Xalapa

It took us all day, but we pretty much recovered from our flights. I was up for awhile alone, and the same is true today. That's fine. It gave me a chance to catch up on reading e-mails and, theoretically, work on my assignments.

I made pancakes. Most of the cooking I did here yesterday was "adaptive," that is, we don't have exactly the ingredients called for, so I made some changes. The local whole wheat flour is a little different and Molli didn't have much white flour, so I threw in some oats. No sour milk, but I used all the milk and cream she had. I didn't find the baking soda or cinnamon, but they were pretty edible. Th worst thing was we only had fake syrup. You can get real maple syrup here, but it is about 20 dollars for the smallest size.

It took a while for everyone to get up and dressed and ready to go, but we eventually walked (with Osa, the dog) to the outdoor food market. Man, that was one of the funnest things I've done for awhile. On the face of it, it's not that different from any kind of shopping. You look at what's for sale and decide what you want to buy. There are lots of different vendors, and one person's lettuce may look better than another's. They offer you tastes and try to engage you. One man spoke some English. He said he had lived in Kentucky. I picked out some good-looking stuff and Molli and Adrian bought it for me. Lettuce, radishes, zucchini, carrots, chicken, sausage, pork roast, and more. Some of the displays were very attractive.

It was raining, more or less, when we finished. Molli and Adrian and Mudge went back to the house, while Ray and I went on to the grocery store. There were a few other things we needed. Yogurt, multivitamins, peanut butter, bourbon... I remember being at this store years ago. It is overwhelming. I suppose it is like US superstores. They sell everything, not just food. Like refrigerators. There are 30 checkout lanes or so and lots of noise. I was starting to lose it, like I did last time, by the time we left with our purchases.

Osa is the dog's name

At home, we recuperated and ate some lunch. Molli and I threw together soup. It was supposed to be chick-pea soup, but she didn't have the can of chick peas she had remembered, so we used some lentils. She didn't have any tomato paste, so I chopped up a tomato. We used the elbows we had just bought. No rosemary, but some other dried herbs instead. It was tasty, maybe not as good as the original, but warm on a cold rainy day. There is no heat in their house and probably no insulation either. There are some windows that generally stay open too. Ray was cold, which is unusual.

Molli went for a run and did some stretching exercises on a pad on the floor while we played some pretty intense hands of Mille Bornes. It was close when we started the last hand, but I had to take a break to work on dinner: chicken tagine. Adrian's mother and sister arrived right at 6, unusually early for them, while Molli and I were early in the cooking stage. We threw in the game (Mudge and I were ahead) and changed to hosting mode. Crackers and cheese, wine and other beverages.

at the market

My second favorite thing of the day: watching people who don't speak the same language work on communicating. In particular, Ray and Adrian were involved in a long philosophical-scientific debate. Adrian's English improved by leaps and bounds! Meanwhile, Luz Maria was very interested in Mudge's skydiving adventure. I did some spontaneous interpretation and re-telling of what he said.

the scientist and the philosopher conversing

Mudge, Molli, Tamara, and Luz Maria

The chicken and couscous was very good, in spite of a few missing spices and minor substitutions in the recipe. Luz Maria had wanted to buy some local speciality involving fried tortillas, but Molli and Adrian had tried to explain to her about Ray's (and my) health concerns and diet changes. Everyone's plate was clean and I think they enjoyed it, but I am not sure they understood how our meal might have been healthier than what she had wanted to offer us. It reminds me of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The fiance is a vegetarian, so the aunt says, "That's okay, I make him some nice lamb." Food is an integral part of culture. I would probably have gone with her plans, even though I would rather eat chicken tagine I made myself (or Molli did). L.M. brought dessert, a fancy jello mold and a pastry with custard. They were both tasty, but Mexican desserts and baked goods aren't my favorite.

They left about 8:30 their time, which was about bedtime my time. Mudge happily watched football on TV. I read a little more of the first Game of Thrones book. In the night, I woke up from a bad dream and decided I am not reading any more of it. I also had some digestive issues. Who knows which of the things I ate yesterday made me sick? Maybe it was brushing my teeth with tap water.