people’s town (though much of that work is tourism.) The beach is lined with palapa restaurants, hotels and beach umbrellas and chairs that you can rent. We got an umbrella and set up camp and then played played played in the waves. The only other time I have played in warm(er) Pacific Coast waves was in San Fransisco after a summer of swimming in Wisconsin lakes. I remember getting very annoyed at the waves persistentness and ended up feeling quite bullied by the whole experience. This was very different. The waves would come in patterns of low ebbs for a while then nice sized body surfing vehicles.

It was a Sunday and the beach was full of Mexican families eating, swimming, basking. playing soccer, building sandcastles - all those things that are done at the beach.

There was a constant stream of vendors selling hammocks, tchotchkies, snacks, shrimp cocktails, jewelry, wooden bowls and spoons, wheelbarrels with big trays piled high with candy. Our favorite was the fruit - mangoes on a stick with chili, salt and lime, or pineapples with the tops cut off and the centers mashed to a pulp to be drunk and spooned out.

Mikko spent 100% of the day in the water or at the water’s edge if no adults were willing to go in with him for a bit. He was in heaven.

His hands at the end of the day.

After hours of play and lying around reading or dozing, we decided to walk back the four miles along the beach to Barra. We walked along the slanted beach watching pelicans dive for their dinner, beautiful bronzed youth boogie boarding and playing soccer. On the left the hotels changed to an RV park full of gringo retirees, to a large swamp for a stretch that had crocodile warning signs, and eventually back to the hotels of Barra. It was hard to walk on the steep sloped beach and the last 20 minutes became a little grueling. I realized that lately the walks I have been taking don’t really feel like a walk until there is a slightly grueling stretch.

That’s Barra way in the distance, to the right.

We got back just in time to watch the sunset with margaritas and big plate of guacamole and another of baked cheese. Oh my god - the heaven we were in.

Is this crazy or what?  I actually took this picture - it isn’t a stock photo of “dream vacation spot”.  ( And in my other hand is a margarita and in my mouth is guacamole.)

Back to Presa Mata

Well, it has been so long since I have blogged. I just have not felt particularly inspired and maybe a little busy and distracted by the whole living my life thing - but I am feeling the urge again - so here I go.

My second set of parents, known as Dad and Laurie, have arrived. They are staying across the basin from us in another sweet little house that our landlady rents out. They are big Mexicophiles and lived in Michaocan for about a year - about ten years ago. They speak Spanish quite well and are super interested in people so it will be fun to have them here. I have hopes of them getting me out of any ruts I may have fallen into.

The other day we walked out to Presa Mata together. It is about 4 miles there so 8 miles round trip. Mikko did incredibly well with only a few pleas for a taxi, which were fruitless since no taxis happen to be out there.

The night before, we made a great dinner. D and L had been traveling for a bit and were craving fresh greens so we made a big salad and I made albóndigas al chipotle, chipotle meatballs, which I had learned to make in my cooking class - oh so good.

We decided to go out to Presa Mata, because it is a beautiful walk, but also because it has been so stinken’ hot and dry here. I know many of you in the Pacific NW and other cold and rainy places would love what is going on here, but I have to say - on one level I am a little bit miserable. It has been in the high 70s/80s here for weeks on end. And NO RAIN and very few clouds. I am going a little crazy. My skin is so dry at this point that someone could get allergic to me, because of my dander.

So anyhoo - we needed to have some cold water action. Click here to see more pix on the road from our last walk there.

The whole lake is being held by this wall.

This was our spot. A few other families were up there picnicking and boating. They thought we were crazy to swim.

Matthew and I both dove in - man it was … good.

But super cold and not the kind of water you lollygag in. The best part was the initial dive in and then standing in the sun and letting the sun tingle your skin dry. Here I am with my super scarred chest and gasping breath. Mathew is a total stud in the cold water arena.

The wind was blowing pretty hard so Mikko never quite made it in, but isn’t this a great picture?

The way back had some scenic moments as well.