Monday 6th January 2014……Three Kings Day!!

 

 

In Mexico, Día de Los Reyes (known elsewhere as Epiphany) is celebrated on January 6 to honor the Three Wise Men. This holiday represents the day the Three Wise Men gave gifts to Jesus Christ. The day closes the Christmas festivities and is the day the people of Mexico exchange gifts. During Día de Los Reyes, Mexicans serve Rosca de Reyes, or King’s Cake. “Rosca” means wreath and “reyes” means kings. The Rosca de Reyes has an oval shape to symbolize a crown and has a small doll inside which represents baby Jesus. The doll figure symbolizes the hiding of the infant Jesus from King Herod’s troops. Traditionally roscas are adorned with dried and candied fruits to symbolize the many jewels that a crown would have. The person who gets the slice with the doll must host a party on Día de la Candelaria in February.

Christmas might be over, but it doesn’t mean the gift giving (and receiving) is over. Children in Latin America and Spain receive the majority of their gifts from the Three Kings rather than from Santa Claus at Christmas. Before going to bed, the children place their old shoes with a wish list on top for the Three Kings. In the morning, the shoes are filled with toys and gifts from the Three Kings.

 

This is taken from a National geographic article which I read in a doctor’s office about 8 years ago!!!

In Central Mexico, time and place are fluid, and history runs into the present, and the present is always straining into the afterlife so that nothing is only what it seems. For example, at dawn on January 5, the day before Epiphany, on a dusty rancho in El Rodeo just east of the city of Guanajuato, roosters are insulting one another and shouting for the sun to come up, and a handful of cowboys on fresh horses are dressed as if for church, in white cowboy hats, shirts with faux-pearl buttons, and boots that still bear a literal resemblance to the animal from which they were made: snake, lizard, alligator. There is an edge of cavalry about the way the cowboys spin their leather-and-silver-clad mounts in the orange-blue dust, but next to them is a skin-and-bones mare whose foal was recently killed and eaten by the dogs. She hangs her head beside the cactus to which she is tied, absorbed in the constant, anonymous scrabble for life that is everywhere here, and there is nothing of cavalry in her. The air is scented with cooking smoke and drying laundry.

It's as if everything may happen (the mare may revolt, the cowboys may burst into prayer, miracles may ensue), or nothing will happen at all (the mare will take one breath after another, the cowboys will dismount and make for their construction jobs, the roosters will find a dusty nest and fall asleep). In the end, because this is central Mexico, something entirely other happens. Like rocks being tumbled under a great river, the road that leads from here to Guanajuato begins to clatter, and out of the dawn, thousands of cowboys on a mix of mounts from eager stallions to a black-and-white-spotted donkey appear. With less flourish than you would think, the cowboys from El Rodeo jog out of the rancho onto the road and join the procession.

Christ the King—or a 65-foot-tall depiction of him —stands on top of Cubilete mountain in the state of Guanajuato, thousands of feet up cobbled switchbacks from the high plateau, which is nonetheless called el bajío, the lowland. It is to this statue's feet that three or four thousand cowboys are riding, just as the three wise men are supposed to have ridden to the manger in Bethlehem on this day roughly 2,000 years ago. It is said that this statue of Cristo Rey is most famous for his expressive hands, the way they are held out from his sides, as if the son of God were about to quell a riot.

Pilgrimages to Cristo Rey, to Our Lady of Guadalupe, to depictions of saints elsewhere in the country, are common in Mexico. But seldom is there such a massive cabalgata —a horseback gathering —of faith; it swells by hundreds of riders each year, a word-of-mouth event of magnificent proportions. "It's no one important who rides," one cowboy says, "but it is all of us who have the Lord in our hearts no matter where in the world we go." It is true the riders include construction workers from Chicago, rig workers from Texas, gardeners from Guanajuato, laborers from San Miguel de Allende, farmers from Jalisco. "We are el pueblo," the cowboy says.

 

So today was the day to go the celebration this will be my sixth time going and I had bought a 60 pound bag of oranges and 150 bread rolls and I was on the road by 8.30am because I didn’t have to waste any time cooking breakfast as I am now officially on the fast

Do you know how hard it is to drive 55 miles with this

and this on the seat next to you..

The drive was made more enjoyable by the addition of my new Sirius radio

X is the destination

The drive up is slow as there are many families by the roadside and this is the reason for the bread and oranges…

I could only get so far up the mountain because of the traffic so I parked and walked the rest of the way.

The sheer number of cowboys is amazing and they are all so friendly and again did not see any other gringos.

I then continued up to the statute and observed the people there.

The shrine is beautiful inside..

It was a good hike and I made sure I had lots of water.

It was another blessing to be able to witness something so different and spiritual.

I was back in town by 3 o clock and put the car back in the garage and decided to walk home it is 7 km and believe me when I got home I was hungry and so thankful to Linda for the broth she made for me..it went down well.

I have started taking the medicine to flush out my system and all I will say is there is going to be a well worn path in the tile leading to the bathrom!!!!!

So a quiet night at home.

Yashi koshi!!!

Sunday 5th January 2014…well it was a kids day!!!

Another lovely sunny morning and I nothing planned till the afternoon so spent the morning doing two loads of laundry…...it is so nice to have a good washing machine on the property and then I put the clothes out on my rack and they sun dry.

I did watch Canadian juniors lose in the bronze medal of the World junior championship from Sweden a big loss for sure.

Then I prepared three lunches for the kids as I was taking Paola and her two brothers Leonardo and Andreas to the water park.  I made them egg sandwiches, fruit and orange juice.  I then had to go get the car and then pick up the kids…they were all waiting for me and I told Erika, Paola's Mum I would have them back by 4pm as the boys had to return to the home where they stay.

I thought the water park would be very busy but as you can see we almost had the whole place to ourselves….

 

Leonardo

Andreas

The setting is very beautiful

They always play so well together!!

Time for lunch!!

Al three of them like the big slide!!!!

I like this photo…

The afternoon went too fast and when I asked them to come to get showers they came right away…it is a while since I have seen the boys but they are well mannered and a joy to be with…the afternoon was just what I needed.

Came home and because tomorrow is Monday and my house cleaning day I tidied up a bit…then had a long bath listening to the Canucks hockey and ate my last meal for three days.

On Wednesday I am scheduled for a combined colonoscopy and endoscopy of the esophagus, duodenum and stomach and for this I need to fast starting tomorrow morning..Tuesday is the day of the liquid drink to make you go you know where so will not go far that day.  I think the last time I had a surgery was when I was sixteen and I fractured my collar bone.

This below I blogged a few weeks ago but it is worth posting again.

 

Colonoscopy Journal: I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy.

A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis .

Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner.

I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET LONG UP YOUR BEHIND!'

I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America 's enemies..

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous.

Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor.

Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons). Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and toilet cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose, watery bowel movement may result.'

This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but, have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch?This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep.

The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous.. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked..

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep.. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point..

Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand.

There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' had to be the least appropriate.

'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me...

'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.

I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine,' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood.

Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that It was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

On the subject of Colonoscopies...

Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous..... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies:

1. Take it easy Doc.. You’re boldly going where no man has gone before.

2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'

3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'

4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'

5. 'You know, in Arkansas , we're now legally married.'

6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'

7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'

8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'

9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!'

10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'

11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'

And last but not least:

12. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?'

Yashi Koshi!!!

Saturday 4th January 2014…a very special day!!!

There is a very special Canadian couple living in SMA Sharon and John and each year they do a huge toy drive and make sure that 1200 children living in the outlying small campos get a Christmas gift and for the fourth year I was very privileged to be a small part of that today.

Linda and Guy loaned me their van and at 8am I was at the meeting point and loaded 13 huge garbage bags of 240 gifts into the van and in a convey with 10 other kind folks we visited 4 schools and as always very humbling to see these children who really have nothing stand quietly in line sometimes for nearly 20minutes waiting for their small gift.

As tradition goes they had the three kings hand out the gifts….guess who was one of those kings

It was a very long day but one which always makes me feel so blessed to be able to be a small part of making some kids have a special day!!

As Saturday night is the night that I sort out my sock and underwear drawer I found a couple of socks that needed to be thrown away as they had holes in them but then I had a brainwave!!!!!

 

Use for Old Socks on a Cold Winters Night

 

Thanks to my friend Robin for sending me this…how powerful!!!

AND THEN IT IS WINTER…

Here it is, the winter of my life, and it catches me by surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go? I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like.
But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting grey...they move slower. Like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd be.
And so...now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared. And I'm not sure how long it will last.
If you're not in your winter yet, let me remind you that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life, please do it! Life goes by way too quickly. Do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your winter! You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember.
Life is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one.
Life is too short to let even one day be frenzied or frazzled or frittered away.
Life is too short not to take time to do the things that will hold the most meaning for you.
Let yourself float like a leaf on a stream.
Throw out your list that's impossibly long, and dance a few steps to a favorite song.
Turn off the news and go find someone real who'll listen and talk and affirm what you feel.
Life is too short and it flies by if you let it, so choose what you want every day, and go and get it.

 

Big hockey game on at 9pm so I better get into the tub…..

Yashi Koshi!!!

Friday 3rd January 2014…what is that shiny thing in the sky!!!!!

Yes it is true the sun came out today and everyone feels a glow inside I am sure.

Had my protein shake for breakfast and then went into town to do some chores and also went to the podiatrist and had him do some work on my toe from there I went to my Doctor’s office to re confirm that I know when I have to fast and take that nasty drink ready for my little procedure on Wednesday.

From there to the Telephone company…. suddenly my cell phone will not work.  You know when you hear these comments about Mexico not being safe or why do you like to live there this little story may help.

I do try to speak Spanish when ever I can and in the telephone office I asked for an agent that could speak English and I was directed to window number 4 and behind the desk was simply a gorgeous looking woman who spoke great English I explained the problem and she asked my name and I told her and she smiled at me and said that Leslie was her name also that makes us “tocayos” then she explained that this word means we are buddies because we have the same name….I thanked her for the story and also for fixing my phone I had inadvertently locked it up and when I left in  Spanish I wished her a happy new year and told her she was beautiful..she smiled and said thank you…..now I don’t suppose for one minute I impacted her day but because of her manner and friendliness not to mention beauty she put a smile in my heart!!!

Next stop was Linda and Guy’s where I left Little Blackie and went for my big hike by the press(lake)…it was a beautiful day and so nice to be warm….the hike was great but I was astounded at two things…firstly the height of the water I have not hiked here for about 2 months and with all the rain the lake as risen

I used to bring Paola here she she would ride her bike over that bridge.

The other addition was the incredible number of new brick kilns all with workers at them!!!

Get away from this and it was a lovely hike

X is where I am heading

Is this a pelican…

This building was never by the water

A few other hikers on the trail

This where I stopped for lunch

There is a whole community by the lake

I walked 10 miles and it felt really good to be out and lots of time to listen to my music and of course the usual thinking about my life and my choices and my future!!!!

I then went and picked up the car as I need to exchange it for Linda and Guy’s car you will have to tune in tomorrow to see why.

Stopped at Paola's casa on the way home and joy she was there..she seemed happy to see me and her two little brothers Andreas and Leonardo were there and we had a little visit and I told them I would come for them on Sunday afternoon and take them all to the water park..that made them smile.

Home and had a good meal and a long soak in the tub and now going to settle down and watch some TV.

Yashi Koshi!!!

Thursday 2nd January 2014……Boy another cold day!!!

Well I never thought the rain last night would cancel out my tennis this morning but I called the club and the courts were closed…so I ask you what is a guy supposed to do when he is all set to play tennis and it is cancelled….I will tell you he makes breakfast and sits down and watches the Canadian junior hockey team beat Switzerland and advance to the semi finals!!!!

I then went into town did some banking and some errands and then went to Linda and Guy’s house and Linda and I went into town to the Deaf school where we went on Monday and for 3 hours helped wrap the rest of the presents for the children in the campo…..I am going out on Saturday to help deliver the presents.

I then stopped by Paola's house but she is still away.

It has been cold all day so now had my dinner and going to get into the tub and have a good long soak.

Not a really exciting blog…sorry.

Yashi Koshi!!!

Wednesday 1st January 2014…..still hard to believe!!!!

Well the first day of a new year and I was awake by 7am I knew this morning was going to be a play morning with two live soccer games to watch from England so I settled on the couch with some refreshments and watched both games…..  the second game was my brother’s home team, Hull playing the same team they beat a few weeks ago

unfortunately they were not able to repeat that performance but it was a good game….

Next was some sorting out of my drawers you would think that living alone my drawers would not get messed but it seems I do this every month.  Some of you I know are thinking I need to get a life!!!!

I then was getting ready to do a nice afternoon hike when Serena and Scott from downstairs asked if they could join me and we all went up into the canyons behind the casita and had a wonderful hike..I used my new pedometer and it was a total of 7.8 miles…here are a few shots on the way!!

I don’t know why but I just really like the above photo!!

This unfinished house was in the middle of now where.

 

I like this one below with the sun’s rays!!!

We only met one other hiker on the trail..

It was great to be out there again!!!!

I used my new BBQ tonight with the tank I bought yesterday and it all worked well.

So now I have had supper…a good long soak in the tub…I really enjoy the tub and I vary between Epsom salts, lavender bubble bath and a green tea foam!!

Now getting ready to watch the Canucks hockey game.

I did some reflection on the up coming months…first of all is next Wednesday when I have my little medical procedure, then the start of my yoga class, my teaching class, taking Paola to her dance troupe class they have changed the dates of her class from Tuesday and Thursday to Monday and Wednesday so I know now that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be really busy but not complaining and I am still going to keep my Friday's as Pearson days with no plans to see anyone and that will be my big hiking day…talking of which it is approximately 155 days before I begin my huge adventure of hiking the Camino Santiago…I am taking the northern route across Spain and it is around 550 miles or 850 km…so I have lots of time to get ready for the days of endless walking.

I really want to make a few changes in my life and if today was anything to go by I did a good job….I ate healthy, spent some time studying Spanish, spent time with friends and tried to be positive and embrace the day.

Best wishes again to you all for 2014!!!

Yashi Koshi!!!