My days in Durango

My days in my beloved Durango passed by way too fast, but I enjoyed my days to the fullest! On our stay in San Juan we celebrated many June birthdays My grandmas, uncle and my nephew Oscar's 6th birthday.  My mom and I decided to give him a small birthday party, our town is very small and the kids don't get to go to many birthday parties, so we invited all the kids for a pinata, cake and candy bags.  You could see it in the kids faces they had a blast! 

                  

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The birthday boy

Our towns name is San Juan Ojo de Agua (Saint John the Baptist) and every June 24th we celebrate his nativity. My mom says that in the old days the celebrations where very big and many people would come from other towns to celebrate.  It is tradition to walk from the church to el manantial (which is a spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground. Thus, a spring is a site where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.) signing the mananitas (traditional birthday song) and praying.

After that we walk back to the church and sign some more and have matachines dance traditional ritual dances outside the church door to honor San Juan Bautista. During the day they have 3 masses and food for the whole town.  It is also tradition to get each other wet, the kids go around with buckets of water and chase each other and try to get others wet.

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I was enjoying my time so much that it started to get hard to train, but I did manage to go running and swimming almost every other day.  I would run to see my dad at the cemetery and that was about a 4.5 mile run and swimming at our spring but because it was vacation time we would get a lot of out of town people and it made it hard for me to go swimming.  I feel that my swims helped me with my fear of open water swims because I was swimming with out my safety blanket my wet suite.  I would cross the spring many times and the water was very clear I saw tones of fishes, turtles thank god I didn't see any water snakes cause that would of freak me out and I don't think I would of crossed it again.  I know theirs water snakes because we would see them all the time when we went swimming back in the day.  

This summer vacations where a little more special that other years not only I planned a trip to Mexico City but my mom and aunts planned a little family reunion. My grandma hadn't been to Durango in about two years but it had been over 10 years that all four brothers had been together. I can't imagine not seeing my sisters for that long! but things change one of my aunts is a nun and lives in Leon Guanajuato, my Tio Juan lives in San Juan my Tia Baselisa lives in Houston, Texas and my grandma in Phoenix. It was such a great experience to see them all together you could see and feel all the love they have for each other. I enjoy listening to their childhood stories and learn a little more about my great grandma Patro which I was one of the luck ones that she prepared me for my first holy communion.

Tia Margarita, Tio Juan, Abuelita Julianita and Tia Bacelisa

Spending my summers in Durango are super fun the weather is great! raining season starts around the second week in June and that means it usually rains in the evenings and the start of the state fair! I love going to the state fair this year I got to go twice and see two great female singers Julieta Venegas and Carla Morrison both of this ladies are awesome song writers and have a very unique voice.  Besides going to their concerts I got to spend time with my cousins and god daugthers spending time with family is always fun and exciting.

Oscar, Leslie, Running Frida and Luis Mi aka Luixton

Julieta Venegas Concert

Leslie and Nina

Valentina and Madrina Corazon

so far my vacations are going great... stay tune for more... next post My Durango Leslie and I decide to tour the city of Durango and its many museums!!