Brighten the Sabbath Day

There is a spanish ward near our hotel, the one Curtis always attends when he is here. In May I was able to attend the ward and meet a few people. We absolutely enjoyed ourselves today. Even though there was a different language spoken, the spirit was so strong and I was able to get a lot out of Sunday School class. The lesson was on comparing the signs of Christ's first coming as the same that will be for the second coming.  Then we went into combined Priesthood/Relief Society/Young Men class. The Stake President introduced the Duty to God program and had one of the Young Men President's from another ward explain the program. I understood all of it...probably because I know the program.

 

So after the block, one of the brothers who speaks some english asked us to wait for him.

So we did, he came back with the floral arrangement that was used today for the Stake President's visit. He and his wife wanted to give it to us "for our home". Good thing we are staying in our Hotel Home for another week and a half so we can enjoy this beautiful work of art! Real Flowers!  He told us they truly enjoy our visiting their ward and want us to know of the friendship they extend to us.  Now, how can one not feel loved, accepted, in a foreign country with kindness like that! 

Bird of Paradise, Snap Dragons, Crysanthumum (sp?) and other sticks and decoration in a green foam you keep wet to keep the flowers alive.

Toilet Problem in Hotel

This is a posting my dad would get a kick of! Here in our hotel we noticed that we had water leaking from the toilet. We had visions of Jason's bathroom experience happening in our hotel, so Curtis lifted the lid and found the float valve with a serious leak. It was spraying water out and hitting the top of the lid and going over the edge of the tank onto the floor. So I called maintenance. Try explaining that to someone in another language!

 

The maintenance man showed up with a plunger! I said no, not that. And took his arm and pulled him into the bathroom where Curtis lifted the lid and flushed so he could show the guy. The guy said he would would repair it before we got back this afternoon. We went on an all day tour.

 

This is what we found when we got home! 

They just took a plastic bag and wrapped the float valve so the water sprays in the bag and then into the tank. They didn't repair it! It was a "fix". We died laughing!! Certainly not repaired the Gibb/Nielson way!

Xochimilco - Flat Boats on Canal

 

My favorite stop on the tour was Xochimilco. (This is a long blog with photos & videos)

 

It took me all week to learn to say the name (Zoe-chee-mill-co). Xochimilco is characterized by the existence of a system of canals, (think of Venice, Italy!)  which measure about a total of 105 miles. These canals, and the small colorful flat bottom boats float among artificially created land called chinampas and are internationally famous.    

 

These canals are all of what is left of what used to be a vast lake and canal system that extended over most parts of the Valley of Mexico, restricting cities such as Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) and Xochimilco to small islands.  This system of waterways was the main transportation venue, especially for goods from the pre-Hispanic period until the 20th century.  

In the pre-Hispanic period, parts of the shallow lakes were filled in, creating canals. Starting in the early colonial period, the interconnected lakes of the valley, including Lake Xochimilco, were drained. By the 20th century, the lakes had shrunk to a system of canals that still connected Xochimilco with the center of Mexico City. However, with the pumping of underground aquifers since the early 20th century, water tables have dropped drying  some canals, and all that are left are the ones in Xochimilco.

The canals are fed by fresh water springs, which is artificially supplemented by treated water because water tables are still dropping, human expansion and the filling in of canals is still occurring, threatening to have the last of these canals disappear despite their importance to tourism.

So the following are some photos and 3 videos of our tour at Xochimilco.

 As we were getting ready to board the boats (way wider than the

 Gondolas of Venice, Italy), each of the ladies were given a rose.

The men were given the OPTION of having a free shot of Tequilla. Curtis passed!

This is our boat, named Carmelita.  The people sitting on the right side were from Brazil. They loved their beer and drank a lot! We had water. There were two oarsmen (back in blue and white shirt) who took turns shoving a long long pole to push and guide the boat along the canal. They did not sing or say "Oi Oi" as went along as they did in Venice. Our guide took this photo.

The photo above was amazing. These roots are left from the original Aztecs who built the city (started in downtown Mexico City called Zocallo) and all the way out here. History came alive! They planted trees and then would add dirt and fill as the roots took hold. The entire lake was islands interconnected with canals.

This is the entrance to the canals. It was a traffic water way. You can see each boat had a name and was decorated brightly. Then there were other boats (much more narrow) that were merchants trying to sell you wares, food, play music for you. I told Curtis "imagine Nogales on water!"

 We knelt at the back end of the boat to be in the sun for this photo. We hung onto each other, we didn't want to fall in! It was about 12 foot deep. I didn't want to swim!

 This was one vendor who was trying really hard to sell me a tablecloth or blanket. They were $45 US dollars. I had enough at home already. We did take this photo - that was what prompted his attention and persistence!

 Our guide did say that the roasted corn was wonderful! So we waited until she saw the vendor she liked and we all bought for 20 pesos (about $2.50 US dollars) a white corn on the stick. It was roasted - with butter and lime on it. It was a ONE TIME thing to try.

This is the video Curtis took as we started out on our 1 hour boat ride. You can see how the mariachi's play hoping you will ask for a song. It was 100 pesos ($12 US for a song).

 Finally on our boat ride back, we decided to all pitch in money and buy one song. The oarsman whistled and they moved their boat next to ours. The singer hopped over to our boat and sang (this is my version of what was sung "eye eye eye eye, I am the frito bandito" or that is the tune). Listen and you can hear it.

At the half hour mark on the boat ride, we pulled alongside a greenhouse. We were given a tour of all the plants and herbs growing. They were beautiful and amazing! One plant was called the "sensitive plant". When you touch it, it closed up and shrunk away from you. Reminded me of the flowers in Avitar. Watch the video and you will see it.

These following 3 photos are just some of the beautiful flowers we saw. Curtis took pictures of them all! But these are some interesting ones.

Cuicuilco Temple Mound

We had a stop at Cuicuilco which is a round temple mound. Cuicuilco is an important archaeological Mesoamerican Middle and Late Formative (c. 700 BCE – 150 CE) period site located on the southern shore of the  Lake Texcoco in the southeastern Valley of Mexico. Today, it is a significant archaeological site that was occupied during the Early Formative until its destruction in the Late Formative. Based on its date of occupation, Cuicuilco may be the oldest city in the Valley of Mexico and was roughly contemporary with, and possibly interacting with the Olmec of the Gulf Coast of lowland Veracruz and Tabasco (also known as the  Olmec heartland).  After studying some on the Olmec, they had a lot of the same teachings and understanding of the gospel as we have, so this place was fascinating.

Based on known facts, it was the first important civic-religious center of the Mexican Highlands, its population probably included all social strata and cultural traits that would characterize the Altépetl (city-state) of classical Mesoamerica.

Cuicuilco was destroyed and abandoned since the eruption of the volcano Xitle, causing migrations and changes to the population, it culminated with the Teotihuacán consolidation as classical period ruler of the Central Highlands.

At the site are 8 of the many housing and religious buildings that once existed, and the remains of a hydraulic system that supplied water the city. One of the pyramids was built in a strategic position, representing early prehispanic attempts to link religious concepts with cosmic events through building construction.

Following are some photos we took.

 

 Above, Cuicuilco Round Temple Mound. The steps and stone work

 are original. They don't let you climb the original steps, but go up next to them.

 

The building in the background was being built when they discovered this site. All this vegetation is also original and untouched. They did not dig any of it up but they let it grow naturally in the ravine aound the the area. It is now a botanical area to the mound.

 

 

You can see some of the layers or elevations around the mound. It is wide at the base and gradually narrows in three levels. The top level is flattened where they worshipped. The guide was telling us that originally this was all a valley, so the people who built the temple had to build the mountain by hand so they could put their temple on top! They believed you had to go to the top of the mountain to speak to God. Boy, does that sound interesting!

 

Above, you can see some of the original vegetation and trail around the mound. We saw two squirrels down in the ravine. There were prickly pear cactus with ripe fruit they were gathering and eating. Fun!

 

 

Curtis standing on the very top of Cuicuilco Temple Mound.  You can

 see buildings in the valley below around it.

 

 

From the top of the mound you can see an amusement park

in the distance. It is a Wet & Wild!  In the foreground you see the path

leading down from the mound.

 

Turning and looking another direction from the top is a freeway. But if you notice,

it is a 2 story freeway (like in San Francisco). Interesting thing is

 Ica Fluor who Curtis is doing consulting in Mining for ...

is the company building this 2nd level!

Sandi is on the left as she and the tour group are heading

 back to the bus. What a very interesting site to behold.

National Autonomous Univeristy of Mexico (UNAM)

We took a tour while in Mexico City one Saturday morning and part of the tour was stopping at the University of Mexico or "The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)".  This is a Mexican public university, the largest and very important to Mexico and one of the top 50 universities and 10 most popular in the world. It was founded on 21 September 1551.  The UNAM has the primary purpose to serve the country, humanity, train professionals useful to society, organize and conduct research, mainly on national problems and conditions, and extend, to the extent possible, the benefits of culture.

So here are some photos of the campus that were very interesting. 

 

Above is the scenery as we approached the University.  I asked the guide how

 many students attend here, and I was told 300,000 currently.

 

This is the main administration offices of the University.

 

The original city of Mexico City was founded by the Aztecs. They found an island with an Eagle sitting on a Cactus with a snake in his mouth. So they stopped and built their city right there! They took and planted trees on the boarder of the island and then filled in with dirt. They kept doing this until they had filled in the entire huge lake with islands and connecting canals. 

 

The photo above is the Mall on the main campus. If you look, the green represents all the islands and the sidewalks are the interconnecting canals of water! Very cleverly intertwining history into the modern day!

If you remember back to the 1968, the Summer Olympics were held in Mexico City. Well, the opening ceremonies (and track & field) were held in this Stadium on the University of Mexico campus!  The black circle you see on top is where the Caldron was.  The mosaic design on the front depicts the Eagle with the snake in his mouth in the center, two olympians lighting the cauldron on each side.  There is an Eagle Head (right side) and Condor Head (left side). The Eagle represents the Aztec people and people of Mexico, the Condor represents the Inca people who were of Peru and Bolivia.

 The photo above is Sandi standing in front of the Library. The design behind her is of Quatzequatel:  The Winged God, done in mosiac.  Every side of the Library, from the bottom to the top of the roof is done in mosiac.

Here is one side of the Library done in mosaic. Some show the Aztecs and other parts show the Spanish envadors forcing their religion on them.

 

Here is a photo of our little tour group: 4 people on the left were from Brazil, and us.

We are standing in front of the Library.

 

It was a lovely place. As we were walking from place to place I could see small groups gathered. I asked the guide what was happening. One group she said was a Brazilian dance class. I kept hoping they would practice moves or something, but they didn't.

Cool Clouds

When we were flying out of Phoenix, AZ to head to Mexico City, it was a nice day to get a photo from the plane window over greater downton Phoenix.

 



 

As we flew, I thought I would be able to watch the ground all the way. However, Mexico had bad weather and rain all the way.  We flew through a variety of really cool clouds that I had to take a picture of them.  I remember when I first flew on a plane when I was in 8th grade and looked out on the clouds, I wondered what it would be like in heaven. Is this where Angels will be playing harps??  But then as I learned the true gospel of Jesus Christ I knew there were no Angels playing harps with wings, but would be busy doing the Lord's work. 

 

Photo above shows puffy clouds that look to me very pointed.

 Like they were whipped with a blender or beaters.

This photo is completely different. It looked to me like a carpet of white

with a mountain in the distance (all made of clouds). So soft!

 This is my favorite. You can see a storm, darkening clouds where two

levels are meeting and the light just creeps through in the middle.

Jacob Lake, Arizona

The last time I was through Jacob Lake was with my sister. We had asked where the Lake was and decided to not go look for it but to "drive on".  Well this time, Curtis and I decided to find it. If you drive south of Jacob's Inn like you are heading for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and about 1/4 mile there is right hand turn onto a dirt road - Turn there! Follow the dirt road about another 1/4 mile and there are signs that say "Jacob Lake" turn left.  Well, we did.  This is what we found! A truly beautiful sight!

 Here I am standing next to the sign, but if you look above the sign and my head you can see an indentation in the ground. Well, there it is!! The lake used to be BIG one time, but the earth shifted, ground cracked, and the water drained out. Now it is just lush pasture for the horses that were grazing there.

 Immediately across from the sign is this old beautiful Ranger Station. It was one of 6 in the 1880's. This is the only left. You can actually go in and see the rooms.

 This is what you first see when you walk in. I found it interesting - 2 rooms. Every room had a door that opened to the front and one that opened to the back. If you opened them all up you could get a nice breeze right through the cabin! An old wood cook stove in the corner. Most of the furniture in it is original.

Here is the old crank phone (crank missing from right size of unit). You would crank the handle with either a combination of long and short rings to reach different parties, and you had to listen if it was ringing in your house - because if it wasn't your ring - Don't answer it, it was for someone else. Unless you were nosey and listening in on the party line! 

 This is the second room. It had two beds, a desk, and an old typewriter. It must have been their office and sleeping quarters.

Here is the old manual typewriter. I had to try it out and demonstrate my incredible typing skills to Curtis. I still can type fast! Just down the road is an RV place with hook ups and camping. All the years we have traveled through Jacob Lake to the North Rim, or just for lunch on our way to and from Kaysville - we never knew this existed. What a treasure!

All roads go through Utah!

Every time we take a trip to Sparks, we take the short cut home - across I-80 and to Utah! We were able to spend a week with Curtis' folks and we had a great time.

 This is the home where President John Taylor lived the last few years of his life, in Kaysville, Utah, while he was hiding from the polygamist hunters. We searched for this house on our last trip, but didn't go quite far enough. But we found it this time!!

 One morning we took Melvin and we went to the Hill AFB Museum. It was so fun seeing all of the great planes. Above is Melvin and I by one of the jets.



This is the chapel that my sister was
married in on Halloween Day!




Inside of the chapel.



 My other sister and I sang in this chapel for our sister's wedding. It is now part of the Museum. Great memories of living on base and attending events here.

 One morning we went to the Oquirrh Temple in South Jordan, Utah. We had watched it being built over the years as we visited family, and I really wanted to go on a session. We finally did and got to be the witness couple! We also watched some baptisms of our family while there. So beautiful!



Curtis and I outside afterwards.

After the temple we met Curtis' sister for lunch at the Lion House. Ohhhh they have good food. She gave us a tour of new City Creek Center. Here is one shot where all the fountains line up with the waterfalls at the Conference Center if you look straight back through the trees. We window shopped to see all the stores.

On the drive back to Arizona we had to stop in Scipio, Utah. This is where the Nielson family first came from Sweden and settled. This was the house! It is really old, but to the Nielson family this is sacred ground. I remember when we were first married we went through the house, up in the attic, and even down in the cellar to see the home. Amazing structure. I would actually love living in a house like that today and renovating it! We made our trip home without incident. But it was good to be home again.

Special Time in Sparks, NV 2012

We had a great reason to make another road trip to Sparks, NV - Kavan Richard Haines was born! We spent two weeks there. Curtis and Nick did a lot of home repairs: repair the roof, install a heat-o-later (sp?) into the fireplace so it will give them heat this winter, and some electrical switch work. I painted their front door and trim, but my main job was burping and holding Kavan.  Hunter is such a great "new big brother". Every time he would come into the room he would go to Kavan and say "Hi! You!" and then kiss him.

 Here is the little family before the baby was even 1 week old!

 One of the highlights is attending one of Nick's concerts while we were there. He plays the cello (the other side of the girl with the cello on the right) and his sister, Natalie, is the blond on the violin on the left.  They play professionally with a Toccata group that performs near Lake Tahoe, Incline Village, CA and in Reno, NV.  They were amazing. There was a mezzo saprano from Russia as guest singer that sang to Curtis and gave him a rose - totally embarrased him! Hunter is already learning the fundamentals of playing with a bow. Won't be long and he will be old enough to start lessons.

 Here is baby Kavan at 2 weeks old. This was his blessing day. He is just so beautiful! Don't you think!

 Hunter is being trained by his dad already! Here is in and out of a kayak. He has his own camelbag, backpack/sleeping bag, and is always wanting to be wherever his dad is at! Even if that is underfoot! 

Curtis, Hunter, Serina, Nick, Kavan and Sandi - on blessing day in front of their church building. Oh, we hated to leave them. 12 hour car rides do make it possible, what a blessing we are not in wagons - or we would never be able to see them.