Mi Amiga Maria Estuvo Aquí.

** Only a couple days left in México (and no more in Cuernavaca) and I must admit I'm feeling a little burnt out. I don't have quite the energy for this entry that I wish I had, but I want to get it down. So here I go. **

I had the sincere pleasure of hosting one of my closest friend, Maria McCullough for a few days this week! How about that?

Maria and her boyfriend, Yahvi, had been traveling all over México this sumer; playing music and visiting Yahvi's family. Last Lunes, Martes y Miercoles Maria came to visit me in Cuernavaca. Unfortunately, Yahvi wasn't feeling well so he stayed in México City with his mom (lucky!)

It was great to be in Cuernavaca with someone who knows what my life is like back in Chicago. Having her here changed my perspective a little bit regarding how different, or how similar, my life here is to my life in Chicago.

Maria had a friend in Cuernvaca, Chucho Peredo Flores, who is an incredible musician and scholar of Mexican music. Oddly enough, he worked on a CD called Dos Tradicíones, which I own and listen to all the time! Again, it's a very small world.

We played a ton of music when Maria was here. The first night was just hanging around at Chucho's beautiful music space. Maria and Chucho had a lot of catching up to do and Chucho and I got to know each other. I had some recordings of this evening, but I accidentally erased them! But here is a short video of Maria and Chucho playing.


The next day Maria and I went to the Zocalo and walked all around. We found the market where they sell the food and went to El Palacio de Cortes and saw the Diego Rivera mural. It was the second time I so it and I'm glad I did because the time before I was a little sick and I had a hard time appreciating the museum.







Then we went to Chucho's to play some music. His wife, Estela, runs a factory making tiles for mosaics and she is quite an accomplished artist. Chucho showed us all around their new house (which they designed) and the tile factory/workshop that is right next door. This tour was an unexpected treat. That's no rug. That's mosaic!

















Then we had a gig at Starbucks! ¿Qué padre, no? Yeah, it was billed as Maria and I, but Chucho joined us on a couple tunes and Maria and Chucho played some stuff. It was great fun. Not too many of my friends and neighbors were able to make it on short notice, but some did which was awesome. I felt so proud to be able to share a bit more of my life in Chicago. Again, I had recorded the show, but I erased it. Dang!

The next day we went back to Chucho's to chat and play. We met up with a bunch more of their family and ate dinner and played a ton of music. I do have some recordings of that luckily. They all had pizza and they were very accomidating to my wheat intolerance. Also, I ate a steamed artichoke for the first time. At first I wasn't so sure, but the . . . sambroso.

I have a couple recordings of this that I'll post later.

Maria had to go the next day and it was a strange moment. She's been to México a bunch of times and has traveled all over. This is all still kind of new to me. It felt great that we were able to find each other here. It's strange to have part of my "real life" enter my life here. I guess . . . well, I don't know what I'm trying to say. It was strange. It was wonderful.

Friends - we're really making it happen, huh? ¡Qué chido!