Aventuras de Andres y Zach: Tracy's Birthday, Root Canal, Gudalajara, Can-Am festival and Hiking

Friday: I want to start with a big Happy Birthday to Tracy. July 1^st and we are still deep in Mexico on Tracy’s birthday. I am pretty sure that, never in her life did she ever think to herself, “hey I think I would like to be in Mexico on my birthday”. So the day started with the boys making breakfast in bed for the birthday girl. The two of them were so cute; they made their mom cards, pictures and a birthday crown to wear.

The Birthday Girl and her boys

Then Tracy was off to Ayuvedic class in San Antonio with Ana. The boys and I hung out around the house. We picked up, made beds and played some games. Then the adventure began. We gathered up some snacks, water and maps for our long day adventure into Guadalajara.

Libriamento out of Lake Chapala are to Guad.

Sing says it all

Picture doesn't do Guad justice, it is a huge city of 4,095,853

It was “root canal” time for me and I thought it would be good to make a trip in and explore a bit. The drive in was actually a piece of cake. We found the building where I would be seeing the Endodontist, then ventured out to the “other” Costco. Yes, Guad is enormous in size and has two Costco’s. We found it with relative ease and spent a little time exploring and shopping. It’s pretty much just like being in a Costco anywhere in the US, except almost everything is in Spanish.

Centro Magno Mall

After our trek through the store, we headed to the “Centro Magno” mall. Wow, it is one of the nicer malls that I have been in anywhere. They have fancy shops, eateries, bowling alley, the Cinépolis Centro Magno, and a lot more. We actually parked in the underground structure and stayed through my procedure. Walking through the mall was again, like anywhere USA. The shops looked the same and the thing that really stood out was the young Mexican kids. They are really beautiful and handsome and just plain cool. From the way they dress, their hairstyles and the attitudes, it is apparent that the world has blended styles and cultures from corner to corner. Tracy and the boys went to the movies and saw Cars 2 while I ventured off to my appointment.

Off to the Endodontist, Dr. Alberto Diaz Tueme. It was only a block from the Mall and it was absolutely beautiful with marble floors and colorful artwork. I sat in the waiting area for less then 5 minutes for my appointment. The assistant came and escorted me upstairs to a very high-tech surgical room. The doctor came in, explained what he wanted to do, he began with taking a film of the tooth, then proceeded to tell me that I had an infected tooth, with an abscess at the root area. He detailed on the film the area of inflammation and how the body was actually trying to push the tooth out of the it’s place. I could totally see exactly what he was talking about and gave full permission for the root canal that he suggested. The cool part was that I got to watch almost the entire procedure on the TV Monitor overhead (he did ask me if I wanted to watch and of course I said yes). The procedure took less then 50 minutes and was almost pain free. The only bit of pain came when he had to measure the depth of the nerve with a small needle like device that was put down the root canals. On a scale of 1-10 pain, it was a 2. The entire experience was simply amazing and a lot less traumatic then I had built up in my head. I do need to return this next Friday so that he can complete the cleanup work in the canal, but no big deal. The two (2) visits are going to cost me exactly $2,600 Pesos (about $250 US). I did call my amazing dentist back in Wheatridge, Colorado, Dr. Frank Harmon and ran the entire thing by him before I made any decisions. He was so calming and supportive. He was convinced that the tooth would need a root canal someday and he had been right over a year ago. Thanks for the encouragement and support Dr. Harmon; you’re the best Dentist I know in all of Colorado. I sat in the waiting room until Tracy and the boys got out of the movies and we jumped in the car and headed to the Burger King indoor play structure that we promised the boys. I ran across the crazy roundabout to the closest pharmacy to get my antibiotics and pain meds. I was a bit worried that if the anesthetic wore off I would be in screaming pain. So in the rain and traffic I got there bought my meds and got back to the BK. The kids played and Tracy and I had a few moments to chat. I admitted to her that I had been a lot more freaked out in my head then I had let on and was so relieved that everything went so smoothly. I took my meds and to be honest, I was already feeling 80% better then an hour before the surgery. We drove back to Lake Chapala in some really heavy traffic, but still managed to get home before 10:00pm. Even in the pouring rain.

Saturday: The first full night of sleep in over a week. No pain and I even stopped stopped taking my pain meds at 2am to see if I really need them or not. We woke up, had breakfast and then Tracy’s Birthday gift arrived.

Tracy is under there somewhere.

We got her a 1.5-hour stone therapy massage that comes to your door. An amazing woman by the name of Luz came and set up. The kids and I went and ran some errands downtown and putted around until 1:30pm, then headed home to pick Tracy up for the Can-Am Festival at the Lake Chapala Society. We met up with a group of our new friends and had hotdogs, chips, soda and desert. It is an event to celebrate both July 1 in Canada and July 4 in the USA. There were tons of people and we had a really nice time.

On the way to the LCS

Our Gang

Afterwards, we headed home for a short rest and then took an awesome walk in the neighborhood up the hill and behind our home. It was magical, the rain was a bit drizzle, the sun was setting and the streets were relatively empty. All kids of noises coming from inside the houses we passed, the smell of dinner cooking, people laughing, kids playing and the roosters crowing. It’s the best hike to date that we have taken. Home and all in bed before 10:00. What a great day! Oh and still pain free!

Sunday: Stayed in PJ’s until 2:00pm. What a great way to start the day. Then we just hung at home, watched movies, played games, did our Spanish lesson and chilled. Then we got the bug to go out a bit earlier and do the same walk as last night. So, we headed out and walked for a bit. Then we just happened to stumble on a trail head leading up the mountain and all decided to se what was up a the top. It was simply stunning. The views were breathtaking; you could see the lake, the entire town and more as far as the eye could see. The colorful buildings, the church, town plaza, and even our house. What a surprise to find the trail and have it be so cool. We followed it back down further west into the village, walked the streets to our favorite coffee shop “Cafe Grano” and had our usual Carmel Frap. Walked the rest of the way home, had dinner, watched Kung Fu Panda and then off to bed. Another great week in paradise. So much more to come this next week.