Gearing up for Semana Santa...

My mom returns to LA this evening. Daniel and I are going to take her to the airport a bit early since there are a lot of travelers leaving Guadalajara for other destinations. This is a very busy time for tourism. Daniel and I leave for Queretaro tomorrow and we plan to leave very early (6ish) to avoid traffic. At least that is the plan for now.

My mom had a nice time *sort of*. Unfortunately she didn't feel too healthy for most of the trip so she didn't really have a chance to see much. Today a very friendly taxi driver named Felipe who seems to also be a homeopathic doctor took us all to Tlaquepaque (all being me, my mom and her friend Lola). As we passed shrubs, trees, anything slightly alive he told us what it was good for and how we could create our own medical concoctions. He even gave me the number to some "doctor." 30 minutes later were FINALLY made it to Tlaquepaque. My mom really liked it there but then her stomach was upset so we came home after an hour and a half. However, this didn't stop her from buying all this stuff that she wanted - vanilla extract, herman de trigo oil, and cinnamon sticks? The trigo oil is supposedly good for you skin. All I know is that the day before Daniel and I walked 30 blocks or so looking for this oil in Santa Tere.

Overall this trip has been hard on her. She is doing much better now but...now is too late. I wanted to take her to Chapala, Ajijic...etc. Oh well, next time! I'm just happy she came out to visit us. I know it was a sacrifice. Plus now we have organized drawers in the kitchen and ALL the plastic bags are folded into perfect triangles.

Anyway I'm packing up for tomorrow. We'll update our blog throughout the week with photos and general stuff. Daniel has a "papa bear" week free ahead of him. Who knows what he'll do with SO much freedom.

:>

Wait..I'm having a vision!

It's involves beer and tequila.

Day of Doctors -

My mom wasn't feeling so well so I contacted the Lupus Foundation of Mexico and they were very responsive. They gave me a number to a specialist here and he was great, professional and super knowledgeable. My mom had blood work this morning, then a mid afternoon appt with Dr. Orozco Medina. He gave her an IV with Solu Medrol. She began to feel better almost immediately. I'm very grateful to the center for calling us and referring us to him. He told my mom to take it easy today and that she can move around all she wants tomorrow. Unfortunately there is no cure for Lupus. All one can hope for during an active Lupus period is that the pain in managed.

So Lucy is fine...for now.

Next was Daniel's appointment. He had an appt. with Dr. Nick from NY. Not to worry, Daniel is doing great, fine in fact! Just a case of allergies.

All in all, I've had worse days! The way I see it is that I had a chance to explore new neighborhoods and buildings in Guadalajara.

Tomorrow, we hope for some shopping in Tlaquepaque.

Little bowls, Little bowls here we come!

Chili Garcia in LA

Just a brief update on Mr and Mr. G. They are still in Smell A. Chili and Woody are alive and well and have not been killed by the IAMS cat food ebola disease.

D's version

Alright Zacatecas rocked. Unfortunately I wasn't around when Lucy & Monica toured the mines: While they were tracing the semifacist roots of the Spanish colonists (exploiting indigenous labour to make Spanish Royalty happy with extracting Silver from the mines etc ....) I was busy doing Papa Bear's work. Yep. D wrote himself some hot Java Code. Oh Yeah. D cannot say more because Papa Bear says D must not. D must be silent.
But I most definetely checked out La Quemada. Now let me tell you, as an experienced Mexican Pyramid watcher (Yo: Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and the pyramids outside of Mexico City are in da house ....) La Quemada was cool but not really the hit. Honestly, you seen a couple of them and you seen em all. And here comes Monica: Why do you have to compare them to Chichen Itza & shizzle. (And she somehow derives from that that I am an Elitist: Don't ask me why).
I really like Zacatecas. In fact, put it on top of my list of Mexican cities so far (beating out Morelia). The fact, Zacatecas has a damn nice center, a really cool park and the people seem really nice. But Monica claims that, since I didn't leave the hotel (which had hot water only once in a while ) I wouldn't know. Well, she kinda has a point there.
I would write more but Monica gave me writer's block.


D

Best pic of the weekend...

Lucy at La Mina "el Edén" in Zacatecas.

This was by far, the best picture taken all weekend!

La Quemada, ruins outside Zac

We decided to take the camino libre home and stopped at La Quemada - which is an impressive Aztec ruin site about 45 km south of Zacatecas. It was very windy and quite a climb to the top but we did it. I actually think the monarch butterfly walk uphill was worse. Or maybe my concentration was focused on not flying off the top of the ruin since it was so windy. We walked around for an hour or so, then headed home.

Zacatecas...

Saturday morning we left early from Guadalajara hoping to arrive in Zacatecas in the late morning. Unfortunately, we got lost and it took us 1 hour to finally get on the highway outta here! It was a day of confusion. We took the cuota going to Aguascaliente, then somewhere around there we got confused because the road turned into a libre road so we turned around and headed back towards Guadalajara. At the first exit, we turned around and had to pay the cuota again! Finally, 6 +hours later we arrived in Zacatecas. When we got to Zacatecas, I thought I had made hotel reservations at the Condesa and it turns out I didn't. Not surprising for those that know my history with travel reservations. The folks at the Condesa were kind enough to read my notes to me and inform us that we were staying at La Casona de los Vitrales. Turns out it was a good mistake. The hotel was really nice and only $45 a night. We had a king bed and fluffy pillows again!!! Plus it had a tub so I took a hot bath and read Daniel's Economist and Newsweek. After feeling fully informed about the world's trials and tribulations, Daniel and I found a bar that hosted 2 for 1 Tequila's. Feeling informed went down the drain. After so many tequila's Daniel was doing his sitting pollo feliz in the bar and I couldn't stop laughing! My mom stayed in and rested for the tour we had the following morning.

What's to say - Zacatecas is really beautiful! It's even more beautiful at night when the churches light up and the pink building glow from the buzzing street lights. It's a busy little city with people walking to and fro. There is the constant smell of great food (albeit mixed in with the car pollution) in the air and lots of music and street performance happening. Overall, we were very pleased with our weekend trip and would have enjoyed staying longer. Each time we visit a new place in Mexico we see something more amazing and more beautiful then the last. I didn't know it was possible. Driving home we took the camino libre and it was a scenic ride all the way home.

Here are some general pics of Zacatecas.

Plastic Bags

It's been a nice and relaxing day. My mom woke up feeling a little stiff and sore this morning so we took it easy. She found a big bag full of plastic bags (grocery bags), so decided to fold each and every one - oragami style. I told her that she really didn't have to fold the plastic bags, but the disorder of plastic bags was driving her crazy. After she folded all the plastic bags - maybe 60 or so, I took her to walmart and she was so excited to see all the items the evil empire has to offer here in Mexico. She is convinced the potatoes taste different! Next, we went to a massage/reflexology session. The massage therapist told me that my mom holds a lot of stress. "My mom said, no I'm not stressed, EVER. I'm calm all the time huh mija?" All I could think of was.....plastic bags.

Anywho, she came out a new woman. The pain in her hands were gone and she said she felt great. She actually did look really great and is now pain free. She has a follow up appointment next week, plus a facial.

Daniel and I went to the gym, looked for some herbal ointment for my mom then came home and cooked dinner. As she and I were cleaning the kitchen, she found even more bags!!! So, as I write, she is folding them. She won't stop! She said she is even going to take a few on the road tomorrow to stay busy.

Plastic bags. Plastic bags.

She is so happy. I'm convinced that folding plastic bags in these perfect little oragami triangles is the key to peace or a new form of therpy.

Before I sign off, she is now telling me that my paneno in AZ also has so many bag in his house....his bags are all located behind the refrigerator. Oh, he has so many....so many plastic bags.

Lucy arrives today...

My mom arrives today! I'm so happy and excited to see her. It'll be nice to have her here. This weekend we are off to Zacatecas and when we return to Guad, my mom has a ton of friends she wants to visit. It'll be busy! Plus my new IPOD arrives today and some clothes I left behind in Norwalk.

Anyway it's been a slow morning. Last night we all went to Los Famosos Equipalis in downtown. It was a lot of fun. Daniel was the voice of reason by the end of the night and he pulled me out of the bar by the back of my pants. I'm glad he did because otherwise it would be a lost day! Sarita's academic contact Sergio was in Guadalajara and we hung out with him and his nephew and fiance. Plus, Jose, Fernando and Ana were there and all in fine form. The bar played cumbias and ranchera music. How can you go wrong with tacos, tequila y cumbias?

We'll I take that back. We did pay someone 30 pesos to "feel" electrical current run through our bodies. We didn't catch his name, so for now he is El hombre de los toques electricos. Nothing bad happens or least that is what El hombre de los toques electricos said. So, we said OK.
Of course, the possibility for something to go very wrong is there. But then again, it's Mexico! There are no signs to tell you that something is dangerous or hazardous. There are no warning signs on anything! Stupid is as Stupid Does. We paid our 30 pesos, fastened our seatbelts and enjoyed the short ride (maybe 10 seconds).

The elecrical current is pretty low so it just tingles and, well, sort of feels uncomfortable. Hey it seemed like a good idea after 3 pueblo viejos. We thought, wow what a great deal! 30 pesos for all of us! Yea!

Again, how can you go wrong with tacos, tequila y cumbias?

humm.......

No hay clases

I went to the U today and there are no classes that i can take. I've already taken the classes offered in the mid morning. Ur. So I guess I'll have to study grammar on my own and bother Gwyn to tutor me. This sucks!!!! Anyway, it's not that I'm making that much progress anyway. I don't think my Spanish has improved one bit, except for that I'm now comfortable making a fool of myself daily.

Daniel on the other hand is taking the Culture of Mexico class. I think he will enjoy it tremendously, given he has all my notes! But really, the instructor for the class is funny and dynamic.

Other than this class business, all is well here. It's been very hot. We are sleeping with a sheet at night and have moved the Bay Area goose downs into Daniel's office. Yesterday I was so dizzy from the heat that I denied my liver the red wine it is so used to just to stay hydrated.

That tells you something!

Benito Juarez Day

It's Benito Juarez Day. And the city has closed down!

Benito Juarez was the first and last indigenous president of Mexico. He is well known for attempting to modernize the country by creating secular laws. As you can imagine, this did not bode well with the Catholic Church, who were in control of everything or the Mexican Conservatives that were in cahoots with the Church to profit from the poor.

Benito Juarez was a very interesting person and is revered as the greatest and most compassionate president in Mexico's history. He was a Zapotec Indian. His parents died when he was a child; he grew up in poverty in Oaxaca and he didn't learn to speak Spanish until he was in his early teens when he moved to Oaxaca City for domestic work. There the owners took an interest in him and paid for his education and many years later, Benito Juarez was attending law school. After law school, he held successful political positions which eventually led him to seek Presidential Office. He served two terms and attempted to bring the country forward by changing the laws that granted the Church so much power.

He is most famous for the celebrations held on Cinco de Mayo (at least at Chevy's or El Torito) for finally driving the French Army out of Mexico.

A Brindis to Benito!

University of Texas Shit Study

Jerrod had an excellent idea and I'm sure if he were here, he'd do just this.

Jerrod's shit mix recipe:
"So I think you should buy a blender, then mix one part refried beans to one part tomato paste to one part rice to one part raw meat and maybe some chicken shit and submit it as your stool sample."

Then he adds:
Turn it in with a straight face!

Thanks for the suggestion Jerrod. I think I'll pass. I still have to show up to school tomorrow....and the next.....

Oh yea, and him too!

I know - I suck!

I MISS HIM - Mr. Chili Garcia

Damn! He's a good looking cat.

Finals Week

I've been busy (well, sort of) writing my paper on La Malinche and Daniel has been working like a mad man for papa bear. He also has his final exam this Thursday, then we are free for 4 days before school starts up again. We are hoping to catch the tequilla train this weekend. Photos should be interesting. I'll be sure to post :>

Nothing much has been happening except that today I saw a sign asking for volunteers for the freaking U of Texas or Houston or whatever school in Texas that is still asking for shit. Volunteers? Am I missing something?

Monarch Butterfly Reserve

What can I say? I shouldn't even think about playing with the recording device on my camera again. Sorry if this makes anyone dizzy. And thanks to Gwyn for the added music. I think it adds a nice touch to my hysterical camera moves.

Where are we? The Rosario Butterfly Reserve in Angangeo in the state of Michoacan. Daniel and I drove about 2.5 hours to get there from Morelia. It was so beautiful. I've never seen so many butterfly's in one space. They were everywhere! The hardest part was walking 2-3 km up the hill to see the butterfly's. Our guide was a Mayan women about 75 years of age and she walked gracefully uphill. She didn't even break a sweat. Meanwhile Daniel and I are sweating, huffing, puffing and red in the face. I had to sit down about 4 times to catch my breath and sip water. There were a lot of other people that just sat down and didn't continue to trek uphill. I looked like porky pig the tourist with my red face, camera and heaving noises. This is my excuse for the crazy, erratic recording you are about to see below!

Once we got to the top of the hill, we just sat on tree stumps and watched the butterfly's flutter around us. We ate saltine crackers and it was silent except for the wind that pulled the pines trees back and forth. Our guide told us that the butterfly's were almost ready to leave and find their place.

I believe the butterfly's are on their way to Texas, then California, then up towards Canada. I don't know jack about Monarch Butterfly's. I just know they are headed north, somewhere....

Patzcuaro, about a 35 min drive from Morelia

Patzcuaro is a really nice town about 35-40 minutes of Morelia. Daniel had already been there with Sarita and Gwyn and he told me I would really like it. He was right. I really liked it. We stayed at the beautiful Meson San Antonio (fluffy pillows, comfortable bed, hot water...ahhhh).

Ok, back to Patzcuaro has cobblestone streets, red tiled roofs and almost every wall in the city is painted red and white. The plaza grande and chico always had music playing and plenty of people hanging out. On Sunday we walked through the market where they sell jewelry, linens, blankets, herbs, candies, and a lot of catholic crosses, Virgen de Guadalupe portraits and gifts. Many of the day of the dead items sold throughout Mexico are made here. I think many of the artisan items sold come from here. I bought a few beautiful serving platters and a big green bowl. I think Daniel regretted bringing me here as he was soon in charge of helping me carry everything. The final words before returning to Guad were "Don't break my bowls Daniel!" .

More Moreila, Torture Exhibit

Need I say more? This was Saturday morning, after huevos rancheros.

Morelia, Michoacan - weekend trip

Daniel to post soon!

i am legal

they granted my visa for an additional 90 days and my favorite immigration officer signed off on my paperwork. turns out he is in charge of the immigation office in guad. what luck!

Tourist Visa Extended

This morning I went downtown to the federal building to extend my tourist visa. When I entered Guadalajara in Feb, the immigration officer at the airport pulled a power play and only granted me a 30 day tourist visa which expires early next week. So I went to the Federal Building early and who' there? The jerky immigration officer from the airport. He was working with some tourists from England and was well occupied. I did my best to avoid him and make NO eye contact. Luckily I did avoid him altogether.

All in all, It took a little less than 2 hours to extend my visa. The key is to have all your paperwork ready. This includes a bank statement, copy of passport, immigartion documents, form requesting tourist visa extension, payment and receipt of tourist extension. It really wasn't bad. I was expecting the whole process to be a lot worse.

The women who handled my request was very nice. She told me, "wow they only have you 30 days, that's not right." When she asked me how much time I wanted I told her I only needed 90 days but she granted me 120 days *just in case*. She was really nice! Thank god for some nice immigration officials.

So, I have to return to the Federal Building around 2:30 this afternoon to pick up my new papers. Yea I'm legal and not being deported (at least for the moment).

Ladron in da' house

So this past weekend we had a little ladron excitement.

Someone stole Daniel's wallet (credit cards, license, money), his cell phone and my IPOD (weep). It was very hot so we had all the doors open and someone peeked in and took the items off the table. I was in the kitchen for most of the time, Daniel was upstairs sleeping. It's kind of freaky that this happened while we were home.

On Sunday, Daniel called his cell phone and a man answered the line. Daniel told him what had happened and the man told Daniel that he had just purchased the cell phone for 200 pesos at the market at 6PM the night before. Daniel noticed everything was missing around that time (he was about to go on a beer run and noticed his wallet was gone). The man apologized and said he'd return Daniel his phone, as long as Daniel would pay him the $200 pesos. They agreed but have not yet met for the exchange.

The wallet and money are gone. Luckily, Alyssa our renter found Daniel's German Driver's License and Jerrod fed-ex'd it to us. We received it yesterday. New credit cards..etc arrive next week. Until then, my mom is helping us out with any major purchases (aka - a new IPOD). Thank you mom!!!!

All in all, it could have been a lot worse. I'm just glad it is over.

El Gato Ralpy Gutierrez.....

Ah - where do I start?

Ralphy wakes us up every morning, almost every single morning. He starts up with his ronronreiendo around 4ish am, stops after an hour, then picks up the ronronreiendo again around 6:30am. Since this cat is part of our daily routine, schedule and morning conversations I had to name him. He couldn't remain anonymous so his name is Ralphy. And his last name is Gutierrez.

I finally met him today. He was outside meowing and he is actually a very cute cat. He's a fat tabby and lives across the street. He lives exactly across the street from our bedroom. The owners apparently left him outside and Ralphy was freaking out.

I am surprised someone hasn't killed him yet. He is SO loud. He's been meowing since we arrived in Guadalajara. I don't know how the neighborhood deals with him.

This week in News

Hi All -

What's going on in your neck of the woods?

Here's what we have been reading...

Britain targets giants for Olympic gold in 2012:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070302/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_olympics_london_giants;_ylt=As_zjDn56Euo.6w3clGl2BftiBIF

AP bans Paris Hilton news for 1 whole week:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/02/ignoring.parishilton.ap/index.html

Lawyer: Chief, Dog Have Same Degree:

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070302/D8NJQ0QO2.html

Video: German incest laws challenged:

http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/world/2007/03/02/pleitg.incestuous.love.cnn

Swiss accidentally invade Liechtenstein:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070302/ap_on_fe_st/mistaken_invasion;_ylt=Au4VsVwKCx2L9NXGqWJC1cDtiBIF

**photos generously taken from *flickr*

It's OD for a change ......

Hi y'all,
TGIF - or the spanish version GADEV (Gracias a Dios es Viernes). This was a busy week. Papa Bear definetely got me on my toes, and, as Monica already mentioned, the subjuntivo and preterito finished me off. Spanish grammer is just plain mean.
Aside form grammar rules, in school we learned this week about the Mexican legend of the llorona - which roughly translates into "the weeping one". The legends (which seems to exist in different versions in Mexico) says that its the ghost of a woman that runs at night through the streets, loudly mourning her dead children.
As the story goes, it is a young, beautiful women that marries an older man. The young woman is bored, takes a boyfriend on the side, husband comes homes, and finds boyfriend, kills boyfriend yadda yadda yadda (you get the story). After that, young beatiful woman goes nuts and one night, while it rains really hard (I guess that part is only for drama), drags her children to the next standing body of water and drowns them. Because of that sin, of course, her soul doesn't find any rest and she keeps running & crying through the streets.
What gets me about the story is (i) why does the rest of us have to suffer her nightly yammering if she commited the sin and (ii) why doesn't the "soul doesn't get any rest" punishment ever gets dished out to people that really deserve it. I mean, really, there are plenty of individuals that any jury of peers would convict to an eternity of earth wandering and lamenting but it only seems to happen to mostly mentally ill indviduals that commit some random, heinous act.
And why am I talking about this. No reason really. It's just really nothing else happened this week :-)
Hasta Luego

Tank God it's Friday

So Daniel received his test score and he passed with a 90%. He's got the subjuntivo down!!

I didn't get my test score back today. In class we watched AmarTe Duele. It's basically Romeo and Juliet meets every other teenage drama love story. It wasn't bad just predictable.

After class, I came back to find a Fed Ex package from Jerrod filled with all sorts of goodies. He was nice enough to include some trashy magazines for me (and Daniel, though he won't admit to reading them). I now have US Weekly and In Touch for my reading pleasure.

The package was loaded with tax information, our new credit cards (our cc's literally expired yesterday so the timing couldn't have been better) and a few delinquent bills. We got those sorted out first.

I'm looking forward to reading how Katy Holmes-o-crazy IS or HAS or WILL be liberating herself from the yoke of T.Cruise. So many possibilities. So little bathroom reading time.

Adios!

settled in...

Hi there,

Not much has been happening lately. Daniel has been working a lot lately and has a pretty strict schedule - gym in the morning, work, studying el old subjuntivo then more work. I'm not so good these days with the gym. I have been having a hard time sleeping and on 4-5 hours it is hard to do anything, much less sweat to the oldies. I had my first examination today and I think I did well. It was on Mexican Literature (Fuentes, Paz and Rulfo). I'm also reading Malinche, by Laura Esquivel. It is taking me longer than usual to get through the book, as I am constantly having to refer to a dictionary.

Gwyn's parents are in and it has been nice having them around. Sarita and Gwyn are cooking these great meals every night. Saturday they are having a small get together so that should be fun. I'll be making frijoles for the crew. We'll see how that turns out....eek.

I'm still peeling from my sun burn. At least I can walk, well sort of. Yesterday I tripped and fell for the second time and my knee is a bit sore, my wrist is a little swollen and my ankle is recovering. And no, I wasn't drunk. Just clumsy! Within 24 hours, I banged up my pinky toe. Holy hell, I didn't know the pinky toe could hurt so badly. Then I had the fall. About 6 hours after that I ran into the bbq and knocked it over, including hot lava like charcoal. I was really careful today and made sure to pay attention while crossing Avenida Mexico. The joke in the house is when and where will I fall again.