=9=

“9,” as in 9 + 20 = my age as of 6 March; OR, more recently and significantly, 9 + a person of the minimum legal drinking age in the U.S.A. = the age of our dear backyard exhibitionist, Miss Sally L. Hunt, as of the 14th!  In this way– keeping the hard-to-read mathematical explanations to a minimum from here on, I promise– I hope to catch you up with the goings on of our last couple of more eventful weeks here in Qro, so get ready.  For lots of pictures.

First up: March 6th, which fell graciously on a Saturday.  I learned that a weekend birthday is something to be grateful for no matter what country you’re in, and that my birthday (experience) could be different for the very first time in awhile and still feel really good.  To me this was owed to the way my wonderful girlfriend tried to (and very much succeeded at) make the day special, and the fact that we had a rockin’ good party with well over 20 good people (friends! We need them!) in attendance.  Sally worked all week to make a beautiful table of food (well, the table wasn’t too beautiful, but the food was!), and as stunning evidence I present the following:

The afternoon.

Bird was there.  So was this nice dip.

 Those are brownies lit by warm Mexican sun ;).

The evening.
 

 (Kind of?) cheese, 'peños and bacon: a good idea.
 

 I concentrated all of my food-making ability

on a couple plates of shrimpy spring rolls.

Sally made everything else :).

Sally's first try at foccacia bread.  

I thought Unkie Wy would've been proud.

And these. Though they may appear boring,

if we were to stay in Mexico, we'd be most likely to

strike it rich selling these in our front yard. Spanish chorizo,

homemade dough and gouda cheese all baked together :).

I for one foolishly neglected the table after the party began (I ate a wee bit beforehand), and partied like I was 17 or 24 or something (I didn’t drink when I was 17, by the way).  It was a great time.

T

This photo of the backyard– called "Cement Garden B"–

makes me wish we were having the party again tonight.

We had a good time.

Proof of said good time(?): 

  Not hard to tell, I don't think.

The other nice bit of the last few weeks, occurred a week later on the weekend of Sally’s 30th birthday.*

* I somehow feel inclined to mention (a la JoePo) here that one majorly awesome thing that has happened a few times of late has been that we’ve received a fair bit of birthday mail from friends and family back home.  Has really been humbling to feel how good getting mail– cards and packages with kind words and/or well thought-out gifts– can be.  Thanks so much to those of you that express how much you miss and/or love us in this way.  Facebook interactions, Skype and emails also continue to be fine options–

We decided to get out of town for the first time in awhile, and visit the beauuutiful Sierra Gorda area of Querétaro state.*

* last aside: Our home phone just rang (you have to get it to get the good internet here) and it’s funny to have that experience here.  Partially because I’m almost certain it was this overly-friendly waiter we had when Stacey was here that’s weirding me out, partially because there are people in Mexico who, whether they know us or not, have our telephone number.       

Still, my main concern was making the date (March 14th) memorable without my typical complement of birthday gestures available to me, but we invited a couple new friends along (the couple is a couple from California and Minnesota, respectively) to make a different trip out of it and had a really good time.  We visited a ridiculous surrealist sculpture garden-thingy built by a rather eccentric and well-endowed Englishman in the middle of the jungle called “Las Pozas,” and commemorated the very unique and somewhat idealistic experience jumping into its frozen pools.  We also stopped for delicious regional coffee and fresh and well-executed pies (they didn’t beat yours, Mom) at a roadside restaurant (read: the proprietors’ house) on the 30 or so-minute walk from our little hotel in the city of Xilitla to the garden/former amateur pornography setting (so I heard).  Prepárense:

The town of Xilitla.
 

 Dudes ballin' in the mountains.

Just below Thumbs Up Mountain. Go Royals.

Mountains & palm trees in one place.  Cool.


An excellent impromptu breakfast stop.

Too cute with a cup of coffee.  

That's my pay de zarzamora.

Just before I took the picture above, by the look of it.
 

This was actually on the way back.  This way we

were able to try all three of the available pies:

raspberry, lemon (lime, technically) and apple.

Las Pozas.
 

 Posing from imaginative heights.

Detail shot showing some of the repeated themes:

eyes & mossy cement shape-patterns.
 

 Preparing for what would be the best & most freezing

experience of the long weekend:
 

Crazy how much the color changes in these two photos.

Sally rocked it hardcore to close out her twenties. 
 

Every article of clothing on that body is Gucci.

Concá, the next day (Happy birthday, Sally!).
 

 Pretty sky; funky mission. 
 

 Christening the next decade :).
 

So yeah, life’s been pretty good around here.  We’ve settled into a good spot in our time here and our relationship and have a lot to be grateful for despite the distance from you, our loved ones.  

In summary: I’m 29; Sally’s 30; we had nice birthdays; and we miss and love most of you, probably ;).  Thanks for the well-wishes!