Almost Time to Head Home

The past four days have been an incredible and wonderful family experience. The pampering, the luxury, and the adventures went beyond my expectations, and the memories we all have will be forever tucked inside our hearts.

Unfortunately, Montezuma has found another victim in Jimmy. For the rest of us who have eluded his curse, pray that we'll have good health long enough to get back home.

Hope you all enjoyed the blogs!!

The Making of a Balloon Ride

Steve, Kim, Jimmy and I got up early to meet up with the Hot Air Balloon crew. They took us to a field, and Jim and Steve helped them get the balloon filled.

It was a great time!

We finally got to see the bull fight arena!



The ride was incredibly smooth, peaceful and a delightful experience!

Montezuma Strikes at even the Invincible

Steve is down now - he hates admitting he's human and can throw up like other people.

But he's a fighter.

And very, very stubborn.

Catching up

Friday, we spent most of the day in town. A festival was going on, and we spent an hour waiting for a big race to begin. Miah would probably be familiar with it - I was told it was Mexico's equivalent to the Tour de France. A very big thing--TV cameras everywhere.

We stopped at a little place famous for its hot chocolate and churros. Delish!

Then we went shopping. This is the Mercado - a huge shopping area alive with all kinds of Mexican foods and souvenirs. Here's a couple of ladies with cactus laid out. They're sitting there scraping the needles. Women sold cooked chickens and foods I'd never seen before. Would've loved to taste some of them, but we didn't dare.

Montezuma's Revenge? :-(

Montezuma paid a visit to Lisa and Mom in the wee hours of the morning. Barb was down all day yesterday.

So far, Dad, Steve, Jimmy, Kim and I are still standing.

Is it only a matter of time for us? AARGH!!

Back at the Casa!

After our afternoon of horseback riding, we had a little time to relax before supper. Steve jumped in the pool, and I cut up an apple I brought from Omaha for a snack.

Okay. I admit to being a little paranoid about eating unpeeled fruits and vegetables around here, but I trusted my apple for being safe. Being the nice person that I am, I offered Steve a slice. Except he tried to pull me into the water, and my apple fell in instead.

Here he is, eating my apple that I wanted so bad.

Does it get any better than this???? Sangrias and guacamole beside the pool, after a hard afternoon of horseback riding.

sigh . . . . .

Kim and Dad relaxing poolside.

A few more

This was one of the dogs at Antonio's brother's stables. Like I said, it was siesta time, and even the dogs napped. He barely gave us a passing glance.

When we were going through the old village, Antonio showed us shoes hanging from the power lines, and Jimmy snapped this pic of a couple of pair. What is up with that? Antonio didn't know why someone would go through the trouble of looping shoes over power lines, but evidently, it's a fairly common thing to do.

I don't get it.

(PS. Well, my family told me hanging shoes over power lines isn't so unusual in America, either. But I still think it's weird.)

This is the oldest church in all of San Miguel. Built in the 1500's and still serving Mass on the weekends to the villagers who live nearby.

Antonio took us through the village - no one took any pics (except for the shoes). We were all gawking, I guess. The shacks were so-o close together, and the yards were the size of postage stamps, but the villagers kept cattle, chickens, sheep, and pigs in them. The livestock was scrawny; you could see the ribs on the horses.

Made us appreciate America a whole lot more, let me tell you.

Horseback Riding

(I was too tired last night to post these pics, but at least I figured out how to make them larger this morning. Yay!)

Our excursion for the day was horseback riding. Antonio (our driver and tour guide) took us to this ramshackle stable in the middle of town.



Mom needed a little help getting into the saddle, but she was such a trooper, and so was Dad. We were on the horses for FOUR HOURS--can you imagine being 75 years old and managing it? But they did great and enjoyed every minute of it!!!!!

You can see how dilapidated the stables were. Those poor horses barely had room to move around. We didn't see any fresh water, but surely there was some. Somewhere.

Half-way through the ride, we stopped at this little village (the oldest in San Miguel) where a tiny grocery store had cold drinks. Antonio bought us water and a few beers. Very refreshing. But we wondered how this little store managed to stay in business.

The first half of our ride wound through the outskirts of the city. I must be honest and say it was not scenic at all. We went through a construction site, and the road was very rugged, hilly, strewn with rocks, discarded pieces of tile and litter. I was scared the horses would slip on the loose rocks, but they plodded along with nary a stumble.

After our cold drinks, Antonio took us by a Mexican artist's 'house'. You can see his sculptures--really neat!

We took a break to visit Antonio's brother's horse stables, where he trains equestrian horses. We didn't get to meet him - it was siesta time, and no one was around.

After Breakfast a Morning Stroll

After breakfast, Kim, Lisa, Barb, Steve (he was our protector) and I strolled the street beyond our casa. As you can see, the streets are as narrow as alleys, made of cobblestones, and will only allow one lane of traffic at a time. The sidewalks are wide enough for one - so we had to walk single file.

This is a little plaza where women do laundry. We couldn't figure out how they got the water in the tubs, but we saw them yesterday washing clothes.

This was a school squeezed in on the street - we were amazed to hear children's voices behind the gate.

Kim hamming it up while Steve was in the cigar shop buying Havanas.

Everything is crowded, usually in poor repair, but very rich in history.

This red gate barricaded the entrance to an old bull arena. We can't go in, but Steve showed us how the bulls would act if we could see them.

After breakfast . . .

A Leisurely Morning

Since we all had gotten up at 3:15 am or thereabouts yesterday to catch early flights, we scheduled breakfast for 10:00 am, letting us sleep in and have some time to get ourselves going.

Here's a few outside shots of this beautiful casa.

A couple more!

Hey, Pepe. Rub my feet.

Lisa's little baby pooch - the picture everyone's been waiting to see.

Isn't she cute?

Steve & Lisa's Big Surprise--and I mean BIG!

There were some of us who came to San Miguel thinking we were going to be staying at Casa de Hypatia. Except Steve and Lisa had different plans for us, and because of their INCREDIBLE GENEROSITY, and Lisa's determination to make this a trip we will never, EVER, forget, we are instead staying at Casa Carino, a $7 million mansion with 7 bedrooms, four levels, a pool, and well, check this breathtaking casa out for yourself:

http://www.casacarino.net/

We'll send more blogs of the house tomorrow. Right now, it's almost 11:30, and Kim, Jimmy and I have been working hard sending you our pics because we know you've been waiting for them.

But here's a few we took upon our arrival to this incredible and amazing place.



Kim took this as we were waiting for dinner - chicken enchiladas, rice and refried beans. Margaritas and sangrias. sigh . . . does it get any better than this?

The staff will make anything we want.

Give us your ideas about what we should have on the menu?!

Jimmy took this of us in the Rotunda - our drinks in hand - (Lisa's drinking a virgin margarita, of course!

Outside our rooms, near the pool.

Keep checking back. We'll send more pics. I promise!!!