San Judas 2009

A few weeks ago we went to the state of Michoacán to celebrate the day of San Judas Tadeo (St. Jude). My friend Adriana and her family are devoted to this saint, and have a big celebration every year. She invites a lot of friends to celebrate and stay over.Not everybody stays, but we always do. I love going there. They have an authentic adobe house which is really incredible. At night, there are fireworks, and of course, lots of food. In the afternoon of the first day, a rosary is prayed, and there is lots of singing.
So prepare yourself for lots of photos. Hope you like them.....

This is the adobe house with lots of plants in terracotta pots.

As we arrived to the house, the bread seller
arrived in his pick-up selling freshly baked sweet bread.
Those small chocolate doughnut were incredible.

Just in time... we arrived when food was being
served. These are some friends who had arrived earlier.

Rossana (Adriana's sister), Doña Leonor (her Mom)
were some of the women in charge of this great celebration.
With them my friend Lolis, her daughter Andrea,
and Loli's sister, Marcela who came from Colima to visit.

The pots full of mole at the indoor cooking place.
They have a gas stove, but this type of fod tastes better
cooked over firewood.

Part of the kitchen wall. You can see some gourds
hanging there, and a blackened part where
the food is cooked over firewood.

Stringed chiles.

I love this wall.

Adriana was singing in the rain.
Love ya, Adri!

Around the house there are lots of plants, rocks,
trees, etc. I love these moss covered stones.

Time to pray and sing.
Here they are singing "Las Mañanitas".

As soon as it was dark, fireworks!

After the fireworks, we played Loteria.
By then the temperature had dropped, and we had to
put on our jackets and scarves.

This small fruit is called níspero.
It's sweet, and gets a bit tart towards the seed.

This is the normal size.

The inside.

The seed.

The trees were heavy with the fruit.

Some guavas from the trees. There are also
orange and tangerine trees on the grounds.

I guess these are some type of suculents growing from
volccanic rocks.

I don't know what is this. I think it is some
kind of fungi. I like the way it looks.

Strange but nice.

Now, check out this tree.
I really don't know what kind of tree this is.
It has some kind of bumps on the trunk.

People in this town say that a tea made
of these bumps cures diabetes.

I love these plants.

And here is the small chapel
dedicated to San Judas.

Votives dedicated to the saint.

On our way back home we stopped at a fish
nursery (is this correctily written?),
and bought 4 kgs. (about 8 pounds)
of fish.



Fresh fish...

On our way home... passing confields, pumpkin patches,
and some beautiful mountains.

Mmmm... I love Autumn!