Our Month Through Sara's Eyes

Our month in San Cristobal is coming to an end and Gary has been after me to write down my feelings about living in Mexico. I have been keeping a daily journal of our comings and goings, which I have enjoyed doing.
It is a bit difficult to condense almost thirty days in to a few paragraphs. But I will try my best.

It was a bit of a culture shock for me when we first arrived in San Cristobal. Not speaking the language was a challenge.  I had taken some classes at PCC this past fall, but the few phrases I knew were not enough to make myself understood, or to understand what was being said to me. And they talk way too fast! I was glad that Gary was here to do the communicating for us. It was a bit lonely for me at times.Well, I just will have to take some more Spanish classes when I get home.

I also had trouble with the altitude here. At 7000 feet my body has had difficulty adjusting to it. The first week we were here I had a headache, nausea and was short of breath. The first two symptoms have gone away, but I still feel a bit out of breath when walking up hills. I saw a man jogging the other morning and wondered how he could do that? My goal to take a brisk long walk each day had to be altered somewhat.
Long slow walks have been my excercise while we have been here.

I have grown to love this beautiful city. It was more that we thought it would be. We had never been to this part of Mexico, and after having lived here would like to come back. It is a lovely colonial city with many old buildings, gardens, plazas and lots of friendly people. Everyone we have met has been so kind and helpful. I love when perfect strangers say hello to you as you walk by. And everywhere you see families out together, parents and children enjoying being with one another.

Our little adobe house is old and a bit rustic. It looks great in pictures, but lacked some of the amenities of home. The tiny kitchen has a gas stove lit with matches and a small fridge and freezer. Kitchen items were sparse, but we made do. I bought a piece of vinyl tablecloth fabric to cover the kitchen table so we would have more space for preparing our food. The fireplace came in handy most nights to heat the house, no central heating here. Adobe construction is perfect for the hot climate of most of Mexico; but, it makes for a cool and somewhat damp environment here. We hang our bath towels outside in the morning to dry in the sun.

I will miss the sounds I hear each day from our garden and the street outside our gate. The truck that delivers our big water bottles plays the song "Rain drops keep falling on my head", the gas trucks with the cylinders of propane gas, drag a heavy chain behind to ground any static electricity that might spark and cause an explosion. There are people selling things from door to door. We bought garlic from an old man who came into town from his ranchito. The neighbor's dog is let out in the mornings and evenings; the bark reminds me of our dog Tieka. We can hear the school band practicing in the afternoons, drums and trumpets. Children playing on the school grounds.Various birds singing in the trees in our garden. Roosters crowing at dawn. and the tolling of the church bells; always the tolling of church bells.

I love the bright colors that surround us each day. The tile roofs and colorful houses. Gardens with flowers and trees in bloom.The beautiful clothes that the indigenous people wear, even the little girls dressed in miniature like their mothers. Darling brown skinned babies smiling out from the shawls on their mother's backs. The men dressed in more conventional clothes. The markets full of produce and vendors selling at their stalls.The man with a box on his head full of cups of fresh squeezed juices. The craft market full of colorful treasures. A sensory overload!

There are the poor in this city, and we are approached by many women and children with things for us to buy. Gary is firm about saying No and walking away. I have a softer heart.  More than once I was tempted to buy some little thing from a small child, but  wasn't carrying any change at the time. When we were on our trip to the jungle last week, I did buy some fried bananas from a little Mayan girl. I had some US dollar bills in my wallet and gave her one of them. She wanted some pesos, but the dollar would have to do. I hope someone was able to give her twelve pesos for it.  Of course, we did not eat the chips.

It has been a wonderful time for Gary and me to be together. He loves Mexico and its people.  What better way to celebrate his retirement than to spend a month here in San Cristobal.