Jalisco

On New Year’s Eve, Mascota gears up for night time festivities like every place that we have been. A dance in the plaza has been planned with a local band playing and lots of fireworks at midnight.

Silvia, the lady who cleans our apartment and in general handles any issues we may run into, came at 10 a.m. to change our sheets, bring fresh towels and clean. She is a sweet lady who doesn’t speak any English but she is very kind and helpful. When she comes, we usually head out for a walk so that we aren’t in her way.

Our landlords, Margarita and Andres, live in Guadalajara but are in Mascota visiting family for a
few days. They stay in their big house behind our apartment. As we were going out, we met them and thanked them for the raicilla. They asked us how we had enjoyed our time in this town and then asked if we wanted to join them for the afternoon at their family’s ranch in the mountains.

What a great offer and one that we could not refuse. Their nephew, Chuy, drove us all up, past the Mocajete volcano and onto a side road to a lovely spot overlooking a series of distant mountains and valleys. What a view!

The family had purchased the property ( seven acres of avocado trees ) and built a beautiful main house there. They all have construction backgrounds so are now in the process of building several rustic cabins for visitors.

The main house looked out over a pond full of fish, surrounded by a forest of oak and pine trees.
Dogs, cats, chickens and geese lived together with the family in harmony.

Margarita and Andre’s 3 nephews and their families are all working together to create this little piece of paradise and what an accomplishment! The oldest nephew, Roberto, is married and his wife is a wonderful artist. Her handiwork can be seen all over the house - paintings, sculptures, decorations, etc.

After a tour of their place, we were invited to sit at a large table under the veranda, to continue our Spanglish conversations about life in Mascota and Mexico and Canada. We all got along so well together and really enjoyed our time together. The men cut and chopped up small pieces of bass, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions to make a huge bowl full of delicious ceviche. Another huge bowl had marinated shrimp. It all went down easily with Mexican beer - Modelo and Corona.

We had a wonderful conversation with Roberto’s son who is in his 5th out of eight years studying to be a Catholic priest. Quite a young man. Roberto’s daughter joined us a little later and was just just as lovely.

We had met Chuy before, as he had come to the apartment to fix a few things up. He spoke
English quite well as he had worked in the U.S., along with his two other brothers. His son, another
Chuy was quiet yet interested in learning about life in Canada.

We were privileged to have shared the last afternoon in 2019 with this warm and friendly family. They live in a Utopia of their making and we wish them the best in all future endeavours.

By the time that we got home, the sun was setting and it looked liked Mascota’s centre was ready for the big night.

We decided to stay in (old foggies) and watch a movie on our one English movie channel before going to bed. Thank heavens, it was a good one! At midnight, the ruckus began with bells ringing and fireworks booming. Our balcony patio was the perfect place to watch the streaming ‘shooting stars’ and the big colourful sunbursts.

Happy New Year 2020!Read more