Went to extremes today. Did not buy a car. Did not buy an elliptical. But we went to check out this place called CEDO- which stands for something about conservation of both the desert and Gulf of California. They have lectures in Spanish & English on Tuesdays and Saturdays, about the tide pools, the ocean, the desert, etc. They have tours and activities, and I think I'll start with the lectures and see what happens. They had a tour scheduled for tomorrow (Friday), to take a boat to an island and do some snorkeling- actually that's why we decided to check the place out today. But it's cancelled due to the guide is sick, & not too many people signed up- ya think? The water is cold! Anyway, it costs $100 per person- so we would have passed regardless. Hopefully by the time the weather gets better we will know how or where or with who to go snorkeling. But the lectures are free, and I'm sure some of the other tours, like thru the tide pools, or the walk thu the volcanic area in the desert here.
The place was very cool; they had a skeleton of a fin whale out front.
Anyway- this place is at the beginning of a neighborhood called Las Conchas. It's a ways out of town. This is where the "other half" lives. The 1% - ya know? House after house...ok McMansion after McMansion ....huge houses on the beach or tall enough to see over the house on the beach. I saw thru a window a winding staircase in one- made me think of my daughter Drew; who always wanted to live in a house with "twisty" stairs. And at one point we did! She loved that house. That house was almost 4000 sq feet- and these houses were bigger! (yeah- to have a 4000 sq foot house n Calif- the PG&E is $500 per month and that was in 2000) So these houses! And there were SO many of them. Some had tiles on the outside, some had statues (yeah you can money and ZERO class or taste), but some were really nice. We drove all thru the area, and it was big, it went on forever. Not too many of them had cars out front or looked like there was anybody there. And there were no stores. So you would have to drive back into town to go shopping. Not even an OXXO or a Circle K. (Mexico 711)...None of those little stores that are on every corner.
On the way back we turned and went thru another area, a little closer to town. It was the poor area. I don't know if was part of San Rafael or not, that's the area where the people live who came up here to work from other parts of Mexico and Central America, and when the economy tanked, they were left out in the cold. Literally. That's the place I am planning to go out to with Anda & Rich - my new friends who work out there- anyway not sure if that's where we were or not. Anyway to go from ridiculous rich to the humbling poor....the houses in some cases were barely houses;made maybe of cardboard. Made the houses I saw made from railroad cars look pretty good. Some were cement blocks; seems like there's alot of cement blocks around. One kinda funny thing was, there were these tiny shacks, part cement block and part cardboard...with Sky satellites on the roof! And people had water, too, at least some cause I saw laundry hanging. Not sure how they get it, from the truck- but nobody had the tanks on the roof...the roofs wouldn't hold, in some cases not wide enough...and I heard in San Rafael no water no electricity. The fact is- it was hard. But you know what? WE saw kids playing in the street. We saw people walking and talking, hanging up laundry, sitting around bullshitting in a group. So as always, people find their way. Always hits me hard. And reminds me of how grateful I need to be. The small crap I complain about. I am for sure going with Anda and Rich as soon as they get back from Arizona. I kow I am not interested in building churches- that bugs the shit out of me- Mexico doesn't need Americans coming down to build churches!! They need houses, medical care for their kids, education, they need help- but not saving- ya know?
So it was interesting, and sad, and humbling, and...hopeful. I kow in this place I can find a way a way to be of service....oh- and I got a sponsee! Very exciting to have a woman ask me to help her work thru the 12 steps of AA. I am enjoying the meetings. I asked a guy who lives here yesterday if the English speaking meetings get bigger during the season (April-Oct). He said yep! Actually we had more people during this week and probly next cause people vacation down here over the holiday. I liked it, and it was good to hear that people find their way to us when they're down here. Working with someone is always good, enhances my program, when I go back over the steps with someone new, I always get something out of it. So again- yipee.
Maybe we'll look for a car tomorrow. For today- I am good. Grateful for a home, a wonderful husband, and a cute doggy.
The place was very cool; they had a skeleton of a fin whale out front.
Anyway- this place is at the beginning of a neighborhood called Las Conchas. It's a ways out of town. This is where the "other half" lives. The 1% - ya know? House after house...ok McMansion after McMansion ....huge houses on the beach or tall enough to see over the house on the beach. I saw thru a window a winding staircase in one- made me think of my daughter Drew; who always wanted to live in a house with "twisty" stairs. And at one point we did! She loved that house. That house was almost 4000 sq feet- and these houses were bigger! (yeah- to have a 4000 sq foot house n Calif- the PG&E is $500 per month and that was in 2000) So these houses! And there were SO many of them. Some had tiles on the outside, some had statues (yeah you can money and ZERO class or taste), but some were really nice. We drove all thru the area, and it was big, it went on forever. Not too many of them had cars out front or looked like there was anybody there. And there were no stores. So you would have to drive back into town to go shopping. Not even an OXXO or a Circle K. (Mexico 711)...None of those little stores that are on every corner.
On the way back we turned and went thru another area, a little closer to town. It was the poor area. I don't know if was part of San Rafael or not, that's the area where the people live who came up here to work from other parts of Mexico and Central America, and when the economy tanked, they were left out in the cold. Literally. That's the place I am planning to go out to with Anda & Rich - my new friends who work out there- anyway not sure if that's where we were or not. Anyway to go from ridiculous rich to the humbling poor....the houses in some cases were barely houses;made maybe of cardboard. Made the houses I saw made from railroad cars look pretty good. Some were cement blocks; seems like there's alot of cement blocks around. One kinda funny thing was, there were these tiny shacks, part cement block and part cardboard...with Sky satellites on the roof! And people had water, too, at least some cause I saw laundry hanging. Not sure how they get it, from the truck- but nobody had the tanks on the roof...the roofs wouldn't hold, in some cases not wide enough...and I heard in San Rafael no water no electricity. The fact is- it was hard. But you know what? WE saw kids playing in the street. We saw people walking and talking, hanging up laundry, sitting around bullshitting in a group. So as always, people find their way. Always hits me hard. And reminds me of how grateful I need to be. The small crap I complain about. I am for sure going with Anda and Rich as soon as they get back from Arizona. I kow I am not interested in building churches- that bugs the shit out of me- Mexico doesn't need Americans coming down to build churches!! They need houses, medical care for their kids, education, they need help- but not saving- ya know?
So it was interesting, and sad, and humbling, and...hopeful. I kow in this place I can find a way a way to be of service....oh- and I got a sponsee! Very exciting to have a woman ask me to help her work thru the 12 steps of AA. I am enjoying the meetings. I asked a guy who lives here yesterday if the English speaking meetings get bigger during the season (April-Oct). He said yep! Actually we had more people during this week and probly next cause people vacation down here over the holiday. I liked it, and it was good to hear that people find their way to us when they're down here. Working with someone is always good, enhances my program, when I go back over the steps with someone new, I always get something out of it. So again- yipee.
Maybe we'll look for a car tomorrow. For today- I am good. Grateful for a home, a wonderful husband, and a cute doggy.
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