Yesterday after Molli and Adrian left (and the cleaning lady arrived to wash our dishes and our clothes and the floors and everything else), the four of us walked to the Anthropology Museum. It wasn't very far, but it was uphill. This is a great museum and by far the best thing to see in Xalapa. We went five years ago, except for my Dad, and were all excited to go again. The building itself is pretty cool, built in 1986. You enter at the top and gradually make your way down steps and ramps to the bottom, where you exit and walk up through the gardens. Along the way, there are outdoor rooms as well as indoor. When we were there before in July, it was very hot, but now it is a little on the cool side. The most striking thing they have is several "colossal" heads created by the Olmecs. One thing that struck me this time was an example of a head that originally was used as a throne, flat, and then turned into a face and turned up 90 degrees, repurposing from prehistory. The faces have hundred of pock marks. They say they are not natural and were not meant to destroy them, but they don't know why they are there. My theory is it was some kind of offering, that was acidic. There are statues of some woman god, with snakes on her belt, that supposedly deified women who died in childbirth.

We looked briefly around the gift shop, which has mainly books and is very crowded. We sat on a sunny patio and gathered our strength and slowly walked downhill home. Marina was still cleaning and it wasn't noon yet, but we got out the leftovers and ate a little bit. They tasted pretty good. Molli got home a little after two and Adrian a little later. By then, Amelia was feeling like she should be out seeing Mexico, not sitting in the house on her computer. We left Mudge and Ray and went into town. It was nearly dark and the traffic was bad. Adrian parked in a little lot (10 spaces?) and we walked along, looking at shops. I bought some small pieces of pottery to bring home to friends (4 for $5) and Amelia looked at a tortilla press, but decided not to get it--too heavy to transport.

We went to the indoor market I remembered from before--hundreds of stalls crowded next to each other--shoes and food and hats and baskets... It was just what she wanted and she bought several things, including candles and dried chilis and just the right size and shape and color baskets. Molli or Adrian would ask questions and find out the prices. As we walked by, the vendors would usually address us. "Tell me what you would like" or "ask questions." Adrian politely responded to almost everyone.

The faces of some of these people are incredible. They are mainly "indigenous" and look quite different from the politicians we saw reviewing the parade, who look European--shorter and darker with rounder faces and big eyes. We saw babies and small children and teenagers old enough to work. The other children must be home with relatives, working on homework or watching TV. The smells were conflicting--spicy, cooked meats, pungent incense, exotic... There was an old short woman with white hair in wispy braids...a man offering today's lottery tickets.

The stalls began closing and we made our way out onto the street. Walking along, we went into several stores. In a hardware shop, you can buy a metal milk can for a couple dollars--too big to bring home, not to mention we don't really have a use for it. Garish clothing and shoes and decorative items. We went into a fabric shop and Amelia had a good time there. I found a pink plastic stool and sat by the door. Eventually Adrian came to lead me to another shop a few blocks away. It was a litlte like the health food smoothie shops we have. We ordered drinks--for me, water with orange juice, for him, milk with strawberries--and waited for Molli and Amelia to join us. She had bought some notions--rickrack and elastic, which are small and light to take home--and cheap.

The shops are like those in other big cities. They each share a wall with the stores on either side and front right on the sidewalk. They mostly have no wall in front and are open to the cold or heat. This one has a counter that runs around the edge, roughly u-shaped, behind which work 3 or 4 people. In the middle, there is room for stools and a little space for someone to edge past while you are sitting there. You pay the cashier first and then show your reciept to one of the workers, who puts your ingredients in a blender and whips it up and pours it into a big glass mug, like a beer stein. In between customers, they wash these mugs out--no hot water of course. You get a whole blender full of your preferred drink. The walls are plasltered with posters of body builders--the kind that are almost disgusting to look at--shiny and grotesquely muscular. Adrian left to get the car and we sat there a while longer. After 15 minutes or so, we went outside to stand, but it was at least another 15 minutes before he got there, thanks to the horrendous traffic in the narrow bumpy streets.

I feel a little in danger just being in Mexico. You could get sick from brushing your teeth with tap water or eating something from a restaurant. The house has mulitple locks and bars on the windows. (they were robbed once after they moved here and the landlord quickly installed them). Dogs bark and fight in the street, night and day. The garbage is out in the street, to be picked up every day. Someotimes, the dogs scatter it around. This is a much nicer neighborhood than they lived in before, so I haven't seen any chickens in the street or yards. Not that it keeps me awake at night, but I will be happy to be home in the USA, where it is also possible to be robbed or get sick and there are other things to stress about.

We were home a little after 7. I made macaroni and cheese. Molli and Adrian and Amelia especially like it. Molli roasted a cauliflower as well, so we had white supper on black Friday. My Dad ate canned soup and tea and crackers. He didn't want the medicine Molli said she had. She has gotten sick a couple times here, in four years, and says the medicine works great. We played Oh Hell and went to bed. I managed to sleep until 6:30 this time.