criplomats

The highlight of the week was yesterday’s trip to the country house of two of our co-workers, Nati and Ricardo. Unfortunately, they are moving from Guadalajara, so this was a despidido (good-bye) for them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met at the church in the town square of Zapotlanejo. The town is small but is known for clothing, so there are thousands of clothing stores. People come from all over to shop. Many of the stores have live models:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a few hours of admiring the church and shopping, we headed to their farm, a lovely place not far from town with an incredibly large tree as its focal point. We had lunch in their large outdoor patio, made to host large family events. They served the local specialty – large tortillas (about a foot long) covered with pork, cheese, slaw, and beans. Delish! And, of course, cold beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of the trip for me was the tour of the farm. There were several dogs running around: Jack Russells and Australian shepherds – and tiny furry baby puppies. And sheep! And goats! They raise milking goats – we watched them get milked about a dozen at a time. And the babies! There were lots of little kids – we even saw one being born, and several others that were born less then an hour before we were there. And I got to hold one that was about a week old – I tried to get John to let me bring it home, but no dice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We came home pooped, but slept like logs after all the walking and great fresh air.

The rest of the week was pretty good. Somehow, I won the office basketball pool for the NCAA college tournament – yay! And on Friday after work, I went to a co-worker’s downtown apartment for an office happy hour.

I’ve talked to Mom a few times this week. The hospice nurse says she is doing “fair” – about the same. One of the caregivers took her in her wheelchair to visit Aunt Bonnie, and she’s been able to sit outside on the back porch some, too. Cousin Alison cleaned and filled up the hummingbird feeders, so she’s been enjoying them. And Bonnie’s granddaughter Debbi came to visit from Maryland and was able to visit with Mom, too. She enjoys the visitors.

It’s Semana Santa (Easter), so we have a four-day weekend, Thursday – Easter Sunday. It’s really nice, but the downside is that everything in town is closed, so there’s not a lot to do. But I’ve enjoyed staying home and relaxing.

We did venture out to the fancy mall on Thursday while it was still open. It’s pretty high-end, plus it has stores like Kiehl’s and Sephora that you would see in America.

Friday we used some elbow grease and moved furniture around, so now one guest room is pretty much ready for company (as long as you don’t open any drawers).

The rest of the weekend we’ve been pretty lazy – or at least I have. John went to work yesterday for a while, and he’s gone to the gym every day this weekend. For some reason, I just can’t get motivated to go. I’m not beating myself up about it for the time being but know that I need to get going again soon.

We’ve had a bit of a movie-fest. I watched “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” while John was gone Saturday. Then together we watched “The Imitation Game” and “Whiplash” – all really good movies.

This past week, we also got caught up on “The Americans,” and we watched a fun, short series called “The Assets,” about how the CIA caught Aldrich Ames, one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history.

Wednesday night we joined a group of co-workers to celebrate a birthday – we had dinner at the new Brazilian restaurant across the street from us. Very good – they have a nice salad bar then they bring a lot of meat on skewers.

I talked to Mom several times this week. While I can’t understand a lot of what she says, she sounds good overall.

John and I are trying to get out more and see the sites. Last Sunday, we went to Tlalaquepaque for lunch and poked around the shops there. It’s a lovely little town albeit touristy. It’s clean with nice shops (lots of Mexican glass and weavings) and loads of restaurants. The nice thing is that it’s less than half an hour to get there.

This morning we ventured out a bit farther, to Tapalpa. It’s a little town about two hours away, up in the mountains. The last 30 minutes are slow as you go through some hairpin turns. We had lunch at a little place with excellent queso fundido (melted cheese). It’s Palm Sunday, so the square in front of the church was packed. I think we had just missed a procession; tons of people had their palm fronds and were going into the church. Those that weren’t in the church were at the outdoor market where lots of pots, pans, dishes, and toys were being sold. The streets are all cobblestone – quite cute.

The draw about 10 minutes outside of town are the piedrotas, or really big rocks. You can ride horses around the field or take zip lines from rock to rock. Or, just admire them, like we did:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I worked in the office all day, writing my annual employee evaluation. They’re the bane of our existence – all narrative. We all hate them but at least I pretty much have mine done! John treated me to a nice dinner afterward at a place up the street from us that we hadn’t been to before.

I’m super-happy because mangoes are officially in season now. When John and I don’t have time for lunch, I’ll grab a big fruit cup from the little cart across from the Consulate. For less than $2, I get a huge cup of mango, papaya, and watermelon – delish!

I’ve talked to Mom a few times this week and she seems to be doing fine. We had trouble with a couple of the temporary caregivers – they stole $300 worth of stuff on the Walmart card we use for them to buy Mom’s groceries. I spoke with the agency, and they won’t be back – obviously. But, geez, it’s always something! But I think Mom likes the ladies who alternate staying with her now, so hopefully we’re on a roll for a bit. I’m sad to hear that Aunt Bonnie is not doing well but is home from the hospital.

Here are a few more photos from Tapalpa.

Monday was a Mexican holiday,so we were off work. We had a lovely, slow rain all day and we just stayed at home. I got Mom’s taxes done (thanks, free Turbo Tax on-line) and John worked on ours. We continued to put things away and tidy up the house. We went over out list of things in storage and decided to bring a few more things to post, like our reclining sofa and master bedroom furniture (can’t wait to get the king-sized bed back!). We topped off the day with an episode of “Justified,” and watched the last “Mad Men” episode to get ready for the new season.

Work was hectic when we got back on Tuesday – there never seems to be enough time in the day. I worked all day Saturday just to get some messy cases finally cleared off my desk. What makes a messy case? The ones I worked on yesterday were mostly about identity – adults who have never applied for a passport before, who show up with an old birth certificate and no ID, or ID that they just got recently. You have to figure out (or rather, they need to prove) that they really are the person named on the birth certificate. Sometimes they are, and sometimes they’re not. Sometimes the birth certificate belongs to a sibling or a cousin who has died, and this person is trying to take over their ID and American citizenship. We also see identify theft cases where someone else was issued a passport in “their” name, and we (with the help of our fraud department) have to figure out who’s who. It’s a bit like playing detective, and it’s fun!

Last night we went to a fun dance party that a co-worker threw – lots of fun – I hadn’t danced in a long time!

Mom seems to be doing OK when I’ve called this week, although it’s difficult to understand a lot over the phone. Several folks have gone by to visit her and I know she appreciated that (and the milkshakes and flowers!). The nurse called me to report she seems in good spirits and her general health is fine, so that’s welcome news.

I got a lovely Maira Kalman book in the mail this week – what a nice surprise from one of my favorite people!

It’s been rainy this week and it has continued into the weekend. I like it, actually, although it’s a little chilly and damp. The locals seem to think the rain is early this year – I don’t know since it’s our first spring, but I did buy some cute rain boots while I was in Arkansas, so I’m ready!

Monday night we hosted book club at our house. The electricity went out just before it started and it stayed off through most of the meeting. We moved it onto the balcony to take advantage of the last bit of sun, then we lit candles – it was actually kind of neat. I have to confess that I didn’t read the book, but we always enjoy hosting and I liked the discussion.

We tried a couple of new restaurants this weekend. Thursday we went to El Gordo Steaks – we had heard they had good steaks. We really enjoyed the ambiance but weren’t that crazy about the meat; we’ll go back, but will try some of their more traditional food instead. Last night, on our way home from a “pi” party (to celebrate pi=3.1415), we had a really nice dinner at Ofelia, a rather up-scale, quiet place. I had really good prime rib and John enjoyed his filet. We’ll definitely go back there.

Saturday John and I spent the morning at the office. He was watching some of the guys work on the air conditioner and I worked on insurance claim paperwork and the documentation I need to file with the government of Mexico to recoup the tax we pay on things we buy here. It’s tedious, but with 16% tax, it adds up and makes it worth your while.

Today we braved the rain and weekend crowd to go to Costco. We had gone to Sam’s a few months ago but were pretty disappointed. Costco was great, though. We loaded up on meat to put in the freezer, plus picked up a few other things we needed. It felt pretty much like being back in the U.S.

Mom had a really bad day on Tuesday. There was a fill-in caregiver; I’m not sure if she was the problem or if Mom just got depressed, but I called her around 11AM and she burst into tears and wouldn’t stop. It was horrible. I called later that evening and the new caregiver Suzie had arrived and Mom was doing much better. Suzie took her out on the back porch on Wednesday and I think Mom really enjoyed that. Caregiver Debbie arrived today; the plan is for her to be one of Mom’s “permanent” caregivers; ultimately there will be two of them that rotate four days on, four days off. I’m anxious to get them into a good routine so Mom can get used to them.

I’ve spent most of the afternoon today working on Mom’s bills, making sure everything is up to date, setting up on-line access, etc. I just don’t want anything to fall through the cracks.