Feb. 23: Cristina and I had a quiet dinner at Las Quince Letras. Count the letters. There are 15. Quince. They have one of my favorite mole dishes. And a nice courtyard lined by tall, thin cactus plants.

Feb. 21: Gary played bridge this afternoon at the Library. He had enough fun that he's thinking of joining the "duplicate" bridge get-together Friday afternoon at another location. That's his birthday--maybe he'll be lucky!

Gary doesn't know that Cristina snuck up behind him to get this photo.

Feb 20: Cristina keeps going to the Yarn Ladies shop to sit, crochet, and mainly to listen to their Spanish while practicing her own. She particularly likes the lunch, from next door, that arrives punctually at 3 pm every afternoon.

This young girl is a special favorite.

Feb. 19: A big day, time for the 6.1 K De Corazon A Corazon road race downtown, with the start and finish just three blocks from our hotel. It was super well organized, with a ton of police, including enough to shut down a major, three-lane thoroughfare that we crossed twice. The course was fine until we hit a 1.5-mile hill. That took the steam out of us.
     "Us" included Amby, Cristina, Gary, Jackie Hastings, and Jim Austin, the guy who gave us the tour of the Eco Conservation reserve a week earlier. We called ourselves "Team Oaxaca Gringos." Not that there was a team prize or anything. Indeed, the oldest award category was 50+, so us old guys got skunked. Great fun nonetheless. The race was won by--who else?--a Kenyan.

Feb. 18: Walking around in the evening, trying to decide where to eat, we happened on a large concert outside the Santo Domingo church. It was a very professional group of guitar players, maybe 10 or so, with various lead singers and instrumentalists. They had both a stage and an audience of several hundred, on hastily arranged folding chairs, enjoying the music. We stood at the perimeter, and definitely enjoyed the spectacle.

Feb. 16: A word or several photos, actually, about our gym. It's where we registered today for the Sunday morning 6.1 K road race. Also where Cristina takes Pilates classes, and Amby rides a recumbent bike while reading (what else?)
It's a bit of a strange place, for sure. We think it's a converted garage. Most of all it reflects the personality of the duena (owner) Maria Aurora Zemora Martinez, she of the different-pair-of-colorful-tights every day.
The equipment inside is lime-green colored instead of the traditional gym all-black. And the cement entranceway includes this interpretation of the evolution of man.

Feb. 16: We headed over to the massive and impenetrable Abastos Market in the morning before it got too hot and busy. Tacos for breakfast, then Jackie bought the two things she came off--a sleep-inducing herb, or so it is said, for her husband who has been having trouble sleeping. And a mini pestle to take home to grind her avocadoes into guacamole in Durham CT.
Cristina was impressed by the way the honey guy could pour an exact pint of honey into a jar without spilling a drop anywhere. (And also his "Patriots" shirt.) That is a skill that is apparently lacking in her husband. She bought a pint; it had a dead bee in it. Must be good luck or something.