Last night there was a parade in Mazatlán of giant insects from Spain courtesy of the Instituto Sinaloense de Cultura.  Among them were an ant, a carnivorous plant, and the best of all (see above) a praying mantis.

They were sort of part puppet and part robot as they marched along “munching” the palm trees and scaring kids.

It was a blast, and pretty much impossible to describe.  I took a long video but we were actually too close for it to be much fun to watch…but here’s a short one of the praying mantis at the end of the parade.  It was awesome.

Hey!  I’m back!  What a wonderful five days it’s been.  We had been so looking forward to a visit with Adam and Martha – we hadn’t seen them since we visited them in Mexico City in May.  And with a baby on the way, we wanted to get in on the fun of hanging out with a beautiful expectant mother and hearing all their news.

So,  Wednesday afternoon they arrived, and can you believe it, they brought the most unexpected treat!

They brought a cooler of Indian food from their favorite Indian restaurant.  They even brought the dough to make naan!  It was amazing, and we ate ourselves silly.    And you know what?  After eating at Zab Thai for dinner one night, we went back there yesterday and got a cooler full of Thai food for them to take back with them!  (They just haven’t found good Thai food in Mexico City.)

We did all of our favorite things, and a few new ones.  Lots of eating, drinks on top of the Freeman at sunset, and of course, dominoes.  One day we got together with a bunch of friends at the beach for several hours of swimming and talking.  We spent the day at Stone Island.  We ate breakfast at La Puntilla.

One “must-do” for any expectant mother in Mazatlán is the compulsory photo with people putting their hands on your belly.  Just check out the local paper any day for lots of these pictures.  So we had to take one of them, of course.

Then of course Martha had to play turn-around on Adam so here’s what she did:

I wonder how far along he is?  Notice the Mazatlán sweat rag hanging out of his pocket?  They were HOT!

I won’t make you look at more pictures, but believe me when I tell you it was fun, and when those two left they were totally relaxed and with a little bit of Mazatlán sun on their skin.

And to finish out my story about the two  of them I’m going to share a picture from their trip to Seattle the week previous:

This is a picture of Martha with her US Citizenship papers!  And just in time to vote!

So, in summary, I am one happy mom…and I am probably almost as excited as they are about the upcoming birth of their daughter. I know they’ll be wonderful parents.

I hope that most of our readers who are US citizens are planning on voting in the upcoming election.  I had been worried about actually receiving my absentee ballot here – I’ve made arrangements for my son the courier it to me) but something even better came about!

I went on the Pierce County, Washington website, which was the county where we last lived.  They had an option available to ask for your ballot by email.  We requested ours, and several days later we received the above email.  Pretty cool, no?

We still need to print and mail it in, and it needs to be mailed from Mexico to count.  Below is a bit from one of the emails I received from Democrats Abroad about voting from Mexico.

WARNING: If you’re a US citizen voting from Mexico your ballot needs to be turned in by October 22, 2008 for it to reach the US in time to be counted. After that date, your ballot may have to be sent by courier service, which is expensive and involves additional rules.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT mail your Absentee Ballot from within the United States. As an absentee voter with a Mexican address, your ballot must have a Mexico postmark to be accepted in many states. Democrats Abroad can help you get your ballot postmarked and to the US in time to be counted. Visit www.MexicoDemocrats.org/vote/ to learn how.

Let’s make sure our vote counts, ok?  This year the US is at a pivotal moment, and even though we live in Mexico, I still care deeply about the direction our country takes in the future.  I hope you do, too.