Mexico Forever

By Saturday our trip was nearly over. We squeezed in a trip to the Bazar Sabado, or Saturday Bazaar for those not in the know. It's an in- and outdoor fair for crafts, food and more!



Sam, Phoebe and Caitlin accompanied us.


They have ALL kinds o' stuff there. Everything you can imagine as far as trinkets go. I was in souvenir heaven.












This face was huge!


This stuff was from a vendor who made little sculptures from found objects... i.e. trash. They were very cool though.


Here are a bunch of masks, similar to the ones in the Stephens' household.


Sam & Phoebe got some for their NYC digs.


They even had freshly-made food at the bazaar.


Dustin bought me a pair of gorgeous bright red earrings (which you can see in the first picture of this post) and I bought myself this bold yellow shirt. Oh so Mexican.


There were some characters there, to be sure.


We all decided it would be a great idea to get some jicama with lime juice & chili powder at the bazaar. It ended up being a terrible idea, but I'll get to that later.


We got home just before Mexico played their last World Cup game. Everyone was dressed for the occasion.


Mexico scored right off the bat and we all rejoiced.


... and then Mexico lost, unfortunately.

That night we went out for a final dinner all together. This restaurant (whose name escapes me) was amazingly beautiful, situated directly across the street from Diego Rivera's studio.



By the time we got there I was so hungry I thought I was going to pass out.


But I immediately ate some bread and we gathered out in the courtyard to have a full family + jenna portrait taken.


Then we all returned to our table and had a feast for kings (and queens).


Dustin and I took a little walk around the hacienda premises and found a little girl's birthday (we assume it was birthday) party.


And this cool gazebo (I have a thing about gazeebos).


This cute statue.


And Dustin took a picture of me beside the fountain out back.


And what would dinner be without seeing how nice the ladies' room is?


It was nice.


We came back to the table to find the Stephens clan clowning around.


(Tommy, rock star brother, and Caitlin, actress sister)

The ride home was a little crowded.


Later that night, we went to see Dustin's mom. She lived nearby in yet another beautiful house.


I finally got to meet Dustin's mama.


She was very welcoming to us, and even showed me some pictures of Dustin as a five-year-old.


So cute! After our visit, we went home and enjoyed the backyard by night.



The next day, Dustin, Phoebe and I all woke up feeling... how shall we say... under the weather. I think perhaps that the jicama had been soaking in tap water or something and it made us sick. Darn. We had been so good about not drinking the water.

Oh well. It was our final day, and Dustin said goodbye to his beloved rabbit Velvetina.


And the aptly named Sugar.


Dustin almost didn't even make it to the airport. So we traveled with some precautions.


Mr. Louis sat down with us in the airport and had some tea/coffee with us before our flight.



On the plane, Dustin was still fascinated by my peeling sunburn.


I wasn't very excited about flying. In a heartwarming addition to our flying comfort, a family with a handful of children (handful in every sense) made good use of the three empty rows surrounding them (which also happened to be the rows separating us from them). The kids ran around, yelled, played, jumped up and down on the seats... the works.


By the end of our five-hour flight, I was less than amused.


The culprit:


And we also had to watch "Failure to Launch" on the plane. My eyes hurt from rolling for two hours. Besides that, it was a wonderful trip. I finally got to relax, a feat I haven't accomplished in years. I got some fresh culture and got to spend time with a rad family. Each one of the Stephens' family members is smart, vivacious, creative... and kind. They made me feel very welcome and I had a blast in this beautiful city.

Thanks for the memories, Mexico.