La Florida

I think that whoever named La Florida thought that it compared to the American state. And I think they were wrong. Not that I have scoped out Florida so much. Perhaps Florida does have fresh water river pools with exotic, uninhabited forests and terrifyingly tall dams with very little guard railing preventing falls from the top and Indiana Jones-styled wooden rope bridges awaiting you to cross so that they can finally snap in two (dramatic fall into the river below). Now that I think about it, that probably does exist in Florida, somewhere. But the world Florida brings words like 'furnished condominium,' 'miami beach,' 'spring break,' 'tanned to perfection,' 'retirement,' and 'death by crocodile' to my mind.

Our Florida, down here in Mexico, refers to a little riverbend where the water slows enough for you to swim across and walk the trails, jump from little mud ravines into the water, rope swing or simply ride the current. The water is cold, even in the peak of summer. It is freezing. Your skin gets pale, you do not sweat. It is good.

This year when we visited La Florida I walked straight into a butterfly swarm! If you live in Cincinnati then you probably have either heard about the yearly butterfly exhibit at the Crone Conservatory or have experienced it (my mother and I have gone almost every year I think). Well, it was just like that except so much better. The butterflies were small, delicate, and they did not seem to care that I crashed their party, uninvited. They danced around me, flashing their beautiful colors of perriwinkle, monarch orange and creamy yellows. (IT WAS SO COOL.) I'm pretty sure that butterfly parties are seasonal at La Florida. I'm glad God is punctual.

Walking on the back trails this year I saw many living things, including several softball-sized bullfrogs and a cow. I was leading the line of people (this trail of God is windy and narrow) and a few yards up the path I saw something light brown. That is no tree trunk, I thought. 'Uuuh, guys.. Adrian (who is the biggest and strongest of our small human group).. caballo.. no. vaca!' I said softly, nervously. '¿Que Susi?' Adrian says. He passes me up and and sees the animal, whose body peaked from the brush. It was a cow (with scary horns). Adrian laughed in disbelief. Then he did this thing to scare the cow back; waving his arms up and down, jerking his head forwart to make Mexican-sounding noises. It works. We move on. We giggle.

Also, I bought some a little jar of instant coffee today for about a dollar fifty. I thanked the Lord.

And now that I've been speaking so much Spanish, English is beginning to sound a bit awkward and goofy. Such as the word 'thanked.' Say it. It's funny.