Oh, Mexico!

The Hubby and I went with a group of his fellow professionals to Mexico last week. It never fails to amaze me how strong and beautiful the colors are in Mexico:

Of course, there was a lot of delicious food:

And a bit of drinking:

And music:

And taking silly photos of each other. On the left is R.; hanging out with her practically guarantees a fun time!

I didn't step my toe into a pool or go to the beach at all. Nope! My idea of a fun time was to clamber into a minivan with R. and a bunch of others, and toodle around in the countryside all day with Antonio, our guide.

We went to a coconut plantation, where the momma of the family showed us how she gets the sweet meat out of the coconut:

We sampled her home-made coconut candy, which was delish:

Antonio drove us to Patatlan, a small town with a church featuring a statue of Jesus that dates back to the 1550s:

Everybody admired the statue and the architecture, but I was entranced by the lady ironing vestments in the Sacristy. Such an ordinary task, and right next to the altar through an open door. I loved the contrast of the exalted and the humble:

I also noticed something intriguing about the small window over the choir loft:

It has a Star of David in it. I love finding references to Christianity's Jewish roots in churches:

Outside the church, tall votive candles burned:

In Patatlan's main plaza, vendors sell everything from gold jewelry...

To statues of the patron saint of drug dealers!:

Good grief. He even looks like a sleazebag.

Antonio also took us waaaay up a dirt road with cows and chickens and dogs who needed a good face-wash....

Our destination was a family-run brick yard. Antonio recently bought the pavers for his kitchen from this family:

(That's Antonio, on the left, telling us how they use dried coconut husks to fuel the kiln. Clever!)

On our last evening, our whole group went to a hotel and restaurant called La Casa Que Canta ("the house that sings"). As the sun dropped below the horizon, we had a delicious alfresco dinner while looking out across the bay of Ixtapa:

And I fell in love with these pale blue glasses:

Next time, I'm going back with an empty suitcase and a bunch of bubble wrap.