The World Will Not End

According to the Mayan calendar, today, December 21, 2012 is to be the end of the world.  The Mayan calendar is cyclical and one major cycle that started in 3113 B.C. will end today.  There will be a sudden reversal in the earth's magnetic field which will cause the the sun to no longer send its life forces this way, and the result will be the final last age of man.

This morning people in our community of the Raquet Club gathered before dawn to acknowledge the last day of this cycle of the Mayan Calendar.

The couple above are our next door neighbours, with their offering of nuts to represent the earth.

At the critical points of North, East, South and West we paid homage to the important elements of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water.

Mexicans from the nearby village represented Mayans and performed the ritual dances and ceremony.  

With the rising of the sun a new era was welcomed.

  

  

Festival de Virgin de Guadalupe

Beginning Dec 1st and culminating on Dec 12th, Mexicans hold their most important religious celebration in honour of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  Here is the background to this event:

Our Lady of Guadalupe is Mexico’s most popular religious and cultural image and also holds the titles Empress of the Americas and Patroness of the Americas.  Two accounts published in the 1640’s published in Spanish and Nahuatl, tell how during his walk from his home village to Mexico City early in the morning of December 9th, 1531 the peasant, Juan Diego, saw a vision of a young girl 15 or 16 years of age surrounded by light on the slope of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor and from her words Juan Diego recognized her as the Virgin Mary.  Diego told his story to the Spanish bishop, who asked the peasant to return to the Lady and ask for some miraculous sign to prove her claim.  The Virigin told Diego to gather some flowers from the top of the Hill of Tepayac. It was winter and no flowers bloomed but Diego found flowers of every sort, and the Virgin herself arranged them in his peasant cloak. When Diego opened the door in front of the bishop on December 12^th, the flowers fell to the floor, and in their place was the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously imprinted on the fabric.

The entire country of Mexico honours Guadalupe during this time to thank her for the successes of the past and to remind her of their hopes for the future. The celebrations centre around the church, and on each day different groups (businesses, organizations or neighbourhoods) participate in the pilgrimages to pay homage to the Virgin of Guadalupe.  They also shoot off rockets about 5 am each day, sometimes during the day, and then again in the evening.  They are louder than firecrackers, but no lights or colours - just noise!  

All of the towns and villages near us have been decorated with altars to this patron saint.  They are large and small, in front of homes and businesses, in the plazas and along the highway.  However, we have been told that of all the towns along Lake Chapala, San Juan Cosalá (the village closest to our home), celebrates the Virgin of Guadalupe the most.  We had to go see for ourselves - especially after the daily rocket reminders - we wanted to witness the finale.  

The streets of San Juan Cosalá, affectionately called 'The Village' by our community on the hill

Alters to the Virgin of Guadalupe

The parade was the focal point of the evening

But the children dressed in traditional costumes were the best

Following the parade, the crowd gathered at the plaza for more festivities

Moving Mishaps

Every move has its risks - that's why it's important to prepare a clear, detailed list of all items going into those boxes that go into the container, including a description and replacement cost.  In this move we did have a few claims once we had unpacked and inspected all contents.  There were some rub mark on the back of our leather couch and mahogany tables, some broken ceramics, and a few other minor damages - all typical and not unexpected in such a move.  However, the surprise was the disintegration of some of my shoes!  It seems that some of them literally fell apart under the stress of summer heat inside the container on its long voyage.

After finding a couple of pairs where the glue or rubber had fallen apart, I inspected this pair before wearing them to church last Sunday.  I was happy they were in good shape because I really like them.  However, during the meetings I felt them give way under my feet.  How can I explain to the moving company that the replacement cost requires a trip down memory lane in Buenos Aires?  

Quinta Ames

When we lived in Venezuela we were always amazed that the streets weren't organized by a numbering system.  Each house was named and that name displayed out front, usually on a tile plaque.  Our driver, Daniel, would drive up and down the street looking for the house by its name.  It always seemed like such an inefficient system (or non-system) but we got used to it, and when leaving Venezuela we decided to have a tile name plate made to take back to Calgary.  One day I told Daniel that we were trying to decide what to call our house.  He seemed so puzzled that I didn't know our house name and that we used numbers instead.  Then he surprised me even more with the question, "then how do you find your way around?".

Once again I was reminded that life is all a matter of perspective and mine isn't the only one.  Since that time, a "Quinta Ames" tile plaque has proudly displayed the location of each of our homes.  Today Brian hung the sign to indicate that we are officially here.

As we've been meeting many new people here, we've learned that a common practice is to exchange cards with contact information.  It's a nice practice that prevents writing a phone number on the back of a napkin and then throwing it away or losing it.  So here is another indicator of our residency.  

Tropical Fruit Cake

The Christmas cake did turn out and it is surprisingly good.  Little did I realize that finding the fruit wasn't going to be the only challenge though.  My oven is regulated in Celsius not Fahrenheit but thanks to online metric converter tables and oven thermometers that was not too difficult to manage.  The tricky part was lighting the pilot light in the gas oven.  Brian was away, so after following his telephone instructions and having no luck, and not giving up on the pans neatly lined with paper and filled with fruit batter, I finally called my neighbour to help.  On the top of the stove elements there is a glass plate that normally lays down flat when the stove is not in use.  I didn't realize that it also has to be raised up for the oven to work!  Who would have known.

After all of the modifications I've had to make in various countries, I've come to the conclusion that this recipe hardly matters.  Just add whatever fruit you can in whatever form you can find it and cook it until it feels done.  Then enjoy, which I did yesterday when I invited my next door neighbour, Maria Elena, over to see our house, and to taste the results of our trip together to Abastos market in Guadalajara.

Exploring New Places

It always takes time to feel comfortable in a new location but I love the possibilities of so many new places to explore.  We have joined the Lake Chapala Society, which might be described as the local Gringo group.  It offers classes, outings, video rentals and much more.  Last week I went on a shopping trip to the nearby towns of Tonola and Tlaquepaque (try pronouncing that one out loud) which are known for their handicrafts.  I bought a few things, but tried to limit my spending, knowing that I would have many more opportunities to return.  I met a couple of ladies who are also quite new and we spent the day exploring together.

This lady made the basket I bought for our bathroom 

I'm still chasing people for shots of local flavour

Mariachi music originated in this area of Mexico.  This female mariachi group is famous in Tlaquepaque.

My next door neighbour is from Guadalajara and retired here a year ago.  Since Guad (as it's known locally by the Gringos) is the big city (approx 4 million people) only an hour away, she offered to show me around there.  We spent the day speaking each other's languages (me in Spanish and she in English) and helping each other.  Our first stop was the huge fruit and vegetable market called Abastos.  I was in search of ingredients for fruit cake - Brian's favourite Christmas baking.  Maria Elena told me it was called 'fruita cristalizada' which seemed straight forward enough until I discovered that the only varieties included kiwi, pineapple and mango.  I've learned to substitute in these foreign countries so I hope this tropical fruit cake turns out!  

We're home...

in Mexico that is.  After purchasing the house 4 1/2 years ago, and planning and preparing to move into it (someday) ... we are finally here.  We arrived on October 14 and had our furniture delivered 10 days later.  It's been an unbelievably hectic month with many projects on the go - some planned for and others not planned for, but decided that they should be done now.  We've had the house painted inside and out, all the interior doors and casings scraped to remove an antique finish and then painted new, sprinkler system repaired, new windows and screens installed in some rooms, the roof sealed for better protection in the rainy season, more shelves built for 2 closets, hot tub repaired, some new plants for the yard, and the list goes on. One day Brian counted 13 workmen here at the same time!  Brian has been gone for several weeks of this time with his consulting job but we're grateful for the income to pay for these expenses.

We've made quite a few moves in recent years, and I enjoy to organize a new home, but this time has taken longer than usual to get settled for a couple of reasons.  First of all, some of the projects have required undoing what we've already done...like moving almost everything out of our bedroom when the new windows were installed or waiting on workmen to finish building extra shelves in the kitchen so I could move stuff into them.  The second reason is that it's been 13 years since we moved into our own home and that was back into our house in Calgary and we'd only been gone from it for 2 1/2 years.  So it's really been almost 24 years since we moved into a home that was our own.  The difference is an attitude of living with what's already there because it's temporary or wanting to make changes because this is our own.  Very soon we'll have all the projects behind us and be able to enjoy the terrace and view in the photos below.

Houston

October 8 - 14

This week has been a wonderful time visiting with friends from Saudi Arabia.  I stayed with Lynne & Don Best and they have been great hosts.  I was met at the airport and whisked off to a Persian rug class with Lynne, Jean Kucher, Therese Hartwell and Rachel Tucker.  We had all been friends in Saudi and had many rug adventures there together.  Now they are all living in Houston (Therese is still in Saudi part time).  The week has flown by with a few morning walks with Lynne, some errands, a bit of shopping, dinners with friends, a luncheon at Jean's house, and of course some time doing Photoshop with Don.  My final evening here was spent at dinner and a theatre performance.  It's been a great time, but I am excited to meet Brian in Mexico and officially move on to the next stage.  

Jean, Lynne, Therese, Rachel and Me

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Although this day trip was in the middle of my visit with Allison's family, I will enter it as a separate post because it really did seem like another place and another time.  We arranged for a friend to meet the school bus and drove about 2 hours north to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  We had mapped out a driving tour through the picturesque countryside that is known for its covered bridges and is home to many Amish and Mennonite people.  Allison assumed Brian's roles of chauffeur and map reader so I could take the pictures.