criplomats

Two new folks arrived at post this week and John and I are their social sponsors – it’s always fun to meet new people and help them settle in. John picked them up at the airport on Thursday and got them settled in their house. We picked them up for work on Friday, and some of the consular managers and I took them to lunch.

Saturday I took them on a Costco run, then I hit the grocery store and the kitchen. Sunday we pulled out the china and mimosa glasses and hosted a welcome brunch for them – it was a fun morning, and John and I enjoyed being back in entertaining mode again. Everyone seemed to have a good time. After everyone left, John and I played a couple of games of Scrabble, then put our feet up!

Thanks to jlsnaddon.com for photo

We got excited this week when John was on the balcony after dark and saw a bat. We thought it was pretty cool, and saw him swooping around the next night, too. By Saturday night, word had spread around the bat world, and we had a huge swarm of them. It was amazing and a lot of fun to watch – turns out they love the hummingbird feeder – um, a little too much. We had wondered why the feeders were empty when we got up Saturday morning – it was the same story Sunday morning. Since we think they’re fun to watch, we thought that we could just cover the feeders at night and put out a pan of sugar water for them instead – until we went out on the balcony for Sunday coffee and found bat poop everywhere! It wasn’t super-bad, but it was enough for us to know that we don’t need to encourage them to come around. It’s a shame they can’t be better behaved guests!

John’s first latte art!

This is John’s first latte art – I’m definitely a lucky woman to wake up to this on a Saturday morning! Well done!

Saturday we drove out to Tlaquepaque for a large arts and crafts fair. We had a lot of fun looking at the different kinds of crafts from different parts of the country. I bought a cookie jar from a guy from Hidalgo with a Katrina motif:

Katrina cookie jar from Hildalgo

Afterward, we walked to Mariscos Progreso on the advice of one of the local staff from work and we’re glad we did. We had the dish they are most famous for: pescado zarandeado (flipped fish). It’s cooked over mesquite wood in a wire basket and flipped back and forth, and it was delish. Here’s the before and after:

Red snapper

pescado zarandeado

As we were walking back to our car, we saw these three dogs on a balcony, watching the comings and goings on the street below.

Balcony dogs

Leon, Guanajuato

John and I loaded up the car and drove to Leon, Guanajuato, Saturday morning. It’s about a three-hour drive from Guadalajara; it was a pretty drive since it’s rainy season and everything was green. Leon is known for leather, so I set off to find it.

John set us up in the swanky Hotsson, a very nice hotel within walking distance of the leather district. Shoes, boots, jackets, and ladies’ handbags abound. After checking into the hotel, we walked down to the zona de piel – it was a crazy neighborhood chock-full of leather and knock-offs. We walked until we about dropped, then went back again the next morning for a last look. I ended up with two nice handbags and a killer red leather jacket – score!

Boots, Leon

After several hours of shopping, we fought the urge to order room service, and freshened up for dinner out (according to Fitbit, we’d walked almost 15,000 steps already). Our friend and co-worker Jesus had told John that Panteon Taurino was the place to go, and he was right. It was the go-to place for Mexicans to have a big time for birthday parties or just a fun night out. Set in a simulated bull ring, it was decorated floor to ceiling with photos of bullfighters or posters. The entertainment was non-stop: either Mariachis singing and playing, a costumed bull dancing with the ladies, or ladies dancing and bull-fighting a cardboard bull on the bar – it just didn’t stop. We laughed and laughed and loved every bite of our dinner.

Dinner entertainment

Tlaquepaque

Not a lot happening this week. The weather continues to be lovely with nice sunny days and some storms at night. We’ve even had hail a few times this week.

I’m the duty officer this week, so I’m always expecting the phone to ring with an emergency. I’ve had a few calls, but luckily nothing too urgent. I had three calls Wednesday during the night; just when I would go to sleep, the phone would ring again – argh! John and I call the duty phone “the egg” since you have to carry it and coddle it for the week you’re on duty.

Our former co-worker from Juarez, Yazmin, passed away on Thursday after having a liver transplant here in GDL. John and I helped get folks from the Consulate to donate blood and had gotten to visit her a couple of times. She was such a sweetie and leaves behind a husband and two children. It was a sad day and contributed to a week that often felt sluggish.

Luckily the week ended on a higher note. Yesterday we went to the farmers market, then I ran errands in the afternoon. I was sad to see that my favorite nursery had closed; I drove passed the address several times before I realized that the vacant lot was where it was three weeks ago! We’ve binged on “True Detective” and are really enjoying season two.