Ok maybe at nite it's a little cooler, and we have the windows and the door open right now (8:30pm), and it was even a little cooler today- but I still was sopping wet sweaty all day. I mean I was laying in the couch this afternoon in a very light shift, and I was soaked to the skin. Unfortunately I was not laying in the hammock cause it only gets shady there after about 4pm, and it was too breezy to have the beach umbrella hanging on the clothesline to make shade. Ha ha do I sound like trailer trash? Yeah I was hangin' the beach umbrella on the clothes line to make me some shade over my hammock!

So saying the heat is dissipating is relative, yes the humidity is dropping away so I don't feel like I'm being pushed into the ground, and so hide in the house with the doors & windows closed and curtains shut as well. But maybe tomorrow will be cooler than today (fingers crossed). I took Sam for a drive with him in the back of the truck this afternoon to try to cool off a little. Everardo went down to the beach and there were actually a few tourists and he made a couple of bucks. They come back in October and stay until almost Christmas, but hopefully we will be gone soon...

Right now the plan is to tell our landlord when I pay the Oct rent that Nov is our last month. I printed out a copy of our rent payments to her- which were by bank transfer so that's handy. It's to show we are reliable, responsible, because apprently some people ask for some kind of guarantee beyond a security deposit. Ha ha I haven't rented in more than 25 years until last December when we landed in Puerto Penasco.

Anyway although Sam enjoyed our drive- I could tell by his happy grin and wagging tail, going back and forth across the bed of the truck to catch every smell- but I kept sweating! I drove all over town up and down and back and forth, probly for about an hour. I didn't take him to the beach cause his skin is so dry right now the salt water would just aggravate it, and his ball was in the car with Everardo so we skipped the park, too. It was so hot he probly would have only layed in the grass. So we drove around for almost and hour, and when we got home, Everardo had just gotten home, too.

Now were waiting for the guy who borrowed the trailer a few weeks back to return it, and it was supposed to be tonite, so we didn't go for our nightly drive, and on the weekend we usually go out for tacos and ice cream, but were still waiting for this guy. Poppi has just made us huge egg, avacado, cheese sandwhiches, and on his tomatoes, onions and maybe the kitchen sink.My good! Took a little break to eat and it was amazing!!

So a guy on a web forum for Baja just sent me a msg and says he'll meet us for coffee next time we come to Ensenada- he saw me asking about neighborhoods, so he's gonna help us out a little. That's nice, cause it's a big place. I'm trying not to have too many expectations about Ensenada- ha ha but this is me, and I am all about expectations. But I have done at least a little research...the weather, population, business.....I guess there will be more Americans than here- not per capita, but Ensenada is soooo much bigger, that there will be way more Americans and way more Mexicans.

When we first decided to come and first got here, I wanted to be somewhere with hardly any expats, and I got that, in Playa Ventura there were no full time Americans or anything else except for the German guy who is married to  Mexican woman. And there was certainly no English and no American food- except for what Everardo cooked of course. And for me...I'm kind of a wimp- I don't like spicy food and I hate tomatoes ha ha -the food that goes in everything! Oh I don't like peppers either....Poppi would have to spice up half our meal for him...Then we came up here but we don't eat at any American food places, except for our monthly cheeseburger, when we go out it's tacos, burritos, queadillas carnitas...you get the picture. And I can be around as much or as little English as I want. I go to AA meeting probly 3 times a week in English, and when I was going out to the center, the directors spoke English, but I really like navigating in Spanish. The ladies in zumba all talk to me now, it's funny though- the girl next door never talks to me, and when her kid talks it's always a mile a minute so I never know what he's saying.

He's 5 and spoiled rotten, and always wants to come in and just talk non stop, even Everardo is sick of him ha ha. Yeah a private yard will be a must in Ensenada. I neeed (ok we need) my private space, some inside and some outside. Anyway...our first (only) trip to Ensenada we mostly only spoke in Spanish. In Starbucks, in McDonalds. Yeah they have Mickey D's there. I like their french fries, and we had egg mcmuffins one day. We had Starbucks a couple of times, especially for those 7am appointments to see houses! They also have Costco and Wallmart, and other stores I can't remember- oh Office Depot I think- or maybe it was Home Dept ha ha. I realize, as I realized here, that Mexico is what I make of it. Like we will most likely never live in Punta Banda...the expat neighborhood- which seemed like just Americans, and never live the way I have seen some Americans live here- never learning Spanish or mingling....last nite was a zumba with all the classes and the instructor who flits all over the place (thinks very highly of himself) was asking me why I thought the Americans would rather pay for zumba in the gyms by the beach than do the classes in the park for free....I don't know why I'm the only one- I always tell people; for instance with Deb I have met several of her friends and I always invite them, bit nobody comes. I encouraged Karen as well, but she's always so busy- I know she'd have fun. She's nothing like the people who live by the beach, she lives in the "hood" as Deb calls it- Deb, me, Karen, Melody, there's a few and I want to say that cause it's not all the Americans, but enough that the Mexicans notice ha ha. But there are lots of Americans and Canadians here who speak Spanish and shop, eat, and play immersed in the culture.

Being married to a Mexican helps me out on this score, because honestly, sometimes I do get nervous about going in somewhere or asking for the price of something- cause if it's not marked, it's more for me than for him! I need to just let go and live. Maybe I'll make some closer friends there- my Spanish is alot better, and I hope to find zumba right away....and if I can find a place to volunteer to teach English or something...of course that will probly be thru some churchy thing again....but hey I love Deb and never feel like she's trying to convert me ha ha. Karen and Mark, althought they don't try to do that, they are all about their god and being Christians instead of being people who are Christians...clear as mud/ And another lady, Monica, the one who babysat Sam while we were gone, she's a wacky some kind of missionary as well, but like I said I really love Rick and Deb- they have many interests and it makes them, well, interesting.

Lots to think about, lots to look forward to, I do love to travel. And many times meeting other expats is fun because it's other people who had the courage to jump into something new. Ok well enough for now...

Mexico fun fact:
The Aztecs adopted human sacrifice from earlier cultures (such as the Olmecs) because they believed the universe would come to an end and the sun would cease to move without human blood. There are many ancient statues of gods sticking out their tongues, such as Huitzilopochtli, which may be a sacred gesture that suggests their thirst for blood.

The heat MIGHT be over

Last nite was the first nite in maybe 2 months, maybe more, that we slept with the bedroom window open! This morning I heard birds! I have a suspicion that they never left, but with the window closed, and the fan on, or the ac, can't ear much. I am looking forward to not even needing the fan! It was also the first evening in weeks and weeks that we had the door open to let cooler air into the house. We had it cracked when Lucky was here so he could go outside and do his business, but it let in hot air. We kept the curtains closed in the living room as well, so if I wanted to read, I had to turn on the light. (when Everardo isn't home I often open the curtain anyway cause I hate living like a hermit). But last nite was cool-er, meaning still hot but actually a little less hot. Even after zumba last nite on our ride with Sam I noticed it just wasn't as hot. But it was like that the day before we went to Ensenada for one day, and then the heat returned, so we'll see.

Zumba was fun the last 2 nites. And tonite we go to a different park one more time for the charity thing, and hopefully we won't have a freak storm or sand storm ha ha. I guess last week was uneventful so tonite probly will be as well. I do know our instructor is leading at least 3 of the dances- maybe to make up for the sand storm nite.....Then next week it gets very interesting! We are doing zumba at the Malecon on Friday nite. We wear black and we will all have these orange sherbet colored sashes to wear at the waist along with our arabic belly dancing sashes with the little shiny coins that make noise when we shake our booties. I think it may be the final charity nite, and maybe is also a demonstartion...hmmm I am the only American in all the classes- I think- I've been to 2 of the classes where all the groups come (like tonite), and it's been all Mexican ladies and me. Maybe dancing at the Malecon will show the Americans that they can come to the classes! I mean the Americans pay for zumba classes at a couple of places down there by the beach...and this if free! I know it's at least 4 parks and I think it's 5, Monday thru Friday- why wouldn't you go for free? I have so much fun, in this god awful heat it been the only thing I look forward to every day.

I'm getting to know some of the ladies, well a little bit- they talk to me and ask where I've been when I'm gone and make sure I know where the other parks are when class is somewhere else. I'll miss them. I hope I can find the zumba classes in Ensenada quickly....and I hope there are some in the evening as well as the morning- but what the hell- if over there I can sleep- no heat making me toss and turn all nite-maybe I can go to sleep earlier and get up for zumba- sounds like an awesome way to start the day. Getting those endorphins going always always puts in me a more positive place.

This morning I had breakfast with my friend Deb, a lady I know a little bit- Ro, and a woman I had never met named Gretchen. I will miss Deb, if I was staying I would hang with her and find ways to get involved. But they are mostly connected by their church, in which I have no interest. So yes there are good things here; I could even keep teaching out at the center, being careful to stay out of everything else out there- which by the way is none of my business. But Deb is a mover & a shaker..she will find a business to start or get involved with and another place to donate her time since she's getting soured on the community center, and if we stayed we could probly find a way to make money together. Yes I will definitely keep in touch with her; she's full of funny stories and her husband, too.

But in Ensenada I will make new connections, new friends, and find ways to be involved. I'll find the zumba class! Maybe I'll find a place to volunteer teach English, maybe I'll even look for a job. Oh yuck I don't even like to write that ha ha!! But there are mfg companies that export the product and I know how to do that. There's a couple of houses on the net right now that look pretty good, now that we decided to bite the bullet and pay more for rent- at least at first. There's a nice looking place with a huge yard in one area called Ejido Chapultepec. It's a little south of el centro but I couldn't really tell looking on a google map, but it did seem alot closer than Punta Banda where we first looked, so that's good. Hmmm maybe I have no problem moving so much because I don't make super close connections...well in Playa Ventura I kinda did with Chela, but still it was hard to communicate and little by little I came to see that I would always be a bit of an outsider there when push came to shove. Just to isolated. Here I may have gotten really close with Deb and have to a certain extent, but I started hanging with her just recently. This has definitely been an adventure of learning about myself.

Oh and before I forget- the federale that rented our house in Playa Ventura? Well when the storms started to hit he got assigned up there, and he decided to take his family with him. Then "Manual" hit, and nobody knows where the guy is- he hasn't come back to Playa Ventura. I think he's probly just stranded. I hope that's what it is. And Playa Ventura apprently is a little bit higher altitude even though it's at the beach and they really had no problems with the storms. Ah except for the leaking roof of course. Between the weather and the violence in Guerrero, when we will ever be able to sell that house!! Everardo's gonna talk to Jay and make sure he knows we are open to any reasonable offer, to negotiation,,,,

I am looking forward to going back down there when the house sells. I hope my stuff is still there. Not stuff I'll die without but things I want; some books, a blanket being used as a curtain, things like that. To see the ocean outside our backgate, to go wading in it. To sit on my rock and have a chat with God. To see my friend Chela- and my Spanish is way better than when we left so we could have a real conversation. Yeah it's nice to revisit when the emotion of the moment has passed. I was so down when we left, isolated and depressed and questioning myself cause who is unhappy in paradise??? Yep Poppi always say..."my wife-she suffers in paradise"...But even before we left I started to understand the spirituality I gained while sitting on that rock alone. Alot of my insecurities were put to the test, and so acceptance was a big part of my growth. Understanding that really, really, when I have a problem with somebody else- it's really a problem within me.
That I can only change me, affect me. And I cannot have expectations for other to change- it's not my place, my right to judge. Of course I judge people in my little pea brain all the time! I do try to stop myself or at least keep it to myself- ok I try sometimes ha ha.

But what a relief it is to not be in judgement of others. And letting go of expectations...sounds easy- right? Well Mexico is a great place to work on THAT lesson ha ha.

Last nite I saw this guy being interviewed on CNN and he was talking about how old the earth is and when it will become uninhabitable. He said in about 1 and a half billion years the temperature will be about 4 or 5 hundred degrees- uninhabitable. That's because the sun burns brighter and brighter (very slowly). So then they were talking about these 2 planets (one might have been a star) that could be habitable if we can figure out how to travel faster- that these places are light years away and even the closest one- traveling in our fastest spaceship we have today would take something like 400,000 years to get to....hmmm so that needs a little work. It started me thinking though- that if there's life somewhere out there- which I believe there is, and maybe we could recognize it and maybe not- they might be thinking- why do they bother trying to find a new planet to live on- they have spent their entire existence trying to kill each other. Can you imagine us with a true alien- not simply someone you don't want in your country, but still a human!!- but another being, around us? Why we would want to kill him so quickly!! Sad isn't it? Why must we always be at war? With ourselves? Ah well food for thought...me? I'm for peace..."all we are saaaaaayyyying, is give peace a chance" la la la la la

Mexico fun fact:
In the fourteenth century, a group of Chichmecas (warrior nomads) called the Aztecs (or Mexicas) settled in Mexico when they saw an eagle (representing the sun) standing on a cactus (a symbol of the heart) clutching a snake (a symbol of the earth or Quetzalcoatl)—an image which is now depicted on the Mexican flag

Got my laptop back..did I say we're moving?

I've been using a used laptop we bought when my laptop crashed and burned. Power surge knocked out my motherboard. We both had our laptops plugged into the wall instead of a surge protector; luckily when it happened only I was on mine or we might have had 2 blown computers. So we bought this big heavy Dell laptop; I like Dell but it was so big and so heavy...probly a 17 inch screen and thick keys (to me anyway). I love this little laptop, it's an HP Pavilion and Everardo gave it to me for a wedding present.So I love it and it's special. There's a guy with a laptop store but he's really a programmer- you know- software vs hardware, but he sent me to a guy who did a little troubleshooting and confirmed it was the motherboard.

So then I had to find a new motherboard...EBay, other websites had them, but they only had used ones. There were several websites to order them from China, and in the end I chose one of those. I asked advice, mostly from my friend Roger, who is an engineer I worked with and we've stayed in touch. I had lunch with him and another engineer Lee & his new wife when I was in California at the end of April. Anyway his advice was for sure do not buy a used one! And even better advice, get a photo. So they had a photo of the revision of the board I wanted, which I took to the technical guy, who confirmed it was the right one. So I spent $118 and had it shipped to Tuscon, Arizona to our friends Deb & Rick. Then they brought it down. Oh and I also paid $38 to ship it DHL after googling Chinese shipping companies and DHL seemed the best way.

All this took about 4 weeks, and I was really worried the new board wouldn't even work, but...wait for it....YIPEE YIPPEEE YIIPPPPEEEEE it works. I dragged that big ole Dell on our trip and man after this pettie little laptop it was awkward. But the fact is that it works fine, and I even reloaded Rosetta Stone on it. I gotta remember to "deactivate" it, cause you only get 2 licenses with it, and if Karen's copy gets messed up she won't be able to reload it. And she is the one who lent it to me. Wait- actually I called their customer service and got another license, so it has 3; but it should be one for me and one for her, the extra one should be for her- she bought it after all. Yeah and after the software guy put everything from my hard drive onto the new one, the damn thing crashed about a week later. I took it back to him and he said- oh no problem- there was an issue from Microsoft but I have the fix now, come back in about 4 hours. I did, but he had wiped out everything I had loaded...aarrgghh yeah it was a painful process the whole way. But he's a good guy and the technical guy was great as well.

So- I'm up and running. Did I say we're moving? I think another yipee is in order: YIPPEE. We're now looking at a couple of websites, and at a higher price, 4500 to 6000 pesos a month...that's a top number of about $500US a month. The choices are much nicer looking. I spent some time today redoing our budget, and we can swing it, but will have to pay attention to what were doing- what were spending our money on. Sucks that my favorite sun glasses crashed to the floor the other day and now have a spiderweb crack in one lens. They're Ray Bans and I've had them for a few years, and have always been so careful with them. Damn. So I looked up on google to see if I can get them fixed, and I can, if I have the sales receipt. Did I mention I've had them for years? I don't have the receipt. So I looked at a replacement pair, the same ones...well boohoo, although they are cheaper than when I bought them, they're still $155US dollars and I can't even think of replacing them. Well the good thing is that I don't even see the crack when I'm wearing them, and anyome looking at them can't see it either. I think I may have had them polarized, and that would cost even more. Oh for the days when I threw away my money! Ha ha that's why I don't have any now....

So we saw 2 or 3 houses that look pretty good and are in neighborhood I've read are good ones. One just came up yesterday, and one has been available for awhile but maybe cause it's more. Today Everardo had me look for storage units over there; meaning we could pack up and go, and store our stuff for awhile if we needed to. But for now the plan is still to go in a couple of weeks, but just for a Monday-Friday trip, calling on a few places before we go. We are still very open to choosing something that will be temporary while we look for something else. Hopefully if we have to spend 6000 pesos, we can find something much cheaper when we're there and have learned the "lay of the land". Sam will be a happy dog. Poor baby is sooo hot, and his skin is so dry and itchy, and in places he's just scratching the hair right off himself. He's not too hungry and mostly lays in front of the fan...hmmmm kind of like me!

So now we explore another part of Mexico. First the southwest, then the north (middle I guess) and now the northwest. I'm sure there are other parts of Mexico we find acceptable..climate etc, but for now, being closer to California has alot to do with it. Both our families. In Baja there's a much better chance Poppi's aunt and uncle will come to see us, and I know he's really hoping for that. His nephew Francisco has family in Ensenada, and he'll probly do a road trip with his brother- he's my favorite nephew. It will be much easier for Drewy and Halla, road trip or fly- the tickets are cheaper, and there's no 4 hour road trip thru the desert ha ha. I was talking on the phone with Halla and we were talking about Puerto Penasco; that yes I like it here- I liked teaching English- ok I LOVED doing that-but maybe can find something like that over there. That I love free zumba in the park, and they have that in Ensenada as well (a woman txi driver told me), and I also liked my Spanish lessons but I'm taking Rosetta Stone with me and we'll see about other kinds of classes. But the one thing that I don't like here in PP is, well it's like the life has been sucked out of it; all the empty buildings- hotels and condos, all the empty houses; throw in  the dusty roads and it resembles a ghost town sometimes. Halla really felt that, that it doesn't seem alive here, not alot of hope, not alot of excitement. Of course we don't live on the beach/touristy side, but I do feel the same way. Yeah in Ensenada I do NOT want to live on a dirt road.

I know it seems like we move alot. Well 6 months down south and a year here (or will be a year in Nov). But it's an adventure. I couldn't know what I'd like or not like until I tried it. I'm so grateful to be be so lucky to be able to try this. We do spend money every time we move, that's true, but so be it, especially if we can spend it a little more wisely then when we started all this. I'm hopeful that this will be our spot for a few years, actually I sort of had to promise that it would be....but maybe in future years we will want to explore more places here in Mexico. I've been to the east coast- to the Yucatan and I know it's too hot for me there. I saw the pyramids there and had an amazing time there, but I know I don't want to live there. But there's lots of other places, so here's to the future! For now however, the near future we're gonna try Baja. I liked the 6 short days we were there, I was so happy to see fog! That's the northern california girl in me.

I'm going to start packing, the stuff I've barely touched in months; ha like warm clothes and blankets, Gotta go get some boxes from behind the stores. Yep -here we go again!

Mexico fun fact:
Snakes appear repeatedly in Mexican mythology, from the serpent god Kukulcan which can be found the side of the Chichen Itza pyramid to the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl.

The rest of the Ensenada trip

It's Tuesday and we got home yesterday afternoon. We came back on a different road than we went over on, this one was less twisty thru the mountains, but the problem was there was alot construction and detours. The other thing was we noticed there were no cops or those emergency phone boxes along the road in case one has car trouble, and the Rumorosa road has them all over the place.

So we came home empty handed. The house we were supposed to see at 7am Sunday morning was a bust. The house was HORRIBLE inside. I don't know how this woman was telling us (in Spanish of course)...oh- I'm going to paint it, and it needs to be cleaned up a little- you know how it is have a single man living in your house....It was a shithole, a dump. The floors were cement even though she said it was tile- it was tile in one small room and it was broken in places. The place looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years! So the big thing we learned was "really nice, or beautiful, or grande" is all a matter of perception.

As it turns out, the grandmother of Everardo's nephew lives in Ensenada and we called her because the nephew thought she might know about a house for rent. She didn't but was very nice and next time we go we will go to visit her. Her kids or grandchildren are around and maybe they can help us with some things like telling us the names of the neighborhoods; since I called on a house that was in an area called "Ojos Negros", and it was miles and miles outside the city-maybe half hour or 40 minutes inland. Most of the ads say in "colonia ..." naming the neighborhood, so we need to know which ones are in the city and which are not. Also, it seems her son lives on a rancho...but we're not clear if it's in the Ensenada area or not, but if it is, maybe we could pack up and store everything at their rancho while we look for a place.

So we have some homework to do. We also realize that we need to move up in price range for rents- at least initially to get in somewhere. There were lots of rentals in the 2000-3500 peso range, but they are horrible little places, so we need to be more at the 5000-6000 peso range (meaning up around $500 USD). We ran out of time before we could adjust our plans. Oh and another thing, we were used to houses not having refrigerator, but these houses have no stoves...and some have no hot water heaters! I find this amazing for a place to rent.

So we came home. I actually sent an email to thank the first guy with the house on his property that was out of the city, and while I was writing I thought- why not ask if he'd rent to us just for a month or two; he hasn't replied yet. We also need to see if we can work something out with Everardo's relatives. I just need to chalk it up to a learning experience, regroup, and start fresh.

We came home to hot hot hot!! The day before we left it had been a tiny bit cooler for 2 days, so silly me though ok, the heat is over and when we get back it will be headed for cooler. WRONG!! It's so hot outside that I thought I might burst into flame. But the good news is my motherboard came while we were gone and I dropped it off with the guy this afternoon- so I may be (maybe maybe maybe) using my laptop again!! Yipee!! This one is big, and heavy. We're planning to give it to Elena, Everardo's daughter. And Sam was so happy to see us! Poor baby, his skin is so dry from this heat and all the dirt, so this morning Everardo brought him to the vet for a nice medicated shower with oils for his skin. He doesn't seem to be scratching and last nite and this morning it was all he did.

Everardo is making fish for dinner. We had invited the woman and her husband who babysat Sam, but she forgot and called to say her hubby was sleeping- so I guess we'll eat the fish. She did a wonderful job, Sam is happy and she even did some yard work...she's a nice lady.

ok time to eat....

One unusual Mayan weapon was a “hornet bomb,” which was an actual hornet’s nest thrown at enemies during battle.