What I Did on My Summer Vacation

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Oh my, the summer is over! Classes have started (though I am not teaching this term with baby Klein coming in a little over a month) and I realize I didn't blog at all during the summer.

It wasn't because nothing was going on but rather the opposite: growing a baby in your belly is hard work, and trying to keep our usual crazy active adventurous lifestyle has been challenging. But here we are, end of summer, still working, still having fun and having spent an amazing time!

In June, Tony's brother and his family met us at the Mayan Riviera and we spent a week at a resort, visiting the Mayan ruins of Tulúm and Cobá, snorkeling at the awesome Xel-Ha eco-resort, and having lots of R&R.

(To view the picture album click on the picture above)

Then in July, we celebrated my aunt's Maggie's birthday.

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Finally, my french parents, Simone and Didier, spent three weeks with us at the end of July and beginning of August and we spent the week-ends showing them around the city and took a long week-end to visit Merida and its surroundings. The trip was really nice. I got to see my friend Nadine that I hadn't seen in many years, we visited the Mayan ruins of Uxmal and Dzibilchaltún and got to swim in beautiful cenotes.

(To view the picture album click on the picture above)

So there, that's what we did on our summer vacation... Now in case you're worried we didn't have enough to eat, here's some pictures of some of the things we tried on our trips...

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World Heritage Beauty

(To view the picture album click on the picture above)

For Memorial Day week-end Tony and I went to Guanajuato, a UNESCO World Heritage town, capital of the state of Guanajuato.

To start off this world-class trip we took a luxury bus so Tony could have that experience. Luxury buses in Mexico have only 23 seats per bus, 3 per row, and are as nice (and recline as far) as First Class airplane seats. You get greeted by a snack and drink, they have wireless internet on board and they show movies with the sound going through headsets on each seat (as oposed to some buses where they blast the movie to the whole bus, whether you want it or not). On this bus, the 5 hour trip to and from Guanajuato was very pleasant.

Guanajuato, founded in 1554, was a rich mining town originally built over the Guanajuato River, which flowed through tunnels underneath the city. In the mid-twentieth century a dam was built to redirect the river into underground caverns and avoid the frequent floods. The tunnels were lit and paved with cobblestones for automobile traffic, and this underground road network carries the majority of cars driving through the city today. It is one of the most notable features of the city.

We had a wonderful week-end walking around the historic district, venturing into its many narrow alleys and taking advantage of its amazing variety of cafes and restaurants in beautiful plazas. We stayed at an Inn called El Zopilote Mojado and were the only guests there so we had this HUGE house to ourselves. We visited the Diego Rivera Birthplace and Museum and the Alhondiga de Granaditas, a 19th century public granary which played a key role in the Mexican Independence. Of course we couldn't miss a visito to the famous Mummies:

About 1 in 100 bodies buried in the cementery of Guanajuato experience natural mummification. In the late 1800s the town instituted a "burial tax" for the families of the deceased. When some of the poorest families were unable to pay the tax, their relatives were dug up and placed on public view in a purpose-built museum. The 'Guanajuato Mummy Museum' still adds corpses to this day; two children were added who died in 1984 most recently due to their relatives' failure to pay the $20 per 5-year rental fee. The museum holds 111 corpses resting on velvet pillows. Today, it is reported that the proceeds from the museum help fund the city's coffers to a considerable degree.

On Sunday we visited the Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel de Barreda, a gorgeous property outside the city with 17 different beautiful gardens surrounding the main house, still decorated in its original funishings.

It was very nice to get out of town for a few days, especially since we hadn't been able to get out much between me being so sick my first trimester of pregnancy and dealing with all the stuff for the new condo this last month.

Check out our trip's pictures to give you a glimpse of the beauty of this town!

Home Improvements, Part 2.7

So, on the good side: the carpentry project is done! The guy had to stay until 10h40PM to finish, but he did finish. Right now, I am still upset by how much it took to get it done and how messy and unclean the workers were, but I hope to be psyched about the final product soon...

Here's some pictures of how the nice carpenters decided you don't need any work benches nor to protect the brand new furniture and floors from dirt and sawdust:




In the end we got

• closets in both bedrooms (the green one is our bedroom, the yellow one is the office/baby's room)
• a cabinet in the living room
• additional cabinets and an island in the kitchen to match the existing ones.

Here's the results.

The adventures of an obsessive compulsive in a new condo.

So, a little bit over a year and a half ago, Tony and I decided, together with my parents, to invest in a small condo in a developing neighborhood in Mexico City. The construction was supposed to end in February-March 2008 and we were planning on renting it once we got it.

After finding out we had to come back to Mexico for a couple of years (long story) we thought it would be great to live in our own condo during our Mexican time. The place wasn't quite finished yet, but they promised us by July we would be living there.

In September, the place was ready to move in, but the builders had problems getting the paperwork needed for a sale (another long story). In each of the successive months we were told it would be done within days....

Finally in April 2009, we managed to get everything sorted out and sign the deed. Here's where the second part of the adventure begins: brand new condo, should be simple enough to move in, but no.

We spent a couple of weeks getting estimates for window treatments, closets and services such as internet, tv, etc... trying to have everything done before moving in in early May. Here's what's happened:

The Services Adventure:

This I thought was the easy one: call the cable company, transfer our internet and tv service to the new address. They did the transfer contract and assured me 3 days later the service techs would come. Then talking to the next door neighbor I find out there's NO WAY to get such service here because the closest pole is too far away and they won't install a new pole. So I call the cable company back and ask them to check the address of the building: "Oh, you're right, no service there!" Thanks a lot! I then had to return to the office and cancel the contract.

I then move on to alternative options. For tv service we picked one of the 2 choices of satellite service. They said it would get installed within a week... it's been 11 days!

For internet (the important one since Tony relies on it a lot for his work) we hired a wireless service advertised as reliable and efficient and for which we could get the modem right away. It sounded too good to be true... and it was! The thing works awful and Tony's had to go over to my parents' house to work! So we come to the last resort, go to the evil side and hire the national phone company, which forces you to have a phone service in order to have internet... We're still waiting on them to call us and let us know when they will install the phone line so we can go to their office and pick up the modem. Wish us luck!

The "Quirks" Adventure:

As with every new construction, one is expected to find some details that need to be corrected. We've had several "issues" to address, but here's my favorite so far.

After installing our washer and dryer, the plumber and I found out the hard way that the pipes didn't work: the patio got flooded when testing the machine. He checked the drain and it seemed fine so he said the problem was in the pipes below (which run on our downstairs neighbor's patio). I called the construction company and they promised the architect would come the next day.

After waiting all morning, instead of the architect we get the guy in charge of minor repairs who checks the drain and comes to the same conclusion my plumber had come to: "Oh, they need to send in a plumber!" No kidding!

Two days later the plumber comes, checks the drain, and, you guessed it, comes to the exact same conclusion: "This is in the pipes below. I need material, special tools and permission from the neighbor."

Finally the next day the pipes get fixed. Was it that hard, really?

The Closets Adventure:

This one has given me nightmares! Our condo, which is 500 square feet so it needs good storage solutions, comes without closets. They sell it to you as "that way you can get them in your personal style." I just think they're cheap!

So we needed nice closets in the two bedrooms and we also wanted to improve the storage in the kitchen and build a custom cabinet in the living room. We hired a very serious looking company and their architect was very nice and made a project we were excited about.

We had to wait 3 weeks to get it, but he said installation would take a day and then we'd be all set.

Last Thursday their secretary called to tell me they would come by first thing in the morning. After several phone calls complaining about the time, the workers finally showed up at 2PM! After an hour of unloading and filling every single square inch of the place with material and tools they got to work. There were only two guys working and 5 hours later they had started on both closets but were very far from finishing and had not even looked at the living room or kitchen.

Saturday they came back and worked the entire day, but were still not done.

Today they were supposed to come at 9AM and again got here at 2PM but SWORE they will be done today. We shall see!

I cannot describe how upset I am at this whole situation. In addition to how long this is taking them and how invasive it is (pretty much turning the whole place into a workshop, with no protections while drilling, cutting wood, painting...) I am still not convinced I like the results. They keep saying it will all look great in the end, but I am still waiting for the magical moment they're all promising.


All I really want is to have a nice orderly condo in which to chill... is that too much to ask?

The posse in the sun.

(To view the picture album click on the picture above)

On the last week of February some friends from Raleigh and Fort Collins came to visit us. Dave and Jay came to Mexico City a few days before to tour the town, then we drove to Acapulco, where we were met by Alison, George and Dave to spend a week at the Mayan Palace resort and do some R&R under the sun.

In Mexico City, we visited the Anthropology Museum, the historic downtown district, the National University Campus, the Dolores Olmedo Museum, the ancient canals of Xochimilco and the historic district of Coyoacán.We also did a day trip to the pyramids of Teotihuacán.

In the Acapulco area we took a boat tour around the Coyuca Lagoon (where Rambo II was shot), enjoyed the sunset at Pie de la Cuesta, spent an afternoon at the island of Roqueta, saw the famous Cliff Divers, visited the San Diego Fort and had fresh seafood by the beach at Puerto Marquez.

Of course we also took time to hang out by the beach and play in the surf, float along the resort's pool (which they advertise as one of the world's longest ones) and enjoy everyone's company.

One of the days boys and girls split up: the boys played golf in the resort's 18 holes course while the girls had a blissful day at the spa. It was heavenly!

As always, food was amazing and we made sure to sample lots of seafood and try a variety of places ranging from little shacks to internationally acclaimed restaurants. Here's a sample of some of the food we ate! (Click on the picture to see a larger version.)


Once again, we had an amazing vacation and were very happy to share it with our friends. Check out the trip's pictures!

A Church of Gold, then Char-Grilled Tacos

(To view our trip's album click on either of the pictures above.)

Early February our friends Rosy and Oded organized a bar-b-q in Tepotzotlán, Estado de México. Tony and I decided to leave early and visit the former Jesuite monastery, which houses now the National Museum of the Viceroyship. The site is really beautiful and the most impressive part of it is the Churrigueresque-style church of San Francisco Javier. This building absolutely breathtaking and is one of the few New Spanish XVIII century baroque churches which still preserves its original architecture, painting and sculpture. There's few places on earth where you are surrounded by that much gold!

After the museum we met our friends for lunch and had a blast. We ate tons of yummy food: arrachera tacos with molcajete salsa, cheese-stuffed peppers, veggie tacos... We also enjoyed the wonderful weather and had an amazing time. I can't believe this was our first bbq since we got here!!!!!

Check out our pictures from this fun day trip!

Birthday Celebration

(To view the picture album click on the picture above)

For Tony's birthday this year we couldn't break the tradition of eating his favorite dish: pizza. Family and friends joined us at 50 Friends, a hip neighborhood spot in Condesa known for the quality of its pies. We had some great food and company and Tony was very happy. For an extra special treat he had a chocolate soufflé in addition to the yummy Nutella fruit pizza we all shared.

From the restaurant we walked to the Malafama pool hall to shoot some pool and continue the laughs. It was tons of fun and a late night for a Tuesday!

Pictures of Mexican Food

I've always been obsessed with taking pictures of food. Everywhere I go, I snap before I eat. I literally have hundreds and hundreds of pictures of food. At some point, I though of making a picture diary of everything I ate, but then found out someone had already done it!

Yesterday I got a picture message from my friend's daughter, who's 6. She knows how much I like pictures of food and decided to photograph her chicken tacos and send me the pic. It made me think about all my pictures of food buried in my picture folders. I went back and really enjoyed finding some collages I had made of food from China and Australia.

Then I went through my Mexico folders and made the collage above, a small sampling of my food fetish: no, I haven't taken to eating carnitas, but I still enjoy photographing them!!!!! Also of notice is the candied rose petals cake my cousin had at her bridal shower, a real piece of art, and the candied carrots we saw at a market in Toluca.

If you click on the picture you can see it bigger to really "appreciate" each dish!

Bon Appetit!
iti

Oaxaca Escape

(To view our trip's album click on the picture above.)

Last December we had a wonderful trip in the state of Oaxaca. We visited tons of sites. At Santa María del Tule we paid a visit to the largest tree in the world (36.2m trunk circunference). At Hierbe el Agua, we saw the beautiful petrified waterfalls. We explored the zapotec ruins of Mitla and Monte Albán. Finally we shopped for local crafts at several markets in little towns and also hung out in Oaxaca city where we visited the amazing Santo Domingo complex.

We had a great stay and sampled lots of specialties of the amazing Oaxacan food. My favorite experiences were tasting six different mole varieties at Los Pacos and making our own chocolate mix at the mill of the Mayordomo chocolate company.

Check out our trip's pictures and see for yourselves...

Cyber-Iti having a blast!

I couldn't resist making this cool fun version of "me"! Too bad I'm sitting at my desk in front of the computer and not at a yoga studio right this moment!

Holidays NOT On Ice

December 2007 VS December 2008

(To view our trip's album click on either of the pictures above.)

This holiday season, Tony's mom and sisters came down to visit us and escape from Chicago's crazy weather. After spending one evening in DF having great food, courtesy of my dad, we drove down to Cocoyoc, where my mom's friend Olga had rented us a house for the week-end. We visited the nearby colonial towns of Tlayacapan and Tepoztlán and enjoyed the garden, the pool, the grill, etc... The Chicago Chicas really enjoyed leaving their coats and boots at home and hanging out by the pool in 80 degree (Farenheit) weather!

After Cocoyoc we spent two days in Taxco, where we had also rented a pretty colonial house. The town's incredibly steep and narrow cobbled streets and crazy drivers proved somewhat of a challenge, but the allure of the town and its infinite amount of silver shops made it all worth it!

We returned to DF tired but happy to enjoy two days of parties: first for Michelle's birthday, then for New Year's Eve. Michelle, my dad and some assistants (my uncle Dany, cousin Galia and I) prepared a monumental paella for the whole family on that day.

A weird stomach flu attacked Tony and his three sisters at the end of the trip, which was a real bummer, but overall we all keep great memories of this warm weather holiday trip.

Latest news say the weather is awful in most of the US... you could be here instead, sipping a cold beverage by the pool, and enjoying our company! Check out our pictures if you're still not convinced...