Happy Birthday, Benny

Today is a national holiday, the birthday of Benito Juarez. The above photo was taken in our own little village. Almost nothing is closed except the banks and the laundry around the corner. Oh, and the hair cutter decided to take the day off too so I'll have to wait until I can get into Armeria on Wednesday for a trim. There were a few huge tourist buses parked up around the Basilica and the tianges there was going full tilt. There didn't seem to be as many people around today as were here yesterday but more than a normal Monday. Except for the school kids who were out having a fine time.

It dawned cold, windy and overcast this morning for the first time on this trip. We are usually here in January and COLD is the order of things. Likewise bare trees, no grass, no flowers, no dappled sunlight on the road into town. From now on it will be March or April when we visit. It is gorgeous; bright green leaves everywhere, wildflowers, sunshine, warm breezes. This morning was a throwback, I'm sure. We finally got stirring late ~ I didn't want to get out of the cozy, blanket-laden bed! We picked up the car, took it up to the Basilica area where enterprising fellows have a great car wash gig going. They gave it a thorough cleaning, managing in the course of the bath to scrape off all the accumulated petrified bug carcasses left over from our road travels. I stepped across the street and bought a couple more dolls to add to my collection. Almost all that I have I purchased at this little tienda that is crammed to the rafters with "stuff" of all descriptions; dolls and doll furniture, all sorts of toys snf trinkets for the tourists that visit this lovely town.

I see by the automatic time setting on my computer that it thinks it is still in the valley and had not come near Mexico; the time has changed to Daylight Savings. But we don't "spring ahead" for another three weeks; Easter Sunday for us. We are now only one hour ahead of California.

My next message here will be from the beach. We will leave early tomorrow morning, head back to Morelia, then onto Mex 15 to Guadalajara, then take a left turn and head down to the beach. We should arrive mid-afternoon.