For dinner, Bob made his wonderful Asian salmon for an appetizer. Next we had Sam’s wonderful salad, baked garlic, and fresh bread. This was followed by the delicious pork ribs that had been cut by the butcher into cocktail (small) size pieces, and made by Gerardo along with Marielena’s mother, mashed potatoes, sweet orange glazed carrots, and broccoli. For dessert we had a brownie and pear tart…very tasty. Of course, we had plenty of wine and Champaign. We didn’t get to bed until 2:00 a.m. It has been a long time since we have stayed up that late.
New Year’s Day morning came early…we slept fast and with ear plugs to drown out all of the noise. We had made plans to have a good breakfast with Gerardo, Marielena and their son, Mateo. We had fresh squeezed mandarin juice, coffee, bacon, eggs, left over mashed potatoes, bread, and good company. By the time we finished with breakfast and the clean-up, it was noon.
We took a short nap and then we started packing. Our last full day in Oaxaca was very windy. Sam was in the bathroom and turned on the light and the electricity popped. Part of the house had power and part did not. So, Bob went to search for the circuit breaker box. Our friends had gone to Marielena’s mom’s house so we were on our own. Bob went outside to try and find the entry point of the electricity. While searching, he went up on the roof and found a big terracotta pot with a huge fica tree that the wind had knocked over and breaking the pot. Bob continued to search for the breaker box. No luck…he didn’t find it. We continued our packing and enjoyed our evening by watching a DVD about the life of “Father D”. You may ask…who is “Father D”? Well, we also wondered. It was Eva’s second husband. Eva is the owner of the house. “Father D” was a priest who left the priesthood to marry Eva in the early 70’s. They moved to Oaxaca in 2001. He died at age 88 in 2006. On the rooftop of the house, there is a chapel with his ashes. We enjoyed the DVD and decided to retire for the evening to read our books.
We just got into bed when we heard Gerardo and Marielena come home. Bob went out to talk with them and immediately, they showed him where the breaker box was located…behind a picture in the eating area. Oh yes, as we mentioned, it was a windy day. At one point, we had a window open and all of a sudden one of the doors pushed open. Bob jumped up to close the door; he pulled the handle and it broke off in his hand. We both commented…”it is time to move on to San Miguel de Allende”.
We left Oaxaca Saturday morning. Gerardo gave us a ride to the airport. Before we left the house, we said our goodbyes to Marielena and Mateo. Mateo was sad to see us leave. He and Bob were playmates. He was also our Spanish teacher. Mateo asked when we would be back…he doesn’t like goodbyes. We will definitely miss Mateo; he is an incredible child.
Our flight from Oaxaca to Mexico City was one hour. We arrived on time. Our luggage was first on the belt…yes, all of it! We made our way to the area our driver was to pick us up for San Miguel. We looked, and looked, and waited and waited, and looked some more. Finally we see Francisco waving; he was an hour late. We were happy to see him.
Driving through Mexico City was very interesting. Everywhere you looked there was housing, and more housing, graffiti and more graffiti, traffic and more traffic. There was a backup going towards the airport. We are sure Francisco was in the backup earlier…that’s why he was late. Finally we reached the end of the city. After that we enjoyed the vista…beautiful mountains and countryside.
We arrived in San Miguel just before 6:00 p.m. It was cold and rainy. We were warmly greeted by the housekeeper, Veronica (Francisco is her husband) and Linda (the lady who owns the condo we are renting). This is the third year we are renting Linda’s condo. She left us a nice bottle of wine, Malbec, and a nice small box of chocolates…yummy. Sam unpacked while Bob set up the computer. By this time it was about 7:45 p.m. We were thirsty and hungry. So, we ventured out in the rain and went to our favorite local restaurant, Rinconcitos. We had a couple of margaritas and a nice dinner. We even met some people from Canada. They are renting the house right next door to our condo…a small world.
It is good to be back home! Oh yes, home is wherever we are!
Happy New Year. It must be nice to be settled into the next phase of your journey. I'm sure your friends will miss you, not just the little boy...knowing you, they will be life long friends from here on.
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