Hola amigos!

Well, I made it to Cuernavaca. I was received at the airport by three friends, including Padre Roberto with whom I am staying. We had lunch at the airport itself, and then took a tour of the basilica and grounds of the shrine of Our Lady of Guadelupe. I’d been there before, but I had only seen the church itself, so I was glad to get a chance to see more. On the hill itself where the apparations took place there is a good lookout over Mexico City, and you really see how absolutely ENORMOUS the place actually is.

From Mexico City we drove to Cuernavaca. There is a highway that connects the two cities that goes up over the mountains (and continues past Cuernavaca to Acapulco). The highway can be tricky on the way down, mind you, with lots of tight curves, and unfortunately a truck ahead of us took it too fast and rolled over. Traffic was horrendous as the road was closed for a bit, and then only opened to one lane. I don’t know that happened with the driver, but I said a prayer for him.

Once in Cuernavaca we did a bit of shopping (at Costco, if you believe it) and then we headed over to the parish church — dedicated to both the Ressurection of our Lord and Our Lady of Guadelupe. It is a very simple place, located in the poorest section of Cuernavaca, and I learned my timing was somewhat unusual: there have been a series of robberies here over the past several months (three in the past three weeks), so everything now has a lock on it. Oh, and no hot water (bring on those cold showers — brrrr). But they have high-speed internet! Ah, priorities…

Things got really interesting after a bit of grocery shopping. Padre Roberto was going to come with us, but a couple of ladies were waiting for him at the door so I headed out to the Mega supermarket with a parishioner and her grown children. When we got back we discovered those ladies were related to the fellow who had robbed the place at least those three most recent times, and they were here to return the things they found to the parish. A parade of stolen goods started to come in the door, and I had to laugh at how useless some of these things were — who steals a box full of tea bags, for example? Anyway, it was quite a first evening. We had a spot of supper and then I headed to bed, just exhausted.

As for today, Padre Roberto and I went out for breakfast to a nearby restaurant, and then he had to go an teach philosophy at the local seminary. I headed over to a couple of language schools to check out availability and prices. It turns out one school only offers one-on-one lessons (for a very high price), while another does group lessons but is at least a 30-minute walk. Yeah, I found that out the hard way, although I got a bit turned around going there so the leg out was more like 45 minutes. Still, this school is the one I studied at last time, so I am seriously considering returning, as I know what to expect, and I liked the people in general.

This evening I did dishes. A TON of dishes. Let’s just say that Padre Roberto’s home is definitely a bachelor pad. He was considering hiring a lady to help with cooking while I am here (I would contribute, of course), but she’s having some personal problems so so far she’s a no-show. While a number of things needed cleaning, the sink was just loaded, so I rolled up my sleeves and started in with the so-called “woman’s work”. Machismo be damned, somebody had to do it, and between us it got done.

Oh, did I mention the kitchen has no running water? The thief (or thieves) stole the copper tubing that fed the kitchen. We were hauling in buckets of water to get the job done. This is turning out to be quite an adventure!

I had a chance to spend a good hour before the Blessed Sacrament today, and I concelebrated mass this evening. I’ve been praying part of my breviary in Spanish, and of course the environment as a whole is forcing me to refresh what I already knew (and which is coming back to me muy rapido). For the next couple of days I will study on my own, reviewing the materials I brought with me as I continue to settle in. Oh, and I need to find a place to recharge my laptop, as right now I’m running on batteries and they won’t last forever — but one thing at a time. I’ll try and post again when I can. Pray for me and I’ll pray for you!

This post is dated Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 and is filed under Personal tidbits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.