shopping & marrying a la mexicana

We're back from Mexico City! All went well. Bill's sister Gretchen and Mundo had a beautiful wedding in the party room at her condo. Being a Party Planner Extraordinaire, the setting was stunning and the food was delicious. They were married by a Justice of the Peace, and according to Mexican law, no alcohol may be served until after the ceremony, which we found amusing (what? You can drive like a maniac but you can't drink before a wedding?) but a tad inconvenient. It turns out that the law is because of grooms who have experienced post-marital buyer's remorse and blamed it on a-a-a-a-alcohol. So rather than having to go through all the hassles of annulment etc, better to just ban premarital boozing. The justice of the peace was a piece of work, as he babbled on and on about how they were now captains of a ship and as time went on there would be other passengers on board so they had to keep that in mind with their decisions, etc. Meanwhile, Mundo already has a 25 year old daughter (who is an absolute delight!!) and Gretchen a 6 year old son, so they are fully aware of the trials and tribulations that accompany captaining a ship. Anyway.

Other than the wedding, we played lots of Mexican Train Dominoes with Bill's parents, drank lots of Negra Modelo beer, had a great morning at Bazaar del Sabado, which in Jackie's words is "the best shopping experience in the world," spent a few delightful hours at Las Caballerizas which has delicious food and a petting zoo and fields that made me long for my ultimate frisbee buddies back home. Once again, the schedule was too packed for me to be able to see my childhood friends or take the kids to my old school or other stomping grounds, which is a bummer - the kids would LOVE my school there, the American School. Next visit there I will definitely make it a priority to show them some of my background, and to see my friends.

All in all, a successful weekend. We loved Mundo, Gretchen's husband (we'd never met him before) and wish them much happiness. We also got to see Jaime, her ex-husband, and that was great. He's Willo's godfather and he and Willo had never met, since they were separated before the baptism.

Returning to Vieques was a bit of an adventure since we were scheduled out of Mexico at 11:00am and found out at 6:30am that the flight was canceled and we'd either have to fly out the following day (impossible for Bill) or at 9:45am. So we somehow managed to get out the hotel door in 30 mins and to the airport in 30 mins (record time by far). When we landed in San Juan, Jackie surprised me by sighing, "It's great to be home."

Fortunately, home for us for now is beautiful weather and gorgeous beaches, but it also means no school to which to ferry the kids so I can unpack, do laundry, and work on some photography orders I'd had pending. So the first day back was an utter disaster every moment that the kids were not doing schoolwork (because that's when they were fighting). It was one of those days where I really wondered how the heck all those moms homeschool, without resorting to mommy pills or vodka, or succumbing to violence. We ended up walking down to the beach when I'd finally finished my project, and the salt water somewhat eased our nerves. Today was far better as I got in a hard, hot run, the kids caught up on some much-needed sleep, we tackled the local supermarket (they had fresh spinach!!!! And pineapple!!!), and after math we started an art project (I'd brought back some canvases and fancy paints) which is like instant therapy. Oh, and I have a girls night out to look forward to tonight :)

Mommy Dearest & the beach

When you spend Valentine’s Day on the beach, after a great bike/run/bike workout with a new friend, you really don’t need any bling bling or fancy chocolates. Well, I always need chocolate but I’m not one for bling. We met a few work colleagues of Bill’s on the beach after lunch. This time we went further down Blue Beach. The part we’d been hanging out on had sizeable waves which were great for boogie-boarding but required a constant watchful parent. Where we went to, just past the point that juts out in front of the little island, was like one big swimming pool. Jackie could walk out rather far and the water still only came to her chest. No boogie boarding but I was relieved to be able to relax, and the kids loved the tranquility and the possibility of actually swimming as opposed to dodging waves. We had a great time playing Frisbee with Bill on the beach, watching him and Ali play paddle ball, playing with the kids in the water & the sand, drinking Medallas, swimming a few laps, eating Ali’s scrumptious picnic (pears, grapes, Manchego cheese, crackers…). Josie, one of Ali’s teammates has a fantastic set of tattoos all over her body, and her girlfriend, Yari, is the sweetest thing and is actually a well-known recording artist here. Check out her album Mima, it’s awesome, Latin Jazz with a pinch of chipotle. She’s now working on a new album.

Yesterday (Monday) was the worst day yet in terms of homeschooling. Or rather, the actual school part was great, but when the kids weren’t engaged in an academic activity of some sort, they were a flipping nightmare. In my homeschooling book it warns that you’ll have good days and bad days. I’d assumed the bad days were when you couldn’t think of creative activities, or your printer didn’t work so you couldn’t bang out some worksheets, or the teacher (you) didn’t feel well and the lack of substitute teachers meant school was shot. But yesterday I learned that a bad day of homeschooling is (for me, at least, so far) when the now-idle children decide to torture each other because their classes are over, Mami is trying to send out some photography orders, and anything involving a screen or a remote is off-limits (my own masochistic rule).

As the situation was seriously starting to resemble a scene from Mommy Dearest, I packed the kids in the car and we went off to find treasure. As in, the kind of treasure you find at Cofí Beach, AKA Glass Beach. Because of a landfill that used to be somewhere off shore around there, sea glass still washes up on the beach. We found it and quickly got to work. It was really fun. We found green, blue, white, brown, and one little red piece. When we return from tomorrow’s trip to Mexico City, I plan to get the kids working on some really cool art projects with the hundreds of shells & sea glass we’ve accumulated.

At this point we’re all hot and sweaty and Jackie begs for Blue Beach, so we head across to the other side of Vieques and back to the quiet waters of Blue Beach 2 (as I call it). By the time we've lugged all our crap to the water's edge it’s 3:45, there are maybe 2-3 groups of people other than us, and we all jump happily into the water. I guess even a bad day of homeschooling in Vieques is still better than a good day in February in the Northeast.

Today (Tuesday), after a successful morning of school (we’re now doing a whole thing on the solar system), we headed over to Rona & baby Dagan’s house. She had invited us and our friends Bronwen and her 2 kids, for lunch and swimming (they have a pool). It was a really good time, as always, with them. Rona was telling us about some black millipede here that if it bites you, you have to go immediately to the ER because it’s lethal. Definitely going to find out about that one.

From there, the kids and I traipsed off to the grocery store (Morales), after a quick stop at the weekly fruit/veggie stand. Well, apparently Morales gets its weekly deliveries on Tuesdays. And the whole island knows this. If you are going to buy Kleenex (a commodity here) or Heineken Light, you want to shop on Tuesdays. Fortunately the kids opted to hang out in the air-conditioned car, as Jackie hates putting down her St. Clare’s series (by Enid Blyton, the same series I was obsessed with around her age), and Willo was happily playing on his Leapster (the only video games I will allow). Also fortunately, I don’t think kids being left in a cool car are an issue with local law enforcement. In fact, I don’t really know what is an issue with local law enforcement, as I’ve seen people speeding, tossing trash freely, and having sex on the beach. Anyway I navigated the aisles that are narrow to begin with, but then you’ve got towers of boxes that need unpacking, blocking the aisle, and just past that the local woman who is in no rush and is deep in some cell phone conversation, oblivious that I am a woman on a mission. I must find decent food to serve to Bill and 3 of his colleagues for tonight’s dinner (which was then to be canceled as I headed home).

Tomorrow we leave for San Juan as we have a flight early Thursday morning to Mexico City. Bill’s sister Gretchen is getting married on Saturday. Jackie is the bridesmaid and William is a ringbearer along with Gretchen’s son, Matías. I’m the photographer. We get back here next Tuesday. So not sure if I’ll be able to blog while there, between all the family stuff and the fact that I’ll be somewhere that actually has decent shopping so I suspect all my free time will be spent looking for stuff like miraculous eye cream, craft supplies and a bikini bottom that stays up while I run.