Hendrick Turns 6

Yes, time flies and it's time again to celebrate Hendick's birthday.

This year's party was much more low key than last year's. This year just a few families were invited over for a lunch of chicken noodle soup and coke floats with strawberry ice cream.

All the kids took a whack at the piñata, even little Elkin.

Fernando takes his turn with gusto.

Nic captures Hendrick's face as the piñata flies off the line to shatter on the ground.

"Ya queremos pastel", "We want cake", people began to chant as the kids cleaned up every last piece of candy from the piñata.

Frosting face: it never gets old.

Elkin was so determined to eat his cake but he needed his hands to steady himself against the table.

As typical, a prayer session is initiated. Everyone prayed out loud, their voices gradually growing louder as tears began to stream down their faces. Even Hendrick was pumping his fists in fervor.

Fernando cannot believe his mom is telling him to get off of Hendrick's car, even though he got the same car for Christmas just three days before. He also somehow managed to get blue frosting not only on his cheek but also the shoulder of his shirt.

The boys outside on their cars. I told them they are the champions and Hendrick declared that only he was the champion. Classic first child syndrome.

Mexico: San Cristobal de las Casas

We loved San Cristobal! It was a great time and 5 days wasn't even enough time to see it all. 

Our days were lazy and unplanned. We wandered the streets and had no schedule. Here we're taking a mid-morning snack break under a bronze statue near an old colonial arch. 

A typical morning at a cafe with some coffee, breakfast cookie and cards. 

Dancers performing a traditional ceremony in the plaza. 

Enjoying the empty streets early on Christmas morning and hoping some place is open for breakfast. 

Another view of one of the pedestrian streets (we seemed to take all our street photos in the morning when there weren't many people out but from noon to midnight the streets were literally packed with people).

Mexico has a nice selection of decent beers. We enjoyed sampling them all and having them from a can, a bottle and even on tap as I happily demonstrate here. (Also, stay tuned for Nic's blog posting reviewing and rating all the Mexican beers.) 

Superior, one of the many Mexican beers has a VW Bug for the company car. 

Nic's glasses reflecting sunset on the face of the cathedral and me taking a photo of him. 

Nic and I walked to a cathedral on a hill near the edge of the city for sunset. Here's a view near the top of the stairs. Notice the flags over the main street.

Checking out the view from the cathedral.  

Mexican flags cover at least a mile of a main street. 

A saint stands guard, if not handless, at the cathedral. 

We loved the bright colors of the storefronts and restaurants. 

One of the many pedestrian streets decorated festively. 

Christmas Eve and we're ready to hit the town! Mexico puts out a seasonal beer called "Noche Buena", Christmas Eve. As such, we partook in some before heading out.

The streets were full with people all night. Nic and I had a great Argentinian meal and then jumped from cafe to bar until Midnight when fireworks were set off and everyone celebrated. 

Like any good tourist city there are women and children wandering the streets pestering visitors and locals alike to buy cheap souvenir items. 

A booth in a market that sells typical and colorful Mexican sweets. 

In Latin America there are manger scenes as well, called "Nacemientos". Every house, restaurant, hotel and park has one. They can get a little creative, placing elephants, tigers, buffalo in the scenes along side baby Jesus.  This place claimed to have the biggest in San Cristobal and I think they may be right. 

Mexico: Cañon Sumidero

On our second day in San Cristobal we took a boat tour through Cañon Sumidero, only about 40 minutes away. 

The entrance to the canyon. Right around this corner we saw spider monkeys swinging in the big trees along the river. 

Mexico is applying this canyon for one of the Seven Wonders and it is a beautiful place. 

The boat went fast. 

At the highest point the walls tower 3,000 feet above the river which is 100 feet deep. The depth of the river is affected by the hydro-electric dam at the end of the canyon, the fourth dam on the Grijalva River. 

At one area on the river we entered a small cave, called 'The Cave of Colors' due to the mineral deposits and had this altar perched on a small outcropping. 

The sun felt so nice that day. 

"The Christmas Tree" is a giant moss-covered mineral formation. Water seeps out from the canyon walls carrying minerals that collect and form big 'branches'. 

Beautiful yellow flowers cover this mountain side. 

The water level on this tree demonstrates how the water fluctuates with the control of the dam. 

It's a croc! We saw a few, with their gnarly teeth, but this guy gave us the perfect photo opportunity sunning his nose.

The other end of the canyon and lake that was formed by the dam. 

Mexico: Puerto Escondido

After nearly 21 hours of travel, we arrive in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca at 9 a.m. We checked into our hotel, showered and headed out to check out the town and the beach. It's cloudy in the morning but we figure it will burn off. 

Puerto Escondido is great; a small city with a few smooth palm-lined beaches, streets lined with cafes and eateries and a small, protected bay filled with fishing boats. There are some foreigners, but the beaches are mostly full of Mexicans wading in the surf. 

We happened to arrive during feria. In the afternoon the beach front was decorated in preparation for the blessing of the city's patron saint, Santa Solidad. The procession started at the church up the hill. The statue of the saint was carried down to the beach where she was placed on a fishing boat. The Father boarded the boat as well, and with a fleet of boats following, headed out to sea. There, the blessing took place and the boats returned to shore and the saint was replaced in the church. 

The next morning, while it was still dark we boarded a local boat and set out to sea ourselves. The boat was still decorated from the event the day before. 

We went fishing!!

Nic was the first to reel in a big guy. This is an albacore. 

I got one too! Together, Nic and I reeled in 4 albacores and at least 8 mackerels and saw sea turtles and dolphins.

While we went back to the hotel to shower and clean up, our fish was being prepared as a feast! Garlic and chili sauce where complimented excellently with tortillas and Coronas with lime. 

The next day the clouds still hadn't cleared. We were feeling kinda bummed and a little bored since swimming didn't sound so good. We decided to head to another part of town and check out things there. It actually started to rain on us during the walk over there so we ducked into a cafe and found an old Scrabble board. I won, with the word "cornbread" scoring me something like 130 points. 

We still enjoyed a nice meal beach side. 

The sunset that day was incredible! It literally lasted over an hour from about this point on. 

Not a bad view.

Our last day we awoke to sun!! We hit the beach immediately and spent the day soaking up what we could of it! We plopped ourselves under an umbrella and stayed there all day. 

Pelicans played King of the Rock as waves splashed against them. 

We enjoyed watching the swimmers, surfers and boogie boarders, even taking a turn at the boogie board ourselves. The waves were big and perfect. 

Beers went down a little too easy in the heat but were a perfect accompaniment to the fresh shrimp ceviche we bought from a local vendor. 

On the way to the bus terminal to catch another overnight bus that will deliver us to San Cristobal de las Casas.