2012 Mexico Trip - Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo*

Esperanza Misses School

Esperanza is lost without school! I try to keep her occupied and entertained throughout the days, but the moment she gets bored, she begins to ask if she can go to school. She whines and begs and cries and pleads and even tried to bribe me with a dollar the other day if I'd take her to school. She loves school. She'll be going back to Spanish With Sarah for her second year of preschool and cannot wait. School starts back up on August 14th - one more month. One more month.

Before school was out, the school went on a field trip to the zoo. It was seriously the craziest zoo day I've ever experienced. I think every single school in the area had their field trip on that same day. I wouldn't have gone if I'd known. Why do they do that?! It rained, we showed up late, Esperanza was having one of her days, Ezra was tired, and Armando and I were regretful to have even gone. Ugh! Once we finally forced food down Esperanza's throat during lunch time, her attitude shifted slowly and she began to perk up. We caught up with one of her classmates, Lucy and her mom, the sun began to sneak through the clouds, Ezra dozed off for a bit and things began lookin' up. Of course, that was only for the last 30 minutes of our trip, but hey, at least it wasn't all bad. Oh, and somehow she convinced her daddy to buy her an overpriced stuffed animal from the zoo store before we left. Daddy's girl.

Bad mood Esperanza

Esperanza really is taken by Lucy

 Not sure who the other girl is

 Holding hands

 So cute

 They sure had fun together

 Esperanza misses her

Here are a few of Esperanza's class pictures from back in May. A third of the class didn't make picture day. That same third just happened to miss picture make-up day as well. Oh well. Here is Maestra (teacher) Gabby with Lucy, Lilly, Kingsly, Hazel, Jack and Esperanza (Camille, Luke and one other boy are not in the picture). They did standard smiling group class pictures too, but I thought this one was cute of them doing silly faces.

 The photographer asked each kid to write their name on this chalk board then took their picture with it. At 3 years old, this is how Esperanza writes her name. LOVE!

 And then she posed for several more pictures. Here is one.

Liquid Laundry Detergent

I know I'm supposed to be posting Mexico stuff, but I'm a bit overwhelmed with my pictures and all the stories and information I want to share. So, I'm avoiding it. Instead, I wanted to share a liquid laundry detergent recipe. I used to make a dry laundry detergent and used it for years. When our front loader died about a year ago, and we inherited our ancient $20 top loader (which I love way more than the fancy and expensive front loader - mostly because of cloth diapers as well as my love of dying things), I discovered that the dry stuff didn't work well with the top loader. Since then, I've done a few different versions of a liquid soap, made in smaller batches and nothing I really loved. We've also resorted to using some really crappy store bought liquid detergents over the past year. Then, I found a great liquid laundry detergent recipe through a friend. I made a HUGE batch the other day because I really like it. I love this recipe because it uses the exact same ingredients as my dry recipe and I had them all on hand. It's actually a pretty standard liquid laundry detergent recipe from what I've researched and works really well. I was happy I didn't need to go to the store to get any ingredients and it took me only about 20 minutes to make! Try it.

Gather these items:

1. A 5 gallon bucket. I went to Burgerville several months ago and picked up a few empty 5 gallon buckets that were previously used for pickles. They gave them to me for free of course. Many, many uses for 5 gallon buckets.
2. Cheese grater, measuring cup, whisk and a big pot
3. 1 bar of soap. I use Phels Naptha or any brand of Castile soap. Any kind will work though.
4. 1 1/2 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. Fred Meyers is the ONLY place I've seen this at. Located in the laundry soap isle.
5. 1 1/2 cup of Borax
6. Optional - A few drops of essential oil. Pick any scent you like - lemon, lavender, orange, rose, eucalyptus, etc. I didn't add any to this last batch. 

Instructions:

1. Shred the bar of soap using a cheese grater.
2. Pour 6 cups of water into the pot and heat up. Add the shredded soap, whisk it together until it melts/dissolves. 
3. Add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir it up with the whisk until it dissolves. The mixture will thicken.
4. Pour the hot mixture into the 5 gallon bucket then fill the bucket up with water, leaving a 5 or 6 inches at the top.
5. Stir and let sit for 24 hours

When you go back to check on it, it will be super thick! The texture is just like jello with a lot of foam on top. Stir it up and do a load of laundry. About a 1/2 cup for each load. You can leave it in the bucket or pour it into milk jugs, empty laundry detergent containers or whatever else you may have on hand. Just be sure to mix or shake it up before each use. I poured some into a laundry detergent container, left the rest in the bucket and will fill the container up as needed. Also, you will notice that this detergent does not create suds. Don't worry, suds don't clean your clothes, the ingredients in the soap does.

Happy Laundering! I did 5 loads today! Now to fix my clothes line that broke the other day.

Only In Mexico

On June 13th, 2012, the kids, Armando, Armando's mom and I went to Mexico for 3 weeks for an adventure. It was a completely spontaneous trip with just a week to plan for it. Angelina needed to travel to Aguillia (her home town and where Armando was born) and invited us to go with her. I'm getting pretty good at the whole spontaneous thing, as well as taking the kids and myself out of my comfort zone, so I didn't even hesitate when the opportunity arose to travel to and all around Mexico. Within a week, we had a tentative plan as to where we would be traveling to, who we would be visiting and how we would be getting around.
So what did we do for 3 weeks in Mexico? Here's a little info on where we visited along with a few random things we did or saw.

We flew from Portland to Guadalajara and had a relatively uneventful flight with the kiddos. We arrived in Guadalajara really late and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. In the morning we took a taxi to a small town called Poncitlan which is about an hour away from Guadalajara. We borrowed a truck from some people who live there, packed ourselves and our stuff into it and away we went on our adventures in Mexico. We drove to and stayed with various family, friends and the occasional hotels/motels in several different town including Guadalajara, Tepames, Colima, Melaque, back to Colima, Uruapan, Aguilila, Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa, back to Uruapan, Poncitlan then back to Guadalajara. In addition to those places, we visited several dozen other towns and places along our travels that we didn't stay the night at but just took day trips to or stopped to check out along the way to some other place. We met some wonderful people, saw some amazing things, had a ton of fun, encountered a few challenges along the way and ended up back home with many great memories.

I'll post more specific and detailed stories about some of our adventures in Mexico soon, but for now, here are a few pictures. Armando and I were constantly amazed or dumbfounded by things we saw or witnessed in Mexico, because things are SO different there than they are here in the States. We would often look at each other after witnessing something and the only thing we could say would be 'only in Mexico' while shaking our heads. Here are a few of those 'Only In Mexico' moments (along with a few other not so surprising pictures)...

Leaving the Pacific Northwest...

 Only in Mexico...Will you find a farmers market in every town and on every day

Only in Mexico...Does everyone hang dry their clothes.

 Only in Mexico...Will Esperanza find her name everywhere

 Only in Mexico...Will you see over half a dozen grown men packed into the back of a small, pickup truck (A few times, we even had 12 people in our little pick-up)

 Only in Mexico...Will you find a huge, elaborately detailed Catholic Church in every town or village, no matter how small or poor it may be. 

 Only in Mexico...Do you have to pay to use the public restrooms (about 3 pesos which is a penny - but still)

 Only in Mexico...Will you find a pigs head hanging in a meat stand at the local farmers market

 Only in Mexico...Is everyone's kitchen sink built out of concrete and located outside

 Only in Mexico...Can you find purple and blue sequined sombreros for your kids (no we didn't buy them, but I kinda wish we did)

 Only in Mexico...Can you get your hair braided in 15 minutes for 60 pesos (about $5 for Esperanza's hair - I just got one braid for 10 pesos which is less than a dollar)

 Only in Mexico...Is the Pacific Ocean warm enough to swim in while its raining

 And the air warm enough to swim in the hotel pool while it's raining

 Only in Mexico...Can you find an apartment located just blocks from a beautiful ocean beach renting for $100 a month

 Only in Mexico...Will you find old school metal teeter-totters in a park which is a restaurant and in the middle of a forest of avocado, lime and mango trees

Only in Mexico...Does it cost 20 pesos (about $1.70) for a hair cut

Only in Mexico...Will you find what looks like a Mexican version of the Statue of Liberty

 Only in Mexico...Do people go bonkers over corn served in a plastic cup with mayo and chili on it - my kids and I wouldn't touch it!

 Only in Mexico...Do Americans like us heat up water on the stove to take a warm 'sponge' bath instead of a cold shower

 Only in Mexico...Can you sleep on a rope bed

 Only in Mexico...Can my kids meet their Grandpa Jose for the first time

 Only in Mexico...Will you find a national park with thousands of water features created from redirecting a river that the park was built around.

 Only in Mexico...Can you be driving along nursing your baby while your 3 year old naps on your shoulder

Only in Mexico...Can you visit an old friend, his kids and pregnant wife who live in the poorest, most unsanitary and saddest living conditions you have ever personally witnessed with your own eyes, then just a short taxi ride later be on the beach of a world renowned resort town with people who haven't a clue that the place you were just at even exists

 

Only in Mexico...Do all everyday police officers carry machine guns

 Only in Mexico...Can you walk down the road and get fresh squeezed orange juice served in a bag with a straw. 

Not able to capture pictures, but still worthy of sharing these other 'Only In Mexico' moments...


Only in Mexico...Does road kill consist of cows, horses, super sized toads and lizards.

Only in Mexico...Will you see city workers cutting the grass and hedges with machetes instead of power tools and lawn mowers

Only in Mexico...Is road paving work is done by hand - digging up old pavement with shovels, pouring concrete with buckets while knee deep in the concrete

Only in Mexico...Are cockroaches the size of a small rodent

Only in Mexico...Do double semis pass other double semis while driving fast on narrow curvy mountain roads (try being the vehicle coming in the opposite direction!)

Baby Steps

The day before we left for Mexico, at 1 year and 2 days old, Ezra took his first 4 steps without assistance and without falling. Here he is walking 3 weeks later, wobbly and oh so adorable!