April 2015

To end my winter trip I stopped off in New York City, to visit with my brother, parents and meet Robin! Greg's delightful girlfriend Robin's business, has a corporate apartment for us to stay in right across the street from Carnagie hall and the Russian Tea room. We couldn't ask fo a nicer location. Only one block from Central Park. What a fantastic time was had with almost the complete family; missing was David! It is a rarity for us to be two siblings with both parents at the same time. My father has come to life in NY and has really enjoyed seeing all that Greg and Robin have on offer. Two Broadway shows; a hockey game where the Sens won against the New York Rangers and numerous famous restaurants! I wasn't there for that but have partaken in on of the two shows: Book of Mormon! hilarious show. I was surprised at how many shows I have seen when I started crossing them off in the Playbill! I am so happy to have spent this time together!

Before leaving the big apple I managed to share a lovely tea with my Mom at the Russian Tea Room; it was across the street from our apt. I was going from NY to Toronto with my mom to visit my cousin Lillian who is dying from melanoma and liver cancer! As per her request I picked up some pastrami (close second to Montreal smoked meat) at the famous Carnegie Deli around the corner from our apt.........! Everything is close to this lovely place.

I will return soon with Dara to NY so we can partake in so much more that NYC has to offer.

Here are some photos that would be familiar to so many people

Going to see the 911 memory's al museum was quite something's note! Not for the faint at heart!`

From there we had a lovely Jewish meal at the famous Sammy's steak house

A walk on my own through Central Park was a delight

Then some more views as I walked the street of Manhattan!

And last but not least afternoon tea at the Russian Tea Room

After a 7 hr bus ride from Oaxaca We were met at the bus station by Jorge senior and his daughter Martha, and off we went to their home in Tecamachalco just outside the Districto Federal of Mexico. Once we settled our thing in our massive bedroom we went off to a place for dinner of tacos nearby.; and they were delicious. I can never eat too many tacos; I had the filet of beef and an order of fried cheese was shared by most! It was a pleasant surprise as I had not eaten any in such a long time. Poor Martita is following a liquid diet and could only watch us eat!

I Decided to just post a bunch of photos of Mexico City taken over the few days, and you can see for yourself what an incredible city this is. I really enjoyed taking the Touribus for two days seeing Mexico City almost like it was the first time with Alexis along for the ride! I would like to return and spend more time exploring certain areas such as Coyoacan and Condesa/Roma neighbourhoods. Why not rent a place for two weeks at Easter next year! Let's see what Dara thinks!

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for the next place San Miguel De Allende to follow in 5 days.

Our bus took off right on time at 9pm. It was not quite as long only 1130 hrs
This will do just fine for five days. After a well needed shower we were off to explore.

This town is full of artesian markets and churches on every corner

We were getting a bit tired and cranky so we found a place to have a beer and take a load off. We came upon this gentleman from Wisconsin who was not your typical american. He was wearing a Zapatista shirt and had a bag with the ELVN movement. He is so very anti government but in a nice enough way that we struck up a nice chat.

By this time we were rested and so headed back to eat dinner on the square of quesadillas with flor de calabash; it was delicious. We wandered a bit more and stumbled upon this great market set up just for the Semana Santa. Each vendor has its region on the top of their stall. Some very interesting artisans.

Our outing days started off by taking a colectivo taxi to the Tule tree but didn't go inside to see it as up close isn't where you can take photos

Once we had our fill of the 2000 year old tree we headed to Mitla. What a huge disappointment that was. I wish I had a better memory so I could have remembered it was a waste.

To my delight my favorite tree is in bloom all over Mexico; the jacaranda

Off we went in a taxi to where I did know I liked Teotitlan del Valle. We had our taxi drop us off at the 'seda' workshop where we met up with the owners that we met at the special exhibition the night before. How impressive was this place!

They showed us various natural dying plants the only one we knew was the cocinilla which we purchased some from them

We came across this beautiful blouse his mother in law had one first prize for her work and I wanted to be sure to show it here

Once we had taken up enough of their time we started walking back to town whereby we stumbled upon a little creperie called Drupa's Cafe . What a delight it was we shared a ham and cheese and then a banana chocolate one. Can't find my photo!

We continued on our journey into town and wished we could have used the burros to carry us along

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We kept checking out e few places here and there but after the market we came upon one shop that had drawn us in.

They had a few carpets we liked but then they had the son and his wife come and show us some of their works of art. I had not seen too many all done in natural dyes but they were out of our price range and so they took us up the road to their home where we were shown all kinds of pieces and I felt compelled to buy them. We also bought a skein of yarn that was dyed almost black from believe it or not the pomegranate skins. Who would have thought you would get such an intense dark colour from something so red.

We headed home as it had been 5 hrs since we got there and took a bus back for only 10 pesos. After it had cost us 85 to get there! Lesson learned and to spread Mitla is not worth the drive and cost to get there.

The next day was another adventure to Monte Alban. We called the tour company and said we wanted the 9:30 trip and were arriving soon. We paid our money 60 pesos each and waited to be told to go. There had been a miscommunication and the bus had left without us. We were not happy as it was a hot day and leaving an hour later would mean more time in the heat of the day. They graciously returned our money even though it said non refundable but before we walked off they offered us a free ride int the next one so we decided not to pass up on this deal and off we went. Well it is hard to believe that I can't remember such a spectacular place. It compares to Uxmal or Ek-balaam. After three hours we headed back to where you catch the bus. This was not quite as well organized as it could have been but we managed to get back.

A day exploring Oaxaca city again checking out areas we had not been to before. I posted photos on FB of that.

For lunch we tried this Oaxaca pizza called tlayudas. in the market

After a bit of a rest we wandered back to our usual area we like and came upon the processions of good Friday. Being in a very catholic country it is interesting to see these and what struck me were the klu klux klan

Processions in Spanish speaking countries is quite something. Some of the people participating in procession wear the nazareno or the penitential robe. It has several parts – a tunic, „capriote“ (a conical shaped hood) used to hide the face of person wearing the nazareno. Sometimes person also wears a cloak too. The nazareno robe is of medieval origin.

We headed off before the end to eat our dinner at Los Pacos to try the mole they serve a sample dish of six different kinds. We share the plate and it was plenty for our tiny appetites

Another day of wandering the streets of Oaxaca making sure we had done all we wanted and picked up a few things to bring to our hosts in Mexico City. Went back to the Equinque for the special ribs only to find that there were none because the butcher was closed for holiday. We chose to have what we had seen previously to be very good, a hamburger. They were probably up there with the best ones I have ever eaten.

Sunday we headed out to the bus to Mexico City. This was not the Platino bit there was no need for one as this was only to be 6:30 hrs but since we chose to travel on Easter Sunday it was surely going to take much longer with the traffic returning to the big city. The bus driver took a different route to try and help and we only took an extra

We were picked up by Jorge senior and his daughter Martha. And off we went to their home in Tecamachalco just outside the Districto Federal of Mexico. Once we settled our thing in our massive bedroom we went off to a place for dinner of tacos nearby.