Books

With books, one can visit so many places in the world. I have found another that I hope many people will read, Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and Oliver Relin. The book was written by Relin about the work of Mortenson, who has built schools in isolated areas across high altitude portions of Pakistan. It is a great tale about a man who, after knowing the kindness of people in the remote village of Korphe, promised to build the small town a school. This led to the beginning of CAI, the Central Asia Institute, which Mortenson used to back the building of many schools. The book gives us great insight into the lives of these people from the region of the great mountains of the Karakoram in a way that no other book can. It is imperative that we Americans better understand this part of the world and its people, so I hope many, many people will read the book.
Read this book! I guarantee it will change the way you know these people from the areas of Pakistand and Afghanistan. Mortenson tells us that the way to defeat terrorism is never through violence, but through education, an idea that all the world needs to hear and understand.

Spring is here!

On the 1st of April, we drove to Denver. The picture at the right shows our car and the circle out in front of nephew Phil's house that evening.





The next day, the sun was shining and we were able to leave for Mexico. We spent two weeks there, returning late on the 16th of April. The picture at the right was taken on the next day, the 17th of April, from about the same place as the previous picture.
I sent a note to a cousin in Las Vegas, telling her about the snow. She wrote back to say that it had been up to 99 degrees Farenheit in Las Vegas, and she had used the air conditioning. So, is spring here? Or maybe even summer?

Asi Azul

Back a short distance from Punta Perla is a small town, Emiliano Zapata. We noticed the bright sign, Asi Azul, and stopped to eat. It was a great choice! The man who owns it is Vietnamese and he spoke good English as well as Spanish, French and Vietnamese and was very interesting to visit with. He started the restaurant only a month ago. A woman who I believe was his wife came out and talked with us. She had a wonderful smile, as nice as I have ever seen, and she was outgoing and pleasant to talk with. Our waitress, who was very quiet, was also pleasant. And we had wonderful Vietnamese food as well.
We needed a place to stay for the night. In the picture above, the building on the left is a motel where we got a nice room with two beds for 250 pesos or about 18 dollars.

Punta Perla

On Friday the 10th, we went south toard the coast. We went down fertile valleys and across high mountains on the way. At the end of one of the valleys, we stopped at Autlan for breakfast. The picture at the right shows the market there, which we visited after breakfast. One of the interesting things about visiting Mexico is the markets with their wonderful fruits and vegetables.

After reaching the coast, we turned north to go up to Punta Perla. Ana's brother, Arturo, has a house there which is just one block from the beach. They had set up big umbrellas on the beach. The picture at the left is taken from beneath the umbrella. It was a nice beach with inviting water.



And it didn't take the kids long to get into the water! Adelina is the one on the left.








Ricardo, with a cast on his broken arm, had to be careful not to get it wet. He couldn't get out in the water, but he really had fun digging in the sand with the other kids.

Tapalpa Market

We drove from Atemajac to Tapalpa. It is a beautiful drive, through fields surrounded by pine forests. The video shows a walk through part of the market.

Atemajac de Brizuela

We spent several days in the small village of Atemajac de Brizuela which is in the mountains south and west of Guadalajara. It is so very pleasant there, so much more peaceful and quiet than the fast-paced life of the big city of Guadalajara. Here, Arleta is walking down one of the quiet streets. All the streets are paved like this, with rocks. We met a number of wonderful, friendly people here.




Entrances, doors, are fascinating! One always wonders what lies beyond. What is the home like that lies beyond these doors? This entrance was entrancing! The vegation and the moss and the doors speak of a quiet place, a house that is truly a home, a quiet place to spend one's life.







We drove out into the countryside not far from Atemajac de Brizuela and found a small lake. Adelina shows off a bush of blue lupine along one side of the pond. Notice behind her that Atemajac lies on a hill




Don and Ricardo weren't far away.






Here are Ricardo, Adelina, Don and Arleta, near one of the big cactus "trees" that we find all around here. Notice Atemajac on the hill behind.






And it is nice to go to a restaurant, Herradura, and find a nice pizza to eat.

Guadalajara

The Templo de San Agustin sits on a corner in downtown Guadalajara.









From the front of the Templo, looking out toward the park, you see the beautiful vegetation and beyond that the twin towers which are the symbol of Guadalajara.








At the left of the picture of the Templo in the first picture above is a large building where our grandchildren, Ricardo and Adelina (and many other young people from Guadalajara) practice their music lessons. On Sunday the 5th of April, many of the music groups got together for a special presentation. This picture is of one of the choirs.