Mi Cuñada

Despite the recent flu scare, my sister-in-law Emily "braved" the elements and is here visiting from New York for the week. Though we have not actually been wearing masks here, it was fun to pose with Madero above.


We spent part of our time on the coast back in San Blas, one of Josh and my favorite beach destinations thus far. The beach is lengthy and the sand is white and fine. It is also shallow for quite some distance, and this in turn makes for 'sweet' body surfing. We used kick boards to help propel us around 75 yards at times. We even made an attempt to get surfing lessons, but the instructor told us the waves just weren't right at that moment.
On our second evening we drove down the coast to revisit San Francisco, a town that Josh and I went to with my parents back in March. We were determined to eat at one of the best restaurants we have eaten at in Mexico, La Ola Rica. Before dinner we walked down by the beach and watched the surfers for a while.

Los Surfistas from Melissa Warp on Vimeo.

During our drive back to Guadalajara we were stopped at a roadside inspection where they inquired whether we were sick, and where we were coming from and going to. We dared not mention the "F" word (it's the "I" word for Influenza if you speak español). We also stopped over in a little town called Magdalena to look at opals, and hit the town of Tequila to buy some agave syrup. The drive into and away from Tequila is something to be seen, comparable to driving through rolling vineyards or orchards. The agave plants seems to dot every hillside in that region and have a blue glow when seen in vast numbers.

It is hot, hot here in Guadalajara now. Tonight it rained for the first time in months and it felt cool and wonderful. We spent a good portion of the day indoors taking care of computer work... then later in the day we ventured to Tlaquepaque, a town that has become merged with Guadalajara and is known for its pretty central plaza and stores selling locally made ceramics, weavings, tin ornaments, beaded jewelry and more. Josh and I were giddy about purchasing a quilt made in Guatamala, something we saw when we first arrived here and finally decided to buy. We also purchased a mirror decorated with tiles portraying luchadores (infamous lucha libre fighters) that I wish I could show, but is packaged for travel. I hate to disrupt it.
This evening we are wrapping up a relaxing week with a home-cooked dinner as Emily is cooking chicken with Indian spices. We have enjoyed our time with her and will probably go through some withdrawl after she leaves, as she is our last guest after a series of weeks with visitors.