Tianguillo

Yolanda and I met in Lima Peru for a conference on Ciclovías Recreactivas - Sunday Parkways, I think in 2012. At the time, she was one of the architects of Mexico City’s Ciclovias. And she was a blast! We maintained contact through FB over the years. In the last year we started having Zoom calls so Yolanda could practice her English and I could practice my Spanish.

She graciously offered to take Sheryl and I out to the forest near her home for a hike. There we met Ricardo, her handsome and very interesting (in a good way) husband, and Navi, their friendly dog. (See my selfie with her). Navi is for Feliz Navidad - and she is one happy puppy. We were up about 3000 meters (or 9800 feet) at the Desierto de los Leones National Park. It is neither a desert nor home to lions. Desert is for how wild it is and Leones is for the former owner.

This national park was the site of a former monastery where men would live solitary lives in their modest stone houses sparsely situated throughout the park. Those crazy Christians. Ricardo walks Navi up here nearly every day. It was a somewhat steep climb at times and the altitude didn’t help. We probably walked for about 3 hours.

Ricardo’s English is very, very good and he and Sheryl talked all the way up and all the way down. Yolanda’s English isn’t as good but I know what she is saying. We mostly spoke in Spanish about a whole host of topics. I have to say, I was thrilled that my Spanish held up. Pablo, my Spanish teacher would be proud.

After our hike, they took us to a very traditional Mexican lunch place where we ate tacos, and other tasty morsels. The flavours are soooo different from Mexican food you usually get in Victoria and even in Portland. Moles, salsas, mushrooms, beans, chicken and lamb on delicious corn tortillas.

We went back to Yolanda and Ricardo’s beautiful home for some tea and more conversation. They live in what I would call a rural area. The inside was as charming as the outside. We ended up spending the entire day with them sitting out on their roofed patio. It was so wonderful. They participate in a poetry workshop with friends once a month as well as a movie group also once a month. It sounded delightful. I do hope they can get to Victoria to visit with us sometime soon.Læs mere