A Good Time to be in Mexico

A couple of reasons for this. The first is the beautiful weather and the second is that yesterdays was the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution and this past week has been full of music, dance and fun.

We started our week with a visit to Chapala, (an expat community, on Lake Chapala, about 30 minutes away from here by bus. Rex our neighbor here had not been there and did not know how to get there by bus so we all went together. We have friends there, Richard and Kim, who lived in our apartments when we were here last year. They have decided to move to Chapala for a time to see what it was like, living amongst the gringos.

This first photo is of Richard and Kim and Ron, doing a walk and sitting on the benches at lakeside.
This photo is of their apartment, very large, and very nice and cheaper than we are paying here in Tlaquepaque.
On the weekend before the Independence celebrations there was a huge trade fair, mostly of hand made crafts from countries all over the world. It was large and very busy and we were beat after spending a couple of hours pushing through the crowds. But there was some great things to buy and if we would have had our truck we would have purchased a houseful of souvenirs.

This is one of many hallways, full of people and wares.



The evenings of Independence week were filled with many types of music and dance.

This particular group or choir sang acapella and it was hauntingly beautiful.

And as in past blogs, we seem to have to show photos of the ever present and most beautiful dance. We do love it.

Another choir that we were not so impressed with. The singing was OK but the instruments were over powering and took away from the singers.

These guys played great Mexican music but were a little crazy. Enlarge the photo and notice the cigarette that the lead singer constantly had either in his mouth or his hand.

This choir was spectacular. They sang very old church music and I loved it. It brought back many memories of my youth and going to church.

Along with the celbrations for the Mexican revolution, American Thanksgiving is coming soon and in the Wollersheim tradition, we held a feast at our apartment, early for both of them, to commemerate these events. The meal was a traditional North American Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the accompaniments. We spent 4 or 5 days trying to find all what we needed as the local market is not full of turkeys or cranberries. Sage is not an herb that Mexicans use and sweet potatoes are much different looking than what we have in Canada.

We fed 16 and the group was mixed, some Canadians, some Americans, a few Mexican/Americans but mostly Mexicans. And the language was a mix, English, Spanish and Spanglish and we did have one Texan who spoke his own language.

It was early and the beginning of our celebration.

And who did most of the work. It was Nancy and she is good at it. I did wash one whole lot of dishes.

We are getting serious now. Supper has been served and the toasts were many and varied.

We set up tables and chairs (some borrowed) on our outside patio and the weather cooperated very well.

This is Corina, our 20 year old housekeeper and here latest baby. She is the best 20 year old housecleaner that we have ever known.

These are two more of Olivia's grandchildren.

Just another dance group, a bit different from the other photos.

We hear rumors that these celebrations will continue into this next week but only rumors so far. It is so hard to get hard information about what is going to happen and when so mostly it is luck of the draw and you just are in the right place at the right time or not.

Until next time.

Nancy and Ron

Our First Week

A different year but not a different location. Once again, we are in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico and this year we will stay for 5 months. At least we have our apartment rented for that long. Not much has changed except the color of our apartments as you can see by the photo below. The colors are brilliant and very showy on this very unshowy street.

This photo might be familiar as maybe we had it in our blog from last year but it is the back yard patio of our very spacious apartment.

Something new this year for us is that we joined a nearby gym for morning workouts. And what a gym it is, all the latest and best equipment and lots of it. And the cost is $25 a month for each of us. A bargain for sure.

At the same time we go, our very beautiful landlord, Olivia, also goes for a pilates class. It is very loud and enthusiastic.

And also very beautiful, but quietly working at her own speed, is my wife, Nancy

You saw many photos similar to these next two photos but we so enjoy it and if you see enough of them you will also. They are of folk dancers and they perform for us and many like us on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and evenings. Needless to say we don't make the evening shows

There was not only dancing on the stage but these two were putting on a great show for us, as their parents watched from close by.

She was so cute and so engrossed in what she was doing. Trying to match the dancers up on the stage.

The show takes place in a Venue called the Parian, a block square structure that houses a number of restaurants and a center stage. Most people that come, also eat, but there are a number of benches around the stage that are free and there is no problem with people coming just to watch the shows. Along with us, these folks are enjoying the show in the cheap seats.

All days and nights are busy on the streets but Saturday and Sunday nights are especially busy with so much activity. These next 3 photos are of break dancers, dancing to hip hop music, with tons of energy and athletic abilities. There are a group of them and they take turns performing.

There is one corner store on a very busy corner of Tlaquepaque that has maybe 10 of these types of mechanical riding toys for young children. Any time of the day or evening we go by, some are busy but this past Saturday night they were all busy. Such fun they were having.

And then there is the street food. We know that the main meal of the day for most people is in the afternoon and then in the evening we think they just come out and have their evening meal on the street. We don't eat it much (except sweet stuff, me) but it all looks good.

The first photo sugar cane.

And Tamales, cornmeal mush wrapped around, pork, beef, shrimp or whatever else, all wrapped in a corn husk and then steamed. Pretty tasty actually.

Lots of different foods here. You can see corn dogs and red stuff to the left are little fish from Lake Chapala.

And these are all sweet breads. They look great but we have never tried them.

And yes they do play bingo in Mexico. At least on Saturday night on the square in Tlaquepaque.

The weather is wonderful, we like it a lot and it feels like we have never left. People hail and hug us on the street and in the market and we like that a lot. They do remember us.

Tlaqupaque Revisited

It is wonderful to be back. And we were missed by many people of this city and they were happy to have us come by their stores and restaurants etc. The climate is wonderful and the food (cooked by Nancy) is the best. We were a bit worried about moving into a much smaller apartment when we came back but Olivia moved things around a bit and added a table and we are very comfortable here.

A week ago I took some videos of some dancers, uploaded them on youtube and have them here on this blog. I could not figure out how to imped them right in the blog but this URL will get you to them.
http://www.youtube.com/wollersheim1
Look carefully at the second one and notice the candles balancing on their heads. Enjoy.

This first photo is one of my favorite spots in all of Tlaquepaque as they make the best cappuccino and since milk is more expensive than coffee here I get a double shot of expresso for the price one shot.
On Sundays, between 8:00 AM and 2:00 PM, the center of Tlaquepaque, is blocked off to all motorized traffic. Only bicycles, skateboards, walkers and runners are allowed and it is very nice. We usually go up and just watch all that is happening.

Also that Sunday morning there was dancing on a small stage close to the center. We like this photo to add to the videos.

At another intersection this particular Sunday, there was a game being played, by young and old alike. It was to keep the ping pong ball on the table just by blowing.

On a different day as we were walking over to visit some friends from Holland, we took a few street scene photos. Stores such as the one in the following photos are numerous, 2 or 3 on each block.

On the same street, this gentleman is selling sugar cane. People here love it and the dentists do also. We were told it is very hard on ones teeth.

He is a city worker and it looks as if he has worked real hard today. Not much of the street cleaning is done automatically.

We have arrived at the home of our Dutch friends, Karla and Leen. They have built this home, actually two aparments and they tell great stories about building in Mexico.

Every day when we walk to the center we pass this shoe repair shop. There are usually up to 4 family members working here but today only the mom was there. Oh so friendly they all are.

Certainly the highlite of our stay here this time is a wedding, that we were invited to. (Olivia's two oldest boys were getting married). Olivia is the owner of the apartments we live in.

As it was to take place in our front patio (parking lot for the restaurant) there really was not much of choice but to invite us but we do think we are good friends with the family and they would have invited us anyway.

Here are some of the preperations for the wedding.

The day of the wedding started early with food preperation. It was delicious deep fried pork roasts called chicheron. Along with beans and rice and tortillas and salsa and wedding cake and tequila.

The mother of the boys, our dear friend Olivia. She is as beautiful as this photo shows.

And one of the couples, Rudolfo and Violeta, were married by a JP right here in the parking lot.

The other couple, Gustavo and Michelle were married at the court house and arrived in this carriage.

Nancy is congratulating Michelle.

And her husband Gustavo and their 11month old child.

I am taking this photo from the patio of our apartments so gives you some idea of how close we were to the action.

The food is ready and this lady is Olivia's sister.

Corina, besides being Olivia's daughter is also the person who cleans our apartment and washes our clothes. Here she is with her future husband.

You already know the person in the middle but the other two people are new found friends Richard and Kim. He teaches anthropology at a small private college in Kansas City Kansas and she is an artist. He is soon to retire so they spend a good amount of time here and they also help Olivia with her website for these apartments. http://www.oliviasapartments.com/

Another favorite person, Olivia's husband, Juan Carlos. Here he is with Olivia and a grandson.

After supper the dancing began. These two gals are Olivia's sisters and man could they dance. It was not long before the dance floor was full.

Another of Olivia's sisters (there are 6 of them) and one of Olivia's grandchildren

Juan Carlos proposes a toast. We did enjoy our first time experience with tequila.

We most enjoyed the wedding and even managed a good nights sleep despite the music.

That's it for this blog.