Final Mexico Sidetrip ~ Mazamitla

Our time down in Mexico was drawing to an end . . . and we had one more fun side trip planned. We'd be traveling west to the end of Lake Chapala, then south back around the other end of the lake and up into the mountainous area. Our destination was Mazamitla, a settlement dominated by German immigrants. We'd heard a variety of responses to the city and were anxious for our own experience.

When we turned into the city of Mazamitla, much to my surprise - I was thrilled!! Not only was I actually seeing lovely evergreen trees, more green grass lawns but also, wood!!! I saw wood banisters, wooden doors, wood door and window trim. Even wood signage. I'd not realized how very much I'd been missing the presence of wood in the Mexico cities we'd been visiting. Look, right in the middle of the town square was a wooden gazebo!!! This "mountain girl" was feeling more at ease. The streets were wider with elevated, substantial rock walkways with a more flatten, fitted stone pattern ~ much easier to walk on. Just off the town square was a pedestrian walk walk, void of cars and sprinkled with bakeries, paper shops and several nurseries. We entered one, charmed by the spotlight of sun flooding the colorful potted flowers in it's enclosed patio. Up another path in that patio was another shop, fine art prints, books and paper goods. You know I was headed there! I purchased two handmade unusual books for Christmas gifts (next year in 2011) and relished seeing local fine artwork!!

Farther up the mountainside we discovered a local restaurant, also tucked in a sunlight patio hidden through an open-doored, long dark hallway. At the nearby bar, where I smiled at this "cowboy boot" planter, we watched them create our fresh "Limade" squeezing many fresh limes into a giant Martguerita-like glasses. Ahhhhh, how refreshing - - and our friendly server had lived in the United States and visited much of it. We limped along some conversation with all of our "minimal" language skills ~ plenty of laughter. Lunch was yummy and the young man's elder Uncle came out to help us with our Spanish. All in all a fun, relaxed day surrounded by wood.

Our drive home landed us back in the Lake Chapala area early evening. We'd noticed numerous new signs mentioning "Rosca del Reyes" and we stopped at one such sign, outside a bakery to ask. Roland came out with what we learned was a special cake, baked for this particular day. Epiphany, a day which celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men to the manger, by drawing together families enjoying this fruited cake with a chocolate layer. The fun addition is that there, buried somewhere within the cake, is a Baby Jesus. And the person who gets that piece, is required to have a February 2nd party with tamales and hot chocolate.

You can guess ~ yes, I got the Baby!! Here he is peeking out of the cake upside down, and of course, I had to keep him in my journal. I admit I had to not only cut off the back of his head and sand off his "bottom" to get him to lay flat in my journal for gluing. But he seems pretty happy and comfy here in his new home. I just adore how his sweet presence now pops into my every journal page ~ clear to the end of my journal!

What a delightful, fun-filled day this final side trip furnished us . . . now the prospect of heading home will flood our time and energies.

"Dia del los Reyes"

As we were returning to Ajijic from our trip to Mazamitla, we'd seen these signs at bakeries "Rosca de Reyes". Out of curiosity, we stopped to inquire and Roland came back to the car with this colorful wreath of bread! Now you know, we'd had an early dinner already, so dessert was still a possibility. When we arrived back to the RV with our "Rosca de Reyes" in hand we had to Google the occasion to find it's true meaning!

Apparently the Spaniards brought with them the "Epiphany" celebration, or Three Kings Day. It commemorates January 6th as the day the three wise men or kings made it to bring the baby Jesus his gifts.

This Epiphany rings a bell for me (and possibly to several other precious friends) because many years ago the seven or eight of us would do our regular Christmas with others. But save this special date on our calendars for us to gather and exchange time, gifts, possibly a hike and inevitably, a meal. So I could see the bread relevance here right away :)

So, back to the Mexican tradition . . . this beautifully decorated wreath is not only delicious, but it holds a hidden treasure. Somewhere in the bread is a lil' baby Jesus, symbolizing "a safe place where Jesus could be born") and the knife which cuts the bread shows the extreme danger that was involved with keeping Jesus hidden from King Herad.

We of course, launch into the eating part of the celebration and Roland convinces me to fourths, giving big portions away to our hostess, our two casita friends and the crazy but sweet gentleman who lives across the street from us (remember the mild mannered fellow who had the campfire out front his house on Christmas Eve?). This leaves us dessert now and a bit saved for future.

The other part of the tradition that goes along with this is, that the person who ends up with the baby Jesus in their serving, must host a party on February 2nd, with all current attendees as guests, to tie up the final celebration of Christmas with tamales and hot chocolate.

We wrap up the gift portions in clear wrap and launch into our slices, served with yummy vanilla soy milk. I'm munching away, taking conscious bits with my fork, so as not to chomp down on Jesus, should he be in my slice. "SSSSSSSssscrunch", I hear a strange sound with the penetration of my next fork . . . and - tah dah - yep, there he is, "lil' plastic Jesus".

He held still, even upside down, while I took photos for you guys to see. And now, I'm eyeing how to put him in my journal . . . he is kinda thick headed tho. And it will probably have to wait til we are safely home in Oregon anyway (since we leave here this Saturday, early) . . . but, now I need to have a tamale/hot chocolate party on February 2nd.

Anyone want to come?