Ron and Nancy in Tlaquepaque Jalisco Mexico: January 2012

Christmas has come and gone and it has been great fun for Nancy and I. Dennis, his girlfriend Lee and Glenn were all here so there was never a dull moment. Glenn left about a week ago and Dennis and Lee leave for Australia today. We will miss them all a lot.

I have a capaccino every day at a special restaurant called Cafe San Pedro. This day Dennis and Glenn and Lee joined me.

And these are our three favorite waiters,waiteresses that serve us the delicious capaccino

Nancy bought a humming bird feeder when we first arrived and it has been a great success. We now have 7 full time and they use the container full of sugar water every day. They are so very interesting to watch.

There is a lady at our gym who we have befriended some. She is a dentist and these are two of her neices whom Nancy and I teach english to every once in a while. They are sweet, ages 17 and 14.

This is our Christmas clan Glenn, Dennis, Dennis' girlfriend Lee and Nancy. We are watching Mariachi music at the Parian

Glenn is pretty fluent in spanish and we like him around a lot when we are talking to Juan Carlos. He and Juan Carlos became the best of friends and Juan Carlos took him one afternoon with his wagon and horse to collect fire wood among other things. I was too late to get a front picture but here they are on there way.

You have seen photos of this young lady before. She is Violeta, the wife of Rudolfo, the son of Olivia. But she is so very beautiful we thought you would not mind seeing her again.

On New Years Eve, Olivia has a party for her workers and friends and this is the beginning. It is held outdoors and about 10:00PM they shut the street down and light a big fire in the middle of the street. I asked who they had to get permission from to do this and they said no one. They just do it.

Juan Carlos at the beginning of the evening.

Corina, Olivia,s daughter and her husband Abram

Two of Olivia,s gandchildren. The boy is Marcos and the girl is Hemana

Some neighbors and some of Olivia.s workers getting started to bring in the New Year. Fireworks are part of the New Year celebration and our street was no exception. It was the wee hours of the morning before they quit.

Dennis and Rudolpho discussing whatever.

Two years ago when Dennis was here we met a young Argentina boy in Tonalo who was studying here in Mexco to be a Doctor. When we went to Tonalo this year we met him again and he recognized Dennis from two years before.

And here you can see they were having a great visit.

At Christmas time Tlaqupaque gets very busy. Families come home to visit and the streets get very crowded from early morning to late night as this photo shows. Actually it is pretty busy all the time but so much more at Christmas time.

Besides the cart that Juan Carlos uses to haul junk, he also has a very fancy cart called a Calanderia. He uses it for weddings and birthdays and quinceaneros. He has had two events that are a long ways, 3 and 4 hours, away so he needs a wagon to haul his calanderia and his horse. And this photo is what he does it with. It tooks us forever to get the lights hooked up and then we prayed all the time they were gone, that they would make it back in one piece. Horse, calenderia and passengers.

A bit more of a close up the the trailer.

Antonio, who is waiting here for a US green card, lives in one of the apartments with his daughter. Cannot remember her name but here she is after school one day with a costume she was very proud of.

When Lee showed up, Nancy sort of lost part of her job. Lee is a great cook and as Nancy does, enjoys doing it. Lee is Chinese from Singapore so our meals were not from Southern Alberta but excellent Chinese food with incredible spices. Dennis is a big help when she cooks and Glenn just wanted to be in the picture.