My neighbour, a modern Mexican woman - and a "show of guns"

One of the first persons whom I met when we moved into our neighborhood was Lily.  Lily and her family live across the street from our apartment and she owns a beauty shop "Liliana's" that is located on the mainfloor of her 3 storey house.  Her husband and one daughter are lawyers, one son is a refrigeration technician and I'm not sure what the other son does...but their lives are intricately entwined and on a day to day basis, they make sure that each of them, together with their spouses, sees, hugs, talks with and eats delicious food together.  Her 5 grandchildren are there each day after school.  

Lily is an esthetician who does hair and manicures/pedicures and a visit to her shop is an adventure in Mexican life.  On my first visit, she and I practised each others'  languages, each time she heard a new word, she wrote it and we practised the spelling and pronunciation.  I learned that she sewed, so she made my first curtains and tablecloths.  Over the years, our relationship has grown...she found Cori, my little Mexican dog who was abandoned...she nursed him back to health and then gave him to me, when she saw my sadness after Robbie died. 

Her shop has expanded, she sells her clothing and each visit is often interrupted by someone wanting to purchase something she has made. She is also a very talented artist, part of a local collective called Arte Nativo and I will soon be the proud owner of 2 of her most recent works, but shhhh...as they are regalos for anniversarios y navidad!   Her house has been under construction for the last 3  years.  She tells me that she is adding  4 apartments so her family can live with her and she may also rent out one or two in the future...she has a fulltime carpenter employed as well as a full time housekeeper, cook so she can pursue her artistic pasttimes.  They come to get direction from her while she works, neighbours pop by, local vendors come in to sell home made tamales, or local herbs...she stops and smiles and chats with each.  She takes "multi-tasking" to a whole new level. 

Today, she stopped briefly to say Hola this morning on her way back from her morning walk with her 3 perros...she is a busy woman with a life full of love and beauty!  Que buena mujere! 

 And Gene and I continued into town to see the morning parade for the 100th anniversary of the revolution...I think every school child in Zihuatanejo was in the parade.  Each school was on display with their students either smartly dressed in the schools gymastic uniform doing intricate pyramids for the judging stand or dressed in traditional revolutionary costumes and showing what makes Mexico famous world-wide today....GUNS!  And if you look closely, you will see the Mexican army on guard with their AK 47's in the background.