Pasiflora

Check out this crazy looking flower!!

It is from pasiflora plant, or passion fruit, which is an odd fruit I tried yesterday. Tangy! We visited a dude who has an awesome garden, and he made passion fruit drinks in his blender. Very tasty with a bit of sugar!

I also tried lechi, which is not local, and is very strange. I will take pictures of it. Spiky.

Mushyrooms

A nice thing about this place is that, although technically this time of year is the rainy season, the rain never comes until late afternoon. At the moment (6pm) I can hear the thunder rolling in, but it has been sunny and mild all day. Plenty of time to play in the sun.

This morning I collected a million mushrooms with Beto who knows the land. He also knows no English, and I know very little Spanish, so our conversations were of course super complex and interesting. He's got good eyes! He could spot a mushroom from thirty feet away. We collected three types of edible mushrooms and he taught me the kinds not to eat, which is helpful, although my memory sucks so I think for the time being I will only eat the three that we found today. Tonight I will make mushroom tacos!

Tomorrow I get to visit Patzcuaro, which is a city type place nearby. Should be interesting and fun!

Finally!

After a few months of daily thoughts on this trip, I'm finally in Mexico!

It is much as I expected! Friendly and welcoming people, super amazing weather, gorgeous location... I'm staying in a forest near a lake and a few cute towns. No major cities nearby. I flew in to a majorish city, which was about an hour drive from here. Pretty perfect location to stay. Yesterday I walked into a teeny little town nearby that has a few little stores to get some basic stuff as well as a nice view... Tuesday I experienced the market in Erongaricuaro, which had everything anyone needs to eat. I got to try starfruit and prickly pair for the first time. Yum to both, though I like starfruit best.

It was a little difficult to post this blog as my computer knows I'm in Mexico and has made everything into Spanish. But that is kind of good, since I can understand some exposure to more won't hurt.

I've posted some pics to flickr, more later I'm sure.

Oh my gosh!

Tomorrow I leave for Mexico! Mysterious future! Plane from here to Ohio, Texas, then Morelia. Wheeeeeeeee!!

This blog will be more informative in a few days, I think.

Maggie the Tired Dog

IMG_3390
Originally uploaded by verykatie

This is my parent's dog Maggie. She is SO TIRED from the wedding weekend. Worn out puppy.

Wedding!

Tom and Wendy are husband and wife! Hooray!

The wedding was great. The ceremony was fun and everything went kind of smoothly once it began and the officiant was amazing and spoke from the heart. Very nice.

And the reception was amazing too! A lot of their friends pitched in and hired the UW marching band to pop in and play some songs as a surprise for Tom. It worked! SHocked! Very fun thoguh!!! Loud...

Tom gave a good speech! As usual. =) And all the guests had fun. Including me. Everyone danced! Amazing!!!

I want to see the pictures.

The End of the Year!

Today was the last official day of AmeriCorps.

Long time coming!

I'm very glad to leave Hickory. It is a strange place. There are many families here, and many retired people. There are stoplights all over the place. Many busy streets going to malls and chain restaurants. Too much driving is necessary. I've not enjoyed this town at all. There *is* a good brewery, whose website does not do it justice. I might miss OHB a bit. =)

And I will miss the friends from AmeriCorps. They are good people! I admire them in many different ways! And they will all do great things next year.

But I am glad this year is over. It is good to get out of this town. Is not quaint at all. And the roads are confusing and numerous. 4th St Dr SE, 4th St Ln SE, 4th St Ave SE. Even the street names lack character.

Tomorrow I pack all my things into my camry and then Monday off I go!