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Houses in Mexico are built with cement, lots and lots of cement.  You’ll find a few with some nice wood trim but they are never built with a wooden frame like you see in Canada.  Why you ask?  Well, wood is used mostly for fuel here and there really isn’t a plethora of it for use in construction.  Add in termites and lots of other bugs and it doesn’t really make a lot of sense.  However, Mexico does have a lot of the ingredients for cement so that’s what is used.   There are two types of houses in Mexico: the ones that stay nice and cool during the summer and keep the heat in during the winter months and the ones that stay really hot during the summer and really cold during the winter.  We’re quite lucky because we managed to rent the former kind of house.  This is really good for us because the one thing that houses in Mexico lack is DUCT WORK!  So, there is no central heat and no central air. 

For many people living in Mexico, not having heat in the winter is not a big deal.  It usually never gets that cold during the night and the cement walls retain the heat to keep things nice and cozy all year round.  However, for those of us living at altitude, it’s a different story.  In the winter, temperatures can drop as low as 3C at night with day time highs of 21C.  However, the daytime high is usually around 3PM and it only lasts for a couple of hours.   Houses get pretty chilly during the night and so people do resort to using some form of heat creation.  Most people either have portable electric heaters that they drag around from room to room or they have a stationary gas heater centrally located in the house to take the chill off. But there is also another way to heat the house during the day.

At some point in your childhood you would have heard “CLOSE THE DOOR, WE’RE NOT HEATING THE OUTSIDE YOU KNOW!!”  I’ve been trained from a young age to keep the heat (or the cool) inside the house and always shut the door (except for those lovely days in spring and fall).  Well, here in SLP we have to do the exact opposite in the winter.  We open the doors during the day to heat up the house.  Normally by the afternoon it is warmer outside than inside my house so I open up all the windows and doors to take the chill off the house.  It’s been unusually cold lately (daytime highs of 16-21 and 4 at night) so I have had to learn this trick pretty quickly–no matter how counter intuitive it is for me.  Depending on the day, just by opening up the house, I can warm things up by about 3-4C.  It still leaves our house at a balmy 19C but at least it’s not 16C!! 

I find it quite amazing that I moved all the way from Canada to Mexico to escape the winter and I have been colder here than I ever was in Canada.  Of course it’s tough to explain that to people here as they assume because I’m Canadian I automatically conditioned to endure the cold.  However what they don’t realize it that climate control plays a huge role in our lives and that when it’s -20C outside, it’s a cozy 21C in the house.  Of course, I never realized how big a part climate control played in my life until I moved here.  Perhaps I should be comforted by my smaller carbon footprint, but I’m sure I’d be more comforted by a nice roaring fire…

Don is a member of the Lomas de Potosi Rotary club.  He was a Rotarian in London for 8 years and we were both very active with club projects and activities.  Our biggest passion was Youth Exchange through which we have had the opportunity to work with wonderful and dedicated people and we have also met some unforgettable exchange students along the way.  It’s also the way that I have managed to have a 25 year old son and a 22 year old son and still look as youthful as I do!

Rotary clubs vary by country, district and city.  Each club has its own unique composition and dynamic.  The Rotary club of London is a mix of men and women aging from late 20′s to too old to politely ask their age.  They meet at lunch and the club has over 100 members.  Spouses sometimes come to the meetings and are often seen helping out with different projects.   The Rotary club of Salina Cruz was a small club of 13 members and it was a family club.  The meetings were held at 9PM on Tuesday nights and husbands, wives and children often attended the meetings and all the activities.  The Lomas de Potosi club is an all male club of about 20 members and they meet at lunch.  Spouses are only included in social functions and they do not attend meetings.  You can imagine the Rotarians look of shock to find out that not only was I Rotarian in Mexico, but I am also a Paul Harris Fellow!

I was a little put off by the fact that I was being excluded from a being a member of the club based purely on my gender.  Now I don’t consider myself a feminist by any means.  I am not opposed for acts of chivalry–heck, if you want to change my flat tire, go ahead!  I won’t stop you!  But please know that I am perfectly capable of doing this on my own.  I am happy when someone holds the door for me, but likewise, I would do the same for anyone else.  I don’t believe in “men’s work” or “women’s work”–it’s all just work to me and it needs to get done.  I know my limits and I will ask someone to do it for me if for some reason I can’t. 

Although this club is a men’s only club, there is a Ladies Committee which meets every 2 weeks to socialize and organize a couple of fund raisers every year.  At first, it was difficult for me to accept this aspect of the club.  I was good enough to be a Rotarian in Salina Cruz and I was planning to join the London club before we moved.  But for some reason, I was only good enough to be on an auxiliary committee here in SLP.  I was a little apprehensive about going to the first meeting because I didn’t know what to expect.   Part of me thought it would be a bunch of complacent 1950′s housewives who were quite happy being in such a role.  Nonetheless I put on my Exchange Student hat and went to the meeting.  I was happily greeted by entrepreneurs, accountants and a few housewives and I found a great group of women who believe in the principles of Rotary and they use this committee as a means to do good work in the community.  I met some great new friends who look out for me and are concerned for my well-being.  I also learned that many of them would be interested in being a Rotarian as well, if they could change the club rules.  On the whole, the Ladies Committee is just a group of women who have something in common and meet regularly to enjoy each other’s friendship and seeing as I am relatively new to the city, it’s a great committee for me to be a part of. 

Don and I are officially members of the Lebanese club in San Luis Potosi.  Surprised?  Well, there was a quite a significant Lebanese population in the area a while ago and there is even a Syrian Restaurant called Damascus just up the road from us.  The Lebanese club isn’t exactly what you would expect.  It’s not a bunch of Arab people sitting around eating tasty Lebanese food (although that wouldn’t be such a bad club either!), it’s actually a sports club with a swimming pool, tennis courts, squash courts, nautilus equipment and a track.  There is a restaurant as well, but sadly they only serve Lebanese food at the Sunday buffet.  We were sponsored by a Rotarian after I had mentioned how much I miss swimming and hadn’t found a place to go yet.  Apparently that is the only way you can join.  So here’s my plug for Rotary:  Rotary is truly an amazing organization filled with great people doing great things.  It’s so wonderful to have a group of people who not only do good for the community but it also allows you to make amazing friends–especially in a foreign country!

After joining the Lebanese club, I headed off to my next stop which was a small stand on the side of the highway.  My friend sent me a text message to let me know that there was a guy selling all things from Oaxaca.  It was such a treat!  They were selling the yummy peanuts roasted with chile & garlic (which I learned is Oaxacan), tlayuda shells, and best of all REAL TOTOPOS!!!  You see anywhere outside of Oaxaca, totopos are just fried tortilla chips but in Oaxaca, they are like a tortilla but baked in a clay oven so they are a cross between a cracker and a tortilla.  Totopos are magical because they withstand the heat and humidity of life in the istmo so they last for months and months without getting soggy or gross.  I was SO happy!  It was also quite funny because the man was rather surprised to see a foreign person hop out of a car and load up on stuff without asking what anything was–and I also got to explain to a Potosina what some of the stuff was. On the whole, it was a really great way to spend a Saturday in SLP.  We are planning on heading on another road trip soon, but we have a small car repair to do before we hit the road and the car repair warrants a whole post on its own.

Last weekend some Rotarians invited us to their cabin in “La Sierra” (which means the mountain).  Of course, we practice what we preach and we said “We’d love to go!”.  It was a cold rainy day and we weren’t too sure what we were getting ourselves into, which is still pretty normal for us.  Don had an idea that it would be a small rustic cottage but I reminded him that lots of people have cottages in the Muskokas which are nicer than any home we’ve lived in. 

It was a cold rainy day and Tere and Hector told us they would pick us up at 11:30 or so and we needed to bring a sweater as it was always cooler there.   We arrived at their cottage and Don was right, it was a nice small rustic cottage with a really cool pavilion-type thing in the back yard that they use for cooking and entertaining.  In the pavilion there was a really nice BBQ, some tables and chairs and there was a brick pizza oven just nearby. 

There were two other Rotarian couples that arrived, the Polish exchange student and a rebound from Brazil.  Even though it wasn’t exactly outdoors weather we spent the day eating, drinking and laughing.  While we were waiting for other people to arrive, we had some snacks which were cactus salad, mixed nuts and manitas de puerco (pickled pigs feet).  When we lived in Salina Cruz I was fortunate enough to have avoided eating the manitas however there was no escaping it this time.  So, when Tere said “have a manita”, I promptly said “Thanks” and plunked one on my plate –I’m sure it’s because Don was already eating one and they thought I was just being shy or something.  On the whole, the pig foot wasn’t too bad, my biggest challenge was that I’m not so keen on eating pork skin unless it is deep fried (aka pork rinds) and this skin was all jiggly and chewy.  It was not as difficult as I imagined but I won’t seeking them out in the future.  Our main meal was steak, corn, quesadillas and chiles rellenos all done on the BBQ and it was amazing! 

After lunch we spent more time talking and then went inside the cabin to warm up by the fire and of course take a few pictures.  We all had the opportunity to put on the poncho and the hat and get our pictures taken.  Of course it was the same poncho, but we turned it inside out to make it look different.   We’re thinking we’ll use these as our Christmas card this year! 

When we were ready to leave, it started raining and we had some trouble getting out of the driveway.  The driveway was more grass and mud–mix in 1 week of rain and you’re asking to get stuck.  Hector tried to get up the hill with no luck, we all got out and then he tried again with no success.  We suggested that Don give it a try because he’s had experience driving in slippery conditions and we still weren’t going anywhere.  Of course at this point, I was wondering how we were going to get out and if we were going to have to stay the night.  6 people in a 2 bedroom cabin was not looking so comfortable!  So, I decided that we would pretend it was winter in Canada and Hector and I got behind the van and pushed it up the hill while Don was driving it out.  Fortunately this attempt worked and we managed to get out of the driveway and up the hill.  I was pretty muddy at the end, but I was happy that we were out! 

Apparently I really impressed Tere because at the next Rotariana meeting, she told everyone about how we got stuck and I helped push the van out.  Of course this is where certain things become cultural, because anyone who has lived in Canada during the winter will, at some point, have found themselves behind a vehicle pushing it out of the snow.  Granted, they don’t have the opportunity to do that here, so now, I look like Superwoman!  Hey, I’ll take that title!  The great news is that we have earned our stripes and we are invited back whenever we want.  Hopefully it will be dryer next time.

A couple of weekends ago we decided to head out of SLP and check out Zacatecas, which is about a 2 hour drive and an easy day trip.    On our way there, we were stopped at a military check point (very common for drivers heading North out of Mexico) and it was probably the most thorough check we have ever had.  They did the normal stuff like checking under seats, but for some reason, we were worth the extra effort and they checked under our hood, all through the interior and inside any bags we had in the back.  It took about 15 minutes for them to check everything and then we continued on our way. 

Zacatecas is a mining town and although it’s not as famous as Taxco is for silver, it’s still a beautiful place to visit and a lot less crowded!  It has about 100,000 people and it’s got a nice small town feel.  To start our day, we had breakfast at the Quinta Real  hotel which is one of the most beautiful hotels in all of Mexico.  It was built in and around an old bull ring and the restaurant has an awesome view of the bullring.  It was really cold and rainy that day, but when it’s nice there are a few tables outside where you can sit and eat. The food was absolutely amazing and it was a great start to our day.

There are some really neat things to check out in Zacatecas.  Our first stop, right outside the Quinta Real was the Aqueduct.  It’s quite obviously not in use anymore, but it is still really cool.

We took the Teleferico which is a cable car that runs from the local silver mine to the La Bufa where you can enjoy a great view of the city and check out a statue of the local hero Pancho Villa. 

The cable car was built in Switzerland and it runs every day.  The operator also told us that they offer night rides, which I can only imagine would be breathtaking.  It was 25 pesos one way and if you are feeling cheap and energetic, there are stairs that you can take if you only want to take the ride one way. 

We also toured the silver mine (La Mina) and we were given very attractive hair nets and hard hats to wear.  The hair nets were so that they could reuse the hard hats and the hats were necessary because the ceilings were really low for anyone over 5’4″.  The tour took about an hour and at the end we got to ride in a mining car to the exit.  One of the most unique things La Mina is that they have built a night club in one section of the mine and it’s the only night club in the world that is located in a mine.   Of course it was closed because we were there during the day, but we definitely have plans to go back and check it out.

We did a bit of wandering around downtown, had a late lunch and then returned to SLP.  Of course we didn’t check out everything because we plan to take visitors there when they come to see us but on the whole Zacatecas is a great place to visit and we’ll definitely be returning soon.