OK- last nite I had the BEST cheeseburger and fries! We found this tiny place here on our side of town called Star Burger, and they have the best cheeseburgers I think I have ever eaten. Maybe it's the fact that it's one of the things I miss. And I don't want one all the time; we've been here since Dec 1, and we've only been there twice. So maybe once a month or six weeks? I had a cheeseburger back in Sept when I went to Houston for the weekend to see my brother...but it was just ok. This one was memory filled- when we were kids every Saturday nite my dad bbq'd burgers for dinner. I don't remember anything else ever being bbq'd out there, and it was always on Saturday, and it was always at 6pm, so you could eat and then go out- yeah as a teenager I was all about goin' out on Saturday nite. We mostly eat Mexican food, tortillas with every meal, and lot of rice and beans with whatever meat or fish we're having. However I have decided with eggs (unless scrambled) I wan toast, cause tortillas don't soak up egg yolk very good. Oh and heating up flour totillas is so F***ing hard that if I'm making dinner, Everardo comes to burn his fingers instead of mine with them. The flour tortillas are really good; we get them from this little store up the street- that's all they make from 6am to 8pm, and they are so thin you can almost see thru them. Poor Sam the tortilla dog gets none cause Poppi believes the flour tortillas will give him worms...I really should google it, but you know what- he thinks so, so what the heck- no flour tortillas for Sam. We always have corn tortillas as well, so after dinner Everardo makes Sam a corn tortilla- could our dog be more spoiled? We buy the corn tortillas from a different hole in the wall that only makes corn tortillas. But they also have place in one of the grocery stores we go to that makes them all day, and we sometimes remember to pick them up there- but that's only for corn.

Ha ha I was talking about cheeseburgers and ended with tortillas. So dinner last nite tasted like home, oh and the french fries were pretty darn good as well. This morning I got up and went to the 9:30 am AA meeting that's held down on the malecon, on top of a business called the Candy Cake...yep cakes and cookies...ouch. But you can see the ocean so it's a pretty view and a nice place for a meeting. The rest of the days the English meetings are always at the same place, another area. But ha ha as we're sitting there, and we were only 3- I usually don't go to this meeting either; first it has been cold, and then...well it's early (9:30). But with Poppi feeling so motivated he's hopping out of bed before 8am so I'm getting up, too. So this is Spring Break, right? H aha across the street from us, also on top of a building, are all these college kids, already drinking! One of the guys with us saw these girls ordering some big drink and then pouring them into "to go" cups and then walking down the street. I can imagine in a few hours what it will be like down there. The bars and restaurants will make some good money today, probly not so much for the vendors.

But Everardo did call me an hour ago and tell me he made a $20 sale with something he paid $2 for, so hope it's a sign of a good day! OMG this guy at the meeting told the funniest story...the short version is a long time ago, in Texas, he was engaged, and already a ig drinker, and his future mother-in-law was coming for her first visit, to meet him. He took all the booze out of his house knowing he needed to be a good boy, then realized he's want "a little access" in case he wanted a drink. So his elaborate scheme was to buy a 20 foot hose, then go to a hardware store and buy a cap so he could close it, and then fill it with straight vodka...He had an atrium in the middle of his house, and he bought these bonsai plants to put in it, and then coiled up the hose. Very creative. So future mother-in-law shows up, and has this cute little chocolate poodle with her. Next morning my friend has a 7am tee time and goes off to golf. When he gets home, he walks in and his fiance slaps his face. He says- what's wrong!! She merely points....the poodle is flat in his back, paws in the air- dead! Well mother-in-law had gotten up, let doggy into the atrium area to pee, then poured him a rather large bowl of water, and the little dog drank it all! So the engagement was off.... Oh my God we were laughing so hard...the drunks across the street must thought we were drinking too!!

But no, I came home and did my workout like a good girl. Half hour on the elliptical and then the ab lounger thing..still don't have that thing entirely straight on the best way to use it, but if it hurts my stomach after a few crunches- well that must be the way! Not sure if I'm going to the beach or the park with Sam after this, it's a little windy so not quite as hot as yesterday and I'm feeling lazy.....
Yesterday we went to the beach and I took the chair Everardo got me on the street; it has this part that goes over your head for shade- very cool- it's kinda broken of course, but still works...yeah everything here is "kinda" broken, but it's amazing what you don't really need isn't it? ha ha. The tide was up so the beach was perfect. It was way up to the sand, so the volcanic rock with all the dips and crevices were under water, so perfect for Sam going in after the ball. The lady out at the center gave me a couple of brand new tennis balls that were donated from some animal place so I could throw it out and it would float- it was green and purple so you could really sit it. Some little kids next to me wanted to throw the ball for him so he got lots of exercise. But he shook off the water, EVERY time next to my chair- so I was soaked, my purse was soaked, and pretty soon my clothes, too. So my new plan is to bring a towel. ha ha DUH a towel at the beach- who'd a thunk it?

Spring Break I guess goes thru tomorrow and then Semana Santa begins for another week. I guess then this town fills up with Mexican after a week full of Americans. Yesterday at the gas station I was disgusted to see (hmmm celoso Terry?- celoso is jealous) this kid was so young he had a face full f pimples, he was driving a brand new BMW, full of kids and the couple of cars behind him were a brand new looking big truck and some other car like a beamer. Rich kids having fun....oh well- oh and they drive like shit! But luckily for me I live on the other side of town and they don't come over here....
ok time to get up and do something outside......

The good weather has stayed! No more propane tank heater to roll into our bedroom at nite after keeping us warm in the evening in the living room. And!! Everardo is making sales on the beach. He was so excited when he made his first sale on Tuesday. He didn't go down there at all on Monday; we kinda had a get stuff done around here & pay bills day Monday. And of course you don't mail your bills- you go down to the company or some other designated place to pay. For Telmex, you go to their office, for Sky TV you go to Banamex bank and pay at a customer window. I think the elcetric bill is paid at the electric company...and water...hmm I don't know. Those 2 (electric & water) only come every other month so both should be coming soon since we didn't get bills for those in Feb.

It's a funny place. Not alot of rules; like all the traffic stuff seems to just be suggestions, unless for some reason a cops decides to pull you over. I see people running stop signs all the time, but rarely see anyone pulled over. I had also heard that they were gonna start pulling over cars with no license plates, and I've seen nobody pulled over for that- and then somebody told they got pulled over for it. There was a lengthy discussion in which the cop wanted my friend to follow hom to the police station and he refused. In the end, without even paying the cop anything- I guess the cop got bored, he just waved my friend on. I see 3 or 4 people on motorcycles; usually little ones, almost scooters. People pass all the time, and I get passed alot cause there's so much to watch out for- ha ha- that I would rather get passed then get hit by a guy running a stop sign on a cross street. I will say this: this week is Spring Break and the really bad drivers I've encountered have been Americans...and NOT students, well not young students- looks like adult vacationers to me. Wow so I guess I'll slow down even more and I'll be that old lady...uh oh I am becoming my mother!!

Well Everardo made a couple of scorpions out of copper wire he had, and sold both of them in about 10 minutes! So last night and this morning he made 4 more. Of course now in hindsight- which is always 20-20, he should have been making them during the months when nobody was here, eh? But anyway he is very excited to be making so money and confident about how it will go. He's gonna use steel wire after the copper is gone, cause to buy it will be expensive, and right now we are all about profit! So I am stashing the amount he brings home that is what he paid for any item he sold (and yes for now the scorpions are pure profit cause he got the wire for free), and when we hit the amount of the original investment, we'll put it in the bank. But we want to know when we get there cause after that, it's all profit. So I am actually stashing in another spot half the profit, and that's for him to use to buy more stuff. Now this week is Spring Break, and I just heard yesterday that it really takes off today (Thurs) thru Sunday, cause now we have the kids from Tuscon and Phoenix. But I guess alot kids from Phoenix also go to Lake Havesu, so for the next few days there should be alot more. But truthfully, the kids don't buy much- besides beer and food. However this week sort of signals the start of the tourists, and I have seen alot of people who are obviously not students (like the bad drivers).In fact none of the items he sold; earrings, bracelets and the scorpions were to kids.

Oh and I saw the beer bong! It is a hose that has to be 30 feet long that comes down from the roof of a bar, to the street where I saw these kids with it in their mouths...thank God my kids are not here this week. It's funny I actually heard someone saying (an American), that Mexico should change their drinking age to 21 instead of 18 because of all the kids who come down here to party. WOW yeah every country should just do everything we do cause WE know everything! People- get a grip.

Ok so anyway- now Everardo is feeling so motivated! So he's getting up early; this morning I think it was about 6:30am...a little too early for non working me ha ha. But at least I'm getting up at 8, and that way I can exercise before I start my day. Kinda nice. I worked out before my meeting today and in a few minutes I'm heading out to the community center for English class. Actually usually I have Spanish class (ha ha usually- it's been 2 weeks), have it Tue & Thurs but it's cancelled for this week- my teacher and her boyfriend got a permit for a beer concession on the beach under a palapa...everybody wants to make a buck right? But she was very cool and sent me a couple of links to reflexive verbs, which is the part I'm struggling with. Now that Charlie has dropped the class it's just me, and we changed the time to 10am-noon, so I can still get my work out in. However she told me that she got a couple of emails from new potential students, so we'll see. It's convenient for me having the class here, but I like having more than 1 student. The bottom line is I want the class, with only me as a student or however many come.

So we start a new phase. Everardo working selling to tourists, and me with Spanish classes. And the class I teach at the center. That is going great. We have alot of fun, and the people seem to really like it. I will do the best I can with them; I'm sure there's lots of places for the class to go- doing conversations. I was even thinking of getting the words to a couple of song- oldies of course. I might have already written this, but the song "Respect", and also maybe "Walk like an Egyptian"- it's a fun song....but today we just gotta practice the sound for the next vowels (I & O). But that's kinda boring so we'll make up some sentences as well. The other day I was feeling down, kinda lonely, but as soon as I start getting involved in things I start to feel better. Oh and a trip up to Petaluma to see my daughts and go to a dr appt is coming up- oh but gotta get out to the center...so more later. Viva!

Hot day...yipee. Took Sam down to the Shrimp Park for about an hour and a half to throw the ball and read a book. The Shrimp Park has alot of grass, and on the back side there's usually no people or just one or two so it's a great place for Sam to run. And he LOVES the grass. Our yard is just dirt. Our road is just dirt. The park has grass for him to roll in, eat, shit on. He loves it. He loves the beach more, yeah this I know, but today when I pulled up to the park he started whining to get out of the car just like when he gets to the beach. The stove is leaking gas, so I was waiting for the guy to come back. Yeah we paid this joker 500 pesos to fix the oven, and he fixed it, but now it leaks gas. He told us that the hose outside was leaking when he was here and we replaced that one. So now the gas is turned off except when we want to use the stove. ha ha that means I will use it zero times. I don't want to walk outside, turn it on, cook something or make coffee, go back outside and turn it off. That just pisses me off.

So Everado called the guy this morning before he left, and I heard him telling the guy in Spanish only I would be home, then the next comment was that he wouldn't be home until the end of the day, and the guy agreed to come at 11am. Ha ha I knew he wouldn't come but I waited until 1:30 before I took Sam to the park. This park has a HUGE statue of a shrimp in the middle; I think it's a fountain, and it has water around it. But ha ha the name of the park is the Mermaid Park I think....but I call it the Shrimp Park, and mostly everybody else does too. Down on the big patio area after the malecon there's another statue, this one is a cowboy riding a huge shrimp. hmmmm it kinda makes me laugh...out loud (yeah yeah I know- lol is the correct way right?) So the guy never came- bug surprise, I knew he wouldn't cause he was worried he wouldn't be able to talk to me, also he's kinda older, maybe he felt uncomfortable coming with no husband home- I don't know-and maybe I will be proved horribly wrong and he came while I was out.

I did not go down to the beach cause I didn't want to be gone too long in case he did come, that's why I came back after an hour and a half...the beach would have been much longer. I was gonna try going by the malecon to see all the drunks but when I got close there was a long line of cars moving really slow so I took that as a sign to turn around as soon as I could...which I did. I had heard this morning from some friends at my meeting that yesterday morning...like before noon, they saw these kids drinking from a beer bong- about 30 feet of hose coming down off the roof of a building...into their mouths...with beer...so I guess I wanted to see Spring Break for myself. Everardo said there was alot of drunk kids, but they don't buy much, from vendors on the beach or along the malecon- but the bars do a great business.

So today was his first day but he didn't sell much. Walked and walked, added some earrings to his stuff, and is ready to go for it tomorrow. He has faith. he says that Spring Break is the beginning of the season. I hope it works. I had my dream and he has his. Mine didn't work out so hot. Ha ha we call it suffering in paradise. Now I can laugh at myself. My romantic ideas; that sleepy little fishing village where people fish today to eat today. Such a simple life. NOT- if you have to fish today to eat today- you are FUCKING starving!! You don't sit around and have coffee and go on long walks and read in the hammock- well that's what I did...but I'm telling you, I did that alone. My best friend down there, a beautiful woman named Chela, she was my closest friend, she only spoke Spanish and mine was not as good as it is now...and me English, but we talked and laughed and even cried. But in the 6 months we lived there, she went swimming on the beach with me, twice. Now they had dug a pool the year before- partly in the ground and partly cement above ground, but never over my head- anyway she went swimming with me in the pool 4 or 5 times. I went swimming in that pool lots more than that, with her kids, with Everardo, or alone. It was really nice after the ocean. I love the ocean, and I really love the ocean down there; it's so warm, day and nite...but you know the waves push you around, its tiring. Then the pool, it's calm, it's refreshing. Of course it's just as warm as the ocean, but you can float around. The first week we got there, a really big storm hit, it was the tail of a hurricane that hit in another place, but it was a gigantic storm. Well Chela and I and Gume (her husband) and Everardo went in the pool and it rained and howled on us, and we just floated around and it got dark, and we finally got out and walked home, up the beach, around 9 or 10 pm. That was pretty cool.

But for the most part everybody there was trying to scratch out a living. Very rural, I mean people washed their clothes in the arroyo...some people. Chela had a washing machine, and I did it in the shower after trying to wash the clothes in the kitchen sink. The shower worked better ha ha. The washing machine is different, too. You have to add the water, and it ha no cover, no lid, you kinda have to monitor it. But the washing machine here, ha ha almost as bad. It does look like a regular washing machine, but the water just drips in so I use the hose to fill it up the first time. I'm usually off doing something after the first cycle so it drips to fill up for the rinse cycle. So it's one load a day ha ha. But my clothes line basically holds about one load anyway so yesterday I did one load, hung it all up, then today did the whites, and now they're hanging up and I'll take them down tomorrow. Anyway I was talking about dreams. Mine was naive I guess. The people in Playa Ventura have a very hard life. It's romantic when you are there for a week vacation and then fly off home. Now most of the people there love it. Many had lived in other places including the states, and came back. A couple don't like it too much, and many of the young people want to go somewhere bigger. And then there's that other small town thing- gossipy everybody knows everything about everybody gossip. And what they don't know they make up. Smiley faces and back stabbing...oh I am SO too old for that. Luckily there were so many things going on I didn't get cause of the language ha ha or I woulda been getting into it with people all the time....Everardo would tell me he heard this and that...and sometimes it was about us! Anyway....my dream was just that a dream, and reality sunk in. Well ok, so we can choose other dreams, or revise our dreams, or accept our dreams for what they really are.

Moving up here was the best move, the best choice, the best revision we coulda made. So Everardo was talking about selling things on the beach back when we were still in Calif, and at that time I had agreed to visit this place after we were settled in Playa Ventura. He was very enthusiastic about working here, and truthfully  he went to Playa Ventura thinking he could find similar work, or even work on a fishing boat, something like that. But as soon as we got there he realized that was never gonna happen. There was no work there.Ok so when we first got here, there were no tourists...and it was cold! Hey it wasn't supposed to be that cold, or even rain- but it did ha ha. But he got reacquainted with old friends here, andhis dream started to take shape, he worked a few weeks at shops on the malecon, and now he's got product and is starting to find his way as a beach vendor. I have faith in him, like I said, he could talk a bird out of a tree. So we'll see. Puerto Penasco has changed alot since he lived here last, and not in a good way. Meaning that the economic downturn- ha ha sounds so impersonal...people losing their jobs, people not coming down here for vacation. The US doing a bang up job of reporting that Mexico is sooooo dangerous and they always have these really sensational stories right before vacation times, so it's not the same as back then- when "everybody made money every day!" So we shall see. My fingers are crossed- which of course makes typing really hard- yeah ar ar ar...

So tomorrow I don't have much to do. Either park or beach for Sam, a meeting, and then oh boy review for my Spanish class and English class. Funny how they are the same day eh? For the English class just need to put the papers back in some kind of order and maybe make some copies- altho' if I get any more students we're gonna need a bigger room! Thursday we used 2 long tables- i think I had 15 students...and for my Spanish class, well the teacher is gonna come here since now I am her only student. I hope she gets at east one more, but I am already learning. I am understanding some things- I heard Everardo say "la mia" when he was talking to the lady in the laptop store and I knew he was talking about his computer!!!! Yipee I am learning!! And the English class helps me alot cause most themspeak zero English so I an getting lots of practice. Yesterday I went to no less than 10 stores looking for pins, like the kind you use with material- like hemming pants or a skirt. Tiny round head? Finally right near the house I saw this fabric place so I thought- hey might as well. Sam was with me and I promised him- last stop- and the had them!! Everardo needed them for his display case to pin up bracelets, etc. It's funny what you can and cannot find here. It's funny, starting aout Monday afternoon, the week flies by- the last few weeks have been that way, prparing for the 2 different classes; trying to study for Spanish, and think up exercises or worksheets for the English! By Friday I'm tired and sitting at the beach with a book and throwing the ball into the water for Sam is the perfect way to spend the day. Oh and Poppi picked me up a folding beach chair from a seguna yesterday, and it's like a camping chair that has a top that shades you! ha ha pretty cool!

Ok Monday- bring it on. Now time for a little tv, and sleep (read a whole paperback today and a whole one yesterday...yeah now that's what I call the weekend!)