We spent the morning visiting with Conchita and Solomon. She made breakfast for us (beans, eggs, quesadillas, and fresh orange juice) which Jonathan and Susan love. They keep saying they are in heaven here with the food and I just can’t seem to understand how. Solomon likes to take shots at me every now and then because I won’t eat the papaya (even Levi has no problem with the papaya) I just don’t understand how someone can get over the smell and actually swallow it. For all the food that I haven’t been able to eat here, I don’t think that I have lost any weight as I am having to get my sustenance out of bags of chips or things that are pre-packaged which is rather unfortunate.
We drove about 40 minutes out of Cuernavaca today to Las Grutas. It is a big cave where you can see all the formations that occur naturally from the dripping water. It was very cool to see but I couldn’t help thinking that it is so beautiful and sunny out and I am going to spend 2 hours under the earth where I could be basking in the sun’s glow. We had a guide and as Susan leaned over to me and said on our way out, that tour was just so “Mexican”. We didn’t really learn about history, geology, or how the cave was discovered. Our Spanish speaking tour guide walked us 2 kilometers (about 1.2 miles) into the barely lit cave and proceeded to tell us about what he thinks the different formations look like. Some examples were a woman laying in profile with very large breasts (which he made her move up and down, simulating a certain activity, by holding a flash light up to the rocks and casting a shadow onto the back wall of the cave), a bear, and of course Our Lady Guadalupe (La Virgen). It is amazing how you can find religion in pretty much anything.
Speaking of La Virgen- There are these little shrines set up everywhere down here in her memory. All along the road sides you can see these sort of shadow boxes set up with an image of her and candles all around. People deck out the front of their house with La Virgen. Most times she has all sorts of blinking Christmas lights adorning her. I actually saw a semi-psychedelic display- she was made into this moving 3-d strobe. Couldn’t help but notice that demonstration. As much as the Catholic religion is filled with pomp and circumstance, convention, and established worship, some of the devotionals are very creative and non-traditional.
In the evening we drove back to Cuernavaca and swam at Conchita’s very well-to-do brother’s house. I was floored as we were granted access through these beautifully carved wooden doors. The gardener let us in as he is in New York right now and rarely stays at this house. I have been told that he has 4 houses in Mexico and a few buildings. I wish I would have been able to take a tour through the whole house. It looked huge from the exterior. I was only allowed to go into the basement to change into my suit and then use the pool and Jacuzzi. We plan to go back tomorrow and swim again. Levi is a bit of a fish. When he is in the water, he is happiest. I have to say, as much as it felt that it was very upper class, We sat in the Jacuzzi and visited about our trip all while we were listening to a couple of turkeys gobble in the background. It helped to keep me grounded- I am still in Mexico.
I can feel the end nearing as we are approaching the weekend. Helio is sad and so am I. I think Levi can tell too. Last night he actually requested that his dad put him to bed and not me. (That has never happened) I think that it will be especially difficult to get Levi to understand that dad isn’t coming back or coming home from work when we get back. Currently, every time that Helio walks away from us Levi starts yelling, “Dad, dad, dad”. I keep trying to ignore the fact that we have no plan after I leave and I don’t know when/if I will see him again. We have to go back to Jona to pack up all of the things I have brought along and collected along the way. Then we will go to D.F. to spend a day with his friend Galileo. Helio says there is no sun there because of all the smog. I will do my best to get what I can while I am still able. Just a few days left of trying to act like a normal family in an extraordinary scenario but it will be nice to just watch TV and see what is happening on Entertainment Tonight. (Honestly, I have no idea what is happening in world events or worse yet, in the lives of Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes, Madonna, the music world and other misc. movie stars)
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