So, summer is the time when people arrive or depart from the post. Our good friends C&J packed up, and we watched Baby A (who isn't so much of a baby anymore) while the movers did their thing.
Before school released for summer, a few girlfriends and I went to the Basillica of Guadaloupe (that's my friend L crashing a group of lovely blue nuns). Afterwards, we explored the religious item vendors nearby, and we stopped at one shop that had a poster of the Virgin explaining the symbolism. The vendor came out and chatted with us (in Spanish), and when he found that two of my friends are from California and Texas, he went on and on about how those states were once part of Mexico and how Mexico was going to take back all of the lost territory, etc. We allowed him to continue, thinking to ourselves and outloud later how Mexico is having enough trouble keeping the states it has now, but we were very polite and he gave me the poster that we had been reading, refusing payment. (Maybe it was a consolation prize for the eventual loss of the American Southwest.)
Raul and I had a table built, based on a design from Pottery Barn. The difference between this table and the PB table is that this one is made of solid wood, it's bigger, and was 1/4 the price. I have since stained and finished the table, but the polyeurethane turned out to be very Mexican in its quality, turning gloopy and cloudy, so as soon as the rainy season lets up, I plan on refinishing. Since I wanted to do the finishing and since I don't have a garage, I ordered the chairs when the table was delivered, so I could do everything in stages. The furniture guy agreed to the design, quoted me a price, and then we've never heard from him again. He's a very dependable guy, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he's gone away for the summer.
School let out and a few of us ladies piled everyone into the car and went to the Ciudadela Market where despite all of our best haggling skills, we could not get anyone to take the kids.
My good friend K found out at the very last moment that instead of moving back to Mexican California (formerly of the USA) she and her brood were going to Africa. There was much stress to be had, so I kidnapped her and we went to the Zócalo. Though by this time Mexico was out of the World Cup, the giant FIFA Fan-fest screen remained showing live games. I was sort of astounded at how many Dutch people were hanging out in Mexico City to cheer their team on against Brazil. K and I climbed the Metropolitan Cathedral in time for the noon bells which were really impressive. We visited the National Palace and saw Diego Rivera's famous murals and received some lecture about my sunglasses being prohibited for safety reasons.
So, summer is the time when people arrive or depart from the post. Our good friends C&J packed up, and we watched Baby A (who isn't so much of a baby anymore) while the movers did their thing.
Before school released for summer, a few girlfriends and I went to the Basillica of Guadaloupe (that's my friend L crashing a group of lovely blue nuns). Afterwards, we explored the religious item vendors nearby, and we stopped at one shop that had a poster of the Virgin explaining the symbolism. The vendor came out and chatted with us (in Spanish), and when he found that two of my friends are from California and Texas, he went on and on about how those states were once part of Mexico and how Mexico was going to take back all of the lost territory, etc. We allowed him to continue, thinking to ourselves and outloud later how Mexico is having enough trouble keeping the states it has now, but we were very polite and he gave me the poster that we had been reading, refusing payment. (Maybe it was a consolation prize for the eventual loss of the American Southwest.)
Raul and I had a table built, based on a design from Pottery Barn. The difference between this table and the PB table is that this one is made of solid wood, it's bigger, and was 1/4 the price. I have since stained and finished the table, but the polyeurethane turned out to be very Mexican in its quality, turning gloopy and cloudy, so as soon as the rainy season lets up, I plan on refinishing. Since I wanted to do the finishing and since I don't have a garage, I ordered the chairs when the table was delivered, so I could do everything in stages. The furniture guy agreed to the design, quoted me a price, and then we've never heard from him again. He's a very dependable guy, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he's gone away for the summer.
School let out and a few of us ladies piled everyone into the car and went to the Ciudadela Market where despite all of our best haggling skills, we could not get anyone to take the kids.
My good friend K found out at the very last moment that instead of moving back to Mexican California (formerly of the USA) she and her brood were going to Africa. There was much stress to be had, so I kidnapped her and we went to the Zócalo. Though by this time Mexico was out of the World Cup, the giant FIFA Fan-fest screen remained showing live games. I was sort of astounded at how many Dutch people were hanging out in Mexico City to cheer their team on against Brazil. K and I climbed the Metropolitan Cathedral in time for the noon bells which were really impressive. We visited the National Palace and saw Diego Rivera's famous murals and received some lecture about my sunglasses being prohibited for safety reasons.
We visited the Templo Mayor, the main pyramid/temple complex for Mexico City that the Spanish built right over the top of in an act of defiance. Outside were some groovy Aztec dancers, some of whom scared the crap out of me.
I started a photo-a-day-for-a-year project that has resulted in some of my pictures having a watermark on them. Since the girls are out of school right now, often my photo for the day starts with "Hey, girls, let's go outside!"
The rainy season started and true to form, July was very dark and very cold. But when we get blue skies, boy are they beautiful.
I love your table! Is this from the same furniture guy? If it is, sometimes he does get pretty swamped but just send him another e-mail to ask how everything is going and he'll eventually get back to you. I can't wait to see what your chairs look like. What color did you finish it all with? As for the polyurethane, you definitely have to stick with the imported stuff like minwax even though it's expensive and not the best stuff compared to what you can get in the US. I tried the local stuff too and it was a DISASTER. I think they just scrape it straight from the pine trees and stick it in a can.
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