12.23.06 Day 5, Mexico Trip 1

We spent the whole day yesterday going from party to party. I needed to be driven home by 10:30 last night. I can only handle so much sitting around. Helio went back to Las Posadas and returned home about 1 last night. I seem to get a super sore throat and cough at night. Maybe it is true, when it gets cold you get sick. This is something that I have tried in earnest to convince Helio for years that it isn’t true. However, every night when it gets cold out, I feel like I have a terrible chest cold. We went to a Baptism party around 3:30 and stayed there until 6:30. The whole time I kept feeling like Levi had wandered away. He did make it down the street a couple times with Rafa’s two little girls, (who by the way look exactly like Rafa) to get candy. There are piñatas everywhere. It seems every place we go to there is a new one for Levi to lose his mind trying to get at. You would think he would bore of it after time. Not the case. The more he sees, the more he wants. The kids are showing him the ropes here, you break open the piñatas, get candy, then get the money, and buy more candy. There are little shops everywhere for a kid to get more candy. I have also given in, I keep giving him Coke to drink. There doesn’t seem to be many options and it makes him not yell. I am going to have to get back to vegetables and more nutritious drinks when I get back. Oh, who am I kidding, we all know my main objective every day is to prevent yelling.

There are two extra hours of sunshine a day here. It starts getting light out around 6:30 and stays that way until 6:30 pm. It is nice to have a little extra light. However, Levi is up at the crack of dawn every day. The regulars do not have a schedule such as this, they stay up super late, and I am sure are super irritated with Levi yelling “mom, mom, mom” all morning while they are trying to get their last couple of hours in.

Today is Christmas Eve. Helio says that Christmas is not a big deal here (which I find hard to believe, everyone is Catholic) We have invited his dad -Antonio and his dad’s girlfriend –Antonia to join us for lasagna dinner. I still have to locate all of the ingredients and a pan to cook it in. Man, everything down here is so much work. It will take an hour drive to the store and back and I hope they have everything I need. Otherwise I will just make spaghetti. I am giving Helio about 20 more minutes of sleep and then we are off to see if we can locate all we need for dinner. Christmas is very different this year.

I am surprised that I haven’t seen more bugs. I have only had to kill a couple cucarachas (cockroaches). No bugs in the bed, no big welts from being bitten. So far-

Everyone down here has some advice for you. It makes me nervous. I don’t like being stopped by old ladies and told “can I tell you something, or can I recommend that-“ Yesterday it was “recommended” to me that to prevent being sun burnt to slather myself in yogurt. Uh, no- won’t be doing that. And it was “recommended” that I drink some magic tea to help me with my American chorro (diarrhea) I won’t be drinking that either, who knows what is in it. I think that maybe if the food just was put in the fridge after it was prepared, I wouldn’t be so sick. It isn’t all for not- bc I can’t really eat the food, maybe I will finally lose that last 10 pounds. My recommendation- don’t look in the trash can in the bathroom stalls of a public restroom- I nearly threw up.

Levi has taken to watering the plants from the toilet. Whenever I catch him wandering around with a little plastic container filled with water, I realize the main water was left on to the toilet- The pump is broken so it doesn’t know when to stop filling, therefore, there is a little plastic container to catch the dripping on the floor under the tank. I have to turn off the water to the toilet after each use. Sometimes, I forget, especially when you wake up in the middle of the night. Oh, well, maybe the plants will grow a little more now that there is a toddler looking out for them.

Thank God for Elmo. I don’t know what I would do without that little dvd player and Elmo counting and talking about pets. I try to tell myself every day that this down quiet time is super good for Levi. Kids need to be bored- right mom?

Add to the list of things you can get road side- a casket- I will have to send a picture of the cute little casket shop down the street from where we are staying. Also, if your road side juice stand isn’t bringing in a profit, just put yourself out in the middle of traffic and hand it out to people. When we went in for groceries this morning, there was a woman standing in the middle of a four lane highway- soliciting freshly squeezed orange juice. Traffic was backed up a little because she had some takers. Note to self- do not be shy in the world of commerce, it gets you farther. On an aside- never in my life have I seen when you want to take your soda with you because you couldn’t finish it at dinner, that someone bags it up for you. Yes, bags it, you get the juice in a baggie with a straw popped in the top and the top tied up around it. Containers are a big commodity down here and people are not likely to give theirs up.

Ok, I am off- will write again soon.