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| Sue with Anita (my sister-in-law) Cristina (my niece) and brother Lalo on the right |
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| Memo (my Mexican nephew), "Papa" in the background and Sue |
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| Lalo, my "Mexican brother," and his wife Anita |
March 3—We got up and went to the bus station.
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| Bus Station San Juan del Rio |
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| "Lunch" |
The first bus to San Juan Del Rio was full so we waited for the next by having bread and juice and coffee. Little did we know that the ETN line was a luxury line. They gave us a plastic bag that said, “LUNCH” on it with a sandwich in it and a drink.
Seats were huge, reclining seats that could be made into a ½ bed.
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| San Juan del Rio market with the familiar smell |
I kept trying to use the phone card I bought from the hostel, but it wouldn’t work, so I ended up buying another at the SJ station to call Lalo, who picked us up and took us on a memory tour. We passed the home where I lived in 1973, the home I visited in 1986, the market, the place where Papa worked in the wine refinery, and the local market to buy carnitas-pork. Wow, the smell of that market brought nostalgia back! There were mariachis playing and people eating, and the pork vender gave us each a steaming hot hunk of pork to eat while she filled the order.
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| Kitchen corner |
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| Beautiful colored tile |
Finally, we arrived at the hacienda that has been in the family for a while, with the brand of the grandfather on the entrance, a large courtyard with 4 dogs, and a beautiful open layout for their home. The living room used to be a small chapel, and I remember the kitchen from one of our visits out in the country, with its high, long cement table. Memories of celebrating the new year by eating huge seedy grapes with each dong of the midnight bell, and singing ranchero songs at the tops of our lungs and Socorro gritando ahhhh, haaaahhh, haaaaaa.”
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| Memo, my nephew |
We sat around and swapped stories and met prima Cristina and her baby, and primo Memo while Lalo’s wife, Anita, took me under her wing in all regards. We had some nice carnitas with home made salsa, beans and rice, and tortillas that are just right, and took a little tour around the place.
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| Tequisquiapan square church |
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| Brother Lalo and Les |
That evening, the four of us drove to a cute town named Tequisquiapan. We circled around the outside and walked around the center. Anita bought me a little opal (my birthstone) that I hope to hang in a sunny window. We watched the birds flock before they roosted for the night, looked into the beautiful church and had iced cream. We stayed the night in Cristina’s lovely bed while she was at the in-laws.
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| Cool Chino |
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| Puppies Botas and Chuby |
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| Pelos tries to escape the dog house |
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| Craziness in the house |
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| 3 rabbles and one focused dog |
March 4—Our morning was full of playful dogs. We loved imagining that each had a role: Chino (named for his hair like a Chinese person) was the serious and droll older dog that kept things in order. Pelos (hairy and blond) was the reckless dog who jumps up on people a lot, and who went out one day and didn’t come back for 5 weeks—meanwhile they bought two puppies. Botas (boots; he has white feet and black coat) is the follower who adores Chino and obediently sits at your feet to be petted. Les’s favorite is Chuby (Chubby), a brown and white pit bull mix who is waggly and cute, who pees when you first pet him, and he loves to roughhouse in the doghouse with Pelos. Memo spent some time correcting Pelos’s rowdy behavior, and then the puppies would pounce on him until he couldn’t stand it anymore. Nice having dogs around! Meanwhile, next door, there’s a man who raises roosters for fighting. They crow and sound all day long. Les thinks they are practicing their war cries. We had an excellent breakfast with nata (cream off the top of boiled milk) and leche dulce (caramel syrup).
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| A man selling stuff at the gas station |
Then we got in the car and left for the bus depot. Soon we realized we were going farther, to Queretaro; and then we passed Queretaro! Lalo and Anita drove us all the way to San Miguel de Allende!!!
We found our hostel room and loaded in, then went to the center to look at the cathedral, wander the center and have a meal. I love those guys. We had such a good time catching up and telling stories. Les is really getting good at speaking in Spanish. He’s sometimes better than me with reading the language. We made our way back and looked for internet in case our friends who will meet us here had any news, but alas Sunday night was pretty closed.
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| Chino overlooks the mayhem in the house |
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| Saucedo Family |
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