It’s not all play. There is work to be done.

Monday, February 16


It’s time to get back into a routine and I decided to spend the morning working on my various assignments and a bit of housework on a more regular basis. last night I got quite a bit done, but this morning I reorganized the wardrobe. Ramiro is happy to have his hanger back. Now he can find everything again and does not have to ask me.
It’s sure quiet without Mom here. Ramiro makes breakfast and washes the RV, while I work on one of my projects.
After lunch we decide to do one of the Geocaches I found on the web.
We hop in the car and make the 15 minute drive to San Pedro Tesistan. A lovely small village, on the south western shore of Lake Chapala, just around the corner from Roca Azul. Every street leading north takes us straight down to the lake. We make the mistake of driving into one of those street and have to back up to get out. No idea how the residents do this every day. The streets are so narrow there is no turning around. I envy the people who live here. Their house is at the edge of the lake with a beautiful view. The houses are very simple, so it’s not something I would trade mine for.
There are hundreds of birds and we even spot a snake in the water.
Of course I have to take a picture of the church. No matter how small the village or how poor, there is always a church and quite often a very nice church. Makes you wonder. The main religion here is Roman Catholic and every village also has some sort of catholic facility in support of the people.
Here in San Pedro it is Casa de Oracian Monte Maria. A house which offers support and medicine to the sick and a bed for pilgrims. The front is full with plant and religious statues. I wish I could go inside to have a look. But then, I suppose I have to pretend I was a pilgrim. If Mom would have still be here, we could have send her in.

I set up the GPS and read the instructions. We are suppose to go to a shrine and walk the 1.5 km trail up the mountain.
A good thing we have brought our walking stick and plenty of water. This is not an easy trail. It looks like a river bed, full of rocks. I suppose in summer with the rains, lots of water comes rolling down the hill.
We see several Rancheros coming down the mountain. They tend to the many plots of farmland, which include agave fields. They ask us where we are going.
No point to tell them that we are Geocaching, so we say we are going to the caves.
Along the trail we also see a few memorials for people who have lost their lives here. Maybe they fell of the horse? Or did a big rock come tumbling down the mountain?
Finally we see the mountain edge with it’s many caves. The Cache description warns not to enter the caves, because the bats who live here carry a dangerous virus. We don’t need no virus, all we need is the cache.
At the indicated coordinates is a very steep but short trail which is suppose to lead to the wall, at which the cache is hidden. I invite Ramiro to take the trail while I stay on the path. It takes him a while to climb up there, but he finds the cache quickly. But then he has to find a way down again. Dust is flying around, He almost comes rolling down but without any injury.
“Get out of my way”, he yells. But I want this on the camera.
Luck has it that there is a travel bug with a gorilla toy attached. The gorilla wants to travel to China and back to Mexico. Well, we’ll see what we can do. I don’t think we are going to China soon, but we can carry it along to Texas perhaps?
The trail back to the road goes twice as fast as the way up, but it is nevertheless tiring with all those rocks.
We are so dirty from all the dust, that we go straight to the swimming pool at Roca Azul. We had expected the water to be warmer. So it takes us some time to get in. Once we’re in it feels good.
I get a lot accomplished tonight. Even Ramiro is helping. He sews a missing button onto his shirt and shortens the straps of a night shirt I bought for myself at Wallmart yesterday. I bet you didn’t know that he can sew. Oh, yes, even on the machine.