Suzi Explores the Mountains

Hi there! Richard, Virginia, and I have just spent the day with a wonderful family who invited us to go to the mountains with them yesterday when we were here in this lovely town of Tuxtla Chico. David stayed on the boat to get some things done today, and I think he needed some space. Unfortunately he missed a very fun day with Dina, Renee, Luis and little Rene. We rode in the back of a very nice pickup truck up the side of the volcano through several villages, one being Union Juarez and the last, Talquien. We then walked up farther into the village of beautifully colored houses surrounded by exotic flowers, shade grown coffee plants, and lush green hillsides.

It is Sunday, so all the families were out and about, smiling and enjoying their lives just as they are. I had flashbacks of being in the mountains about to trek our way into Tibet. If I were to walk onward into the mountains, I would eventually end up in villages of Guatemala. How fun it was to be in the cool montañas de Mexico. On our way back we stopped to eat a meat-eaters feast with handmade tortillas and delicious cheese, salsa, and guacamole. Of course it was the only restaurant for miles that was completely full, just like Richard´s find in Z'town at the Pazole hideaway. David will surely be disappointed he missed this carne affair.

It was cloudy most of the day and looked much like rain, but the sun is shining now, and we are back, waiting for our taxi driver, Primo, to come pick us up. This community in Tuxtla is very colorful in terms of clothing, buildings and culture, and the mercado we meandered through yesterday was filled with artistically displayed fresh fruits, veggies, and everything else you could possibly want. The people couldn´t be more friendly and helpful, and even though they all want to sell something, there seems to be no competition between them and a great deal of fun to be had. Maybe it is the simple life which inspires this attitude. Why did Dina offer us her yummy coconut chewies for nothing, and then invite us to go with them to the mountains? This adventure was a wonderful reward after again dealing with mechanical difficulties in a very polluted, manky*, sludge-filled lagoon we are calling home. David is again the hero, pondering and pragmatically solving the solenoid problem. He is amazing. Enough of this chatting about friendly warm people, eating food, finding new places to go! I know it is the same ol' same ol'. It still was a very delightful day in paradise, and I´m lucky to be alive. We leave on Tuesday so we´ll talk once more before we leave. We´ll send some pics tomorrow. Bye for now, Suzi

*Manky. M-A-N-K-Y. Not monkey - manky! It's a regional usage. I've heard it in various parts of the north of England and up in Scotland too. It has a whole range of meanings. When you hear somebody say 'my torch is all manky', it means it's not working properly, it's worthless, it's defective, it's a bit inferior. And then, I've heard people say 'oh, he's got manky socks' or 'that baby's nappy is manky' and that means it's grimy or dirty, it might even be a bit smelly - that's another usage of the term - 'bananas are manky' or 'that dustbin is manky' - it means it's rotten, it's disgusting, it's got a smell of some kind. And it generalizes from there, too, into personal feelings - if you're feeling under the weather for instance, in some parts of the country, you can say . . . 'I feel manky today'. And then up in Scotland especially, it's used quite nastily, as a term of abuse - . . . somebody might say 'you manky so and so', that's really quite harsh.
-From a BBC site dedicated to "Keeping your English up to date"
(As a result of hanging out with Richard and Virginia, Suzi is apparently now speaking British.)