Por fin!

It worked! If you harass people long enough, they start to relent. In a few weeks, my parents will be making their first journey to Mexico City, and I am overjoyed with anticipation. Everyone from Nick's family has already come to visit, but my side of the family has been brainwashed by fear. But, alas, they have their tickets bought, and I am going to stop complaining that no one comes to visit us and start making plans.

Our first stop is actually not going to be Mexico City. My parents have had a burning desire to visit San Miguel de Allende because 1) my mom has a friend who lives there and 2) it's become lore in Texas that when you retire, you move down to San Miguel de Allende. Not to knock somewhere I've never been before, but SMA has not been on the top of my list of places to visit (I'll eating my words soon enough).

A few years ago, before we moved to Mexico, my dad asked me to buy him the book On Mexican Time. For a man that doesn't read books in English, it was odd that he asked me to buy him one about about an expatriate in SMA. So I think this trip is a secret mission to find a piece of land like the farm he grew up on in Taiwan -- you can take a man out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the man, right? (side note: my childhood in the urban sprawl of Fort Worth consisted of an assorted animal kingdom of chickens, roosters, rabbits, and quails and Asian squashes hanging from the backyard clothes line)

After we secure some property (my dream or theirs?), we're heading back to DF, where I plan to show them all the requisites (pyramids, the Zócalo, etc.) and my neighborhood favorites. I doubt they'll be partaking in a particular joy of mine -- street food -- since traveler's diarrhea isn't the kind of memory we're going for on this trip. I'm also excited to show them the array of Asian food we have available. I can't figure out if it's just my parents or all Chinese parents that like to try Chinese restaurants in different cities. Or, perhaps they just like meeting Chinese people. Either way, it'll be good for me because they can read the hidden messages on the wall (aka better food).

Will let everyone know how their visit goes, including pictures of savory Chinese food we find along the way!