Where's Sarah?

Where's Sarah? - April 20th, 2004

2004-04-20T12:23:44Z

Happy Easter!

In Mexico, we celebrate Semana Santa (Saint's Week) for the week preceding Easter. This is perhaps the biggest holiday of the year. School is out for two weeks. Just about everything in the country comes to a halt while virtually everyone either goes on vacation, visits family, or entertains visiting family. There are non-stop fiestas just about everywhere - religious processions, rides, games, lots of food (but no meat for much of the week), dances, toros, bands and so on.

We went to see a toro rodeo in San Vicente, a little village next to Villa Morelos on the first day of Semana Santa. When we arrived at Adrian's house, his wife was doing her laundry. She had to lug three big tubs of dirty clothes about half a steep mile down to the village for water, scrub it all out by hand, and then lug the infinitely heavier wet clothes all the way back up the hill. Wow! We all waited around while Adrian bathed and got all dolled up in his fancy shirt, cowboy boots and hat, and finally we were off. The toro ring was very crowded. The bulls seemed bigger and more aggressive than we have previously seen, which added to the excitement. I sat for a while with my legs daggling in the ring, but after having to leap out of the way of careening bull horns a couple of times, I decided to stand! Twice horses got a jab in the butt. One bull leaped right up on to the stone ring several times, causing spectators to leap off in all directions. Riders really put on a show this time. One guy taunting a bull with a traditional poncho was momentarily trampled, until others drew the bulls attention and helped him escape. The bull gored and tossed his poncho around. Our buddies, Juan and Adrian, spent most of the rodeo hanging out with various friends in the crowd. When we found them at the end, both had imbibed considerable beer and tequila, and were full of vim and vigor. Adrian's kids wanted to check out the rides and games (like a little Tunbridge Fair), so we all wandered up the fairway. We ate french fries with chili sauce, went on rides and played foosball. All in all, quite a night!

The Spring Equinox was also a fun celebration here, called Primavera. All the school children parade through the town colorfully dressed as butterflies, flowers and animals. Each school has a king and queen with full court of lords and ladies, all dressed in elaborate Victorian gowns, with hair professionally styled. Our little Liseth was asked to be Queen for her school, but it would have cost about US$400 - way too much for the honor! She was stunning as a pink butterfly, and just as happy. After the parade, the children put on a dance show at her school, and donated food was sold to benefit the school. Liseth danced first as a butterfly, and then quickly changed to her "Veracruzana" costume for her next dance. This was an elaborate white gown with a lacy black apron and red flowers in her professionally styled hair. Wow! What I would have given for more opportunity to dress up like that as a little girl!

Another day Juan invited us to help do in one of his turkeys, because the next day a cousin was coming over to cook a special sauce (mole - the e is pronounced like a long a, and it does not contain rodents.) The expert in turkey butchery was Leno, a Cuban man who is living at the hotel for 9 months while writing and filming historical documentaries about this part of Mexico. His father, apparently, had a large sugar cane plantation in Cuba where he learned all about butchering animals. Never a dull moment here! When we got to the hotel the following afternoon, Juan's cousin was indeed busy cooking mole. This cousin has had a sex change operation, and she was ably assisted by her dramatically effeminate boyfriend. This was a surprise to me, which goes to show that we should always question our assumptions. I would have thought a culture so steeped in macho, and so traditional in many ways, would be less tolerant of gays. On the contrary, everyone seemed perfectly comfortable with Antonia and her pal - really wasn't an issue. Gotta love it. Later Antonia and pal dressed Juan up like a motorcycle greaser with slicked back hair, dark glasses and leather jacket. What a hoot!

Isaac came down with conjunctivitis about this time. I went to the local pharmacy in search of antibiotic eye drops. There was a doctor there, who asked about the symptoms, gave me drops with instructions for use, and sent me on my way. The whole thing took five minutes and cost US$3.15. Problem was quickly cleared up with a minimum of fuss. Wouldn't it be nice if it were that easy in the US?

On Good Friday there was a Procession of Silence here in Cuitzeo. We had forgotten all about it, but were alerted by not so silent drumming outside our door at about 8:30 pm. We followed the crowd to a church a couple of blocks up from us. People were marching, carrying candles, life-sized gory Christ figure and various saints. Some men wore purple hoods reminiscent of KKK style - what am I missing in my Christian education here? - and women with black veiled hats, presumably mourning the death of Christ. All this was taken into the church, and the crowd dispursed toward the plaza. We followed along, and discovered they had erected a huge cross, with a pulley to allow it to be raised with some one attached. My word but they take these re-enactments seriously here!

We discovered that a travelling hypnotist show had set up in a huge tent on the edge of town Sat night. It was very silly, hokey slapstick and off color humor, with lipsynched acting out of Mexican songs and homemade costumes. Both Sponge Bob and the Hulk danced and shook hands with youngsters. The hypnotist got a crowd of 8 teens under, and helped them make fools of themselves. Very tame fools, though, compared to the show we saw in PEI last fall. The kids here danced, ran to escape imaginary dogs, built an imaginary fire, made and cooked tortillas and ate them with too much chili. Then they desparately searched for water to drink. All cute and funny.

I boiled about 3 dozen white eggs and brought them over to the hotel to color with Juan, Brigit and the girls. They were fascinated with the whole process, which apparently they have never seen before. We used crayons first to decorate, and then dyed them in food coloring. They really loved this activity, kids and adults alike. I insisted that they refrain from eating and breaking any until Sunday, though they hated to delay gratification! Saturday night, I went by late and Juan and Brigit helped me to hide eggs and some chocolate bells and baseballs. Couldn't find chocolate eggs here. Juan and Brigit were beside themselves about this whole concept - giggling and carrying on and outdoing each other with wonderful hiding places. They assured me they would come by to wake us up early, probably around 6 am, when the girls would be ready to hunt!

As it turned out, we turned up at 8:30 Easter morning, and woke them up! The Easter egg hunt was a smashing success - they have no comparable activity or holiday, and the adults loved watching as much as the kids loved hunting. They also were inexplicably amused by the concept of eating those colored eggs. I never did understand why that is so funny! Easter dinner was a chicken barbecue with our friends at the hotel - served with tortillas, of course.

There have been festivals happening in Cuitzeo every night for the past week or two. We went last night, and witnessed a truly stunning display of pyrotechnics. In addition to the usualy fireworks, as you might expect on the fourth of July in the US, they build an enormous wooden structure that moves in remarkable ways, all ingeniously powered by colored rockets in various shapes: butterflies with wings that float up and down, spinning stars, etc. etc. Meanwhile, a big band is playing, food stalls are everywhere, and the people are celebrating. Which Mexicans certainly do with style!

We have five new baby chicks, hatched Easter and the day before, with perfect timing. Hope life is gripping you with Springtime fervor, as it seems to be us.

Click here for recent photos, mostly April:
http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/MexApril2004/

All our best,

Sarah, Steve & Isaac

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Where's Sarah? - March 22nd, 2004

2004-03-23T12:14:10Z

Dear friends,

Sorry for the long silence from the sunny south - I did have a missive set to go out earlier this week, but Steve's computer died before we made it to the internet. We have the computer going again now, but lost absolutely everything that was on it. Fortunately, Steve had just backed up all our photos, and we have lots of stuff on the web, so we are able to recover a lot of information. I find it shocking how important computers and the web have become in our lives, in such a relatively short time!

Anyway, we are all well. We have just realized that we have less than six weeks left here. I suppose if you view our sojourn as a vacation, it sounds rather glorious, but the thought of saying goodby for an indeterminate time to our friends here, and all the wild and wonderful aspects of living in Mexico, it seems the blink of an eye. On the other hand, we are getting more and more excited about coming home and seeing all of you. Life is good either way, eh?

We just had a wonderful two week visit from my brother, JC. We took him to yet another rodeo, this one in a mountain village called Desmontes way out in the boonies. The setting was outstanding. The stone ring crowded with cowboys and horses overlooked a lovely valley with a large lake reflecting the dramatic mountains beyond. We're acquainted with a surprising number of the cowboys, now, since we've been to several rodeos in the same area, and they all stopped to visit with us. We'd buy each other beers, and introduce JC around - it's like being suddenly enfolded in a bigger-than-life cheerful version of an old western. One fellow named Hugo, with handlebar mustache happened to be astride his horse in the ring with bulls and about 6 other cowboys when he came by to chat. We handed him a beer, and he pulled a two foot machete from a scabbard on his saddle to pop the top off.

Click here for photos from the rodeo:
http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/DesMontes/

Another day we went on a four hour hike in the mountains above Villa Morelos with our friend Adrian. We were accompanied by 5 or 6 dogs, and many of his children, ranging from a married daughter and her husband to six year old Victoria. The hills are scored with ancient stone roads, built and used for traffic by burro, horse or foot only. We read that in the 1930s, 97% of the roads in Mexico were like this, and I suspect the number is still substantially over half, at least in this area. Stone walls surround old corn fields and pastures, many of which are no longer used, attesting to Adrian's statement that the area relies less on subsistence farming these days than previously. We stopped for a cookout under some trees bordering an old field about two hours above the village. Adrian told how he used to work herding cows here, driving them down to water every day. He talked about the hardships, and not having enough to eat, but also seemed to remember the peace of that solitary lifestyle fondly. We cooked tortillas with cheese on the open fire, and roasted onions and hot peppers in the coals. The quesadillas were completed with fresh avocado and tomatoes - a fabulous feast!

Click here for photos of the hike:
http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/Villa_Morelos_hike/

As our time here wanes, we have begun tentatively planning for our return. Right now, we expect to leave around April 22, when the lease on our little casa ends. We'll go north to the Mexican state of Durango to search for my long lost relatives, and then maybe up to Texas for a couple days hiking at Big Bend. We hope to be back in Maple Corner by around May 10. Since our house is still rented, we are eternally grateful to Chris and Josie for their camp on Curtis Pond! We will arrive BROKE, so Steve will try to scare up some work right away. Isaac is going to finish out the year at Calais Elementary. I have decided not to return to my job at SRS, so I will be looking around for some sort of gainful employment. Of course, all this will have to be squeezed in around visits with all of you!

Happy Spring - it is great to hear that the Vermont sun is shining, the sap flowing, and the endless cold and snow finally dwindling!

All our best,

Sela, Esteban and Isaac

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Where's Sarah? Feb. 20th, 2004

2004-02-20T12:10:57Z

Hola amigos,

We've had a quiet couple of weeks here. We have our little routine of shopping in the market on Thursdays and Sundays, and trying to eat up all the fresh fruit and veggies we buy in the interim. Kind of tough on the waist line, especially when you consider the beer and tacos we have to consume along with them! Steve had a couple of off days, commencing when he was stung inside his throat in the process of swallowing the bee that was in his coke. He took Benadryl and had no serious reaction, but he did feel that sucker all the way down and out.

We did go on a little adventure to Puruandiro, a real cowboy city about half an hour from here. We went on a Sunday, which is the day everyone goes visiting (also the big market day in many towns). Every other store sells cowboy hats, boots and belts, and judging by the crowds they do a thriving business! There was a little merry-go-round in the plaza, much to the delight of our little friends Liseth (5) and Carla (3). We ate paletas (the best fruit popsicles ever), and corn on the cob. The latter is steamed, then grilled, then put on a stick and rolled in sour cream, powdered cheese, chili powder and salt! Tasty, believe it or not! We had Juan, his daughters, and his sister and mother with us. We therefore stopped at the turkey village mentioned in a previous missive, because the sister and mother have friends there who allegedly had lots of turkeys.

These friends lived in quite a place, and from the outside all you see is a wall with a gate. Within the courtyard, all is cobblestone. There were at least two adobe houses, pens for turkeys and chickens, cows and calves, and flowers EVERYWHERE. The place seemed to have been there forever; a very traditional extended family compound with toddlers peeking out of doorways, and an old man whittling under a tree Of course Juan had to buy more birds - a turkey and three chickens.

You would think that we would be starting to get bored now, as our new adventures wind down and we settle into more routine. However, life in Mexico seems to defy routine. Just walking the three blocks down our street to the tortilleria every day is an adventure.

One day, some one dumped a load of gravel in the road and over the sidewalk, blocking half the road. This is a one lane road and the only way for southbound traffic to get through town. No problem, the gargantuan double trailer trucks just go up on the other sidewalk to get through, and pedestrians await the right moment to slip by. Then, of course, some one else parked on the other sidewalk just there so they could run into a nearby store. Traffic is at a complete standstill, and the whole line commences the horn blowing routine. Honk! Honk! Honk! Honk! By now I have given up all pretense of shopping. I want to know what is going to happen. The men shoveling the gravel into wheelbarrows and wheeling it into a courtyard stop to watch, too. Heads poke out of upstairs windows to see what all the noise is about. No less than four women emerge from nearby houses with brooms - what better time to sweep the sidewalk? Finally, a man emerges nonchalantly from a store with a coke in one hand and chips in another, saunters over to the car, and drives off. Nobody curses him, and he seems not to care that the line of traffic probably stretches back miles by now.

Another day, I saw a man riding a horse down this same street as I strolled into the tortilleria. He plodded along as if on a dusty dirt road, and the horse was as adept as he at ignoring the cacophony of trucks and ancient buses two feet away. I grinned at the sight, and popped in to buy our tortillas for the day. On the way home, I saw that same horse, now riderless, standing with his butt in the street, and his head in a veterinary shop! It was comical, and I with no camera.

A word about the abundance of shops of every sort in Mexico. It appears that most people have a room adjoining the street, and most of those rooms at one time or another is used to sell something. There are of course consistent businesses, but many others come and go on a daily basis. Suddenly a door which has always before been closed opens into a room with an odd assortment of groceries on the floor - canned corn, toilet paper, some fruit and chili peppers. Today it is open in the morning, but tomorrow it may only be open in the evening. There is no telling. No signs. Sometimes a door opens upon women making tortillas for sale, a butcher shop killing, plucking and selling chicken, or a room full of clothes. And beyond these surprises, one can almost always glimpse an enchanting courtyard with bright green or blue walls, flowers everywhere, and wrought iron furniture. Or an adobe house with pigs in the adjoining enclosure, and again, flowers everywhere.

I just love Mexico for this anything-goes attitude. Those with something to sell and no store front simply set up their wares on the sidewalk. Or carry the bed frame, or chairs, or veggies they are trying to sell down the street, yelling out what they have for sale every few steps. When we hear noise in the street, we always pop out to see what's happening. Once it was a man with a sharpening stone wanting knives and scissors to sharpen. Another time, a man was collecting cans (which they can sell for the aluminum.) The propane truck careens around the city all day long blaring a recording, "Gas! Got gas!"

With fondness (but not gas),

Sarah, Steve and Isaac

Sarah Gallagher
sarah@maplecorner.net

More Mexico Photos, Another Rodeo in La Luz:

http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/La_Luz/

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Where's Sarah? Feb. 6th, 2004

2004-02-07T13:08:56Z

Buenos dias Amigos!

The trip to Villa Morelos on Jan 25 was impressive on several fronts. While there, we met a youth (seemed to be related to one of Juan's godmothers) who was shot seven days previous! He was shot in the shoulder, apparently by some one from a nearby rancho. One has to speculate that alcohol was involved, and perhaps roosters, as well. He looked pretty uncomfortable, but he walked all over town with us. Juan says the police were not involved, as they don't want to get shot. Allegedly, the shooter is paying the doctor bills, now that he has sobered off. Talk about the wild west!

Speaking of roosters, Cam and Juan disappeared for several hours while we were in Villa Morelos. Juan had brought a cock with him, which fought in that gory Mexican tradition, and won both skirmishes. The process took hours of betting, drinking, haggling, etc, and the actual fight allegedly takes just seconds. Anyway, Juan was pretty pleased because he won $800 pesos (about US $80 - a substantial sum!) and his rooster was barely injured. He then promptly gave the champion cock to his cousin.

Meanwhile, Steve, Isaac and I were hanging out with Juan's cousin Adrian and his family, and wandering around the village. Adrian's daughter was married last weekend in a huge white wedding, and she and her husband were there with photos of the big event. They are living in his village, San Miguel, which had "toros" happening. We all agreed to go see the toros (bulls) once we learned that this was not a traditional Spanish bull fight to the death, but a rodeo with cowboys roping and riding bulls - no blood and gore.

San Miguel was a small, traditional village on a bumpy dirt and stone road clearly designed for horse, burro and foot traffic! An ancient circular stone wall provided the toro ring as well as audience seating, and a smaller ring held the bulls. There were very few vehicles there - most people seem to have come on horseback. There were 8 - 10 cowboys riding around the ring at all times, throwing lassos at the bull, or holding it down. They first roped his neck. The rider who did it rode around the ring keeping the rope taut and simultaneously avoiding the bull's occasional lunges with his horns. The others took turns trying to rope his back legs. When they got him, they rode away and down he went, stretched between the two riders. Young cowboys ran over, and they attached a rope around his middle, and one hopped on using this as a handle. Some raised their arms while being snapped forward, back and every which way, showing off the strength of their leg grip. Others had traditional bright blankets and ponchos, with which they taunted the bull. When the rider fell and ran out, the cowboys again roped and brought down the bull to remove all the ropes. One had the sense that this tradition had been going on for a long time!

After the last bull was ridden, the cowboys raced their mounts through the adjoining fields, and chased bulls around and generally gave vent to high spirits. Several gathered around us, asking where we are from and asking for photos. Said one, "Send that photo to Hollywood!" Another made his horse kneel, and drink a beer, and then had Steve and Cam pose for photos on it. What a scene!

On the way home, we stopped at a friend of Adrian's, and bought two baby turkeys. Adrian also loaned us a hen with 9 baby chicks for our back yard. Adrian is a larger than life character - loud and funny and boisterous. Drinks like a fish. He is trying to save $1500 to hire a coyote to help him cross illegally into the US for work. He has done this before, and proudly showed off his fake SS card, green card, etc. The guy has electric lights and a tv, but no power bill. Three years ago, he climbed the pole near his house, tapped into the live wire, and ran a wire over the ground to his house. The line isn't even buried, but the kids, dogs, chickens etc etc play and wander all around it. Jeez.

The turkeys and chicks have been a constant source of amusement for us as we sit in our backyard in the sun. As Isaac says, the turkeys are so ugly, stupid and loud, they are cute! Initially the hen allowed the two turkey chicks, already half her size, to curl up with her and her chicks at night. But during the day, she chased them away. They would follow along with her little family, crying and whining loudly. A few days later, we got a couple of slightly older turkey chicks, and this has created a turkey family more comfortable for the babies! Not to mention that poor hen!

Our friend Brigit requested a trip to Morelia for Kentucky Fried Chicken, which she apparently came to like when she lived on the US border in Mexicali. We couldn't quite go for that genetically modifed product they try to pass off as chicken, but we agreed to go to a Pizza Hut. It was a fun trip, though we (the Americans, anyway) all agreed we would rather eat tacos on the street. Next door was a Walmart - we went in and got real American coffee (yippee!!), a bottle of passable red wine, some gouda cheese, and some specialized food so Cam could cook us a delicious Chinese food feast, a la Single Pebble.

Next day, Juan wanted to go to a village beyond Villa Morelos which allegedly had lots of turkeys. We had decided we wanted to get some company for our little ones, and Juan had decided he wanted some grown turkeys. This little village was even more isolated in the mountains than San Miquel. The road just ended in a track, surrounded by old adobe housed enclosed with animal pens and various outbuildings by ancient stone walls. Each had a hollowed half of a big round stone for washing clothes and dishes. There were, in fact, many turkeys in this village. Juan bought three - he tied their feet together, and put them in the back of the van to flop around. He put some hens he bought and our littler turkeys together in a grain sack for the ride.

We had a Chinese feast of salmon, fried rice and dry fried green beans for breakfast next morning. Then off to pick up Adrian and family for yet another toro rodeo in yet another mountain village. The men all are dressed to the nines, with flawless white sombreros, snappy cowboy boots and decorative shirts. Many also have a traditional poncho or blanket thrown over their shoulder or saddle. They sell beer and everyone drinks heavily. Periodically a horse started bucking wildly, and once a bull got loose and stampeded through the audience. On these occasions, the audience roars, and people (including us) scramble out of the way. Once in a while a cowboy fires his pistol into the air, in a fit of joy. The first time this happened, Juan leaned over to reassure me. "No problem, Sarah," he says, "it's not dangerous. It is just Mexican custom." Driving home that night about 9 p.m., Juan tells us that it is not safe to drive that stretch of road after 10 or 12 p.m., because bandidos are known to stop traffic, and shoot and rob people. Even buses don't travel it at night. This is really like the wild west, with a whole different set of rules. Every time we meet some one, the first step is to clarify whose amigo we are, and who they are related to. Whew.

We were sad to say goodbye to Cameron on Feb 4. We tried at the last minute to change his ticket again, so he could stay another month, but the airlines wouldn't allow it. So now we are down to just the three of us again. We have spent the last two days, after the burst of activity detailed in this endless missive, resting and reading in the sun.

Hope you are all well - did the groundhog see his shadow? You are almost through the winter, and we have been here in Cuitzeo for almost two months. Where does the time go?

Loads of love and warm wishes,

Sarah, Steve and Isaac

More Mexico Photos, San Miguel Traditional Rodeo: (these photos have extra descriptive text at the bottom of each page)

http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/San_Miguel/

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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Where's Sarah? Jan. 26th, 2004

2004-01-26T14:05:56Z

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)

http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/misc_jan2004

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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Where's Sarah? Jan. 15th, 2004

2004-01-15T14:44:45Z

Amigos! Feliz Ano Nuevo!

The Mexicans say everything with exclamation marks, a trait which seems to be catching! (Just kidding, I'll stop now. No need to irritate you all. :-) We have developed the habit of naming everything we see, in Spanish and with an exclamation. So we ride around in the van shouting, "Vacas! Maize! Vibradores!" (Cows! Corn! Speedbumps!) Yes, the secret is out, and most of you who responded to my challenge guessed correctly. Most of the speed bumps are big and known as topes. However, in some locations there is a series of small speed bumps with a sign warning of vibradores. Some of your more amusing responses to the challenge:

the Mexican equivalent of washboard road?? (friend Dara)
guessing that drunk drivers are plentiful in Mexico, I think "Vibradores" means vibrators, literally, and refers to those purposely grooved sides of the pavement, just before the shoulder, that make your car vibrate when your tires run over them in order to wake you up if you've fallen asleep at the wheel. They make a pretty god awful noise, so you'd have to be really out of it not to wake up when you hit one. (cousin Ali)
I have two guesses........first (perhaps the most obvious for us black humor specialists) is "vibrator" which is next to a whore house or bathroom. My second guess is that it referred to a "cordoroy road" approaching. By this I mean that trees have been put on the road bed to keep it from washing out, yet making it bumpy. (friend Kath)
�Vibradores� is the equivalent of our signs warning of bumps due to washboarding from frost heaves and spring rains. It also refers to the drives that lovers take on such roads for reasons that, being a sheltered Vermonter, I can�t understand! (friend Bill)
Vibradores: bumpy roads [Mexico]
Vibradores: fishing boats that go up and down in swells [Newfoundland]
Vibradores: Latin for I love my vibrator
Vibradores: The Mexican equivalent of Dildo, Newfoundland [no, really, thats a real place...a 'vibrating place' I'm told] (friend Gale)
They are speed bumps that vibrate out your fillings and the screws that hold your car together if you don't slow down NOW!!!! ;-) (friend Wendy)
I think the road sign means either "vibrators for sale here" or "rough road." (my Mom, who wins the contest! She is here now, enjoying the vibradores!) (Actually, I took a poll, and the family says that Gale is the true winner, but since he isn't here enjoying the vibradores, I can't think what his fine prize could be!)

But to return to my narrative. Brigit and I took a bus on Dec 24 to Moroleon, a town about half an hour north of Cuitzeo with a major clothing manufacturing base. Brigit wanted to buy an outfit for each of the little girls for Christmas. In Mexico, the primary tradition for Christmas is more religious, as I described earlier, and the gift from Santa is fairly minor. I learned to shop by strolling by the many shops/street stalls that carry your item and asking the price at each. They see you coming, and the price is a little lower at each one, until you reach the bottom and they start quoting the same price. Then you pick out what you want at the lowest price. I bought three sets of all cotton double bed sheets, including a fitted, flat and two pillow cases, for $8.55 US each. Clothes were really cheap, too, but at this point I was a little overwhelmed by street after street overflowing with piles of merchandise, and couldn't handle buying more stuff.

By the time we returned to the hotel, I had a severe sore throat and a fever. Everyone rested in the afternoon, except Brigit, who was cooking a feast of this soup with pork, some special kind of corn, chilis, tomatoes and who knows what else - apparently it is the traditional late night meal for Christmas Eve. The Mexicans stay up until after midnight on Christmas Eve. We ate around 10:00 p.m., drinking "vino" (translation brandy) and pepsi. (Ick!) About 11:15, we all went out on the roof. We had lots of 2 1/2 foot long sparklers for the kids, and two pinatas full of candy. Juan's mother (Lupe) and his sister (Martina) were also there, and everyone joined in the pinata banging. Juan had a rope attached to it, and it was hung on a wire clothesline that crossed the roof. The hitter was blindfolded, and swung wildly while Juan leaped around dragging the pinata in and out of range. It occasioned quite a bit of laughter and excitement before we even got to the candy diving part! Then Juan lit a bonfire right on the roof, and we had hard cider at midnight, and finally retired around 2:00 a.m. Poor Santa! (This Santa's helper stayed propped up on Tylenol for that night, and about three days thereafter before kicking the flu.)

We moved into our new house on Christmas Day, after opening our presents to each other. We've had a wonderful time setting the place up. Every day for a week or so we went out shopping to get all the little household necessities - what a pleasure! Everything is so cheap, and also so Mexican. You have to search around in little store fronts and street markets for everything you buy, and I have yet to discover any logic to where you might find something. We have two rooms, and a bathroom, and a big courtyard. The sun shines every day here, so we live much of the time outside. Plants are really cheap at the Wed & Sun markets, so twice a week we buy more flowering plants. Steve built a rough table for dish washing outside, and another for food storage and counter space in the little kitchen area of our room. We had a hot water heater installed, and have hot shower in the bathroom. It's looking pretty good!

On Dec 29, Isaac, Steve and I took a bus to Mexico City to collect sons Cam and Jamie, Jamie's girlfriend Pam, nephew Connor and my mother at the airport. We took the luxury class bus into the city - very comfy, with bathroom in the back and two movies. However, it took a rather long roundabout route so the trip took 6 1/2 hours instead of the 3 1/2 promised by the ticket agent! This ate up our entire cushion of time, and meant that we arrived at the airport after their plane landed. No problem, though, as by the time they cleared customs, we were there waiting for them. What a happy reunion! We got a cab to the bus station, then took an all night bus back to Cuitzeo, arriving at 4:30 a.m. We all crashed immediately, bodies in sleeping bags completely covering our little floors. All in all, it took about the same amount of time for my family to travel from Boston to Mexico City as it did for us to travel there from Cuitzeo.

We have so enjoyed sharing the pace, color and rhythm of life here in Mexico with our family! And we create quite a stir wandering around this little town - a pack of tall, white, red-headed gringos among a primarily short Indian/Mexican population. (Well, Pam fits in pretty well height-wise, but definitely not color-wise!)

We created our own fiesta at the hotel with Juan, Brigit and family for New Year's Eve. Brigit, Lupe and Martina cooked all day. When we turned up at 5:00 p.m., they had a huge copper kettle boiling a corn mush mixture, and a huge clay dish bubbling away with meat and chilies etc on the stove. We all helped them make about 250 tamales - these people don't mess around! I brought stuff to make margaritas, which were as popular with the Mexicans as with the Americanos. We also brought a pinata to fill with candy and some bottle rockets, and again we had a bonfire on the roof. (Cement houses have there benefits!) We saw fireworks all over town, and the local police kept shooting off guns as they celebrated. The tamales we ate just before midnight, thinking of all our friends and family in the U.S., feasting on something more like turkey! (Did you have one, JC, in the Patch tradition?) We actually ate tamales every time we set foot in the hotel for the next two days, and were they delicious, especially those with a bit of chicken in them!

The next day we went out to Villa Morelos again, to visit Juan's cousin and his family. They live in a tiny house - walls of ancient round stones piled up, one side of house pretty open, and a wood & tar paper roof. Two small rooms. They cook over wood, though they do have a two burner gas campstove. Out front they have a huge stone, 3' x 2', hollowed out in a curve for washing dishes and clothes. Asked how it was made, they had no idea - probably been in the family for 200 years. This is one historic place, not far removed from cave living in some ways, and people as generous and fun as you could wish. They have a burro, a couple of horses and cows, some chickens. No money at all, but seem so happy with their lives. Fed us some truly fabulous tacos, and we bought some beer, and we all had a good time. There was a fair down in the village, which we visited that evening. It was like the Tunbridge Fair collapsed into a tiny plaza, with barely room to walk between rides. The noise was truly daunting, but we went on some rides and walked around taking in the scene anyway. There was this one booth where you could shoot BBs at little discs - when you hit one, it activated some entertainment: An adult sized King Kong and two other monsters sprayed 'pee' into the crowd while singing loudly, or one of 8 marionette bands started playing and dancing. What a hoot - look closely at those photos!

More Mexico Photos, Villa Morelos:

http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/Villa_Morelos

Other highlights of our time with the whole gang:

shopping trip to Moroleon, where we all bought clothes, Mexican blankets, etc.
an afternoon at the hot springs at Huandacoreo, where the natural hot water is piped through a whole series of swimming pools and slides - we really impressed the Mexican crowd with Cam, Connor and Pam's flips and dives of the diving board!
Buying piles of fresh fruit, avacados, tomatoes, chilis, etc, and then eating them.
Trip to Guanajuato for shopping, seeing this very colorful colonial city, and touring the Museum of the Mummies, which is truly grotesque. Connor and Isaac loved it! (The mummies, by the way, are by and large naked - no Egyptian wrappings here!)

We are back in Cuitzeo for a couple of days now, and then we are all going to the shore at Zihuataneo for a couple of days. Then to see the monarch butterflies congregating, and that's it for the family. We'll send them off except for Cam, who has decided to stay another three weeks.

Hope you all had a lovely holiday, and are enjoying a period of relative peace curled up by your woodstoves and skiing!

Love,

Sarah, Steve, Isaac and the whole Gringo gang

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Where's Sarah? Dec. 26th, 2003

2003-12-26T20:07:20Z

Buenos dias!

Roads in Mexico are never dull, what with wildlife, hairpin turns and kamikaze bus drivers, but to ensure our endless amusement, they post odd road signs every couple of miles. Some examples, translated: Your family and You come First; Obey the Signs; Don't Maltreat the Signs; Diminish Your Velocity; Retard your Velocity; Respect the Signs; Mini-supermarket; and used car parts are called Yonke. And here is a little contest for you creative readers: A common road sign is "Vibradores" - guess what it means, and where and why it is beside the road! I will publish your suggestions (anonymously, if you request) in my next installment.

Leaving the Michoacan coast, the road twisted yet again through the Sierra Madre range. This was dramatic and lovely country, but required considerable concentration to navigate. We saw several accidents, probably caused by some lunatic passing on a corner, if you ask me! Little mountain villages dot the area, with farm fields straddling impossible cliffs and arroyos. Gives side hill cows a whole new meaning - we saw cows grazing on mountainsides so steep I would be afraid to climb them without a rope! Once we rounded a corner to find a little girl holding a rope strung across the road with a red shirt tied to it. We stopped and she spoke to us. Since we had no idea what she wanted, we gave her some pesos. She kept on talking, but she did lower the rope and allow us to pass!

We stopped at a lovely and ancient town, about the size of Montpelier VT, on Route 14 north of Uruapa. Streets were cobblestone, and flowers grew within enticing courtyards. Orange, lime and avacado orchards filled the surrounding valleys. We asked at a neighborhood grocery, and learned that the town had no hotel, guest house, or place for tourists to stay. We drove on and found a hotel in the old section of Patzquaro with beautiful gardens within the requisite courtyard. The plaza was nearby, so we feasted on street tacos at the large evening market for supper.

Patzquarro sits next to a sizable lake with an island in the middle. A colorful Indian village climbs the steep sides of the island. We drove around the area trying to get to a couple of villages we could see next to the lake, but could not find a road leading to either. We did find a place where water taxis take tourists to the island village, though. We naturally hopped on one, and spent an enjoyable few hours on the lake and exploring the village. These are Huaruru Indians, I think, and the tiny women dress in bright embroidered outfits somewhat similar to the Tarahumara we saw in Creel. The island boasts a huge statue right on top, which looks like an overweight Statue of Liberty. The street leading up to it is lined with little shops, in which residents sell native handicrafts and imported junk. We climbed to the top of the statue. (Well, Isaac and I stopped at the head, feeling dizzy with the height and precarious nature of the staircase further up. Undaunted, Steve climbed to the raised hand to take photos.) We lunched in a rooftop restaurant overlooking the village and the lake beyond. A little boy approached us to change American money, as there is no bank on the island. Some tourist must have given him the dollar and 2 quarters for pesos.

We met some gringos on the return boat trip who were staying in nearby Morelia, and highly recommended it. We did go there, park and walk around exploring. We found it too large and urban for our taste, though, and no children were playing in the street. This has become one of our main requirements for a temporary home - must have children playing outside! We drove on north, even though it meant pushing on toward 5:30, which is the time we feel we should have located a place to sleep for the night. And are we glad we did!

We found a room in the only hotel in a town called Cuitzeo. Cuitzeo boasts a very active plaza, with constant markets, music, food stalls, and fiestas. There are three very old (450 years) churches around the plaza. Almost every building in town is painted red on the bottom and white on top - tradition, we are told. The Hotel Parthenon is run by a friendly young couple, Juan and Brigit, with two lovely daughters. Juan's sister, Salud, lives here and helps out as well. We really connected with these folks, and they with us. We have learned more Spanish since we arrived here on Dec 9, and they more English, than in all the time before. They agreed to rent us our hotel room by the week, and allow us to share their kitchen, while we look for a house to rent here in Cuitzeo. We have explored the surrounding area some, early on when we were still deciding if Cuitzeo was the right place for us.

North of here is Moroleon, a major clothing manufacturing and marketing center. There we found an internet cafe, and directions to a village closer to Cuitzeo, with internet access, called Huandacareo. The road to Huandacareo went through two tiny villages that felt like 16th Century England. Ancient stone walls enclosed animals next to tiny adobe houses. An old man slept in his doorway in the afternoon sun. Another led a burro, nearly hidden by the bundles of sticks it carried. Bright laundry fluttered on rooftops. Everyone watched us pass as though we were from Mars. We liked Huandacareo, and the internet cafe was great, but the only hotel was in a poor neighborhood and not very nice. So we came back to Cuitzeo.

We went to Guanajuato, as we have repeatedly heard that it is a great place to settle, and we sort of had it in mind. It is indeed a colorful and lovely town, and within two days there we had found three places we could rent. However, it is again bigger than we would like, which means it will be more difficult for Isaac to connect with other kids. A bank machine ate my ATM/credit card, and the bank manager was a turd about getting it back. Some one stole the propane tank off the roof of the van on a street in broad daylight, and broke off the antenna. So we came back to Cuitzeo.

We love it more here every day. People are very friendly. Few speak any English, and we haven't seen one other gringo here, so we get to practice our Spanish a lot. Every single day since we have been here has been active in the village. First there were ten or so evenings with bands and fireworks in the plaza to celebrate the Festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe. And now we are into the twelve days of Christmas. Every evening, we join all the other families in town in the plaza for candlelight processions, reenactments of various aspects of the Christmas story, and a brief service in one of the lovely old churches. Each ends with treats for everyone - usually a bag full of candy, and once a box of sparklers.

We are developing a comfortable routine here. We sleep until about 9:00, then have coffee and fresh fruit on the back deck in the sun. Then Isaac does school work while Steve and I go out househunting. We stop in various little shops for food for the day - fresh warm tortillas, roast chicken with pickled vegetables and hot sauce, fresh fruit. Or whatever. Isaac gets to spend 5 pesos a day in the video game parlor across the street. We hang out with Juan, Salud and Brigit. We stroll up to the plaza and listen to music, maybe buy a taco or hamburquesa.

We bought a tropical plant, and have decorated it and our room for Christmas. The Mexicans have a big family celebration on Dec 24, and we have been invited to join Juan and Brigit and their extended family. There will be a pinata for the kids, a feast, and lord knows what else. We'll have to let you know!

And the late breaking news - we have rented a house! It is pretty rustic - just two rooms, a bathroom and a courtyard. But it is only US $72 a month. We are going to buy furniture, and set up a kitchen in the bigger room. Set up dishwashing in the courtyard, which also has water going to it. We are really looking forward to filling the courtyard with flowers and shrubs (very cheap here!) and settling into a home again! And just in time for Christmas, too!

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season,

Sarah, Steve and Isaac

Sarah Gallagher

More Mexico Photos, Patzcuaro:

http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/Patzcuaro

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Where's Sarah? Dec. 13th, 2003

2003-12-13T20:45:18Z

Dear friends,

Rafael's apartment in San Blas provided a much needed respite from our routine need to find food and a place to stay in remarkably new circumstances every day. Each town in Mexico has its own character, and what works well in one place may be entirely unavailable 10 miles down the road. Steve slept for the first two days we were there, and recovered from his flu. Isaac immediately hooked up with a big gaggle of kids, so alternated between mother-enforced resting and hanging with is gang, a system that somehow allowed him to recover as well! Rafael was a lovely landlord - he came by every day to give me a Spanish lesson. He spoke slowly so I could understand him, and encouraged my pathetic attempts at communication. A beautiful walled garden and courtyard surrounded the apartment, and as Rafael kept saying, it was truly tranquil. At the same time, it was a short walk to the village plaza, where something is always happening. We never even made it to the beach, which was also a short walk away (2 blocks) - lame, eh?

South of San Blas, the coast becomes more tropical. We drove through jungle and mountains on the left, and breathtaking views of the ocean on the right. Occasional villages with lots of palm trees, and simple huts with stick walls and thatched roofs. Farm animals wander everywhere. We stopped at one little ranch to see some ostriches, which they had penned by the road. What amusing animals they are! The dominant male filled his long neck with air and honked at us. Apparently they are raised for meat, feathers, and leather. We had seen at least one person in Chihuahua wearing fancy ostrich skin cowboy boots. Go figure.

We stayed for the next three nights in Puerto Vallarta, a tourist destination with lots of gringos, big hotels and evidence of rapid development. However, we found a lovely little hotel with a swimming pool and a balcony up on a hill in the old section. I love the way Mexicans live their lives so much in the open. Sitting on our balcony, I can watch people hanging laundry on a roof, cooking in an outdoor kitchen, playing in a courtyard. Everything is open. And roosters crow all over the city beginning at dawn. Every house has flowers blooming, and bright colors abound.

While in P.V. we connected with a long lost relative of the Maple Corner Foster/Bachman/Davis family - Robert Foster lives in Nuevo Vallarta in the same bay. He is building himself an amazing concrete/stucco house on a lovely lot right on a canal which connects to the ocean. He took us for a boat ride through the canals and into the bay. Robert was full of good advice on where to go and what to see, and of interesting stories as well. We also got grabbed by a 'body snatcher', who conned us into going through a time share presentation at a big development right in P.V. called Playa del Sol. It was indeed a beautiful resort, with pool and a pretty piece of beach. They gave us a delicious lunch and a hard sell by 6 different salespeople. Every time we said no to one, another would show up. Wow! However, we left with tickets to a free all day cruise in the bay, a bottle of kahlua, and cab fare back to our hotel but no time share. We learned later that the 'body snatchers' make US$500 for every couple they drag up there. We met a couple later who made $800 in one week by getting a cut of the body snatchers take instead of all those free gifts. They went through sales pitches at five resorts. Pretty shady business, if you ask me.

Our cruise was a gas, though. We decided it was worth the misery of time share sales. The boat was clean and well staffed, and we got breakfast, lunch and open bar all day. We went snorkeling by some big rocks, which was fun even though the water was murky from storms the day before. Then we went to a beach community that can only be reached by boat. The locals had quite a tourist trade happening there. You could rent jet skis, parasail or ride an inflated banana behind a speed boat. Isaac and I went for the latter - yippee! Then back to the cruise boat and another couple of beers for Steve, cokes for Isaac and margaritas for me on the way to the final stop. This was a hike in another village reachable only by boat up to a big waterfall. Horses were available for hire, but we figured we'd better stay closer to the ground at this point! Isaac and I swam under the water fall. It was all fun.

As we drove south the next morning, the road curved inland through mountains, then emerged near the coast in drier country. We had lunch in Barre de Navidad, one of our candidates for settling. However, we did not fall in love with it - beautiful bay, but the town itself seemed really quiet and not so charming. Not that we stayed long enough to really know, but we get a feeling for a place pretty quickly by now. We pressed on, trying to find a place Steve camped years ago with George and Marge Morse. (They dubbed it Pig Beach for the wild pigs all over among the palms.) We never did find it, and in fact ended up renting a funky cabana on the beach for a couple of nights. While we were there, a Canadian family showed up, and we enjoyed hanging out with them.

When we started out next morning, we passed the 7000 miles from home mark! By now we were traveling down the coast of the state called Michoacan. This is the prettiest place we have seen yet. Wild things crossing the road in front of the car included a long tailed beast - an ocelot, maybe? Looks like a cross between a monkey and a raccoon. Two times we saw big hairy tarantulas in the road and Steve had to brake to prevent running them over (he later wondered why he did that) They were as big as squirells. And we saw a pair of huge iguanas fighting in the road and swerved around them too. The beaches here are just phenomenal, and the country is completely undeveloped. Houses are almost all of the stick and thatch and mud variety. We stopped at a beach in Las Pinas at a little palapa (thatched roof on poles) restaurant. We had a feast of fresh shrimp deep fried with all the fixins - avacado, salsa, hand made tortillas, tomatoes, onions. Mmmmhmmm. They let us camp there under their palapa for the night.

On Dec 8, aware that the time is flying by and we want to have a house to live in by the time our family comes to visit, we turned inland to the colonial center of Mexico. And like it or not, you will hear all about our adventures there in our next installment!

Lots of love to you all,

Sarah, Steve and Isaac

More Mexico Photos:

http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/west_coast/

http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/Puerto_V/

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Where's Sarah? Dec. 1st, 2003

2003-12-01T20:03:16Z

Hola amigos!

We spent our last night on Baja in the seaside city of La Paz in a lovely old colonial inn called Posada San Miquel, where we had two rooms plus a bathroom with hot water shower upstairs overlooking a little courtyard full of blooming bougainvillea. What a lovely and restful spot! And to top it all off, a man made and served a delicious chicken taco breakfast outside the posada the next morning (take note, men of Maple Corner!)

We did have an adventure finding this little piece of heaven, though. We were actually looking for the office to buy tickets for the ferry crossing to mainland Mexico. Streets tend to wind around, change names, and as we discovered, are one way without any obvious signage. We missed a turn we intended, and Steve made a u-turn in an empty street to go back and take it. However, as we emerged from the empty street to turn onto the road we wanted, a crowd of cars honked wildly at us, their drivers shaking their collective fingers indicating that we were heading the wrong way on a one way street. Yikes! We were so flustered that we turned right instead of left just as a police officer turned on his siren and gave chase. He took Steve's license right away, and had Steve leave the van and talk in the cruiser. Steve was treated to quite a lecture, apparently, though he didn't understand much of it and professed to understand even less. The police were threatening to take his license back to the station and make him retrieve it there, but it took so long explaining all this to Steve that they got a callout, and they just gave it back with stern words so they could do some real police work. Whew! Literally saved by the siren! We now study the direction of all parked cars on a street to determine if it is one way or not, since we can seldom find signs with that information. Live and learn!

We were told to arrive at the ferry docks by 1:00 p.m. the next day for a 4:00 p.m. boarding. While we waited there in the sun, drinking a beer (coke for Isaac), a family from California pulled up next to us. Wonder of wonders, they had a 12 year old boy, who immediately disappeared into the van with Isaac for the infamous Gameboy youth psuedo interaction. These folks had spent the year previous cruising the coast of Mexico in their sailboat. While they were home on a visit this fall, a hurricane totaled their yacht. They were spending a little time in Mexico before bringing it home to fix, a substantial change from their plan to cruise for another winter!

As fate would have it, however, they were unable to board the boat at the last minute, because they did not have a vehicle permit. (Good thing we took the time to go to San Luis and get ours at the border!) Isaac was really disappointed, as he was eager to spend more time with a living, breathing BOY.

The ferry was big, modern and comfortable. We spent most of the 7 hour crossing in the lounge watching American movies with Spanish subtitles. Most of our fellow passengers were truck drivers, who spent the whole trip drinking and carrying on in the bar, and then emerged with drinks in each hand to unload their big trucks. So not only did we commit the foolhardy sin of driving after dark in Mexico, but we started out with a hoard of drunk truck drivers! Needless to say, we stayed the rest of that night at the first decent looking motel we found.

Los Mochis, the city in which we planned to leave our van while taking the train through the Copper Canyon, was big with lots of traffic, and not particularly scenic. We had a serious handicap, too, because we neglected to purchase a Lonely Planet guide to mainland Mexico in the States. This guide turned out to be the best by far of any of the Baja guides we have, because it gives clear and accurate information about places to stay, routes, tourist services, and maps of many cities. I had written down the names of three hotels with inside parking and the address of the tourist office in Los Mochis from our California friend's copy while waiting for the ferry. We found the tourist office easily, and got a map of the city. (We were lucky, because it ordinarily was closed on weekends, but the woman there was working overtime on a Saturday!) It turned out to be the weekend of the 100th anniversary of the city of Los Mochis. We found a comfortable motel room within walking distance of a HUGE celebratory open air market, comprising at least 10 big city blocks square. We had a wonderful weekend as a result, wandering through dusty market streets, eating way too much and soaking in the sights. Never once saw another gringo in all those crowds! We would walk until exhausted, collapse in the air conditioned splendor of our room, and then go out again for more.

The train through the Copper Canyon (and seven other huge canyons) left early in the morning - Steve and Isaac actually rose and stumbled to the taxi at 4:30 a.m., which is truly remarkable, for those of you unfamiliar with their sleep habits! The train ride was fantastic - check out the attached pix for a hint of the beauty and drama of this trip. The canyons rival the Grand Canyon, and the train clings to the side of these phenominal mountains, in and out of tunnels and bridges. Steve and I spent much of the 12 hour trip hanging out between cars, so we could catch our breath in appreciation for the frequent moments when the ground seemed to disappear beneath our feet. As it turned out, our California friends were also on the train, so Isaac got to hang out with his buddy Joseph to his heart's content. Once in a while we made him glance at the scenery, but as he says, his interests are quite different than ours!

We debarked in Creel, Chihuahua, at about 7:00 p.m., and got a room at Casa Margarita. This is a hostel where many tourists stay - it was full of Europeans when we were there. It is very comfortable, and a big breakfast and dinner are included in the price of the room. A lovely wooden sign carved by our friend Chris Miller and mailed down after he and Josie stayed here (how many years ago??) graces a tree in front of the hostel - looks great, Chris!

Creel is in the territory of the Tarahumara Indians, who are famous for the tenacity with which they cling to their traditional culture, which includes bright clothing for women and unbelievable running feats for men. We walked up to a Tarahumara village before catching the train back the next day. They live in tiny log cabins and cave dwellings in a remarkably quiet valley. We saw a woman herding goats, another washing clothes on rocks, and lots of occupied caves. Several children came up to beg a sip of water and sell us trinkets. One man offered trinkets for sale in his cave, so we were able to enter it and take some photos. A tiny wooden door hid the sleeping place, where he said seven people sleep, and the area is smaller than my closet at home. It is like stepping back in time at least 3000 years, and had a big impact on us after our earlier visits to the uninhabited cave dwellings in New Mexico.

We caught the train back to Los Mochis with many Tarahumara people, who seem to go a few towns over on the train, and a slew of strutting young cowboys in fancy boots, hats and very bright dress shirts. We dropped exhausted into our hotel beds at 1:30 a.m., very grateful we already had a room!

We headed south the next day, driving for several hours through farmland. There were many huge fields of corn, sugar cane, tomatos and peppers, clearly agribusiness rather than family farms. We say entire families working in the fields, and their scary looking residences behind barbed wire. Later we came to rolling hills with mountains in the distance, and small ranches interspersed with tiny villages. At one village with four speed bumps within half a mile, local entrepreneurs were selling sugar cane, beans and tamales at each one. We were glad to enter this lush green country after so many days of desert! Life is slow here, and old fashioned. Cowboys road around on burros and horses, animals graze by the road, and elders doze in the shade over their domino games. We were all relieved to be back in the van after 5 nights in hotels.

We camped the next three nights on various beaches down the coast. This is a lovely area, with pretty much undeveloped beaches. Locals do party on some of them at night, but no one bothered us at all. People were friendly when we saw any. At one beach, we were under a closed restaurant's palapa, and a gang of magpies entertained us with an astounding array of noise, from sounds of car engines to numerous calls and whistles.

We are now in San Blas, just north of Puerto Vallarta. Steve and Isaac have a bit of a flu, so we rented an apartment for three days and are holed up resting. Lovely spot, and a good time to take a break.

Hope you are all well. We miss you, and love to hear from you via email! So push reply right now, and send me a quick note about yourself!

All our best,

Sarah, Esteban and Isaac

Sarah Gallagher

Click here to see some recent photos of our Copper Canyon train trip and our visit to the Tarahumara Indian village in Creel:

http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/Creel/

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