Through The Eyes Of A Visitor Oct. 2009

 A couple of weeks ago one of my best friends--and favorite paramedic partners--arrived at the airport in Guadalajara for a weeks visit.  I was SO happy to see her, it's been a long time and we've both lost our mothers and moved on into different lives since we last spent time together.

It was her first trip to REAL Mexico.  By that I mean not Cancun or PV or any other resort but to Jocotepec.  WHERE?  Jocotepec!  (Ho co teh pec')  My small working agricultural and ranchero pueblo on the west end of Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico.

  These are some of her comments and observations:

 The lake is HUGE!

Yup.

Look at the colors!  So beautiful!

 

 

Is this the way to the Old Gringo's Club?

Yup.

 

 

OMG, is that blood on this wall?
What do they have, firing squads?

Yup, probably.

IS THAT A SPIDER!

Yee-up.

Look at that dog on the roof!

Yup, woof-dog, woof-dog.

 

Steph, taking it all in.

Beautiful!

Yup.

The kids here are amazing.  Some of them are just happy to be playing in the dirt!

They're so happy!

Yup.

OMG!  OMG!  OMG!

Is that a scorpion?

It's been 6 months since I've had a scorpion in my house.

Steph arrives - and what happens?  This guy strolls in.

Big enough to feed a family of 4.

Rivaled a crawdad in size, we could have made etouffee out of it!

Wow!

I'm gonna redecorate the kid's rooms! 

I'll take this, and this, oh, and this one too.  And this!  And that!

In the end, she had to buy a big Mexican bag to bring

all her treasures home on the airplane.

This is the best lamb I've ever had!!!

Yup.

Sure are a lot of characters here.

Yup.

OMG!!!

Last picture before leaving for the airport.

After she got home, she wrote. . .

. . ."The picture makes me want to cry. I can't describe how I feel now that I'm home. LOVED seeing Dave and the kids! But, the trip to Mexico really made me rethink priorities in my life. I think I had everything all wrong. I was scared as shit the first night with all the bottle-rockets going off, and you telling me your list of how not to die right away....But, when you took this picture, I really felt relaxed and appreciative. Life is what you make it, right? I honestly can't wait to come back. You're doing things right girl!"

YUP!

We miss you, Steph.

Hurry back.  As usual, you touched the heart of everyone you met.