The Center

I've wanted to blog about this weekend since it happened, but I have been busy. I taught the kids to make clay and we baked a few figures. Yesterday I was a little tired and right when she got home Clemence started acting out and I lost all patience with the kids, which in turn just makes them act worse.
But anyway, I had a great weekend. Saturday I was thinking about staying near the gym where we take the kids swimming, but Nadine didn't feel well so I wanted to stay and help her with the kids. So Sunday I was ready to go.
The family gave me a rid into the center and Nadine gave me a few suggestions on where to go. I started at the Jardin Borda. It is a large colonial period garden. I started by going to the two art room they have and then I entered the garden. It is very large and very beautiful (as you can see in the pictures I posted). there is a museum with pictures and other colonial relics. There was also a market to buy handmade crafts, paintings, and snacks. The handcrafts were some of the best I've seen anywhere in any market in the world. They weren't the same old same old that you get at all the Mexican markets, but actually well thought out crafts. I ended up buying two photographs as well as a bunch of things from one stall which I can't talk about because they might become presents for some of you.
However, at this stall I stopped and talked to the woman who had made the crafts. She had dreamed up the idea and figured out how to do it all on her own, which if you know what it is it's amazing she wasn't trained. She lives out in the forest between Mexico City and Cuernavaca and comes to the market int he garden every Sunday. She knew a lot about different things and even did my Mayan astrology for me (I'm Mano, the Hand). I had a good time talking to her and hope I can go back and see the new things she's made and get a chance to talk to her again.
After the garden I went to the coffee shop in the center that I have been to with the family a few times. I got a frappucino and sat and read my book for a while. It was a nice relaxing time by myself. After I had sucked my coffee dry I headed across the street to the Cathedral complex. There are three churches within the walls, two of which you can go inside. The third is very beautiful from the outside, though I really was curious about what was behind the heavy wooden doors.
I wandered around for a while and then thought I'd go to the supermarket I saw down the street for some craft stuff for the kids. I walked down there and around the air conditioned store for a while (however, Sunday was actually very nice out with a nice breeze and just enough sun). I didn't find anything I was looking for, so I headed back toward the center to look for the museum Nadine had mentioned. On my way I saw this sign for the Robert Brady house, so I went in.
Robert Brady was a man from teh United States who moved to Mexico and collected many Mexican art items, as well as items from around the world. It reminded me a lot of the house of Jim Thompson in Thailand who had a great affinity for Thai arcitecture. Many of the things in the Brady house were very interesting, and his garden was so beautiful I would have loved to live there just for that reason.
After finishing in the Brady house it started to look cloudy and ready to rain so I decided to call a cab. I walked to a little spot in front of the Cathedral where I could easily tell the cab company where to pick me up, called and waited. The cab came without fail and we headed home. And after I got there, it did rain. And the raind didn't stop until yesterday afternoon. It was my first rainy days in Mexico....bleh, let's not have that again.