No average Joe

This past week has been an eventful one, filled with all kinds of American disasters and we're not talking about failed banks. Here in Mexico, Sergio's new job requires him to come to the aid of Americans in varying degrees of peril. Sometimes this means hopping on prop planes to visit backwoods jails and hospitals, but on occasion he lands a more luxurious gig. So after traveling to the jungles of Veracruz last week to visit with a Bonnie-and-Clyde style duo (note: do NOT bring guns to Mexico), he has been rewarded today with a chauffeured trip to two of Mexico's prettiest towns: Queretero and San Miguel de Allende.



His mission: to host a voter registration drive for ex-pats. Finding Americans in San Miguel is about as hard as finding them in Tucson -- and they all shop at the same clothing stores. San Miguel is the favored second-home/retirement spot for the American (and Canadian) bourgeoisie in Mexico. By reputation, the town itself is a little bit precious but undeniably beautiful. We haven't yet taken a family vacation there, but it could happen. We're actually quite fond of middle-aged Americans in linen ensembles and comfortable shoes.

Beware the gray-tails.

Back at home in Polanco, Sasha has become very comfortable herself in her now- official role as ama de casa. Which of course means she is watching a lot of telenovelas, bossing around her staff, plowing through crowds in her giant SUV, and that kind of thing.

A holy terror, clearly.

For real though, one thing we're doing is spending a lot of time watching Ivan crack up. He is becoming a very proficient giggler. And it is crazy-cute. His laugh is not the delighted squeal we anticipated, but more along the lines of a Beavis and Butthead snicker. Heh-heh-heh. We love it, and Sergio is getting to be awfully good at provoking it.

Looks like Mother Theresa. Sounds like Butthead.

Ivan has also started to grab stuff indiscriminately (see photo below) and has managed to figure out how to motor himself around powered only by his ability to roll over on his side while whip-kicking his legs. It is a very impressive display, rather dolphin-like actually, though unfortunately he doesn't really get anywhere. Just spins in circles like a beetle on his back.

Grabs food, plate, napkin, knife.

We spent Saturday afternoon on a wild goose chase for some Mexico souvenirs that kept us in traffic for a good two hours. We didn't find the souvenirs, but we did spend about thirty minutes behind the cutest antique Mini Cooper (with California plates) driven by a dude with a Woody Woodpecker haircut and big sunglasses.



Speaking of awesome haircuts, we watched the Joe Strummer documentary, The Future is Unwritten, this weekend where we learned that Mr. Strummer grew up in the diplomatic corps as the son of an English Foreign Office man (including a post in Mexico City! ). Naturally, we are now very excited about the possibility of Ivan becoming a socially-conscious-citizen-of-the-world-punk-rock-super star. On Sunday we attended Mass again at the official American Catholic parish where we were one of two couples, total, in attendance. Ivan did his best to make up for the lackluster turn out with some very boisterous singing. Or crying, whatever you want to call it.

We also watched the presidential candidate debates on Friday -- please vote! Having just spoken to tons of Americans living abroad who are jumping through all kinds of hoops to exercise their franchise, it makes us appreciate all the more the ability to vote 3 weeks early at your local grocery store (yay Texas!)

We leave this Friday for a ten-day vacation to Sergio's hometown featuring many fiestas including our niece's birthday, a cousin's wedding, and Ivan's baptism. Milestones galore!