Following up

March 4th, 2015

Natalie's 7th birthday!!

I can only say that this is one horrible miserable day.   The mosquitos and no see-ems really attacked me yesterday and I am suffering today.  Have salve; have Benadryl.

We packed.  We spent the morning putting final slide show together for the REI presentation.

Then we had our final massage from Mina.  She ended mine with a folk lore treatment for what she thinks is my big tummy issue - not fat but air.  So she bought an ace bandage and then proceed to cut a white crusty bread in 1/2 and chop up an onion and some oregano and drizzle alcohol over it all and then slap it on my belly and secure with the ace bandage.  She said I should sleep with it tonight and take it off in the morning and bathe then.

I complied.  Mostly out of politeness because though I am a believer in native/natural medicines but this one stretched a bit too far.  Nothing natural is going to diminish this belly!  And besides, with my itching legs I could hardly stand to have some stinky bandage around me.  So off it is now.  Note:  there is no photo to go with this description.  You'll all be glad of that!

So tonight's our last night.  We're about to have dinner, using up what's left in the refrigerator.  Since we're both itching now, we probably won't stray too far from home.

That's ok.  This too shall pass.

This is the text I sent to Heather:

Talk later? I can't now. Packing and having a miserable time having Mosquitos bites all over my legs and wanting to jump off a cliff. I'm afraid my perspective on the meaning life would not be helpful. Going for a massage in an hour. Let's hope it calms down for that and afterwards. Later? Will you be around? An alcohol induced state post massage may help.  It was a great adventure but again, life humbles my glorified experience😡

And so it goes.

Los chiles estan cocinando en el comal.  The chilies are cooking in the flat frying pan.  Expression to say that one needs to leave. An excuse to get away.  

En el Campo con Mina

Tuesday, March 3, 2015Same old same old Tuesday.  Craig and Rudy played tennis and I went for a swim.  We had made arrangements to meet Mina in front of the Santander Bank in the Hotel Zone at Las Glorias at 2:00 PM so we hopped on a Camino and arrived there.   The plan was that we would all go to the countryside to meet her new sweetheart, José Enrico.  We took a cab and went past the Buenos Aires section and arrived at the Colonia Paso Ancho area of PV, on the outskirts, towards the mountains.   There, José met us.  He and Mina have been seeing one another for about a month and she is totally smitten with him as you will see from the photos.   He is a campesino, not a city kind of guy and this was the first time Mina had seen the land he has.  From our discussions (and remember that my Spanish is not great), I get that he would really like to build a house for her and her two sons for them all to live in.  They are cautious, however, moving poco a poco since both have been in relationships before and with Mina's children, two teenage boys, acceptance of a new relationship for their mother comes slowly.  

We felt honored to be included in this day trip and to have this window into Mexican life outside of the tourist zone.   José was very reserved; Mina says he doesn't talk a whole lot.  We could see that as time went on, he felt more comfortable around us and Mina shared with me today that he said that when we come back, he invites us to spend more time with him in the country.  Something like that.  And today, Mina said, as we were saying goodbye, "perhaps next year I will have a house made of wood."  We surely hope this all works out well for her; she deserve to live well and be treated well.  

As we were returning home, I had that sense of the importance of travel.  I know it changes me.  I am reminded of this quote I displayed in my World Languages classroom.  By Richard Bach:
Languages are fluffy big pillows stuffed between nations - what others say is muffled and nearly lost in them, and when we speak their grammar we get feathers in our mouth.  It's worth it.  What pleasure to phrase an idea, even in child's words, slowly, and sail it across the gulf in another language to a different-speaking human being!

We laughed a lot.  And I think it all worked well.  Mina had no idea if we would be ok with this adventure.  We surely had no idea what to expect.  And José...

A nurse cactus!

A ride in the back of a pick up truck!  Haven't done this in 45 years!!