Desvío en el camino a Puebla - Detour on the way to Puebla

Buenos dias from Santa Rita Tlahuapan.

We thought we were going to Omar's brother's home in Puebla yesterday, but we misunderstood the plan. Mario lives in Santa Rita Tlahuapan, a small town outside the city.

Friends, welcome to Mexico.

A word about the transportation system here. It puts the US to shame. Between cities they run three classes of bus service. First class has every amenity except for dancing girls. Second class is very comfortable and serves major and regional cities. Third class serves the small towns, and is what you see in the movies. Then there a couple of other types of local buses. We traveled by second class bus. Besides the quality of the buses and the wide coverage of the country, scheduled trips are frequent, at least between major cities. A bus leaves Mexico City for Puebla every 15 minutes, Omar said.

The Valley of Mexico and Valley of Puebla are rich plains surrounded by walls of extinct volcanoes. Crossing the high pass between the two takes you through pastures dotted with evergreen trees and agricultural fields, and a few pueblitos (towns). It is a fascinating drive for a geologist, the road cuts change from layers of volcanic ash to basalts at the center of the old volcano and back to the ash deposits.

We changed to a third class bus in San Martin, and the ride through town was a snapshot of a developing region. Cars, buses, motorcycles, and burros pulling carts on the main street. Lots of color on the exterior and interior of the businesses. Open air farmacias (pharmacies), restaurants, convience stores – maybe a third or a quarter of the shops are open to the street. Near the end of the route, we got off and walked a couple of blocks to Mario's home.

Tlahuapan is a pleasant town. Karina says that they do not need to lock the doors, just like our home. We haven't figured it out completely just yet, but apparently Omar's four brothers live next to each other, in a compound on the same land they grew up on. Mario's house is very nice, lots of light and fresh air, tile floors As a general observation many of the houses in Mexico are works-in-progress, one or two stories with lengths of re-bar waiting for the next additon to the building. It seems the pattern is to save some money, add to the house, save some more, add some more.

As it turns out, one of Omar's nephews was being baptized a we arrived. We drove to the church just as the priest was sprinkling Holy Water on the congregation. After a while, we drove to another relative's house for a party celebrating the event.

And what a party it was. A sit-down dinner for maybe 40 people at a time, and there was a constant stream of people coming in. The family had hired some folks to serve it all up, pork rice, and napolitos (strips of boiled napalito cactus leaves). Roger counted 5 cases of Corona and 5 cases of Victoria beer,. The men who brought the beers would look at you and say “one more” with such a nice smile that it was hard to turn them down. Karen managed to do that, but when someone brings Roger an open bottle of Victoria, he finds it hard to say “no more.” Real hard. Then there was the tequila – who knows how many bottles of tequilla were being brought around.

We were quite an attraction at the party. As one fellow said, they don't get many chances to meet foreigners. Some of the children are taking English, so whenever we were talking with Omar or Karina, they leaned in to listen. Roger sat next to Karina a lot, and they drew several men (was that because Roger is a novelty, or because Karina is an attractive and confident woman?). As Karen observed, alcohol is a universal language, so the conversation and clowning flowed, with Karina providing the translations when needed.

Making friends the easy way

It gets cold here after the sun goes down, so we returned to Mario's for an evening meal and even more rounds of drinks. They tell us that in Mexico it is impolite to pour a tequila until everyone in the group finishes his shot. So, there you are, with your host holding the bottle over your cup, and you have to down it to be polite. We had a wonderful time around the kitchen table, but Roger is not known for his moderation, and his hangover was epic.

Yes, we drank the whole thing

Right now, Karen is outside with Esther, Mario's wife. She speaks no English, but pulled out an illustrated English phrase book, and Karen has her dictionary and they seem to be doing well. Esther and Mario are delightful people, gracious hosts and a spirited couple.

Omar has his 2001 VW bug parked here, and finally got his title problem resolved. Mario is a truck driver, and Omar is still uncomfortable driving in traffic, so they are driving to Mexico City today to get an inspection. Esther is going to take us around the area in a little while, so we will get to see some of the countryside before we get to Puebla. We will probably stay here again tonight because it is so hard to decline such sincere hospitality.

Your turistas in Mexico,

Roger & Karen