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!