Archive for October, 2016

Day of the Dead Preparations

Sunday, October 30th, 2016

Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead

I went shopping in Tonala yesterday, then went to Tlaquepaque to see their preparations for Day of the Dead (which is next Wednesday). There were a lot of altars set up, or in the process of being set up, at El Refugio and in the street as well. They blocked off the main thoroughfare, so in addition to the pedestrian mall, there was another several blocks set aside for altars and on-lookers. Many businesses had big altars in front of their store with altars to their founders. There were tons of people set up doing face painting for young and old – I think I saw more older men getting their faces painted than little kids! It was a festive atmosphere and beautiful to look at! I’ll leave you with more photos at the end of this post.

Last Sunday evening, John and I went to see the ballet folklorico performed by the University of Guadalajara. Once we finally found seats where we could actually see the stage, we really enjoyed it! (No wonder the tickets were so cheap!) The University is supposed to have the best performance, and it was gorgeous – beautiful costumes and lots of foot stomping! Fun!

Thursday night, John and I went downstairs to visit with some of our Mexican neighbors – they were lovely hosts and fun to talk to. Friday after work, we headed to a co-worker’s house for a get-together – a nice way to end the week.

We both have a pretty good idea of what our jobs will be next year, but the official offers don’t come out until tomorrow – so we’ll keep you in suspense! Wish us luck!

Wow!

Wow!

Tlaquepaque

Tlaquepaque

Indigenous woman with flowers

Indigenous woman with flowers

Puppets

Puppets

Altar to Diego Rivera

Altar to Diego Rivera

Lovely

Lovely

Altar to Freida

Altar to Freida

Skulls

Skulls

A co-worker's child

A co-worker’s child

Pins and needles

Sunday, October 23rd, 2016

John speaking at the Binational Center

John speaking at the Binational Center

John and I are on pins and needles waiting to hear about our next assignment! Since we’re bidding on DC, we know where we’re going (unlike in other years), but we don’t know exactly what we’ll be doing. We’ve both received some good feedback and feel like we’ll probably end up with jobs we like – but you never know until you sign on the dotted line. Hopefully by this time next week, we’ll know our fate!

The photo is from John’s speech at the binational center. He gave a great presentation on the election process. I was happy to be able to see it this time. He made a complex process understandable (if you’ve ever tried to explain primaries, caucuses, and the electoral college to anyone, you know how crazy it gets!). Good job, John!

I was particularly busy this week since my boss was visiting the agency in Vallarta. We had a number of special citizen services cases that required a lot of hand-holding (all with good outcomes!), plus our normal heavy workload for passports and citizenship cases. I’m also training a new officer, which is rewarding but time-consuming.

The highlight of the week was finally selling Mom’s house in Hot Springs. It’s been on the market for a while – unfortunately, when we listed it, there were five other houses for sale at the same time (very rare in that lovely neighborhood). But it’s done! I have to admit that while I was glad to not have to worry about it any more, it was very sad to think of how much happiness that house brought her, and that it was one of the last links I have to her.

Mom 2012

Mom 2012

Mary and Lynna come to visit!

Sunday, October 16th, 2016
Mary, John, Ramona, Lynna overlooking Guanajuato City

Mary, John, Ramona, Lynna overlooking Guanajuato City

It’s been a busy two weeks and I missed blogging last Sunday, so I’ll try to catch up!

John got home on the 5th in the wee hours of the morning – it took him almost 24 hours to get from Suriname back to Guadalajara. He hit the ground running – back in the office the next day and gave a presentation to the principal officers from across Mexico who were here for a conference. No rest for the weary.

Mary and Lynna arrived from Little Rock on Friday the 7th. We loaded up the car on Saturday morning and drove to San Miguel de Allende, a beautiful little town about four hours away. We stayed there for a night at a lovely little hotel, then drove to Guanajuato City the next afternoon.

We loved Guanajuato, and stayed there for two nights. The city was a zoo when we arrived on Sunday afternoon. They were having their annual Cervantes festival, so lots of people were in town. And festival or not, the city is hard to access. For one thing, it’s practically vertical and built into the hillside. Cars are prohibited in much of the space above ground, so you use a maze of tunnels to get around under the city. The hotel had to send a bellboy on foot to find us, then he directed us to parking and walked us to the hotel. It’s really incredible!

We hired a guide on Monday and went to the mummy museum, to the mirador overlooking the city, to an old silver mine, and to an old hacienda that’s basically been turned into a park. The mummy museum was really interesting – the mummies were inadvertently preserved due to the conditions in the crypt. The bodies were disinterred when the families didn’t pay for them to be perpetually interred.

We visited the Diego Rivera museum (the house where he was born) before we left town on Tuesday.

Mary and Lynna explored downtown GDL on Wednesday, and John took them to Tequila on Thursday. Friday, I took them to Tonala and Tlaquepaque for some shopping and sightseeing. Yesterday morning, we had breakfast at our favorite Oaxacan restaurant, then we sadly took them to the airport in the afternoon.

Now I’m afraid it’s back to the real world for us! John has gotten some good feedback on jobs in DC, and I hope to get traction this week. We’ll know more by the end of the month – the suspense is maddening!

Here are a few photos from our travels – click to see all of my photos.

Prayer, Guanajuato

Prayer, Guanajuato

Dog in window, Guanajuato

Dog in window, Guanajuato

Late night scene in San Miguel

Late night scene in San Miguel

Mary and a mummy

Mary and a mummy

Mummy Museum

Mummy Museum

Mariachis waiting for work, Guanajuato

Mariachis waiting for work, Guanajuato

Islas Marias

Sunday, October 2nd, 2016

Islas Marias Prison Visit

Islas Marias Prison Visit

Our most unusual prison in Mexico where we visit American citizen prisoners is the island of Islas Marias, sort of a Mexican Alcatraz. The difference is that the least dangerous criminals go to Islas Marias. They live in communal houses and most of them have jobs, so they have a lot of freedom. The thousand or so prisoners can work in maintenance, construction, shrimp farming, cheese-making, woodworking, animal husbandry, horse training, landscaping, etc.

Our morning flight took about an hour to get to the island, and the landing strip placed us alongside the ocean. We visited our six prisoners, then the prison director loaded us in a van and spent a couple of hours driving us all over to island to visit the camps and see their work. The prisoners can actually have their families come visit them and spend a week on the island – while they are there, the prisoners stay with the family in provided housing. And get this – some families actually live on the island. When the prisoner is getting close to release, the family may be eligible to come live there. There is even a school for the children to attend and there are several churches, too. It’s really an incredible set-up.

We visited one of our prisoners as he worked with the pigs – he takes care of them, helps with birthing, does castration, etc. – he really loves what he’s doing. He had 200 piglets when we visited, and of course I had to hold one. It was so cute! And amazingly clean. The pigs seem fond of him, too (they’re very intelligent) – he went over to one huge (and I mean huge) male who was all sacked out and started scratching him under his chin, and the pig started making these wonderful noises of pleasure – so funny!

During the week, I had three interviews for potential DC jobs. It’s pretty nerve-wracking because you just can’t tell if they like you or not, and since it’s by phone you can’t see facial expressions. I just have to wait and see.

Friday night I went to a fun party downstairs at our Canadian neighbors’ apartment – good food and good company.

Yesterday I went to the office to try to get caught up on work, so it will be much nicer to walk into a clean desk on Monday!