MEXICO TRIP - Aug 2007

To start our trip we drove to El Paso, Texas, to visit Juan's cousin Irene and her sister Nellie along with Irene's husband Jim. They were gracious to drive us to the Juarez airport where we caught a one-hour flight to Chihuahua.

(CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO SEE IT FULL SIZE)

Juan's cousin Chayo and her husband Ron (from California) made plans to visit Mexico at the same time we did. They met us at the airport, helped us arrange a rental car, took us to dinner at this nice restaurant in Chihuahua, and got us on the right road to Anahuac where Juan's cousin Pavi and her husband Juan were expecting us.

Pavi's husband works at a big factory in Anahuac and they have two sons and a daughter, Paola, Josua, and Luis Carlos.

Paola and Josua took us to their neighborhood pool for a quick swim the next morning. Paola competes in swimming in school.

We met up with Ron and Chayo in Rubio where we visited this little church. The entire town block was owned by members of the Julian Marin (brother of Juan's Grandfather)family in the past, although this church dates from more recent times.

Ron, Chayo, me and Josua.

From here we drove out to Colonia Chupaderos to visit Juan's Uncles Chema and Carlos. Josua, who is 14-going-on-25, was our guide!

Juan was born at Campo 45 -- a tiny hospital about 5 miles from the family properties. This is the area but the hospital has since been torn down. Marlene Hebert was the Obstetrician for Juan's precious mother.

The church and school at Campo 45.

Uncle Chema hadn't seen Juan in years.

Uncle Chema with Juan, Chayo and Ron.

Juan's cousin Paco runs a tiny store in the front room of his house. Here's me and Chayo shopping, of course!

I asked about the post-it notes on the counter and was told they were reminders for people who needed to pay their bills at the store! On the left are the people being politely reminded what they owe (see inset). On the right are the people who will no longer be extended credit!

Everywhere we went they had these wonderful old stoves. They had modern gas stoves, too, for cooking, but these older ones were still used to heat the houses in the winter. This is Paco's kitchen.

Paco and Mimi are brother and sister and live next door to each other.

Vianey Susana immediately adopted us as her new best friends! She's a darling little 10-year-old who wanted us to stay forever. Mimi is her mother.

Paco's house.

Uncle Chema and Aunt Eva with their daughter Beatrice (center) and family. Her husband had just been injured by a horse who kicked his hand, requiring many stitches. The elder boy is starting at an engineering technical college in Cuahtemoc.

Yes, Aunt Eva really is that tiny! They all live together in this large house.

Cousin Carlitos (with bucket) helps his brother run their farm down the road from Chema and Eva. The big storage barn was hand built from rocks in the area.

Cousin Conrado in front of his barn.

Chayo grew up in this house as a little girl. It was about half a mile down the road from the others.

Carlitos with the cows at feeding time.

Conrado and his son had help from Carlitos to milk the 10-15 cows. They had some kind of milking machine to help. Some of this milk will become cheese.

Nothing like fresh milk!

Cousin Conrado makes cheese in a room at the back of his house. We took some as thank you gifts to all the other uncles we visited. It's a delicious light cheese that reminded me of a mozzarella in flavor but more firm -- it can be sliced like swiss cheese.

Uncle Chema and Aunt Eva in their dining room. The cabinet behind them held their good dishes which they proudly served all our meals on.

Another darling old stove in the corner of Eva's kitchen.

Uncle Chema let all the cows out to pasture except this little bull who wasn't all that happy about staying behind!

Aunt Eva fed the chickens every morning.

Saying goodbye to Uncle Chema.

They call him "Stringbean". I wonder why?!

On the road to Colonia Ortiz, we ran into Uncle Carlos who likes to ride for miles on his horse.

Uncle Gabriel lives in Colonia Ortiz just up the road from where we stayed.

Uncle Roberto (Beto, for short) and Aunt Emma had a very nice house with a more modern kitchen, but they still had a wonderful old stove that was mainly used to heat the house in the winter.

Colonia Ortiz is a very peaceful rural town of around 35 residents, according to Juan's cousin. Everyone has fences or walls around their property, but horses, cows, and sheep seemed to roam freely.

This canyon is a very popular tourist destination in the region. A rough dirt road just beyond Sainapuchi accesses the picnic area. They call it Maize which means corn. I think it's due to the strange rock formations that sort of look like corn cobs turned on end.

Here's Juan with his Uncle Roberto, Josua and cousin Baraquel. This was just before the rain started! We had to take cover a few times, but the weather eventually cleared.

Great barbecue! Lots of Juan's cousins and their spouses and kids came from Sainapuchi and there was, of course, lots of good food.

The next morning Josua helped get the sheep out to pasture for the day. Baraquel and his wife live just beyond Roberto's barn.

Here's Baraquel milking the cow. He recalls many years ago Juan's mom would come out with her coffee cup so she could have fresh milk in her coffee!

Juan looks like a natural!

I even got a chance to ride a little!

The Jacobo and Marin family including Juan's parents donated funds and property for this small rural school in Ortiz. The inset shows one of the two classrooms. They still use it for preschool, although I think the older children in the area go to a different school now.

Here's the plaque on the side of the school. It was established in 1960 so Juan was too young to ever attend. Luz and Arturo probably went there for a couple years. Juan's parents left for the US just a few years later.
Juan's father was born in Clifton, Az., and Arizona was to be their new home. His uncle Nicholas Cazares, Great Aunt Tina J. Hernandez and other family members played a major role in his father's decision to bring the family to Arizona. This was after a major land deal ended in failure in Ascencion, Chihuahua.

Juan's uncle has a beautiful horse named Tornado.

Saying goodbye to Juan's uncles was difficult because you never know when it might be the last time.

Baraquel and Rosario and their little daughter were very fun to be around.

We headed back to Anahuac to spend the night with Pavi again and to return her son, Josua! Pavi runs a home business photographing weddings and events and producing DVDs for her customers.

Here's me with the sisters, Tencha and Pavi.

Cousin Tencha and her husband Juan didn't want to say goodbye!

We were escorted to the Chihuahua airport by Pavi and her husband Juan the next morning and we flew back to Juarez. To our surprise, Jim, Irene and Nellie had come down to meet us at the airport. The drive back across the border took a long time but we had good company and filled them in on our trip.

After a wonderful dinner at Landry's in El Paso, we drove the 4 hours back to Tucson. Glad to be home, but it was a wonderful trip!