What do you do in Mexico?

I probably hear this question at least twice a week from my friends who live north of the border.  Many of them just have a hard time understanding how we can be so happy living in Mexico and how we fill our days with personally rewarding activities and events.

So to try to address this question collectively, I have prepared this post with a summary of the past week, which I would say is generally representative of a normal week for us at Rancho La Luz.

Monday

• Spanish language class from 8 to 10a.
• Work in the rancho pruning the existing native trees and with our new additions that are part of our reforestation project.
• Meeting in San Miguel with a craftsman who will repair the seat cushions for our outdoor furniture.
• Meeting at the offices of Patronato pro Ninós, which is an organization that we volunteer.  Patronato pro Ninós works with rural schools to identify children that need medical attention and provides the funding for these services.  Today we were dropping off the names of the children we had identified the prior week so that the children could get referred to the proper medical specialist.
• Work on some photos that I took over the weekend and Jo Ann worked in her vegetable garden.

Tuesday

• Spanish language class from 8 to 10a.
• Had the vet out to look at Keisha, our cat, and to update the rabies shots for the dogs.
• Work in the rancho on the native trees and shrubs.
• Drive to the Hacienda Las Trancas for a wonderful tour and lecture lead by the two owners of the hacienda, Kelley and Stephen Wilkinson.  This tour was part of the SMA Down to Earth garden club.  I still hope to have a posting on this wonderful tour with some additional photos beyond the ones that I posted on my photo of the day blog which you can see here, here, here and here.
• Work on some of the photos that I took at the hacienda and Jo Ann worked with her gardens.

Wednesday

• Spanish language class from 8 to 10a.
• Worked with one of our contractors in finishing the new cabinets for our kitchen.
• Meeting with one of the landscape architects that we are interviewing for the work to be done to re-grade the yard surrounding the house and the different ideas for the design that he was planning.
• Visit to the school at Terra Blanca for Patronato pro Ninós where we identified about 25 children who need medical attention.
• Meeting with our principal contractor about finishing up the work on installing our propane heater for the main living room and his estimates for building a carport for the rancho. Ouch, I thought everything was cheaper in Mexico, that is always not the case.

Thursday

• Bike ten miles over to Rancho Jaguar for a lecture and tour of their gardens, lead by the assistant director of el Charco Botanical Jardin.   I do hope to have a posting on this tour and lecture later this week, but I do have some photos here and here.
• On our way to the lecture and tour we found Frida, which you can read in a previous posting here and here. 
• In the afternoon I had to take my truck in to the Ford dealer for replacement of the brake pads and needed to do some shopping at the local mercado and bakery.  The truck was not going to be done until the next morning so I had to bum a ride home that day.

Friday

• Spanish language class from 8 to 10a.
• On the way back into town to get my truck we found Frida's sibling, so I had to chase after it to get it so we could bring it into the San Miguel SPA.
• After picking up my truck I had a meeting with the Patronato pro Ninós organization again so we could deliver our listing of recommendations for medical attention and to request that the dental truck make a visit to the school at Terra Blanco.
• I then had a meeting with a very interesting individual who is working with several family members to save the local arroyos.  We discussed how we could work together as he was familiar with my reforestation project.  He thought that it would be beneficial for both of us to research how we can reduce the erosion on our property and help retain the local arroyo that borders my rancho.
• I also had a meeting to discuss how to resolve one of the last issues associated with the purchase of our rancho.  It is basically extortion but it will help resolve this final open issue and we can move forward with completing all of the legal issues associated with our purchase of the rancho.
• I did get some time to shoot some photos of the preparations for the Grito which is given every year on the 15th of September celebrating Mexico's cry for independence.  This event which does not take place until very late in the evening of the 15th, is way too late for us to attend given that we live in the campo so this was my only chance to get in and see the preparations.

Saturday

• We worked the entire day in the rancho, this time transplanting some of the roses into pots as they were not doing well in the ground and other general (and always continuing) tasks around the rancho.

Sunday

• We got a very long bike ride in, this time heading out to La Gruella, which was about a 25 mile ride.  It was a beautiful ride on a beautiful day and I got a number of good shots that I still need to process before I can share them.

So if you are still wondering if all we do down here is drink cerveza and eat tacos, I hope you are relieved that our lives are fuller than that.  Although talking about cerveza and tacos is making me hungry so I guess I am off to the local tienda for some comida.

Hasta luego!