Plaza Del Sol Hermosillo

The two months we've already spent here in Yuma have just flown by.

When you wake up to blue skies every day, it's takes a bit to remember that lots of Northerners are in the middle of winter. I just think back to those many, many gray skies in Cleveland during the winter months. Being just-down-the-road from Lake Erie all those winters one finally realized there's no escape unless you head SOUTH.

Some friends, Art and Susan Wilson, who ...

We did it!!!!!

We made it to downtown Yuma by 7 a.m. this morning to view the Balloon Ascensions that started at 7:15 a.m. It was something to see. We were able to walk around on the field among the participants. It was chilly there this morning, but warm again this afternoon.

We have arrived in Yuma at 3:30 p.m.

The Yuma Balloon Festival begins tomorrow morning, with the first launch at 7:00 a.m. and who thinks we will be there for the first launch? On Saturday and Sunday they launch at 6:00 a.m. We decided we wanted to view these balloons way back in Texas, it was ...

... not many of the snowbirds have arrived yet. Saw a small herd of wild burros outside of Q'zite. They were the first wildlife we'd come upon in many- a-mile. Our site here at the Park is quite nice with lots of room to spread out and enjoy the weather here this winter.

... card, but the second part vehicle temporary import, down the road 15km was not quite as smooth. I don't think they get that many UK registration and driving licences and the guy in the photo copy booth stiched me up by coping my US visa instead of the passport photo page, so I had to go round again. They were all very nice though and eventually I was on my way again. I don't know what I was worried about.
Mexico and in particular ...

Llegamos a Hermosillo cansados pero ansiosos para ver nuestros amigos que no habiamos visto en tanto tiempo. Visitamos a los Munoz, los Valdez, a Mireya y nuestros viejos vecinos. Hubo otros que queriamos ver tambien pero por una u otra cosa no los llegamos a ver. Y bueno, yo estaba un poco malita por el embarazo y por lo mismo nos quedamos un dia mas que planeado.

... over time as original ones were paid back. Our little crew had an amazing time in Hermosillo, the capital of the state of Sonora and a bustling marketplace in the day, but perfectly sleepy and seemingly almost deserted in the evening. A short but intensely powerful experience, a sharp reminder of what this was all about, the perfect wrap-up to a challenging journey of personal growth, and something none of us will soon forget.

... at us and motioned that we were headed the wrong way on a one-way street. He also motioned for us to take the first right we came across....which happened to be the size of a small back alley and was lined on either side with cars. To boot, there were people mulling around, children playing and dogs running around barking. Poor Michael was driving (as he has been this entire trip) and was literally sweating up a storm driving down this road. No-one would move out of ...

... extremely sweet and friendly, giving us fresh tamales and hot chocolate the first morning, and it also came with the added benefit of eating at Casa Margarita's just down the street. We stayed in the guest house for the rest of our time in Creel, until Friday morning. Creel is located next to an ecological reserve of the Tarahumara Indians, the native people of the canyons in Chihuahua. Visitors are allowed to enter this reserve for a small fee, explore the forests and the lake, the ...

... the (wow) month and a half, so I'll do my best to pull up the slack. Life stays busy down here with classes and work, and I've started working with 2 groups of people learning English in a program called Tandem here at the University. We meet each week just to talk, half the time in English and half the time in Spanish. Now, on to the memories... When I last left you I made two promises, one to find out why we had our first 3-day weekend, and one to have photos ready to go ...