Fun Times with Friends

Sorry about the lack of recent blog posts. We are now settling into routine after the summer and hope to be more regular with our posts. Here are a few happy friend shots to share.

Hizee, Zam, Carmelo, and Ziko at the presa.
Ziko and his buddy Cirilo.
Always fun times with Maria! Ziko, Hizee, Angel, and Maria.
Giant elephant ears in the barranca!
Zam, Hizee and Enrique

The New MCC Mexico Team

Going into the last year of our three year term with MCC means that we are now the "oldies" here in Mexico. A whole new crew of folks have arrived in Mexico this summer to serve with MCC. The youngest new arrival is Sophia who is the newborn baby of the current MCC representatives in Mexico (Marion and Ricardo). Sophia's parents arrived in Mexico around the same time we did, but Sophia is very new (and cute!). Also new to the team are Luke and Sarah who will be working in Mexico City; Adriene, Arthuro, and their daughter Rocio (pictured with baby Sophia) who will be working in Tapachula, Chiapas; and Clifford and Nompilo who are from Zimbabwe and are participating in MCC's YAMEN program (one year cultural exchange). While Clifford will be working in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Nompilo will be coming to live and work in Zacango for the year! We are very excited about Nompilo coming to Zacango...she is currently studying Spanish in Cuernavaca but will be arriving in Zacango next weekend!

Vacation in Tabasco and Chiapas

In mid August we had MCC team meetings in Chiapas (southern state in Mexico) and we left for the meetings a little early and took the opportunity to see some of Mexico's famous archeaological sights. Our first stop was a town called Villahermosa in the state of Tabasco where we saw the famous Olmec stone heads that were carved over 2000 years ago. They were impressive, to say the least! After Villahermosa we moved on to Palenque, Chiapas.
The kids had a great time exploring but being able to stay in a hotel and swim were also huge highlights for them.

Palenque Ruins

The Mayan archaeological site of Palenque lived up to its reputation. The amount of structures at the site is astounding and they've only unearthed a small portion of the buildings. The best part is that you're given more or less free access to climb and explore the ruins. Zam was more than impressed to find this skull sculpture on the side of the wall that is featured (or copied) in the Indiana Jones series.
Palenque is also situated in an amazing tropical rain forest which we had fun exploring. See the collage below for more Palenque pictures. And sorry for the lack of facts and history on Palenque. Please google it if you care to learn more.

Birthday Surprises

My birthday was full of surprises this year! It began with our neighbors coming over to adorn our door with a tissue paper banner....
...followed by hugs, gifts, cards, and love from the kids (not such a surprise but always beautiful)...
...an extra special gift from Maria -- a vintage Olinala box and a clay indigenous artifact (between my fingers in this picture) that she found in her maize field while helping her family plough ...














...and my friend Elvira surprised me with a carrot cake at the end of the day! I had a great day!

Radish Harvest

Here are some pictures from the beginning of August when the kids from the summer program harvested their radishes to sell. This was Zam's favourite part of the program because it meant making some pesos. He's quite entrepreneurial lately and loves earning money.
Our house was turned into a radish washing assembly line.

"Liz's Baby"

Hizee's good friend Liz has a new baby sister and we've been enjoying visiting with her. She doesn't have a name yet (she is now 2 months old -- these pictures were taken shortly after she was born) as we have found that it is quite common for people to wait some time before naming their babies.

Hizee's Keepsake Quilt

Hizee is quite sentimental and loves saving things for "my keepsake." So when I suggested that we could cut up some of her old clothes and make a quilt out of them she jumped on the idea. Here she is with her best friend, Diana, sewing together some patches for her keepsake quilt.

Adios, Farewell, So-Long....Elizabeth!

At the end on July we said good-bye to our dear friend and fellow MCCer Elizabeth as she completed her term with MCC. Elizabeth lived here in Guerrero for part of her time with MCC and we had some super times together. The kids fell in love with Elizabeth and our times together with always filled with laughter thanks to her wicked sense of humour! We're missing you like crazy Elizabeth!