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

This last week…

has mostly consisted of a number of school visits for me and making plans for going home.

We have decided to leave the last week in June and drive home. I’ll be going up to Texas to buy a car to drive back. It turns out buying a car in Mexico to take back to the states is prohibitively expensive, because it would not only need to meet US emission requirements but safety requirements too, which would mean rebuilding the bumpers or something.

Now that we have a plan - I am letting myself think about all my friends and my home and getting very excited to return. It will be very bittersweet leaving here. I have loved it so much - but plan to figure out ways to return.

Here are some pix of the week:

We discovered the fun of combining bubbles and puppies.

We had a party on Saturday and played a very fun intergenerational game of Werewolf.

There have been a number of parades - the people I have asked are not sure what the occasion is.

I spent a few days observing in sixth and first grade classrooms.

And got some nice pix on a walk down a nearby callejon.

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.)

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.

More walks in good ol’ Guanajuato

Just some more pix from some more walks.

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.

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.)

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.

A Sunday adventure

Yesterday we had an adventure that evolved throughout the day. We planned to jump on the first bus we saw and ride it to the end of the line, where ever it went. We were hoping that my dad could go. He has been sick with a fluish/coldish thing, (what is it with these male King genes, that come to Mexico and get sick and lie around for days?) but he was feeling too funky, even to ride a bus around. Good thing too, because what started as a bus ride turned into a stroll then into a hike, with a couple of scrambles and then an adventure ending with an unexpectedly long and rollercoasterish bus ride after all.

So Matthew, Mikko, Laurie and I set out from D and L’s house, walking through their neighborhood, Cerro de Cuarto, then along the panoramica, looking for a bus to come along. The panoramica is a big road that circumnavigates the main part of the city of Guanajuato around the edge of the basin. From the inside of the city it looks like a big circle around town, but in fact it is a super windy road that goes back into the canyons created by all the hills that create this basin. (does that make sense?)

As we walked along we found ourselves above a canyon with ruins and a tunnel entrance at the bottom - we could see a trail winding down, so decided to bag the bus trip.

This is not the greatest picture, but you can just see the tunnel entrance up and left of center. We are standing on the panoramica and it is also the windy road you can see at the top of the picture.

These were other ruins we had to walk past to get to the trail down. It is all very windy.

We hiked through the little forest of cactus and scrubby trees and got to the ruins down below. There was this convenient little entrance, which just involved a bit of a scramble once inside.

We found a different tunnel entrance and stepped inside. It was strange, still, warm stuffy air that made us not go any farther. Then we found our way, with a bit more scrambling, to the tunnel we had seen from the road.

It was the complete opposite of the last tunnel. There was a clear stream running out of it and actual tadpoles and water bugs living in the water. The air was crisp and refreshing in this tunnel. We sat for a spell and enjoyed the cool air and the tinkling sound of the stream.

This is looking out of the tunnel to the panoramica, about where I took the first picture.

To leave the ruins we had to go through another tunnel which was clearly a stream bed as well.

This is from the outside of the ruins.

We walked along this riverbed back into town.

Past an old pump house or something

And then past a super fancy develpoment with manicured lawns, well fed dogs, and well protected grounds.

and back into the city.

We got to a road and thought the adventure was over and that we would just be on city streets again, until we saw this bridge.

We found ourselves back in a riverbed, a very residential riverbed, as we continued to head toward town.

From here we bought some tortas and fruit and got on a bus that said Cerro de Cuarto, thinking it would just pop up the hill to D and L’s neighborhood. It did, after over an hour of driving along winding roads through residential neighborhoods on the other side of town, returning to the center, going across town through a series of tunnels, and finally along the panoramica back to Cerro de Cuarto.

Dad was happy to see us, and hear about the adventure, over tortas, then we played cards, watched the weather and Mikko Matthew and I rushed home in time to catch the downpour in the comfort of our own home.