A Posada-Gringa Style

Gabby and Sergio Bustemonte 

In early December our amiga, Gabby, asked us to host the 6th night of our neighborhoods' Posada celebration .  Lee very enthusiastically said yes.....me, well I was brought into it kicking, screaming and whinning loudly.  I knew nothing of the event or what was expected of us, nor did Lee (really).  Gabby at first said that it  would be about 35 kids and a handful of parents. And that the only thing expected of us is to hand out small bags of candy with a token gift.   As time went on we found that the number of kids would maybe be more like 100 and the number of parents 35+++++. Typically, the Posada is a procession in the neighborhood meant to re-inact the journey of Joseph and Mary.  

Participating families will schedule a night for the Posada to be held at their home, starting on the 16th of December and finishing on the 24th.  The participating hosts acts as the innkeepers The neighborhood children and adults are the pilgrims (los peregrinos), who have to request lodging by going house to house singing a traditional song about the pilgrims. All the pilgrims carry small lit candles in their hands, and four people carry statuettes of Joseph leading a donkey, on which Mary is riding.  (In our neighborhood celebration, 2 children carried a nativity scene (Lee had contructed a base that allowed the Nativity to be carried much like a stretcher from house to house))

The neighborhood children and adults are the pilgrims (los peregrinos), who have to request lodging by going house to house singing a traditional song about the pilgrims. There were 2 homes designated every evening that turn away the procession and then the home that offer's Mary and Joseph lodging and then the celebration insues.  The inn keepers respond to the pilgrims request also by singing.  The next night the Posada starts at the previous nights inn.

Night 1 celebration at the Inn

We were first told to provide a warm drink and a bag of treats for the children, you know "simple"  And then we learned that typically the celebration should include cake or sweet bread for the adults and hint hint "drinks".  Since this is known as the official blue agave growing region and best known for Tequilla, we knew what was expected.  Sorry we had to disappoint. 

Lee wanted to include a bit of North American culture into the celebration, so we sewed felt stockings to use as the gift bags.  We made three different versions, one for tot's that included non choking types of candy and a plastic ball, another for the bigger kids that was filled with all sorts of candy and then a small paint set with some printed iconic Santa pictures to paint.  The teens got a bag of candy and chips (no paint sets) Although some of them asked for any extra plastic balls to play with,  The stockings were a big hit! We gave out 108 of them,

We also learned that a pinata or two were typically hung for the children to swing at.  I never knew what fun it was to watch 50 to a hundred kids jump into a pile after candy.

Blindflolds were used depending on the kids size 

Teenage boys on our roof made the pinata's  "dance"

It was just in front of her!

New meaning to party in the streets 

Candy Melee

Lee in the midst of a pinata melee.

Lillian, Gabby and Lee enjoying the festivities

After the party our neighbors were out using their paints.

So we must thank everyone in the neighborhood for allowing us to be a part of their traditions and celebrations.  We especially thank Anna and her daughter for singing the "Innkeepers" song the two nights we should have.  Gracias to all the nino's and nina's who have been patiently trying to teach me spanish. 

And we are done!

Tis the Season

500 year old Catholic church in Tlajomulco

Mexico is a country of strong beliefs and customs.  The people take seriously their celebrations.  Many of which lasts days.  One of these celebrations is the Virgin of Guadalupe.  Held in late November/early December and lasting 12 days.  Fireworks everynight, parades to escort the Virgin into town and the Church hosting her and fiesta's.  The celebration starts in one town and moves nightly onto the next with the last town in this area being Zapopan.  We met one really nice man who gave us a bit of the history and explained how he was one of the hosts of the Virgin representing locals who now live in the Merced California area.  He told us how the Virgin only spends one night in each house and travels from LA north to Bakersfield, Merced and Sacramento.  It is a great honor to host the Virgin in ones home.  He also told us how each statue has a live dove as her companion.  He also laughingly explained how the California Virgin was not in the mood to wear her ceremonial head-dress but was feeling more like a pilgrim and wore the simple hat.  (I appologize for getting any of this wrong or too simplified,  I was getting my first introduction to this area of Catholic lore)  I also did not learn the meaning of the banners in front of the church.  I know that a family or business donates a panal.  That the underlying design is all hand stitched and the panals are loaded with toys/gifts.

A Virgin of Guadalupe Statue

All the Virgin Statues on display

Companion Dove

Aztec Dancer

One of the highlights of the night was to watch a group of Aztec's in ceremonial outfits (I can't think of a more appropriate word) drumming and dancing almost non stop for 5hours.  We only took in about 30min.  I did not get a good picture of the dancers, I am sorry.  

The Group

Two of the head-dresses up close(sort of)

Another Day of Birds

Church in the Puebla of Cajititlan

This area is a mecca for migrating birds.  We will soon get a bird book to identify these amazing birds, in the mean time I leave it to you our friends.  The area we went to is the Ribera de Cajititlan and the town of Cajititlan.   Lee was hoping to have a launch get us closer to the birds, but the launches for hire stay well away from the bird areas' due to shallow water and the vegetation that would mess up a boats propellers.  Instead, we took a walk away from the pier to get closer at the birds.  We came across some lounging fishermen and Lee asked if one of them  would row us out in their boat closer to the birds for me to take pictures.  They were all happy to help.  I believe they all pitched in to help me board from the lakes edge and kept me out of the water.  Sometimes having to rely on the cane is not convenient.

Map of the area, wish I could tag where it is we live.  It is behind
the red dot(Penafil) to the left of the lake.  

They are so graceful in flight

The birds are out of this world amazing up close.  Feathers that are so fine, I wonder how they fly.  The birds are not very tolerant of humans or their noises. So, we weren't able to get as close as I had wished.(but I won't complain)

Black birds with bright yellow hoods, and raven like black birds. The swarming is eerie.

So enjoy and tag the true identity if you can.

Ibis

This Ibis is sitting/standing/perching (I don't know the correct terminology) upon what used to be the patio and playground of somebodies abandoned Casa.  We don't know what caused the massive permanent flooding.  The red bars used to be a swing-set.

Garza(sp), Heron in America

Our kindly fisherman

The trip towards Tala

Today we headed west towards Tala.  Typical of one of our adventures we took a turn.  This time we wanted to check out this really fancy cemetery, in the Puebla of San Isidro.  Not to disrespect anyone or their customs, but to explore history.  Many of the crypts still had flowers from the Day of the Dead.  Families on that day go to the cemetery to honor their dead loved ones and spend the day remembering.  The family plots are cleaned and flowers are delivered, and many families have picnics and parties right there in the graveyard.  The crypts are elaborate and many are replica's of houses.  Some of the crypts in this particle cemetery are from the 1800's.

 The Town has about 3,600+- people, We met a gentleman in the square who was excited to practice his english on Americano's.  (he took a strong liking to Lee).  The town square was draped in prayer flags and surrounded by flower beds.  It feels so strange to me to see spring flowers in bloom this close to Thanksgiving.

The Church in the Puebla square.

The facade of a really old fort wall or Hacienda's surrounding wall, we never found out which.  The new  casa's are built into the facade below, leaving the upper part exposed and untouched.

 So this isn't our trip but I feel like it needs to be shown.  Thank goodness for all the times we went camping in my early yrs. and learned to wash out my clothes in the lake.  Here it is not that bad but close.  We wash everything (but jeans and sheets/towels) in the sink in our back yard. I throw in a load and let them soak in soapy water for a day, agitating the load several times.  Then I scrub out or at least try to scrub out stains in the washboard side.  I rinse with the hose and then throw the item into a 5 gallon bucket of clean water to rinse further.  I then wrap (say a tee shirt) over the handle of the red dolly and wring out as much water as I can before hanging on the lines.  Our friends here mostly have washer machine's and laugh at me for doing things the hard way.  Gabby in exchange for some home made (hot) cookies will wash our clothes.  We try not to take advantage of her and only take the sheet's towels and jeans.

Our  wash tub, and dryer.  The red dolly is used to drape the  clothes over the handle and squeeze the water out of.  I am not strong enough to do this without help.

Close up of the sink.  The little milk jug is used to empty the  water.

Sergio and Gabby, our friends 

 It is not unusual to see religious icons all over the place.  But to see one posted outside of a bathroom.  Well that was a new one.

This was at a new gas station.  Even the bano's get holey protection.

  On the way home we passed this field with, it seemed, a million birds in the trees and on the ground.  I flipped a "u-ey" and got out to take pictures.  The birds are black with a yellow bib in front and a little red spot under the beak.  We also saw blackbirds(maybe ravens or crows), and an all yellow bird.  We must have stood on the side of the road for 20minutes.     Yes, right past the do not park sign.  When the birds got spooked for whatever reason, there was this swarm heading right towards me.  The site was awesome, the sound scared me silly.

Roadside flowers

Thousands of these birds were in a farm field and perched in trees.  Wish I knew what they were.

And Next

Just when we thought things had settled down, the renter's of the house in Washington informed us, they we leaving.  Off we skedaddled north again.  We informed no-one that we were coming back. Deciding that this might be one case that surprise is necessary.  

The renter's left the house in a condition very close to us having to comdemn the house.  The house, barn and bottle buildings were used as hot houses for a pot operation. The pond was devoid of close to 50 large Koi.(They ate them, having cooked them on the grill) Walls had to be torn down and replaced due to moisture and mold, one large window also had to be replaced. Repairs had to be made to the electrical system in the both the house and barn.  Things were missing and never found.  The yard had not been mowed in the year.  Lee textured all the walls with joint compound, while I teased her about "wax on and wax off".  Me, I painted(an ugly medium green that reminded me of the walls in the house where I grew up) those area's reachable without ladder  and laid  laminate flooring throughout both bedrooms and the bathroom.  (Lee definitely had the harder jobs.)  Cabinet's were painted (butternut cream), everything was scrubbed down at least once to get rid of the smell of pot.

  

And then Aunt Marilyn was in the hospital and rehab in Utah.  We had promised if ever she was hospitalized or needed us, we would be there.  We spent a couple of weeks keeping her company (between bout's with the physical therapists) and resting from the work we had done on our house. Visiting with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Jack will go down as one of my favorite experiences. I was able to really get to know my aunt and uncle and become friends beyond a familys' forced connection. Marilyn was off to another rehab facility and we could not put off our work any longer.  Long hours awaited us. 

In between the trip to Utah and our moving out of the house. The transmission/rear differential broke on the Jeep.  Inventory of destruction: left and right rear axle rods destroyed with ¼ to 1/2inch bands etched in them from the bearings, 3 axle bearings seized and associated little parts worn broken and/or missing were replaced.  Then as a safety checkup the mechanic says...let's check the front axiles….left front came out in several bits and pieces instead of being the perfection of one solid unit. The right side was good. When you don't have money and there is not a way to earn said money,  a whammy hit for thousands instead of the 10 dollars left in the wallet seems insurmountable.  We appreciate the financial help we got from several people.  I won't name you here, but if you were one of the generous, THANK YOU!

  

We met the nicest family in Castle Rock through a craigslist sale. Dan and Kristin (with kids) swept in; moving a barn full of our stuff out to the bottle building so Lee and I could sort and say goodbye to years of saved treasures. Their family also moved about 3yrds or so of dirt into what used to be the pond.  If we needed help they were there. Bringing treats and coke's to make sure we took breaks.  Telling us to leave the rest of the repairs for them to do after we left. I don't think I have ever appreciated a family so much.  I will never be able to say enough thank yous to cover what they, as a family, did for us.  They are the new overseers of the property.  I think they love the quirkiness over the place as much as we do. I do believe they will be there a long time.  Finding some weird sign or piece of art to add to the collection already started.

What treasures we could not part with; were put into a rental trailer and hauled south to a storage facility.  Soon we will head north again to claim it and then haul it back here in our own trailer.  This will put an end to being scattered over two countries.

So, we are home in Tlajomulco, enjoying the house, the weather and most of all our friends.

Beginning's

It has been almost a year since our first arrival here in Tlajomulco de Zuniga.  We thought that once here, it would be a long time before heading north again.  We thought wrong, so this year is our first in a what we hope will be a long life led as expats.  Just to quickly run down the last year...My mother and Lee's good friend and her childrens' adopted grandmother were both diagnosed with an very aggressive form of lung cancer.  They both died in early March.  Lee and I spent time taking care of my mother in Utah for 3 months (unfortunately we were not told of Kay's health until it was too late to make a visit)  We returned to Mexico in April.  In May it was back to the US to take care of business associated with mom and to re-up our visa's.  On this trip we headed to northern California to visit family and friends.  We had a blast driving the coast road south to San Fransisco and playing tourist.  We then headed to Utah for a wood turning conference.  Uncle Jack and Aunt Marilyn opened their home to us and their hearts.  I for one needed the TLC they provided.  With their urging, as we drove south stops were made at Bryce Canyon and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We took a ton of pictures and played tourist through most of southern Utah and then Sedona Arizona.  When we made it back home, we were thinking it would be for an extended time.