A family wedding in Mexico

[Liz Vargas in Mexico] I heard from my family in Mexico that one of my cousins was getting married in July. So I arranged to go spend time with relatives who live in different states of Mexico. My husband and I have been living in the United States for the last three years, so this seemed like a good opportunity to visit a lot of members of the extended family who I hadn’t met for more than 10 years!

The day arrived and I was ready for the trip with a new sketchbook, a watercolor travel set and a little water bottle. My first sketch was at the Kansas City International Airport. The flight was overbooked and I had the last small and uncomfortable seat of the plane but I enjoyed the view and the free snacks. I still had enough room to get all my art supplies in the little table in front of me.

I arrived to Mexico City and the following day my mom and I traveled to Morelia Michoacan where the wedding was held. We had to wait around an hour for the bus, more than enough time for a quick sketch of the bus.

The following day was the wedding day. Everything that morning went so fast. We celebrated the religious ceremony and then went to the reception party but the couple needed to sign official documentation, so we had to wait for the judge and while waiting for him and his team I did another sketch. Just as I started to sketch, the judge arrived and they started to sign the documents and people got curious about what I was doing.

The following day I traveled with my cousin Gaby to Guanajuato where I spent three days sketching. We had a lot of great real Mexican food and the weather was perfect. This view is from above one of multiple tunnels, and you can see a lot of colorful little houses on the hill.

I did many sketches in this beautiful and colorful town.

Then we travelled to Celaya, another small town in the state of Guanajuato, where I sketched the church (sketch at the top of this post).

I visited the Arqueological Museum “La Venta” where they have on display Olmeca heads that are around six feet high. 

Then I went back to Mexico City and spent some days with my family and headed back to the US. I enjoyed being back in places where I visited when I was a kid. What great memories. I have to go back again with more sketchbooks to fill.

Liz Vargas is an engineer in electronics based in Kansas City, Kansas USA. She is a member of Urban Sketchers Midwest. You can see more of Liz’s sketches here