Bill's Blog

Doing Nothing

Press HERE to see a slideshow from around Cuernavaca.

Pool in the Afternoon	Palm in the Ravine
Our Back Yard	Jacarandas

Totally and utterly relaxing, that is what Cuernavaca has been for me. All I have been doing is nothing, and I have been enjoying every minute of it. There is a pool here. I have been soaking up the sun and swimming. In the evenings, might go out to a movie or dinner. The place is simply beautiful with flowers in bloom everywhere. The sun shines everyday and the temperatures are perfect, dipping into the 50's a night and rising into the 80's during the day. I have been doing some cooking. We took a couple of cooking lessons. Now going to a cooking school - that is something I could really enjoy. I thought that we would get busy this week, but it has not happened yet. Well we did visit a nice museum, Robert Brady Museum, yesterday. It has a great art collection. Brady was an American artist that lived here for years working and collecting art.

Betty signed up at a Spanish language school for two weeks. She finished up last Friday. She gets all stressed out when she studies, so I cannot see why she bothers. We took the cooking classes through her school. She made some good friends, like Megan Cowell of Iowa and Patrick Scott. Despite his day job, he is secretly an artist. You can see some of his sculptures at patrickscottart.com.

The school had a party for all the students last Thursday. During that week there was a large group of high school students from Vancouver. There were decent Margaritas for the adults and some tasty food for all. They had a Mariachi band and dancing. Later the kids broke several Piñatas and devoured the candy inside. The strangest thing occurred at the party. A couple, Arturo and Elena, turned to us and asked if I remembered meeting them at La Viruta last August, one night when Birgitta and I visited my favorite Tango club in Buenos Aires.

Megan Cowell	Betty and Liz at School	Arturo and Elena	Senoras at the Fiesta
Party Musicians	Dancing	And More Dancing	Even Me and Wallie
Piñata Gathering	With Club in Hand	Whirling in the Dark	With Sweet Rewards

Speaking of Buenos Aires, I must say that we really miss our friends and the city. We are constantly comparing Mexico to Argentina. Mexico seems to come up short all the time. So, Argentina is really a part of us now. Some things we miss more than others. The thing that we missed the most is being there for our friends, Javier and Gillermina. Their first child was just born a few days ago. His name is Fermín Burgos. The message the Javier sent us a few days ago follows:

IMG_0665.JPG

IMG_0686.JPG

IMG_0676.JPG

Morelia and Coming to Cuernavaca

Plazas	Filled with People
Public Buildings	With Murals
Public Art Abounds	Political Art Everywhere
Colonial Morelia	Children in the Plaza
The Aqueduct	And Fountains Everywhere
Patzcuaro's Central Plaza	With Nacho's Family

After leaving San Miguel de Allende, we drove to Morelia.

We think that Morelia is one of the most beautiful cities in the Mexico's central highlands. I am sure that our opinion is shaped by the large area of colonial buildings and plazas that are at the heart of the city. And then there is the aqueduct that was built more than 200 years ago. Many of the public buildings have beautiful murals painted on the walls and ceilings. The other thing that is different is the size of the city with a population of more than a-half-a-million inhabitants. We spent four nights there and enjoyed the visit immensely.

One day we went on a day trip to Patzcuaro. It is just 40 minutes away by car. It stands along a lake of the same name. We drove through two other villages along the lake and got a good look at the small town than is on a tiny island in the lake. According to one hotelier, Patzcuaro was founded more than 500 years ago. It has two wonderful plazas. One was the largest of any we have seen outside of Morelia.

Last Saturday, we drove the two hundred miles to Cuernavaca. We planned to stop traveling and stay here for a month. We tried to look up the Jimenez family when we arrived, only to discover that they had moved up the mountain to their new house, Monte Casino. We hope to see José and Noah before we leave. I know that Noah is in the States right now. We made our way to my friend, Nacho Sanchez. He was kind enough to put us up for a few nights while we looked for an apartment or house to rent. Nacho, his wife - Ari, and daughter - Andy - live in a rather small apartment just two kilometers east of the city center.
On Sunday, we went out with Nacho's family. First, we visited the site of his new home. The lot is in a nice neighborhood and will have a good view of the city from the second story when it is completed. Hopefully he will get the funds to build in the next year. Unlike the US, credit is a hard thing to get in Mexico. Next we visited an apartment that was for rent. Then we drove up into the mountain to Lagunas de Zempoala. It is a popular small park. A lot of families visit it on the weekend to camp, barbecue, ride horses, and play. We had a nice lunch. But darn if it was too cold to fully enjoy the setting. Betty and I just were not dressed for the 50∞ weather. It was warm and comfortable in the city and we had been in T-shirts.

On Monday we searched in earnest for a place to rent. Once again we were floored by the cost to rent a place. We did find a place that was very nice. It is an efficiency apartment on gated street. We call it Casa de Jim, after its American owner - Jim Horn. There is an internet connection, so we not only can connect the computer, but also plug in our VOIP phone. It is nice to be connected. I say that but the quality of the internet connection here is awful. The quality is better in the morning and late at night. It is likely that they have too many users using the same lines, which means that when more people are on in the afternoon and early evening - service is awful. Another good aspect to the place is the swimming pool.

We moved in the next day. Since then we have just taken it easy. Betty found a Spanish school and will start next Monday. Well, that's it until next time.