Mexican Moments with Greg and Peg: Extra long trip to Veracruz!

Tuesday Aug 11- Saturday Aug. 15 Trip to Veracruz!

THOUGHT: "LIFE IS SO MUCH BRIGHTER WHEN WE FOCUS ON WHAT
TRULY MATTERS......"

Yep 4:30 is way, way, way too early to be getting up! The moon was barely up! We left home and drove to the Temple in record breaking time - 20 min. I like driving at this hour for sure!! Poor Smiths got up and drove us to the airport at 5:30. I hope they went home and went back to bed! We got to the airport and faced a bustling place! Our flight left at 6:55 to Veracruz. I am not sure what is worse - getting up so early to get to the airport in plenty of time or to just get in the car at a decent time of day and drive there! I guess flying worked out OK! I have needed a nap all day now!
Pres. and Sister Cordova met us at the airport. They are young and very nice! They have two darling kids - Pamela -11 anos, Jonathan - 10 anos. They took us to breakfast and I had an omelet (normal food!) I'm not sure what they ate😜. After breakfast we headed over to the church that is next to the temple for a zone conference. Greg did his schpeel and I worked on my new project - another afghan. After the zone conference the Cordova's took us to lunch at Olive Garden that is right on the edge of the ocean. We sat outside and it was delightful, even though I don't think Veracruz beaches are that awesome, it is always nice to sit by the water and listen to the waves and the people playing in the water. Good lunch and good times!
We picked up the kids and packed up all the stuff we need to take to the other zones. We threw all the stuff including the kids in the back of the van and off we went. We drove for about 3 hours to a little town called San Andres Tuxla. The drive was so beautiful. Everything is huge and very green. There are trees and big bushes everywhere, with big beautiful mountains and wide rivers. It's hard to remember we are in Mexico at times like this, until a house passes by. Then we remember where we are! Ha! We arrived around 7 pm and got our room in this fairly clean Mexican hotel. It was quaint little Mexican hotel in the middle of town. The street was busy with people walking this way and that. We ate a late light dinner and watched the people.

The clouds were so cool while flying into Veracruz.
It looks like Aliens are shining down their lights
(maybe they are!)

I don't know why aliens would come to Mexico!

But maybe???

A cute group of missionaries at our first zone conference.

We went to Olive Garden on the beach for lunch after
the conference. Greg and Sister Cordova

It was fun (made me homesick) to watch
this seed pull this big blowup thing around
with all the kids on it!

me with Pres. & Sister Cordova

At the edge of the restaurant.

There is a clear plastic wall that this bird sat on
to watch us eat our lunch.
See the HUGE boats in the background
This is a shipping town.

My favorite shot - this little dingy
pulling a double water weenie around
advertising the ride.
I didn't get a pic but this guy found
a bunch of kids that he was pulling around.
We laughed out loud thinking of what
our kids do while being pulled around on our water weenie.
Not so peaceful or calm.

I was told this chili wasn't hot and was dared to eat it.
I was lied to - it was hot and I only took a little nibble.

Looking down the beach from the restaurant

After lunch we drove to San Andres Tuxtla
I took some shots along the way.
This is someones house. I guess they like rain coming in.

This is blurry - sorry, but I had to catch this guy
has a whole store set up here along the side of the
road where people fly by in their cars.
I don't know if anyone ever stops
to buy his stuff.

Pretty rainbow over the ocean and this old structure

Another shot of the rainbow

Pics of things as we drove down the highway.
This is a restaurant

Houses

This is a ton by this large river
It looks like a tourist town
but it's not.

This mountain is suppose to be where the final
battle in the Book of Mormon took place.

I was sitting in the coffee shop of the hotel doing what I do best -
watching people. I love these nuns who walked up to this
side of the road drink shop, ordered drinks in big tall glasses
and then stood there and drank it all gone! The other people
had to wait while these two took their sweet time! Love it!

This is one of my all time favorite shots
this sweet little old lady carrying a bag of some sort
trying to hurry across the street!

Our hotel room - little, but efficient and clean

Our hotel in San Andres Tuxtla

Our view out of our window.
There is no city planning in Mexico so nice things
are built next to junky things.

Wednesday - We were up not quite as early to eat and get to our zone conference here in San Andres. I love talking with the Elders and sisters. Greg did his schpeel, and the President did his hour long training along with another hour of the zone leaders doing training. This all equals a long day! After we finished the Cordova's took us to lunch at a place not on the street, but darn close. This is the first time I have prayed during the entire lunch that I won't get sick! I was not sure what I was eating. I could only get a few bites down along with the grape drink that I could only get a few swallows down before I was done! UGH! After the fun lunch we went on a drive out to see some cascading water falls. When we got to the sight it was pouring rain and we had to wait at least an hour for it to stop enough for us to walk down the path to the waterfalls! The rain storm was so refreshing and the waterfalls were beautiful. Perfect afternoon! Back to our little hotel for a rest and another late comida. We are eating less and less as the days go on! Good for us! PRAYERS MUST HAVE WORKED - AT LEAST FOR NOW! NOT SICK YET! YAY!

A big cathedral in a small town

A big cross up on the hill.
It reminded me of the cross we went to the top in
while in Chile picking up Spencer from his mission.

All the LDS churches are kept so nice-
at least on the outside.
This one was actually clean on the inside as well.

This is the scene in this city. Tons of greenery with houses
tucked down in!

Oh my - this is the restaurant where I had to pray extra
hard on my food so I didn't get sick.
Sister Cordova, Pamela and Jonathan
See the red tarp for the ceiling of this place?
The sun was shining through it and made for weird color pics.

We sat next to the "kitchen"
We watched them make the tortillas and cook meat!

The menu!
I knew I was in trouble when I couldn't recognize anything on the menu!

I was told this was the best thing to order - Mexican Pizza
I wasn't told it was huge or that it didn't taste very good.
I tried to give it all away to the kids.
They ate some of it and I ate 2 bites and left the rest-
while still praying.

This town has lots of hills, but is clean

We are sitting in an open restaurant waiting for the
pouring rain to stop so we can go see the waterfalls.
It rained for about an hour.

This hanging bridge was wobbly to walk across
while other people were on it

Beautiful waterfalls!
I guess the water level is down here cause
usually the water covers all the way across where it
is green on the other side.

The river below with the mist!

My adopted Mexican grandchildren.
They make me miss my own!

By the waterfall!
The Latins are so teeny!

Thursday - we were up early 6:30 to get going to the next zone conference. We got on the road and drove for about 3 more hours. I loved this drive. I think it is my favorite so far. The scenery is beautiful and I especially loved watching the people getting up - sweeping their front porches, feeding the chickens in the front yard, chasing kids around the yard already, people waiting for a bus to get to work, and the mist from the morning sitting on the tops of their houses! There were people already sitting in their chairs at their work places, other preparing food at their little food stands. It seemed everyone was up and going before 7!. Good for them! I missed a bunch of great pics as we were sailing down the road. The pic I am most sad about missing is of the little blue house sitting off the road in the middle of nowhere with the laundry blowing in the wind in the back yard and the horse - saddled up and waiting for a rider in the front yard - tied to a tree. It's hard to imagine that a family lives in this little house out in the middle of nowhere!!! I missed other pics too - two little girls playing off to the side of the road, a mom holding her sleeping baby, a guy pushing his cart full of his tools off to work somewhere, a guy sitting in his chair in his garage waiting for who know what! After a couple of hours we made it to Tuxetapec for the next zone conference. This was great with only Elders in this town. I guess it is not safe enough for sisters and too many huge mosquitoes. The Elders were as sweet as always. We spent most of the day with them doing training and stuff. Then another fun experience - off to another "restaurant" for another lunch! Praying again with every mouthful! We had some kind of soup that Greg said was good - OF COURSE! I did not agree! We also ate arrachera (sliced up ?steak?) meat with tortillas and guacamole. I ate some of that and had a Coka light for the first time in a week! PRAYERS ARE WORKING STILL - NOT SICK YET!
President Cordova kept watching me eat and finally asked me what my favorite food was! I wanted to say ANTHING THAT YOU HAVEN'T RECOMMENDED SO FAR! Somehow I got out of answering but he always watches me eat. I think he gets offended that I don't finish my yummy food!
Oh well!!! My philosophy is "better to offend that throw up!" We spent the rest of the afternoon driving to the next town which was Tierra Blanca. I am pretty sure it qualifies as out in the middle of nowhere! I hope no one is looking for us today or tonight because they will NOT find us! We don't even know where we are! The hotel is fancy here in this small town. It even has a swimming pool. The kids got in the pool, but we were too tired after sitting in a car for 3 days so far! HOW IS IT THAT YOU GET TIRED FROM SITTING AROUND FOR DAYS AT A TIME????? You would think you would have tons of extra energy, but NO! The kids - Pamela and Jonathan are perfect children. They are sweet, quiet and helpful. I keep telling them I want to take them home to show them off to my grandchildren. They all would be good friends. I guess I will have to take Abi, Kaylee, Jack and Taylor to Tijuana where the Cordovas are from in 2 years when they go back home from their mission!

In the hallway of our hotel there are park benches
sitting in these alcoves. Can't figure out why!

More houses tucked in-between all the trees and bushes

This is called a living fence. It does have barbed wire
in-between the trees.

This guy is off to work on his horse!

People waking up and carrying stuff off to work.

A view over another large river.

This is what a zone conference looks like.
This zone only has Elders cause it is not
safe enough to have sisters!
Greg up there giving his schpeel!

We found this bitty hospital to help with the sick missionaries
in this town. I hope they don't get sicker here!!!!

We caught an Elder out walking the street!
Cute guy!

On our way to lunch we saw this protest on the other side of the bridge.
The cops down't like you taking their pics but they were everywhere.

It started to rain while we were eating lunch and there were
4 kids that kept running back and forth outside in the rain -
sliding and splashing! Having a great time.

We liked this sink cause it is in-between
the boys and girls bathroom.
It is very teeny space. Pamela and I
got our hands all soaped up and then
we found out there was no water. UGH!
Finally a waitress brought a pitcher of water
and rinsed off our hands.

Jonathan wanted his pic taken too!

Trying to look like the mask!

The hotel we stayed in on Thursday night

The view from our room. A nice pool and yard for the hotel -
then yucky buildings around this. We are in Tierra Blanca
which is out in the middle of nowhere. It's a good thing there wasn't
an emergency today cause we would not have been able to help!

Looking back on our room in the corner.

Friday - up early again and off in the van to the next town and zone conference. We finally made it to Orizaba for this zone conference. We had to stop at Sam's Club to restock on refreshments for the conference. The poor missionaries always act like they have not eaten in a month! I think they inhale the food that they get from zone conference!! The zone conference was good - like the last 3 have been. Greg says President Cordova is an excellent teacher. I get some of what he is saying, but not a lot! He was an Institute teacher before his mission call. The sisters were great to talk to as well and they didn't even ask me crazy questions like I get sometimes. I need to write down some of the questions I get! I will do that in the future!