Guadalajara and Cuernavaca

Beto's dad playing guitar, and his younger brother, Omar, a professional opera tenor, singing.  He was, if you couldn't guess, incredible.

Shoe-shiners in a plaza in Guadalajara.

(L-R) Jenny, her husband Beto, and my 6-7 bodyguard (not really) friend, Kyle.

Me and Beto's tio playing guitar at Father's Day dinner in their back yard in Cuernavaca.

The fruit at the San Juan de Dios market in Guadalajara.  HUGE with everything available to purchase.

So, it's been about a year since I've posted here, but I haven't done too much traveling during the school year.  I went to Havasupai Falls in northern Arizona, to New York City, and to Delaware, but now it's the summer and it's time for my (thus far) annual trip to a cool place.  I started in Guadalajara, Mexico, and I've spent the past few days in Cuernavaca, a suburb of Mexico City, with my friend Roberto and his family.  It has been nothing short of amazing.

The first day we arrived was Father's Day, so we got fresh bread from the panaderia in town, fresh corn tortillas (which are not dry and crumbly like the bad ones from the USA, but soft, warm, and delicious) from the shop around the corner, and hot tamales from the guy on his bike down the street.  Then we made steaks for dinner, and Beto's father and uncle, as well as a few other men and women, spent the next 7 hours after dinner playing guitar and singing old traditional Mexican songs.  It was all in 4/4 time with triplets (boom-chick-chick, for those of you less musically inclined), and was so incredibly cultural and pure to hear.  SEVEN hours!  And the entire table was singing.  They knew all the words, and the guitarists knew all the chords to everything!  They saw I brought a guitar, too, so they asked me to sing a song of my own.  I gave them San Francisco Bay Blues by Eric Clapton and Hook by Blues Traveler, and I even joined Beto's uncle for a rendition of Blue Suede Shoes.  It was a great night.

Tomorrow Kyle and I are taking an early morning bus to Toluca, from where we'll fly to Merida, on the Yucatan.  We'll spend a few days there and at Chichen Itza and then head to Tulum, a great low-key beach resort on the coast, before heading down to Belize.  Hope it's not too hot wherever you are.