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Felicia and Rosa
One of our first stops when in Mexico City is always to see Felicia and Rosa, our former apartment owners and friends.November 23rd, we are up at 4:30AM and headed for Mexico and a much warmer climate. A month of winter was enough .... for now!
We arrived in Mexico City, caught a cab and headed to our hotel. We settled in and walked over to visit with Rosa, our former landlady and very close friend. Then Linda insisted we visit her most favorite restaurant, El Kaliman, where they serve the very best taco de pastor, Linda's favorite Mexican food. Oh the weather, calm, warm and welcoming!! It made our 10PM stroll back to our hotel extremely pleasant. The next day, another close friend Judy, having just returned from traveling in the US, invited us to stay with her. We arrived just as she put the finishing touches to a delicious supper. We spent the evening visiting and story swapping! Next morning we woke to a sun filled room, a soft breeze coming in through the open window and warmth radiating in. Just what we missed in Canada. After several days of visiting with friends and taking care of business we headed north of Mexico City to the Sierra Gorda area.
Our first stop was Tequisquiapan, a city of about
Judy and Maurice at Sullivan Park
Sullivan Market is a full market of fruits, vegetables, with food and drink available. On Sundays, a fabulous art display runs throughout the entire adjacent park. 55,000 located about 2 hours from DF. The colorfully painted heritage town was founded in 1551 and is known for its natural water springs and cobblestone streets. This, along with a lovely climate make it a weekend get away for residents of Mexico's 2 largest cities, Guadalajara and Mexico City. We wandered to the parish church, through the main plaza called Hildago Square, and checked out the many galleries, cafes and shops all selling colorful crafts made out of wood, rattan or wicker and more. We wandered the cobblestone streets filled with traditional houses, and spent a few days exploring and just enjoying the sites.
Tuesday, December 4th, we took the bus to Santiago de Queretaro, the capital of the state of Queretaro. We checked into the heritage building called Hotel Plaza located right in the zocalo, then went out exploring. Everything was decked out for Christmas, but there was no snow! We watched the lighting of the Friendship Tree, a massive pine that towered high over the zocalo. A sign claimed it had over 500,000 multicolored lights. The city night life was festive and welcoming and we enjoyed visiting with the locals. We felt very safe and content
Judy's Apartment
We love spending time in Judy's sunny, warm apartment. It's always perfect company and warm temperatures. as we wandered about.
We took two different trolley tours to get a better idea of what the city was about. Founded in 1531, the city boasts a population of just over a million people. Due to its' location north of Mexico City, it lies on the main transportation line between the south and the United States. Because of its' diverse resources it has developed into one of the largest economic areas in the nation. The area around the city is the second most productive farm area in the state boasting lots of irrigated crops, all types of livestock and the area has recently had a huge increase in manufacturing and commerce. The city is noted for its ornate civil and religious monuments scattered throughout the city and was declared a UNESCO Heritage Site in 1996. There was an old aqueduct consisting of 75 arches which are located every 20 meters with some arches reaching heights of 23 meters. The aqueduct allowed water to flow some 1280 meters to the city center, and today there are many stories and legends that the guides shared with our group. The many churches, ex-convents, monasteries, museums and the zocalo connect the Plaza
Outside A Mall in Mexico City
On the way to a movie at this mall which is all decked out for Christmas. Tracy, Maurice and Linda pose in front of the giant Christmas tree. de Armas, the Palacio de la Corregidora and many famous Casas, and these filled our time as we explored them.
A couple of days later we headed north to San Luis Potosi. The state and the capital are of the same name and are known for the mining of silver, gold, copper, zinc and bismuth. When I taught at ASF, we took our students to this area which is also known for its diverse plant and wildlife. With a population of just over a million people it is one of the main manufacturing centers of Central Mexico and is one of the nations most important agricultural areas. Because the downtown boasts many massive, colonial buildings displaying a great mixture of the different artistic styles, the city center was declared a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2010. We stayed right next to the zocalo where it was easy to explore all the unique buildings and listen to the music coming from the bandstand. You could even have caught us dancing there along with the locals. A bout with food poisoning left Linda in bed for a day during which time she would wake to children's voices and happy sounds drifting up
All Decked out for Christmas
Yes, that is the tree we posed in front of. It is over 2 full stories high! from the zocalo.
Next day found us ready to move on. After coffee and fruit at the Paroquilla Restaurant we caught a cab to the bus station and moved on to Leon, the leather capital of Mexico. Leon, population just over 2 million people, is where 60% of all leather products are made in Mexico. Because we had been to Leon before, we checked into the same hotel and headed to the Zona Piel where leather products line the shops and streets for blocks and blocks: shoes, boots, jackets, purses or anything made out of leather can be found. After a successful shopping excursion we took some time to check out the many beautiful churches and plazas located in the Centro.
After a few days we headed back to Mexico City and following the 5 hour bus ride we caught the metro to Judy's where dinner had been prepared for us. Judy does not cook if she doesn't have to, so we knew that she had put herself out. What a fantastic friend! We said farewell and Merry Christmas to Judy the next morning and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Huatulco.
We watched
Tequisquiapan
From the balcony of our hotel in Tequisquiapan. It is warm enough to swim but they do not heat their pools. Mt. Popo spewing smoke and ash as we took off from Mexico City. JoAnne met us as we arrived in Huatulco. It was nice to be picked up and driven to Hotel Villablanca for our first night. Maurice had managed to catch a cough and was curing it with sips of mescal. It didn't take long for half a bottle to disappear! The next day Trevor, Fran's son, left for home in Toronto, Canada and so we moved over to Fran and JoAnne's house for the remainder of our time in Huatulco. We had brunch at West Park Café, spent time at Chahue Beach Club and played cards with the girls at night. We tried Reto's East Indian comida, played beach volleyball with other retirees and enjoyed playing cards at night. Yoga and coffee go together in Huatulco. The girls bought an ocean kayak so we tried it out a few times with great success! We vacated to Aroccito beach when the maid appeared ... to be sure we were out of her way. We enjoyed a happy hour at Cosmos Beach Club followed by pizza and beer at La Crema, with more card playing happening in the evening. We
Santa Maria Church
This pink church sits on the edge of the Hidalgo Plaza, the main plaza in Tequisquiapan. listened to Blues music at Hemmingways, enjoyed a recorder concert another night, and spent an afternoon at the newly opened Secrets Resort. Maurice and Linda took their first sailing lesson after devouring a delicious 5 course meal. We wallowed in the quarter mile infinity pool with drink in hand and ended our afternoon with yet another meal of burger and fries. Wow! What a place! We found enough energy to waddle up to the table to play cards once again that evening. While visiting another evening we experienced a 5.9 earthquake. It sounded like a semi truck driving down the cobblestone street while the floor shook and the dishes rattled. But everything survived just fine, no damage. All too soon it was time to move on to our next adventure which would take us to Chetumal.
We flew back to DF, checked into the Park Villa hotel, arranged to leave our large suitcases with them and next morning we met Mary Yonker, a former co-worker, at the airport and flew to Chetumal. Chetumal is located south of Cancun at the southeastern tip of Mexico and only a few kilometers from Belize. It is also known as being in the
A Funky Cafe
Across from the church are many unique cafes and much shopping. Crepes are on offer here. heart of the ancient Mayan civilization. With the upcoming change of the Mayan calendar we thought it would be a good idea to check out the festivities and various Mayan ruins as we had not visited that area before. We picked up our rental SUV and headed inland from Chetumal. We stopped off at Lamay, Dzibanche and Kinichna pyramids on our way to Xpujil, Campeche. Lamay pyramid was the only pyramid where we could only walk around but we couldn't climb due to restorations being done. Kinichna and Dzibanche were only a 10 minute drive apart and were part of the same massive civilization. These less visited Maya Temples are some of the most beautiful in the region. They are enveloped by the tropical forest and are only partially reconstructed. They extend over an area covering about 40 square kms. The cities were filled with homes as well as areas where they worshiped their gods. They contained a large number of plazas ringed by large palaces, platforms and ceremonial centers. The sheer beauty of the temples was breathtaking! The views were spectacular! We climbed everything we could and then headed to our hotel in Xpujil. After a delicious meal Mary
The Friendship Tree - Queretaro
Here in the zocalo, every year, they light the Friendship Tree with over 500,000 lights. It's lighting officially kicks off the Christmas Season. gave us a lesson in 'crib', it was humbling!
We rose at 5AM on December 21st and headed to what is believed to have been the capital city of that regions' Mayan civilization, Calakmul. We arrived at the site at 7:15AM and stumbled onto a guide, Fernando, who toured us around the massive 20 sq km site. The site was rediscovered by air in 1931 but no extensive restoration took place until 1982.
Calakmul is known as the Snake Kingdom. The city is believed to have had a population of 50,000 and governed an area with a radius of about 150 km. The kingdom ruled over 13,000 sq km and at its height of power ruled over 1.75 million people. At 45 m or 148 feet, it was one of the tallest of all the Mayan pyramids. There was a constant rivalry between Tikal, Guatemala and Calakmul, Mexico. The 2 kingdoms were considered the super powers in their day despite being only 72 km apart.
The climbing/walking wore us out but that was not the end for us that day. After comida, we headed to Balamku pyramid to view the outstanding, almost intact 16.8 m long painted
Queretaro
This plaza had this giant sign attached to the main sidewalk. We enjoyed the clean, friendly atmosphere of Santiago de Queretaro. stucco wall sculpture inside the pyramid, dating back to 550-650AD. From there we went back to our hotel to nap and rest up for the evening climb at Becan pyramid.
Becan was rediscovered in 1934. It was the political, economic and religious capital of the province located at the base of the Yucatan Peninsula. It had a defense ditch (a moat 4 m deep) and a wall (up to 11 ft high) just over 2 km long. It is the oldest known defensive system in Mexico. Becan was inhabited from about 550BC and was abandoned somewhere about 1200AD. We climbed to the top of 'temple 4' and watched as the sun slipped behind the clouds pointing the 'fingers of God' UP, creating an awe inspiring few moments. No catastrophic events occurred as the over 5000 year long Mayan calendar ended. According to the Mayans, December 22nd introduced a new period, one known as the 'age of enlightenment'. With legs almost giving out we returned to our hotel and a very welcome night of rest.
We returned to Chetumal, then onto Mexico City, where we spent the night. Next morning, December 23rd, we were back once again at the
A Pretty City
What a colorful scene in the adjoining plaza in Queretaro city. airport and headed for home; Saskatoon, Canada.
Aw Mexico! We'll miss our friends from Mexico. We'll miss the lovely, almost perfect, climate. We'll miss the very efficient bus system that took us all over Mexico safely. We'll miss the open air fresh food markets. We'll miss the borrow-a-bike system that got us where ever we needed to go, gave us exercise and could be parked easily. We'll miss the sidewalk cafes where you could always get cervesa. Linda will miss taco de pastor. Mexico will forever be in our hearts!
We were greeted by Kody and Kristen by 12:30AM on Christmas Eve and driven to our house.
December 24th, we were up preparing for upcoming company by 9AM. Leslie and the kids arrived about noon bringing with them great appetites for hugs and food. Tyler, Kim and Bennett arrived shortly after. Aaron followed, then Kristen, Kody, Cory, Vicky and Tai arrived. What a great start to our Christmas festivities! We had hor'd'oeuvres, did a gift exchange and then headed off to church. After church we got the turkey, stuffing and gravy from our house and then headed to Luc and Colette's house for the Blanchette reveillon which
The Aquaduct
The aquaduct with its' 75 arches that brought fresh water to the city. lasted till the wee hours of the morning. Arriving home, we got the Christmas Day turkey in the oven and crawled into bed to sleep fast.
Saydi got us out of bed to wish us a Merry Christmas. We spent a short morning visiting in our house. With the turkey cut, we headed out to Langham where the Tarasoff festivities took place. 25 family members sat down for Christmas dinner, and then made the gift exchange, Chinese Auction Style, fun. Family photos were taken and then most family members left for other Christmas celebrations. We got to nap, then played cards with Linda's Mom and Dad, had a leftover turkey supper and visited till we were out of energy.
During the next few weeks we had many meals with family or friends. Linda's Mom ended up in hospital for a few days. Cory and Vicky discovered mold in their house and would need to move ... soon. Byron and Linda along with Katie and Tristen escaped to snowboard for a day. Our fridge quit working (turns out all it needed was to be unplugged and thawed out)! We had Janice and Dwayne over for drinks and cards. We
A Plaza
Notice the green and sculpted trees in this public plaza set up near the top of the mountain. brought in the New Year at home. And then, just to top off a wonderful Christmas season, our newest granddaughter, Briar Anne arrived, becoming North Battleford's New Year's Baby for 2013!!
Also, between Christmas and New Year, Linda was offered a teaching contract by the American School in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and accepted it. Last fall, we had decided to search for a teaching contract for Linda somewhere in Asia that would provide us with an opportunity to live in and learn another very different culture. During that time, with the help of Search Associates, Linda was researching job openings and sending out resumes to schools in China, Vietnam, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and more. She managed to send out 45 resumes, and we were delighted when the Kaohsiung American Foundation offered her the grade 4 position.
In early November, we had booked flights to Hong Kong in order to attend a job fair on Jan 19th. However, after signing the contract with the Kaohsiung American School, we cancelled our attendance at the job fair, but weren't able to cancel the flights, and so on Jan 15th, we headed once again to the Saskatoon airport bound for Hong
Wow! One Large Tree
This tree is built entirely out of poinsettia plants placed in the metal frame work. It sits in another plaza away from the zocalo. Kong, Taiwan and Thailand.
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Annette and Lionel
non-member comment
Thank you!
Very much enjoyed all the pictures, great to hear from you!