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No, this isn’t a link to a cute YouTube video, but links to two contrasting opinions about whether or not to let your children have cell phones.
Kim takes the affirmative.
I found both arguments interesting, but I tend to agree with Kim, for many of the same reasons that came up in my last post about Internet research. You can’t blame the tool when it is misused.
Stephen Bourque at One Reality wrote recently about his love-hate relationship with the Internet. In the “hate” post, he brings up an interesting point about students using the Internet for research, saying that teachers should discourage use of the Internet for research until college. As a future homeschooler, I gave some thought to what he said. (I’ll count on you to read Stephen’s post now to get the full context for the rest of mine.)
I agree that a “report” pulled from one source without any digestion of ideas is pointless. But use of the Internet is not the cause of this problem. Students do the same thing with books all the time. The student can learn what resource to use for what purpose by the guidance and feedback he gets from his teacher. Maybe we’re all becoming inured to incompetent teachers who can’t tell the difference, but I’ve graded many essays and I think the difference between a regurgitation-essay and an essay that involved critical thinking is usually quite clear, barring clever plagiarism. If a reasonable teacher can’t tell the difference, then the whole assignment may have been misguided. If you want the student to learn to do the research and use his mind, you must find a way to judge that effort. That might mean skipping the report and doing something completely different, but I suspect that is usually not necessary.
You can usually (but not always) get in-depth information and can “follow your nose” on the web – you just have to want to do the work. The student who took the lazy way using the Internet in Stephen’s example would probably not do the work he describes with the books anyway. I see no difference here between books and the web – it’s a matter of motivation.
In regard to the “flat” information of the Internet, I partially agree with Stephen. When I Googled “first scene of wagner’s ring” the first hit was a Wikipedia entry that described the four-part opera and included the facts Stephen presented. Links were included that would probably lead to the same kind of information you would find in books. However, there is no table of contents or easy way to know what is relevant – the student would have to click around until he figures out the hierarchy of the information on his own. This method of organizing, in my own mind, the “flat” information presented to me on the web is a difficult process and sometimes I actually fail. I had this exact problem when trying to research the Paleo diet and “diseases of civilization.” Finally, I had to turn to a book, which gave me a clearer, but still imperfect understanding of these ideas. Shouldn’t a student, with a lot of guidance, be given the opportunity to learn to use his judgment in the same way?
The second hit brought me to a page that looked like a blog entry with a title “Wagner’s Ring: A Guide For The Willing But Perplexed – Part III” and a subtitle of “First Day: Das Rheingold – Prelude and Scene 1.” I started reading and had no idea what was going on. My first thought was, “I need to go back to Parts 1 and 2 if I want to understand the context of this.” And I could easily have done this by using links. Then I would have had to decide if the information was relevant and reliable. Shouldn’t a properly educated 12-year-old be able to do the same thing?
Regarding reliability, students using the Internet must understand that not all information they find will necessarily be true, so they need to judge the source. However, this is no different with books. Students too young to use this judgment need guidance from an adult. With books, that guidance might be, “Use the encyclopedia,” and an explanation. With the Internet, it might be, “Check for multiple sources.” Or, you might start compiling a list of resources with the child, categorizing them into groups such as “reliable,” “semi-reliable,” “unknown,” and “not reliable.” You can explain how you make that determination for each one, which would give the child a good inductive way of learning how to make the judgments on his own. Then you can help the child develop a process to verify unreliable information. (I put Wikipedia into “semi-reliable,” and would check other sources if I had no prior knowledge of the subject.) This is not an easy process and it requires a huge mental database of knowledge about sources and what makes them credible. The only way to build that database is to start working with sources – to gain firsthand experience of the process.
This whole process is what critical thinking in research is all about. I think, at the right age and with the right guidance, the Internet is a 100% positive thing. It opens up whole new worlds of information to the child, and removes much of the drudgery of looking up mundane facts. The possible misuse of the Internet does not taint it as a tool. Stephen’s final paragraph expresses this same thought, so maybe we don’t disagree on anything but the age-appropriateness of the Internet. He says wait until college. I suspect a child can start using the Internet with guidance somewhere around 8-10 years old.
Since I have no real experience with this subject, I’d love get some comments, especially from teachers.
Samantha had two massive tantrums today. There were also at least two other minor meltdowns. Something is up, and I think I know what it is.
The first one happened at day care. I was picking her up and I smelled “production,” as we’ve come to call poop sometimes around here. (I mean, when they are babies, that’s the only thing they really produce, right?) I took her to a changing station and she was resisting a bit, but I talked her into letting me put her up on the table. The diaper had leaked (AGAIN) and I was going to have to change her pants, so I took off one of her shoes. That’s what started it. NO SHOES OFF. NO SHOES OFF. The next 45 minutes were hell. The poop was everywhere and she screamed for 20 minutes straight, waking up all the babies in the room next door, and was completely inconsolable. I could not allow her to get down because the poop went halfway down to her knees, but she insisted on squirming off the table over and over. I just had to catch her and put her back up every time, both of us getting covered in shit in the process. She constantly tried to hit me and I had to hold her arms. I could not understand anything she might have tried to say, except once she said she wanted to have the diaper changed on the floor (not possible with that much mess) and once she said she wanted the teacher to do it (that might have ended it, but I was feeling stubborn). Finally, something broke and she let me hug her and start consoling her. She was still too upset to do anything but cry for another 15 minutes or so, and then we finally got the diaper changed and made it home.
She pooped in the potty last night right before bed (first one in a long time), so tonight I asked her if she wanted to try again. She eagerly said YESCH. After a minute or so of trying, she started asking for fruit candy. We’ve offered her this little treat as a reward for making something in the potty. I actually tried to stop the reward thing a while back, but she just won’t forget that she is entitled to a fruit candy, so I decided that, for this one thing, a reward is ok.
Anyway, I told her she could only have a fruit candy if she made a pee or poo, and at some point, the tantrum began. It was so intense that she threw up from all the screaming. She did a much better job restraining herself from hitting me this time, so I didn’t do much except try to stay out of her way and occasionally try to elicit some words. But the intensity of her emotion was just too much. I could see she was trying to say words to communicate with me, but they were buried in the screaming. Since we were home and she wasn’t hitting me, I was able to really stay calm and just wait it out, and finally, I heard these words: TRY POOP POTTY. CAN’T DO IT.
I just about died with remorse. The poor girl wanted to make a poop so badly that she was having a total meltdown when one wasn’t forthcoming. The damn reward thing was a total mistake. Once I understood the problem, I could talk to her about it a little bit, but again, it took her a long time to recover. I explained that sometimes there is poop in your body and it is ready to come out and sometimes there is just no poop, so you can’t do it any time you want to. I told her the best thing to do was to keep trying every day. I told her that we were no longer going to give her fruit candy for making something on the potty, but we would give her some on occasion just for fun. I’m not sure how much got through to her. I’m pretty sure her earlier tantrum had something to do with this issue, since the same dark matter was involved.
I’ve tried to keep the potty training issue casual and to make sure that Sam feels like it is a fun and good thing to do, but only when she is ready. But I blew that all away with the fruit candy. I’ve now made the same mistake twice. I’ve allowed one particular situation to be an “exception” to my usual parenting methods. With Sam’s hitting, I decided that time-outs were necessary instead of more natural consequences. With the potty, I decided that rewards just might work, when I normally don’t use them at all. Both “exceptions” have been failures.
It’s a good lesson in thinking in and acting on principle. Sure, as a parent, you have to be flexible and open to lots of different methods, depending on your child’s temperament, age, and the situation at hand. But certain fundamentals will hold true no matter what the situation. Next time I start thinking of something as an “exception,” a red flag will pop up in my mind and, hopefully, I’ll think it through more carefully.
Adam: She’s so sensitive.
Amy: Like the Princess and the Pea.
Samantha: PRINCESS AND THE PEA. PRINCESS AND THE POO.
Samantha has never had too much of a need to chew and suck on things. She never really used a pacifier and wasn’t too excited about teething rings. At some point, though, she started chewing on her own arm. Her right wrist was always red and puckered. One time, she hurt herself by biting too hard, so she moved on to chewing on her sleeve. Recently, she gave that up too, after getting annoyed that her shirt was wet. (I had to explain to her that it was wet because she chewed on it, but once I told her that, she stopped immediately. It’s strange that she didn’t figure that out on her own.)
Luckily, I got a video of her sleeve chewing just before she stopped it. It’s one of those Little Things that I’m sure I’d completely forget in about 6 months if I didn’t record it.
Here is the fourth and final update in the Mexico series from my parents. (Sorry about the formatting but I just can’t seem to paste from Word without strange problems.)
RVing is a great way to travel off the beaten path and really learn something about the culture of the place you visit. My parents almost never take the big highways, which helps. They also have the luxury of not having to plan ahead much. If they like a place, they just stay a bit longer. If they’re bored, they move on. Their RV is huge and luxurious – it really is a nice home. Modern technology also helps them in this lifestyle; maps are still useful, but GPS helps greatly with navigation, there is no need for land lines now that you get cell phone reception most anywhere, and many campgrounds have WiFi, just like hotels. It’s a pretty great way to spend retirement traveling. Now they just need to find a way to ship the RV to Europe for a while!
April 7, 2009
Hola, Everyone!
We are now back in the U.S. spending a few days in a little town, Donna, in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
Our last days in Mexico went fast. Raphael, our favorite and only taxi driver, took us to Teotihuacan to see the Pyramid of the Sun, the world’s third largest pyramid (number one and two being in Egypt). It is touted as the number-one tourist draw in Mexico; but it did not rate that high with us. None of us had the energy or desire to climb to the top of the pyramid or walk the whole route to the Pyramid of the Moon. The most impressive part of our visit was the large scale-model of the greatest city in ancient Mexico under a transparent walkway in the museum, from where we could still see today, the Sun pyramid through a wall-sized window. The tour book was correct when it said it would be exhausting to fend off all the indefatigable hawkers. One hawker won the battle and sold us 10 clay turtle whistles.
Our plan was to take Mex 85, the old Pan American Highway north to Texas over the backbone of the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains. We would have to look for a Pemex for our first night as we knew we would not be able to reach the first campgrounds listed on this route. We made better time than we thought as the short cut we took turned out to be a much better road than expected. After lunch the mountains became MOUNTAINS big-time! They rose and fell, rose and fell, rose and fell like a continuous row of letter Ms. The road would run along one side of a canyon till the end, then run back on the opposite side. The scenery was spectacular. Little towns could be seen perched on neighboring mountainsides or in the deep valleys below us. Cows, burros, pigs, and chickens roamed at will along the roadside.
At one place a group of school girls began waving at us very energetically and then a woman waved and yelled something which sounded like, No Passable!, No Passable! We got off the road to find that the road ahead was blocked by a car and grass fire. We watched as people from the nearby houses took barrels of water, hoes, and rakes in the back of pickups up to the fire. In a short while we were able to proceed due to the work of these people. Later we saw the police and ambulance coming the other way from the not-so-near town with these services. These are self-reliant people, accustomed to taking care of the unexpected. Road construction is signaled by the waving of red shirts or blocking off where autos shouldn’t go by placing rocks in the way.
At 3:30 we came upon a Pemex , but thinking it was a little tight, we elected to go on as there were some towns ahead. But, in each of them, we saw nothing on the narrow main road and no space to park to explore the side streets for an overnight parking spot. In the mountains, flat space is valuable and it was already being used. No empty lots. At 5:30 we finely found a flat space on the side of the road leaving the town of Tamazunchal in front of a couple of residences, a muffler shop and beer bar.
Muffler shop
A gentleman on his way to the bar took Mike & Richard to the police station to check out parking and later explained our situation to the nearby residents. Even though no English was spoken, we were able to communicate with each other. Everybody agreed that we were welcome to stay the night. We later joined our new friends in the bar for cervezas and music. There was electricity in the bar but no electricity or water in the shacks that were near the RV’s. The water was brought in buckets from a communal well down the road. We were told we only had 40 miles of the slow-going steep roads ahead. Whew!
Behind the muffler shop, no electricity
We left at daybreak, as promised, so we wouldn’t be blocking access to the muffler shop and what also might have been a local bus stop.
Rain forest near east coast of Mexico
We were descending and driving through part of the northernmost tropical rain forest in North America known as the Huasteca. This area offers waterfalls, swimming holes, whitewater galore, caves, and miles of unexplored back roads. We were satisfied with viewing the tropical vegetation and the many fruit and flower stalls along the road. Later, there were very big and prosperous looking ranchos. As we approached Ciudad Victoria, we had traversed many barren mesas. There seemed little to offer us here, other than electricity and a night in a RV park.
The next day like trail horses on their way back to the barn, sensing the border was within range, we drove straight to the Los Indios border crossing with only a stop at a Pemex to get rid of all our remaining pesos. It took us about 1½ hours to turn in our Mexican vehicle permits and visas and go through US border security. Pat and Richard elected to go to Pharr, TX as they wished to attend mass at the San Juan Basilica the next morning. We elected to stay closer to Progresso, Mexico as we wanted to visit the dentist there. By 7:00PM on April 4, 2009 we were watching our first TV news show in 2 months. What was the top news—recent shootings in New York and Pennsylvania and a review of all the shootings so far in March. The US must be a dangerous place to travel.
Los Vemos,
Mike & Donna
My dad designed and built his own house, so he knows a thing or two about home maintenance and repair. Every time he visits, we hit him up for a project or two, so of course, with our huge task list here at the new house we figured he could help with a few things. I think he ended up cutting a year off of that 10-year-plan. Here is what he did in the 12 days he was here:
I think there might have been a couple of other things that came up along the way, but that was what I noted on my list. He also bought all the parts for us as our housewarming gift. Awesome!
Adam and I didn’t do too badly these last two weeks either. I installed a paper towel holder, completed the grout-cleaning project, and fixed the garbage disposal when some kind of metal got wedged in it. Adam installed the new chandelier in our “dining room” which is really the eat-in kitchen. The old ceiling fan was literally falling apart. One light was hanging by the wires, and one of the glass shades just fell off onto the table one day. Besides, it was ugly as hell. We bought the new fixture to match the kitchen we plan to create, not the one we have now, so it’s a bit out of place. (We’re going for the Art Deco look.) We also gave up the ceiling fan for the sake of style. Still, it’s quite an improvement. Here are the before and after photos:
Dining Room Light Before
Dining Room Light After
Here is this week’s Round Up, found at John Drake’s Try Reason, another lovely blog that I need to add to my blogroll.
I’m hosting next week’s edition, so start submitting those entries, folks.
We finally broke down and got Sam a $12 professional hair cut, and it was worth every penny.
The selfish parent gets her child’s hair cut nicely because she likes to look at the child and so wants to make him or her as beautiful as possible, and because it keeps the hair out of the child’s face, which makes life more pleasant for both of them.
The selfless parent might get the child’s hair cut out of a duty to groom the child, or to impress other people, but she will never allow herself a motivation that is selfish.
Selfishness does not always manifest itself in radically unusual actions, but there is always a difference in motivation and resulting satisfaction when one is selfish instead of altruistic.
My parents left town today. Happily, they are going to swing back for a few days in June after a quick trip up the east coast.
We had quite a nice and busy time while they were here. We went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles, where they have an SR-71, a Concorde, and the Enterprise space shuttle, the one that was never used. They also had a few of Burt Rutan’s early designs, which I loved to see. Adam knows so much about aircraft that he was able to give us a better tour than the tour guide. Sam enjoyed it too, and we got her a poster of the Lunar Rover and a Richard Scarry book, A Day at the Airport.
We went to a local zoo, which is always a great toddler activity. Sam fell in love with one particular goat, and named him Daddy Goat. They also had kangaroos, zebras, African bulls, and a boa constrictor which we got to touch.
Adam and I took advantage of the free babysitting and saw the new Star Trek movie, which was really good, but which I’ve mostly forgotten. It’s just a really enjoyable, fun ride.
Yesterday, we went to Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington. Adam had to work, so he missed it, which is fine with me because it means we need to go back again soon. Mt. Vernon is right on the Potomac and the setting is just beautiful. The home itself is not nearly as interesting as Jefferson’s Monticello, but the grounds are lovely, everything is well-maintained, and the museum and educational centers are incredible. You can even take a cruise up the Potomac on a nice yacht, but we didn’t have time for that. We did go through the house, where there were tour guides stationed in each room to tell you about that part of the house. We told Sam that they were telling us stories about the house, and eventually she started to fuss, saying NO MORE STORIES, NO MORE STORIES. But really, she did a great job through the parts that must have been boring for her.
We also had a few dinners at our house and at my parents’ RV, and we even had a little campfire one evening. My mom brought us some neat gifts from Mexico and my dad did a bunch of house projects for us, all of which I’ll write up in a later post.
Today, Sam and I are laying low, recuperating. That means that she watched an hour of TV in the morning while Adam and I slept in, and later she did sidewalk chalk while I wrote up the first part of this post sitting on the front porch in the incredible sunny-and-68 degree weather. Now she is napping while I sit on the back deck with the dog, again enjoying the beautiful sunshine.
All of that good stuff is my job. Taking Sam to new places, helping her build a relationship with her grandparents, and getting outside when the weather is nice – these are my duties. What a life!
Here are more pictures from the first part of my parents’ trip to Mexico.
This first picture (taken before they crossed the border) is an example of what my parents do when they meet up with the Boondockers group, the RVers who like to dry camp, without electricity, water, or sewer hookups. My dad says some of them like to compete to see who can go the longest on their 100 gallon tank of water. They shower by getting wet with one cup of water, soaping up, then rinsing with just one cup more. And that’s supposed to be fun? But the bonfires they have each night look like fun.
Ajo, AZ Bonfire
Here are examples of the color and food presentation that I mentioned in an earlier post.
Library mural
Market at Lake Chapala
The Malecon (seawalk), Jacotapec, Lake Chapala
Market in Old Mazatlan
Restaurant in marketplace, Guadalajara
Parade, Carnival
Juice stand, Guadalajara
And finally, here is the Lady of Guadalupe, an image my parents saw everywhere in their travels through Mexico. She seems to be the symbol of Mexican Catholicism.
Lady of Guadalupe, San Carlos
I now have pictures from my parents’ trip! Here is part 3 of the 4 part series chronicling their Mexican adventure:
APRIL 1, 2009
Hola Everyone,
Goodbye, Hello
Our last update left us at the Roca Azul RV park on Lake Chapala. We left there on March 22 and drove the scenic road south of the lake to the charming town of Patzcuaro. On one stretch we went through several towns one after another so that you could see the Feliz Viaje (Good Bye) sign for one town and the Bienvenidos (Welcome) sign at the same time. We passed a large new building with a heliport outside with the name Driscoll’s. It is a name of the distributor of the raspberries and now the strawberries grown here. Patzcuaro had narrow cobblestone roads lined with buildings of white-washed stucco with brownish red at the bottoms. It gave the jumble of different buildings a cohesive and placid look. We did our usual touring routine of visiting the town plazas, cathedrals, shopping and lunch in a Mexican restaurant.
Chapel on Jinitziu
We also visited the “Casa de los Once Patios” (house of 11 patios) where you can watch craftsmen work and buy their handiwork. Patzcuaro is nestled on a hillside next to a large lake where we took a half hour boat ride to the Isla Janitzio.
Janitzio, island near Patzcuaro
This island is like the top 4 or 5 hundred feet of a mountain sticking out of the water. There is no flat land, no roads and no vehicles but it is covered withhomes, shops, restaurants and bars. Only paths and steps lead you uphill where you have to continuously pass shops and restaurants to get to the top. There you are rewarded with the statue of Morelos. If you have any energy left, given the 7000 feet elevation, you can climb the 162 steps inside the statue to the top. Richard and Pat made it to the top but we gave up about half way.
Fishing "show"
At our arrival at the island we were treated to a group of fishing boats who did what could be called a dance as they formed a circle and then gracefully put their huge butterfly nets in and out of the water as they recreated how they once fished here.
After a few days in Patzcuaro we drove about an hour to Morelia, a city of about 600,000. Morelia does not have any RV parks so we pulled into a Wal- Mart and got permission to spend the night in their parking lot. We spent the rest of the day exploring this colonial city by car, on foot and a tour bus (unfortunately the guide only spoke Spanish). We were impressed by the central square and the cathedral as well as the no longer used aqueduct which crosses part of the city supported by 253 arches.
The next morning we headed for Pepe’s Hotel & RV Park in Tepotzotlan. We haven’t talked much about our experiences while driving but we had an incident en route that is worthy of mention. As you can probably imagine, driving a 40 foot motor home towing a car on these narrow roads is one thing but going through the small towns with narrowstreets can be an adventure. We entered one town which appeared on the map and GPS to be a straight through drive. What we didn’t know was that the road through town split into two opposing one-way streets and we wound up going the wrong way. Most small towns use traffic cops (they’re cheaper than signals) and this was no exception. These cops saw our dilemma, knew that we couldn’t turn the tight corners and started diverting traffic so that we could continue through town. We were then committed to driving the entire way through town going the wrong way on a one-way street. The on-coming traffic just moved to the side like this was no big deal. We made itwith no problems and note this as an example of how helpful the people and the police are. We later arrived at Pepe’s which is our base for exploring Mexico City about 30 miles south. We were advised not to try to drive into the city because of heavy traffic and crazy drivers (as we later observed, it is no worse than Los Angeles), so we decided to take a taxi into the city, stay in a downtown hotel for 2 nights and then a taxi back. Pepe’s is a very nice, modern and secure facility, so we were not concerned about leaving our RV’s there. The staff also made our hotel reservations for us.
CIUDAD de MEXICO
What image do you have of Mexico City? We had an image; all the bad things we heard about. It is probably the largest city in the world with an estimated population of 20 million (nobody knows for sure) and including the towns that make up the urban sprawl an estimated 32 million. With that many people, Mexico City must have everything bad that can exist in a city. After spending 3 full days exploring the city we have a new image. Mexico City may be the most beautiful city that we have ever seen.
Mexico City
Even at 8000 feet elevation the city is surrounded by mountains. The downtown and central district has many large parks and plazas with beautiful landscaping and big old trees everywhere. The main boulevard is the Paseo de los Reformawhich has 10 or 12 lanes and three widetree lined dividers. It must be about a full block to cross it. There are many other wide boulevards and Grande TrafficCircles with statues, monuments and/or fountains in the centers. Architecture is a mixture of the colonial buildings over 300 years old and modern office buildings and skyscrapers, however the old buildings and cathedrals dominate the scene.
Mexico city fountain
We expected wall to wall people but it was really not that crowded. We expected it to be dirty but it was unbelievably clean. We expected to see poverty but saw very little of it. We maintained an awareness of possible crime but never felt we were in any danger. And topping it all off are the people.
University students who interviewed my mom
They are so friendly and helpful. If you ask directions they don’t just point the way, they lead you there. The exception is when they drive they become very aggressive. Being a pedestrian is the most dangerous thing in Mexico City.
We took our taxi into the city early Saturday morning, went directly to the hotel and were checked in by about 9AM. We decided to take the double deck (open seating on top) tour bus which had headphones for English narration. The bus followed a big circle of the attractions with about 20 stops where you can get off and catch a later bus. We got off at the museum of anthropology where we spent a few hours but spent the rest of the day making the circuit on the bus to get a feel for the city.
The next morning (Sunday) Richard and Pat planned to go to the Shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe. We wanted to do some other things so we decided to split up for the day. With the help and encouragement of a friendly man in the hotel lobby, we bravely set out on our own to explore Mexico City using the subway and light train system. Even though we had maps and train routes, it was a bit intimidating. In fact we got on the wrong train the first time and had to come back but we soon mastered the system. The subway system needs some comments here. We don’t know if this is new or renovated but everything looks new and modern. The trains and stations are absolutely spotless and clean – no graffiti. The train cars are guided by rails but ride on rubber tires. The ride is smooth and quiet. The cars are connected by rubber bellows that allow people to walk through from car to car. There are a few seats for the disabled but mostly it’s standing room only. They can be crowded in the central district but it thins out in the outskirts. It’s not uncommon to have vendors and musicians coming through looking for sales or handouts. The cost to ride is 2 pesos (about 14 cents). As someone said “For 2 pesos you get transportation, entertainment and a massage”.
Our day started with a visit to the Zocalo (Plaza de la Constitucion) second in size only to Red Square in Moscow. We visited the Palacio Nacional whose front fills the entire east side of the Zocalo. This is the office of the President of Mexico and various other government offices. The walls of the second floor around the courtyard are adorned with dramatic murals by Diego Rivera depicting the history of Mexico City from ancient times. We also saw the chamber where parliament meets. Next on the north side of the plaza we visited the main cathedral which is most notable for its massiveness. We saw Aztec dancers on the square next to the Templo Mayor where it is thought to be the exact spot where the Aztecs considered the center of the universe. A line of people with offerings of herbs and flowers awaited the blessing of smoke and incantations of a healer or priest in Aztec garb. We were having lunch on a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Zocalo when the bells of the cathedral began ringing. We could actually see the bell ringers pulling the ropes on the many bells situated on several levels of the towers. This, along with the sound system being tested at the huge stage erected in the plaza, gave a cacophony of sound for 15 minutes until noon when the bells tolled the hour. Sunday was the last day of a month-long Festival de Mexico and el Centro Historico. Some streets were shut down on Saturday for special events and concerts. We had our picture taken in front of a replica of Le Angel whichwill travel around the world to herald the 2010 celebration of Mexican Independence.
After visiting the Palace of Fine Arts and viewing the city from the 44th floor of the Torre Latino Americana, we went to Xochimilco. This network of canals flanked by gardens is a reminder of the city’s pre-Hispanic history when a great lake became a city from piled-up vegetation and mud.
Floating gardens, Mexico city
We were poled along the tranquil but yet very festive waterways, jammed with other gaily decorated trajineras(gondolas) with families and friends or just romantic couples. Mariachis, marimbas, and vendors offering beer, roasted corn, toys among other stuff hovered along side adding to the party atmosphere.
Altogether we rode about 50 miles on the subway, about 30 miles on light trains and a couple of miles each by bicycle taxi and on foot. A pretty grueling day but we got a lot done. Monday we returned to Pepe’s by taxi and rested up the rest of the day. We plan to leave Pepe’s on Thursday and start heading north to Texas. Until next time – Mike & Donna
NOTE
A few of our “Update” readers have replied to our last update expressing a concern for our safety. We have not heard or seen any news since we left Arizona but apparently there must be some bad news going on about Mexico. Whatever it is must be overblown as it is not apparent to us. We feel as safe or maybe even safer than in the US. Also there were questions about how we find our way around. We have a Mexico map book which has highway and city maps and we also use a Garmin GPS with a Mexico update. We would also not be without Mike & Terri Church’s book “Camping in Mexico”. This book is the “bible” for anyone RVing in Mexico as it describes almost every campground in great detail. Also many WalMarts and Pemex Stations allow free overnight RV parking.
Samantha currently enjoys giving compliments on people’s clothing. She doesn’t do it for everyone, but if you’re lucky, you’ll get something like: NICE SHIRT. NICE GREEN SHIRT. I LOOOOOVE IT.
More lazy blogging in the form of links:
The Objectivist Round Up lives at Titanic Deck Chairs this week.
Adam has posted 5 more installments in his Sewing Machine thread on Volokh. The entire series can be found here.
Live Kitten Cam. It’s amazing how much time I can spend watching cats on my screen while my real live cat is playing in the room right next to me. (HT: BAW)
Here is the second installment from my parents from their recent trip to Mexico. I wish I had digital copies of the photographs they brought back, to post here on the blog. The thing that struck me most in the photos was how colorful everything is. The decorative art, the displays at the shops, and the clothing in Mexico are all brightly colored, creating a feeling of lighthearted fun. They also took pictures of the food, which was always served in a beautiful way, not just slopped on a plate. My parents told us that they were amazed at how, in Mexico, labor is never in short supply. The time spent on creating beautiful things, sometimes with inexpensive materials, is a contrast to the way we do things in the U.S. I’m not clear on exactly what in the Mexican culture is responsible for this, but you could see it in the pictures and I thought it was interesting.
March 21,2008
Hola, Everyone!
We are about to venture into unknown territory to reach Mexico City and then to the Texas border. Much time has been spent getting advice as to which routes to take or NOT to take. Throughout our travels most of the people we have met and seen in the campgrounds and the towns have been Canadians from British Columbia, but some have been from Ontario and even Nova Scotia. The only Americans we’ve encountered have been those who we met at the rally in Guaymas, then at Celestino Gasca and now at Jocotepec. No matter where one wants to go, the discussion usually gets around to the question, “Use the LIBRE or the CUOTA?”. There are good arguments for each. The toll roads (Cuotas or Maxipistas) can be quite expensive especially if there is a free road (Libre) nearby. The Cuotas are like our Interstates as they are more direct and bypass little towns or pueblas on the way. Many RVers do not like to slow down and subject their rigs to the speed bumps (topes or vibradores) which always are found at the entradas and salidas of towns. There is also much more traffic on the Libres as the locals take them. One is sure at some point to have to follow a slow truck or two or three inching along the narrow and curvy roads with no easy or safe way to pass. So, it takes much more time to get places on the Libre. It took us over 6 hours to go about 200 miles; but we were going from sea level from Teacapan to about 4,000 feet elevation near Tequila on roads that had so many switch backs that it reminded us of the drive along Big Sur in CA! On the Cuota we would never had seen a man sitting under a tree talking on his cell phone while his horse grazed on the grass, the portraits of the Lady of Guadalupe painted on rock outcroppings, vendors selling goodness knows what by the inevitable tope, black lava rocks spewed from the volcanoes in the distance, and trucks piled high with sugar cane.
From the flat coastal roads with fields of wheat, corn and chilies we moved to vistas of blue agave and yellow sugar cane as we neared Tequila and Amititlan. A later visit, took us to the Mundo Cuervo distillery complex (producer of the Jose Cuervo brand of tequila) across from the Centro Plaza in Tequila. Because it was Sunday there was a big crowd at the plaza with vendors with balloons, wands with bubble mix, and plastic pull -toys for all the muchachos. A mariachi band played for a motley group of dancers who wended their way around the arched walkways. Because it was Sunday we did not see any production of tequila, but we were taught the ceremony to appreciate the drink, much like the procedures used for wine or bourbon tasting and got a margarita at the end of our tour. Tossing down a shot is not the Mexican way of drinking tequila. The rested or aged tequila, which has an amber color and is to be sipped from small glasses, is quite different from the clear tequila which is used for mixed drinks. We were also introduced to agave nectar or honey. It is touted as being very healthful as even diabetics can partake of it. A vendor was looking for a US distributor. Anyone interested?
We have stayed the past 2 weeks at Roca Azul, a campground on the shores of Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest natural lake which is about 40 miles south of Guadalajara. We now understand why our travel companions, Pat and Richard Belanger, loved their stay here two years ago. The lake is surrounded by mountains, some of which slope dramatically down to the shore. Yellow and orange flowering trees and purple jacaranda are everywhere along with the fuchsia of the bougainvilleas. Three pools, one filled with water from the hot springs found hereabouts, tennis and basketball courts, and a shaded walkway along the lake can keep one occupied in the campground. But there are the towns of Jocotepec, San Juan Cosala, Ajijic, and Chapala, all of which have different personalities and attractions, to explore. Ajijic( (ah-hee-heek ) has a great gringo influence with its many boutiques, art galleries and restaurants. We enjoyed walking along the malecons catching the afternoon breeze in Jocotepec and Chapala, shopping at the local market days, and eating great food at great prices. We have bought pails of raspberries from the fields that surround the campground. Imagine a gallon of raspberries for under $2!
On our arrival to Roca Azul we were invited along with 18 others to come to a farewell dinner for one of the Canadians at a restaurant in San Juan Cosala (noted for its thermal spas). The fish tacos and the many ways we enjoyed shrimp (camarones) along the west coast are not as popular here. We thus began to try the different regional dishes offered in the western central highlands:
Chile en Nogada – mild green chilies stuffed with meat and fruit, served with a cream sauce, ground walnuts and cheese.
Birria de Chivo – steamed goat served in ceramic casseroles with chopped avacado, onions, cilantro, salsa and warm tortillas on the side.
Tortas Ahogadas – a baguette filled with chunks of pork then smothered with a searing chili sauce.
Mole – a complex sauce made with nuts, different chilies, spices, and sometimes chocolate to be served over chicken, turkey or pork.
We have gotten more confident about eating in the market places and stands and we are more at ease driving in the bigger cities as in old town Mazatlan and Centro Guadalajara. This may be because we have had more time to try these things than our last time in Mexico. Also, because we have been using our GPS which can tell us where to turn by watching the route on the screen. In Mexico the street names are hard to locate and read quickly if they exist at all.
We went into Guadalajara twice. We rode like sardines packed in with the locals on a high speed bus we boarded across from the Walmart where we parked our car. We ate and shopped at the huge three storied Mercado Libertad. Then we proceeded to view the Orozco murals at Instituto Cultural de Cabanas. The 57 murals painted in 1938-1939 warn of institutions (church and government) that subjugate humanity to cultivate power with images of fire, broken chains, blood and haunting “Star Wars” looking images. We walked up the bustling Plaza Tapatia with stands representing the tequila industry, to the Cathedral, Plaza de Armas, and the Palacio de Gobierno. Inside we came upon a volunteer who explains the history of Guadalajara and the Orozco mural of Miguel Hidalgo. Hildago’s Groto de Independencia launched the 1810 independence movement. (In 2010 Mexico will be commemorating the events of the 1810 and 1910 revolutions ). Since we didn’t have time to hear the history, etc.; he instead told us, in quite colorful language, his opinion of the current governor whose office was across the hall (he hates him). After walking through the Museo Regional de Guadalajara, we had an exciting and rapid taxi ride back to the Walmart. On our second trip we drove to the same Walmart but through a different section of the city than we went previously. (GPS does not know how many one-way streets there are in Mexico). We walked to nearby Parque Agua Azul where we saw parrots, an iguana, butterflies, orchids and The Casa de las Artesanias de Jalisco. It was a museum-like store that sold high quality Jalisco handicrafts. From there we drove to another section of the city to have a meal with a Mexican couple Pat and Richard had met at Roca Azul last year. It was nice to have a conversation with them as they spoke English quite well. The husband, Nick, has a company with 42 employees that sets up computer compatible environments for businesses. We learned that by law after 30 days of work, the employer is responsible to keep paying an employee even after he is no longer needed or is fired. He is grooming his 2 sons to run the business as they are preparing to leave the big city and have a farm with a few cattle to sell for income.
The best conversations we have had were because the other party knew English and we could easily talk back and forth. The owner of the Viva Mexico restaurant in San Juan Cosala told us about the myths of earlier times at Lake Chapala and how he was able after 25 years to have such a good business. He said he learned English from speaking to his customers. A couple from Mexico City, who shared a table with us at the Cuervo margarita bar, gave us more insight on the lack of economic progress in Mexico. We thus have learned much about Mexican life and history. Regrettably, we still are not able to put enough Spanish words together to have a little conversation with many smiling people we encounter on the streets. The young children look at us so intently as they recognize we are different from themselves. On a visit to a local orphanage, it would have been more fun to engage with the children in their games and soothe them if a mishap occurred on the climbing apparatus, other playground equipment, and the many wheeled vehicles and bicycles that were in enthusiastic use. This orphanage is run by three nuns and have about 30 children under their competent charge. Pat and I visited and played while Richard repaired and refitted seats and handle bars on the bicycles and tightened screws on the tables and benches.
We are healthy, happy, tanned and sometimes well rested. Until next time, adios Familia y Amigos.
Mike and Donna
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