Boom

Every morning I wake up to explosions. No kidding. I get up at five or so, get the coffee going, and than do some stretches in front of the T.V. By the time the coffee begins gurgling I hear a series of loud bangs, then silence. Within minutes, more bangs. During my first weeks in town I would shuffle over to the back room (the wash room;where the hired help does the laundry -see Ink`s site) and look out between the bars of the window towards the mountains north of town. Nothing. I´d go back to my stretches only to hear more banging within minutes.
Of course, when I ´d ask people what all the racket was they´d look at me like I was one tomale short of a docena. No one seems to hear what I hear, not even my ladies; they just sleep through the noise. Well it turns out, upon talking to an old timer here, the noise comes from explosions at the Copalquin mining operation in the Cerro de Mercado mountain just two miles north of town. Copalquin, by the way, is a Canadian owned mining company. Another aside: it was recently reported that Canada has the worst environmental record of all developed countries in the world. A bonus aside: hockey isn´t played in Mexico. But that is neither here nor there. Point is, I wasn´t hearing things. Or I was. You know what I mean.

Same thing with the blasted trains. I´d hear the whistle blowing as I rose up early in the morn, often and loud, but everyone claimed that trains don´t run through Durango anymore. In fact, I good friend, while driving me through town, insisted that I quit insisting that I heard trains going through town. Minutes after she said that, traffic stopped. For a train.

Gotta go see a man about a horse,

Pepino "!Oiga eso!" Suave

P.S. Click on "Boom" above to learn more about the Canadian company that explodes stuff in the mountains just a couple miles north of here.

El Jardìn

Late afternoon, the nieghborhood jardín is full of activity: kids horsing around, young ladies rehearsing dance steps, young men posing, and older folks sitting on the benches. Here we have a few neighborhood children letting loose after a day of school and the mid-day comida.
El Jardinero, P.S.

Trabajos Estudiantiles

Here is a sample of work from a couple of my students. They collaborated on the story at left (click to enlarge) using structures we have worked on this fall. Above is the creative way the girls chose to present the story. Most the kids presented their stories in the form of dramatic plays. These girls created a puppet theatre. The picture above shows the grandma, her home and bird. Not pictured is the cage; it was a neat prop that didn´t get photographed (I ran out of battery).

Desde el salòn,

Prof. Suave

La Changa

Llegamos. Early return due to Talea´s re-accuring bout with the turistas. I knew she wasn´t herself when she looked at the Cero de Bufa like it was a plate of cold brussel sprouts.
Talea is part monkey. She scales anything. She managed to figure out that she can shim up the doorway to our family room. She climbs me like a jungle gym. So when she looked at the Bufa without the jaw-dropping, eye-widening, "conquer!" attitude expected from Talea of the Apes, we knew we´d better get back to town and get some Tylenol. After breakfast this morning we took the first Omnibus back to Durango.
Zacatecas is like the product of a marriage between rugged Durango and beautiful, curvy San Francisco. I had my best cup of instant coffee there. I don´t know if it was so much the coffee as the teeth-chattering cold making even a warm cup of powdered coffee taste great. Like Durango, and San Miguel, and most of the towns along this cordillera, Zacatecas is a defunct mining town. It lingers on by peddling light tourism, light industry, and by the incredible resourcefulness of the locals, who we find tranquil, hardworking, and extremely polite.

Say Zacatecas 30 times real fast,

Pepino "Usted parece a Clint Eastwood, sabe?" Suave

Zacatecas Ilustrado

These are few glimpses of our day. See the young lady taking a break on the Cero de la Bufa? How ´bout that gorgeous lass walking down the callejón? The señor with the mule is a common sight in these parts; he is selling aguamiel, a popular drink made from the pulp of a type of cactus; said to be a healing tonic. I also have some shots of merchandise and merchants.
Pardon the format. I am techno-impaired.

Órale, Pepino Atrasado

El Gracioso

Israel is a smart aleck. He chose to sport his Union Jack jacket on our Thanksgiving Day, of all days. He wore a chesire grin all class long. Great timing, Israel. We won our (only) revolution..

Para la patria,

Pepino Rojo, Blanco, y Azul

Zacatecas

Don`t come knocking, `cause we`re not home. Ingrid, Talea, and I left for Zacatecas Friday afternoon. We left Durango, Durango at 3:30 pm on the Omnibus line and arrived in Zacatecas, Zacatecas at 8:30 pm. This is our last journey before the girls head home in two weeks. Although we have not traveled much in our months here, we have had the opportunity to visit Mexico city, San Miguel de Allende, and now Zacatecas.
Like Durango, Zacatecas is the capital of a state with the same name. And like Durango, it is an old mining town, established years ago by folks seeking their fortunes in silver and other metals found in the mountains in this region.
We`ll fill you in upon return. Be back Sunday night.

Mineralmente,

Pepino Viajero

Día de Acción de Gracias

Thanksgiving in Mexico was almost as good as at home, thanks to Ingrid. She roasted a 30kg turkey to perfection, whipped up potatoes creamier than butter, and cut a store-bought apple pie like a surgeon. Juan Daniel and his mom Elsa brought a great bottle of (German) wine and helped us devour the feast.

As I arrived to our apartment, I could smell the bounty from the elevator. Talea met me at the door excited and hungry. She and I went around the block to el supermercado Gigante to buy last minute groceries for the cook. Juan Daniel and Mom arrived within minutes of our return. After eating the bird and trimmings, we lounged around the sala watching football (American) and chatting about our experiences here.

Thursday and Friday are work days here. No holiday for these pilgrims. We spent a good part of the day and evening explaining to students and friends what Thanksgiving means to us and how the celebration began. As much as the Mexicans enjoy an incredible amount of holidays throughout the year, our Thanksgiving is truly unique and hard to compare to a Mexican equivalent.

Satisfecho,

Pepino Barrigón

San Miguel de Allende Scenes

Here are a few shots of San Miguel de Allende and environs. The parroquia, or cathedral, was taken from a high spot a mile or so south of town just before dusk. It is the symbol of San Miguel de Allende. You´ll get an idea of San Miguel´s cobble stone streets. I´m also including a sample of the Sierra between the towns of San Miguel de Allende and St. Louis de Potosi. I´ll try to fit in a picture of the bullfighting arena and a sample of some of the beautiful patios in a future entry. These three pictures will hopefully give you a tast of what we experienced.

Desde Nueva España,
Pepino Peligrino

El Mapa Antes y Despuès

Mapa Mundi

The map project has finally ended. After a couple of weeks of work, and a ton of help from the Deltoso family, Michelle "Meeker" Manion, Talea, and her schoolmates, La Escuela Guadalupe Revilla has it´s very own 4 meter by 8 meter map of the world. Ingrid will write in more detail about the project on her blogsite. In the meantime, I have included "before" and "after" pictures above.
Pictured in this entry are school children/map makers standing in front of their finished project. The map is painted onto the east wall of the playground patio. The map is framed by thumb prints of each child in the school.
In the next entry fortunate Pepino followers have a tantalizing view of a bodacious Mrs. Pepino gridding the map in preparation for tracing, then painting. If you can take your eyes from my wife for a moment you´ll see the gang of Deltoso´s, Meeker, Talea, and schoolmates painting the world. It was an international effort to be enjoyed by Durango students for years to come.

Globalmente,

Pepino Chiflado

Al Volver

I´m home (in Durango). I left Big Talea, Medium Ingrid, Travel-size Caroline, and Little Talea in San Miguel´s opulent Quinto Loreto Hotel at 11:00 a.m. and arrived in Durango in the wee hours of this morning (1:30 a.m.). I changed busses in Queréto. Lucky move, as Querétero´s bus depot is bigger and newer than Leon´s, where we stopped on are way into San Miguel.
I sat on a couch, sipped a cold libation, and watched a soap opera while waiting the hour or so to catch the bus to Durango. This trip I was able to see a lot in daylight. Nothing more beautiful than crossing the Sierra Madre at sunset. The mountains to the east were on fire. As it was a national holiday (the revolution began on November 20, 1910) I saw a lot of small town celebrations along the road. The most impressive sight was watching cowboys gallop in from the foothills, apparently racing each other through the semi-desert brush.
Apparently the cold isn´t a regional thing. Getting off the bus I could see my breath, just like in San Miguel. Winter is here in the North Central, too. I wore a jacket to school today.
The girls will bus it in all night tonight. They should arrive in Durango by sun-up.
Nap time. Ol´Pepinos can´t take sleep deprivation like the little gurkens can.

Con sueño,
Pepino Dormilón

Is Anyone Out There?

Folks, have you any question, concerns, or problems that you need addressed on the Pepino Suave Blog of Love and Loss? Any queries regarding the Pepino Mexico experience that aren´t being treated yet? Please write, as lovely Ingrid doubts that anyone is reading this enchanting log of Pepino prose. Let´s prove her wrong.

Averiguando,

Pepino de Allende

San Miguel de Allende

It is cold. Sorry to offend our Michigan fan base (Aunt Nina tells us ya´ll got some six inches of snow the other day) but we are chilln´here in Mexico´s north-central. We arrived this morning after twelve hours and two buses of over-night traveling. Talea barfed just five minutes out of San Miguel de Allende. Got it all in her plastic bag. She is a great road warrior, that gal. Said she felt much better and moved on to the next adventure (a taxi into town).

We spent part of this evening with Aunt Talea and Carolina sipping vampiros and palomas and being seranaded by mariachis in the town plaza. Big Talea and Carolina are in town for a wedding. We are in town to visit them (see my previous entry, slackers). Little Talea is in heaven walking around town with her big cousin Caroline. They dashed off to the central plaza tonight to join local kids singing and generally being rowdy. The rest of the evening we spent looking for extra wraps. We are dressed for Durango desert weather. It is cold, need I repeat.

San Miguel in a few words: Mexico´s gift shop. Mean demographic: Middle aged expat Americans. End of story. Read the tour guide.
Going horse back riding tomorrow.

Hace frio,

Pepino Helado

PS A band across the street in a bar called¨Joe´s" is playing a cover of Stevie Wonder´s "Superstition". A group of Mariachi´s on the corner are singing "Llora". Culture clash.

Mis Zapatos

I like my shoes. I baby them. My two pair of school shoes, one black, the other brown, get a buff and/or shine every week. Even though there is a shoe shine man every 200 meters, I shine ém myself. It is an obsesion of mine.
Thing is, down here my dogs take quite a beating. I walk everywhere. The soles of my black pair had been worn almost right through. Ingrid took them to the shoe repair man across the street from our Oxxo yesterday. He had new soles put on for under ten bucks. I´m walking on sunshine.
That is all the news to report. Slow news day. In fact, besides my shoes, the most exciting thing today was eating lunch. Durango is a very quiet town.
The Pepino tribe is hitting the road tonight. We´ll be in San Miguel de Allende by sun up. Look for an entry or two from the road. Nos vemos.

Ándale,

Pepino Andaliego

Talea´s Gallery

Today I am including a picture from Talea´s portfolio. She took this picture of her parents at Xochimilco, a popular tourist destination and a trial lawyer´s dream near the capital (If you would like to read more about Xochimilco see my spellbinding October 7 entry). In the foreground are Talea´s headless parents and a headless bystander. In the background are the rafts we hired to float around a marshy canal.

La Vaquerita

Here is a picture of a young vaquerita. She posed for a picture during the Independence Day parade in September (you may read, or reread in the case of the countless Pepino oficionados, my titilating September 16th Independence Day entry by using the icons under archives to your right).
It rained yesterday. There was one thunder clap (trueno, Inky) followed by fifteen minutes of what Michiganders call ¨"spitting". `Twas the first ran in weeks. Raised the eyebrows of most locals, but made Ingrid have a sort of religious experience. In public. See Inky´s blog today for her heart-wrenching, thought provoking report on Durango´s weather. Share it with friends.

An Inky oficiondado,

Pepino Mojado

Teotihuacan Revisited

This picture is from our trip to Mexico City back in early October (see the often discussed, debated, and admired October 10, 2005 entry). It is a picture of the Sun pyramid at the Teotihuacan ruins, just north of the capital. Notice the native girl in the foreground.
Pardon the tiny duplicate included to the left of the picture. I´m still on a very broad learning curve. That said, I owe a thanks to the Detroit Public Schools Special Education Department, my alma mater.

Despacio,

Pepino Lento

Holy Frijoles

• No picture today. I´m going crazy with this new capability, but it does take awhile to download my pix. Let´s take a break for a day.
• Ingrid is down with the flu. She was in bed all day yesterday, but is feeling better today. Talea still has the remnants of her cold; a slight cough that kicks in once she is sleeping. Other than that we are fine, but missing our Deltoso cohorts of last week. It is booooooring!
• Tomorrow there are no scheduled classes at my school. A large part of the staff will be in a training session, and the rest of us will be testing a group of students who are attempting to qualify for a national mathematics competition. Yippy-skippy.
• Last week we discovered that Talea scored better than average on the standardized tests at her school. Figure that out. No bilingual support, just weeks in country; she´s got her mom´s brains.
• Friday the Pepino clan is hopping a bus to San Miguel de Allende, where we will meet Ingrid´s sister and our niece. Big Aunt Talea and her daughter, Caroline, are attending the wedding of a friend and we are taking the apportunity to see them. SMA is a great town that I visited about 12 years ago while wondering around the states of Guanajuato and Querétero. The town is a magnet for artisans and still has a colonial look to it. It is the only place in my travels south of the border where I have been asked if I was from there. Lots of expat gringos reside in and around SMA.
• Election year is in high gear. Mexican politics are no different than anywhere else. Today´s headline claims they´ve got a key PRI official on videotape taking a one-million dollar (U.S.) bribe in a D.F. hotel room. Hanky-panky.
• The paper also reports that this year´s dry spell has wiped out the bean crop, one of the principle harvests in this region. The article notes that this will most likely increase emmigration to the States.
• Yesterday, Talea and I went to the neighborhood park with her school pals. First, they played with a wayward shopping cart from the Gigante. Next, they climbed a tree. Then they crunched empty pop cans under their feet and clomped around like horses. Finally, a group of older girls were dancing to a radio they had brought with them, and Talea and Rosio, her pal, tired of the monkey games and joined in the dancing. They laughed so hard they kept falling down. Yes, I took pictures.

Frijól Sagrado,

Pepinato

La Sierra

This is a view of the sierra near the Victoria dam, a twenty minute drive south of Durango.