Maybe having internet is why I'm posting again in the same day. The phone has been out for 2 days and the tv just left while I was checking my email. So gonna try to post again. Its very windy again, but so far not in the direction of the house, more like sideways. The lights are flickering however so this post may or may not make it tonite ha ha. We walked down to the downtown (really is just one road but the couple of tiny stores are all right there so I guess it qualifies as downtown...) to bug eggs, which came in a plastic grocery bag, saying buenas tardes to to everybody sitting outside their houses, eating or just talking. Oooops ok now it's POURING rain and hubby is outside trying to make basically curtain rods for the 4 windows that face the sea, so he can put big plastic sheets over them when the wind comes with the rain. Since it's just during this season, and only with the wind in one certain direction, we don't want to spend to much fixing it...He just came in- soaked to the bone in less than 2 minutes.
But he was talking to the guy who fixed our electricity yesterday and says we're gonna buy some line for him to give us better power in the kitchen since the toaster only makes warm bread. The microwave doesn't really work either, but we've only tried to use it once I think since we got here in June. I guess the guy hooked us into the other line, the one that doesn't go out as much. Apparently there's 2 lines in town; one better than the other. Everybody wants the second one fixed- made better- but he said nobody wants to pay. Everardo told him we will pay. Oh now he's gone back outside yelling he loves his Mexico!

Anyway when we were walking back from getting eggs we stopped by Chela's and sat with her and Polo (her 13yr old son). Polo told me about the big sea turtles that come up on their beach- I was excited and told him pls pls call me or come get me when a turtle comes; I've been watching for them and haven't seen one yet. So he told me about this legendary huge turtle- it had a name that escapes me right now, he said it was 3 meters long. That it pulled a horse into the sea when the guy who lassoed it left it tied to his horse. Also that once it walked under a car and jiggled it. He was very excited telling me about it. Everardo & Chela were chatting and I was trying to understand, which I did not but I was getting alot of words and the topic some of the time ha ha. I think I learn from the kids when they come for English class too. This morning 2 cane who didn't show yesterday but Everardo told them nope- now you have to wait until Monday...good cause I was sleeping! I did have Lupita yesterday and she really wants to learn; we worked on some stuff like verbs that I haven't done with the little ones. So I gave her all the stuff she missed with the other kids so she can practice and catch up; we wrote the names of the colors with crayons in the color. And she caught in to days of the week really quick.

I'm getting so I can have small conversations; and i noticed that I didn't get into conversations with people cause you know when you know a few words and so you say them- then the other person starts jabbering away and then your lost ha ha. But I decided I don't care- I'm just gonna try to talk to everybody. People think I'm a little nutty in English so why not in Spanish. And on the other other hand, I', getting used to not always talking, and the truth is, that's ok too. hmmmm lesson after lesson. Ok Mexico bring it on


Well not it's just a light rain, and hubby has gone to make us a cup of coffee. I had wanted to go to the AA meeting tonite, but with the storms we just aren't sure of the road conditions, so we're gonna wait. Ha ha I said earlier I wanted to go twice a week and we only went once this week, so he said we'll go 3 times next week...ha ha since I found the online meetings I'm pretty good. I still want to go in person- it's funny the online groups call regular meetings "f2f". But the online meetings and the chat room that's 24 hours has alot of new people and that's good for me. To carry the message to someone new, trying to figure out what they are doing, trying to understand the program. It's been a huge gidt to me and when I share it, it helps me. Keeps me on track.

Ah the coffee is here & a movie is starting.....

Rain came down hard again today! But just for a little while, and the wind was coming from another direction. So the house survived but man I have so many wet towels, a couple of wet throw rugs, and none of it is getting dry since it's raining off and on and basically the air is- well moist I guess. Even when it's not raining the air feels wet. The back yard (facing the ocean) has 2 levels, well three counting the patio where you start. The bottom level where you walk thru the fence to the beach is flooded. Our house had pipes that run under the top patio and spill out onto level 2. Then at the edges of level 2, at each end are 2 more pipes that empty to level 3. Level three has 2 pipes that empty onto the beach, but I think that the one on the right side is clogged with palm tree leaves and probly sand and dirt, even tho they are about 2 feet in diameter.

Because of the work up on the road, tons of dirt & sand still come down our driveway when it rains really hard. But right before the patio there is a "ditch", basically a rain gutter that starts this whole pipes to the beach process for the water. Thank goodness or the patio would flood in about 5 minutes and run into the kitchen and bathroom, as well as the  main part of the house. To me it seems like no way the road will be paved before the end of the rainy season, but hey something to look forward to for next year.

Well the hammock dried out this afternoon so I got to lay out there for a nice read & nap, didn't really do much else today. The phone still doesn't work which sucks cause I really wanted to have a leisurely talk with my sister on the phone and her days off are Friday and Saturday, but we do have tv & internet so I got to chat with Veronica and so that was nice. She commented on the news about violence in Mexico, which IMHO (in my humble opinion) is simply the US gov't trying to keep vacation dollars at home. I told her that yeah there's violence in any big city, but everyday people are going about their everyday lives; only those involved with gangs, cartels, drugs, etc seem to be getting murdered. Anyway we live in a small town surrounded by other small towns....we do go to Acapulco sometimes but only see people shopping, living, etc. The beaches are filled with vacationers.

So it's been raining off and on, but we stay in shorts and tshirts and sandals. I am hoping to see a big sea turtle soon; they come up to the beach to leave their eggs when it's stormy. We keep trying to take pictures of the lightening but they don't really come out.

Oh and saw Mexico win the gold this morning for football! Very exciting! For them to beat Brazil was extra cool since Brazil is like the super team....to me anyway....

Still Aug 10, late afternoon- around 4pm. So the rain kept up until about noon, then finally backed off to a tiny pitter patter. Man! So much water in our house! But it has all been mopped up and now I am praying it doesn't rain again for a day or two because you can't put the silicon in the window frames when it's wet. Well it's light outside, but still completely gray.

This morning after cleaning up, Sam ate so we walked him down the road, the muddy muddy road for he could do his business. We got soaked but of course it's not cold outside. Gencho & Rosa's house was wet upstairs, too. Later I had to walk to to Chela's then Paco's looking for change and both told me they had water problems. For Chela it was the bungalows they built, totally wet inside and I saw Gume and another guy fixing on of the roofs. Ono, Paco's wife said their was water all over the floor of the tiny store, one room detached from the house. I needed change cause we had to pay 100 pasos to get our electricity on- everybody else's was on but ours; we have a bad line that somehow gets messed up. I know we're gonna pay the guy to improve it but for now the 5 minute fix was all he could give us...

So we have no phone but we do have lights and internet. The ocean is pretty rough, has a big brown patch that goes out a ways, then you can see it green again. I'll keep my fingers crossed that we stay dry tonite.

August 10, 2012 Friday. I put the date cause I'm writing in word. There's no internet but there is electricity & phone...well I haven't tried to make a call since it's not yet 7am and we're 2 hours ahead of Calif where, if I was going to call, that would be the place. But we've been up since around 5am, and Everardo's been moping up water constantly. You would think the word window would mean absence of water inside, but.... not so much here.

It started raining last nite, I think it was dark, but still early. When the lightening started we went outside and got in the hammocks to watch for a while, until the bugs started biting and then came back in. We stayed up - well I stayed up until around midnite and then went to bed. Everardo stayed up a little longer trying to watch a movie and then followed me. He put Sam outside cause it wasn't stormy and we went to sleep. Then around 4 something am, the wind woke us both up and E let Sam in. Then it got really noisy, thunder lightening wind pouring rain...

Pouring rain! Into the house- well in thru the 4 big windows facing the ocean; 2 in the living room and 2 in our bedroom. The windows are 2 panes side by side that slide open. The frames are plastic and weren't caulked or anything, so the water is coming in thru the sides and the middle where they meet. Lucky for us we have made the living space at the ither side of the room in the living room. We did have some stuff along the wall, but not furniture or anything electrical. Mostly stuff to go upstairs (our current storage space ha ha). At first he just used the shirts to shove against the window, leaving them in the frame along the bottom. So after the first mop up we laid back sown in bed for a little while, maybe 20 minutes, but neither of us got back to sleep. The wind was howling so hard I was scared the windows might burst but I guess there's not too much pressure if water is coming thru. But then Everardo jumped up and started using t-shirts and towels to mop and then wring out in the plastic tub where I had my school supplies, they are now on the floor on the safe side of the room- I'm glad he did cause we didn't realize just how bad it was since we had been looking at it with a failing flashlight and candles ha ha.

So I got up too. He is continuing to mop every little while, this storm just rages on. For awhile the wind let up and so the water stopped coming in but it started back up. He's using a broom now to sweep the water to the front door, and basically under the door cause there's a space there too. It's now 7:20am, I had to stop a couple of times, plus I'm writing in the dark- but it's still dark outside! Finally it's starting to get a tiny bit light, like how it is usually about 5am. But it's still raining. I was waiting for the "rainy season", I guess it's here.

The very coolest thing is Everardo! He is not mad or anxt'ing at all. He is just working hard, moving stuff, he went outside to see how things looked and came back with coffee! The kitchen is all wet because I opened the little window on the ocean side when I was doing dishes, usually it stayed open, so that floor is all wet too. Thank god for tile! He is am amazing man! He is not mad at all, he was a little disgusted with the windows, and thinking about how to fix the problem short term, once it stops raining, and then long term, after the season. Part of the problem was me- I said I wanted big windows- like in Cathy's house, and you know what- I bet her house isn't leaking...see I'm not calm like him. But if you want a job done a certain way then you need to be here to direct it, and not knowing anything about construction, or types of materials it seems I was way too general. But - it's all good. Like I said, Everardo is not upset and he's looking for solutions. We already know that except for our laptops, nothing is too big of a deal, and the truth is if they were lost or damaged it would suck cause of our pictures mainly, they can also be replaced. It's becoming gray outside and I can see the palm trees now. It seems like the wind had changed direction and that's a good thing- also it's not raining as hard, but ha ha wait a minute and everything will change again. He's outside again but Sam was like- no way- and he's sleeping in his favorite inside spot under the table.

Before I started writing this I was laying on the single bed we have in the living room along one wall sorta like a day bed. It's nice for napping or watching tv since the couch is kinda small and for sure two people can't lay on it. So of course I start thinking about a tsunami ha ha. I realize if a huge tidal wave hits this house when I'm in it- bye bye me. Of course if it hit in the daytime there's a good chance I'd be outside or not even here so let's hope for that....hmmm maybe I shoulda been hoping for no tsunami....I don't think one had ever hit this coast, maybe I should think of other things- ya think? Anyway .I'm looking at palm tress whipping in the wind, the ocean is very loud and the tide is coming up very high, and all of it is the color gray. Hubby is back in the house and he's laughing! Laughing! He brought the long squeegee in and it's working pretty good. He has an idea about the windows; he says the water is coming in thru the middle, where the 2 panes meet, and can slide on different tracks. He needs to put pressure against the windows so that space is not there. He got it figured out on one window I think- yipeee. Ooops spoke too soon of course, the water is also coming in under the windows, but that may also be fixable with some silicone putty...

Did I say welcome to Mexico? Should be an interesting day....

So the internet went down on Sunday after I wrote my last post. Then it was up and down yesterday but today seems ok- except I had to log in and out of here a couple to times to get to the area where I can add a new post. The rain continues to be stormy only at nite. But Sunday although it rained in the afternoon, it wasn't hard, we took a walk on the road down to Chela's in it, and it really didn't even cool us off. We couldn't walk on the beach cause now when the tide comes in, it really comes in, sometimes up to the walls that some of our neighbors have- obviously just for this reason, but it blocked us from walking. I mean we could have walked or run thru the surf, but when the water is coming in this strong it becomes dangerous. Rosa told us we shouldn't be walking on the beach now, even in low tide because sneaky waves come in. She got smacked and dragged over some rocks and got scratched up and she's lived here all her life.

Well this afternoon the tide was out and the ocean was calm so we went walking and that little pool that I like- but Sam really likes had a little water swirling in it, so Everardo and Sam jumped in. I put shoes, sunglasses & shirts up the beach on a rock and came in too. I sat in this little "v" in the rocks and the surf came in. It made little whirlpools and was nice. Of course q couple of bigger ones came and I ended up with shorts full of sand ha ha. Later we walked down by Chela's where there are no rocks and went n, but the sea had started to get stronger. I felt the pull. I was in and a wave had puched me and Sam and I didn't see the next one and it smacked me - it was tall and kmocked me over right on top of Sam ha ha and he and I were pushed to shore. Then Everado came in and as Sam was getting pulled out I grabbed him and Everardo yelled he can take care of himself- you watch for yourself! And then he wanted us all to get out cause the tide was pretty strong and the drag back out was too. However I think maybe that thing he had last week, when he couldn't get back into from the wave break, maybe scared him a little, and he's worried I'll get dragged out. I can understand that and appreciate that he's worried about me. And there's really nobody else in the waves, beyond the little pools like we go to- and they are in front of these rocks so the pull is not strong, it's just a few feet.

So after chatting with Chela I jumped in her pool only to be surrounded by little kids wanting to guess the colors in English, on our swimsuits, the nearby buildings, etc. Kinda cool. Class was very cool today, everybody showed up half hour early! I started giving little pieces of candy as prizes the week before last but suddenly today, and kinda MOnday everybody is in competition. Maybe it's the candy and that they are starting to get some things. Colors are their favorite. On Monday I started a new box of 10 things to identify and a couple of kids tried looking in their dictionaries for the items- very smart! And it worked for giraffe, and glass. Anyway they are starting to try harder, everybody wants to try to go thru their lessons solo, like letters or numbers, days of the week, and of course colors. They help each other too. It's pretty cool. Another neighbor asked me for her 6yr old to come so hopefully she'll start Friday, and a kid in the pool this afternoon- 8 or 9yrs I think wants to come too. I had 6 today. I better start reading the info I downloaded on teaching, lesson plans etc since I'm not a teacher by trade. But I have a book called the "Teacher's Book of Lists" so I think I have time..

Well Mexico is celebrating their medals from the Olympics- yesterday we had our fingers crossed when the Mexican guy was in first for the diving, but sadly he didn't get the gold. But they're doing pretty good in the football competition (soccer). They have iton 2 or 3 channels so we've been able to see alot.

We went to a Spanish speaking AA meeting last nite and I got up and shared. I am getting better at talking but man when they are speaking so rapidly I can't really follow, but the nice thing about AA meetings is I can identify with feelings and I felt at home there and they welcomed me. We're gonna try to go at least twice a week. It's at nite, otherwise we'd go more, but at the end of a hot day, we are usually bushed. Nice to know AA is everywhere. Today in an online meeting there was someone from Uganda, England, Mexico (me), US, (several), Ireland...and it was just like a meeting in Petaluma. Very cool..and now- shit! This darn thing won't save...oh well...welcome to Mexico

Happy Sunday morning in Mexico! Well yesterday after having a stomach ache all day, I agreed to Everardo's remedy. so he cut up some of the aloe vera plant we have, which I have used for itchy insect bites, anyway he made these little jelly like squares and gave them to me in a bowl. At first I swallowed them whole- they were tiny, but then I started chewing them, and it just tasted like, well nothing but with jello substance. Anyway just a little while later I started feeling better. An hor later I was hungry. These little home remedies work. And I woke up yesterday thinking I was gonna barf, never did, the feeling just sat a little bit less than that. All day. I thought crap- is this a little but of food poisoning? Do I wait it out? Or try to remedy he took with a sick stomach after eating turtle eggs which I won't try. It was some little packet of powder for 5 pesos and some alka selzter, then in 5 minutes I had to rub hard on his stomach and back, then pound on his back. A few minutes later he was sitting in the bathroom, and then completely fine. This was after throwing up for hours. But since I wasn't puking I tried the aloe vera. What a miracle plant! And this morning I'm fine- hungry and feeling fine.


Woke up this morning and the phone was working again, but half the tv channels are not. Still am ok with it, if I have internet I'm pretty happy. I see my friends on facebook, people I've gotten to know pretty good in AA -11 years in the same fellowship I have made some wonderful friends, and ha ha lots of aquaintenses. And family too. For all the bad things about Facebook, I feel closer to some people than I ever would have...I see women from high school who are breast cancer survivors like me. I see other people from high school who have started businesses or are doing cool things. They are not people I would necessarily be friends with now- we don't live near each other or share interests or friends, but there is a connection. I see my niece and nephew that have always lived far away from me in Washington & Oregon, they don't really talk to me but I can see what they're doing. Maybe in my old age (55) I want to see my family. Nope not true. I always wanted to know what my nieces and nephews were doing. And now I have a little...what is Christopher to me? A grand nephew? Doesn't sound close enough, how about just my nephew...wow that makes my sister a Grandma...Man I miss Barbie alot. She and I lose each other & find each other. Unfortunately last time was not either of our's doing. But that's ok. We found each other when Mom was dying. I miss you too Mommy. Last couple nites have been a full moon. That's when I think of her most. But anyway I like facebook, helps me to be connected, and I can just look, or comment if I want to, or since I've moved to this beautiful place, post more photos than I did before.

hey Mexico! So it's not raining yet, in the daytime anyway. But the skys are gray and the tv is only kinda working. That's my clue haha. So Everardo went to Oscar's mom to buy tortillas today, they are thin- which I like- and big cause only 9 in a kilo for 15 pesos. I think the other pkg same weight has about 25 totillas...hmmm will I like them? I kinda like the little ones. Everybody here uses tortillas for forks, I kinda don't. But with these huge ones, hmmm. I'll report back. There's this little roadside restaurant in Marquelia where we've gone for breakfast and their tortillas are really big- and really thick- I don't like them too much. Maybe if I was eating cheese and avacado, but not with eggs and beans. Oh speaking of Marquelia I hopt we go today to see if the stall is in the marketplace with the blankets. We heard only every other week and we went too late last Sunday in our quest for milk ha ha. These are think blankets, with designs on them. When I was here a couple of years ago my friend Veronica and I bought them on our last day for sitting all nite in Mexico City airport. So now I have mine, it's blue with a huge peacock and flowers on it, as a curtain on the back window, It was a bandiad, but I find I like it- alot. So I want to find 2 more for the living room windows that face the ocean. Maybe a dark green one and dark red, or whatever they have. We only have curtains on the bedroom windows- and they're see thru at nite--uugghh