So… this truly is the last post on this blog. (I’m pretty sure.)

Our first full day in the US we had breakfast at Starbucks, lunch at Subway and late afternoon snack at McDonalds. We drove from Tuscon to Carpenteria through 106 degree weather.

It was glorious watching the car thermometer drop as we drove west through L.A. By the time we got to Carpenteria it was in the 70s.

The next day we drove to San Fransisco, spent a day with my brother, and then drove a straight shot home to Portland. We got home on the second and two nights later our neighbors shot off a bunch of fireworks. They must have really missed us.

I was shocked at how little had changed and very quickly wondered if we had really been gone 9 months or just a few weeks. It was so easy to be back.

I’ve gone into a few tiendas lately looking for familiar foods. There was candy from Guanajuato in one and a little tear came to my eye. I’m shy about speaking Spanish still, but enjoy the little bits of conversations I have had with people around the neighborhood and in the tiendas. (and looking for the Lucha last night.)

The best news is:

Butch spends a lot of time outside my window on the porch roof. She is truly a dogonrooftop.

We woke up in Guaymas and I wanted to have one last Mexican Market experience so we went into town to find the market and have breakfast. It already felt very different from cities in the center of the country – more gritty, more of a border town, even though it is about 3 hours from the border.

I bought a last cup of fruit with chili and lime. I decided the tiny stand was just a front for men to stand around drunk. There were three guys there and the one serving the fruit could barely function at 10 in the morning. I began to worry that this would be what made me deathly ill on my last day in Mexico. So I enjoyed it, but with a sense of dread – come to think of it, that is the way I enjoyed much of the street food I ate. And as always it was all perfectly fine and healthy.

Guaymas seems like a cool town, on a harbor and amongst these big mountany rocks, but we were ready to get on with our journey, so didn’t wander or explore. We drove out of town, across more desert,

with more bonding pitstops,

towards the border and the US of A.

Once we got to the border we sat in line for a long while,

with the ubiquitous Mexican commerce going on outside our window.

We got some snacks and I bought an overpriced hammock, even after haggling for the first time since I arrived in Mexico.

The Fence.

We went to the right.

I’ll continue the tale of traveling from Guanajuato Wednesday morning:

Butch did not do so well in the car. She threw up and drooled like crazy that first day.

We drove to and through Guadalajara much faster than I had expected and stopped at this sweet roadside place just past the city. They had amazing quesadillas, and a huge coke bottle decor.

We continued west to San Blas, on the coast, through very pretty countryside.

One thing I love about Mexico is the ingenious ways of reusing stuff. This roof of a restaurant is being protected by old movie advertisement banners

San Blas is a sleepy little town. It was hot and humid, we swam in the pool at the hotel and the ocean and they both seemed to be just a bit cooler than the air.

There were tons of lizards around, I saw a huge iguana and two parrots. Mikko caught a couple of toads. It was wildlife heaven – and lots of mosquitoes at sunset.

The next day we drove up the coast to Mazatlan. Since the people in San Blas were so cool with Butch staying there, we figured all Mexican hotels would be OK with dogs, so we found a place in our travel book that looked good and were all paid for and ready to get into our room, until the guy at the front desk saw the dog – and everything went bad. He was great though and called around to try to find a place that would take dogs. To no avail. Finally he said that his bosses were around, but once they left at 7 pm or so, he would let us sneak Butch in, as long as we were out by 7 the next morning.

It worked out well – the hotel was right across from the beach, where there is a public salt water pool, that is just basically a cement wall built in the ocean

Butch and I hung out poolside and then on the beach while the boys frolicked.

The next morning she and I snuck out for an early morning walk along the malecon, which is a broad walkway that runs the length of the beach. There were lots of joggers, dog walkers and rollerbladers. It was already hot and sultry by 7 in the morning.

We had both of our Mazatlan meals at El Shrimp Bucket, which is attached to the hotel. Here Mikko is having his latest culinary invention: bacon and watermelon.

We took of the next day for Guaymas, which is another coastal town, though we missed the coast.

There were a few emergency father son bonding pitstops.

We stayed in a motel on the outskirts of town, where it was easier to sneak Butch in – because our car was parked right outside the door of room. It was a little fancier than the hotel in San Blas and the water was a little cooler.

More soon…

Said goodbye to Ventura, who sells jewelry at the top of the the stairs and who we chat with every morning and afternoon on the way to Mikko’s school and home. I believe he had a tear in his eye as we said our final fairwell.

A couple more last photos and we were off.

To be continued….

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.

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.

On Firiday we had an intimate time, just the three of us – at the arcade just off the Jardin. Between races Mikko opened presents.

Luckily I drive real cars with much more poise, sophistication and grace – at least I like to think I do.

On Saturday, his actual birthday, our friends came from San Miguel and we went to the arcade in the MEGA, which is a US style shopping center complete with a food court and McDonalds, for more racing.

After the arcade we went to Luigi’s, which is a new Italian restaraunt. Luigi built his own wood fired oven and makes his own pasta.

We had a big hunk of tiramisu, with candles, for desert.

On Sunday we had the huge seven person birthday party, with the huge cake. I was happy to get to make a cake in Guanajuato because, as many of you know, cakes are my thing. It wasn’t my best work in the frosting department, but it was fun. (And delicious, if I do say so myself.)

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