Eliser's visit

Our good friend Eliser came this past week from Oregon for a visit. The second evening he was here, we went to a place we've been wanting to check out for a while: Decima Musa. It's a Pilsen bar and restaurant that has been around for 25 years. It's name, which means, "Tenth Muse," comes from Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a 17th century Mexican nun who was criticized at the time for her participation in the intellectual world and is known by some as the first North American feminist (I did a *very cool* report on her in one of my college Spanish literature classes). Anyway, the nachos and wine were spendy but tasty, and the live trova music was amazing. I will definitely be back for more Luis Badilla (the guy who plays every Friday night). Here's another example of good trova.

Goose and Eliser on the walk home:

It was chilly:


A picture of the Chicago landmark that Eliser took on one of his downtown adventures (while we were both working). Unfortunately, the day we went to the Sears Tower observation deck, the weather was nothing like this-- a snowstorm was coming in and visibility was about 2 1/2 feet. The next day, the sun was out.

Eliser cooked for us two times during the week. Here is the first meal, with Mark and Julie. We had amazing cheese empanadas and homemade salsa.

In front our Christmas gift: some brass bamboo from the company where he works. His specialty is making iron gates, but he thought that might be difficult to fit in the overhead compartment.


We got him Cometas en el Cielo (The Kite Runner in Spanish) and he made quite a dent during his visit.

Dinner #2: potato tacos...mmm.... Mark and Julie and Sonja joined us that night and I drank orange pop for the first time since I was 12.

We are so thankful for the lovely visit.