Other things I got to do with Robin including tagging along to his acupuncture appointment, during which a crazy woman came in complaining of diarrhea and then tried to panhandle me when the acupuncturist told her to come back later, and a Scrabble night that he organized that no one actually attended at Sunny's cafe -- but it was a fun, close game, and we met some other English teachers, including one from Orinda of all places, small world that it is. And walking past a cafe which was having a very extensive butterfly and scarab-beetle exhibit which the proprietor? waiter? explained to us in extreme detail in Spanish. Luckily I did understand most of it so it was actually interesting. The collection was not just from this area but from all over the world. However, the Canadian monarch butterflies do apparently migrate to Michoacan state, about 2-3 hrs away from here, around this time of year, and that would be very cool to see.
Robin and I also rented one of those audioguide walking tours offered by the tourism office and managed to get to about 6 of the sites before returning it and then succumbing to liters of Micheladas for 40 pesos each (this is for you, Koren!). The audio tours were horribly dry and boring. Basic deal is that the city has been around since 1531 as part of Nueva España ("new Spain") and there is lots of history regarding the old rich Spaniards who lived there and then the revolution that rose up to get rid of them, part of it plotted by a woman called La Corregidora. We also got to see the pretty amazing acqueduct system (photos to come) that has 70+ Roman arches and was supposedly built by someone who was in love with a nun, to impress her. It didn't work.
Anyway the biggest charm to this town is walking around the downtown on the cobblestony streets and looking at all the cool architecture, painted interesting colors ...
I was able to take the bus downtown from Robin's house and back without difficulty, totally safely, no problems. I did that on Saturday and was supposed to be back by 2 pm when his wife was going to arrive with her friend to pick us up for the party we were going to in Ezequiel Montes (a smaller town about 45 minutes away). Right. I should have gone on that wine and cheese tour that was only going on Saturdays that I was interested in and I STILL would've gotten back in time to have met them given the time we actually left. I also really wanted to see the Mercado de Santa Cruz and cut short my time in order to be on time (which just means I'll have to go back there again! ;-). I did end up sitting in one of the lovely public parks where several women clad in white offered me a free blood pressure check. Doesn't even happen that much in the US!
So yeah -- apparently Mexico is really truly a "mañana" culture where when someone tells you they will do something or will definitely be somewhere, good luck. Most of the time it doesn't happen. At least, not on time. This is one of the things that I think frustrates both Robin and Juan Carlos about living here -- they don't operate in that sphere and get disappointed when it turns out that everyone else does. So, Gerardo, the friend of Diana (Robin's wife), turned up late to pick her up in Mexico City and go to Ezequiel Montes to set up the party that they were sort of planning together in a family home of his (which was stunning), then realized he didn't have the keys, then considered climbing up and entering through a 2nd story window, then realized they could borrow a ladder from a relative of his, etc., etc., etc. So she didn't come and pick us up till 6:30ish pm for his party which was to have started at 3 pm, which obviously didn't.
Surprisingly, about 15-20 people did turn up for it, all much later than it even started. The party did not include food, and we had to go across the street and eat sincronizadas, and then back at this beautiful house it was really clear that the party was organized by a guy when it turned out there was no toilet paper or soap in the bathroom and the toilet didn't actually flush... ;) Total guy kinda thing. However, he was really friendly. And then later there was some sort of charades/20 questions type game organized with male vs. female teams where someone was supposed to describe a famous person and their team had to guess the name. Well, most of the names were not names I had ever heard before, and I could barely follow along with everyone kind of drunk and screaming stuff out all at the same time in Spanish, so let's just say I was not much of an addition to the team...
Robin and Diana and I ended up sharing a huge bedroom in the house and were really tired and went to bed around 1 am. However, the incredibly loud music went on till 6 am. I tried to cower under the blankets and put on my Ipod earphones to drown out the other noise. Actually, somehow I managed to pass out! In the morning we got up and realized how even more beautiful the house was in the sunshine...
Then we took a little walk around town, found some some very dry tamales that made us look for something to drink, and then some fresh squeezed orange juice from a woman who has been squeezing it on the corner for 20 years. We got a peek at the lovely local church and square, too.
Then we found the bus depot and I got on a local bus back to Queretaro, complete with musicians playing. Once at the Queretaro bus depot I bought a Primera Plus bus ticket leaving in an hour for Guanajuato.
On that bus, I happened to meet two men from New Mexico who were on their way to attend the same language school starting tomorrow as well. Of course! Wouldn't you know. We worked on a Sudoku together and talked about language school plans. One guy was staying in a sort of dorm, the other staying with a family about a 20 minute walk from the school. I felt embarrassed to tell him apparently my host was a 1 minute walk from the school, when I'd booked so recently!
Anyway from the Guanajuato bus terminal I easily got and haggled down a taxi to my host's house. Guanajuato is basically a very wealthy and gorgeous town carved into a valley in the mountains with lots of tunnels and stunning architecture and the whole downtown being primarily cobblestone-clad pedestrian streets. I was fairly blown away by the beauty and then discovered that my host was in the absolute best location she could possibly be, in a beautiful grand old house built in 1846. The whole family had waited for me to come and eat lunch. They were lovely! She has 5 adult kids, one daughter is currently in India with her boyfriend, another son is doing a radiology residency in Guadalajara, and others live more locally. Including her American daughter-in-law! And there is also another woman from Washington state studying at the school who has only been there a week and really does not speak Spanish well at all. She told me she thought I could teach courses rather than take them, which once again means she speaks poorly enough to overestimate the Spanish I speak! Nice compliment though.
Anyway I think I'm going to be happy here. I asked my host if every day here is as stunningly blue-skied and perfect, and she said "pretty much":)
