Children's Day

Run: 4.4mi/45:45 This was pretty bad, to try to get through this, and I had planned on five miles, but couldn't get it. There was a serious lack of energy.

Today is Children's Day. I know, we don't celebrate that in the States, but we do in Mexico! Because Children's Day fell on a Saturday this year, we celebrated it yesterday here at the daycare. Games, a bounce house, singing, a skit, crafts, food, piñatas, and of course - candy. Let's get to it!

The babies! Yoseline getting some pretty sweet air.

 Another Yoseline doing a crazy jump.

 Ruben was too scared to go in.

 Martha

 Ashbye

 The pile of shoes.

 Ruben, who held his guitar most of the time, and pretended to play along with the music.

 The teachers put on a skit about Jesus letting the children come to him. It was pretty funny.

 Watching the skit.

 Martha vs. the piñata! (This is a Mexican cartoon character, which our director said is new, but is based off an old Mexican TV show.)

 Andres means business!!

 The scramble.

 Esteban and Isaac waiting their turn.

 The babies and their horse piñata.

 Obed and the Woody piñata.

Letters

Run: 3.4mi/35:00

I keep on keepin' on with getting these kids to learn their letters. They are most enthusiastic about laying down on the floor, so why not?

Tomorrow is Children's Day in Mexico, and we're having a big party today. I hear there's going to be a bouncehouse! And there are 4 piñatas hanging up in the cafeteria. It's gonna be a good time!!

Obsessions

Okay, current obsessions stand at:

1) Kate's dress

2) Seahorses

Seahorses

I'm kind of obsessed with seahorses right now.

A random assortment

On the running front: For a while after my half marathon I got a little crazy with my running. It wasn't crazy to want to be doing 30 mile weeks, but it was crazy in that I was running almost every day and I was so focused on making those week markers that I was angry with myself when I wasn't hitting a good number. Result? I got burned out on running because it felt like a chore and I've been incredibly lazy over the past couple of months. For now I'm trying to tone it down a little and just enjoy it, which means cutting back to 4 days a week and not feeling bad that I'm only running 4 days a week. Because 4 days a week is totally normal and fine. So that's that.

Tuesdays are our globos day, the street market. You can find used clothes, produce, CDs, new clothes, assorted garage sale type items, etc. I don't spend a lot of time at the Tuesday globos because I don't have much to look for there, but every once in a while I'm reminded that I can buy a Mango-In-A-Bag! Why is Mango-In-A-Bag so awesome?

1* It's already cut! No messy mango-cutting!
2* It's cheap! It's 15 pesos for a huge mango. That's about $1.25. FOR A FRESH MANGO!
3* Add Reason #1 and Reason #2 together.

 And at the end? The core on a stick! MANGO-ON-A-STICK! You could gnaw on this all day, but I don't recommend it.

After you finish, go floss your teeth.

Maricela is one of our preschoolers. She's a big bundle of contradictions. One minute she's grabbing your neck and smothering you with kisses and the next minute she's throwing a tantrum. She's full of love and attitude, and the other day I thought she looked like a female trucker. So I took a picture.

And lastly, lest you think that Lucy is a perfect dog (although... she kinda is), this is what she did one Saturday morning. I decided to sleep in, while she was left chained up. She didn't like that.

Mostly Lucy is sweet and lovable and just a wonderful dog. As demonstrated above, she can also be crazy.

Due South

Run: 3.4mi/34:45

We had to go South to Baja California Sur for some legal bidnass, so we spent ten hours in the car one day last week. The road is windy, pothole-y, and long. We drove down there, did the bidnass, ate lunch, and drove back. It was not that fun.

In the morning, on the way down, we stopped in Cataviña for a rest, and Manfriend and I set out to photograph things. I guess that should be more like Manfriend set out to photograph things, and I followed, and got my picture taken.

This is not me. Does anybody know what this thing is?

 Me and a cactus. I'm obviously very excited about this picture.

 Manfriend and the cactus. He's much better at this.

When we got to Baja California Sur, we did the bidnass, and then went to lunch. This area is really big for whale watching (my parents have been a couple times and looooooove it - they get to touch the whales, and if you ever visit my mom will show you the videos to prove it). We stopped in at Malarrimo for lunch. The food wasn't great, but it was a nice restaurant.

I think the best part of this restaurant was the portly older gentleman who was our waiter (and his pencil thin mustache). He was completely straight faced while subsequently using his dry humor to entertain himself. I wouldn't have even known he was joking except that we had a Mexican friend with us who would translate as soon as the waiter left.

As lunch was ending I went to the bathroom, and came out to find everyone had left without me, and they had left my purse at the table. In Spanish I murmered about how they had left me, and left my bag, and the man shook his head, gave me a solemn face, and told me what bad friends I had.

In case you were wondering how tiny, barren, and not-great-in-general the highway is - here you go. Yes, this is the highway, and there is only one to get down the peninsula.

Da Food

Yeah, living in Mexico has its highlights, one of which is the food. What? You didn't know Mexican food is great?

We have a taqueria here in town that most everyone loves. They really do have the best tacos. It's by the side of the road, the things you add to your taco are laying out on a table, and they're cheap. Manfriend and I had 5 tacos all together, and I think we ended up paying about 6 or 7 dollars. That's a steal.

Manfriend's plate, with carne asada on the left, and adobada (pork) on the right. He went simple with his add-ons (chopped onions and cilantro, salsa, lime).

I, on the other hand, want the cabbage, the marinated onions, the salsa, the lime. I want it all!

The spread

The adobada on the spit

We also tried another taco place that serves chorreadas. I'd never had one before and while it's not really anything different than any other Mexican food, the bottom shell is a little thicker than a regular tortilla and cooked crispier. I really liked it, and will definitely be back.

La Playa

There are rules for living here. One of these rules is that if it is warm and not windy, you must go to the beach. These days are few and far between. Just look at the normal kind of wind we get three miles inland.

So you know when it's windy like that, you shouldn't go to the beach.

However, it was in the 80s, not windy, and a Saturday. Add it all together and that equals beach day!!

Lucy loves the beach, so off she went with Manfriend and I - off to laze around at the beach.

It was lovely.

Lettuce on the prowl

You better believe I have some things growing. Now, like I've said before, I know nothing about gardening, but I am at least water once a day, and I planted them kinda according to instructions, and they've sprouted and gotten bigger. So I  must be doing something right, right?

No worries, the weeds have been pulled.

My tomato plants have been inside for quite a long time, so I finally set them out by the garden this morning to acclimate them to the weather before transplanting them into the garden. Doesn't it sound like I know what I'm talking about?