Mexico Saturday...

The sun rises in the Chiapas mountains about 6:30 central time. At home, it is quiet until the birds begin to chirp outside my window at sunrise. New York City has nothing on this little village for noise. Roosters crow all. Night. Long. They assert their "roosterhood with" great insistence...I wonder what the hens, tired from a long day of foraging and laying eggs, think of them. I know we are thinking rooster stew.

Travel was long and mostly uneventful. A couple of bags were checked in Mexico City without tags...that was the first miracle of the week...they arrived in the right place at the right time. Mexican airlines make the chaos of American travel look organized and pleasant, though  Mexican planes win the prize for comfort.

The trip to the village from the airport gave us all a formula one racing experience. Ascending the mountain, we passed through villages built along the side of the road. Literally. The houses are within 10 feet of the road. The villages build concrete speed bumps, topes, that insist you slow down or destroy the undercarriage of your car.  We followed a car with no brake lights for a good twenty miles toward the top of the mountain. Brake lights are important, y'all. Finally, after coming within inches of his tailpipe, we managed to pass and move on. 

Everyone in the village was out to meet us at 10 when we moaned ourselves out of our vehicles  and tried to loosen muscles long since embedded in the seated position. We were the first Americans this village had seen. We were tired, wind-blown, and gimpy. Not telling what their first impressions of us were. We pretty quickly made our way to sleeping quarters (do not picture the Holiday Inn), and pretty much passed out as soon as we managed to find toothbrushes and pajamas. Two insights there. One: women of a certain age and responsibility who need to get up often to shhhhhhh or peeeeeee should never sleep in these camping bags with no zipper. A hidden camera in the room last night would have yielded much hilarity. Two: earplugs are a gift from heaven.

(This is the view from the bedroom window…)