La Playa

We traveled down from Taxco to the Pacific Coast, to Acapulco, then on to Pie de la Cuesta - a strip of sand lying between a lagoon and the ocean.




Daisy thoroughly enjoyed the swimming pool and the sand on the beach, oh and the fresh prawns!







The sunsets were spectacular and afterwards we retired to a restaurant for some supper and a cool beer - fantastic.

Meeting Madeleine

Madeleine (Paul's Mum) has come out to Mexico for a few days to see her granddaughter, us and the place. We went us to Mexico City to meet her.


We then traveled to the nearby old silver-mining city of Taxco. It's where Paul did his Spanish course back in 1999 and where our good friend Yareri runs an excellent restaurant called 'El Sotavento'.


It was Good Friday whilst we were in town, so there were processions of men carrying crosses and women in black with chains or white with candles - the children were dressed as little angels.




We marked the solemn occasion by buying Daisy/Rosie a helium balloon and Pabs a light-sabre.



Daisy's great-grandmother (Connie) had sent some chocolate and a Peter Rabbit to wish us a Happy Easter.

Making a stand

Daisy is now happiest when she's standing. She's not able to balance herself, so makes good use of any furniture, person, etc nearby to hold onto instead.




Rosie taught Mariet how to make home-made pizza. Itamar thoroughly enjoyed selecting toppings for her pizza and for everyone else. The pizzas were a real hit (I don't think they even put chilli sauce on them)!

Tenejapa and other places

We're still discovering new places in San Cristobal. There's a 'responsible farming' tianguis, or small market, that's on every Saturday near our flat. The tortillas may be very colourful and responsibly produced, but they're a bit dull to eat. We've also found a hotel where we can pay to use their pool, so went with Enrique, Mariet, Pablo & Itamar - the two little girls really loved going in the water even though it was a little on the chilly side.


Our friend Eneas was born in a small town called Tenejapa and lived their til his Father became a Christian and the whole family were driven out of town. They're an unusual example of non-indigenous religious refugees in San Cristobal and they arrived nearly 50 years ago.


We traveled with Eneas and his son Luis to visit Tenejapa for a day. It's a remarkably still town and still very small - we had a thoroughly pleasant trip and were able to quietly observe (but not take photos of) the essentially Mayan-pagan worship in the town church.





For three mornings last week Daisy attended the nursery school run by Eneas' daughter Lore. It's a wonderful place with an emphasis on learning values (like sharing and gratefulness), care for the environment and reading (including weekend books to be read with the parents, something not very common here).


Daisy loves seeing all the other children and is so excited she doesn't sleep all morning. Her school report after one week says she's a lovely bright child, but that she tends to take the socks off other children and steal their food to give to other children!

Zoo etc

The nearby city of Tuxtla Gutierrez has an excellent zoo which has won awards for the size of it's animal enclosures (only downside being that it's hard to see anything)! We went down for the day with Enrique, Mariet, Pablo & Itamar.


Daisy particularly liked seeing the big cats, but towards the end it all got a bit much.


We stopped off at Chiapa de Corzo on the way back for a large plate of seafood shared between us, though I have to say the crabs were a lot of work for not much meat.


The next day we travelled to the nearby town of Teopisca, where our friends Sofia & Raul have a small ranch with six dogs, two cats, no rabbits (dogs ate them), a vegetable patch (doing well now the rabbits have gone), a small wood and a pig.


Both Sofia & Raul studied in Mexico City and now they're running the children's project and another project for older students. Raul has a collection of musical instruments that rather enchanted our daughter. Rosie also says he reminds her of Mr Tumnus!



Daisy continues to eat well and is willing to try almost anything now.


We have moved upstairs to the flat above, which is much lighter, quieter and generally 'mucho mas mejor' (much more better).

San Cristobal Life

Thought we'd post some photos of our life in San Cristobal in the last few weeks. Daisy now has an 'Andadera' - or baby walker. She's getting quite good at it!

She's also become a big fan of chicken-liver yoghurt on toast - don't ask how we thought of it, but she loves it!

She's never happier than when she's got a 'popote' (straw), or even better two! Or when she's passed around by the staff in a restaurant or fruit juice place.



She's been enjoying catching up with our God-son Pablo Enrique and has been using his andadera and Itamar's tricycle.


She's been working hard at trying to crawl - it's all been rather frustrating for her. Maybe like her Mum she'll walk first instead.



She's become a big fan of 'animalitos' - little biscuits in the shape of animals. Not sure if they're NCT recommended or not,..


Oh and there's the serious business of green tortillas - lunches have never been such fun.