The Day Where the Lights were much too Bright!

Saturday, was the day after the wedding. I woke up around 8:30. The plan was that we would get up early, go to the Hot Springs outside of the city, and then go to the Pyramids, before going to visit Rae and Bill at their home. All of the family and most of the close friends were going to meet there so that Bill and Rae could show us Aurora, the art studios.

So I crawled out of bed and went downstairs to get breakfast. By this time I was sick of eggs so I had Tostada Francis (French Toast). It was very delicious!

I was nearly finished eating when Jim and Karen came downstairs. We went over the previous night and complained that the other three weren’t up yet!

Caitlin and Bre came down next. Caitlin was fine, but Briana came down with dark sunglasses on and she said, “It’s so bright in here.” It actually wasn’t very bright in there. The poor thing. We all laughed at her.

Melissa came downstairs next and asked us what the plan was. Oh Mom.

After everyone had breakfast, we gathered up our bathing suits and Luis called two taxis for us. It was then that we found out that the pyramids were on the opposite side of the city than the springs. So sad.

The hot springs had some pros and cons. The pros were that the place was beautiful, and the hot water really soothed my muscles! Too much dancing! The cons was that it was crowded in the pools, the pools were modern and not much different then the pools in our backyards at home, and there were way too many young children! Then there was ‘the cave’ a doom of rocks on top of a pool at the hot springs. The enclosed area made for extra warm hot springs, but the acoustics in the cave were poor.

When we first arrived it took us a while to figure out where the changing rooms were and where the locker rooms were. We spent a long time walking around. Caitlin and Bre did not appreciate this. Eventually we were successful!

After about two hours we had enough! I probably would have stayed longer, but I thought there was still a chance that we could see the pyramids.

Pictures at the Hot Springs. Oh Hangovers! 

After the hot springs we went back to San Miguel. We did a little recouping at lunch and we got ready to go to Rae and Bill's. My sister and mom were taking an extra long time to get ready so the rest of us left without them! Karen, Jim and I had taken the cab to Rae's house to drop of Carrie the night before. So Karen and I remembered that the gate was black, but I also remembered something about a red color, which turned out to be the color of the house. It was very easy to get to her house. We took the same street that the plaza is on and walked in the opposite direction. It is only a few blocks away. It took longer, because we didn't want to walk past the house.

When we arrived there were some people already there, but not too many so we gave ourselves a tour. The house is very cute, they also have a maid and gardener come during the week, lucky!

While there so many people asked how Briana was feeling, because of the prior night. Not good of course! I made her drink half of a monster in hopes that it would help. I had fresca minus the tequila! I wanted to look like I was drinking, but I didn't want to drink. The house was starting to get crowded so we sat in the backyard. It was so pretty and nice out that I wanted to be out there anyway. With all of the people coming into the house it was starting to get hot.

Below are two pictures of the yard.

After about thirty minutes, I started wondering out loud if Caitlin and Melissa were lost. They knew less about where the house was than we had. Directions aren't Melissa's strong suite! So we took turns checking the street for them. Eventually, Carrie wrangled them up. Then it wasn't long before the rest of the guests arrived. There was a moment when a cab was going to be called for some of the people that have trouble walking, but a few of the visitors had cars and were happy to bring those people.

 

Aurora was not far from the house maybe another few blocks. Carrie told me that the Aurora Factories, used to be the place that people made Muslim blankets and shawls, but the business fell when China started mass producing them for much cheaper. So now that factories were an art gallery. They still had some of the old weaving looms from before though.

 

I really liked all of the art. I was one of the first to arrive so I got to look at a bunch of the galleries as well as Rae and Bill's. I wish I had enough patience to be a great artist. I sometimes get an interest to paint or draw, but it doesn't last too long. About as long as it takes me to draw one piece, that isn't nearly enough practice to be great at it! 

 

Karen took a picture of me in a red phone booth! And she really liked a few of the paintings, but Jim said they didn't have any green, so they didn't buy any. 

 

After a while, I took Briana to sit outside at this little cafe, because it was hot in the galleries and I was a little depressed that I couldn't afford any of the paintings! We chatted a bit. Then, we decided we wanted some ice cream, but we didn't have any cash and they didn't take cards. So we went inside, to get that and Caitlin came back outside with us. We attempted to order our food in Spanish. Caitlin and I got smoothies and Briana got chocolate ice cream. I think it was the only part of the day that she wasn't extremely exhausted from the night before. 

 

Right when we brought the smoothies and ice cream, we found out that we were going to a ranch/hotel outside the city called Avers for dinner. Well shoot. Most of the people got put in a van for the ride there, but we took two taxis, we shared them with Bill, Lucas and Darren.

 

Here is some pictures at Aurora the first is a picture of clouds that Karen said she thought were really pretty. I took a picture of them, because she will probably want to remember them later. 

The Birds was very pretty. It reminded Caitlin and I a little of New Hampshire. Basically anything that is green with big trees and a lake or pond will remind me a little of New Hampshire. We were of a mixed group. Some of us didn't want too stay long because they were exhausted, some wanted to spend their last night eating jicama tacos, the rest of us didn't really care what we did. I was one of the latter. 

 

There was about 50 people all at table on a doc near the pond. The seven of us, including Carrie, were mostly on one end. Darren and Lucas, are taxi buddies, were also sitting near us. William's cousin was sitting beside Melissa. I'm not sure all of the people sitting next to Karen and Carrie however. I had two glasses of wine and ate ten quesadilla tapas! 

 

The night was fun. We ended up staying the entire dinner, even though the power went off, and it rained for a bit. Jim, Darren and Lucas were having an interesting discussion about physics and art! I tried to follow, but I was also listening to my Mom and Bill's cousin talk about what time we needed to get to the airport and about my Dad's health!

 

After dinner, we all returned to San Miguel in our cabs! We still had two bottles of wine from earlier in the trip and because it was our last night we decided to drink them. We were going to sit on the roof but it was too cold. So we sat in the common area. That was fun too. It was a good to talk and sit with everyone. We recanted the night before, and had a nice time. When the wine was gone Caitlin and Melissa went out to get those jicama tacos. 

 

I was full from the quesadillas and wine so I went and packed up what I could, and I got ready for bed. I was sad that we were leaving the next day, but the vacation was great, filled with adventure, humor, chaos and family! 

 

I don't think I will recant the trip back to Phoenix. However, Briana, Karen, Jim and Carrie stayed in San Miguel and extra day. I will try to interview them about what happened so that I can write a post about that.

 

Other than that, I think that the next post I will copy my grandfather's log. I also received a journal from his father, my great grandfather Ernest, of his trip through South America. I think I will see about adding those logs as well. In Ernest's journals I saw a few lists of his tour around South America. I think one day I would like to follow in that path on my our tour! 

 

My next trip is to New York and New Hampshire for an Emery Family Reunion, not the official one in Canada, just the immediate family one. I want to blog that, but it could prove to be tricky! After that I am going on a Mexican Cruise with three of my girlfriends. I don't know about the wifi, but I will keep a hard log of that to post after.