We took a trip to the woods near Amecameca on Saturday. This area southeast of the city and at the foot of the "Popo" volcano (among other explosive mountains just 4o miles outside of the city limits) is gorgeous and felt worlds away from DF. Of course for some this is just another "exurb" --- one of our coworkers lives out this way and the dude commutes 2 hours on a bus to work one way. Every day. I guess it might be worth it just for the views? But the reason for our drive this past weekend wasn't simply the pretty scenery. It was time to get a Christmas tree!
As many of my friends and family know, Thanksgiving is simply a holiday celebrating the day before the Christmas season. So as soon as we finished up our neighborhood potluck on Thursday, I was itching to get a tree and string up the lights. I was thrilled to find out about Bosque de los Arboles de Navidad in Amecameca --- basically a Christmas tree farm. With a petting zoo featuring deer. And a lot of barbecue rabbit shops. We skipped the deer-petting and the barbecue, and headed straight for the "vikingos." On entry to the woods, we were given a saw and some instructions on finding a perfect tree. There are acres and acres of them. The air was fresh and even a little bit brisk, and the tips of the volcanoes on the horizons were snow-covered. LouLou and I were thrilled to be outside in Christmasland, and started on our hunt immediately. I was looking for a Douglas fir, LouLou was looking for lizards.
LouLou doesn't quite get the point of the outingAlong with the supplied saw, a crew of 10-15 year old boys were milling around ready to help us bag the tree. They reminded me of caddies at a golf course. Brandon approached us and helped us scout out a great tree, then promptly dragged it off and tied it to the top of our car. This was his second year working the trees so he was a real pro. Sergio tried to bluff his way through, but I think Brandon could tell this was his first time cutting down a tree...
"Did you bring Babe the Blue Ox with you today, sir?"
"Should I be helping him?"
"Nice yuppiemobile, gringos."On the way back home with our 8-foot Douglas fir, we encountered some of the worst traffic so far. Our trip took us the expected 2 hours on the way there but a truly incomprehensible 3+ hours on the way home. Maybe because of things like this:
Jackass drivers.Not to mention distractions like this open truckload of sides of beef---with a sleepy guy sitting in the back guarding it.
Kind of like "Rocky" except not inspirational.
After three grueling hours driving the 6o miles or so home, we put up our tree. It is a work in progress, but I'm delighted to report that it is looking pretty darn Christmas-y around our joint.
The other fun thing we did this past weekend: Doggy Beauty Shop!
Eventually LouLou realized she wasn't actually in a beauty shop but in fact in our home bathtub. She wasn't pleased.
But we are pleased to have our big, beautiful, hand-cut Tannenbaum right in our cozy apartment. Merry Christmas everyone!
Kind of like "Rocky" except not inspirational.After three grueling hours driving the 6o miles or so home, we put up our tree. It is a work in progress, but I'm delighted to report that it is looking pretty darn Christmas-y around our joint.
The other fun thing we did this past weekend: Doggy Beauty Shop!
Eventually LouLou realized she wasn't actually in a beauty shop but in fact in our home bathtub. She wasn't pleased.
But we are pleased to have our big, beautiful, hand-cut Tannenbaum right in our cozy apartment. Merry Christmas everyone!
1 comment:
nice tree! AND, how satisfying to cut it down yourselves (okay, with a little help, but still...)
-l
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