No photo this time - we are back in Oregon after a week and a half trip up the coast of Mexico, into Sonoma, CA for some wine tasting and laundry duty and a full day's drive from Sonoma to Oregon City.  When we got home it was as though we had brought the wonderful weather home with us.  It was 82 degrees the first two days, but now it is back to Oregon Spring - 60 something and the threat of rain all the time!

I have thrown myself into deep cleaning as our youngest son was house-sitter while we were gone, and he did not clean (except for dishes and laundry).  If he were not going to school, working full-time AND getting straight A's I would have to fault him ... There are so many things to take care of/reinstate - the cable TV account, newspaper, gym membership, etc.  Not to mention letting everyone know that we are, indeed, back home safely.  So many have been concerned for our safety, and as I have mentioned earlier most of that concern is unfounded.  We had a very easy drive back home.  There were maybe two times out of at least ten checkpoints that we were worried we would be detained, and with those we weren't frightened - just potentially annoyed at the delay.  And... the worst of those incidents was with US Customs agents.  Most of the Mexican agents apologized for detaining us just for a minute or two.

While I clean, both inside and out in the yard (and I have indulged in some Spring planting), Gregg has focused on getting our boat cleaned up and ready to go.  He has his fishing license and now has his own calendar going trying to juggle about 6 or 8 people and schedule several fishing trips in the near future.  Priorities may be different for us, but it's all good.

Check in with us in August or September as that is when we will be planning our next trip, expected to be from Nov. 1st to at least the middle of April of 2013.

Limon buds - this was just a stick when we arrived!

It's Palm Sunday as I write this post. For this next week, Easter will take over Mexico. One local gringo told me on New Years day "If you think they take New Years seriously, wait 'til you see what happens here at Easter time!"

Beginning this evening there is a procession from the east end of town recreating Jesus and the desciples' entry into Jerusalem.  Actors lead, with a throng of people following waving palm fronds, wheat springs and herbal bouquets. There is a special evening Mass when they arrive at the large church as well as a huge street fair (Jamaica del Pasado). All very traditional.

On Maundy Thursday, they recreate the Last Supper and other portions of the Passion Play with actors, beginning on the "mountain" side of town.  There Jesus is taken away in shackles by torch-bearing soldiers and led down to the plaza.  The realism in these recreations is said to be difficult for some people to handle, we're told.  Good Friday brings sequences from the Trial and Condemnation, and the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) where the faithful follow Jesus, carrying a heavy cross up to the side of the hill again.  Then he is carried back down through town to the church, where a burial scene is enacted.  After Mass, churchgoers "parade" through town in La Marche de Silencio, which is done in complete silence, through darkened streets to mourn his death.  Easter eve brings the lights back to the church, a re-enactment of the Resurrection and then at 11 pm the bells in all local churches will peal to start a festival that will probably go on all night.  It's called Quema de Judas, and includes a custom of blowing up paper mache figures symbolizing evil with many firecrackers.  No surprise there... Other than more church services, Easter Sunday is quiet and I suspect it will be like at Christmas where everyone will end up at the park by the lake.

While all of this is going on, it is school holiday for two weeks (their Spring Break).  There are MANY tourists in town already.  The newspaper said over the week we can expect to see 2 million additional people visit.  I doubt that figure, but it is a huge lake and there are a lot of varied destinations (beaches, mountains, islands, etc) so who knows?