Saturday 19th January - A very long day
Dad and David saw mum and myself off early on Saturday morning and we began our journey to Mexico. We were upstairs on the A380 in economy seats which seemed OK until around 8 hours into the trip - when I wanted to jump out the window to stretch my legs. I drooled over the business class seats as we disembarked in LAX and hoped that I could get an upgrade on the return journey. We managed to change terminals and find our flight to Mexico City easily - departing again before we'd left Melbourne, thanks to the international date line! The tricky bit was finding our way to the autobus to Queretaro - again we managed this pretty well with our limited Spanish. The security getting onto the bus was very tight and we even had to take off our wristwatch and jewellery to go through the Xray machine. The bus is spacious and has free internet access throughout the 3 hour journey. Sleep deprived but excited, we finally met Phil at the bus terminal and got to their house to see Sandy, Romi and meet Joshua. It was wonderful.
Sunday 20th January
After sleeping in until about 10.30am, we got ourselves ready to go to church. Joshua and 2 other babies born in the same week were presented to the church with their families and prayed for. Phil and Sandy invited people back for lunch. Ruti had cooked up quite a bit of food but we were amazed at how many turned up. When they all left in the evening, we counted up 68 people who had attended - plus babies! The tortillas and soft drink kept flowing.
It was a combination of Christmas and baby shower as we emptied our bags of all the gifts we had been asked to bring for Phil and Sandy. It was great fun with lots of laughs. It's a full house. Ruti (Sandy's mum) and Job(Sandy's brother) are also staying in the house, so Romi ends up on an airbed, mum and I share a double bed and Job sleeps in the study- all very cosy.
Monday 21st January
The day begins early for Job and Ruty as he takes her to work by 7am then returns the car for Phil to take Romi to school by 8am. Phil then goes to the market to get supplies for Renovarte cafe and spends most of his day there. He brings Romi home from school in the afternoon and we all eat the main meal together about 3-4pm. After that we went to Renovarte cafe to check it out and enjoy good coffee.
The evening is spent playing with Joshua, chatting etc until more tortillas about 9-10pm then bed.
Tuesday 22nd January
Cathy finally decided to venture out for a run around the housing estate whilst mum went for a walk. I felt good to begin with, but I soon tired and wondered whether it was smog or altitude that was affecting me - perhaps just out of shape! We all ventured out to pick up Romi from school and ate main meal(comidos) at a restaurant in El Centro - the historical central part of Queretaro. We wandered around the shops for awhile after that, and bought a few gifts. Cathy enjoyed supporting the local Mexican economy!
Wednesday 23rd January
The morning was spent playing with Joshua. He loves to be carried around and we are probably spoiling him! He makes cute faces that we named "possum face" and "Emma face". I think he is even beginning to smile. So lovely to see a healthy baby. Retail therapy continued in the afternoon when we went to a shopping centre. Cathy loves to buy "zapatos", the mexican word for shoes. She bought some bright orange suede boots from Zara(reduced from $1299 to $299 pesos - which is about $20AUD) and Sandy got 2 pairs of high heels too. Phil bought some jeans.
Thursday 24th January
Encouraged by our successful retail therapy on Wednesday, we went to a different shopping centre where there was an outlet store. Prices were even cheaper so Cathy bought some Mexican jeans for about $17AUD and Phil got some too. Sandy got some comfortable flat shoes for working in the cafe. Shoe count - Cathy 1 pair, Sandy 3 pairs. Cathy spent the evening sitting around Renovarte cafe whilst Phil worked there. The best part was travelling by motor-scooter behind Phil through Mexican traffic! Mum was glad to see us home safely. She and Sandy went to check out the supermarket.
Friday 25th January Cathy's last full day.
In Mexico, you have to register the birth at a municipal office with witnesses and lots of documentation. We headed off eventually and lined up for our turn. Sandy and Phil had to have copies of their birth certificates and marriage certificate and they need to know the names and ages of all the grandparents. I was surprised that Ruti is only 5 years older than me! Phil and Sandy had to sign a form to say that his name was not going to be a joke, form rude abbreviations or cause embarassment when he is older. After all the paperwork was printed out, we signed it and Joshua had his thumb print taken. His birth certificate had his foot print and thumb print on it.
Cathy went for a run in the afternoon as it was another warm day and there wasn't much else to do.
When Romi got home from school she slept for a few hours. When she woke, Phil and Sandy decided we should go shopping at Zara again to get some clothes for Romi. Mum and I headed off to look at other shops then patiently sat outside the closed stores watching all the lights going out until Phil and Co. emerged from the Zara store with purchases in hand. Romi's shoe count was up to 2. Phil found a pair large enough for his feet too. Sandy and Cathy resisted adding to their totals.
The final part of the day was spent cleaning up at Renovarte then going out for tacos at a street stall with the Renovarte crew inclusing Eri, Job and Adrian. Sandy had to rush home early to feed Joshua.
Saturday 26th January - Australia Day spent heading home
After her final Mexican meal of gorditas and sopas cooked by Ruti, Cathy packed her bags and headed for the autobus. It was sad for all as we parted - until next time. The 3 hour bus trip went smoothly but the flight to LA was delayed by 40 minutes. To fill in time(4 hours), I found a mexican shoe shop. Unable to decide between 2 pairs, I bought them both! Shoe count - Cathy and Sandy 3 pairs each, Romi 2 pairs, Phil 1 pair! Mum will have to get shopping. A bit of duty free shopping for make up followed then a coffee before boarding. The pilot made up time on the flight to LA (4 hours) but the customs and border protection queue took over an hour. My baggage was patiently doing the rounds of the carousel.
I wandered around to Tom Bradley terminal to find the Qantas flight, hoping to hear of a successful upgrade to business with FF points. No luck - so I just had to settle for a shower in Qantas club, which felt wonderful. I had hoped to speak with David on Skype after his Alpine ride. With "Find Friends", I could "see" him driving back to Melbourne to surprise me!!! Unfortunately, that meant he didn't see my text messages. Only 15-16 hours to go trying to snooze in economy with a full flight. Later, of course, I realised I was tracking him in the ambulance to Wangaratta Hospital after his accident!! There are some things one is better not to know at the time. It does seem to be creating a pattern though with 2 out of 2 trips to Mexico resulting in one of my family ending up in ICU.
