Like living in a campground sometimes

Well if you did not read the prior post- don't waste your time with it. Boring! The actual letter to my sister part- well she replied saying it gave her a headache to try & read, and I thought I was being so funny with all the crap I had to go thru for a phone...I think I flopped. Forgive me.

Ok moving on. Sometimes it feel like I live in a campground. I guess part of that is living in a mobile home, a small one, which I have never done before. The kitchen is tiny...the bathroom shower stall is like this plastic box ha ha, the kitchen door opens onto a driveway that contains this horrid van that has an ad on it talking about mobile windshield repair. It belongs to the guy who lives in the upstairs studio next to us...He lives above his van- well when he's there. He left for a month about 6 or 7 months ago, and has been coming back in 2 weeks since about the middle of June. His plan is to sell that van, which I have never seen run.... It is not an enclosed garage, our house is one side, the other side is a wall that's probly about 12 feet tall...not sure how tall it is, but up the 4 steps to our kitchen door, I can see over that wall. So I look out the little kitchen door window or simply open that door & look out at the ocean. When it's hot in the kitchen, especially right after my shower following my workouts, when I am making my protein shake, I open that door because there is always a cool breeze right there. I think it's the cement walls that makes it cool. The porch on the other side of the house, the sliding glass door that we use all day, where the dogs beds are, is right outside the living room, and when I get into my hammock out there, even though it's hot outside, I usually get a chill- it's just cooler anywhere that is always shady. The cool thing is- that I don't even see that crusty van anymore when I open that door- I just see the waves, the birds, any boats on the water...the sand...I see right past that old van to my paradise.

This is month 12 for us here in Baja. Month 9 in this spot...the first 3 months were in the big pink house, and not my favorite. I do remember we had some bad weather, not too much, but I know there were some cold & rainy days....but hardly any since this place....so I have hardly worn long pants or a jacket....sometimes I walk out to my beach chair in my slippers, or even my jammies, so I think that's why it feels like a campground sometimes. Not having neighbors right in front of our sliding glass door (it does not face the street), I'm not worried about what I'm wearing when I venture outside...ha ha ok the truth is I NEVER care what I'm wearing when I go outside ha ha.

But we are losing neighbors not gaining any. As I said, Bob, the guy from upstairs is coming back in 2 weeks some day. All summer there were workers fixing up the house next door, that's across from his studio- so -ok outside our sliding glass door is a gravel driveway that is for 4 houses....us and Bob and 2 places across from us. The one directly across is abandoned and apparently will never have anyone living in it. So we park the truck in their little garage, and our open trailer and our friend Tim's boat trailer are parked in the yard space right there. Then next to that house...on the beach side and across from Bob is the house that got worked on, repaired, fixed up all summer, so we had people coming and going all summer right there. We got to know the crew, a woman in charge, and 2 or 3 guys working for her...but they're gone and the place sits empty. I heard they want some crazy amount for rent...like $1800 a month...and you can find places for SO much less than that, still beach front, so who knows what will happen there. I think I wrote before about all the ejido issues around this land in this camp...and that 15 years ago, for the second time! People got evicted from here, and so walked away from their homes, and many of them sabotaged their places to make them un-inhabitable, and the house to us is one of them. Ok so now we just lost a neighbor on the other side. We had a small Alzheimer facility next to us, only about 6 or 8 clients, but as of today they are gone as well.

So it's kind of a weird scary story, maybe scary because I don't really know what the truth is....I'll just tell a little of it here. So the guy who was running it, and his father owns it, and I think another facility somewhere, anyway it seems he got into drugs and trouble. We actually knew who he was because he lived in the other camp we started at where the big pink house is. He was a little bizarre for us; you can kinda tell a druggie...and the chaos that surrounds them. We did not know his job was running this place and were surprised to see him here. Then he moved into an empty house across the regular camp road from us (not our gravel driveway). That wasn't great but we didn't interface with with him or his family except for a nod or hello when we ran into each other. So he moved away first and that was good. But the circumstances were not good. His house was "graffiti-ed " you know spray painted with threats and things...to the effect he owed money....i guess to drug dealers. I am NOT talking about drug cartel stuff! I am talking about your local drug dealers, right- so we were not worried at all, they were not interested in anyone besides the guy who owed them money. His house back at the old camp burned down...but many people think he did it himself to elicit sympathy...maybe to get out of paying back rent....so when this stuff happened to his house here, at first I was a little worried....but then the same idea came up- did he do it himself?? Some said he did, to get money from his father. I heard that if he was in trouble with the local gang...that they have much more direct ways of dealing with their problems. Ok so the guy took his family and moved away. We heard he went to the states. I think his father is Mexican, but I'm pretty sure they are from the states. Basically he's a druggie scumbag with all that includes. Ok so all that happened in about May or June, and it was a nice quiet summer with him gone. So- fast forward to last Friday nite. At 2am we were waked up by a huge fire next door!! The dogs heard something and started barking, then Everardo and the other neighbor who is still here, across the road from the Alzheimer place both ran outside...Everardo call the police & fire dept, and Kim the neighbor ran into the place to get people out. I ran around the back of the place from our side while Everardo grabbed the hose to spray water on our roof.

When I got there almost all the people were on the patio and we helped the care workers get the people down to the beach...a couple of wheel chairs so it wasn't that easy. It turned out that it wasn't the building, but a cab-over camper that had been torched. The noise must have been it bursting into flames- it was so quick it had to be gasoline or something like that. It did spread to the garage, which is not attached to the house, and the garage door burned and then apparently the garage was full of wood...Also the back of a big boat caught fire, too. The fire was on the far side of the property from us, but there's always a breeze and I was afraid of embers. The facility is cement, like most of the houses out here, and never caught fire. Actually the roof of the house across the road that the guy had moved away from was also smoking...but again- the building is cement. So it was meant as some kind of warning I guess...and altho there were propane tanks...they happened to be empty that day....which makes one wonder again- did the druggie do this to get money from his father? Or was it really these low level drug dealers. Lots of cops, lots of cops came along with lots of fire trucks. I was very impressed and happy to see how quickly the fire dept came! I think it helped that it was 2am, and so no traffic. (People here will move for fire trucks and ambulances, but hardly every for the cops ha ha) It seems that the cops think it was the guy. BUT: The landowner here said enough is enough and he made them close the facility.

Now that house that got worked on all summer came in handy. We got all the people settled in there. The firemen were very caring with them. A lady got sick, shock I assume, and the emergency guys, had just left, and they turned around and came right back to treat her. We got back to bed about 4:30am...so it was a lazy weekend ha ha. The other nice thing is there has been a guard here every nite since. I think he's a cop, but is getting hired by the landowners. This is supposedly a "gated" community...ha ha our gate is a rope, that you have be let in thru- but you can come up from the beach anytime. People drive on the beach all the time; not supposed to but people do it, especially with ATVs during the summer months...the tourist trade is so slow, nobody's gonna stop anyone from doing anything around here. Also, there's no walls or anything- you might not be able to drive in from the road but you can certainly walk in, which is what must have happened both times- or from the beach...but we didn't see any lights or hear any vehicles the other nite down there, so who knows. I guess there was always supposed to be a security guard in the camp, but recently it's been an old man who sleeps in the gate house....they'll find something else for him to do....

Just a few minutes ago Poppi came back from walking the dogs and said he was talking to the security guard who told him he's getting hired full time...and that's just fine with me. We just have the one neighbor close to us now, and he's across the road and down a ways...then the houses are all empty for a couple of blocks, then a few with people in them. It makes it nice and quiet at out end...but also a little isolated. Of course we have Sam & Hazel...when we are not home, they are in the yard so we aren't worried. Yes they come with us alot, but during the day usually. We just don't have a big nite life besides AA meetings or an occasional dinner out. But eating out is more often a late lunch type of deal, we are home at nite...kinda developed that habit when we were down south and it wasn't that safe to be our of our town at nite. So don't get me wrong- I always feel safe here. Even with that happening- it was never about us. I am pissed at that scumbag loser- who does that? To an Alzheimer's place??? Jackass. But I was never afraid and am still not.

I love my beach home. I love love love the sunsets....every nite it's beautiful. The estuary is always beautiful, ha ha though lately the mosquitos over there in the evening make me skip the nite dog walks...but it's starting to cool off at nite so I think they will start to go away. The quiet, the gentle sounds of the waves, the beauty...yeah I guess I'm on vacation all the time!

So- speaking of vacation...we are planning a road trip to Guerrero, but the news has us hesitating. These students who were kidnapped, some of them murdered....this is all happening in Guerrero. Not in our town, not near it, probly between 2-4 hours away...I was hoping it was 4 or more hours...but Everardo is saying there's trouble in Acapulco as well. It seems alot of cops are getting arrested as well and the vigilante group is back. I think I may have written about this "whack a mole" effect before- that as criminal activity gets managed in one area, it pops up in another. Yeah Guerrero has been having problems for a long time, but this is getting very big. We should be fine- we travel the cuota roads and never at nite...but we would have to come thru Chilpanzingo (sic) which is very close to the place Iguala where these newest terrible things have happened. So we don't have to go that way, but will have to figure out a different route. I remember going that way when we went to Morelia Micoacan to see his family...which we also plan to do. So I am leaving the decision up to Everardo on how he feels about us going. Up to now, we have been confident about traveling thru southern Mexico, exercised caution (like using the cuota-toll roads, driving only during the day). But emotions are high. When we first drove down with all out stuff, we got pulled over all over the place...and altho' it will just be him & I in the truck...on the way back we'll have a bunch of boxes most likely in the back. (My books yippee) and maybe a couple of other things. But we need to be smart. He's been talking to a couple of people in the last couple of days, however, and we think by the end of the month we should be good to go. The swarming feds, state cops and other agencies will hopefully have some kind of resolutions by then and also hopefully emotions will not be running so high. The people Poppi talked to said there are no problems there, we just have to get there from here.

So we will most likely still go...as long as things don't deteriorate from where they are now. I'm sure we will never know what really happened down there, I keep reading different stories about it all, and yes for sure corruption, but I think things we don't know or want to know. I'll keep ya posted as it get closer. I really want to go- but I also don't want to be stupid. We've been planning to go back for over a year, so if we have to put it off a couple of months again, to be safe, well then so be it. Ha ha I already cleared shelves for my books. We have been planning things around "when we get back" ha ha. Like we need a longer couch then this loveseat that you can't lay down on. I want a project to refinish the dining room table because it's so scratched up from 3 moves...and it was really pretty pre-scratches. Or maybe re-finish it and then store it and buy a smaller one at the segundas. It's long like a picnic table, and so kinda too big for this place...and we don't need a long table- only we eat here ha ha. Oh we've had Tim a couple of times but that's it. I want to change a few things around but in my head it's all "after our trip". Our vacation from our vacation.

It should be nice weather in the south by November, I don't know what it will be like here...maybe getting cold. But I suspect that cold is not all that cold ha ha. Hmmm but maybe the super thin walls of a mobile home may not keep us all that warm.....hey every day is an adventure when you live on the beach in Mexico. As always, we'll see what comes next. Hope this wasn't as boring as my phone problems ha ha. Viva!

New phone anyone? Don't do it....for your sanity!!

I sent an email to my sister in New York to tell her the end of my saga with the "new to me" used IPhone 5 I bought off craigslist when I was visitng her, and it ended up being a really long silly story- so silly I decided to make it- with a couple of edits my blog for today- cause anyone who has a smart phone, or upgraded to a new one...or is over 25 years old and struggling with a new smart phone will understand! Ok here goes...

Ok little preface: So I bought the phone and then tried to get it unlocked so I could by  Telcel chip in Mexico and use it like a go phone, which is what I have been doing the past 2.5 years with my Iphone 3GS. So you know, in some ways the U.S. is exactly the same as Mexico ha ha. I think we went to at least 4 different places and of course I got 4 different answers on how to get the phone unlocked. The only one who thought they could do it was unsure if he's have the phone back by the end of my stay so I did not leave it with him. When I had been in Calif trying to buy a phone and do the same thing I was also told they had to "keep" the phone while it happened. This is not true, as it turns out. I spent quite a bit of time in the afternoon/evenings with AT&T on the phone with customer service trying to get them to unlock, especially since I found out they're shipping the new phones unlocked anyway. The biggest reason (excuse) they gave me was I had to wait 6 months as a new customer. I thought about that, then called back asking for a supervisor (after 2 calls with the exact same script being read to me, with a crappy connection to, I believe based on accents-India) and finally got a supervisor. I told her I was not a new customer.. I had been with AT&T for years! Before cell phones! When you made an overseas call and chose your carrier I always picked AT&T! I could give them previous phone numbers! They could look me up, I had different last name because i changed husbands more than I changed phone carriers! (I thought that was pretty funny & creative) and maybe she did too, because after much time of being on hold they decided to wave the 6 months. Now the 6 month thing I objected to because I was leaving for Mexico in 10 day and would be there the entire 6 months and if I had to keep the phone active I would be paying for a phone I could not use! Oh but you can- for something like .25cents a minute plus roaming plus blah blah blah.....Ok so she comes back and says.. well if you can fax me the original receipt we will unlock it. Oh! I said ok so finally you are agreeing that it CAN be done- it is just not your policy...now we are getting somewhere since previously they kept insisting it was impossible which was making me nuts!

However....I gently reminded her that the entire reason for my call was that it was a used phone I purchased from a college kid who upgraded to a new phone. I did not have the receipt. Oh she was so sad that she could not help me. I told her- well this is why people go to these websites and pay to have them unlocked outside of AT&T...I would have been happy to pay you. She gave me quite a stern lecture about using those websites, it was illegal and everyone is going to be in big trouble. To make certain she didn't put me on some blacklist (ha ha there really was a list, but I believe it's for stolen phones and I was not on it- at one place they actually checked that for me), I thanked her and said I'd try to get the receipt. Well I'd looked at a couple of online sites, but was nervous about it so wrote them down and went to yet another phone store to ask. This guy was great, and he is the one who said you shouldn't leave it with me because it might not get done before you leave...and he also at the 2 or 3 websites I had narrowed down to, and said he had used the UK site 3 times and it worked......ok so I bring the phone to Mexico...I can text for free to the states ha ha but make no phone calls even tho I paid $25 for a month. Went to the UK site, but when I chose it, the price went up and so did the hairs on the back of my neck. So I backed out and chose a different site for $30. A week went by, then 10 days, and oooops didn't work but they did refund my money. Ok back to the UK site, who now made the same offer for half the original price! hmmm ok. A week went by and I got the sorry AT&T barred us.....(sad face)..but we can bypass it for $. But it was only another $25 USD so I eneded up paying about $60 all together which is still WAY better than paying AT&T for 6 months to not use the phone but keep the number active to prove I am an AT&T customer and then they would be happy to do it.............how do you make the "wrong answer" buzzer sound?? Saturday I got an email that the phone was unlocked, to put the non AT&T sim card in and turn on the phone.

H aha we went to a Telcel store we like in Ensenada and this lady sold us a chip (after some consternation trying to get my fancy new Otterbox case off). The chip didn't fit!! My stomach turned, but I reminded myself that I had resigned myself to go the AT&T route if this had failed...so not to worry...but this was a new twist. But gotta love the Mexican people- they make everything work (you should see my laptop..a hinge broke and the screen got messed up, I have a new screen and these 2 shiny bolts in the top case ha ha looks like the little bolts in Frankenstiens neck....all for a few pesos!!

 

 This women whipped out her nail file and whittle down that tiny chip (yeah the sim card for the Iphone 5 is much smaller than for the Iphone 3 which is what I was upgrading from). She whittled away, checked it, nope, whittle a little more, assured me in Spanish she does this "todo al tiempo" (all the time)..and ...IT WORKED!!! That was Saturday morning. Now ready for the email I sent my sister this afternoon? (It's Monday)

 Hi,

Thought I'd share! My Iphone is unlocked & it was the UK site. about $60 but I'd rather give to them than to AT&T!! Well this is why I like to keep the same phone as long as possible ha ha. As it turned out- THAT was the easy part ha ha!! A combination of things kept me frustrated I tell ya!! Everardo had said he was not interested in my old phone but we'd keep it because even without putting any $ on it he could use the magic jack so stay in touch with his side of the family for free and not need me to be here with my phone in order for him to do that. ahh ok good.

But then he started fooling with it at exactly the same time I started trying to update mine once it was unlocked. Sounds ok- except- we needed both our Itunes passwords, our email passwords, our interent code for the house...etc...and in some ways he's just like Barry! Babe- what's my password for this? Babe what's my password for this? Babe what's my password for this? At the same time I'm trying to do mine. And of course chubby fingers hitting tiny touch screens we always make mistakes...then itunes made him change his password like they did me when I was at your house...use caps, no consecutive letters at least one number...oh is that a zero or a one? PLS KILL ME NOW!!

This was Saturday evening. Friday nite we were up between about 2am and 4:30 because the house next door was on fire!! It turned out to be the garage, intentionally set...but the building is a tiny alzheimers facility- only 6 or 8 clients, but all about 1000 years old. We helped evacuate them, then a bunch of fire trucks, cops...people all over the place. Shoulda slept all day Saturday but we got up early as planned to check out a new vege/fruit stalls in a big segunda place far end of Ensenada...got there and no parking for blocks on end....changed our minds because we were crabby & tired...so went to Telcel & then came home, showered and went the "annual rib cook off" as promised....hot sun....not sure why we didn't go to bed at 6pm ha ha. The rib cook off was fun- you bought tickets for 15 pesos and the got a rib and a side order...so you could try several booths with different kinds of ribs.  So got home and- decided to mess with the phones. I was so tired.....but soooo determined...yep me the dog with a bone...but mr dog with a bone was sitting next to me with his own bone- but kept asking me questions! Did I say pls kill me now??

Somehow I connected to the "ICloud" even though I swear I repeatedly said "NO"...and it downloaded over 1250 photos from my laptop to the phone!! Can you say no memory left?? I messed with that damn phone for more than 2 hours and Everardo's as well because he wiped put my old phone and reloaded as a new phone...while I had (mistakenly I think) did a restore from earlier date on mine. Go to bed!! Last nite I wiped my phone out and reloaded as new....after some other things and 8000 google articles. I am now an Apple specialist who could work any customer service line if I can be sure to have a lousy connection and keep repeating the same scripted answers regardless of he question asked! Somehow after carefully writing out all the phone numbers i didn't want to lose...and it wasn't that many ha ha, (well 68 I think) I was able to "import" them and I don't know how that happened since I restored the phone to factory settings! Yipee.

Then I discovered that the phone didn't ring...only vibrated....Googled that...known issue- oh that's why it was so cheap! However....I tried everything (I thought) and the simple answer ended up being...underneath that fancy case...ringer was off!! Ha ha but now I know how to put my phone on do not disturb or only ring when Karen & Barry or anyone else I choose calls! The last thing was my music, that was showing, but grayed out and didn't play but had little pictures of clouds next to them with a down arrow. When I tapped that it said it would cost me $ to download the music...my music??? After I got the living room window replaced from throwing the phone thru it- which didn't break because of the fancy case.....ok that was a joke- I only did that in my head....I left that for today. After my workout and protein drink....I looked at the phone, then googled....then went to itunes and looked at every icon and message. I found a button I hadn't checked...clicked it and asked to "sync" my library (which had been my mortal enemy the other nite with the photos)....and WA LA! All the music started to copy to the phone...not sure why it showed it was there...but wasn't.

So Saturday to Monday it took for my peabrain to become a technical engineer....and...I can make a local phone call or listen to music!! -Oh but a local phone call in Mexico is a story for another day which includes having to dial a 13 digit number if you are dialing from a landline to a cell phone..and a different 13 digit number if you are calling landline to cell phone long distance! Terry little house on the prairie is back in business! And this is why I resist upgrading or getting a new phone....I don't want to learn one more new thing in phone technology!!! My first phone had to be dialed! The over 20 years working in manufacturing of telephone systems so I went down the whole freakin road of

dial phone on the wall, to portable (huge) phone, to cell phone that only worked within a network, fiber optics, to surface mount technology, to fiber to the curb, fiber to the home, to touch screen..to camera phone to the little computers our phones are today...it's so funny, although thinner, the Iphone 5 is actually smaller than the 3GS, so after years and years of smaller faster better...my generation is now needing the drugstore reader glasses to see the small screens so the phones have hit the smallest and now are starting to get bigger again!! ha ha ha ha ha I want offffff the train. I only need a smart phone because for now...magic jack is free on a smart phone and I want to talk to my daughters in the United States every couple of days if I can, and I can...Beyond that... ha ha I hardly use my phone as a phone- I check my email in the morning. I recently bought a camera for the first time in years, so I need the phone even less! Ok ok I do really like the touch screen however....

Oh and by the way...hubby's phone is working as well, so he wants a new case, not pink like I had- and he only asked me twice today for passwords! wheew...oh I mean viva!