Gosh, have I ever fallen behind on the writing and blogging! In some ways maybe that is a good thing, as our life has been so filled up with our new home, pups turning into big dogs, socializing with new friends, Spanish lessons, lots of visitors, the sudden loss of Ron's mom, trying to sell our boat and getting it delivered from Mazatlán back up to San Diego to put on the market, putting in raised vegetable beds and a brick patio, having our pool remade to be usable (a "6-week job" that has now turned the corner to the 6th month) and finally had it filled a week ago! The solar panels aren't in yet, so the pool remains a frigid 60 degrees (F). I also went to Houston in August to be with my sister Linda as she underwent a stem cell/bone marrow transplant to deal with the two types of leukemia she has been diagnosed with in the past 3+ years. My other sister was the luckily a match to be host/donor, and it looks like the grafting of the cells has been successful. We are still keeping our fingers crossed that there is no major rejection of the host cells. And finally, we went to Italy for approximately 3 weeks and just returned on October 1st.

We continue to be wowed by our experiences in Mexico. People in the grocery stores, eager to help us and practice their English, come up to us to offer assistance in finding something. I can't imagine people in the US doing the same for obviously confused people from Mexico, Latin America or South America. Maybe it happens, but I don't know. Instead we hear people say, "they come to America, they need to speak the language." Well, it takes some time, believe me. We continue to take classes off and on, and more recently we have our teacher coming to the house 2 days a week, for 3 hours each day. Ron and I each get an individual hour and then we have a shared conversation for the last hour. We are getting better, but as they say here, kindly I might add, "poco a poco" (little by little), when we are out and about and struggling. We had the same experiences in Italy, people stopping and asking us if we needed help. Maybe it happens more in other countries because people tend to learn and speak more than one language; it is the norm.

The classes at the Escuela Mexicana (language school) also included visits around the area to various historical places and cathedrals, as well as art museums (Diego Rivera, Diego's home). We went to see an old 16th century hacienda by the name of San Gabriel de Barrera which was owned by a wealthy silver-mining family, as well as the governor at one point. These were the days of the Barons and Baronesses. There was even a room for the priest which was situated between the Baron's bedroom and the Baroness's, and according to the tour guide, they had to get permission from the priest to have carnal visits. Since they were quite young, I imagined them sneaking around at night from chamber to chamber, or meeting elsewhere on this huge estate. There are now 17 formal gardens on the property, representing different countries. It was a fascinating visit and I have included photos of this property.

As I mentioned, lots of work is being done on our place. Both in our studio/pool/garden and a place down below us, we see the same manual labor that they have been doing for centuries, rather than using machinery like we are used to in the U.S. One funny/interesting thing we observed is that our workers delivered long pieces of rebar (40 ft.lengths), and instead of cutting them into smaller lengths or possibly damaging a door to get them into the pool area, they cut a 6 inch hole (!) in the wall to pass them through. Later they repaired the hole and stucco'ed over it. Similarly, we have watched guys building a house down the hill from us. They make holes in the finished walls to attach their scaffolding to the outside, then go back and fill in the holes afterwards. There were very windy conditions a couple of days with these guys working on the roof. They tied a loop of rope around their waists and continued on! It was fascinating watching them construct the boveda ceilings. As I have probably mentioned before, this very exacting and beautiful work with bricks is carried on for generations upon generations as a family skill. The ceilings are the vaulted kind, often with different brick designs, and are created without any forms underneath the bricks. The guys chip away at the new bricks prior to placing them on the structure to make sure they fit properly. No stone cutting fancy electric saw for them. They are much more exacting just chipping away with a trowel. EVERYTHING is done by hand, including mixing cement, sifting the sand and gravel to be used for the cement, hauling it bucket by bucket up a rope to the roof. There are some photos of this process as well in the GALLERY.

We are currently having our pool remade as it was cracked and unusable. The guys chipped away at the old structure, BY HAND, with a bara (bar). When the pool was finally poured, it took 14 guys carrying buckets of cement from the cement mixer in the studio, up the stairs to the pool deck and poured the pool and the surrounding deck in about 6 hours, trudging back and forth, back and forth. We had prepared to have a feast for them afterwards, but they all had other jobs to go to. They were each paid 500 pesos for their day's work (about $26.00 US for 6 hours of HARD labor). Our normal crew also dug out rocks and broke up cement and are building a stone wall out front, as well as a place for us to plant a bamboo screen. We decided we needed to be clearer about where our property line ends and the vecino (neighbor's) property begins as there was a slight problem in the neighborhood. A slightly senile abuelo (grandfather) of the family next door hired a kid to "clean up" the front of their casa, and next thing we knew, the sister of our housecleaner called and asked her to go outside our house. We all went and discovered that the pampas grasses (3-4 ft tall) had been destroyed, dug out, chopped up and put next to the neighborhood dumpster. We went to confront them (they also own a local tienda which we frequent a couple of times a week), and they chalked it up to "error" (roll your "r's!) or mistake. They blamed the neighborhood kid and said he thought it was weeds! The abuelo went to the dumpster, pulled out the grasses and tried to stuff them back into the barren holes, saying essentially, "just watch. They will grow back." Of course, that didn't happen! Anyway, not much to be done, and now we are re-landscaping. We had a stone wall put in, and we are planting bamboo as a border between our properties.

Garden/Jardin

All last spring and this summer we have been spent building raised vegetable and flower beds surrounded by a brick patio, which we have laid by hand. HUGE task, but it has felt good to get physical again - until the aches and pains come along, but we have enjoyed the bounty. We raised strawberries, blackberries, two kinds of tomatoes (heirloom and roma), 4 kinds of beans, including French haricot green beans, and yellow wax beans, peas, carrots, summer and golden squash, and of course, garlic, 2 types of basil, dill, cilantro, and oregano. We have red potatoes in for the winter, and tried cabbage and cucumbers, but no luck yet. We had to smuggle seed packets in, as you can't find some of the seeds (or veggies!) down here. You would think they would sell acorn or butternut squash, but not so. We are re-learning how to garden again, making the usual beginner's mistakes of over-planting and over-crowding! But we've had great success growing lettuces (romaine and red leaf), as well as arugula, spinach and kale. We accidently encouraged a morning glory vine which apparently was a "volunteer" from soil we used. We built a kind of arbor between our boxes and the thing took over. Pretty, but it shaded our tomatoes too much. Again, photos are included.

Fiestas, Food and Fun

We have been meeting lots of people, both local, and other American and Canadian expats. Many people live here 6 months a year and go north during the summer when summers are their favorite times up there, but there are plenty of full-time residents like us. We've also been to two fiestas by locals where we were the only gringos. A couple of people at the parties spoke a little English, but primarily we have to get along with our Spanish. It is a great learning environment for us, and most people help us out. There was one party at the unfinished house behind us. The architect from Mexico City invited us and his family was there from all over the place, all 35 of them. When we arrived the abuela's (grandmothers) were sitting in front of giganto pots on the ground, with one stirring a huge quantity of homemade mole and in the other pot was 7 or 8 whole chickens in a broth over two burners. They also had homemade tortillas, a sheep on the grill, Mexican rice and beans. They loaded up our plates and wanted to heap more on for us to take home for the next day. Neither of us eat sheep, so we tried to politely decline that. Of course, there were all kinds of hot sauces and condiments and wonderful aromas in the air. The tequila was passed around along with cervezas, and the party went on long after we headed back up the hill, hearing laughter and music the rest of the evening. At another party for the aunt of a Mexican family we have gotten to know, we were dropped off on the street and guided up the callejones (alleys/staircases throughout town) by their 13 year-old daughter. We went in to find a couple of the relatives sitting at a loaded-down dining room table in the center of the room. We were invited to sit, then given chopping chores, as we all made guacamole, and condiments for the dinner. More and more people filled the room, and again, as the only gringos, we just learned to accommodate, and try to communicate as best we could. Mounds of food and everyone balancing their paper plates and horchatas (a non-alcoholic traditional beverage made with ground almonds, rice, and flavorings) or Coca-Colas on their laps. I love these gatherings and discovering new foods that I never had in Mexican restaurants in the US!

We also had a beautiful day at a friend's property in an area called Milagros. There was a town there at one point, but now only a lonely restaurant and a few houses. Our friend Gerardo bought property nearby and will build on it one day, but wanted us to go out to see it, and to hike around the area a little. Again photos included! It is a Mexico that you don't normally see, beautiful mountains in the distance, streams and a forest and acres and acres of land. The friend brought 2 other people in his vehicle and we followed him. We drove halfway to San Miguel de Allende and turned off on an unmarked road. The road went for ½ mile, then we started driving out across the land! I was a little shocked as I was driving and I thought, "Where the hell is he taking us?!?" We drove down culverts, through a herd or two of cattle, and finally got to this area under a huge oak tree. He got out and said, "There, isn't that a beautiful tree?? That is why I bought this property. I fell in love with the tree!" Ah Mexico and its people. We hiked through the nearby forest some, then Gerardo pulled the grating from an old grill out from behind a tree, set it on a firepit, and proceeded to bring food out of his car for a chicken fajita feast, along with a couple of bottles of wine, and homemade cookies that I made. A great time was had by all.

There have been numerous expat dinner parties that we have been invited to, an art opening with local music and theatrical performances, and from that gathering we met some musicians. We were then invited to their performances, including one that was cancelled and ended up in someone's house where there was dancing out on the terraces and patios, on three levels. Food from all over the world, since we are in an area of lots of people from all over the world, and multiple languages spoken. Again, it seems we have a more active social life than we have ever had in the past 25 years! We've ended up hosting dinner here, and there always seem to be an additional guest or five! I think part of it is the Mexican culture of many celebrations and everyone being invited, from kids, to cousins, to friends and neighbors, as well as people who have transplanted here, and reaching out a little more to strangers and other expats.

Every day in May is a Day to Celebrate here in Guanajuato: Dia de maestros (Teacher's day), taxistas (taxi drivers), obreros (construction workers), etc., and each group tries to outdo the others with small parades of drums and horns, Virgin de Guadalupe processionals, fake fireworks (only the bang, no lighting up the sky), and church bells with no rhyme or reason that we have come to understand, and believe me, we have asked! I took a writing class offered by a local writer, and one of the tasks was to write about the story behind the bells in GTO. There were some very creative souls in the group and we got quite a laugh out of the exercise. Now we have Halloween (celebrated more and more here in recent years), Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on the 1st, and All Saints Day on the 2nd. Fireworks started up last week for these events, and there will be parades, fiestas in the streets and plazas, the annual Katrina competition, sand paintings on some sidewalks, and a showing of altars, many in people's homes.

We have been busy with our pups/Frida and Charlie. As I have mentioned before, they are street dogs with a little bit of everything in them. Their mother was picked up off the street when she was about to give birth and she had five pups. They would have undoubtedly ended up on the streets if the woman hadn't found homes for them all. The mother was later poisoned by someone who tried to poison several dogs in the area. We also donated 1000 bricks to one of the local organizations that rescue street dogs. Corazon de Animales is a locally-owned non-profit organization run by a teacher after school, and her daughter. They have rescued hundreds of street dogs and keep them alive somehow on their own budget and from the kindness of fellow animal lovers. They also have fundraisers here and there, but the animals are ridiculously overcrowded (70 dogs the last time we went to visit), with 4-5 dogs in each enclosure, dirt floors (mud during rainy season), and no real space to run and play. The organization recently bought some land, but don't have the money to build on it yet. Ron has welded a couple of enclosure doors for them and we are helping in a few other ways, but most people have so little, that to give time or money to help dogs is not a priority. I believe they have a connection with someone in Canada, who helps the dogs find families up there.

And finally, we took a trip to Italy in September, one year after we had originally planned to go. We didn't go as planned as we had just purchased the house, and two weeks prior to leaving, we were robbed with the end result being that they cleaned out our Mexican bank account. Not a huge amount by American standards, but muchos muchos pesos down here. We mainly didn't feel comfortable leaving house/dog sitters at our place, still having furniture delivered and work being done, and we couldn't have enjoyed a trip abroad with all of that going on at home. So, we put it off for one year, and celebrated our 26th anniversary instead on the Amalfi Coast, sitting at the edge of the Mediterranean, eating prawns, mussels, and sipping limoncello after dinner. Our whole trip included Venice, Florence, where we enjoyed a cooking class, the coast, Rome and north of Rome to stay in a country home of friends, near the hilltop town of Greccio (founded in the 10th and 11th centuries) in the Province of Reiti. So we experienced life in the cities, the coast and the country. It was an incredible vacation and one that I will write about next time. I promise it won't be 8 months this time!

Adios and Ciao!
Vanessa & Ron