Almost back to normal

The past couple of weeks have been very busy which has kept me from many of my normal activities including writing posts to this blog.  Hopefully I will get back into a more comfortable routine and will be able to get back to two or three posts a week.

So last Monday Jo Ann came back across the border after packing up the rest of our stuff from the US.  Her two cousins Matt and Jerry shared the ride with her so from Tuesday until Saturday we were heavy into the tourist scene.  On Tuesday we bummed around San Miguel as well as going to the weekly Tiengas for some shopping.

After the trip to town and the Tiengas, we then did a hike down to the arroyo and up the dry river.  Since we have not had any rain for the past two weeks, most of the river bed is dry.  However the dogs found one nice large pond and made the most of it.

 

On Wednesday we hiked from Rancho La Luz to La Gruta though the small town of Rancho Viejo.  It is about a five mile walk each way as we go through Atotonilco, which has this wonderfully restored church.

And of course a bunch of street vendors that are selling various religious artifacts.

The pools at La Gruta are from the thermal springs in the area and are so comfortable.  The grounds are very tropical, which is so different from the normal local vegetation, but beautiful just the same.

Thursday then held a wonderful tour at the Hacienda Las Trancas, which is a little north of Dolores Hidalgo.  There are so many wonderful images that I took at the Hacienda, but I will limit the posting to only a couple.

Here are the stables of the hacienda.

And here is one of the beautiful bedrooms.

After the tour of the hacienda we went into Dolores and had lunch and bummed around the town.  Of course no visit to Dolores can be made without some of the delicious ice cream that they sell at the central jardin.

Friday was another day of bumming around San Miguel and Saturday Matt and Jerry returned to the chilling state of Minnesota.  It was a very nice visit, but Jo Ann and I were exhausted from the activities.  We were a little upset though with Matt and Jerry, they seemed to have left their Minnesota weather down here.  Saturday night the temperatures dropped to 0 (32 for those of you in the US) and many of our recently planted native trees and shrubs were touched by frost.  This sure seems early but I am sure that Jo Ann will be able to coach them back to health.

This week is also one packed with many activities.  First and foremost it is the festivals for All Saints Day and the Day of the Dead. There is also a circus in town that we want to go see.  We also have our on going landscaping project and today we start our last project, that being the construction of the garage.  Then we stop!

So here's a big thank you to Matt and Jerry, they had a safe trip home but we hope that they will return again soon.  It wasn't our normal week, but we enjoyed playing the tourist, it is just not something we do often.