Wedding on the beach and a new hammock!!

This morning I went out to throw the ball for Sam & Hazel for half an hour before I left since I was going to Ensenada to the noon meeting, and even without going to the store it ends up being at least 3 hours. I took our buddy Tim, who did need to go to the store, and leaving at 11am I didn't get home until about 2:30. Anyway when I looked down the beach I saw all these white tents being set up and with some white ribbon or sashes I guess, I believe it was for a wedding. Second wedding this summer here on our strip of beach. The last one was more at a house with the beach as a backdrop, but this one seemed to be totally set up on the beach.

When I got back this afternoon and looked down the beach I saw alot of people sitting at tables, and milling about. In front of our house we had a pretty thick red tide, but down in front of them it seems like it was very light. I'm happy for that; this morning it was pretty red down there, but I think it moved more our way. I took a nice little nap after that, close to an hour and then got up to putter around, acting very Saturday-ish...ha ha the only reason Saturday is different from week days is I don't exercise on the the weekend. A little fruit and cheese, and back outside to sit and enjoy the fresh air. When Everardo came home, he showed up with a GREAT surprise. A new hammock!! Yippee!

My first hammock was rainbow colors and I got it down in Playa Ventura. Our friends Chela and Gume who had the restaurant I hung our at had hammocks around the patio and after eating a nap in the hammock was heaven. The next time the guy came around who sold hammocks Gume pointed him towards our place. They are huge and you can get so comfy in them, in fact they became my favorite way to sleep! I napped in mine almost every day down there in Guerrero because it was so hot at nite, and you had to keep the sheet on you to avoid being devoured by bugs (even with bug juice on), that I was always tired in the day time. Tropical heat 24/7 just takes you down. I fell in love with the wind, any small breeze made a big difference because I was always soaking wet, and a breeze could cool me off, & even just a bit was gratefully indulged. We had two hammocks, but Everardo didn't nap in them as much as me, he could do it outside or inside and sleep away.

Unfortunately hanging so close to the beach and in the heat wore thru the hammock...well maybe it was then the change to the heat in Penasco, where we were not near the water and where it hung it got searchingly hot.....but after we got here to Baja, and the hamock went up....it simply tore. Ah I remember now that the puppy next door..Brownie-who we almost brought with us, had reached up and chewed a little hole in the hammock, but when we got here it just sort of rotted away. I could still lay in it, sort of on one side...but it was not as comfortable and rotted away a little more every time I got in it....and has been unusable for a couple of months. But today! Today Poppi brought me home a new hammock! This one is blue and black- he actually apologized for not finding one with purple in it...(love dat guy)...and he put it up....and it's purrrrfect! I'am a so happy! I grabbed a pillow and a new book and jumped in. On top of that he made torta for dinner.

Tortas is my most favorite dinner since coming to Mexico. Yes I love everything; carnitas, chicken and beans, pork & beans, chicken and beans....yeah we eat alot of beans...and of course the fish. Well and I love the fresh lobster as well, but really we can't eat lobster every week. Torta we usually have once a week. It's the thinnest sliced meat I've ever seen. He frys it, and puts on bosillos (like a french roll) with cheese. That's it- so simple and yet oh oh oh so good. Sometimes he adds more, like onions, tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms, etc- but I like it best just meat and cheese and I notice he's been doing the same thing for himself lately. So a perfect end to a nice lazy Saturday.

Ok so back to the wedding festivities. Just a little while ago he went out with the dogs and told me to come out and look. They were sending up these candle balloons....well I'm not sure they're balloons, maybe candles and bags? Not sure how it's done but I've seen it before. But these were so beautiful. And they have music but are the perfect distance from us because when we're outside we can hear the beat of the base, but that's it and nothing once we came back inside. They have that color light machine so the whole area is lighted up different colors and seems to change with the music. There's some kids closer to us on the beach and they are playing volleyball in the dark with flashlights around the sides and I could hear them laughing. Hmmmm ok now they are lighting off fireworks...the loud banging kind, the kind Sam hates, so he is pacing. But it's only a little after 9pm, so hopefully they will run out soon. Fireworks are very popular here.

The weather seems to hang around the 70's (F), sometimes getting hot for a little while in the afternoon and people have been swimming wherever it's not red tide. Tim, who has been here around 4 years says this is how it is. I like it cooler in the morning for my morning dance-exercise; I danced in the afternoon this past Wednesday and forgot my baseball hat...and I thought I had sunstroke! ha ha

The only downside about today is that this afternoon I reached up to my neck to scratch a mosquito bite I got- usually they come out at nite- and a little while later noticed it was really itchy and took my chain I always wear off so it wouldn't aggravate it- and looked in the mirror...and it was twice as big....and I had another on my chin. Now, a few hours later the one on my chin goes from right under my lip to my chin, so about an inch long and kinda fat, and the one on my neck also about an inch long and almost as wide. Hmmmm. I think it's gotta be spider bites. Not fair really since I try never to kill spiders (out of fear of retaliation ha ha) but I did kill a tick yesterday that was walking up my leg. I knock it off and hit it with my shoe...which did nothing, so I got a spoon and flat side down I heard it crack when I squished it....gross right? Do you think ticks talk to spiders? Did I get revenge bit? Ha ha ha ha Actually I don't think so because I think I got bit while I was in Ensenada or at least on the way back...oh so the guilty sucker is probly still in the truck....hmmm

So another beautiful afternoon and evening in Baja......- oh and if I wake up and my bites are cover my whole face and neck....well I'll probly hit the clinic....keep ya all posted! Viva!

Trip to Tijuana....and more

Last Monday, July 14 I was down on the beach dancing for an hour like I do every Mon-Fri morning. It started out as a walking thing, but with my Ipod on and the zumba music I brought with me from Penasco...it has become a dance hour. At first I would sorta dance walk my way far down the beach, well for half an hour one way and then back, now sometimes I don't go more than a couple of houses worth of distance, unless there's a red tide. Even though I know the red tide won't hurt the dogs, sometimes it stinks, or there's just so much crap in the water...so I look up & down the beach to see at which end the red stops, and head that way. A few times it seems to have covered the entire length, or at least as far as I can see, so I'm stuck, and on those days, doggys get hosed off when we get home. It's funny, they run and jump into the surf and into the estuary, but get out the hose and they both try to slink away.  Hazel I have to hold onto as I spray her off, Sam knows to stay still.

I heard last year the red tide was there all summer, the whole length of the beach, so I guess we're lucky that this year it comes and goes, and even when it's here, it's almost always short so I can get past it, dance my heart out while Hazel & Sam go swimming.

Ok, so last Monday I was almost done dancing, and had made my way back almost to our path, and Everardo came down. He waited until I stopped, then asked if I wanted to shoot up to Tijuana to see Anna, his cousin. Hmmm uh, sure I said. It's about 2.5 hours from our place, and one of those hours is getting to & thru Ensenada. So I got ready as quick as I could, sucked down my protein shake as fast as I could and we were off. We called our neighbor Tim and asked him to feed the dogs when he came by like he did every afternoon. Everardo said we were going to spend the nite but get up at 6am and come back so he could go to work at the Bufadora in the morning- ok with me cause I can sleep really good in the car ha ha (and he always wants to drive). Anna is his cousin but I think I have written about these cousins before- they are more like sisters to him. Orphaned at age 6, he spent his childhood with these 5 girls who were close to his age (his brother Pablo is close to his age, but his sister and older brother were older). Anna is a crazy nut (in a good way) and her husband loves her so much he indulges her anything, so they often drive down to Tijuana from just below San Francisco for the weekend to eat and shop, then back in time to go to work on Monday.

I remember when Everardo told me a story about when he was about 7 or 8 yrs old and with Anna or Becky outside hunting with a bb gun (I think) and shooting squirrels. He was telling me because we have these scrawny squirrels around here who I swear are playing chicken running across the road in front of cars..So I said how horrible to be killing little squirrels...and he said "we were eating them because we were hungry!" I forget sometimes how he grew up, I mean eating squirrels as a little kid? I need to go hug him right now. So you see he is so close with them as well as Pablo and Nieves his sister, who both still live down in Michocan, and we will visit in a few months when we do our road trip.

I haven't been to Tijuana, except when I walked across the border when I came back from northern Calif and Poppi picked me up- I was sick and fell asleep almost the minute I got into the car- so last time I was in Tijuana was about 30+ years ago. I flew to all my Mexico destinations over the years and Penasco is near the Arizona border so just never went. Not sure what I expected, but I had a nice time, a great time! I did not see one American the whole time. Well it was only Monday afternoon and evening and then Tuesday until early afternoon. Yeah we didn't leave at 6am. Anna and Carlos were staying in a really nice hotel and got us the room next to theirs. We were sort of near the big arch, and behind the hotel was a huge white building where it looked like live shows; maybe plays or concerts took place. Oh and there was also this massively big church with a huge clock tower....

They took us to this place for dinner where there was this live music, and it was 10 guys and a singer- but 9 or the 10 were playing horns and one drummer. One had a tuba, trumpets, all kinds of horns, and they play a song chosen by a patron and you would tip them. IT WAS SO LOUD! They loved it and although I had a good time, I ripped up my paper napkin and stuffed little paper balls in my ears or my drums would have been burst for sure- we were right up in front! It was a seafood place, and I had crab burritos and they were fantastic! Both of them had a whole fish, and Everardo had some kind of fish soup- he always orders a soup full of something. Then they pushed around this cart with alcohol on it, and they had this huge glass decanter of some special kind of tequila, and it had a rattlesnake in it! What?? The guy held up the snake for me to see, but we all passed ha ha. After dinner, and yes I was deaf, we walked along the street and into these little squares with nite markets  and had an ice cream cone.

I forgot to say that when we got up there it was raining! In July! I was wearing shorts, a tank top and flip flops, Poppi levis and a tshirt, but luckily we both brought something else; me a long sleeved farmer plaid shirt and he a sweater....and when we first got there it poured until sometime during dinner because we went outside and it had stopped- so we walked for awhile. My Spanish was better than I thought and I was able to follow alot of the conversations; Carlos speaks English, but not great and was much more comfortable in Spanish, and everyone around us was speaking Spanish- did I say I never saw any English speakers the whole time? The next morning we checked out and put our stuff in their room. Oh I forgot to say, Anna had 4 days off so they were there after the weekend. So Tuesday morning we put oir stuff in their room and went out and walked in a different direction for about 45 min or so and ended up in another square, near that church, and found an inside alley of eateries- all yelling to us to eat there! It was crazy! So we picked one and had breakfast...beans and eggs for me...menudo for you know who...and then we took a taxi to a place called Mercado Hildago. It was a big square around a parking lot lined with booths and vendors selling everything from cheeses to pinatas to kitchen accessories to pottery to every kind of food you can think of. Anna bought some of everything!! She shopped for her sisters, her mom, her dad, her kids, her grandson...pretty soon Carlos and Everardo were both carrying lots of bags ha ha. We bought a wedge of cheese from Guerrero, a dry tart cheese-really good. And I also got this thing- I forget the name in English or Spanish, but it's a stone bowl and you use it to crush up things like nuts. This one had 4 little legs so it sits up and a little pig  head carved in the side so I like it- and I've been wanting one to crush almonds to add them to my protein shakes. Anna says you have to crush uncooked rice in it a few times to "seal it" so I don't get rocks in my food.

We walked and talked and laughed and hugged and had such a nice time. Then Tuesday afternoon we drove back home and they stayed another nite in Tijuana before heading home. They both work so hard! She's been at the same job for something like 23 years and has NEVER taken a vacation- this 4 days was only 2 days off work and the other was the weekend! They told me they have a timeshare, the kind where you can go almost anywhere in the world, 4 weeks a year- and they've NEVER gone!! I went crazy over that...telling her she was nuts that no job or no money is worth never taking time off, and she must have known that at some point....(and they can afford it)....and he said he's trying to get her to change...they are both in their late 40's and their kids are grown....so??? Anyway I told them as soon as we sell our house in Guerrero I want to have Everardo choose a place he'd like to see and we want to go- with them! I told Anna all the places in the world I've been to and some of the stuff I've seen, and things I'd like to see. But I know Poppi has only been in Mexico and the U.S., so I want him to choose. The 3 of them (Anna, Carlos & my husband) all talked like something in the future in that way when you are just dreaming....and I kept insisting....Now that I know I am gonna keep on them about going somewhere...for themselves! And yeah, when we sell that damn beach house, and we will because it is a wonderful place, I do want to spend a little on a trip somewhere, I was already thinking that- but if we had a free place to stay....yeah even better, right?

The rest of the week was uneventful, Eveardo working and me working out ha ha. Oh I did make it to the meditation group and enjoyed it very much. That was the afternoon group and I believe I'll stick with that one, the morning group not sure, gonna go back tomorrow morning and try it once more. The afternoon group has a meditation, then discusses a spiritual book they are all reading, then a closing meditation and I came at the right time because they're starting a new book, "Essential Spirituality" in the next  week or 2, so I ordered it. Then on the weekend there was a mini AA convention with a group from the San Diego who came down and camped down the road. There were meetings and a potluck and I spent most of my weekend with them- it was a nice change.

Yesterday, Monday again...we went to Ensenada to immigration to check on my permanent residency papers since I never got the email and the website status never changed from "in process". I was worried they wanted some other "I" dotted or "T" crossed but when we got there the papers were ready and all I needed to do was pay and get fingerprinted. Well ha ha we were not prepared for such efficiency and so had to drive all the way back home, and transfer some money to our Mexican account to pay for it, then go to the bank to pay, then bring the receipt back to immigration. Yeah so weird- you don't give payments to government institutions, you pay at the bank and then present receipts. The bank, for the first time since we got to Baja, was packed...a ton of people in line and we didn't know what was going on, but needed to get back to immigration before 1pm....well we made it, but then had to return to the bank afterwords because it turned out the transfer hadn't arrived and Everardo had done this complicated thing between our 2 Mexico accounts. And! You can't give the bank the paperwork from the institution and have them wire the money. You have to withdraw the cash, get it in your hand, and then hand it back to the banker to wire! Oh and the banker cannot tell you your bank balance, you have to go to the atm and look it up. So over complicated. Anyway when we went back we found out why it was so busy. It was all students paying for their next semester at college. Another gov't institution so you don't pay for school at the school, you pay at the bank! The gov't keeps a tight fist around their money, right? So our transfer was there by then, and it's all good. When we go down south we'll close that second account, but for now we have to keep a certain balance in it...in the end, as always, it took all day ha ha. We also did a little grocery shopping which is cheaper in Ensenada than here, especially dog food...

The good news for me is, immigration says come back in 2 weeks and they will have my card. When it is in my hand I will celebrate. Because like I say: in Mexico, if you don't have it in your hand, you don't have anything. But once I get my permanent residence card, it's good forever.

Well the weather is beautiful, I did my full workout today after skipping yesterday and look forward to whatever's next. Viva