Leaving Mexico....

We left Mexico on September 27! We'll be in limbo until mid-November and then hit training in Washington for about 7 months. In June we'll leave for Port-au-Prince, Haiti! We're sad to leave Mexico - so many good friends and so much we didn't manage to do - but we're excited to be moving on.

Top 5 Things I'll Miss About Mexico:
1. The food! Sopecitos, cochinita pibil, mole coloradito, chiles en nogada, tacos al pastor.... The list goes on, and it's got a bunch of foods on it that aren't Tex-Mex and so are not well-known in the U.S. Oh well - we'll go back to visit!
2. The travel possibilities. Although the safety zone seems to be shrinking, Mexico is filled with wonderful places to visit.
3. My job. Yep - I'll miss most of it, and my good contacts!
4. The view of the big mountains when they came out from under the clouds and the sky is clean.
5. The artesania/ handicrafts. Mexico has a little bit of everything, and the colors, the figures, the shapes and sizes make it spectacular. Everybody's getting a book for Christmas this year since we won't have cultural shopping to do!

Top 3 Things I Won't Miss About Mexico:
1. The traffic, especially outside our compound. It's not nice to face down a school bus coming up a too-narrow road first thing in the morning!
2. The filthy air. I can't deny it even though it's better now than it used to be, but the air is pretty gross for much of the year.
3. Enrique Pena Nieto, PRI presidential hopeful. Not that I knew him, but everything in Mexico is currently Pena Nieto-centered and will be until the presidential elections in July 2012. Now he's officially an SEP (someone else's problem) for me!

It was a wonderful two years, and while we're sad to leave, we're excited to be moving on! We're looking forward to a nice time in Washington and then to new thrills in Haiti! As always, friends and family are welcome to visit as soon as we get there!

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Here are a handful of Mexico checking-out photos for everybody's viewing pleasure!

We got a sweet good-bye present from our neighbor and friend, Shannon! This is a portrait of Guita with her BFF JoJo as painted by Shannon. It's packed in wood and on its way to Haiti!


Guita takes a break from packing and admires all Ian's traveling clothes on the bed!


Packing was a lot more fun this time around! The cats had three days to adjust to the emptying of the house, and they took advantage of the fortress-like stacking!


Sammy rests in the sun to recover from the packing frenzy.


Ian shows off the fruits of his green thumb! That plant was barely over the sides of its pot when we bought it two years ago.


Ian's succulent garden right before it was lovingly dismantled. Some of the plants did very well! Note the volunteer clover that was thriving in spite of the low-water environment.


OK, to be totally honest, this wasn't our mouse ear plant. But it's awfully pretty!


Some of the succulents were a little out of bounds. We're sure they'll be better mannered in their new home!