Crowne Plaza Monterrey

... day.

The surprising part, at least for me, was that I really enjoyed Monterrey. The city itself is interesting, and we explored several free museums and an interesting park. We also went for a nice long walk along a canal (not clear if this was a natural canal made pretty or a man-made canal). The entire length had been made into a park, where they hold concerts, yoga, have boatrides, whatever. There are also ...

... of back alley in downtown Monterrey. It has a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom with AC! All for US$10 per night! Sometimes even though we seem to be taken care of - there's just no peace. Monterrey is a BEAUTIFUL city, although very Americanized. After two more meetings were set up for this weekend, we knew we had to cancel and keep moving. It was confirmed by MANY. The people were not happy, but oh well. On to Tampico!

... br> When we arrived at the church, we met the pastor in the back. They told me that I had to speak, yet this was news to me. I declined nicely, and they kept pushing me until Rob said "She doesn't want to!" They had a shocked look on thier face. See, I really felt that I wasn't supposed to.
So we walked into the church, which was more like an overcrowded room. I entered the pew and the woman to the left of me was ...

... a boat trip around the lake in a boat belonging to Evers' friend Jimmy along with his son also called Jimmy (who also entertained us with their brilliant family band and some great rock and roll!). All in all, Monterrey as great fun, it was great to meet with a familiar face and be shown such a good time with great people. Thank you Ever, Laura and all the Garza family!

I left on New Years Day from Nashville, TN at 6:40 am exactly and arrived in Monterrey, MX at 4:15 pm. (Apparently, there are no direct flights from Nashville to Monterrey). The flight there was a little bit grueling. I didn't sleep the night before and had an energy drink, which made sleeping on the plane difficult. Around 1 pm, I landed in Cancun, which is very beautiful and... warm. There I was arriving in a thick coat ...

... the weather was not as i expected and rain was everywhere the car was almost under water, this was the 50 year flood that i ever so carefully time to arrive in, The local river was flooded peoples house were underwater and shops were empting out there stores. Meeting the family was sweet, i still wasnt 100percent with my spainish and here they spoke even faster and was tht much harder to understand, and realised who hard it is venturing into another 'world' alone ...

... me. there was no problem. coming back to Mexico, we were just waved through. I've never been "waved through" a border crossing before. apparently burrito stands for little donkey, because burro is donkey. :P Marichu and i went for tacos at a place, and ironically she's the one with a bad stomach ache now... it's funny because she took so many careful measures to make sure my stomach would be able to deal with the food. lol.

... want to take any pictures at because Maria said it was slightly dangerous to have my camera out... it was a huge market though, with everything you could think of to buy. the food smelled so tasty but Maria said i wouldn't survive if i ate some. after that we picked up Maria's friend Sandy and went to another market where there was live music then we went to a large strip mall

... Cavazos' home. Jaime's faithful old widowed mother, Sra Maria, is in her mid-eighties. Her husband and faithful elder, don Isaías Cavazos, died a few years ago. Nice to be with them for supper all together with several relates. Wonderful feeling and fellowship with them. That evening Jon and I walk two blocks away to Benjamin & Rita Lopez' (Jaime's sister) for the night, after some music---they also have a piano.

... the pictures to this computer because our laptops do not work with their network. I hope that you are all enjoying a great break! We are loving Monterrey! It is soo americanized, that sometimes you forget that you are in Mexico! Everything is American! WalMart, Chile´s, Sam´s Club, Home Depot.....even the cars are huge! SUV´s every where! Ok, I will get those pictures up as soon as I can figure out this computer!! Adios!