A puppy? What was I thinking?.......and how lucky I am!

We adopted Lucky back in Penasco, from a dog rescue, and he was sickly when we got him, and sadly didn't make it. Later the woman told me he had about a 30% chance....funny I don't remember her telling me that when I picked him out. Truthfully I might have picked a pup who was a little older. Poor Lucky was taken away from his momma almost immediately and left in a box with his siblings on the side of the road. They were all brought into the center where I taught English, to what they are now calling the "dog ministry"  instead of dog rescue ha ha. Well not 'ha ha', but as my friend who is a part of that group and their church said to me..."ministry means bringing the word of God...what- are we bringing the word to these dogs? Nooooo...so wth? (what the hell) I guess I thought ministry was like 'ministering to', like ministering to the sick, and these poor dogs sure needed-and need some help. Anyway a puppy who doesn't stay with their momma misses out on important nutrients, and can be weaker just on that alone. Our Lucky stayed oh so thin, no matter what he ate- and yes we had him de-wormed many times, powdered vitamins, medicated baths for his skin, but it just wasn't meant to be. But I guess for his short life, he lived well. We loved him up good. Took him to the beach, and he went swimming! He was some kind of chihuahua and who knows what else mix...I thought he looked like a little coyote. He was learning to pee outside, and only had one accident in the house of the other type; that was one good thing about Penasco, we could leave a door wedged open nite and day, so he could go out in the middle of the nite on his own.

So...last week we adopted Hazel. Today she's 10 weeks old, had all her shots, except rabies (6 months) and will be spayed in Dec. But man oh man housebreaking them is such a chore! And now we live in 2 story house...arrgghh. The good thing is the first floor is all tile, and then up here there's tile and carpet. She hasn't pooped in the house once (ok wait while I knock wood- or at least my hard head), and after a week she's doing pretty good with the pee pee. I watch her eat and then carry her out to the gravel, and when she's in the house and wakes up, I pick her right up and take her out. If she's playing she'll go to the door, and even if she's upstairs she's running downstairs to the door, sooo hopefully it won't take too long- she's a smart little cookie. But man I run down those stairs 20 times a day! Both dogs are inside and outside dogs. Big Sam loves to be near us. He guards the house, but he loves to be at our feet. Right now they're sleeping outside cause her tiny bladder can't hold all nite even if she wanted to.

We need dogs in our yard. Just their presence and their bark. Unfortunately this entire peninsula has been having some problems with houses being robbed. And apparently our area in particular. No violence, no confrontations, always when people are not at home. In fact our next door neighbor was robbed the other day (or maybe nite) when he wasn't home. They took some solar panels and a couple of telescopes. He has no dog, and frankly, not sure how secure his house actually is. It's a very run down falling apart place, and he has no water and no electricity. I don't really understand the situation because he also has a house in the next campo down (La Jolla) which I'm hearing is the most secure neighborhood, and he's only her once in a while and usually comes late, like 10 or 11 pm. He's an American guy who has been here for over 10 years, but it's funny, he doesn't really like Mexican food, so was telling us all about the places that serve American style food.

Anyway it's a small community and everyone has a story for us newbies. A few of the camps (it's what they call the neighborhoods. And the land is mostly owned by a couple of families, and you can own your house, but you lease the land from them for about $1000USD per year. Of course with the law changing about foreigners being able to buy beach property, maybe some of this will change. I certainly heard that the crazy woman who owns most of the land in this campo is counting on a huge buyout of the whole area to build condos or something. That's why she wants this house, but for now the price is too high) Anyway some of the camps have security, but then our maintenance guy told us that at one camp, the security guy was/is the thief- they were gonna set up a close circuit camera to catch him. I haven't heard how it turned out.

We are only in week 3 so not making any decisions. I really do like this house, it's very open with lots of windows. From some I see the estuary and others, the beach. Oh and one other thing, I wrote a few days ago about our underground spring water and how it was so salty. Well it's not simply salt water, it's mineral waters, and my joke about making a cement tub to sit in is actually a good idea, because people pay to sit in a mineral bath. Ha ha I guess salt is a mineral? Cause it is definitely salty. And honestly, I don't want to shower in it every day. My skin is sooo dry, and my hair starts to feel like straw. So we are still switching to the truck water, but I wanted to correct my error in saying it was salt water (it sounded like it was coming right from the ocean). And for our plumbing issues, now the guy is changing out 2 of our 3 toilets and that may do the trick. In fact his new opinion is that we have NO septic tank at all; that the lines are just leaching out down to towards the houses below us (we're on a slight hill). I told him just dont say that too loud or we'll be charged for that too from crazy woman. (who's charging us beach access). So who know? I just want to be able to use the bathroom!

We will move at the end of our 6 month lease to another house here? Don't know, but a guy was telling Everardo about a place that sounds like it has about the same layout as this one, and is across the street on the hill so a great ocean view, but maybe a 10 minute walk to the beach instead of less than 5. Hmmm is that acceptable? ha ha YES! And yesterday we took a drive to see where the dump is and saw a couple of campos we hadn't really noticed, and they all have places to rent. And in fact we're probably paying too much, but our plan was to get here. And hey if that woman calls me for that part time job- then we will really be in good shape.

The weather has been beautiful since we got here. It cools off as soon as the sun goes down, and a month ago when we were here that was not the case. But shorts and tees are still comfortable during the day, and it's November, so I like that. We're hearing from neighbors that Jan & Feb can be pretty cold, and Dec is always a toss up, maybe warm maybe cold...so we'll see. I started this week on my elliptical and also back to Rosetta Stone. I was on level 5- the last level, and in Aug got lazy and intermittent with doing it, after doing it every day in June and July. In Sept I just stopped completely, and I hate when I do that- I was almost done- so I started back today. Once I finish level 5 I may start the whole program over again for review and also just to keep practicing. That's the one thing I haven't figured out here yet; (ok not the only thing), but this is the first time we're living in an American enclave. I can still practice in the stores, but I'm around so much English. Even in Penasco which has tons of Americans- ok probably tons of Arizonians ha ha, but we lived on the Mexican side, our neighbors, where we shopped, zumba, etc. Yeah if we were in Playa Ventura I'd be kickin' it talking to my peeps, but when we lived there I stumbled thru every conversation. But I'll get to know my way around and I'll get involved..and it'll all be good.

It would have been a shame if we had moved here first and not experienced what we did in Guerrero. These issues we've been having with the plumbing would have made me nuts- but instead I'm ok, I ask, ok which toilet can I use today? I know to always always carry toilet paper with me wherever I go. Power outages are nothing, and not having phone or internet is not the end of the world. In fact I don't know our home phone number, and need to put some money on my cell phone. Ok not true, yesterday I found the paperwork from Telnor and added our home phone to my contacts in my cell so I can at least look it up now. We have the home phone because it's free to call all over Mexico so we can talk to Everardo's brother in Coahulia (spelling) and his brother and sister in Michocan, as well as the guy caretaking the house in Playa Ventura. So all those calls are in Spanish and almost never made by me, but sometimes answered by me- so I just never needed it. Then the lady who might hire me asked for my home phone and I had to tell her I'd email it to her ha ha. Finding a place to get milk that doesn't go sour in 2-3 days we learned in Penasco, and in Playa Ventura the issue was finding milk at all. We take so much for granted in the states. Ok let me rephrase: I take so much for granted in the states. Here I have seen struggle, seen desperation, seen hope, seen devastation, seen how people make do. People with nothing, but they're happy. I've been so wasteful in my life, on so many levels, so selfish, and yes to a some extent I came to know these things before I came to Mexico, but here, where life can be so basic, where you really can live in the moment, I am forever changed. And it continues, I like who I am more than I ever have before. I had the gift of being able to sponsor in AA a women here in Mexico; she is also American, but living in Penasco. And in Playa Ventura, the few meetings I went to, I was always asked to share, always included, even though I had trouble following what was being shared or sometimes having no idea what was being said, but I was included anyway. I'm so grateful to be on this adventure! And ha ha! I started out talking about my dog! 

Mexico fun fact:
Before 1958, women could not vote in presidential elections. Women, however, did play an important role in the 1910 revolution, serving as spies, arms smugglers, and soldaderas or soldiers.

After more than 50 years of flushing it down...

Kinda gross conversation, but on my mind. I have been putting my toilet paper in the toilet and flushing it down for over 50 YEARS! (not sure when I was potty trained, but I'm 56 now...). Now we have to put it in the wastebasket. I have done that in hotels, stores, restaurants, etc., Tand not just in Mexico, in fact the three weeks I stayed in a host family's guest quarters in San Miguel Allende I used the wastebasket. But in both houses before this one, we flushed it down. In fact, once the toilets are changed, there's a good chance we'll go back to flushing the paper. It's not that I mind. We bought these cute little wastebaskets that have tops that swing, so it's always covered. It's just that after more than 50 years, in the middle of the nite it's hard to remember.

In our house in Petaluma I walked to the bathroom, did my business, and walked back to bed without ever opening my eyes during the nite. Total autopilot. I've only been here 2 weeks so I don't know the way intuitively yet, so I do look- when I walk; sitting on the comode though, I'm probably asleep...so it's hard to remember. Back in the early '90's I was on a business trip in Hong Kong and I used the bathroom in the vendor's building, It had a chain hanging down to flush the toilet. I pulled the chain and it came down in my hands- it just dropped down. I didn't know what to do. I came out of the bathroom and this guy was standing there and he said to me.." I know what just happened". I was mortified and he started laughing. When I first started going to Asia for work it was very formal, and most of the time I was the only woman in the meetings. I had a very cool boss at the time; he had me lead meetings and take the front passenger seat when we went out to a factory or for a meal. Otherwise they would have deferred to my boss or the other engineer with us. I had to establish a relationship that would work once I was back in the states and asking them statistics on our production, accepting the schedule changes I was constantly sending, etc. They had to see me as senior management. (I was not senior mgmt, but for that portion of our business, manufacturing offshore, I was in charge.) Another time, we were in Bangkok; we had moved the production from Hong Kong to Thailand with the same company, I went into a restaurant bathroom. I looked at where I was supposed to pee, and it took a few moments to understand! Ha ha!! I was to squat over basically a hole in the floor, more of a basin, and there were little shoe outlines so you were at a tiny slant. Ha ha ha ha I stood in the wrong direction, which became apparent pretty quick. I splashed my high heels. I was a little bit drunk (if I had been more than that I probly wouldn't remember or would have fallen in), and it became hysterically funny to me, so I had to stand in the hallway and laugh before I went back to the table. Unfortunately for me, the '90's was alot of drinking, and it was so acceptable. If you flew international, you got to fly n business class, so the drinks were free. I always took the noon United flight on Sunday, and was drunk by takeoff. I'd drink, watch the movie, pass out, and wake up before Narita (the airport in Japan). Eat and then get the next flight to Thailand. Or if I was going to Hong Kong it was a direct flight. Then the vendors always took us out for dinners and...more drinking.

I ended up getting a similar job in 2005, 4 years after I quit drinking, The cool thing was I was going back to Thailand and I got to see so much more of it. It's a beautiful country and the people are beautiful as well. So kind and generous, thoughtful, gentle. I was there during the coo, and I was stuck in my hotel, watching the news and saw people bringing food to the soldiers in the tanks. It was a very peaceful coo. My contact with the company, the project manager for our product was this very cool young man, Sarote. We are still friends. I see him on facebook and we chat once in a while. He came to the states a few times and we always hung out. I was there at the company in Bangkok on another occasion and a monk came to bless the building and the people who were there. I was blessed by the monk, too. You know if you are on the train, if a monk boards and there are no seats, you must get up and offer yours. If a monk is sitting already, a woman must sit at least one seat away, never next to him. (not sure about men, but I know for a woman I must sit away from him). The trains there are so nice; user friendly. I don't speak Thai, but you look at a map for the area you want to go, and the routes have buttons on them, so I know I want to go to see this particular temple or go shopping, so I pick the route, push the button, and it says how much it costs- how many baht (currncy is baht). Of course I don't understand but I just put in coins and when I have hit the right amount it spits out my ticket. I know now the train has been extended out to the airport which is huge. Very very convienent, well maybe not great for the taxi's. I always just gave them a card from the hotel I always stayed at and they'd bring me. If I wanted to go somewhere else, or the driver didn't know where something was, I'd call Sarote and he'd tell me to give the phone to the driver. It worked good.

Once I was in this big shopping center with our quality guy, Mike; he was a smoker and he dropped his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. Out of think air this policeman appeared and wanted to take us to the police station for breaking the law. He asked if we'd ever been to Thailand before and we said "oh yes, many times"...he still wanted us to go with him. But Sarote had told me to NEVER go with the police anywhere. So I called him and he told me to give the policeman my phone. Then it was handed back to me. Sarote told me that the cop was going to ask us if we had ever been to Thailand before and we needed to answer "no". Then the cop could just give us a friendly warning and we could be on our way. So he asked us and we said "no". He let us go, but saved face for himself by giving us newcomers a break. Interesting eh?

Oh and most of the bathrooms were western style...the place with the basin and foot holders was way out in the country and not a place frequented often by westerners....but I love going to those out of the way places.

Ok the only other interesting thing I have for today is: I actually applied for a part time job and I may get it. Ha ha right? Everardo is the one who wants to find a job, not me. But this was in the email I get everyday called the Punta Banda newsletter, and it has upcoming events, menus for the local eaterys, plugs for businesses. Actually I saw a post from the dog rescue where we got Hazel and they're asking for dog walker volunteers...and I responded with a "count me in". NO that's not the job. This morning some woman posted she needs an assistant, 20 hours a week; she's a real estate agent up in the states but works from here. Needs someone with a good phone presence to talk to potential clients- I'm GREAT on the phone, and strong computer skills including excel & powerpoint. Real estate experience good but not required. So....I gave her a call. I was very honest about the fact that my excel & powerpoint is rusty, but retrievable...that I'm great on the phone, etc. She liked me and asked for my resume so I sent her an email. She said she liked my "phone presence" and had a couple other phone interviews to do, and that she's get back to me. Not much money, but we don't need much money. And 20 hours is perfect....so vamos a ver, eh? Funny turn of events, but really, if anyone has any real estate experience, she'll probly go with them. Oh and she works from her house, which is about 8 minutes from here, a little closer to the Bufadora. She is "big picture" and wants someone else to take care of details,,,ok I can do that. Unfortunately I have no internet marketing or web design, but like I said- she told me I sounded very interesting.....ok again vamos a ver....

Mexico fun fact:
In 1910, under the guidance of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, Mexican peasants revolted against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz to gain equality and land. The civil war lasted 10 years and took the lives over 1 million people.