Hola amigos,
Well, life has settled down a bit
for us now that most of our visitors are gone. We had a lovely time with
them and were sorry to see them go. Cameron stayed, though, which made
it somehow a bit easier to say goodbye to the rest.
While they were here, Isaac had
a complete vacation from home schooling - rather a treat for him! One
thing we find is that we don't really build in vacations - there are days that
we are too busy exploring to do school work, but they do not come in predictable
patterns. Speaking of home schooling - I think I have learned as much
or more than Isaac. It is much more difficult than I expected, in that
I really have to be organized and do a fair amount of research and planning
to make things go smoothly. Otherwise, the tools that we brought (many
thanks to Carol Wells, the Calais Elementary 6th grade teacher!) get boring
for Isaac. For example, we needed clay for a science project about earthquakes.
Without it, Isaac would just read about earthquakes without that all important
hands on stuff. Well, after two weeks of diligent search, I could not
find any clay. I have a recipe for playdough, but it requires cream of
tartar, which I also couldn't find here. So I went on the internet and
found a clay recipe that calls for baking soda and cornstarch. I brought
the latter, and found a product containing baking soda. It's called Royal
locally, and I only found it thanks to a kind grocery clerk who spent 20 minutes
talking with me, showing me products for everything under the sun,and finally
hitting on Royal! We made the clay, and completed the experiment in about
half an hour. Honestly, who is learning more here???? Next we need
marshmallows - I think I'll make Isaac find them! In Spanish!
We met this couple
through our friend Juan, who seems to know everyone. The man, Fernando,
is a retired police officer - we are convinced he made a fortune in graft.
He was the police chief here in Cuitzeo for 8 years. His wife is something else
- she and Fernando's sister are on an unusual diet: they are drinking
brandy or tequilla every single day for three months, to curb their apetite.
Morning, noon and night. We were flabbergasted. We told them we
thought this was bad for their health, and that fat might be preferable, but
they insist it works and is great! Honestly, people here have the funniest
ideas! Anyway, this couple invited us to their house in Morelia, a nearby
city (20 minutes drive away, and about 450,000 population). The wife,
Lupe, made mole, which is the famous sauce made of close to 30 ingredients,
including chocolate and chile. It was fabulous! Fernando helped
Steve get the brakes and headlights fixed (sort of) on the van. (The mountains
between us and the shore finally did in the brakes - not surprising, if
you could see those curvaceous tracks over canyons that pass for roads.)
Meanwhile, Cam and I were left with the ladies and a bottle of tequila for three
hours. The whole evening was a bit wierd - I have to say, I prefer the
simple kindness and humor of our friends Juan and Brigit to the somewhat hardbitten
urbanite schtick!
A couple of days ago, we walked
about three miles from our house to an archeaological site. (Isaac is
studying the Aztecs, and we think this is an old Aztec ruin.) The walk
was on a paved road, which is a little difficult in Mexico due to the garbage
people throw all over, and big buses careening by, and dead animals by the side
of the road which smell foul. The village was pretty cool, though.
There was a temple, with steep stairs up one side, overlooking a courtyard and
two additional big flat mounds. Also aquaducts, and what we believe (based
on comparison to a book Isaac has) was a ceremonial steam bath. All the
trees in the area had big stone structures around them. We wonder if this
custom, which we observe to be currently in wide use, decends from ancient times.
By the time we finished viewing the site and walked back to town, we were starving
and exhausted. We went out for tacos on the street, and then home for
a rest.
Every day now I wash dishes and
clothes out in the sun. I usually sweep out our little house, and of course
sweep the sidewalk in front of our door, too. (All the women do - such
a clean little town here!) I enjoy the routine. We shop every day
for food for the day - and often eat with Juan and Brigit or at a street stall,
too. We go to the market on Thursdays and Sundays. We read.
I prepare or correct school work for Isaac, which he does. Steve is researching
for an article he wants to write about spam (the -mail type), and organizing
photos he has taken here. We drop by and visit with Juan and Brigit and
their little girls. We go to the Internet Cafe. We explore, walking,
driving the van, or taking a bus. We have a book group - we all read the
same book and on Fridays we formally analyse and discuss it. We feel busy
all the time, though really we have time for whatever we feel like doing.
Tommorrow we are driving to the village of Villa Morelos for the day to
buy chickens and turkeys for our back yard. It is a nice life!
I hear Vermont continues cold, cold, cold.
I do so wish I could send you all a bit of sunshine, but I guess you will
have to settle for our warm thoughts of you all...
More Mexico Photos, Misc. January Pictures:
(these photos have extra descriptive text at the bottom of each page)
Where's Sarah Archives:
http://www.songseek.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?f=list&l=sarah
Love,
Sarah, Steve, Isaac & Cameron
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