My sister's visit

Well, Elisabeth & I had a great time together. We got to work together, eat together, travel to the mountains together, sigh-see a bit together, celebrate her birthday early together. We had a fun time.
Here's some pics from our trip to the mountains.
All throughout the mountains are rock fences. Many of them are really, really old: built centuries ago by the indians when the Spaniards conquered the area to distinguish property lines. Today, some of the fences are reconstructed alongside roads, etc for cattle. This isn't one of the old ones, but they are remarkable. Just piled up rocks that stay where they're supposed to!
Darn, I blinked!

We're heading to the hills - hoping for cooler weather. But alas, it was just as hot up there, and a higher altitute yet, so we ended up getting a little sun!
The little town we visited up in the mountains just a few hours from where I live. A popular tourist stopover.
We did one of the things Lis wanted to do most of all! We took a 3 hour horse ride to see some of the "sights" around the area. Yes, it was painful. I know "how" to ride, but I'm not very experienced & it had been about a year & a half since I had ridden!
There is a large people group that lives throughout the whole part of the mountain range where we went. Actually, that section of the mountains are named after them: Sierra Tarahumara. We have missionaries working in two different dialects of this group.
It is a beautiful, but hard land. These are some of the people's houses.

These people are so lost. This church was built when the Conquerors came to this area of Mexico & introduced a major religion in order to pacify and dominate the people group. This building is used every Sunday. The people get together to do their traditional animistic religious rituals, perhaps having a form of godliness, but denying the Truth.
These people have mixed this major religion with their own traditional animistic religion. One thing that caught my attention was that there were "flower & herb offerings" around the bell, exactly like there was in Santa Teresa with the Cora people. I didn't get to ask anybody about it, b/c we were just riding through. Maybe next time. The church was fairly large, but there were only those two benches in it. The main figure is Saint Ignacious with the crucified Christ on one side & the virgen guadalupe on the other side. This is definately not a place of worship for the resurrected & alive Christ & God of all the Universe.
The Tarahumara believe that "the Catholic cross is not the cross of Christ. It is the cross of a severed man in space, the invisible man with his arms wide open, whose nails look at the four cardinal points." In their ceremonies, they "ask for help to God by setting up a cross. Then after help is received, they give thanks to him by giving presents to him. The cross represents the dialogue between God and the Tarahumaras. Most of the time the gifts consist of: offering the guts of a sacrificed animal (cow/goat), chickens, corn tortillas, or tesguino (fermented corn drink)" Looking behind me on the trail. Two Finnish girls were also part of our trail ride.

Looking ahead of me on the trail. Lis stayed up with the guide the whole time! Go girl!
At the lake, finally. the turn-around place. I really enjoyed the ride & it was much more interesting to see the land slowly from the back of a horse instead of having to catch glimpses while I drove down the road. But, I did get really sore!
The lake is continuously used by the people to bath & wash. It is a major water source for the area.
After our trail ride, we took off to see the Copper Canyon, which is 4 times larger than the Grand Canyon.
It was impressive, but I must say, the Grand Canyon does have some magnificent colours that this place is lacking.

Then, we headed back to town. On our way back, we saw several sights that are no longer part of our American way of life in the US.
Plowing a field behind a horse.
Wood-burning stoves for heat & cooking. This is something you find in many houses throughout the mountains. Winter or summer, they cook on this.
Coming back from the mountains, we stopped off in a city just about an hour from where I live. It is the "Washington" of Mexico. It's the apple capital of this country. It is also a place known for the Mennonites who settled here back just after WWI. My mom's parents originated here before they migrated to Canada. There is a little bit of family left here. And, guess what?
Lis & I asked around & found a Great Uncle & Great Aunt. Their daughter and grandson came over while we were there, so we got to meet all of them. That was such a delight. They only speak Low-German & Spanish. And, we only speak English & Spanish, so we conversed in Spanish!

It was a full trip, but I was able to share with Elisabeth my life here & we had some sister-time. Thanks for coming, Lis.