Hermione, Micheladas and Good Friends

Semana Santa, or Easter Week, was a delightful time here in Guanajuato. Not in small part because the Kieffer-Conleys arrived just before Easter. We spent a few days checking out Guanajuato, during which Tony got us to try the ubiquitous michelada, now our go-to drink -- its a funny combination of tomato juice, hot sauce and other stuff and beer. We hunted Easter eggs in our garden and then headed to the beach.

Once again, we relied on Jos the Travel Planner to find us a great spot and he did! We went to a small hotel, really just a cluster of six houses, that is set on 3000 preserved acres. So we were in a true paradise. The beach is part of Costa Allegre, a wilder, less-traveled "happy coast" and sits between Manzanillo and Puerta Vallarta.

On the first day Nanne, being the only girl there, started staring at a pair of teenage girls who were there. After 20 minutes of being stared at, they headed off to their house and I apologized to one of them because "my daughter loves to stare at teenagers." She smiled and said no problem. Then Nanne turned to me and said, insistently, "That's Hermione." Huh? I didn't know who she was talking about but she took off at a run to ask the poor girl. "Oh no, I'm not," she said in a British accent, "but I get that a lot." Well, it didn't take long for Nanne and the rest of us to figure out the truth: she really was Hermione! The kids gave her a code name of Zak. Because there was no one else staying there, we got some quality time with H (or E) and she is truly lovely. Alas, on our last day when I asked if I could take a picture of her and her friend with the kids, they said no. So you'll just have to believe us that she was there!

But that was only a small part of our fun: swimming, tennis, walking the beach, eating amazing food, and just relaxing. Heaven.

We celebrated KK's birthday in Mexican style (although Nanne and Thorne got to do the mordita) and the kids even got to have a meal alone in the restaurant. They seemed to relish each others company which was such fun for all of us.

We said goodbye at the airport in Puerta Vallarta and the four of us headed off on a long drive back home. We decided to take the mountain route and were blown away by the beauty of this part of Mexico. We think of the beautiful beaches here, but the mountains are just as spectacular. We spent a night at a surreal "spa" set in the mountains. We took a horseback ride there and had some amazing food -- we were definitely the only gringos to be found. Not exactly rustic, more like a manicured acre in the middle of nowhere (most people arrived by helicopter), but quite an experience.
When we arrived home both Nanne and Price said, "Its so great to be home!" This was so different than our return from the beach in November when Nanne cried and said that she wanted to go HOME, and home is Boston. So we've come a long way settling in here.

The Bairds!!

Mattie B. and Henry arrived in time for the start of our Spring Break laden with more goodies than you can imagine! English muffins, New York bagels and wipe, toys, oatmeal and MORE! While we were sad to only have the testosterone part of the family, we had tons of fun with the boys!

Mattie B., of course, settled right in by the pool with his peeps. There has never been a man more at home in a club -- no language barrier for this guy.

Henry delighted the twins with his hilarious comments and unique outlook on life. He was the perfect playmate for their first days of vacation. We dragged the Bairds all over our city and learned more about what we saw from Mattie B. in those few days than all our time before!

We went up to Valenciana to check out the mines. Walked the streets of the city. Enjoyed the night life.

The only problem was that Henry brought his Ipod touch, and many times I found myself the solo person not engaged in some electronic device.

Henry kept up with the big kids and was such a pleasure. Mattie B. really is a kid at heart and kept everyone laughing! And the goodies keep coming -- Jos just returned from a trip to Texas with gobs of Scottish Oatmeal!

Retiring Together in GTO

Having John and Jim, Max and Jake here visiting us gave us a whole new perspective on everything we have here! For one thing, we've decided to retire here together and have already started house hunting. In fact we found the house, now John and Jos just need to pull the trigger. Their visit also marks the beginning of our life at the Nipple (ex-hacienda san jose nepomuceno), our rather spectacular club de campo just down the street. Definitely a blog entry all to itself, so let's start with our truly delightful time with the Flanagan-Meuniers.

Again seizing the opportunity of visitors to see some of our new homeland, we all headed out on an adventure to Patzcuaro a town in the state of Michoacan. Jos, as usual, found us the perfect place to stay: a 5 acre zen retreat in the heart of Patzcuaro. Luckily, it was all ours and the nice couple who ran it didn't seem to mind all the weapons we brought with us.

We were all taken with the charm of Patzcuaro. It has a daily market that is filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, other produce, handicrafts, and pretty much anything else you might want to buy. It is also near a lake that has some interesting islands, and surrounded by villages each specializing in their own craft.

We had read that the lake was so blue you couldn't tell where it began and the sky stopped, but maybe it was the grey sky we had on our day visiting, but that lake was as brown as dirt. We took a boat out to the biggest island, Janitzo.

On the way we saw some traditional fisherman, who, it turned out, were just out for show, and quickly came to our boat to ask for money. We were the only gringos on the boat or island, and Jim commented that somehow we didn't feel like such losers going to what was in fact just a tourist trap since we were with Mexicans. We climbed the monument that sits on top of the island and is a statue of a Mexican hero, Morelos, I think. The stairs inside were steep and without railings. At a certain height, Jos chickened out and beat a hasty retreat. The twins and I stopped when you went outside at the arm, my legs were shaking with fear. J, J, M & J went fearlessly up to the top where they looked over the top, again, with no railing.

We really liked our visits to the villages. One which made traditional masks, another pottery. A third with bustling commerce and great food. We discovered a restaurant serving sizzling Mexican meals in molcajetes, carved lava bowls and have decided to open a restaurant in Boston. You just wait!

We stopped in at a random german beer hall set out in the middle of nowhere. Not a theme we'll be incorporating in our restaurant.

One of the highlights was climbing 400+ steps up a hill in Patzcuaro. The view was incredible and many trails led to steep, perilous precipices which we only discovered when we joined our kids, who had run ahead, on their edges. Please step slowly away from there, children.

And then it was back to Guanajuato where we took the Nipple by storm. (I think John coined the name. "First it was the Wad and now its the Nipple") We couldn't get enough and I had to drag everyone away from the pool to actually check out the rest that there is to see (what is there compared to the nipple, anyway?).

The grown-ups took a trip to Dolores Hidalgo to try the ice cream and buy tiles. On the way back we stopped in a town in the mountains outside of Guanajuato and ate at a restaurant called Ik Etznab. The chef grew up in the house that is now the restaurant but studied in Paris and Madrid and the food is spectacular!

Our final adventure was a hike in the campo near our house. One last dip at the nip and we bid adieu. Until the next time!

Daily Life

In the midst of our Visiting Season, we had a few weeks to settle into our routine. Price and Nanne have really become fluent Spanish speakers at a 4th grade level. Pretty wonderful to experience. Time and again, people tell me that if they aren't looking at them, they think they are Mexican children talking. At times, I hear them and don't realize they are my children.

Nanne sometimes actually seems more comfortable talking in Spanish. She has a really nice group of friends here and spends lots of time chattering on the phone, having sleepovers, going to friends houses for comida. She now plays tennis twice a week with 4 friends. Their poor teacher spends a lot of time shouting "Ninas!!"

Price continues to play soccer at school twice a week and has his own set of buddies. While they aren't as social as the girls, they get together as well.

He started baseball on a community team. The first time didn't go so well. We thought we were going to watch, but the coach put him in. It was not pretty. He was devastated and swore to never return. The next week was an away game in Leon, an hour from here. Being the mean mom I am, I made him go, alone. All day, we worried that it would be a disaster. But when he returned 7 hours later, he was ecstatic! Whew.

That afternoon we met some of his friends and their families to swim and eat. So fun for all of us. The parents are really great people, interesting, funny, nice, and patient with our spanish. The next day, Price went with one of the families to the mom's village. She has a huge family and he first had desayuno with one group of 50 and then went off to the grandparents' farm for comida with even more. What an experience.


And, of course, these darn pets. They continue to be blessings and pains in our butts! At one point this spring, Wink disappeared for 8 days. And just as we were giving up hope, he waltzed back in. Luckily, he seems to want to stay closer to home now. The wet food we use to bribe them helps!

And Memo literally just ate my phone charger. Ieeeeeeee!!