Mexican Ragout

Let the Ragout Begin

We've been back in town for about three weeks and have been engaged in various outings.  But there hasn't been a unifying event like Day of the Dead or Easter or whatever to organize a blog around. So... here's just a roundup of what's been going on.

Monday, Monday....

Lest one think that all is tranquil in our lives, let us share our latest Monday with you.  It started out fine.  Went to the Monday market, checked on some furniture Jose Esperitu is making for us.  Came home and started to make lunch.  Flipped on the TV and Kabammmm... all hell broke loose.  Smoke emerged from every surge protector in the house, computers crashed, TVs stuttered and failed, lights blew out....well, you get the picture.  Damien, our gardener, ran in and started pulling the cords from the surge protectors while Michael did the same.  "What the hell?"  we all said in our native tongues.  No thunder storms.  No transformer blow ups.  What?  Sometimes you almost forget you live in Mexico until...well, stuff like this.  After Danny showed up (Danny is our combo electrician, plumber, basically everything guy) he deduced that the electric meter furnished to us by the monopoly CFE (Completely F*** Everybody) had randomly decided to change from 110V and sent 220V through the house. The house did not like it.  It was not pretty.  Danny yanked the meter out of the wall (typical practice here) and cross wired or something and we are up and running once more.  The surge protectors gave their lives but saved our computers and TVs. The security system is still screwed up but we survived the night.  So don't worry.  We're getting solar soon.

Sedona Has Nothing on Us or-- We're Off to See the Vortex

As I mentioned, things have been rather sedate (well, except for above) so when our friends Alma and Graham mentioned that there was a vortex (Foco Tonal) down the Lake from us we were all in for a road trip.  I forgive you if you don't know what a vortex is.  I didn't until our journey.  It is, allegedly, a place where energy converges from both the center of the earth and the heavens producing, allegedly, therapeutic and energizing forces that are good for you.  To say that I was a big, old, doubting Thomas would be understating it-- but off we went.

As usual, our GPS persisted in pointing us in exactly the wrong direction but, after much mucking around with the GPS' on iPhones and beating the car's GPS soundly with our hands, we arrived at the vortex.  Except, it wasn't.  We compared the photos we had of the Vortex site and where we were (which was a restaurant with a big empty pool with a pile of rocks in it) and decided we had, once again, erred.  We sat down to contemplate things when a waiter assured us that we had found the Vortex.  A SECOND vortex.  How could we be so fortunate?

And, he assured us, this was a much less commercial Vortex.  And only a year old.  Hmmmm. Should we try this one?  Well, we probably were never going to find the other Vortex so, why not?  Ten minutes later we found ourselves, barefoot, standing outside a circle of stones in the dry swimming pool with a "guide" who would help us with whatever was going to happen to us.  I'm not exactly sure what DID happen to us.  Maybe something did.  Feeling profoundly self-conscious, I entered the inner circle and said my name.  There was a very strange echo.  Then I stood there for about five minutes (I think) eyes closed, breathing deeply and felt....well...nothing.  Maybe it's what you bring to the party.  Other people felt something. Halfway through the ceremony/event two fully dressed out police vehicles drove through the property to the Lake no doubt seeking out drug dealing cartel members.  So Mexico.  They stared at us.  After we'd each had our turn in the circle, our guide told us what he saw when we were each in the inner circle.  He was very nice.  He said I had suffered (haven't we all?) and now I had a life of happiness and adventure.  OK, I'll give him that.  He really hit home with Alma and both Michael and Graham seemed OK with his analysis of them.

Alma surveying the vortex.

Alma standing in the vortex and ...

Deirdre sitting in the vortex.

Alma, Deirdre & Graham at the first vortex.

The dramatic clouds certainly gave the impression that something special must be happening, ...

particularly with the hole in this cloud. Could it be the vortex?

After refreshments, we implored our "noncommercial" guide to draw us a map to the "commercial" vortex.  No more trusting that damn GPS.  He drew the map to the city we needed and told us to ask "anyone" where it was once we arrived in town.  After asking about seven people we hauled up to the next Vortex.  I mean, how commercial can a site BE when you need a hand drawn map and seven people giving directions to find the place?  Inexplicably, probably a hundred Mexicans had already found the place with no problem.  And, it was commercial.  And bizarre.  The photos will tell all.  Clearly, it must work for some folks or you wouldn't draw these crowds.  We had to take a number (like the deli) to get to go to the Vortex.  It was about a billion degrees, we estimated it would take another hour or two to reach our number and we hadn't eaten lunch, so we just took it all in for an hour or so and then sadly left without the actual experience.

The gift shop was particularly interesting.  It featured gnomes, fairies and frogs as well as the symbols of every religion known to man.  Apparently a combo of a frog and a gnome will bring you money. They had amulets for everything: love, healing, money, success in school, you name it.  The only basket of amulets that was empty was the one for losing weight -- some problems are more universal than others.  As we snaked our way back down the pitted, dirt road toward civilization, we encountered a giant pyramid which also offered extraordinary benefits.  But it was closed because the wife of the man who owns/runs the vortex had died and this must have been her area of expertise.  I could give you the whole history of the vortex but will spare you.  The photos are more fun.

One of the many symbols at Foco Tonal.

The all seeing eye greets you as you enter.

The Foco Tonal house, in which the owner of Foco Tonal lives.

Even the lighting had an otherworldly appearance.

More detail of the Foco Tonal house, and ...

yet another view of the house.

The little house for the dwarfs & fairies (or so we were told).

A group in the vortex.

We weren't sure if this was for the vortex, or a left over from a previous era of large satellite dishes.

Frogs, gnomes & other assorted figures for sale designed to bring one luck, money or whatever.

Obviously the vortex does not include TV reception, so a Dish satellite is necessary.  Note pagodas.  Very ecumenical.

Yet another interesting shrine on the grounds.

Marfa/Area 54 Have Nothing On Us  or --We Are Not Alone

I mean I should have guessed.  If you've got vortices sprouting up around you the only logical conclusion would be that you also have OVNIs (UFOs in Spanish).  And, oh yes, it is alleged that we do.  While chatting with our guide at vortex #1 he furnished photographic evidence of UFOs hovering above the lake.  "Oh boy," thought I. "We are in for the full nine yards of "iffy" stuff today."
We all politely perused the photos and nodded that we all agreed that the small green folks were with us.  After he left, and I was about to enter into another negative diatribe about the unexplained,  I noticed that Graham looked a bit sheepish and seemed to be weighing something in his mind.  I am going to state once more, Graham is NORMAL. Very. I mean he's British, c'mon. And then he told the story of the UFOs and volleyball.  He and a bunch of other expats were playing volleyball at Cristiana Park at midday.  Blue, clear skies.  He glanced up and saw a formation of what he thought were planes but they didn't have wings.  He thought it was the angle and waited to see the wings.  No wings.  He said to his team, "Hey, look up"  And they did.  And they saw the same thing.  And then, just like in the movies, ZAP they were gone.  They went over to the sidelines and told the other players who immediately judged them mad and handed them each a beer.  End of story.  He really is NORMAL.
While recounting this tale to a good, normal friend in Boston in a somewhat (but not wholly) skeptical tone, there was silence on the other end of the line.  And then she said, "Well, I've seen them too-- along with several friends-- while at boarding school. We weren't drinking."  So two normal friends with paranormal experiences.  Another case of Quien Sabe.

A Day in the Park

We went, with Barbara and Allen, to a free concert at the Old Train Station in Chapala one afternoon.  I was intrigued because the main act was an American who "...in 1989 became entranced by the Mexican harp and moved to Mexico to devote his life to mastering the instrument."  I just thought that was interesting.  It was very nice and the crowd was a wonderful mix of Mexicans and expats.  We struck up a conversation with a 20 year old Mexican musician who joined us for snacks and a glass of wine and we completely fell in love with a two and a half year old little girl and her stuffed monkey (AKA mono not Manu -- an inside joke). She adopted us and played happily with us for ages.  From time to time her grandfather would drop by to see if she was OK, but otherwise she was free to run loose and do her thing.  The kids in Mexico are really happy.  Really.  In fact, Mexico was found to be the second happiest country in the world despite everything (like the economy, the corruption, the cartels etc.)  Just look at these photos and you'll see what I mean.

Barbara & Deirdre enjoying the music.

One of the musicians playing the Mexican harp.

The little girl with the stuffed monkey, ...

who couldn't resist showing her monkey to Deirdre & Barbara.

After rolling down the slight hill several times, it was time to take a rest.

Food is an essential part of any Mexican outing.

The quality of the musical entertainment was excellent & free.

Culture and Counter Culture

After that harp concert entry you may fear that we are going all high brow on you but never fear.  We were soon off to the Lucha Libre, Wrestling and Martial Arts festivities at the Malecon.  Lucha Libre is where they wear the funky masks and indulge in huge, exaggerated drama and maybe throw each other once in a while.  It was, of course, what I was most interested in.  Yet again, I was thwarted because we either arrived too soon/too late to see Lucha Libre.  But it was fun anyway.  A couple of photos will suffice.  Manu (see joke above) has promised to take us to the "real"  Lucha Libre in Guadalajara. Can't wait.  Really!

Not Lucha Libre, but real wrestling as can be seen in this photo ....

and this photo ...

and this photo.

When you throw your opponent, the idea is that you end up on top.  And you thought we didn't understand sports....

Wrestling in Mexico is an equal opportunity sport, ...

although who would want their face planted in the sand.

She wasn't always on the losing end, however.

The ladies showed they could be as aggressive, if not more so, than the men.

While all of this is going on, families are enjoying a beautiful Sunday outing, ....

sharing food & drink.

Meanwhile foals wander along the shoreline of the lake, ...

and a caballero stops to water his horse, while the new born colt joins in.

Families make themselves comfortable while they watch the action with many bringing chairs & umbrellas, ..

while others stand to watch.

Following the wrestling was the MMA (mixed martial arts) contests.

Despite all of the padding, some of those blows ...

are certainly felt.

On the Malecon on a Sunday there is always entertainment for all ages.

Unintended Consequences

It seems to me that the unintended consequences thing is particularly true in Mexico.  Here's an example. Jalisco (our state) outlawed the use of exotic (read wild) animals in circuses.  Seems reasonable.  But hold on.  The Guad Reporter ran this article about what happened next.  A circus guy went to his friend and asked if he could "leave his hippo" in the guy's garage.   "But of course," said the man.  Well, either somebody let the hippo out or the hippo figured out the garage door opener because, in the middle of the night, he was trotting down the streets of Tlajomulco.  Two ruined police cruisers later, he was subdued (they spared us the details).  It makes you wonder where the lions and tigers went......

One Last Thing

Our neighboring town had its big fiesta a week or two ago.  It is the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua and the streets downtown are closed for a full week while carnival rides and street food carts and bands take over.  I'm only mentioning it so we can include the photo of the little Franciscan.  All the little boys are dressed up as monks and are adorable.  We didn't get a photo of the two eight month old monks that were just beyond cuteness belief.

Our young Franciscan friar.

So, that's all for now.  Will post again when more bizarre things occur.  Which, given the track record, should be soon.  Hope you are all well and having fun.  Take care.

We'll leave you with this picture of El Sacromonte restaurant in Guadaljara, ...

where we had a delightful & delicious lunch with our friends Manu & Jim after getting our INAPAM cards.