This mosaic was in the lobby of the hotel. Honestly, I didn't even notice that it was a mosaic until I took the picture. It was made up of old record covers, so it was really huge! After I took the picture, I asked someone, and they mentioned a name I've forgotten, but I know he's playing a guitar in front of the Mexican flag. It was pretty impressive in person.
Another piece of art in the lobby. I loved the quirky feel to this design.
Even more, I loved that it was made up of instruments!
Waiting in the lobby for our group outing to begin, playing with the camera. Happy folks! Our chosen excursion was an off-roading trip. The description said there would be off-roading, a stop in a little town, a nature walk, a snack at a local home, and lunch on a beach. What a day to look forward to!
This is what our off-road vehicle looked like.
Ready to go off road!
The first little stop our trip made was by a cemetery. Our guide, David, talked about the sanctity of cemeteries and traditions surrounding the Days of the Dead. I always thought it was one day of the dead, but learned that they set aside a day for children/people who died young and another right after it for those who died of old age. Neat. I was fascinated by the idea that a family buys a plot and literally builds a small house on it, and buries each person on top of the last burial inside the 'house'. And the brick wall around the cemetery is topped with cemented broken pieces of glass to deter thieves.
Our next stop was beside a tree. I loved the story David told to illustrate religion and history in their culture. I can't recall the name, but I know the gourds are sometimes used to make maracas. Should have taken a picture of the tree - oops. The story goes that as Heavenly Father was creating the earth, he got sleepy and took a nap before this tree had finished developing. While he slept, Satan, who hated all creation, took advantage by throwing stones at the tree viciously. (The tree really does look like the gourds were thrown and lodged into the trunk and branches.) Suddenly God awoke and saw what was going on. He banished Satan and mourned over his tree. He said, 'I'm sorry, little tree, that I can't undo this. But I will forever protect you from Satan by decorating you with these leaves.' And all the leaves on this tree are shaped like this:
A cross. Beautiful little story!
Our little town stop included a small tour of a corn tortilla shop. I had no idea that corn tortillas are literally just corn soaked in lime water - or calcium hydroxide - to break down the indigestible skins, then mushed together into a dough. No additives. Crazy! I loved the little town square. These statues commemorate the local natives, a tribe that makes pilgrimages every season for a spiritual experience.
Aaron got a kick out of the 'spiritual experience'. Evidently, they make a pilgrimage to eat a particular kind of cactus. The cactus makes them violently ill, then the spiritual effects start - hallucinations. When they've awoken from their spirit dreams, they create art to show what they dreamed. The art is made by using beeswax to attach tiny beads onto carvings, ceramics, gourds and other things. This woman is displaying a dream about the sun and moon, signifying man and woman.
There were so many beautiful pieces! We actually bought one of these here, the blue gecko in the bottom left corner. Aaron looked at this picture and said it'd make an awesome puzzle. I'll probably make him one someday. :)
We also made a bathroom stop in town. I was sort of surprised to see that we had to pay to go. It was only 5 pesos, or 50 cents, but still, it was a bit of a shock. I'm glad public bathrooms are free here!
After more off-roading and bumping around down a dry wash area, we had our nature hike. It was about a mile, and started with one of the guides going ahead with 'snake repellent' - a machete. We stopped and talked about this neat tree. Never play with this! Not because it has nasty thorns, but because fire ants live in lots of those thorns, which are hollow. Yikes!
All around us were little lizards. David caught one and talked about how sometimes, when scared, they shed their tails. He said his dad used to tell him to be like these lizards - don't lose your head for the love of your tail.
Beautiful butterflies were everywhere!
On this bark are two nasty arachnids. There's the obvious spider in the middle, and a tiny camouflaged scorpion next to the crack crack in the bottom of the bark.
Aaron and I were intrigued by all the ficus plants. It's interesting that these plants are germinated by being eaten by birds, then pooped onto the tops of trees/plants/rocks. The seed then sends down vines which, when they get to the ground, grow and thicken, wrapping around the tree and killing it. Once the original tree is dead, the ficus keeps living. It's strange that it begins as a parasite but lives after it's host is dead. David laughingly called it the 'marriage tree', because two different plants come together to make something beautiful, but over the course of 70 to 100 years, one of them kills the other. (You'd never guess David's single...)
This is a ficus and palm. Palms live longer than most other trees under the binds of ficus because palms are not trees. Trees only bring water up for nourishment from the latest ring of trunks; Palms are really fibrous and bring water up the entire circumference of trunk. That's why most trees die - the ficus chokes that newest ring - but palms are harder to choke out.
This is where a ficus stands where there was once a tree. It's so neat to see the blank space in the middle where a tree used to be!
David made sure to ask us all if we'd ever eaten orchid. Me, orchid? No, we all said. He then informed us all that vanilla beans come from orchids, so, odds are, we've all eaten orchid. It wasn't until I was editing this picture that I noticed that the lovely orchid I took hold of to photograph had a spider on it. Sends chills down my spine! See if you can find the spider!
Our next stop was a small family homestead. They truly lived in poverty. But they opened their meager home to share with us. I loved this pottery - and the tasty fruit inside that we were offered.
This sweet woman was making corn tortillas. We were told to have a tortilla, fill it with beans, fresh guacamole, and fresh salsa, in two heats. I had two filled and one plain, they were SO good! I didn't try the hotter salsa, though. I'm a wimp like that.
It was nostalgic to see how things were set up. These beautiful old dishes and tools set among the woodpile. I thought it made a beautiful picture all together. Maybe another puzzle?
In all this strange poverty, I was amazed at the beauty, and the care taken of some of the smallest things.
After having seen corn made to tortillas in the shop in town with a machine, David was happy to show us how it's done without a machine. Seeing that made me so very grateful for my 'civilized' and very spoiled lifestyle.
This part of Mexico is known as a 'tropical dry forest'. Because of the strange meeting of several climates, you can find pines, palms and cacti all in a single setting. It's sort of bizare.
This is a pod of a banana plant. I think I understood that this one won't have bananas in it, because only the first three or four pods carry all the needs for banana growth.
I didn't take any pictures at the little beach or the lunch they served us, but it was gorgeous and tasty. On the drive back to the resort, the tour offered us the chance to take part in another tradition of Mexico - drinking tequila. We didn't try it, but it looked like the others had fun. And our guide told of an amusing time when he'd given the same tour. He said, "I had Mormons on this side and Muslims on that side; we never even opened the pepsi!"
We were transported back to the hotel, where I promptly took a bath. I found out what happens when you put bubble bath into a jetted tub - you get so many bubbles you can't see the other end of the tub! Seriously, this water was only a little over half-filling the tub, and the rest is all bubbles. It was a strange sensation. :)
We found our friends, but learned they were all heading out to 'The Zoo', which is a local bar. We opted, instead, to chill in the hamocks that were found all over the resort. What a soothing end to a very busy day!
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