Charming story about bus etiquette here.

 I ride the bus to and from work.   Many times, I get one of those special seats up front  reserved for old folks , but this particular day, I couldn't even get up the steps into the bus, it was sooo crowded.  The kid in front of me, who also could not get in, turned and said...Atras...  and we hustled to the back door and pushed in there.  IN !!!  My first thought was, we didn't pay or swipe our bus passes ( yes, I have my very own bus pass).  No worries.  Others had been here before.  The kid in front of me simply took my card from my little hand and passed it with his to the guy in front of him, and he to the guy in front of him, and so on and so on until it got to the front, someone up there swiped our cards, and they traveled back to us, right down the line...like clockwork through probably 20 people standing in the aisle. I was thrilled.  Not only do they do that with passes, they do it with cash.  A few buses still take cash ( this being one of the few) so someone had a bill, probably 20 pesos, it got passed hand to hand, to the driver up front, and the change came back the same way.  A bus ride is 11 pesos.  Another wonderful thing you wouldn't get to experience if you were staying in a 5 star hotel.  You would have hot water, of course, and a bed that did not squeak every time you moved, but you would not have this sweet bus experience. The end. 👊 Bam !

Random photos

Jade plants have flowers....who knew ?  Certainly I did not know that.  These blooms are about all done but still pretty and surprising to me. 

This is a visiting squirrel.  This student was studying in a classroom ( the rest of the class was at some sort of conference) so we stopped to chat and this squirrel showed up.  Clearly, the squirrel has visited here before.  The student was very friendly and reluctantly agreed to chat with us.  He tried hard to use his English; it was encouraging in many respects.

The campus is very well maintained...their gardeners do a great job. Following are some photos I took recently with my pitiful phone ( Iphone 7)  Just imagine how pretty they would be if I had a newer phone /camera.

This is a tree that the Catholics revere, they say its the type of tree that Jesus's "thorny crown " was made from.....notice the thorns. Quien sabe....as they around here.

Just an example of various plants planted in the remains of a tree that had been trimmed or parts had broken off....so nice.

This is a photo of a festival they had on campus on the only rainy day in the past month....very dry here which is not the norm....people are concerned....finally.  But the festival was to celebrate corn and nopal ( its a cactus whose parts are used in cooking)  It was a fundraiser for one of the engineering colleges and there were lots of giggles in the English teacher's office/work area about the connection between engineering and corn....but, they've been doing it for years so I guess it works.

This is the big open space on campus I've been eyeing for pickleball courts in the not too distant future.  Apparently very little gets done on campus from Dec. 1 to Jan 10 plus I don't have any of my PBall stuff, so I plan to get as much as I can from my sister's place in MD in March, the first school break during which I will be allowed ( according the PC) to travel out of Mexico.  So, it will likely be April before I get the PB effort going. I did have a very encouraging meeting with  the bosses of the Drama Dept about my interest in working on a play with them in English; they were very receptive so that may be my focus, in addition to co-teaching classes with the English staff, until Spring.

I don't think I already put this on the blog but I didn't want to forget it.  I was walking along the sidewalk looking to my right into the stores ( when I wasn't staring right in front of myself to avoid tripping) and all of a sudden I looked to my left and there was that man, sitting on the tailgate of that pickup making Pico de gallo....omg.... and when I asked him if I could take a picture he was so agreeable, just smiled and got back to work.   Oh btw, pico de gallo, the name , comes from the scraps of vegetables they used to throw to the chickens, and now make into great salsa.

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Kind of a normal looking meat counter in the mercado...some are much more graphic....I'll get another photo.

 

We took that bus trip to Amealco and the bus station in Queretaro was so impressive...shiny and clean.

I took this photo in Amealco as the mom walked by us with  that little guy in the hat strapped to her back.

Two our lovely young people.   He took her to a quincera, her first ever and it was an amazing experience.

THis is the program from our swearing in ceremony on Nov. 9..  Ever since, I've been looking for a place to live that will accept Gringo....I need him to be here with me.  I eventually found a place but I have to get it approved by Peace Corps.  They have to accept it from a safety and security standpoint but they also have to approve it as being an "appropriate" place for a volunteer to live....not too fancy.  I assure you, it is not but I have to convince them too.   If it gets approved, I'll send a video or photos...its nice but not too nice.

These next two photos are included just because they are so  curious..this "flea market/antique shop" popped up on a street where I walk daily.  Just interesting.

And then there's this...another delicious and healthy option I found.  Cost, about $6.00 for the two thick toasted slices of peanut butter toast with that lovely fruit arranged on top.  The green juice shown in the background was about $3.00 ( 160 pesos for both) and it was my main meal of the day and sooo delicious.  The place is VegCo...a little vegan restaurant near me. Before this late breakfast, I had gone to the PC office to feed the kittens and mom and also to a local mercado to buy fruit for lunches at  work next week.  I joined their coffee club so now I can have a cup of coffee at work  without schlepping it from the cafeteria which is nearby.  Little by little, things are getting normalized and predictable.  I also discovered that my bus does not come to the bus stop where I have been waiting after work.  Next week will be a lot better when I wait at the right stop. ( duh )   It will be nice to get into a place where I can actually cook and have a refrigerator and live like a regular person but in the meantime, this isn't too bad.:)The only bad part is not having Gringo with me.  
 

More random photos.

The mural is finished.  What a beautiful legacy to leave at the Peace Corps Mexico office in Queretaro. The gal on the far left, Elinor, drew it, the one on the far right, Jordan, organized it and both did a huge portion of the actual painting.  Several others contributed their efforts and all of us cheered them on.

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A despidido picnic.

The same depidido picnic, just earlier..a really great group of young people. Queretaro has done well in the neighborhood park department...lots of them.

A despidido lunch with some good women.  The gal to my right is Jordan who reminds me soooo much of Nicole and she was the chief organizer of the mural.  The gal next to her is the artist.

These are called leles, indigenous women made them for their children and now they are sold to tourists.  I got these for my granddaughters but shipping is soooo expensive from here to the US, I've decided to just take them with me when I go for Katy's wedding next June.....unless I get an earlier opportunity.

These are Catrinas.  They are a caricature of the Spanish elite ladies dressed up for the Dios de Muertos.  They have become iconic and there's a parade of Catrinas during the week before the actual dia.  Posada was the original cartoonist in the 1800s who first drew and published the cartoon. I bought them but too expensive to ship them.

The young folks had a prom at the end of pre service training and gave out lots of awards. ...."Most likely to......."   etc.    Lindsay and Grace gave me this one. It says, " Most likely to make us smile."   I loved it. 

 

THis is our cohort, about 38 volunteer trainees and their counterparts from the communities, assembled the day before swearing in for a last minute workshop.  I'm in the far right back

Some strange metal sculptures I happened to spy as I was walking thru the neighborhood.  Ya just never know.  See next photo.

This appears to be a "swiss chalet" built on three residential lots on one of the neighborhood streets.  I did n't want to get too close to take a picture....just seemed wrong.  But it was just so out of character with the block.....I guess there is no "style" zoning.  The cafe curtains combined with bars on the windows seemed a little strange, too.

This is hard to see because of the gray car, but the fellow on the bike has a huge assortment of brooms and mops etc in a container in front of him over the front tire.  He rides thru the neighborhoods selling which actually is a huge service as most or many people have to use public buses and its hard to carry mops and brooms on those buses.

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These are the cats at the PC office, mom and her 4 kits.  The whitish one is beautiful...white body with gray ears and tail and light blue eyes, the others are two black and one orange tiger.  I feed them on the weekends and someone in the office feeds them during the week, hopefully.  They are still pretty wild but we're hoping to somehow catch them, get them all vaccinated, and maybe all sterilized if the kits are old enough.  Looking for homes for the kits.  PC says they'll keep the mom, and hopefully feed her.
 

More photos

Just had to show you this plate of food....so delicious and healthy.  the round item on top is called a sope, its a thicker tortilla with frijoles, cheese salsa etc., the folded thing is a quesadilla with oxaca cheese, in front is guacamole with chunks of avocado and tomato,( not as mashed as I'm used to), white beans and another couple of things I can't recall the names of but all of it was soooo delicious.

These are the ladies who cooked the tortillias at the time and brought all those bowls with foil covers with so many delicious things to put on the tortillas.  They were no slouches....they had a business card which they were happy to share. 

We gathered for that meal with the Mexican English teachers we had been working with for the past few weeks.  My co-teacher was the the guy in the hat.  The two women standing work for the PC as language and culture facilitators....Ali and Sheri...lovely ladies.

This is a wedding procession one of my companeros viewed from his window right after we got to Queretaro.

One of the classes I taught at UNAQ ( the university specializing in training aeronautical workers..from flight attendants to pilots) had a little going away party for me.  Their teacher is on the left and in the earlier photo with the hat.  The gal in the costume wore that in recognition of Dio de Muertos which is coming soon and actually celebrated on Nov. 2 so much so that PC gave us the whole day off.

One example of their interest and use of peppers of all types.

This is a Dio de Muertos commemoration in a nearby restaurant.

A representative of the indigenous community, the Otomi I think, came to give us a little talk and show us how to make little do dads.  She spoke briefly about the women's role in their community as part of our education re. the gender roles in the community.  This was probably the weakest part of the whole training effort, in my humble opinion. I would have enjoyed knowing more about the other roles of the indigenous women of Mexico. 

The local mercado....incredible.  There are some meat aisles that will make a vegetarian out of everyone.

Choices....

THis is the entryway to one very unassuming restaurant and the food is very very good.  A real find.

This is the mural crew...they're not quite finished but it's coming along.  It's a collage of flora and fauna from the US and Mexico in very bright colors.  

We swear in on Nov. 9 and then start with our universities the following week.  Unfortunately, the students will be in the middle of exams and there are a lot of partial days until Christmas vacay so we don't really start a regular schedule until the first part of January but we can't really take leave  until after Feb. 9.   It will be good to get started.  I have some ideas about teaching an english class in the department that does the sustainable/environmental projects on campus, getting pickleball started and exploring the possibilities of getting a state wide spelling bee competition going, along with co-teaching some English classes. I also hope to get connected to the professor who handles any drama efforts...hoping they'll have an interest in doing a play in English.  

A couple of my companeros and I were judges at a costume contest at my University.  I feel like the incredible shrinking woman and its made worse by standing behind that giant....he is also an English teacher at my U. and a very nice guy.  The fellow behind me is also a PC volunteer at my University.

The mural is 99% finished in his shot.   I'll send the final one soon.

This is a schedule of the activities that were planned for the week preceding Dia de Muertos this year.  No trick or treating is involved.

Another mercado shot.

A bike shop in the Amealco mercado.

These are some shots from a little town, Almeaco, not far from Queretaro, an hour's bus trip.

I saw her running by in her dress but she got real shy when I approached for a photo.

This is a rendition of an altar prior to the Spanish conquest.

This  is a post hispanic altar and is in the lobby of the main governmental building ....see the change from the pre hispanic one above.

An ad that's a bit comical.  They use the word "smoking" to describe a formal tuxedo....ala smoking jacket.

I took this photo on a walk and thought the way they propped up a low limb, rather than cut it off. I still had to duck a bit, but appreciate their care for trees...remember  an earlier photo that showed the way the sidewalk was carved out to allow the root to have exposure.