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Things are starting fall into place and our casita is feeling more and more like home. Yesterday we took the bus
by ourselves in El Centro. The bus ride was great! Each bus is individually owned by the driver. You flag them down like they are taxis and just hop on. The money is collected during or after the ride. The radio blasts loud music as we bumped up and down on the cobblestone streets. I was particularly touched when a very old man who could barely walk flagged down the bus. The driver pulled over and got out of the bus to help the man up the stairs. You don't see that on Muni in San Francisco!
We then spent the day walking around downtown. We picked up the weekly English newspaper, stopped for a beer in the town square for a drawing break and just took our time with everything. The Public Library was our next stop. This is a very popular place for gringos because it has the largest section of English books outside of Mexico City in all of Mexico! There is also a beautiful courtyard with a fountain and several tables with white canvas umbrellas.
Julia at Comida
Enjoying my limonada By this time it was about 2:00pm...time for COMIDA! So off to La Parroquia Cafe for their set lunch special that we remembered from our last trip. I had cream of asparagus soup, chicken wrapped in bacon with mashed potatoes and gravy, limonada, coffee and a small slice of chocolate cake...all for 105 pesos. (About $10) Ronnie decided he wanted chili rellanos and a margarita...which made him quite giggly.
Next was off to Bella Artes, an art school, where Ronnie is considering taking a watercolor class. The classes start Monday which seemed a bit too soon so we will keep our eyes open for another. Then a walk through an art fair and then it was time to hop back on the bus to take us up the hill to Fracc. Insurgentes.
As we came through our front gate we ran into Sra. Eleanor who kindly invited us to share a bottle of wine with her. So one glass of wine became hours of drinking, laughing and sharing stories. Sra. Eleanor is a remarkable woman. She has been all over the world and seen all kinds of things. She has worked in a hotel in Nice, France,
been to Pampolonia during the running of the bulls, lived in China and spent 3 years on an Indian Reservation just to name a few!! We looked through cookbooks together and talked a long time about Frida Kahlo and our obsessions with her. Her dog Pingquica and Byron are finally getting along, so Byron can run around the garden and fountain freely. After a bit of Pear Vodka, we decided to call it a night.
This morning we woke up at 7:30 to be ready for our maid, Maria, to come and meet us. She has a big rosy smile and loves Byron. To give her some room while she cleaned, Eleanor took us to a small gordita place for breakfast before hitting our local mercado. The gordita stand had two tables, a woman cooking on a hot plate and about 10 casserole dishes all filled with different stuffings to use for the inside of your gordita. I had nopales (cactus) and chicken while Ronnie had steak and potato. They were outstanding! And even better...10 pesos. (A little less than a dollar)
Next, we were off to the Saturday Mercado. There were tons of fruit and vegetable stands,
flowers, fresh baked breads! Everything! The sights, sounds and smells felt like I was in a dream. Eleanor took us to a carnitas stand where we ordered a half kilo. We would have them later for comida. We stopped by our tortilla lady and bought a stack of fresh tortillas for 2 pesos. As we walked, we meet many more neighbors. One little girl gave me a kiss on the cheek! There was lots of laughing and joy all around the mercado. Children buying churros, madres buying roses and papas eating tortas with lots of salsa. And to think that this weekly market is only 3 blocks from our little casita.
Ooooo the thunder has started once again and it is now raining buckets outside. I am glad we made it back in time! This evening we plan to just relax, read our books and newspaper and play our new favorite game...ZOMBIES! (It's especially fun with the lightening when the power flickers.)
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Neil and Laura
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Great blog.
Love your blog, we've been thinking about doing something like this for a while. We like to hear about the good as well as the bad. Good luck and keep blogging, we'll be reading. N+L.