I’m still not sure why I feel so different here/now – especially on weekends. It’s not like we’re sitting around relaxing all day – we still have responsibilities, places to be, things to do, challenges to meet. We still have 3 kids who need to be shuttled around, who leave their underwear on the floor and the cabinet doors open, and who seem to find joy in bickering with each other – ALL DAY LONG. There’s still a backlog of work to do, a basket of dirty laundry, and bills to pay. We don’t have any home maintenance here but we do have our house in the ‘Ham to worry about.
Despite all of the similarities, I feel like a different person. I am much less stressed. I feel less pressured, and therefore I spend less time yelling at my people. I know the flexibility of “Mexican Time” has something to do with it, 
because when I have a scheduled event that requires me to be on time, I feel the familiar flow of adrenaline and cortisol. I think I spent so much time under stress that I had grown accustomed to it…now I notice it and sometimes I can even stop, take a breath (or 100), and move forward.
Yesterday was a busier Saturday than we have had since we arrived, but I don’t remember feeling stressed at any point. We woke up around 8 to the sound of a hot air balloon RIGHT over our house. At first I couldn’t figure out what the noise was – we have a baby monitor in each of the kids’ bedrooms so we hear every noise in the house and the street noises in stereo. After about 4 or 5 whooshes I realized what it was and ran out on the terrace – the balloon filled the sky right above us. Thank God the balloon riders were probably tourists who will go home and never meet me on the street and say, “You’re that lady who was running around the terrace in her underwear yelling, ‘OH MY GOD! – BEN! COME OUT! – HURRY UP!!!!!!!!’ ” By the time I ran back in, put on shorts, scared the crap out of Ben, and grabbed my camera, the balloon was a lot farther away and higher, but I will try to get out there on the second whoosh next time (wearing pants and holding my camera).
We were thinking about making breakfast and Ben asked when the churro place would not be busy. It’s so popular there is often a line in the afternoon and evenings, but my guess was that if we went first-thing we wouldn’t have to wait. They open at 9 and it’s doubtful that the tourists would be getting up and heading straight for Café San Augustín. At the mention of churros over the baby monitors (I can talk to the kids by pressing t
he button like a walkie-talkie), everyone jumped out of bed and got dressed in record time. I took Annie for a walk while Aliya finished getting dressed, and Ben took Adlani and Norah to get a table. It’s about a 6-block walk from our house to the café – everything in the “centro” area is super-close to us.
We have been to San Augustin’s a few times, but yesterday was a special treat because the owner, Margarita Gralia was “in the house.” We had noticed the photos of her all over the walls on past visits – she is a 60YO Argentinian actress and has been in plays and Mexican telenovelas (soap operas) and appeared in the Mexican version of Playboy. People were asking her to take photos with them and she was very gracious about it. She went to each table to check on the customers and make sure everything was good (“todo bien”). Ben kept threatening to go have his picture taken with her – I knew he was serious when he asked Norah how to say “selfie” in Spanish (the trending term is “autofotito.”). Aliya and I were not on board with that idea and were relieved when Margarita left the restaurant, but when Ben realized she would be passing the window where we were sitting, he stopped her and asked for a photo. He and Norah climbed over, under, or through the metal bars across the window (my face-palm prevented me from observing their method of escape) and stood with her on the street while Aliya took the photo. Hopefully that’s off the bucket list so we can leave the woman in peace on future visits.
Aliya was meeting friends to go to Geek & Coffee, and Ben had to go to pick up Norah’s soccer uniforms, so I took the kids in a taxi and left Ben to fend for himself with his limited Spanish – he has mastered, “yo soy un hombre” –
“I am a man.” I told him he might want to learn some more useful phrases besides stating the obvious and he’s working on that – we’re starting Spanish classes tomorrow! At least he’s not afraid to try and doesn’t let his single Spanish phrase stand in the way…he just speaks English louder and eventually people either get it, completely misunderstand, or run away. Anyway, the taxi dropped Aliya at her friends’ house and drove the rest of us to the animal shelter. Normally we would walk but it would have taken about 45 minutes and we were meeting friends there at 11. On the way we saw a woman riding on a 4-wheeler with a big minion piñata, a little dog wearing a hat, and a group of about 50 Harleys rumbling into town. The other day Ben and I saw two men carrying a giant cake down the street. Last night we saw a mariachi band dressed in bright green heading to the square. There’s always something to see.
The anim
al shelter is still one of the kids’ favorite activities and I love it too. When we arrived they were just opening and the kittens were all at the door of the kitty area meowing and jumping up on their treehouse to look out the window at us. I knew their excitement wasn’t because they had missed us – one of the first volunteers to arrive gives them canned cat food and they thought we were there to feed them. When Norah opened the door to the kitty room, the kittens poured down the steps like a waterfall of meowing furballs. I gathered them back up and they climbed all over Norah and I – Adlani was in the big-cat room where the kitties were happy to see him but not quite so exuberant. There’s one cat in particular that Adlani likes – Isaac – who looks a lot like Wally (our cat who escaped) except he had to have his tail amputated because he got hit by a car. He’s a total sweetie.
We spent about an hour at the SPA with some friends who have a son in between Adlani and Norah’s age. They have been traveling for about 18 months, after selling their home, cars, and other belongings. We have met 6 families here who have done some version of that – leaving their life in the US behind and hitting the road or moving south of the border. After the SPA we made a quick detour to drop Norah downtown to help Ben get her uniforms (he was supposed to pick them up at 11:30 but they still hadn’t arrived) and then went to Geek & Coffee with Andrew, Pati, and Ethan (you can read about their travels here). Aliya found a baby (Eli) so she was in her glory. The kids played in the big grassy yard while the adults sat around for a few hours eating, drinking agua fresca, and chatting. There were a bunch of kids there from our kids’ school (Ethan is in Norah’s class), and it was so cool to see our kids hanging out with new friends. We REALLY miss all of our “old” friends – in fact, so far that is the only thing I miss and we miss them A LOT!!!
We walked home from Geek & Coffee and then up to CaminArte in el Jardin. All week I’ve been terrified of the beautiful art, jewelry, and other treasures that would be calling my name this weekend – there are 3 different events where artisans are selling their work. I was very proud that I resisted making any purchases at CaminArte (I bought 2 paintings last time!) but there are still two gauntlets to get through today. You might be thinking – “why not just stay home and avoid the temptation?” Not an option!! 🙂 After we walked through el Jardin, Norah, Ben, and I sat on a wall, ate popcorn, and people-watched – Aliya was still with her friends and Adlani was at home. There are ALWAYS interesting things happening in el Jardin. Sometimes we don’t know what the heck is going on – like the fancy woman dressed in a military hat posing with a moji while a band serenaded them – but it’s never boring. I was intrigued by the fortune teller at CaminArte but I was afraid he might tell me I should stay in SMA forever. Or that he would tell me I should go back to the ‘Ham.
When we had gotten our fill of people-watching, we walked down the hill, bought some fruit from a lady on the street, saw a bride and groom headed to their wedding (yes, they were riding together) and walked home. After a couple of hours of reading/napping, we walked Annie, bought blue soccer socks for Ben, ordered a uniform to replace the one that he borrowed, and went to the pharmacy for athlete’s foot spray. Normally these purchases would not merit a mention in a blog post, but it’s quite a victory when we cobble together enough Spanish (especially without Aliya) to say “foot fungus” and order the right color uniform. To celebrate our small victories we went to Los Milagros for a dinner-snack, completing the trifecta of meals eaten outside of our house in one day. It was more like 3 big snacks, plus 2 small snacks (fruit and popcorn) and it cost less than a quick stop at BJs where we always seemed to buy enough granola bars to last for 6 months but not enough variety to make a full meal. There were two guitarists playing at Los Milagros who were GREAT!
We got home around 9, Aliya came home from the movies around 10 (a movie ticket costs 60 pesos – $3.75), and we were out cold shortly after. It feels good to be tired out from being active and having fun, rather than whatever used to tire us out. This morning we woke up to fireworks at 6:30 a.m. – a very common occurrence. Today we are going to Ben’s first Mexican soccer game, the artisans’ gauntlets, and the kids have an assignment from me to write about their first week at school which I will post later. ¡Buen dia!
