Sunday Brunch, saying goodbye, and yet another bus trip

We had the pleasure of being invited to a brunch at our friend's house on Sunday.  David and Michael have a beautiful home on what is called Gringo Hill, where many of the gringo live.  Their house overlooks the ocean and much of the north side of town. There is a cool breeze blowing all of the time and the views are beautiful.  As usual, I didn't think to take pictures from the deck until after we had gotten comfortable in the outdoor living room. 

The house was built as an apartment building.  There are three rental units below and a much larger living space above.  You can find information here: www.xocotla.com (Sorry, but you will have to cut and paste the link)

David,

 Michael,

 Victoria,

And we were getting together one last time before Victoria left for a wedding in Paraguay and the on to Brazil where she will be looking for work until August. She will return to Mexico City to enter into a university training.  She is in a four year program to learn to teach Spanish as as a second language.  Fortunately for her education, even higher education is free in Mexico.  Victoria and one thousand others applied for the program.  She is very bright and will do well.   Had she not gotten into school she had threatened to become a Samba dancer.  We didn't think that was so bad but promised that if there were any poles involved in her dancing, we would arrive in Brazil and drag her from the stage.  We will miss her greatly, she added a wonderful, fun and educational dimension to our stay here.

Michael and David built several years ago and rent out the lower apartments out, often to friends and family.  We have met several of their guests and have spent many enjoyable evenings with them.

We are coming to the "end of the season" which means that the temperature and the humidity are beginning to rise.  Many of the gringos have already gone home.  We are among the very few who will remain until the start of summer.  We want to see what town is like after the tourists and shorter term residents leave.   

We are looking forward to Semana Santa and Semana Pasqua, which are the weeks before and after Easter.  These are major Mexican holidays and town will flood with Mexican tourists.  We are stocking up the house with food and supplies as we hear they can be difficult to get for these two weeks.  I am certain we will have lots of stories to tell.

Tomorrow, Saturday, is the big quinceanos party I have been talking about.  We decided yesterday that we had best get on the bus to make sure we knew where we were going.  

Gabriel

Who invited us to the party, gave us directions, showed us on Google maps, and give lots of instructions as to where the party was being held.  It is in San Vincente, about 15 miles from here.  We made our bus connections easily, however, there was one complication.  Gabe didn't tell us about the road construction that detoured around the major landmark we needed.  Thankfully we had seen the maps and had a good idea of where we were going.   We got of the bus outside of town, took a mini van, which serves as a bus, back to where we were supposed to be and walked to our destination.

This is a small soccer field that is adjacent to Gabe's parents house and will serve to host the several hundred expected guests.  The party will likely last until very early in the morning.  Gabe told us not to worry about getting home on Saturday night.  If we couldn't find a cab home we could just hang out with everyone until the 5:30 AM bus the next day.

We have found Mexicans to be so welcoming and inclusive.  Gabe told us we should have stopped in to his mother's house and introduced ourselves.  He said all we would need do was to tell her in Spanish that we were friends of his and his sister Monica and were going to be at the quinceanos party.  Gabe said she would invite us in and insist on making us a cake!  All well and good but with my limited Spanish and her non-existent English it would have been awkward.  We will meet them at the party.

After we got home, we went into town to pick up a few things and found these kids sitting on the steps eating ice cream.  They were so cute I had to take a pic.

They were excited to have their picture taken.

Love to you all,
Jan