Getting into the Groove

I thought this would be a good lead-in photo for today. These are wall hangings that we bought (and lost for about 45 minutes) a week ago. They popped out of my bike basket when I hit a pothole (a blog posting focused on Mexican street and sidewalk hazards soon to come) and we did not realize it until we made it to our place. Miraculously, we retraced our route and found them... sigh.

This morning Josh went to film a family that works on one of the main arteries through Guadalajara: Calle Federalismo. The husband, wife, and their niece clean car windshields while the two-year-old plays in the median and the 9-month-old sits in the stroller. They do this seven days a week, primarily so that they can make enough to pay for their lodging in a pay-by-the-day apartment.

I spent the morning working on beginning designs for the Cerro Del Cuatro artisan group and then had the opportunity to visit the same run-down bike shop as Josh when I flatted a bike tire on my way to class. I paid $1.50 to have a tire patched (which had already been patched 3 times). Normally I would have objected and suggested something different, but I haven't worked up very good Spanish bike terminology as of yet. So I politely waited in the midst of piles of tires and tools and trash, while a dirty poodle rubbed up against my leg. The owner of the shop remarked over and over about my old (probably crappy) bicycle. About 6 hours later (after attending class and CODENI), when I went to ride my bike back home, the tire was flat again. So I left my poor bike locked up downtown.