Retiro.

Every year, the teachers of our school go on retreat (I work at a Catholic School). And we just had our annual retreat this weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). This year we went to a small town about one hour from where I live called Yuriria. Yururia has a lake, and the retreat center overlooked the lake. The retreat center, called Centro Espiritual Agustiniano, is really beautiful with a colonial architecture (al least that's the way it is called here because of the way the Spanish built here while Mexico was a colony of Spain).

I had a wonderful weekend, and want to share some photos with you.

On the road.

This is the chapel. It is not finished yet.

The wooden cross has a very expicit painting.
The Spanish made paintings like this when
Mexico was a colony.

Stone carving of San Agustín.

This was the room I shared with Lolis.

View of the rooms and the columns.



The stone fountain in a courtyard.

Colonial architecture used this blue color very often.
Here is a wooden carving of San Agustín in a niche.




This bush is called "Huele de Noche· (smells at night).

This is the small flower of the "Huele de Noche". During the day
no smell can be detected from it, but at night, the smell is intoxicating.
It is a sweet smell that I love, but many people don't like it.

The heat was terrible. Since this is not a hotel, it had no air conditioning.
Most of us slept with the doors of the rooms open.
So it is logical to have some of the gardens with different types of cacti.
This cactus is called "mounstro" here.



I have some small "mounstros" in my garden,
but I didn't know it flowered. I was really suprised to see these big flowers.

I hadn't seen cactus with yellow flowers either
.

There were dozens of hummingbirds around. Of course
it was very difficult to get a photo of one. But this one stayed still
long enough to ge a shot of him.
They were of different color. This one has a white front, but there
were some that had a beautiful turquoise color.

The retreat center is about 10 minutes from downtown Yuriria.
On our way back home, we took some photos of the church there.
They were taken from the car, so I don't know the name of
it nor when it was built.
We may go back to visit this town next Sunday to celebrate Father's Day.
I'll try to get more information then.

It looks really old!!

I read two novels that have to do with church construction during
the middle ages: The Pillars of Earth by Ken Follet and
La Cathedral del Mar by Ildefonso Falcones.
I was easy to visualize both novels by looking at this church.

Here most of the church can be
seen.

I liked this place very much. I hope we can come back to see more of Yuriria next week.
Have a great beggining of week!!!

*Ooops, I just noticed I didn't upload a photo of the lake! I will put it up tomorrow. Night, night.

Huaraches.

Guess I'll continue with the food theme. About two weekends ago, we went with a friend of my husband to eat huaraches. Now, there is a technical problem here with this dish. The thing is that the Irapuato huarache only looks a bit like the Mexico City huarache. The Mexico City huarache is fried with plenty of oil, and served with a huge beef steak, while the huarache here is more like a big quesadilla with different fillings.
The huge tortilla is put on a hot comal (something like a flat griddle) with a minimum of oil. Lots of cheese is put on the surface, and then the filling (different stews). At last it is folded so the cheese melts, and is served with an avocado wedge and a roasted jajapeño pepper. Oh, how my mouth waters at the thought of it!!
So here goes..

The fiilings are cooked in these earthenware dishes.
You can see the comal where the jalapeños are roasted,
and the raw tortilla is cooked.

All those roasting jalapeños smell delicious.
You can see two filling: pork in green tomatillo sauce,
and ground beef in pasilla sauce.

Tossing and turning the chiles so they don't burn.

Throwing the handmade tortilla on the comal.

Once one side is done, it is turned over.
On the right you can see a no-meat filling:
rajas con crema (poblano pepper strips stewed with
onions, and corn kernels, then bathed in sour cream.

Here the cheese and half of the stew has been added.
You can ask for two fillings.
Another no-meat stew is mushrooms
with chile ancho, tomatoes, and onions.

My husband and his friend Marco waiting for their huaraches.
Yes, I wrote huaraches in plural beacuse each ate two.

Here is the huarache, cut in thirds, with its avocado and chile.
Oh, I forgot to mention the lime.
Remember, in Mexico everything is eaten with lime juice.

And if the chile the stew has, and the jalapeño pepper
isn't hot enough for you, you can always add a very hot red sauce as
seen in the background.
This is my huarache: Rajas con crema on the left,
and chicharrón en salsa roja (pork rind stewed in red sauce)
to the right.

I'm getting hungry, so I better stop writing.
¿Buenas noches y hasta mañana!

Tostadas.

Mexico has an incredible variety of dishes, which change from region to region. Today I will show you how the tostadas are prepared in the Bajío region. The tostada is a crisp tortilla which is topped with an incredible amount of things.
Two weeks ago, some of us teachers decided to go eat tostadas after school. This place specializes in seafood and fish. Almost every tostada is served with avocado, mmmm.
Here are the photos..

Lilí and Montserrat laughing at a joke.

Gina, Margarita, and a small piece of Lety.

I wonder what Mari Pili is thinking about.

Agueda and Mari Pili waiting for their order.

This is the menu.
The restaurant is called "El Aguacate".

And these are the bottled sauces for the tostadas.
They are all made with habanero chili. This chile
is extrememly hot. It ranges in color from yellow to orange.
Each sauce is different because it is either prepared with
lemon or orange juice, and also natural.
They are delicious.
Lolis is peeking behind the salsas.

First tostadas. These are prepared with ceviche.
Ceviche is raw fish "cooked" with lime juice. Onion, green chile,
and cilantro (corriander leaves) is added.

Second tostadas. Tuna fish salad. Prepared more or less the same
as in the U.S.- onion, tomato, mayo.

Third tostadas. These are mine. I ordered ceviche (right),
and avocado with shredded cabbage, tomato, onion,
and cilantro on the left.

Last but not least, Lety asked for a shrimp cocktail.
Cooked shrimp served with avocado, onion, tomato, cilantro,
and a sauce prepared with orange and lime juice
mixed with tomato sauce and Catsup.

It was a good moment to relax after the hectic weeks we've been having. And we still have one more intense week to go (because of the final exams). Then starting on Monday, we still have class till the 1oth of July. Does it make sense to you? I mean final exams end on Friday. Who would want to keep on going to school, if nothing counts? All of this because of the influenza thing. About 80 % of the students have already told us they will not be coming to school after Friday. So we will be working with about 5 or 6 students for the next three weeks.
Well, whatever, we will continue teaching any students who comes.
Hope your beginning of week was good.
Que tengan Buenas Noches....

Ya casi se acaban las clases.

School is almost over. Our school goes from kindergarten to high school. The high school students have finished their clases and are now in their final exams. So one Friday, when they didn't have exams, some decided to come to school.....on horse! Some of these students are "rancheros" (on a high scale-cows, pigs, chicken), and some are charros (a type or rodeo cowboy, but with fancy dress-they look very handsome, by the way). In both cases, they have their own horses.
Living in a state that produces a lot of vegetables for the whole country, ranchers are considered very important people. And the sport of charrería is also considered very cool. You can imagine how all the elementary school kids swarmed around them to touch the horses and ask questions So here are photos of two students who took their horses to school. They let them graze next to the soccer field....

Grazing next to the soccer field.

The Charro.

The Rancher.

Both these guys are good kids. They are hard workers, always helping in their family's business. The charro was my student in 6th grade. And now he's going to University. Makes me feel old, but proud.
I wish them lots of luck in a new stage in their lives. And I know they are going to do great in it.
Have a great evening...

La Quinceañera.

At last!! I have time to sit down and write!

So I will tell you what we did today. We went to a quinceañera party. It is a birthday party for a girl who turns 15. This is a very important and serious event here in Mexco. It is considered as the moment when a girls goes out to "society", and it is celebated with a BIG party. Quinceañera parties have been part of Mexican tradition for more than 100 years. And even though it is losing importance (many girls would rather have a new car instead of the party), a great many part of the population still celebrates this important moment in a girl's life. I can understand wanting a new car instead of spending so much money feeding hundreds of persons, but there is something about the seriousness of this event that has me supporting it.

This beautiful girl's name is Rocío which means Dew. She is my neighbor Naty's niece.
So here goes....

First thing's first. A mass to give thanks for
fifteen years of life.

Getting into the car to go to the reception or party.

This is Naty and her husband Sergio.
She is one of sixteen children her mom and dad
had. Her mom passed away a year ago so the party was
very emotional.
(Yes, she has a Corona beer in her hand.
It would be a sin not to drink Corona in a Mexican Fiesta)

Lots of kids.
There were about 300 people at the party,
and they were mostly family.

Naty's family are rancheros. That means
they have some land and can grow vegetables,
although most of her brothers live in the U.S. now.
Kids like to dress like their fathers.
Manuel goes to kindergarten next year,
and he has told his mom he will not use a "dumb"
uniform and sneakers. Oh no, he wants to go dressed as a man.

As you can see it's all in the boots, dude.

Birthday cake.



One of the mot important parts of the party
is the dance choreography. The quinceañera is accompained
by her "chambelanes" who will help her through a dance
choreography. She had eight chambelanes.

Through the years, these choreographies have become
more and more sophisticated. Before, all the girl had to dance was
a waltz, but now (as you can see) even theatre themes
are included.
(Phantom of the Opera here)

A good choreography will include liftings, among other things.

Some twirling here. The family will pay for a profesional
choreographer to set up the dances.

The family did not have enough money to spend on a fancy
hall, so they did it at this private handball court. There was plenty
space, and the tables were put at the other side on a well kept lawn.

One of the traditions is when the girl's dad gives her her last
doll. Since her dad left her when she was very small,
her grandfather, Don Lorenzo, who raised her
as his daughter, gave it to her.
Eveybody was crying here.

Very emotional moment.

The last official part of the party is the waltz in which
every male member of the family, and important friends
get to dance with her.
Again Don Lorenzo. I really love this man.
He is hard working, and strives to keep his
very large family together.

We've been friends with Naty and her family since we meet
about eleven years old. We've given support to each other
when we've both had crisis (when my son was hit by a speeding
car, and when her mother passed away, to mention a few)
So my husband was considered an important friend, and got to
dance with Rocío. That is considered a great honor,
even if he had to wait till thirty or more male members of the
family danced first.

After this, the real party begins. Everyone has been fed, and dancing music is put on. In Rocio's case she had a real live band. The party will last till about 3:00 of 4:oo in the morning. Unfortunately, we did not stay. It was already 8:00 p.m, the church ceremony had started at 1:00 p.m. so we were really tired. Not to mention the fact that the Mexican soccer selection team was going to play at 8:00 against El Salvador, and my husband being every bit of a soccer fan, was even more convinced on leaving at that time. Although it would have been better if we stayed at the party. Mexico lost 1-2 against El Salvador.

Alas, not everyone is going to bed happy tonight, but I had a great time and am very happy to be sitting in front of my computer again.
Till tomorrow.
Have a good night....