Trip pictures

Elizabeth and I just got back from a brief excursion in San Luis Potosí. We spent a few days in the capital city, enjoying it's beautiful colonial architecture, coffee shops, and parks, and also spent one day further east at the waterfalls at Tamasopo.

Elizabeth at the park with the ducks.

Night view from our hotel.

Elizabeth is exploring the fabric store.

Tamasopo

Rope bridge at Tamasopo

The beautiful pool where Elizabeth and I went swimming. It was a sort of second tier in the waterfalls - but before plunging another thirty feet, it was this calm, deep, turquoise pool.

Cleaning the tinaco

To get water pressure, we pump it from one tank (called a tinaco) on the ground to another one on the roof. This water then goes down through the pipes and water heaters to where we need it. Because our water is stored outdoors, however, the tanks can get dusty. So we clean them every few months or so; letting most of the water run out without pumping more in and then vacuuming or sopping up what's left. Then just scrubbing out the bottom and making sure all the dust, etc. is out.

Here's me, peeping out of the top of one of our tinacos. I'm on my tippy-toes.

It wasn't too hard to get into the tinaco, but as you can see from the picture, it's about as tall as me. So I brought a 5-gallon pail in with me and stood on that to get out. But I was wet, and the rubber of the tinaco was slippery. I slipped getting out, my feet brushing on the chair I had set up behind the tinaco. I swung around, and the inside of my left knee banged hard against the concrete stand below the tinaco. I still have a pretty ugly bruise.

Then I couldn't get the bucket out. I should have tied a bit of string on beforehand, as I couldn't reach it. I thought it might float as I refilled the tinaco with water, but that didn't work. I ended up getting a broom handle and coaxing the bucket up to where I could grab it and get it out.

It was actually all pretty fun. :)

the moon

Door

My door is made of wood, and I guess that it has expanded some since it was first made. It doesn't shut very well. If it's not pulled tight enough it will open on it's own or to the rattling bass of cars going by. However, if it's shut too tightly, it takes a bit of force to open it, and makes a sound akin to a shot.

I've learned how to shut it well so that it doesn't fall open but doesn't require me digging in my heels to open it. However, I can almost always tell when someone else has shut my door. This can have it's benefits if I think someone's snooping.

I don't think anyone's snooping. But if they were I would probably have my suspicions just because of the door.

50,000 years old

I was asking three siblings, Linda, Tita, and Manuel, how old their cousin was. Linda said he was ten. Manuel, who, at four already has the ability to project his voice, said, "no! He's 50,000. He told me!" There were quiet words on Linda's part, and then again, "he said! He's 50,000 years old."

I wasn't quite sure whom to believe, as Manuel really is a very reliable source of this sort of information.

Preferred Customer

I have been getting to know Toño and Paty a little over the past year or so, ever since I was appointed the key master. Toño owns a locksmith shop a couple of blocks away from where I live, and every so often I walk over there for copies of keys (we have a lot of doors with keys, and we have a lot of people who need keys to those doors).

I happened to be there last Friday, when it was snowing. Paty was making knitted headbands/earmuffs for her two daughters, and I was admiring her work. I asked if she sold them, and she said she could make me one. We figured out colors and she said it would be finished on Tuesday. This afternoon I walked over there to pick it up and she showed me how to put it on. It has a button clasp and can be made as tight or as loose as needed.

During the conversation, I noticed that she switched from using the polite and formal "usted" form to the informal "tú" form used among friends. She also didn't charge me at all and said she could make me another, if I wanted.

I think that I will give them a couple of nice pens as a gift in return. It's sometimes a joke there that they lose their pens frequently.

I felt really content this afternoon.

It came from outer space

It snowed today. I think I would have been more excited if we had gotten to stay home from work. :)

January

Our kid's club program is starting again. It's so much fun to see all of the kids together again after the month-long break over Christmas. This semester, which will end in June, is a month longer than the fall semester. We use the additional time for extra outings - like a large group outing which will include both the boys and girls from each of my three club classes. We'll probably go to the park and play on the swings, or play football, and then have a snack or lunch, depending on what time of day we go. We only have these large group outings in the spring, and I'm looking forward to them.

It's been getting below freezing at night, and I think of some of these kids, in houses made of corrugated tin, without heat, without a lot of warm clothing. I know that I complain in my relatively cozy room, with my space heater, that's it's cold. I wish that I could invite all my little club kids to a sleepover here during these frigid nights.

Back

Traveling alone is not what I consider a good time. You're disconnected, and I think you can feel the transience and isolation of our society more as you wander through airports by yourself. However, I am still in the midst of my travel back to Fresnillo. Yesterday started with four flights planned; today, four flights later, I am still waiting for my ultimate leg of the journey.

There was a certain amount of stress (because I knew that I had to run to make my connections) and quiet trust (because I knew that so much was out of my hands) to yesterday's fiasco.

But as I sit here, I am thinking of the friendly and kind travelers and agents I met yesterday: the man in Minneapolis who picked up my fallen pony tail holder; the young woman who let me switch seats for the aisle and then helped me figure out how to keep my luggage with me instead of the overhead compartment so I could run out of the airplane to make my next connection; the Delta agents in Puerto Vallarta and in Mexico City who helped me get where I needed to go after I missed my flights (yes, I missed two flights yesterday); The kind gentleman who let me go to the head of the security checkpoint because he had seen that I was trying to make a connection.

I don't know any of their names (besides the agents who had their name tags with them). I will probably never see them again.

But I am thankful for them.

Visa prayer request

My visa is still not in. I have a year-long visa, and we started renewing it in October. There were problems with some paperwork and as of today it's still not in. This wouldn't be a problem if I weren't planning to leave the country in 9 days for Christmas vacation. If it's not in, there are alternatives, but they take a lot of time and money.

Could you pray for this, my friends? If you read this.

-Karen

update: my actual visa didn't come in, but today I was able to get permission to leave the country. So I'm leaving. Tomorrow. Hello North Dakota! (16/12/2009)