Xochimilco

Last Saturday we spent the day in Xochimilco. Xochimilco is in the south of Mexico City. It was originally an island, Xochimilco meaning "place were flowers grow." It is now is a historic neighborhood with canals and chinampas (floating gardens) running through it. You can rent colorful boats that will take you along these canals with mariachis and vendors offering you music, food, and gifts along the way. The boats are colorful and are often named after the owner's wife or daughter. Mostly Mexican families take these boats and bring a picnic lunch along with them. You can take tours anywhere from 1 - 4 hours long depending on where you want to go. We opted for 1 hour tourist ride, because it was late in the afternoon and we weren't prepared with food for a longer 3 -4 hour ride to the Ecological preserve. We hoping to go again in a couple weeks with Don's family!



After the ride we hoped back on the metro train and walked to Museo Dolores Olmedo. Dolores Olmedo was an art collector and "good" friend of Diego Rivera. She donated her collection and this hacienda to the people of Mexico in 1994, and later died in 2002. The house and art collection are amazing. Many works of Diego Rivera and, under normal circumstances the largest collection of Frida Kahlo reside here. Unfortunately for us, Frida is visiting Europe for all of 2010. I think the Teagan and Ari's favorite part were the peacocks and the peahens with their babies? But the hairless dogs were also pretty cool too.

La Malinche

Day 2 in Tenancingo! Hike up to La Malinche!!
This hill is very close to betts and Carlos's house, and near the top there is an ancient carving of a women. A carving like this of a women deity is a strange concept here, because most deities are men. Therefore, she is thought of as a traitor, as was "La Malinche." So that is what she is called.

Here is us parking. Our kids are pretty thrilled riding in the back of the truck!

Hiking up.






And here she is!!!
If you notice, someone recently gave her a mustache.


It's amazing to be in a city like this where there is so much history everywhere. Ruins, paintings, carvings, history wherever you look.

Tenancingo!

I'm late at posting these, but we come home to a bunch of grim news after this trip. It took me a little time to get myself out of my funk and post more. Now I have a bit of a back long. It's a bit like being constipated, huh? Which will never be a problem here in Mexico City ;)

These are picture from Tenancingo where our friends betts, Carlos, and their son Danilo live. One of the GREAT things about Mexico is their amazing bus service! Very cheap, very clean, and buses run about every 20 minutes to this little town. The down part is you are forced to watch whatever movie they decide to play. In our case, it almost cost us missing our stop. Stupid Sandra Bullocks and her lovey-dovey movies!

Tenancingo is beautiful, lush and green. Teagan actually said "Yep, I could live here."
Whoa!!! This from the girl that hates D.F. She is definitely a country girl at heart.
Here are the girl in front of betts' blackberry batch:


Betts and Carlos made us yummy blackberry aguas with these berries! Then we baked an apple pie with her apples. It was heavenly.
A couple pictures of the girls at the house, and of them loving the neighbor's dog Scrappy. He's pretty much adopted the house and the girls, as you can see why.



Also a nice hike in their neighborhood. Hiking up to some ponds that their dogs love to swim in.




And this was only our first day here!

So long, farewell, I hate to say good-bye...

We have had a hard couple of weeks. Mexico City has been challenging for us, mostly because of language barriers. We are all taking Spanish classes at Escuela de Idiomas Coyoacan but still we are far from fluent. The children are having an especially hard time, and miss their friends.
We did have a lovely visit to visit Betts and Carlos in Tenancigo last weekend (I'll post pictures soon,) but came home to news of death. First our chicken Coco, and then my grandmother Mary which was very hard. Then yesterday I heard that our dog Carmen helped kill our friend's cat Gary. So sad. So much death.
I am hoping in the power of three's, and that this is it for the rest of our trip?!

Anyway, I saw these beauties for sale last weekend in Tenancingo and they made me chuckle.
Because of course the deceased love flowers, but what they would really want now that they are dead are beer and cigarettes.


I suppose this isn't much different than "pouring a forty for yer homie?" Hmm?

If only I knew about the death that was awaiting us I could have stocked up on these.
But still, I don't think that our chicken, Stephanie's cat, nor my Mormon grandmother care for beer and cigarettes? Well... maybe the chicken would have enjoy the delicious roses?

Driving in D.F.

Can't understand why people are so confused when driving in Mexico City?

Crime in Mexico City

Another insightful GEM stolen from the blog MidwesternerInMexico This is a great blog for people like us trying to navigator around this huge city. Also reinstates how the fear of Mexico City that most Americans have is unreal. Sure there are parts of Mexico City that are very unsafe, just like any big city. But I really do feel safer here than I do in Tucson. In fact I'll be happily surprised if our house in Tucson does not get robbed while we are here in Mexico City :(

The Official MidwesternerInMexico.com Quiz for Determining your Risk of Violence in Mexico

(please answer yes or no to the following questions)

1. I am the head of a powerful drug cartel.
2. I am employed by a recent drug cartel start-up, and my title is “Business Development Manager, Mexico”.
3. I cannot leave the house without my 3 diamond rings, diamond stud earrnings, and emerald necklace.
4. I only travel by limo.
5. I insist on wearing shorts, sandals with socks pulled up to mid-calf, a Hawaiian shirt, and a floppy hat at all times, while using my obnoxious American “outside voice”.
6. I have a tendency to flash wads of cash while trying to pay for a $10 peso bottle of water with a $1000 peso bill.
7. I travel strictly using libre taxis hailed off the street in Mexico City, like the green VW bugs, because I don’t want to pay the extra $30 (+/-) pesos for a safer sitio taxi.
8. I am a high-level Mexican law enforcement official actively engaged in the fight against drugs and am not on the narco payroll.
9. I prefer to drive long trips between cities in Mexico only at night, and I am too cheap to pay the tolls to drive on the safe, well-maintained cuota highways.
10. I insist on going out drinking by myself, getting loaded, then stumbling around the back alleys of Mexico City singing “You are my sunshine” at the top of my lungs.
11. I sell drugs to a circle of depressed, soccer-moms in a US suburb, and I am traveling to Mexico to take advantage of the crazy dollar/peso exchange rate to find a new dealer for my drug supply.
12. I am visiting Mexico to conduct a major business transaction for which I intend to convert $20,000 USD into $306,000 pesos in public at the airport currency exchange desk.
13. I ask taxi drivers to take me on tours past the homes of local drug lords, where I get out of the taxi and take photos from the middle of the street during broad daylight.
14. I insist on traveling to parts of Mexico City not mentioned in guide books or specifically mentioned as areas full of criminals, like Tepito, a.k.a. the “Thieves’ Market”.

OK, end of quiz! Time to review your score.

If you answered yes to #1, #2, or #8: I strongly recommend you avoid travel into Mexico, leave Mexico if you are already here, or seriously consider a new line of work.

If you answered yes to #3, #4, or #6: perhaps you have forgotten that you are visiting a country where the daily minimum wage for 2009 is $54.80 pesos. That is $3.58 USD PER DAY at the current exchange rate. Please bear this in mind and stop flaunting your money like a fool.

If you answered yes to #7 or #9: have you checked the exchange rate lately?? During the 8 months we have been here, it has gone from 10 pesos / 1 dollar to 15.3 pesos / 1 dollar. Stop being a cheap ass and spend the extra pesos to pick the safe option.

And finally, if you answered yes to #5, #10, #11, #12, #13 or #14: you are simply not very smart and probably shouldn’t be allowed to travel, period.

I hope this insightful quiz has eased your fears about travel to Mexico, as long as you are not an idiot or a criminal.

Now all this said I know that my mother is praying each and every day for our safe arrival back home!!! Because even her Mexican gardener has said that he would not go to Mexico City because of the crime.

With love from Mexico...

We happened upon a cute and crowed toy store last weekend and started collecting some gifts for our nieces.
I'm a little over excited about them! And can't wait to improve my Spanish so that I can acquire some more cool little gifties.

First for my two year old niece Pearl in Australia, a tortilla making kit. Look it even comes with a mini tortilla press!!! She will definitely be the coolest kid in school now, especially when she strolls into her Australian preschool with mini handmade tortillas. I mean, really.

Also for both Pearl and our sweet little Audrey in Napa, Stuffed microbes!!! YAY!!!
Who in their right mind would not want their child to get E. Coli and Influenza from Mexico? (Hey, at least I didn't bring them back herpes.)

Yep. Nothing is too good for my nieces.