Out & About

Everyone was happy to have escaped the cold weather so our first activity was to walk to our community pool and enjoy a couple of hours of sunshine.  

One day some of us went to the tianguis (local markets) in the nearby town of Jocotepec.  Elaina & Erin each had some pesos to spend and they had lots of choices.  

The best purchase of the day was the locally grown raspberries.  Each container sells for about 7 pesos - that's 55 cents!! And sometimes you can bargain for even less.  At that price we ate a lot of raspberries during the holidays.  

We enjoyed a snack on the town plaza.

While some of us were out exploring the market, the more energetic family members (or the ones who don't like shopping) went for a hike over the mountains behind our house.  Brian describes their day:  

We followed the road that went by a fence line by the agave field, then we struck off on a path.  We knew we had to get off the path and head more steeply up the mountain, but we weren't sure where, except that I knew we had to go around a rock face.  After one false attempt around a prominent rock face which led us into a gully and thick bush, I think it was Mike who found the correct path, and we headed up the mountain. We had great views of the lake all the way up.  As we rose higher we could see more and more of the Colima Mountain with its snow-capped peak.  We also noticed that we looked down on the lake, not across it. 

We made it to the top, a 500m vertical elevation gain to the top, found the cross and took some photos and had a snack.  We then headed down the other side.   There were lots of trees and shade on the other side. We came across some horses, dugouts, and eventually a farmer's hut.  It seemed like someone should have been there but we couldn't raise the owner.  His dog snarled at us, and we saw his lunch there, and his truck.  Having identified a straight line as the fastest route to the village we ducked under his fence and headed across his field, thinking he might show up and shoot us or a bull much charge.  Fortunately we found the road on the other side of the fence and made our way to town on a cobblestone paved road that seemed like an overdone construction project when compared to the destination.

All the way down we could see up the beautiful, productive valley.  We saw a town in the distance and feared that we had to walk all that distance, but fortunately a closer town appeared and it was or destination.  Along the way we met friendly farmers all pleased to see us.  Hikers probably aren't a rarity, but they must be a novelty as we were warmly greeted. 

As we walked into town, it felt like a Clint Eastwood movie: a deserted Mexican town and four gun slinging Gringos walking down the street.  In my head I could hear the haunting theme song to the movie "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly".  Mexicans peered out the window at us as we walked by kicking up dust on the warm afternoon.  We found a few people on the street and we asked about the bus to Jocotepec and everyone we met had a different time for its departure: Run, you might be able to catch it.  It is coming right now.  It will be here in two hours. In a half hour….Well we found it and it left 15 minutes later.  We sat drinking pops we bought in the little hole-in-the-wall store. 

The bus driver had a collection of blaring acid rock, Celine Dion, and other American tunes which seemed out of place.  When we got to Jocotepec we wandered around town, tried out the bathrooms, strolled across the plaza, and experienced the tiengue (local market) where the others had been.  We made it back just in time to catch the bus to Jan Juan Cosalá, which left five minutes earlier than scheduled without notice.  Pam came to the highway to pick us up.  It was a great day.   

And speaking of energetic.....Brian played tennis with Mike and Trevor (sorry Trevor, no photo) - and beat them both!

One day we rented a couple of boats and visited a couple of islands on Lake Chapala.  First we stopped to see some hieroglyphics over looking the lake. 

We learned about some fish farms that are a new project attempting to restock the badly depleted fish supply and then we went to a small island and met the family of the man who manages the fish farm.  

Can you tell which kids are ours?

From there we went to larger and more famous Mezcala Island.  During the Mexican Revolution a small band of rebels held off the Spanish army and navy against overwhelming odds.  Tired of the humiliation, the Spanish finally negotiated a peaceful surrender with the insurgents.  The island then became a Spanish prison for many years.  

Back on the mainland, at the town of Mezcala, we had a picnic lunch on the plaza.  

During the visit, we frequently asked Elaina & Erin to observe how Mexico is different from the USA or Canada.  One of the obvious answers was to see horses on the streets.  Well one afternoon they were the horseback riders themselves.  

 

That evening the adults escaped for a typical Mexican dinner.  

One of the more memorable events wasn't planned at all, but came as a surprise when we noticed the hillside near our home was on fire.  Mike and Trevor rounded up some rakes and shovels while Brian figured out how to contact the fire department.  

I wonder why the Canadian flag?