I have read that in Germany it is customary for someone who is celebrating a birthday to treat his / her friends for dinner at a restaurant. Well, I didn't take Alejandro's family out to eat, but I did have a bunch of presents to give them after we ate birthday cake.
Some of the gifts were practical such as a box of N-95 facemasks and a couple of COVID home testing kits. (Hopefully they won't have need to use them, but home testing kits are not available here in Mexico.) I also brought a number of food products they won't find in the supermarkets down here, such as 100% Ohio maple syrup.
I also brought them more clothing items. I doubt if there is another family in Mexico City that has so many t-shirts, hoodies, caps, etc. emblazoned with Ohio, Cleveland, or local universities, sports teams, parks and cultural institutions.
A few of the gifts were items I found while cleaning out my house. I gave Alejandro's nephew Ezra this Mexican flag that I used to hang in my Spanish classroom.
You may remember that I gave Ezra my stamp collection on an earlier trip. While cleaning out one of the closets I found another stamp album. Some of my mint condition U.S. stamps in this album are more eighty years old and might be worth some money. I told him to take good care of it.
You might wonder why I never post a photo that shows Ezra's full face. Mexican parents generally do not want pictures of their children posted on the internet. I doubt that any Mexican kidnappers are reading this blog, but I respect the family's concerns.
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