My Valentine Took Me to Santa Clara, Part 11

Mike and I walked through 2 long streets of shops which ended up being 6 hours worth of shopping. Happy Valentine's Day sweetheart...

These are a few of gorgeous items that are made in Santa Clara. It is hard to believe they start as ugly pieces of brick or wire and are hand-crafted into this.

Finally, a fruit bowl large enough to hold a bunch of bananas and all the other fruits my family enjoys. (It's huge!)

These canisters were taken to the next level of craftsmenship. Because of the gorgeous overlay, no polishing will ever be needed. Azucar means sugar and cafe means coffee. I can't wait to add these to my kitchen counter tops in Oregon. I will discuss later why there are butterflys on these canisters. That will be for a future post, after we travel past Morelia next weekend.

A smaller fruit bowl perfect for Mexico's lemon and limes. I particularly love the leaves.

Every shop sells the classic Mexico designer plate. It was overwhelming to see all the copper items. One shop in itself was enough but this town has two long streets full of shops, each loaded with beautiful merchandise. A woman's paradise!

An Average Day in the Life of the Knutzs

A few people have asked what a "normal" day looks like for us in Mexico. This is how most days work themselves out.

6:45 AM
Mike, Molly and Josh leave for school


7-1o AM
Showers, breakfast, morning chores, Tammy starts laundry, ironing, floors, Spanish lessons on computer begin, alternating people


10-1 PM
*Home school for Maddy and Jake, email and blogging for Tammy
(Activities are interrupted multiple times from people stopping by to ask about this, to sell that, and students dropping in)


10 PM MONDAY ONLY
Monday market day. Vendors come from all over with fresh foods, household items and clothing. It is the cheapest way to buy things here. And, it's just plain fun!


1:00 PM
*Mike and teens arrive home from school. With them come 5-15 students on any given day. This time changes frequently.


2 PM THURSDAY ONLY
(No English class today) Mike hauls a van loud of kids to La Presa to swim and jump (see blog!)


1-4 PM
*Mike studies for his English class and does bible study with students
*Teen hang-out time, card playing, goofing off,
*Practice the language with the studengs through friendship
*Tammy: make snacks, wash cups, serve drinks, translate English for Step class that afternoon, serve salsa and guacamole
*Knutz kids try to get their daily chores done amongst the chaos, Kids teach card games

4-5:30 PM
*Mike teaches an English class to local school teachers
*Tammy & Molly attend Mike's English class since we learn Spanish at same time
*Josh and Jake practice basketball at school with the team
*Maddy chills at house

5-11 PM FRIDAY ONLY
Friday Night Fun Night, kids come to have salsa, guacamole, tostadas, soda and Pizza. Card playing, goof-off time, a movie in Spanish at 8

5:30 PM
*Lupe picks up Tammy. Tammy teaches Step class for 2 Spanish teachers at her ranch house
*Mike hangs out with students that come to house after basketball, gives kids snacks, sometimes prepares dinner

7:30 PM
*Tammy returns from exercising. Time to eat. Many times we walk to town for real Mexican food. We can feed the whole family for under $15. We have two regular students who have dinner with us every night.

8 -10 PM
Normal Activities, depending on the day:
*Shop in downtown tiendas for groceries.
*Walk and hang out in plaza.
*Visit with Fernando (see blog)
*Recap with our kids, take time to encourage and instruct with what's been happening in their daily lives in Mexico

Sunday Night is Plaza Night. The evening mass ends at 5:30 PM, the tiendas close up shop and everyone stays in (after mass) town in there best Sunday attire. The Catholic church opens up into the town square. People walk the town square, or gather on the benches to enjoy a long evening of fellowship and fun.

WEEKENDS ARE DIFFERENT. We try to leave town to see what else is in Mexico! It requires about a 3 hour drive whatever direction we travel.

"Pastel Leche" Translated "Milk Cake"

This cake makes my mouth water. I haven't been too fond of the different desserts that are offered here. They are drastically different than what we are used to. The leche cake though is out of this world. I new there was a reason why I like to pour milk over my cake in America. If you have never tried a leche cake, you can order them in bakeries in America. Although they are the norm here, you have to special order them in the states. The leche cake is usually served at all fiestas.


Don't miss out on giving this dessert a try!

Mike drove us to Apatzingan which is 2.5 hours from La Haucana to join Mario and Gumero's family for their traditional Christmas Eve celebration. (Two brothers on the left). Christmas in Mexico is celebrated as New Year's in the US. Families come together for an all night fiesta which involves music, food and fire-works. As we were driving home at 1:30 AM, traveling through numerous small towns, each town was alive. Gift-giving is not the focus here. It's all about getting together. ~T

Our pinata played the role as our Christmas tree this year.

Mike is cooking our Christmas dinner here which was a roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. Our first authentic American dish in Mexico!

Warm Welcome

Gumaro and Carmen have been our host family. They have been very good about inviting us to birthday parties and other fiestas. Since he is the Secretary for La Huacana (the county) he has many connections which has kept us busy attending many events.

Tammy and Molly are taking home a center piece from one of the fiestas. We have really been given the royal treatment. The people here are so hospitable.

Fiesta

Here are a couple of photos of traditional Mexican Folk Dancing held in the town plaza. There are a lot of celebrations held at Christmas time. These were students from the local school.

In the back is the office for the municpality (County) where our host Gumaro works as the Secretary for the region.

Buenos noches de La Huacana, Michoacan, Mexico! (Good Evening from the town of La Huacana, in the state of Michoacan, Mexico.) We have been here almost a week and have been striving to learn the language. It is a lot of hard work and we covet your prayers. This week we have settled into our casa (home) and have attended several fiestas (parties). The most time consuming thing has been learning to shop in the market place for groceries with very little language skills. We have been very grateful for our picture Spanish/English dictionary and the many folks that God has set in our path to help in those times that all we could say is "no intendo" (I don't understand). The people have been very hospitable to us. Since La Huacana is off the beaten path from tourism, the presence of six Anglo people attracts quite a bit of attention in this town of 10,000.

We have been very blessed with the great food, the sunshine (although we think 90 degrees is a bit on the warm side) and the help and friendship extended to us by several families. Mario and his family served as our guide and translator from the time we crossed the border in Arizona up until they left town several days ago. Gamaro (Mario's brother) has served as our host family since we have arrived. They have shown us around, provided meals, invited us to community events as well as family fiestas. Please keep praying for our ability to learn the language quickly. We will soon be able to upload more photos to our blog. Our only Internet access is at a cyber cafe. To dispell what you may be thinking about a cyber cafe, it does not serve coffee or any food. I had visioned myself sipping a mocha while doing my email and blog. With temperatures near 90 (I hate to mention that again with all the snow you guys have had back home), I am looking for the nearest ice cream shop. On Christmas Day we plan to go to the beach and swim in the tropical ocean water. We hope that will ease the pain of not enjoying a white Christmas with family and friends in McMinnville. ~M

Feliz Navidad!