Tortilla making, journey to the park, another delightful walk

Yesterday's camp activity: tortilla making! Aranza showed Chloe each step of the process of making corn tortillas, then they served Eric and me some yummy cheese quesadillas.

Kneading the dough

Kneading, kneading...

...rolling a perfect little ball...

...flatten it in the press....

Voila! A perfect little tortilla.

Chloe delivering the tortilla to Aranza, who grilled them with a little cheese...

Our little tortilla maker!

The ladies at the market use a much more efficient (and machine-dependent) method.

After a hard morning of tortilla making, we kicked back at one of the juicing stands at the Mercado San Juan de Dios - the produce market at the center of town that is open every day.

 

Jugo de manzana fresca, yum!

Yesterday, Aranza took us to Parque Benito Juarez, a lovely setting near the town square.

Aranza and Chloe as a maripsoa...

Usually after school we stroll around the town for a little while, then spend the afternoon at home. Yesterday, we actually ventured back down the hill into town in the early evening. The town really comes alive when the sun starts to set! We took a slightly different route this time. Chloe wanted to snap some photos of us. She loves these little altars to Our Lady of Guadalupe, which we spot all over town.

Love this shot she took of us. All the old stone walls have so much character!

Chloe in front of a wall of masks. I love how she's kind of hidden in the there, camouflauge style.

Chloe really wanted to take this shot. I told Eric he had a responsibility to represent with the Longhorn...

Our first really nice dinner out on this trip. We're at the lovely Aperi. I didn't realize until I looked it up just now that it was named "Best New Restaurant" and "Best Hotel Restaurant" in the Travel + Leisure Gourmet Awards, 2015. No wonder they looked startled when we said we didn't have a reservation! Lucky for us, everyone here eats dinner pretty late, like after 8pm, so we were able to squeeze in at 6pm. Chloe loved their homemade pasta and the chilled beets, which came out smoking from liquid nitrogen!

Eric's sea bass, and my short ribs. It was truly delightful. The best surprise - our wine (both the white and red) is a Mexican wine, Casa Madero. It comes from the Coahuilla region of Mexico (not far from Texas!) and is absolutely delicious. Definitely look for it in the store!

Liceo de la lengua española

One of the main goals for our extended stay in Mexico is for Chloe to learn some Spanish (oh how I wish her school offered Spanish!!). It took a solid week of visiting multiple schools to make a decision (apparently the best way to get details on summer Spanish camps is to visit the schools in person). We ended up going with Liceo de la lengua española, partly because it has a coffee shop inside the school, LOL. Okay it was actually because we really liked the school and it's a good location.

So Chloe began Spanish camp this week - and she is the only student! We're here pretty early in the season, so more kids are arriving next week. I thought Chloe would be grumpy about her solo status, but she loves the teacher - Ms. Aranza - and is really loving it. The classes are two hours long in the morning, followed by two hours of an activity - sometimes an outing in town, sometimes a craft at school. Eric and I are taking turns, participating in the activity.

We manage to walk about half way to the school, then catch a cab for the rest of the journey (which costs about $2). We laughed at how funny it would be if she pulled up in a cab at her school back in Austin.

Solo etudiante! Miss Aranza is wonderful and makes it super fun.

The camp includes lunch, which is awesome. But I'm having to make peace with her having lemonade and cookies at lunch every day!

The first day's activity - we made these flowers! It's harder that you might think! But now we're in love with crepe paper. I'm so glad that parents can join the activities, it's fun for us too.

The second day's outing - to the Tuesday Market, or The Tianguis de los Martes. Eric went on this outing and I was so jealous when I heard where they went, since this has been on our to-do list. Apparently it's an insanely huge outdoor market - the size of three football fields! You can find everything from fresh strawberries to broken televisions. Ms. Aranza wanted Chloe to practice using her new Spanish words (fruits!).

Day 3 outing - Museum of the Katrina. This place just opened, so there's not a lot of info online yet. It's small, so it's an easy outing with a kiddo. It basically conveys a brief history of the Day of the Dead culture in Mexico. Chloe loved it. The figures are so beautiful. It's fascinating and such a different twist on how we view death in our culture - this really celebrates and finds the beauty in it.

Chloe took at least 20 photos here...

A huge thanks to Ms. Aranza, our honorary tour guide!

The Jardin, and the Mega

Yesterday was a random, need-to-be-productive kind of day. We still did our walk down the hill to town, found a little breakfast, then explored El Jardín., where you there is fantastic people-watching and the opportunity to buy yet more darling handmade goods. I think we already have a suitcase full of such stuff.

We managed to catch the Sunday noon-time bell ringing at La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel, a much beloved and really stunning church at the center of town. I was about to write about the history of the church, but of course its history can be found all over the internet. But it is interesting that "the church was built in the 17th century with a traditional Mexican façade. The current Gothic façade was constructed in 1880 by Zeferino Gutierrez, who was an indigenous bricklayer and self-taught architect." (Those who have visited La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona will see a resemblance here - some people say that Guierrez was inspired by postcards of that iconic structure). There are actually guys up there, physically ringing the bells. I wonder which hurst worse afterwards, their ears or their arms...

 

 

Walking through El Jardín is perilous with a 7yo girl who likes pretty things...the shopping is pretty irresistible. Fortunately we haven't scored one of those huge balloon-y things yet.

Then we finally made our way - via taxi, of course - out to the Mega, which everyone recommends for the big grocery shopping trip. The little markets in town are charming, but when you're in need of some everyday staples (peanut butter, granola bars), it's nice to have a big store to choose from. But - oy - the Mega is really, really big, and has many things we don't usually see in a grocery store in the US (this is definitely not Trader Joe's!).

Things like mattresses...

And mopeds...

...and - YIPPEE!....pool toys...

Let's see, we need some balls and coloring books, maybe a new cooler, oh and a couple of new rifles....

 One fun area was the fresh bed section...it took us a few minutes to figure out that we were supposed to grab one of these trays and some tongs, and choose our selections...

Chloe's making it an action shot...

And then take your tray to the ladies behind the counter, who weigh it all to figure out the price (while they're baking lots and lots of bread). Clever.

Fabrica la Aurora

Yesterday's journey took us to Fabrica la Aurora, a former textile factory on the edge of town that has been transformed into a really delightful collection of galleries, shops and cafes. It would be easy to spend an entire day there - if, say, you weren't traveling with a seven-year-old with limited patience for fine art galleries - but it was still a delightful outing.

Of the Aurora's four eateries, Geek & Coffee is the most casual. We sat at this amazing table under a canopy of palm trees (which totally protected us when the ten-minute afternoon shower came rolling through). Lots of ex-pats were hanging out here with their dogs.

The Toy Museum!

Yesterday we stopped by Museo La Esquina - the Toy Museum! I thought it would be a quick visit, but it was surprisingly large, with four floors featuring more than a thousand vintage pieces of folk art that also happen to be toys! It's such a wonderful place, so sweet and charming. There's even a roof top deck with some pretty spectacular views of the city.

A really beautiful version of Snakes and Ladders, which happens to be one one Chloe's current favorite games...

The museum is bathed in such beautiful natural light...

They created such clever ways to use elements of the old house to showcase vintage toys - like this dollhouse in a former fireplace.

They even honored Lucha Libre, which I liken more to Cirque du Soleil rather than wrestling...

There was a video available showing how the more kinetic pieces...