Ever eager to boost the number of pueblos mágicos we’ve visited, we’re off to Patzcuaro this weekend. Allegedly about 3 hours away and “hidden high in the mountains of Michoacán” if Wikipedia’s to be believed. It’s a bank holiday on Monday… Día de la Constitución or somesuch.. Jana and Victor know a grand place to stay so there’ll be six of us living it up there. Good times…

The weather here’s taken a turn for the nippy. It even rained yesterday. Not part of the plan at all. Anyroad, today the idea today is get some lesson planning done for tomorrow and maybe go to the torture exhibition if it’s still on.

Also I’m enjoying the music of this young lady found via Pat’s blog in Providencia, Guanatos, Jalisco, Mexico.

Have a photo of Las Cabañas in central Gwod. Used to be a hospice, y’know…

has now finished so I find myself browsing my various web feeds and here are the highlights:

Why can’t you buy cashew nuts in their shells?
Balloons, balloons, balloons. Balloons!.
Mavis Beacon’s typing tutor this ain’t.
Jon Stewart doing what he does best.
Possible engineering project for my new office.
Jeebus knows what myth they were busting here.

And this one reminds me of coming to the states and getting looks for not clearing up my table after eating in fast food establishments. Good to be reminded I’m not the only one. I do now though. Promise. And I was at Starbucks today again. Really must stop doing that especially given the extremely good coffee and wifi available at La Estación de Lulio and Mondo Café or many of these independant coffee shops.

And finally links to some other peeps on the photo tour. We’ve some suspiciously similar photos… de Eliazar, y El Charro Negro,. Can’t believe I missed out on the “abrazos gratis”…

Once again, don’t forget snap.com will show you previews of any links when you hover over them. And if you’re sick of that particular effect, click on the “options” at the top right of the bubble to turn them off completely.

On the photo tour, Eliazar told me a new (to me) Spanish phrase: “Dependiendo del sapo, así es la pedrada“. The stone you throw depends on the size of toad. I’m not confident enough to use this phrase yet, but I think it means something like you have scale what you’re using to the problem you’re facing. There’s no point in throwing a small stone at a large toad, nor a huge stone at a tiny toad… Maybe…?

If anyone reading can give an example, I’d be glad to see it commented. Even the usually excellent WordReference.com draws a blank on this one… A search for sapo gets you:

sapo m Zool toad ♦ LOC: fam (despotricar) echar sapos y culebras, to curse and swear:

Which is another one I’d not heard, “To throw toads and snakes”, to curse and swear… or better still, “effing and blinding”.

Yesterday after Tonalá, dining, decorating and skyping the world we were going to have our subjunctive class, however we ended up watching about a dozen+ back-to-back episodes of Bones on DVD. Strangely apt after driving past the new (¿?) Jaliscan Forensic Science Building on Lazaro Cardenas. CSI Guanatos indeed… Now there’s a series I’d like to watch…

Some of yesterday’s purchases… a metal agave thing, DVD shelf, and shining star things.

we made for Yoda the kitten way back in university in Swansea… I say for Yoda, but it was blatantly for us. Make your own cat TV with a cardboard box, cellophane and a long stick. Nowhere near as cruel as this though, not even close:

.

I think March of the Valkyries would be a better soundtrack than “Under the Sea”…

Well, that was a lovely afternoon wandering round the city centre of Guadalajara (Guanatos to its denizens) and meeting likeminded souls. While sipping Coronas con sal y limon in La Fuente El Charro Negro and Eliazar turned up with cameras in tow and we decided to go off snapping shots of the centre, from La Fuente to Las Cabañas to San Juan de Dios. A couple more Flickreros joined us in the cabañas and we watched life unfold in San Juan. I hope we can do it again some time. Thanks to everyone for coming, looking forward to your photos…

Here’re some of my faves:

Then we had dinner at La Divina Tentación, a v. nice restaurant, though we got there at 8 and left at 9:30ish and were the only customers there. Outnumbered 3 to 1 by waiters. Good food and not hugely pricey. Recommended…

Today Sita and I went on a lightning trip to Tonalá where we bought more trinkets to decorate the homestead with, including a copper agave thing (photo one of these days…) which we bargained down from 300 pesos to 200, then came back to a shiny clean house thanks to M & D’s Herculean efforts. And a rug which “really ties the room together…”

Later today: giving a private class to Monica and Daniel on the delights of the subjunctive mood. In Starbucks, for our sins…