Perfect end to Friday. After Everardo came home from work selling on the beach- and he had a pretty good day, too, we took Sam and his ball and went down to the beach in Las Conchas. There's a place where you can turn in even before the guard booth, and stop almost right away. There's a beach access right there and Sam was whining as soon as we turned out the road to Las Conchas. As soon as we are anywhere close to the beach he starts quivering and whining. He shot out of the car at full speed and headed for the beach. The beach there is so nice, and after a few feet of sand, it's almost all shells. Smooth shells, easy to walk on. The sun was going down and it was cooling off just a smidge, and both the water and the beach looked so pretty. Sam chased the ball into the water and down the beach. I actually remembered to bring a plastic bag and I collected shells. I find it very tranquil, just walking along, looking for shells, wading in, the water is nice and warm, kinda like Playa Ventura, except here is way more nice shells. I'm thinking it's because here we are on what I would call a bay or an inlet, but I guess it's much bigger, longer and wider, so it's called a Sea. The Sea of Cortez. Anyway in Playa Ventura the waves crash against the shore, breaking the shells as they hit. Here the water sorta laps in, and urges the shells to stay up on the beach.
After the beach we sorta drove home the long way and we stopped at a new taco stand- new for me- Everardo is friends with the guy...goes to meetings with him. So I was introduced to Jose and we ate these pork tacos, beans & split a coke. Oh my God those tacos were amazing! Just my be my new favorite place! We usually go to this place right up the street where you have a choice of carne asada or pork, and the carne asada is really good, but this place, wow the tacos were juicy and delicious.
After that we took yet another circuitous route home and stopped an OXXO to get water. We fill up our big jugs ( Mexicans drink more bottled water than the citizens of any other country do, an average of 61.8 gallons per person each year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp., a consultancy. That's far higher than Italy, and more than twice as much as in the United States.)
We fill them 2 at a time by taking them down to the OXXO or they also have little stores that are just for refilling the big jugs. There is also a guy who drives around the neighborhoods between 8 and 9am, hinking the horn on his little truck, and the back of the truck is filled those big jugs and he'll take your emptys and leave you full ones. It must be more expensive cause we don't do it. In Playa Ventura the only choice was a huge flatbed truck that came once a week (Wed or Thurs), and they'd honk up on the road cause they knew we wanted some. We'd usually get 4, and they knew it, so they'd be bringing it down our driveway as I walked up. I think they were 24 pesos each, but up here, I think we refill them for about 8 pesos each. So water is cheaper here, but everything else is more expensive here.
It's nice and fresh out right now, we have the door and the windows open, Sam is sleeping on the porch and Everardo is sleeping on the couch.
Yesterday was day 3 the final day at the immigration office- oh except that we have to return in 8 days to give my fingerprints and they'll take the photos. At this point I'm not sure if they're going to give me a card then or not, since they told us now they come from Mexico City. Guess we'll see. Learning patience that's for sure!
So today was sort of a slow day. Laundry, and oh yeah, trying to find a place that faxes. Ha ha! I have a scanner on my printer and so can scan and email, but this document had to be faxed. I had asked this morning at my meeting if anybody knew where I could send a fax....and that started it....so I couldn't find the place they told me about, so I went into the computer place, and they sent me to another place, who of course didn't do faxes, but they sent me to another place, this one at the other end of town....and after going into two more places, I found it. And they charged by how many minutes it took for the fax to go thru! ha ha!! Usually I get charged by the page not the time it takes to go...but it was fine, took 4 minutes at 7 pesos a minute. 9 pages, so I was ok with it. Friday is the only day with no classes, English or Spanish. And I ended up driving around a few places I hadn't been and I like getting to know Puerto Penasco.
The classes for English are interesting, 2 days a week with 12-15 people in class, and 3 or 4 of them coming on the off day. Then I come back from the States and I have 18 or 20 students, some new needing more help, so I make 2 groups, each with 2 days. So I have classes 4 days a week for a couple of weeks, but this week, 1 person yesterday- and she was new- her first class, and on Wednesday I only had 6. I talked to Karen about it, and she said that how it goes...ebbs and flows. So Monday the secret project will be revealed, with only 4 of the original students but 3 new ones and at this point I think 7 people singing is the best we're gonna do. I learn things every day- like things change here all the time, people come and go, so all projects need to be short term. My 2 best students are Jessica and Miriam, been with me all this time. Jessica is shy, so Miriam is going to read the little blurb I wrote in English to explain what the song is about and who it's for and why. Ooops that reminds me I want to type it up and print it and slip it inside the cd holder of the copy that's for them. Maybe cause it's almost all women, and right now only women, but they like doing the songs, and so do I. It's good for pronunciation and it's fun.
But I think after Monday I'm going to change back to Tue-Thurs with Wed for extra help, no matter how big the classes are, and new people will just have to try to get what they can and for sure come on Wed....... ok that's my new plan.
Yes today was a beautiful day.
I'll end with a fun fact about Puerto Penasco:
As municipal seat, the city of Puerto Peñasco has governing jurisdiction over 27 other named communities, which cover a territory of 9,774.45 km. The municipality has a total population of 57,342 inhabitants, of whom all but 586 live in the city proper. The municipality borders with the municipalities of San Luis Río Colorado, Plutarco Elías Calles, and Caborca. To its north-northwest is Yuma County, Arizona in the United States and to the south is the Gulf of California
After the beach we sorta drove home the long way and we stopped at a new taco stand- new for me- Everardo is friends with the guy...goes to meetings with him. So I was introduced to Jose and we ate these pork tacos, beans & split a coke. Oh my God those tacos were amazing! Just my be my new favorite place! We usually go to this place right up the street where you have a choice of carne asada or pork, and the carne asada is really good, but this place, wow the tacos were juicy and delicious.
After that we took yet another circuitous route home and stopped an OXXO to get water. We fill up our big jugs ( Mexicans drink more bottled water than the citizens of any other country do, an average of 61.8 gallons per person each year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp., a consultancy. That's far higher than Italy, and more than twice as much as in the United States.)
We fill them 2 at a time by taking them down to the OXXO or they also have little stores that are just for refilling the big jugs. There is also a guy who drives around the neighborhoods between 8 and 9am, hinking the horn on his little truck, and the back of the truck is filled those big jugs and he'll take your emptys and leave you full ones. It must be more expensive cause we don't do it. In Playa Ventura the only choice was a huge flatbed truck that came once a week (Wed or Thurs), and they'd honk up on the road cause they knew we wanted some. We'd usually get 4, and they knew it, so they'd be bringing it down our driveway as I walked up. I think they were 24 pesos each, but up here, I think we refill them for about 8 pesos each. So water is cheaper here, but everything else is more expensive here.
It's nice and fresh out right now, we have the door and the windows open, Sam is sleeping on the porch and Everardo is sleeping on the couch.
Yesterday was day 3 the final day at the immigration office- oh except that we have to return in 8 days to give my fingerprints and they'll take the photos. At this point I'm not sure if they're going to give me a card then or not, since they told us now they come from Mexico City. Guess we'll see. Learning patience that's for sure!
So today was sort of a slow day. Laundry, and oh yeah, trying to find a place that faxes. Ha ha! I have a scanner on my printer and so can scan and email, but this document had to be faxed. I had asked this morning at my meeting if anybody knew where I could send a fax....and that started it....so I couldn't find the place they told me about, so I went into the computer place, and they sent me to another place, who of course didn't do faxes, but they sent me to another place, this one at the other end of town....and after going into two more places, I found it. And they charged by how many minutes it took for the fax to go thru! ha ha!! Usually I get charged by the page not the time it takes to go...but it was fine, took 4 minutes at 7 pesos a minute. 9 pages, so I was ok with it. Friday is the only day with no classes, English or Spanish. And I ended up driving around a few places I hadn't been and I like getting to know Puerto Penasco.
The classes for English are interesting, 2 days a week with 12-15 people in class, and 3 or 4 of them coming on the off day. Then I come back from the States and I have 18 or 20 students, some new needing more help, so I make 2 groups, each with 2 days. So I have classes 4 days a week for a couple of weeks, but this week, 1 person yesterday- and she was new- her first class, and on Wednesday I only had 6. I talked to Karen about it, and she said that how it goes...ebbs and flows. So Monday the secret project will be revealed, with only 4 of the original students but 3 new ones and at this point I think 7 people singing is the best we're gonna do. I learn things every day- like things change here all the time, people come and go, so all projects need to be short term. My 2 best students are Jessica and Miriam, been with me all this time. Jessica is shy, so Miriam is going to read the little blurb I wrote in English to explain what the song is about and who it's for and why. Ooops that reminds me I want to type it up and print it and slip it inside the cd holder of the copy that's for them. Maybe cause it's almost all women, and right now only women, but they like doing the songs, and so do I. It's good for pronunciation and it's fun.
But I think after Monday I'm going to change back to Tue-Thurs with Wed for extra help, no matter how big the classes are, and new people will just have to try to get what they can and for sure come on Wed....... ok that's my new plan.
Yes today was a beautiful day.
I'll end with a fun fact about Puerto Penasco:
As municipal seat, the city of Puerto Peñasco has governing jurisdiction over 27 other named communities, which cover a territory of 9,774.45 km. The municipality has a total population of 57,342 inhabitants, of whom all but 586 live in the city proper. The municipality borders with the municipalities of San Luis Río Colorado, Plutarco Elías Calles, and Caborca. To its north-northwest is Yuma County, Arizona in the United States and to the south is the Gulf of California
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