Last night we went to visit friends in Guadalajara after returning from Jocotopec in the Chapala area. We were invited over for dinner, for Noche Buena (Christmas Eve), and what we failed to realize until too late was that the tradition is to begin dinner after midnight. As a result, we found ourselves wandering back to centro and our hotel at 3am, with a long and full day of travel ahead of us. In the morning, we got about three hours of sleep, and then started preparing for the journey home.

We walked from the hotel to the old central bus terminal, where we caught a Chapala bus that stopped at the airport. For those willing to fugure out the bus system, this replaces a $17 cab fare with a fifty cent bus ride of similar duration.

After we checked in for our flight, we went out and had a bowl of pozole at a little cafe outside the airport terminal where the employees have their meals. After we went back in a cleared security we wandered around the terminal until it was time to board our three and a half hour flight back to Denver, where we had to clear snow plowed up behind the car in the long term lot where we left it. Back at the rental house in Fort Collins, Pat had to dig out a place to park, because the plows just left us a single lane cleared in the middle of the street.

We intended to head directly up to the ranch to spend this Christmas night, but found that the interstate North of Cheyenne was closed due to drifting snow. We'll try again in the morning.

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