Christmas!

Once we got to the house we were greeted by many familiar faces; Uschi and Dave, Justin, Torry, Paul, Peter, Paul and Alexa, and our newest aquaintance, Steve. Later that night and the next day Maggie, Bryan, Sara and Pedro arrived.  Sara and Pedro have been travelling through the states and then down the Baja since May and flew to the US from their home in Portugal.  Aside from the cyclists taking over the house, many members of Alexa's family were there too.

Amazon did an amazing job, delivering our christmas items promptly without additional charge

The house was basically a small mansion.  It is about 300 years old, or so I was led to believe and has been in a constant state of renovation since tthe family acquired it in a state of disrepair more than a decade ago. It is a two story with ceilings that go on forever, elaborate doorways, many bathrooms, large dining and sitting rooms, and two courtyards that connect the house. The second floor hosts the master bedroom, a sitting room and a rooftop terrace. The terrace is what we took over. Eight tents in total with once being a six person.

View from the inside door of one of the many giant churches

Our first day we walked around the market and gazed up at giant beautiful churches and cathedrals. We walked through one of them which housed one of Orozco's giant murals. That night we went out for quesadillas then spent some time with tequila and sharing our stories from the past couple weeks.  Friends of the family joined in so it became more of a party by the end of it.  And we had to make a second trip for more tequila.  

Rigel, left, Justin, centre, before an enormous Orozco mural on the ceiling

Christmas Eve we were told to take lots of naps and just relax becuase the party and dinner didn't start until 10pm.  So thats about what we did. It also started to rain off and on throughout the day.

Before yet another ornate church the Guadalajara's city centre area

In the evening we started into the tequila again, socializing and having a great time.  Lots more family and friends showed up to fill up the house.  When the rain started you had to start finding a better spot to sit as the bar and some hallways filled with water.  Delicious appetizers came out then a couple hours later the feast began.  The food was absolutely amazing! Roast ham, turkey, and chicken with three pasta dishes, wild rice with mushrooms, bread, three types of salads and ceviche crowded the dining room table.  For dessert warm pecan pie with ice cream, chocolate cake, and shortbread rounded out our bellies.

The dinner spread

After dinner Dave brought out his sitar and played for us.  The music was so relaxing; a perfect end to the wonderful evening.  

Dave entertains with the sitar

Christmas day began sunny and hot forcing me from my tent by 9am. The plan for today was to relax, recover and clean up.  Rigel and I looked at our maps and started planning a route for the rest of Mexico which has us splitting up with Bryan and Maggie as they are going to Mexico City and we to the coast.  Dave, Uschi, Pedro and Sara are planning on cycling down the coast so I see them keeping a foot in our story.  

Later in the day, avoiding the rain as much as I could I started the task of altering my saddle to make it more comfortable; cutting a hole in the middle of it. It was a little difficult cutting through leather with a serrated knife and a thin exacto knife but I managed with only a couple mistakes which I will have to fix later.  The reward for this risk being a wider range of sitting positions on my bike without crowding out soft tissues and causing eventual harm to myself.

On Boxing day Paul, Alexa and her immediate family were leaving to go back home to Minniapolis (Paul and Alexa are going to Mexico city to study and work) so the cycling gang had to clear out.  Unfortunetly the weather was not cooporating so it took much longer as everything was soaked.  Luckily mid morning we got a sunny patch in the sky so we could dry our tents out a bit.  Finally by 1pm we were on the way out.  Rigel and I still had not received our package from Jenson's yet so we gave some money to the Grandpa (who lives there full time) and went out for breakfast.  At the restaurant we saw the UPS truck drive by so Rigel raced back to the house (only 2 blocks away) but was about 5 minutes too late. The package came when everyone had stepped out and was gone again.  After much hastle we were able to redirect the address and have it sit at the UPS store for us  to pick up the next day.  After breakfast we wandered over to Torry's (who is staying a few blocks away) to spend the afternoon with good friends and wifi but especially out of the rain. Pedro cooked a delicious soup while we searched for somewhere to stay the evening. Our stay was also coloured by the stress of the ups situation as we took advantage of Pedro's and Torry's spanish language expertise and phone access.  

Having selected a hotel (the one Pedro and Sarah looked up with a reasonable price) we headed out for the night.  The next day in town to hold hopefully a different couch to stay on, a package, and more friends.