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Teacher Appreciation Day
Our fellow teacher guests After such a nice restful week-end away, we settled back into the school routine, up at 5:30AM, and to bed about 9:30. Oh, we are now an hour ahead of Saskatoon, so we shut down the computer about 9-9:30 our time which shuts down our communications. We do have cell phones though, and actually text quite a few people from home. On Wednesday, May 11th, ASF held their annual Teacher Appreciation Day which meant that any teachers who wished to participate could take a bus immediately after school to a hall just across the street from the Auditorio Nacional in Polanco. After being at the Auditorio Nacional for the symphony, we were pleased to at least we know where we were in the city. The hall is a Casino and it was beautifully decorated to match the Academy Awards Theme. We were greeted at the door like stars and upon entering, were serenaded by a live band, free drinks were served by tuxedoed waiters and a delicious supper was served . Afterwards, the long-term employees were recognized, retirees acknowledged, and thank yous extended to all teachers who have chosen to leave at the end of the school year. The band then
Back,Red or White
The theme was the Oscars, so we dressed appropriateyl, complete with black tie! started up once more, and yup, you guessed it, salsa dancing, with many of the crowd getting up to dance. I think we need to take more lessons. Speaking of lessons, Linda has enrolled in yet another course, one that she feels is very beneficial to her knowledge base and career development. It is called Tribes, runs 1 night a week and a cou;ple of Saturdays, and demonstrates how to get children to work more effectively in groups without conflicts.
Fran and Jo Anne, retired Ontario teachers, have taught abroad for 7 and 9 years, and are now retiring for good. They own a condo in a resort area of Ontario, and last year, bought a house in Huatulco in preparation for retirement. They recently bought a 2002 Accord that they will use whenever they are in Huatulco. They wanted to take the car down to Huatulco before the end of the school year because at that time they are going in different directions. They took a personal day off, and me, then left right after school on Thursday. We drove to Acapulco arriving before dark, spent the night, then continued on Friday with the remaining 7-8 hour drive
Beautifully Decorated
There must have been about 500 or so people all together, nicely catered, and drinks included, freeeeeeee. down the Pacific coast on highway 200. I'll back up a bit. The drive to Acapulco is down a toll highway, so it is a wonderful twin highway that does not enter into any communities, and is somewhat remeniscent of the interstate highways in the states, except that it is seldom you can get on or off the highway. The tolls came to about 200 pesos for the 4 and a half hour drive and arrived at about 7PM. In Acapulco we discovered one of the most beautiful quaint hotels any of us had ever seen called "Casa del Lirio". This hotel featured individual cabanas with lofts that would sleep 8 comfortably. It worked so well for our needs. It had a unique wading pool, swimming pool, steam huts, and inside parking, which is what we needed with the car being full of stuff. Friday morning, 7:40 AM we head out of Acapulco. There are topes, also called reductors, or as we know them, as speed bumps which necesitates slowing down to 10K. They are vicious. Fran figured we should count how many there were, because she thought there would be a lot of them, she and I counted 188.
Salsa Dancing
We must take more lessons. Most people were up dancing, and it was just 6PM Highway 200 winds its way abut 10 k or so away from the ocean, through many little towns, with an awful lot of twists and turns, we were never sure how fast we could take these blind curves. We drove through plains, foothills, areas that were desert like, and others that were lush and green. The scenery changed regularly, the topes always there, but we made good progress. Acapulco to Huatulco is 504 km, and we were told it would take us 7 or more hours, and they were right. We stopped at Puerto Escondido for dinner around 2 pm, and that was really our first sight of the ocean. We found a pretty little seaside restaurand and enjoyed shrimp salads for lunch, and were back on the road an hour later.
188 topes later, yes, 188 times we had to slow down to 10km an hour, we pulled into the Bahias de Huatulco. Huatulco is an area and consists of 9 bays and 37 beaches. Located amongst the Mexican population is Fran and Jo Anne's house, close to the Crucecito, which is considered more or less the center of Huatulco. It is a very lovely 2 story, airconditioned
On the Road
7:30 AM and we are off, leaving Acapulco and heading for Huatulco, 504 Kilometers away (of course ), 3 bedroom and 2 bathrooms that they got fully furnished and equipped. After unloading the car, we were off on a tour the beaches and one of their favorite beaches. The ocean, however, was in one of it's annual transition stages, and despite the fact that there was no wind, the seas were high and wild. Saturday morning, stepping outside was like a stepping into a sauna, very hot and damp. Thank God for air-conditioning, unlike Mexico City, it is a MUST here. We packed up a lunch and headed off to the beach, this time to one that is well sheltered from the open ocean and usually quite quiet. Wow, because of the angry sea, this beach was CROWDED. That was okay, we found a spot, spread our towels and set up our chairs, relaxed, read, had a beer, a swam, a beer and a swim....... Nice Day! We finished the day with a bit of grocery shopping, made supper at the house and called it an early night. Sunday morning dawned bright, hotg and muggy, and we were off to Fran and Jo Anne's favorite beach, Conejos. Just short walk off the highway, it is
Highway 200
It winds its way through the countryside about 10-20 K from the ocean for now, a very secluded beach accessible only by a path through the woods. However, there is a large resort being built there that will change the whole experience there. For the first hour we had the beach to ourselves before a large family of Mexicans as well as the people that operate a little restaurant out of a hut showed up. What a quiet beautiful day of sunning (70 sunscreen), swimming and reading. Then, around 2 or 3, we wandered over to the restaurant where we ordered fresh fish for dinner, and watched as he cleaned the fish before roasting it on an open fire. The beer was cold and the fish was delicious! We then headed back to the house for a quick shower, packed up the house, and headed to the airport to catch our $90 taxes included flights back to DF. What an interesting trip! I now know why beautiful Hualtulco is such a popular holiday resort!
Linda, meanwhile, tutored after school on Thursday, then was home and visited on the phone with family. Then on Saturday, it was back to the school for a full day of the Tribes course, then off to Sara's,
Reductors
They are brutal, having to slow down to 10 K an hour to get over them, 188 times in 7 and a half hours of driving another grade 5 teacher that lives here in Condesa, for wine and pizza and it landed up being a substantailly later evening than originally planned. On Sunday, she was off biking down Reforma, one of our favorite Sunday activities. The street is blocked off to traffic, and full of joggers, rollerbladers, bikers and strollers. There are fitness classes going on the sidewalks, the musicians are out as well, and it is just a wonderful experience and sets such a nice tone for a Sunday. The breeze felt good on Linda and Sara's thickish heads. She met up with Tracy and Judy for a movie and supper at a new sushi restaurant that has just opened right at the end of our street. The menus are Ipads, so you scroll through the picture menu, enlarging and shrinking pictures as needed, then order what you like. So cool this technology.
So it was kind of a short week-end for Linda, but we were rested and ready to go Monday morning, again at 5:30 AM.
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Annette and Lionel
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So nice and hot!
Sounds like you are having a super time! It is cold and rainy here, Edmonton felt like the Carribean!