Exploring Tlaxcala

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Another lazy morning where Mia and I slept in until 10am. For this reason, I have changed the medicine dosage times for Mia because 2:30 am/pm was not working. My mother has obviously forgotten the in-the-middle-of-the-night feedings and the necessity of waiting a few hours to give her that first dosage in order to get all the other times on a reasonable schedule. The first time that I tried to wake Mia up from a dead sleep and give her the medicine, I woke the next day to see that most of it had dribbled down her chin and dried in her nose.

Mia enjoyed a bowl of cocoa cereal, scrambled egg, and frijoles for breakfast while I sipped on a cup of cinnamon tea and one of the pan dulces that we had purchased last night. I'm not a huge breakfast eater and I don't know if I can ever become accustomed to the idea of eating the same type of meals for breakfast as they have for lunch and dinner like pork, rice, and beans. My idea of breakfast runs more to fruit, yogurt, cereal, pancakes, omelettes, etc. Everyone probably thinks that Jose has married himself a strange white woman but hey, I can only do so much outside my comfort zone and food is not something I want to budge on, yet. I love mexican food but it's usually after noon. The idea today was to explore the local city of Tlaxcala, the capital of the state of Tlaxcala. Isabel's husband Severo has a little sedan which doesn't accomodate the large group of us so we split up into two groups. I went in the car with Severo, Mia, Marciana, Marilub, Pedro, and Fernanda. Severo gave us a ride into town and dropped us off at the park in the central part of town to wait for the second group. They had to walk down to the corner near their house and catch a combis to give them a ride into town.

While we were waiting for them to arrive, I noticed that the park offered free internet courtesy of the city. I was able to pick up the wifi signal on my MyTouch phone and download my email, email a few pictures to Jose, and make sure that no emergencies had occurred in my absense. Sometimes I think that nobody even notices when I'm gone. Jury is out on whether this is good or bad. I went to take some pictures of Marilub with Mia by the water fountain and realized that I left my memory card in the laptop which was back at the house! Needless to say, I was in a panic because I can't sightsee if I can't take pictures. Who wants a scrapbook full of words?!?! As soon as Isabel showed up with Eduardo aka Lalo and Sara, I asked her to please assist me in locating a store that sold camera products. We had to walk around the square and inquire in several stores but we finally found one that sold Kodak products and the such. A 4 GB SD HC memory card cost me $260 pesos so that's about average, $20 in the US. I only had a 1 GB in the camera as it is so I needed an extra anyways.

After we got the memory card, we stopped into a paleteria and bought another one of my favorite ice cream bars, only $16 pesos. If I could figure out a way to bring these home, I would load up the ice chest! Isabel picked out some little popsicles of vanilla or rice (arroz con leche). After we finished eating, we walked across the street to the governor's offices. The history of Tlaxcala is painted in gorgeous murals all around the inside of the courtyard where it is protected from the sun. I'm sure that the pictures can't even begin to do it justice, even though no flash is allowed, I was able to take quite a few pictures thanks to the sunlight. Marciana, of course, needed to make another pit stop at the restrooms. I tease her that we can always pick up some adult diapers for her as well but she just snorts and tells me not to worry.

We made our way back to the first park and Ilse met up with us as she got out of school. Then we walked to another park and Isabel walked us up to the top of the hill next to it where there is an old convert that is currently being remodeled or perhaps renovated would be the better term. I purchased some religious items for Jose because I noticed that the medallion that he used to always wear broke and he hasn't been able to replace it. The only problem is that the items haven't been blessed yet so I'll need to take them somewhere to have that done(?). We bought some churros from a street vendor and they got slices of cheese pizza with a generous helping of hot sauce poured on top. From the top of the hill, we could look down into an arena where they hold bull-fighting events on special occasions or when they can get a famous bullfighter to put on an exhibition. That is something that I would love to see live.

To finish off the evening, we walked to Severo's hair salon so I could check it out. It's not too bad but times are difficult, especially when you've got a hair salon on every block and everyone's vying for the same clients. There we left Marciana, Pedro, Marilub, and Lalo to wait for Severo to catch a ride home and we took another combis to the little town of Santana to continue exploring. I tried buying a pair of shoes for Mia but her little legs are too chubby so all the cute pairs of boots wouldn't zip shut comfortably without pinching her. The shoe prices in the stores average about what they cost at home but they've got some cute styles that I'd like to have. Unfortunately, this trip doesn't leave any room in my suitcases for me, maybe next time. As we started wandering back to the street to catch a combis for the ride home, we passed a street vendor selling elote, yummy! I got a nice juicy one slathered in mayo and sprinkled with cheese for only $10 pesos. I ate the majority of it before realizing that Mia wanted some too. She gobbled the rest of it down, right to the last little kernels attached to the cob. Next time I'll be ordering two of those, super delicious and good for you too.

A fairly uneventful ride home and a quick walk to the house. Isabel took Mia with her when she and Severo went to buy more bread for in the morning and she didn't even make a fuss at all. She likes to go out and do stuff instead of sit around the house. I'm glad that she is so comfortable with her family even though she doesn't get the chance to spend very much time with them or visit very often. I made it to bed around midnight after writing up yesterdays adventures.

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Photos

Paletas in the Parque
Pedro, Lalo, and Fernando enjoying popsicles in the park.

Playing in the Park
My mother-in-law Sara and Mia playing in the fountain in the park.

The History of Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala
In the city government courtyard, the history of the cuidad is painted in beautiful, vibrant murals all over the walls. Absolutely beautiful!!

Tourism Map of Tlaxcala
Acuamanala is located in the bottom blue section, no. 19. I still have so much to explore!

Plaza de Toro
Jorge "El Ranchero" Aguilar Bullfighting Ring

La Familia Vilchis
Lala (10), Isabel, Mia, Fernanda (11), and Ilse (16) with Pedro behind them.

Elote
An absolutely delicious piece of elote smothered in mayo and sprinkled with dried cheese.

Comments

[Manny]

Are you sure you should be eating that?

[Ray Powers]

Hey Krystal, Hope you are having a great trip. I am still here in Iraq having a great time. Keep in touch when you can.