My dad and Shishoni breaking trail.
The dogs definitely enjoyed themselves despite having snow frozen faces, snow clumps in their paws, and Endo getting a small cut on his leg by the edge of a ski (a regular occurrence when backcountry skiing with the dogs).
After eating a yummy breakfast and opening presents my mom, dad, and I headed out for a cross country ski. It was beautiful.
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas too!
My mom and I decorated the Christmas tree tonight.
Endo was spotted trying out for the role of Max, the dog in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, on Broadway. The only problem is that after 10 seconds, Endo prefers to tear the antlers to pieces rather than wear them. Needless to say, he won't be appearing in any Broadway shows in his life time.
Most of us are familiar with a "yard" of beer from our spring break days as teenagers in Cancun. These guys decided to use the "yard" to celebrate the end of the year. In the picture are Edgar (a graduate student of Michel's who will defend his PhD on January 9th), Wolfgang (Michel's postdoc), and Michel.
This is my new dining room table. I purchased it at the Tlalpan furniture market where I also bought my bed frames. These handmade pieces are going to have find their way back to Colorado after my two years here because they are very beautiful and well made.
Here is a view of the living/dining room. The large door to the right is the main entrance. There are a few final touches that need to be done, like artwork on the walls, but all the major furniture pieces have been bought. I love having my own home and of course visitors are always welcome!
The mayor of Mexico City put an ice skating rink in the Zocalo for the first time ever for the holiday season. It is free to go skating but you have to arrive very early in the day to receive a time slot in which you are allowed to be on the ice. We found this out the hard way and were not able to skate. I guess this is expected in a city of 22 million.
But just walking around the Zocalo was enjoyable. The roads downtown were closed and the streets were packed with people just enjoying the season. The Zocalo is definitely in the Christmas spirit!
Here is a picture of the outside of my apartment. The first floor has a carport, a laundry room, and the room with the window is a maid's room. I don't have a full time maid so this room is referred to as my bicis room. The second floor has an open living room/dining room, a large kitchen, and a full bath. The third floor has two bedrooms and another full bath. The roof has an amazing roof garden which will require lost of plants, outdoor furniture, a grill, etc. It will be my after Christmas vacation project.
Today my platform bed frames arrived. They are beautiful handmade beds. This is a picture of my bedroom.
This is the staircase. It is very beautiful but it is not so friendly on bare feet and Endo doesn't like it either. I think it hurts his feet as well and he can see all the way to the bottom of the stairs, which I think freaks him out. He is getting used to them though and I am remembering to always either have slippers or shoes on when attempting the stairs.
On Sunday I turned the big 30 and Federico's birthday was on the 3rd. We decided to celebrate with a nice dinner at the Hacienda de Cortes in Coyoacan. Here is Anna, Federico, Tony, and Celine.
On Sunday I headed to the far north side of Mexico City. It was a rather clear day and in the background of the city you can see Paso de Cortes along with Ixta and Popo. Although this view is pretty amazing, I much prefer the view of Popo up close.
Speaking of visitors, Luke and Nichole stayed with me in route to Oaxaca, Mexico. It was great to see some familiar faces and show them my neighborhood. Here they are in Plaza Santa Catarina.
Here is Carolina, Wolfgang, and Ivan eating some grub before we attempted our mountain bike ride.
Here is a picture of Popo later in the day after it spewed ash. You can still see the smoke though.
Last night I went to see a The Philarmonic Orchestra of the Americas. The orchestra was founded in 2004 by its director, Alondra de la Parra who is a Mexican. By the reaction of the crowd, she is very popular in Mexico. The last piece they did was Inguesu, which was written by the Mexican composer Enrico Chapela. The piece was inspired by 1999 soccer game Mexico vs. Brazil. So Alondra wore a referee's jersey and part of the orchestra was in Mexican jerseys and part of the orchestra was in Brazilian jerseys. It was a very entertaining piece and the audience seemed to truly enjoy it since soccer is a large part of their culture.
My grandpa, Henry Clay Townsend III, passed away last night at the age of 91. This is a picture of us taken in May. I would often visit my Grandpa while on bike rides and every time I showed up at his house, he would comment on my "costume". He would say, "The Rio Grande, what is that?" I would answer "A Mexican restaurant in Boulder." He would say, "The only Rio Grande I know is the river," or he would relate it to his life long passion, trains. You have to love the guy.
The NY Times had an article about the release of old school Sesame Street on DVD. If you go to the Sesame Street web page you can watch some clips from the DVD. It is very entertaining.
On Saturday I went with Lenny, another gringo, to go mountain biking at Las Llantas which is a park about 45 minutes outside the city. There is some nice single track and some great dirt roads for climbing that bring you to some beautiful alpine meadows.
The beautiful Mexico City is behind me, although you can barely see it through the very thick pollution layer. You don't realize how polluted the city is until you are above the pollution layer.
I took Endo with us and he kept up with us for 3 hours straight, even on the descents. It was impressive. During the ride Endo got covered in these small sticky balls that would not come out of his fur. I had to give him a bath, which he hates. I got all the sticky balls out and then left Endo to dry off while I went to a friend's house. When I got back my poor dog was shivering to death. I felt so badly. His body couldn't get warm after the 3 hours of running. He has now recovered and I learned that although Endo hates the blow dryer, next time I will use it.
On Sunday I went to el Centro Historico with Federico and Anna to El Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso. This is an extremely old high school with a rich history in Mexico that is now a museum. The exhibit currently on display is the photography of Rene Burri.
In addition to the exhibits, the walls and ceilings of the school are covered in murals painted in the early 1900's by Jose Clemente Orozco and Fernando Leal.
Today, I went to a park just outside of the city called Los Dinamos. I went with Wolfgang, Sarai, and Endo to do a little rock climbing.
It was Sarai's first time rock climbing and she did great!
This church is called La Conchita, which means the little shell. It was constructed in 1521 by order of Cortes. Some believe that it is the oldest Christian building in the city. I pass by this church every morning on my walk/run and on my way to work.
The Jardin Frida Khalo is right across the street from La Conchita. The park is dedicated to Frida Khalo who lived much of her life in Coyoacan. There is a large statue of Frida but I find the statue of this naked woman in the center of the fountain much more beautiful. Something about it intrigues me and it is even more beautiful when the fountain is on.
And for those of you wondering about Endo, he is doing well. He gets to come with me to work everyday and gets a lot attention from everyone. Springer Spaniels are a rare breed here in Mexico so I get tons of questions from people in the streets about Endo. I guess my social networking will occur through Endo!
Here is Caleb shortly after the race with his friend Cara. Way to go Caleb!
So I am currently staying in this very large house that my landlady also owns in the center of Coyoacan. It is rather large for just Endo and me but we are making the most of it. The nice thing about the house is my friends can drive to Coyoacan and securely park their cars here while we go out for drinks and dinner.
Endo and I ventured out on Sunday to the park El Desierto de los Leones. Despite its name, the park is actually a large forest above Mexico City. There are supposed to be incredible running and mountain biking trails throughout the park. I was either in the wrong place or too scared to venture too far away from where my car was parked to find such trails. Endo and I still got in a nice hour long run though.
In El Desierto de los Leones there is a large monastery built about 400 years ago that is now open to the public. It is the main attraction of the park.
This was my view from the car for the majority of the trip.
In north central Texas there was a lot of cotton fields and oil rigs.
The scenery then changed to renewable energy. This wind farm went on for miles and I was smiling the entire time. Perhaps its because I grew up with a wind generator, but I find wind farms to be so cool.
Endo had only 1/3 of the backseat for the 30 hour drive. He did great though and slept in this position most of the trip. The poor guy is a little confused about what is going on. But he will adjust and I am glad to have him with me in Mexico.
With the car packed and my reverse osmosis water system finally arriving from UPS, I headed off on my 3 day road trip back to Mexico City. First stop last night was Dumas, TX. About midnight, I found myself finally falling asleep after 7 hours of driving. I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, which has given up on bed spreads and now offers a nice comforter with a white duvet cover. Since when did Holiday Inn become so posh? Anyway, today I have about an 11 hour drive to Laredo, TX and then another 10 hours or so on Friday to Mexico City.
Here are my mom and dad in Cappadocia in central Turkey. This area is known for its unusual volcanic geography and cave homes.
My mom is posing in front of a Mosque in a rural coastal village.
Here is my dad somewhere near Lake Bafa in southwestern Turkey. Notice how rough the road is and that my parents were riding their road bikes. They are hardcore!
