Sharing the Love..

I love to bake and have consequently found some pretty great blogs and websites to fuel my oven and my imagination. If you are a baker as well, check out the links to the right! They are just a couple of my favorites. If anyone has their own favorites to share, please send them my way!

Janitzio the Island

Is now available on the 'Nearby Places' page. Nathan and I put off going there for a long time because we have only ever heard how horribly touristy it is. Well, this week after Christmas seems to be a national vacation week and since town has been so crowded, we thought "Hey..why not?" and made our way to the island along with all the tourists in Patzcuaro. It turned out to be really fun...fun because we like people watching and there were oh-so-many to watch struggling up the hill! The views were pretty, the boat ride pleasant and piña coladas and margaritas plentiful. The sheer number of tourists on that little island was probably the most spectacular part of it all. However, the highlight of the day was talking to the little boys selling Chiclets, souvenirs and whatever else you would buy from them..
   One boy (15) was learning English in school and was brave enough to try and talk with us. It´s always so  stimulating and quite adorable to see other people get excited about the idea of practicing their english on us..young and old. Alas, the boy´s english was restricted to saying his name and what his favorite (insert whatever) was, so our conversation continued in spanish.
    These poor kids were so desperate to sell trinkets or candy for what amounts to less than a dollar, it was quite depressing. They walk around asking everyone if they want this or that and nobody wants it...frustrating and tiring for young boys, some of which were only 8 or 9 years old. It makes you thankful for what you have and the childhood you led...
    Anyhow, I posted pictures and a general synopsis of island´s features on the Nearby Places page. Enjoy.

Christmas has always been spent with family...

But this year we're on our own and not too keen on all those plastic christmas trees everyone sells down here...too much storage of plastic.

So I thought I'd try and bring a teensy bit of Christmas to us.  

Piñata included but not up yet :)

The Most Amazing Celebration Ever!!

On December 8th the entire town celebrated El Día de La Señora de Nuestra Salud. And I mean the WHOLE town. It was so amazing that I devoted an entire page to it, which you can find here:  La Festival de la Senora

Nathan and I agreed that this was by far the best celebration we've been to. It even surpassed Día de los Muertos. This, I know, is quite incredulous. However, I have no doubt it was better. This was a celebration, not a festival catered to the tourists. In fact, there were not any tourists beyond the other gringos that live here. It felt so much MORE heart felt and authentic than anything else I have experienced here. Part of the reason for this is that it brought so many different types of people together. The poor and wealthy, indigenous and mestizos all came to worship together. It is extremely uncommon to see that around here..the two social classes do not mix on equal footing.

Everyone seemed very joyous and incredibly reverent during the many Mass ceremonies that occurred throughout the day. I can´t imagine there was a person who didn´t come to one..

I tried to put up as many photos as possible without over doing it and unfortunately, I lost the videos that I took. Nevertheless, you´ll see things that you probably haven´t seen at other festivals before...enjoy!

Nathan's new painting is up on the 'Our Projects' page!

Ay Ay Mexican time..

We FINALLY got around to calling someone to order wood. He said he would be here at 9 or 9:30. 11 has come and gone...how (increasingly) typical.

New Info on Jamaica and Eronga!

I just posted about Aguas y Jamaica on our Projects page and about Eronga on the Places page!! Follow the links to check them out.