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Published: August 29th 2008
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Lagos de Moreno Catherdral
This was the largest of several churches. Little did I know what adventure laid ahead of us when Leon and I departed on a bus to Lago de Morenos with the Xiutla dance group. The bus trip alone was quite something as we tried to sleep on the 8.5 hour bus ride. We took off about 10:30 p.m. from a park close to our condo and arrived in a pretzel position about 7 am. I slept with two inches of space between my knees and the back of the seat in front of me as the person in that seat decided to be very comfortable with the seat extended back as far as it would go. When we arrived we were very pleasantly surprised by a very nice hotel with a wonderful room for about $60/night. Our previous experiences with this group and hotel rooms left a lot to be desired. For instance, in Guadalajara, we stayed in quite a dump and had the same experience in Talpa. We are, though, grateful to be included in these excursions regardless of the housing conditions.
The town of Lago de Morenos is a beautiful, colonial city which is very old (cerca 1700's). We had the privilege of being taken
Typical Casa
This was the inside of a house which was attached to a souvenir store. on a tour of the city by the head of the culture department. Eduardo who was the head of the cultural department and a friend of Enrique's, showed us great restaurants, wonderful shopping choices, and many, many huge Catholic churches - one of which was a cathedral. The style of a lot of the town was colonial and old. Lots of wrought iron, super tall ceilings, and thick walls. The pictures I am posting show much of what we saw.
We arrived on Thurs. a.m. and the kids danced that evening and also on Friday evening in a beautiful ornate theater (reminiscent of the Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle). While the entire month of March was full of free activities sponsored by the Cultural Department of Lagos de Morenos, the theater was about 3/4 full each night which we thought was great.
While we were messing around in the stores, we found a grandfather clock made in Germany for $800. Not able to pass up a bargain we bought it thinking it would cost about $3,000 at home. Now came the challenge of getting it home. Fortunately for us, the bus had a sleeping compartment on it which
Beautiful Architecture
A building which exemplifies the typical architecture. was empty (since the driver wasn't sleeping) and the clock when boxed up, just barely fit in the space (to our relief). It was stored in the hotel until we left for PV on Sat. morn.
Leaving Lago de Morenos was a typical laid back exercise. The bus finally left at 11 a.m. when the last of the kids showed up. Forget asking them to be at the bus by a certain time - just let things evolve and somehow it always seems to work out - Mexican style.
Coming home was another interesting experience as the bus blew a tire in Guadalajara and we drove past tire store after tire store only to find out they did not have the manpower or equipment to change it. Finally we found a tire store that could and it only took 90 minutes. Imagine the driver's surprise when he found out that the spare had a rim that did not fit the bus necessitating the helpers changing the tire to the old rim. While the tire was being changed, all the kids, us, and the director parked ourselves outside of an OXXO store (think 7-11). Fortunately there was a bit
Fountain
In a park, we find a beautiful fountain of shade to help us out while we waited what seemed hours for the event to be resolved.
We arrived back in PV about 11 hours after our start and then we were faced with the problem of how to get the grandfather clock from Pittial to our home which was about 10 miles. We were fortunate enough to know a nice Mexican man with a truck who ferried us and the clock home. Driving over the cobblestones made us wonder if the clock would still work when it arrived home but it did (and perfect time too) - that's the Germans for you.
One day after this trip we went to San Vincente (think Saint Vincent) - a small pueblo outside of PV in the neighboring state. They were having their annual festival complete with the Xiutla dancers and a carnival. We took four family members who were visiting PV for a taste of real Mexico. They were all amazed at the difference between the nationals here and the nationals in PV. Suffice it to say, the country Mexicans are nicer and more authentic than in PV.
Leon had another opportunity to practice his tour guide
New Dance
The Xiutla group performs a new dance in Lagos de Moreno skills as we had family visit our beach condo. He loves this role and should have, during his working years, had the chance to be a tour guide.
More later, Kathleen
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