I know: long time no blog. I have no excuses--just busy and lack of motivation to write. However, today I'm motivated! So let's see what comes from that. This is the view I'm looking at from the second floor terraza, off our bedroom. There's a lovely cool breeze, and I don't even have the celing fan going. The sky is really and truly that blue every single day.
May is almost over, so that means we've been back in Mexico for about 6 weeks. The trip by car down here is long--two short days or one long one (about 12 hours) from Laredo here. The highways are very good, but after the first time or two, it's not very interesting. There are interesting parts, and one of my favorite sections, especially returning from the US, is getting to the Altiplano (high plains), after climbing the mountains around Saltillo. The air is so fresh with a strong, stiff wind and the mountains are so majestic against the startlingly blue sky. But the trek through the brush and desert--not so much. But we both commented immediately on arrival here about how much it felt like coming home as we saw the first view of the lake coming over the mountains from Guadalajara and seeing the alley of trees on the outskirts of Ajijic.
We came back, of course, to the house that we rented in the village last summer. (See one of the June 2007 blogs.) But since the Kahrs will return in the fall and we want to stay here for a full year, we set about looking for alternative housing right away. That consumed much of the first three weeks we were here. But it paid off and we move into the new house next week. More about that after we move. It's only two blocks from here, in the same neighborhood which we like very much. It shouldn't take very long to move since we don't have that much stuff. Still traveling light, relatively speaking, although not so light as last summer.
We've been doing quite mundane things--nothing very exciting, just getting used to everyday life here again. We've spent time with friends at their houses, gone out to dinner but not that much. We've gone back to a couple of old favorites--la Tasca and Saint Peter's--where they've been very cooperative with Bob's new gluten-free diet. It's actually easier here in Mexico than in the US because so much is corn, not wheat-based. Needless to say, we've avoided Italian restaurants except for once with friends. Bob had a salad. But we've concentrated on rediscovering shopping for cooking. Generally, we go to the tianguis (local word for market) when it's held once a week. We buy fruit and vegetables mostly, but lately I've been buying chicken and shrimp as well. We bought mangoes and pineapple and canteloupe yesterday.
Gaby (not the grandbaby, but our Mexican housekeeper) has been cooking for us a great deal. She's determined to fatten Bob up (engordar), and he's only too willing to cooperate with the project. She had pozole waiting for us the evening we got here--a thick, rich soup with hominy-like corn and pork. She also keeps us in frijoles, salsas of all kinds, guacamole, and tortillas. Last week she decided we needed to learn how to make our own tortillas (why? I don't know.), so she brought the masa dough (corn meal mixed with water) and showed us how to make them by hand (por mano). Bob really got into it, but now he wants to get his own little metal tortilla press. Gaby says that's not as autentico.
We're very lucky in that there's a store about a mile away, called Superlake, that caters to all kinds of specialty foods. The aisle of Asian products is more well-stocked than most any grocery store in the US--outside of San Francisco maybe. The items are expensive, of course, but if you've just got to have something exotic, it's likely there. They even have some gluten-free products--although quite expensive.
We're rediscovering our feet for walking again. We never tire of the novelty of walking to the beauty or barber shop, the tianguis or grocery store, restaurants and even the movies. We went to see Indiana Jones the day it opened last Friday and Ironman last night. Many days we don't get the car out of the garage, but even when we do, nothing is very far away. We've only filled up the car a couple of times since we've been here. So far, gas prices are holding steady at about $2.70/gallon for regular (Mexico has a nationalized gas company, Pemex), but rumors are that that will go up soon. Bound to.
We've also picked up bridge again after many, many years. We used to play a lot when we were first married. In those early navy days, it seemed like everybody played bridge and we didn't have any money to go out anyway, so we played at each others' homes. Then we got away from it, so we're taking lessons and finding out how much bridge has evolved in the last 35 years. We're enjoying it a lot.
Ok. Maybe more next week or the week after.
