While some of you did not know that we were off on another one of our jaunts, we arrived safely in Morelia, Mexico last night. We are swapping houses with some friends, Dorian and Clay Slate, who have a large, beautiful house in the historic center of Morelia. They were living next door in a furnished home and have just moved in to this one, which is new and unfurnished. They don’t have all there furniture here yet. While Dorian is holding down the fort in Bernalillo, visiting her son who lives in Albuquerque and watching our dog Mendel, Clay flew to Alabama to pick up their furniture which was in storage, and is in the process of schlepping to Albuquerque and the to Morelia, which is about a two to three-day drive from Albuquerque. I don’t envy him. They run a business exporting hand-made copper sinks from the small Mexican village of Santa Clara de Cobre to the US.
I would estimate that their home is about 4,000 to 5,000 square feet, as it has 6 bedrooms and four bathrooms. It cost them about $200,000, which is very cheap by even our standards in New Mexico, but the house would $20,000 cheaper today, as the value of the peso against the dollar has fallen yet again. It is strange that in the midst of the greatest economic collapse of my lifetime, we once again have a strong dollar. It is a great time to travel.
Toni is off shopping at a wonderful mercado, which an open air market with perhaps a hundred different vendors who sell fruit, veggies, and meat. Mexican mercados are a treat both for the stomach and the eye. Because of my back problems, I am home entertaining Dorian and Clay’s puppy, Zelda, who is one of those little dogs that look more like a wind-up toy than a real dog. Zelda is very sweet. I will be exploring this particular market in depth a bit later. Toni wanted to make a surgical strike to get the basics for the house.
I will be having another back operation when we return. They will be fusing the L3-L4 vertebrae this time, as they did the S1-L5-L4 vertebrae two and a half years ago. Normally, I would not have gone on a trip with my back, but we had already arranged everything with Dorian and Clay and had purchase the non-refundable tickets. Also, Cathy Varney lent me a walker that she has for her mother’s visits. Using it is a real blow to my pride, but it works much better than my pain medication, which currently consists of oxycodone and a morphine derivative that I am currently taking to no effect. The walker allows me to walk reasonable distances and stand for hours, as opposed to the 5 minute limit before. I know, whine, whine, whine.
Ah, Toni has returned with the basics: good beer and great bread. We will have a quick siesta and then off to comida at an Argentine restaurant, which is another great thing about being back in Mexico.
