Our friend Maren´s arrival

We are a little behind on the blog but hope to get caught up soon. Pictures will take a little longer since we are back to using an internet cafe and I need to copy them onto a CD first and then put them on the internet. Luckily for all of you that means I´ll have to be more choosy so you will have less pictures to page through.

Last Sunday (23rd), our friend Maren arrived. We had a small bus crisis getting to the Mexico City airport but after 2 extra bus rides we managed to get there about 5 minutes before she made it through customs. Perfect timing for everyone. Just in case any of you ever come here to visit us I´m going to type myself a reminder that the bus from Cuautla to the MC airport only leaves at 5:30am, 7:00 am and 2pm. It goes from the airport to Cuautla at 3pm and I can´t remember what other time. I´m sure that means nothing to you guys but it will be helpful to remember and I keep forgetting to write it down.

After we met her at about 12 we grabbed some slices of pizza (I know, I know...) and got on the bus to Cuernavaca. Then we took a taxi to another bus to Cuautla. Unfortunately, we just missed the direct first class bus (which I will ALWAYS recommend taking, especially in the heat of spring here in Central southern Mexico). We ended up taking the second class bus that was not air conditioned, quite a bit dirty and anything but direct. The trip that took us 35 minutes on the way there took almost 2 hours back and we crossed dozens of topes (speedbumps) along that route. Maren declared she was tired of them after about 30 minutes and Felipe and I just laughed. It is one very significant part of rural Mexico and definitely is doing a number on our car and our patience.

After another bus ride from Cuautla to Jonacatepec we finally reached our car and drove the 10 minutes back to Felipe´s house in Tetelilla. His family was very welcoming and wonderful (as always) to Maren. Since Maren remembers very little of her years of Spanish classes Felipe and even I translated for her. I did feel like my Spanish had improved when I was able to pull that off so that was a nice little boost for me to help with the frustration of not understanding everything.

After dinner we walked to his other two sisters homes and visited for a little while and had tours. The next morning we had breakfast with his sisters and they pulled out all the stops... Sweet rolls, corn on the cob and even fresh grilled fish (the entire thing) to accompany our usual eggs and green beans. As a side note, one thing that I thought was weird when I got here but now really appreciate is the pan tostado. The actually sell bread already toasted since no one has toasters. It´s actually really good and we eat it all the time.

Maren was taking pictures like crazy of his dad´s house and the kitchen in the morning light and I am going to plagerize some of her pictures and post them as soon as I can because they really captured some of the charm of the place beautifully. I packed our bags while Felipe chatted with his sisters and then we loaded up the car about noon to leave for Cuernavaca which is the capital of his state, Morelos.