Catch-Up

I don’t want anyone to think we’ve fallen into a San Miguel sidewalk hole and disappeared, so here are a few things I haven’t written about yet…

Last week – I really have no idea what day – we decided to go to the Mask Museum.  I had read about it online and it was in Elizabeth’s SMA book, so we checked it out on Google Maps and started walking.  Some members of our party are not big walking fans.  So when we got most of the way up the big hill and still hadn’t found it, there were some long faces.  We asked a lady passing by and she sent us partway back down the hill and to the right.  We walked all the way down that street and didn’t find it, got to a dead end and asked another lady.  She sent us halfway back down the street we had just walked down, and told us to turn right.  We did that, walked to a dead end, and found – nothing.  I noticed a teenage girl watching us from a window and we asked her…she said it was right in front of us.  My Spanish is not great but I saw no sign about masks or museums – actually no sign at all.  The teenager said that the owner of the museum lived right where we were standing.  We had no idea that the museum was only open by appointment, so we stood there wondering what kind of treats we were going to have to buy to make up for marching the kids up, down, and over, and ultimately not finding the museum.

That’s when Bill opened the door of his house and looked out at us.  We told him that we were looking for the mask museum and he said it wasn’t open.  Sad faces all around.  Then he said he’d open it for us, but he couldn’t stay with us as we walked through.  Fine!  The entry fee was a donation to a day care center, and the kids were free.  What a bargain!  The museum is a collection of masks from Mexico that Bill has accumulated over the last 23 years (over 400).  They are AMAZING!  Some were very ornate, some primitive.  Some were beautiful, some really scary and ugly.  The stories of the various ceremonies were printed throughout the museum, so in between making sure the kids weren’t touching anything, Elizabeth and I learned a lot about the masks. Definitely worth the trip!

At the end of our tour we found out that Bill lived in Sherborn, Massachusetts for 6 years, and he led us through his bed and breakfast on the way back to the street.  It’s BEAUTIFUL!  It’s called Casa de la Cuesta and there are lots of photos on their website if you’re ever looking for a B&B in SMA (no kids under 16).  No photos were allowed in the museum, but there are some photos of the masks on the B&B website as well.

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Here are some photos from the organic market, which is held every Saturday.  It reminds me a little of the SoWa market at home.  We bought a really delicious quiche, I bought a pillowcase, and the girls bought more bling.  Elizabeth bought a fat lady made out of paper mache.  I’ll make sure to take photos of all of our purchases (not the quiche) before Elizabeth heads home, but tomorrow is a shopping day so I’ll hold off.

Los Gringitos were tired out…

I loved the “buffet” served in all the pots:

There were plenty of tables to sit and eat:

And entertainment (we didn’t see the part that involved hula hoops):

My back has been bothering me and I had almost psyched myself up to go to a regular chiropractor instead of the direct non-force type I see back home…then I saw this guy adjusting people at the market.  There were audible gasps from the spectators with each crack.

Lots of tempting stuff for sale:

We stopped by the Instituto Allende on the way home…

There’s more to tell, but my back has had enough and I have an epic sunburn from today’s activity, which I will post about tomorrow.  Sleeping should be interesting, but I’m beat.  Adlani is still wide awake and talking my ear off about his Pokemon adventures.  Aliya took a 3-hour nap this afternoon so she’s still awake too.  Norah went into crazy-hyper mode (Don’t worry John and Carolyn – we haven’t broken anything!) and then crashed.  She has been my grocery-shopping helper the last 2 nights, and we’re getting pretty good at it.  Last night on the way home we saw this beautiful sky:

Yesterday morning we went to Mega – the giant supermarket that sells just about everything including clothes and electronics.  We stocked up on paper products and detergents, and a few games for Casa Hogar Santa Julia.  I guess I have those photos to post tomorrow too!  It’s so hard to find time to write about everything when there’s so much going on, plus squeezing in a few hours of work each day. 

¡Hasta mañana!