Tag: guanajuato

May 8-May 10, 2023: Chai’s first road trip!

2 Comments

From May 8 to May 10, Chai got to go on her first road trip! Together with Game – a travel pro! – we went to visit our Guanajuato friends.

Left: they know something is up … they just don’t know what it is yet! Right: Chai in her car crate. It’s hot out and the AC hasn’t cooled down the car yet. Pant we must!

Guanajuato is about a 5 hour drive from Mexico City – not too long a road trip but definitely more time in a car than Chai is used to. It made for a good first adventure! She made it about 4.5 hours before (poor puppy!) throwing up in her crate. I hadn’t fed her breakfast, so it was mostly water.

A free-roamer at a rest stop along the way. I remember this dog from the last time I came through here about half a year ago!

Another rest stop. Priorities: first water the dogs, then bathroom the Chrissi!

Game was so excited to see our friend Vanessa that she jumped out the car window the moment she saw her. She’s always had a soft spot for Vanessa … only her late dog, Dutch Shepherd Nabuko, got the occasional correction when he once again forgot that Game didn’t want to play with him: “I’m not into you! Get the memo alreay!”

Vane has a yard with avocado trees. The dogs were very excited about it and eating all the avocados they could find.

Chai is a social learner. Realizing that Game was Vane’s friend, she immediately wanted to be her friend as well!

Game time: at night, I put Chai to bed while Game got loved on by her friends! Sometimes, we get a few hours of feeling like an only dog – spoiled and all (below):

Above: Taking breaks on a Guanajuato walk. It’s warmer here than in CDMX!

At the hardware store: I got annoyed at the pink long line and bought a slightly shorter rope instead!

We walked from los Álamos to Presa de la Olla – Game’s favorite swimming spot. An unsuspecting Border Collie puppy, following Game’s lead … found herself swimming!

Crazy wet puppy after her first semi-voluntary swim at Presa de la Olla!

Rawhide at the park, Rodrigo and Orisa.

Like the good old times: dog walks and Habibi talks with Rodrigo and Orisa.

Left: the girls are posing! Right: so is this free roaming trio.

We spent three lovely day in Guanajuato with Vane and her kids Dana and Fabi and my friend Rodrigo and his Jack Russel Terrier Orisa.

While Game was happy to see Orisa, Orisa was NOT impressed with the puppy. WHY did I have to bring the annoying little animal? Orisa made sure we knew she was pissed by sitting at a distance and looking the other way.

Another day of fun in Vane’s yard – this trip was the first time Game and Chai two got to play in a yard together (below)!

… and finally: let me and my girls take you on a Guanajuato adventure (below)!

Sleepy evening pups after a long adventure day!

Vane and Rodrigo, now that I write about you I miss you. I hope to go back and visit soon … and you’ll have to come visit CDMX! Vane and I have been planning for this trip even before I decided to move here.

One Wild and Precious, E4: The unique city of Guanajuato, sharing a multicultural house, making panditas, and human connection

Leave a comment

New episode! This is the first time I experimented with recording a conversation in the same room rather than over Zoom. I don’t have professional audio equipment, so we recorded a single audio track, hunched over Andrés’ little table, crumbs of mota and my laptop. The sound quality isn’t perfect – but it worked well enough!

I’ve been living with three Mexicans, and on this episode, I talk to one of my housemates: Andrés Ortega. We chat about the trials and tribulations of living with strangers, cultural differences, the colors and facets of Guanajuato City, and what we have learned from each other. Get ready for laughter, city stories, lots of mutual appreciation, and a rant about pocket-less pants!

I’m really glad I found this house, and the three wonderful people already living in it. You guys are awesome! Game has been enjoying it here as well. She’s loving the leftovers that are being saved for her (especialls the month Ivan used to cook way too much), and every time tortillas go bad, or Andrés buys an entire roast chicken. Game has also received two toys from Moi. One of them, the yellow sheep, is still alive and being well loved. It is her new favorite, and even went on a road trip with us.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Moi opened the door to his room to Game and I when we first moved in. We were invited to take over his bed – even Game! – and hang out, watching movies. We both felt comfortable and at ease right away. I’m thankful for Moi’s intuition and perceptiveness about making me feel at home!

I am grateful to have met my three housemates, having learned new modismos and gotten to know Los Simuladores. I couldn’t have found better people to share a house with. I appreciated sharing my imperfect pizza experiment with you all, having lots of coffee breaks with Andrés, sharing lunch tortas with Moi, lounging on the kitchen furniture with my dog at my feet and new friends by my side. And Ivan! Thank you for lending me your car, and introducing me to your inflables and their casa. (Ivan runs what probably is a not-entirely-legal bouncy house rental business. He also forges data for the government, but the bouncy house business is way cooler and more fun.)

I’m the lucky one. I don’t believe in God, but if I did, I would thank them for my time here, and for the freedom I rediscovered. And for something I thought everyone did, but am realizing may not be as common as I used to think: I see beauty around me all the time. I meet amazing people. (I, too, see the shadows, but also: so much good stuff!)

There’s something else I learned from Moisés that I didn’t mention on this podcast, but have to share with you because it’s brilliant! If you have raw eggs that aren’t fresh, and you aren’t sure they are still good, there’s an easy way to find out: fill a pot with water. Put the egg into it. If it sinks to the bottom of the pot, it’s still good. If it floats, it’s bad.

The other trick I learned: if you’re making coffee in a drip coffee machine (we are making a lot of coffee!), you don’t have to put entirely new coffee into the machine for every new can of coffee! You can just add a spoon or two of coffee to the used coffee already in the filter, add water, and you’ll end up with coffee just as tasty as the previous round … And you’ll be using up less coffee overall! (This is going to save me a lot of money going forwards, since I drink LOADS of coffee.) Up until now, I used to empty out and refill my filter every single time!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You all, whether you’re reading this or not – I’m going to tell you in person again anyway: thank you for the conversations, the movie nights, water-refill and bouncy-house-recovering trips. Thank you for cotorrear-ing about dogs and the world, girlfriends and human beings, and anything from our personal challenges to family history.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I’ll be leaving because I want to live in the middle of nowhere again, not in a place surrounded by highways. But if I could bring Moisés, Andrés and Ivan (just pack up the entire house), I totally would.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Get in touch with Andrés:

https://www.instagram.com/xerxes_man/

Get in touch with Chrissi:

www.chrissisdogtraining.com

chrissi.schranz [at] gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/chrissi.schranz/

https://www.instagram.com/adogisabondbetweenstrangers/

Thank you …


Thank you to Lesfm for providing our royalty-free intro, outro and en-tro music, and to Isabelle Grubert for designing the logo of the show!