Bazaar del Sabado

Bazaar del Sabado is in San Angel, a small community south of Mexico City. You would never know that there was a bazaar, until you turn off the main road onto cobblestone streets lined with artists and booths. At first glance, it looks like you will never find any place to park, but two out of the three times we have gone, we have parked with the same people for 30 pesos and the other time, we found a spot right on the street for free. The key is to get there fairly early though.

The main square of this little town is filled with artists and all their works. Most of it is paintings, but some have sculptures. It seems that the artists have their spots where they set up shop every week.

There is a main building that actually houses the bazaar. It's an old home that is set up in a square shape. All the vendors are around the outside rooms and there is a nice restaurant in the center. Some of the things you will find inside the bazaar are silk flowers, homemade dresses, jewelry, Tree of Life structures, awesome pottery, marmalade and other treats and other upscale items. This is truly a mecca of art and every vendor has something completely different to sell, which is not usually the case when going to a Mexican market.

The restaurant in the center looks fabulous, although we have never eaten there. Instead, we opt to get the quesadillas that are made in one corner of the courtyard/restaurant. They make the tortillas fresh right on the spot and the quesadillas are made to order. You can order just cheese or get a little more adventurous and get mushroom, chicken, huitlacoche (corn mold), cactus and shrimp, and a few other options. This stand is also where Dave gets his harchata drink that he shares with Claire! You can choose to sit in a small restaurant area to eat these or get them to go.

Behind the building is a large tented area that has many more stalls. Here you will find some of the more traditional items in Mexico - more pottery, jewelry, bead work, clothes, scarves, pewter, and other trinkets. There is also a guy who sells these awesome percussion instruments. There is some duplicating of items in the tented area and also along the streets, but for the most part, this bazaar/market is the best because it is not stall after stall of the same items, just sold by different people. There is just a lot of fantastic art here.

We also discovered this past week that there is a whole second square a block away! More artists and more stalls. You can easily spend three hours here looking at everything.

The area that the bazaar is in also has many stores with more art, furniture, purses, and I even found quilt and yarn stores. The whole area is a great way to spend a Saturday morning. It's calm, inspiring, and cultural.

Dulce - January 30, 2010

A lot of people have asked why we didn't bring our beloved cats to Mexico and it wasn't an easy decision to make, but Mexico is not the best place for indoor cats. Here it is difficult to have indoor cats because many of the windows here do not have screens and with the weather down here, you need to have your windows and doors open most days. We were afraid that our cats (who love to try and sneak out) would get out and be lost forever. Also, Pumpkin is 16 years old and I was really afraid of making him traveling this far and Vinnie has been his buddy for almost 11 so I didn't want to separate them. My mom graciously took them in and I really appreciate it because I know how much my sister and her love them. It is comforting to know that they are being spoiled as they are pretty much accustomed. Ryan, Dave's brother, who is staying in our house, kept Bourbon at home.

When we got here, I was missing my four-legged friends. I thought getting a fish would help with some of that need for a pet, but that just didn't cut it. We thought about getting a dog for a couple weeks and decided we thought that if we were going to get one we better get one now before the baby comes so that it could acclimate to the family and so we could acclimate to it. At my first Newcomers meeting, they had a table set up for the group M.A.I.N. (Mexico Animals in Need). Through this group, they help two rescue groups in Mexico City, one of which is called 'Happy Dogs'. One day while checking the posts on the Newcomers Yahoo group, there was a post for a newly rescued dog named 'Lobo'. He was a black lab with beautiful blue eyes. I fell in love with his picture and description. So we contacted 'Happy Dogs' and received an email back almost immediately.

We decided to go check out Lobo at Happy Dogs on the Saturday of Dave's long weekend. We printed up the extremely detailed directions and were very thankful for the time that was spent in writing out those directions. 'Happy Dogs' is only a few exits away from our exit, but the climb up the mountain that took us awhile. When we first got there, I was a little weary of how the dogs would behave and how Claire would react. Claire's recent exposure to dogs is to Ringo, Uncle Ryan's very hyper Puggle. Ringo likes to chew on Claire's clothes and use her as a springboard so she hasn't been all that keen about dogs lately. 'Happy Dogs' houses around 40 dogs and even though they were not all outside, there were still many dogs that came to greet us.

When we walked in the gate, not one dog jumped on us. They were so friendly and calm, all of them! Christine, the owner of 'Happy Dogs' said that most of the dogs just got back from their two hour walk up in the mountains. We started manuevering through all the dogs and trying to get a good look at them. When you start petting one dog, another one comes up and very politely paws at you so that you will pet them too. When you stop petting the one you were to pet another one, that dog starts pawing at you.

We found Lobo off to the side. He was very shy, but also extremely sweet. With one glance at him, I knew he was just not going to be right. He was very big. Here in Mexico, a large dog wouldn't matter so much, but thinking ahead to when we have to go home, a large dog would just not fit in our tiny Ferndale home.

Now, if you know me, you know that I can't just walk away because the one dog that we thought we were going to get wasn't exactly right (and let me tell you the guilt I felt about not taking Lobo). So I started looking around at the other dogs. Most of them were larger dogs. Christine suggested a puppy so that the puppy and Claire could grow up together. I really did not want a puppy because, like Claire, my most recent exposure to a puppy was Ringo. I did not want to go through the biting, potty training, and all the other extra things that come along with a puppy, but I did agree with Christine and puppies are irresistible.

There were three puppies there. Two from one litter who were two months old and another one that looked like part Husky that was three to four months old. I loved the Husky puppy. It was black with the markings over the eyes like a Husky. He was super cute, but one look at his paws and I knew we would be getting a large dog! I turned my attention back to the other two. Their mom, Candy, was also at 'Happy Dogs'. She looked like a Saint Bernard, but only the size of a medium sized dog. I was holding one of the puppies and she just slept in my arms. She was so sweet. She also had the better markings of the two. I looked at Dave and he knew it was all over. We decided to take her!

On the way home, our new puppy cried and cried, maybe I should say she wailed. I kept thinking to myself, "What did I do?" and that it was going to be a LONG night. As soon as we got in the car, we started talking about names and before we even got to the bottom of the mountain, Dave came up with the name "Dulce". Dulce, pronounced Dool-say, means sweet or candy in Spanish and we thought it was appropriate considering her mother's name was Candy. We stopped at the pet store on the way home and picked up a bag of dog food and two dog dishes. We obviously weren't prepared for a new dog. We got home and fed her, then got everyone ready for bed.

We fashioned up a box with a blanket and two warm water bottles in it for Dulce's bed. We put her in it and climbed into bed and the whining started! Again, the thought of "What did I do?" crept into my head. Well, obviously the box wasn't going to work. I told Dave to just let her out of the box and put the blanket on the floor. Well, that did it. She curled up on the blanket and slept there the until about 2 in the morning. Dave let her out to go potty and she came back in and went back to sleep on her blanket and slept until morning. I knew right then, that we were going to be dealing with a spoiled puppy!

The first couple of days she whined a bit, but she was very sweet, cuddly and calm. That lasted about two days! After the whining subsided, the full puppy in her came out! She started biting ankles and wanting to chew on pretty much everything, although I must say that it could be worse. She seems to be most nippy in the morning when you have bare feet or ankles and she can be diverted with a toy...eventually. She's still not as hyper as Ringo and she is still cuddly and sweet, just not when your ankle or hands are her focus. (Sorry Uncle Ryan for the Ringo digs, but that little bugger has some energy!)

Dulce has fit in pretty well. She's had her ups and downs and is still not 100% potty trained, but she is getting there. She is smart enough to know that she only goes potty in one spot of the yard and also smart enough to know that one blanket is not enough to lay on, she needs a comfy, squishy pillow or she whines. She loves to play fetch and race around the yard and bushes. She does not love to go for walks on the leash. In fact, she doesn't even budge. She seems to adore Claire, even though the feeling is not always mutual. In Claire's defense, she has ruined two of her kick balls and often takes off with her toys from her rice box, including some of the rice, but I figure it's excellent practice for Claire with the upcoming little sister!

Although, there are still days I think, "What did I do?", overall, we are pleased with our spoiled rotten puppy and hope she grows, with behavior, not in size, quickly. We can't wait for everyone to meet her in person.

Papalote Children's Museum - February 1, 2010

I am going back quite awhile here! We went to this museum on a Monday that Dave had off from work. We were told by someone to get there early as it seems that the majority of Mexicans like to sleep in and it was good sound advice.

We got there when the museum opened and had a chuckle at the numerous staff that lined the walkway into the museum, each one greeting us with "Hola". It was something out of the movies.

We were a little lost when we first entered because we didn't have a map and everything was in Spanish. We just started heading towards the back of the museum and then up the stairs to start at the furthest point.

There was a small area on the top floor that was for younger children. They had about four computers set up for games (of course, in Spanish), a spot to ride these small trains that you sit on and push with your feet, a cubby with dress up clothes and songs so you could dance and see yourself on the video screen, and a few small slides.

On the bottom floor, they had a mock 'Wal-Mart' set up where kids could go in and pretend to shop for five items. The kids were suppose to be between 3 and 8, but we figured she was close enough, and besides, shopping is her favorite pastime. Parents are not allowed in, but instead peer in through the large windows. We could see them telling Claire five items, but we weren't sure if she completely understood them. After they collected the five items, they brought it up to the cash register where someone rang it up, then bagged it for them and gave them their receipt. Claire thought this was a blast and it was her request to do this activity a second time before we left.

Things were a little different the second time though. We prepped her prior to entering the second time by reminding her that she needed to get only five items and then bring them up to the register. We waited outside the doors forever for Claire to go in! When it was finally her turn, they let in around seven kids, sat them down in a circle, and had a little pow wow with them - kind of campy. Who knows what they were telling them, but just like her daddy, Claire sat there and nodded her head as if she understood. They finally let the kids go off and go shopping, but Claire got too excited again and wanted to fill her cart with more than five items! They stopped her and brought her to the register. Then after her stuff was rung up and bagged, they wanted her to put the items back on the shelf. She didn't have to do that before! She wasn't sure where all her items went, considering she was just grabbing everything in sight, but they helped her put it all back. Then the kids were suppose to put their carts back too and wait for the rest to finish up so they could sit for another pow wow. Well, Claire had enough and she took off for the door to get out! I made Dave explain to the workers that she didn't speak Spanish! I thought she did pretty well for playing along!

There was also a huge outdoor area. It had a basketball hoop out in the middle of a pool of water. There were a ton of balls that you could pick up and try to throw into the basket. There was also tables set up for crafts, play structures, and a giant sandbox. The weather on this day wasn't the greatest. It was cold and a bit rainy so we didn't get to do very much outside. Claire really wanted to play in the sandbox, but being the mean mom that I am, I wouldn't let her because she had on a dress and tights and I knew how that would feel later.

Around the outside, they had a bubble station (much like the one at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum). We played in there awhile, but the tables were up too high for little ones to reach easily and the cold weather put a damper on this activity.

The last area that was for children Claire's age was a sort of 'environmental awareness' area. They had turtles in a large dome that you could watch swim and chicks hatching out of eggs (one chick was out and to be honest, I don't think the rest were going to hatch by the looks of them). They also had a boat where kids could "fish" using a magnetic pole. By this time, the museum was getting super crowded and it was hard to get a chance to use many of the exhibits so we decided to hit the store and the bathrooms and then head out.

Overall, Dave and I were quite disappointed in the museum, for what we paid. This is one of the more expensive museums in the city. It didn't help that it was all in Spanish and I am not saying that they should make it in English, but it just made it harder for us to understand and get the most out of it. Most of the exhibits were for older children and the exhibits that they had for little kids didn't have enough items there for all to play with. I also realize that my other experience with a children's museum is the Grand Rapids museum and it is awesome! Claire did have a good time though so Dave and I realized that as long as she had fun, it was worth the trip, at least once.