mele kalikimaka

We had a really nice Christmas time with Tom and all of his friends, people from France, Belgium, Italy, Australia... such a diverse group of people bringing an amazingly diverse array of foods to the holiday table! For Christmas dinner we spent the whole day cooking our dishes - Ian and I made a delicious mediterranean salad with olives, tomatoes, goat cheese, chickpeas, etc and squeezed a liter of fresh orange juice from the fruit tree in Tom´s front yard. Mmmm. There was Thai curry, baba ganoush and humus, ponche (a traditional Mexican holiday drink, similar to cider but made with a variety of fruits, or just pineapple, with posh or tequila) ... quite the feast. All enjoyed by a toasty fire.
That night we went to see MU FAYA, one of the bands Tom produces (he has a recording studio in the house and like a dozen guitars). They´re an intense couple of French reggae guys, and mu faya is their version of MORE FIRE because they don´t speak English. Youtube it.

We´ve been having a very nice time staying with Tom and his roommate Anna. We wake to a pot of coffee in the garden, the walls absolutely covered with orchids and bromiliads that Tom has collected from the woods, parrots and parakeets who live nearby in the belltower of a church sqwaking in the morning. They have a great set of friends, most of whom are expats or travelers from other countries, always ready with stories and advice about their travels.
San Cristóbal is a wonderful city, so similar to Pátzcuaro in the architecture and narrow streets, with a modest vibe. There is a diference in the size, and the amount of people here, and this means there´s actually a night life (nothing happened past 8 pm in Patzcuaro) which is great for Tom and these guys because they´re so into the music scene of the town and Mexico. Especially durning Christmas, there´s an excitement in the air. We've been hearing (and barely seeing) fireworks all day, a sure sign of celebration in Mexico.

We´ve had a nice hike to some very well hidden ruins nearby, completely unexcavated. The people in town don´t even know about them - they like to make the people think no one was in San Cristóbal before the Spaniards.