A bad night, climbing hills, masks and a farewell to guests.

Feb 14

Happy Valentine’s Day. Ron nor I slept well, but Ron won the sleepless contest losing more hours than I. To top it off, we have a resident homeless person in the neighborhood who is mentally ill and he started yelling at 4:00 a.m. keeping Ron awake. When Ron came downstairs for breakfast and wished us all Happy Thanksgiving; giving us all a good laugh. We decided we were grateful for having such great loves in our lives for Valentines.   

We have another lovely breakfast al fresco. Then off to the mask museum. Ron and I had visited this museum four years ago and S and B expressed an interest so off we went. The museum is located adjacent to a BnB names Casa on the Hill.  And wow, what a hill!  Thankfully we took a taxi, bt it had great views

Bill, the owner of the collection of 600 masks gave about 15 of us a 45-minute presentation on the history of his collection. He only collects masks that have been used in indigenous dances/ceremonies. After the talk, we were taken to the museum which is in a building behind his bed and breakfast establishment.  No photography in the museum, but here is a sample that is displayed in the BnB.

After spending 90 minutes at the museum, we headed downtown to do some shopping for S and B to take gifts home to family. We stopped for lunch and then started looking seriously. There are high-end shops and tourist shops here. The high-end shops will have finer crafted items although we did see some nice table linens in the artisan Mercado. Ron is not a shopper so after a couple of stops he peeled off to go home and S, B and I persisted. They found a great home furnishings place that had some attractive artwork and they settled on a print by a Mexican artist. Next, we headed to the shipper and had the print shipped to RI where they live.

After finishing our business with the shipper we came home with aching feet. Walking around town is fun but the cobblestone and pavers wear me out after a few hours. All of us rested, reading our email and books. Sandi managed to make a delicious meal with eggs, veggies, and cheese, a tossed salad (that as always tasty if Sandi made it), and croissants. After dining al fresco and cleaning up the kitchen we watched the News Hour and not long after headed to bed. S and B are getting up at 4:00 and Ron and I were tired from lack of sleep.

Feb 15

I woke up at 4:10 and Ron around 4:20. We came downstairs to say goodbye to Sandi and Bill. Nicolas was on time at 5:00. He is the manager of the property and provides car service to and from the airport. We are grateful to spend time with Sandi and Bill. The four of us have traveled numerous times since the mid-1990’s when they lived with us while Bill was on sabbatical. We travel well together and no matter when we get together we always enjoy our time together. What a blessing to have such a close and fun relationship. It made Ron and Sandi’s mom, Sonia, so happy.

Ron and I headed back to bed as we had no definite plans other than an 11:00 movie today. We slept until almost 9:00 and started the day. After breakfast, we saw Can You Ever Forgive Me? at the local theater.  Afterward, we went grocery shopping at the organic market which is in the same building. We checked in with the shipper to get a quote on two items we want to purchase then came home unloaded the groceries and went up the street for a good lunch of fajita quesadilla for Ron and a spinach and shrimp quesadilla for me.

Back at home, we waited to hear from a shipping agency regarding a quote on shipping a couple of items we wanted to purchase but that would be impossible to hand carry home. After being put off we decided to go grocery shopping at the big grocer today because it is a zoo on the weekend. We discovered the writer’s conference is in full swing and when their sessions end there is fierce competition for taxis. Many passed us by on the way to pick attendees up at the nearby big hotel where the conference is taking place. Yet we persisted and caught a ride. The wait to get home was even longer. Waiting beside us was a couple from Tennessee by way of NY so we had an interesting conversation about how SMA has changed in the past four years. The couple had lived here previously.

The put away groceries and soaked the fruit and veggies in the disinfectant and then prepared leftovers for dinner. We finally got our quote for shipping so tomorrow we will purchase the two items we saw at a show of crafts representing each state in Mexico.

 I started the wash to get the sheets and towels ready for our next guests. Gary and Edmund from Portland will arrive Sunday night and be with us for five days. After dinner, we cleaned up the kitchen and finished the laundry and had our news feast as is our tradition.

A couple more shots from the House on the Hill:

SMA Botanical Garden

Feb 13

Today we visited El Charco del Ingenio, SMA’s botanical garden. It was founded in 1991 and it is impressive how much they have accomplished in that amount of time. It is an 88-hectare botanical garden, bird and wildlife sanctuary. We spent almost three hours there walking the trails with Ron and Sandi snipping photos the entire time. I loved being there. It is by far the most unusual botanical garden I have visited. I had no idea the number of cacti that existed and some were so intriguing with their size and shapes. One of my favorites looked like a nest of snakes. Part of the park includes a former reservoir created over 100 years ago for the La Aurora textile mill which has been converted into Fabrica Aurora that we visited on Sunday. The reservoir served a means to create energy for running the mill. Although it is somewhat silted up, it is now a wetland that provides a water source for migratory birds and wildlife.

Another highlight was the Conservatory of Mexican Plants, an indoor structure beautifully designed with a winding canal throughout. The park is located high above SMA so we took a taxi there and back. 

When we returned to town we ate in a small eatery in our neighborhood, two blocks from the house. Ron and I ate there before and thoroughly enjoy the small café and its limited menu. The food is simple yet delicious with fresh ingredients.

We spent the afternoon doing laundry, reading and relaxing before walking into town for a celebratory meal to commemorate the time together. S and B leave really early Friday so we thought it better to go out tonight since tomorrow will be an early to bed evening since they need to get up around 5:00. We all loved our meal at Mi Bistro 300. We had a fabulous appetizer of peasant bread topped with melted blue cheese over caramelized figs. This was followed for a fish course. Ron and I had salmon with fresh veggies and Bill had salmon with lentils while Sandi had dorado with veggies. Desserts were Key lime pie and a decadent thin cake filled with liquid gold...I mean dulce de leche center. Think lava cake. Since Ron has lots of photos to share, I will end this here.