A pelican convention and a sailboat

Yesterday afternoon it was a pelican convention! I first counted 12, then it was 14 and then 20 pelicans; sometimes a couple more, never less, they just kept flying in. I don't know what they were talking about or what they were voting on- they simply stood on the shore, looking at each other, cocking heads, stretching necks, a little fluffing of feathers. But no strutting, no loud voices, in fact if they were discussing anything it was being done with quiet reserve. But just watching them was sooooo amazing!

As I sat and watched them, alternately with the binoculars and not, in the background a sailboat, way out on the horizon floated lazily...it slowly crossed the bay- altho' it may have been outside the bay, sailing up the coast. Like the other nite as I watched an amazing sunset, I wished for a camera that could due justice to the scene in front of me. But ha ha all's I got is me IPhone for a camera...great for something right in front of me, in perfect light, staying still.....but not that great for the beach.

This afternoon, just before it got dark- well not too dark with that gigantic full moon behind us- anyway Everardo called me outside because the pelicans were back! Not 20, maybe 8 or 10, but there must be a huge school of fish out there because they are nose diving in, then coming back out of the water to dive right back in. Usually after a dive, they sit on the water for awhile, but tonite they were all very busy, Diving in beak first is how the brown pelican fishes, and it's fun to watch. They are big birds, and their wingspread is wide, and at the end of her wings there's a little downflap...they're like a plane! But much prettier, much more interesting, and I'm so happy to have discovered how totally cool they are!

This morning on my dance walk a kid came down to the beach, maybe 7 or 8 years old. He was scared of Sam and I waved him over and introduced him to Sam & Hazel. So he chattered away to me in Spanish, and I actually could follow it pretty good. Except the part where he told me that the clam
shell he was holding had a tiny cangrejo (crab) in it! He had given it to me but I have it back and told him that the dogs liked to chase shells in the water. (These clam shells are hard, and Sam goes underwater to get them and they never break. Hazel digs at them in the sand and chews the edges where the clam has left some of himself, and again- they don't break). So he tossed it to me and as it opened and the little crab fell out, little claws grasping, I was surprised. Then he ran into the water so the friendship between boy and dogs was forged. He told me Sam was his amigo. It killed me to have to leave him, on any other day I would have hung out as long as he was there, but I had my almost last appt for laser light therapy, so I had to go. BUt promised to return in the morning.

The laser light therapy works. My wrists have been perfect since about the second or third time. My hands, fingers actually, have stayed stiff, but getting better. I think I've been 6 times counting today, and I will go once more- maybe twice. I've talked to at least 3 people who use this therapy rather than surgery. I think though, that the proof will be time...we'll see in a couple of months. But for now I am pretty happy with it. Ha ha of course the medical community in the U.S. doesn't like it! No surgery, no pain meds, no rehab, shudder to think!

We're getting a new neighbor, an Argentinian woman. She speaks English but told me she is going to speak to me in Spanish. The guy who lives in the studio on stilts between us and the beach has some medical issues and went back to the states for awhile, so this lady, Eva is moving in. Good- need some Spanish speakers for neighbors!! Oh and we might be getting a new stove which would make me very happy! The one we have is very small- a tiny apartment stove- and the oven is working. Ha ha we tried to bake some fresh fish and the oven never got beyond warm. So I talked to Sonja this afternoon (our landlord) and she said ok tomorrow we see if we can fix it or we'll get you another. Did I say yipee? Everardo says they won't be able to fix it (yippe again), and even if they give us another small one- this one you have to light the pilot for the oven portion every time you want to use it and I don't want to do that. There's room for them to give us a bigger one; right now we have a standing shelf next to it that Everardo built and stained, and I can easily move it under the small bar/counter. I don't like to cook on top of the stove- not meat anyway. I like to bake chicken or pork with vegetables and add some kind of sauce like onion soup or asparagus soup....I'm not good at frying meat. Steaks need to be bbq'd or broiled, right? Luckily my hubby is a good cook and does most of it. When we first met I called him Stone Soup after that old story about the people who had no food and they boiled a big pot of water and put a large stone in it. The someone found a carrot, somebody brought some kind of a root, someone else a potato, an onion, etc. Anyway he could find anything in the cupboards and fridge and come up with something yummy- hence Stone Soup! We're doing a good healthy eating style these days, and have apples, bananas, oranges, and lots of vegetables.

So as always, life is good. The weather is wonderful, I'm in week three of adding the gym to my workout, and love my dance walks with Sam & Hazel. Everardo got some gloves and so is hitting the heavy bag and using some other equipment, too, so we both feel good. Of course there's always stuff...car problems, the dentist, and a house always full of sand. Oh and it turns out Hazel is some kind of shedding dog; she's so small and sheds sooooo much. But hey I think our problems are gold plated. We live on the beach in Mexico, our dogs run free and so do we. Soooo grateful.

Viva!

Amazing sunsets and other cool stuff

Last nite the sunset was amazing. We sit at the back of the bay and look straight out into the ocean, with Ensenada on the north side and a mountain peak at the mouth of the north side. For some reason it reminds me of a shot of Hawaii. Last nite as it got dark I was sitting out in my chair overlooking the beach, and the sky just became so beautiful. Next to the mountain top and then behind the sky was painted these vibrant splotches of pink, golden yellow, blue, orange...the color was sharp and in places one color sliced thru another. As I looked across the bay from the south to the north, the sky changed; it was more like waves of color...softer, sort of folding across each other. The colors were more muted, the yellow and oranges gone, mostly dark dark blue and shades of pink. It was bigger somehow, I guess it covered more area. Then to my left on the land up and behind Ensenada, the hills were that black/blue and the sky above and around them just a few shades lighter. I was in awe of the whole thing.  I thought to myself- how weird that at first I thought it looked like a painting! No silly! Art imitates life not the other way around! Duh. Everardo came out then and stood beside me taking it all in. He asked why I didn't bring my camera and take some shots- that means my phone of course...and so I answered that a picture would not do it justice, that I barely felt capable of trying to describe it at all. Maybe when I get our new camera with all the different settings I can try and take some good shots. Maybe take tons of pictures with different angles and lighting, and be able to choose some that kind of define how I feel here. Maybe.

The ocean also knocks me out on a daily basis. It's always different. The pelicans who have made themselves scarce lately have been back the last few days. There were so many every day when we first got to Baja; I guess I thought they would always be here. I googled it last month when they became fewer and fewer, and when I google I always read about 10 articles on whatever subject it is, and it must have been the tenth article that finally said they move up thru Calif and Oregon following the fish in the spring. The balance of the articles merely said yeah there's alot of pelicans in Baja. Brown pelicans altho' they are not always brown...and the males of course have the most interesting coloring. Anyway they're back, and so are the fish. Our neighbor walked by our house yesterday late afternoon pulling a kayak. About an hour he came back by holding a string of fish- maybe 4 or 5 pretty big fish. Very cool. We ate fish for dinner last nite but it came from the fish market....almost as fresh as his....

On my dance/walk yesterday morning, Sam found a live crab in a pile of kelp at the water's edge. It was small, maybe 4 inches across. OMG it was soooo funny. Hazel ran over to see what Sam found, and at first they just looked at it. Then tried touching it with a paw, which got the crab swinging his claws and both dogs jumped back. Each tried to put his face down there and the claws started swinging again and I thought somebody's nose would get pinched. So then Sam started barking at it and Hazel joined in. I let all this go on for a few minutes, but finally called them to leave it alone because sooner or later it would have ended badly for poor mr crab. Sam the fishing dog! Last week he pulled a stingray our the water- I'm pretty sure it was already dead, but he brought all the way home and then guarded it for a while. Everardo came home and finally took it away- I couldn't bear to because he was so proud of it. When we first came to Mexico down in Guerrero Sam caught a live fish! He's the man! I gotta find that picture and put all three together and post them on facebook- and also print them and put them in a frame.

Last Saturday we went to Ensenada for a meeting and to get Everardo some boxing gloves because the gym here has one of those long bags. On the way home we decided to go "exploring" and turned on a dirt road just south of Ensenada. It ended out at the estuary, which I didn't realize was that big. It's close to us on this side, but driving the road goes away from the coastline and so it's much further. Anyway the road started to have puddles as we got way out there and we could see something disturbing the puddles. It was tiny crabs- but the totally cool thing about them was that they had one claw that was as big or bigger than the rest of their body. I mean they were about an inch long and had a claw at least that long. And there were tons of them. They ran from every puddle. We got out and took some pictures of them. I assume the puddles were salt, and that it was high tide....but we were still pretty far from the water- how often is the tide great enough to come in that far?

In other news, I think the laser light therapy works. I've had 5 sessions- 1 hour each, and my hands are way way better. My wrists have not had a pain or ached at all since about the second appt. My fingers stayed stiff and sore,  but it's basically gone. I haven't needed the wrist splints at night, and I can be on the computer all day or holding up a book, anyway it's pretty amazing. I want to see if it lasts....yeah I hate to be a skeptic, but let's see long term- and by that I only mean let's see in 6 months. I'm pretty damn happy about the results at this point though.

So I'm into week two of my new health plan, and I'm not talking about health insurance ha ha. I'm talking about exercise and eating. I don't want to call it a diet- that assumes an end. I need to eat better. And really I eat ok...I just add sweets- cookies and chocolate- on top of it. If the stuff is not in the house I don't eat it. Luckily Everardo doesn't eat that stuff, yes people he snacks on fruit! I just finished a nice ripe pear, and actually it was great. He made a stir fry shrimp with asparagus and mushroom for dinner that was to die for. So the plan is M-W-F gym and dance/walk and T-TH only dance/walk. Feels great! I really only started working with weights when I went to that boot camp, and when I got back really tried to keep it up. Of course life always gets in the way, right? But right here, right now, I have an amazing opportunity. The gym is free, the dance/walk is free (altho ha ha I could use some new steps- gotta google that). So I'm getting up and working out, then come home, shower and have my protein shake, then study Spanish for at least an hour. Now I am at noon. So whatever I need to do- whether it's laundry or grocery shopping or just hanging out- I have all afternoon. After that amazing dinner we went for a long walk on the beach. It was nice, and we saw other couple doing the same thing- probly walking off their dinners as well. The thing is- I have the time! I have the time to make this my habit, to make this my lifestyle. It's already Everardo's lifestyle- working out and eating right so he's very happy to help me out, he helped me figure out what machines to use in the gym, Oh I almost forgot this. Yesterday we went over there and he had his new gloves so he worked out on the punching bag. We actually went so he could show me a technique for doing it, but now I'm thinking I'll wait since I'm trying to decided if the laser light therapy is working and i don't want to cloud the issue. Anyway- I watched him punch the bag- and for some reason it was kinda scary. He's very strong, and the look on his face was so...focused I guess. This is a man who never loses his temper. I mean I have seen him angry maybe 2 or 3 times ever and it was when we argued and it went on and on. He got mad, yelled something and then walked away. I never seen him lash out at anyone or anything. Never seen him smack a wall or throw something down in anger. So maybe that was it. But watching him hit that bag, nonstop...his face never changed but he was moving all over the place. He was determined, focused, brutal..yeah I guess I want to watch it again and it will probly be fine. Ok and it was a little sexy as well. He has very nice muscles, very nice definition- arms and chest. And he never wears a tank top, never wears no sleeves. But just the way the clothes fit him you can tell.
Ok so he runs and hits the bag- oh is it called the heavy bag? I think so. I'm doing weights for arms and chest and back, and then sit ups. Oh and my dance/walk. I am so grateful that I am so fortunate that this is my life right now.

I'm going to be going up to northern California in a few weeks, and sometime this summer we're going to take a road trip down south, see his brother and sister in Michocan, hope go thru Oaxaca because neither of us have been there, and then swing back up thru Guerrero and see our house down there. I want to get my books and a piece of furniture, and this light blanket with a peacock design that I bought when I was down there with my friend Veronica. We both bought blankets of the street because we knew we'd be sitting possibly all nite in the Mexico City airport and it gets cold in there. We will proby stay just a few days. We have renters in the house right now who Jay tells us (Jay is the guy we pay to look after the house), anyway her says they really like the house. They originally rented it for 2 months but have decided to stay. Ok I know I must not get my hopes up but maybe they'll want to buy it.....
I'm excited to go back and see it. My Spanish is a million times better than it was when we were there, so I can talk to my friend Chela. The renters are only living in the downstairs like we were, so we're thinking we can sleep in the upstairs. It has it's own entrance, and a bathroom with a shower. We can always eat somewhere else-that's not a problem, so we'll see. I want to sit on my rock, swim in the warm ocean...look at our property. And this will be with no stress on my part. We are not in a hurry to sell. And with the road paved, and we heard that water is coming, well the right buyer will come. When we left I was very stressed, over wanting to leave, and worse, because of getting involved in the politics of the town. It's basically 2 families and so almost everyone is related to one family or the other. Also, we found out I was taken advantage of when buying the property- which would be my own fault except some of those involved were supposedly my friends. Then after I left someone accused my husband of malicious gossip and I fired back with the truth that it had been her own brothers and sisters. So I'm hoping my best friend down there is still my friend. But if not- no big deal- we will never live there again...we want to sell but we could always just keep it as a vacation house. See what I mean about stress? So this visit will be for fun. Ha ha fun for me- Everardo plans to do some work on the roofs of both the kitchen and the bedroom. He patched it when we were first there, but it needs a more permanent fix. He is also open to painting if it needs it. Me? The beach, my rock, my books, walks....did I say I have a great life???

I know that Guerrero is not the safest place right now, Michocan either. But at least now we have Sonora license plares (Michocan didn't like Guerrero when we were there). And I know the "public defense" groups are still around...but they would have no interest in us- that's for the bad guys. We will be tourists.....I'm excited about the whole trip- when we drove up from there we were in a hurry and had Sam to contend with. Sam and Hazel will stay home with a sitter, so we can be choosier about motels, we can stop to look or go in somewhere, things like that. Everardo and I like adventures and we like exploring. It will also be nice to see his sister and brother again- without the fear of the first meeting ha ha. Anyway the trip is in the planning stage- but I know my hubby and all of a sudden he'll say "ok we're leaving tomorrow". so I need to do my own planning in my head- clothes, dog sitter...yeah it's gonna be great.

ok enough for now. Viva

Laser Light treatment, saw a whale!!!...and the gym....

Ok I'm going to start with the whale. It was AMAZING!! And lucky, by accident..almost missed it. Everardo's cousin Anna and her hubby Carlos showed up out of the blue on Saturday morning. She's a sister to Everardo and they showed up when we were in Penasco, too. She's a nut. They live in Salinas, just below San Francisco, and they'll drive down to Tijuana for tacos! Drive down Friday nite and go back Sat or Sun! I mean..come on! California! Yeah there's a few places closer to get tacos! And they're Mexican so...anyway I think it's funny, and I love love love that she comes to see Everardo.

Ok so we meet them up at the main road and we head for the Bufadora; she hadn't seen it in years and I'm not sure if Carlos had ever been there. So we're driving along the cliffs, still along our bay..and I'm like Stop the car!! Ha ha Everardo told me this morning that he told Carlos to unlock my door or I'd jump out the car window. Anna was really excited, too- she'd never seen a whale before. We must have watched for a half hour! Other cars pulled over all along the road, too. This was a small whale...bigger than a baby..but smaller..than a momma. I think maybe momma was out at the mouth of the bay, waiting for him to get it out of his system and then they needed to get to migrating north! What I've read says the migrate north Feb & March, so finally, after missing them going south and then driving out to different vantage points in Feb and March, and realizing I missed them, but accepting it since I'll be here next year and I can see them then.....I SAW ONE! He was amazing! Ok maybe it was a she but for this story I'll just say "he". He was swimming along the side- he spouted water and then did this big leap into the air- you know almost straight up, and then slamming down on the water! It was so cool. Then he swam some more, close to the surface so we see him, then dove deep so we strained to see and guess where he'd come up next. Jumped again, jumped again, jumped again. He must have jumped up ten times! Is it called "breaching"? It was just such a gift! I almost cried I was so happy. I yelled thank you God!! And Anna burst out laughing! I hate to end this story because I just can't describe it in a way to make the reader get the shivers and the excitement that I did watching this whale. This giant glorious animal...swimming around and having fun, and don't forget mom who I'm sure was waiting for him. We watched him jump and splash and blow water and swim, and finally he got to the end of the bay and was seen no more. I didn't care what happened the rest of the day...I saw my whale and simply basked in my own glow all afternoon.

Anna and Carlos enjoyed the Bufadora; all the shops and all the food. OMG Anna can eat and eat and eat! We ate in a resturaunt there, of course it was expensive, and then she ate corn on the cob on the stick with chili, tasted some of the breads (yes we bought and brought home the one that's creamy cheese filled), then she wanted to go back down the street to the end to try the bbq'd clams with cheese and shrimp. We were laughing about how much she can eat and I guess her sisters are all the same- oh and of course she's a tiny thing! (man I hate that!...yeah I struggle with my weight). They all talked and talked and talked and I followed most of it, and joined in also in Spanish. Felt pretty good. Then we all came back to our place and on the way Anna asked me if it was painted all the colors like our place in Penasco...I said yep! Well it's a work in progress, there's still blue walls that need a shade of orange, and some more purple...When we got here I showed our little place, and then we went to sit outside and watch the waves. I gave Anna the binoculars and pointed across to where we had been watching the whale play. They took off a little later; I found out later they stopped in Ensenada for tacos (!) and then went up to Tijuana for the nite. Everardo talked to her on the phone and it took them 4 hours! to get across the border. Ridiculous! Now I understand why our friend Tim goes over to Tecate. He's going to give me a ride to the San Diego airport in May when I go see my daughters and my oncologist and he said we're going to Tecate and uhhh yeah!

So- Laser Light Therapy. I've been googling it and I've had 3 treatments. It seems to be working. Last year, and the year before that, during the winter my wrists would start to ache, enough that I bought wrist splints to wear at nite when the pain would be the worst. In fact it seems like the first 2 years the pain was always at nite. This year when it came, it didn't go away. And my hands ache. I can't make a tight fist; sometimes I can't make any kind of fist. The other new thing was something called "Trigger Finger", this is when your finger gets "stuck" at the middle joint when your hands are curled. Then it kind of "pops" open. It happens mostly at nite when you close your hands during sleep. It was starting to get worse, and I was wearing splints during parts of the day. Sometimes I couldn't hold a book up to read it, or use my mouse at all without pain, enough pain to stop using it. Hmm Carpul Tunnel? Maybe but why in my left hand, too? Well I heard these women talking one morning up at the main road where on Saturday mornings there's always a little flea market. One was mentioning trigger finger and I excused myself into the conversation. That's when I heard about this doctor doing Laser Light Therapy.

It sounded interesting, and it's non evasive...you can't abuse it- your body only produces a certain amount of cells in it's process, and the laser light just helps it happen quicker. So after researching everything (ha ha so anal) I mad an appointment last week and I've been 3 times- last time today. Gotta say I think I'm a believer. After the second appt, I have not used my splints at all. No trigger finger in days- since the first appt, and my wrists are fine. My fingers were still aching thought and I told the doctor that today, and he mainly focused there. He does want me to come at least once more. He says you need to have enough treatment to get the cell creation going, repair damaged cells, and the dead cells to sluff off. It costs $50 a treatment and it's worth it. My God, in the states, first there would have been xrays (hmmm maybe $1000?), then advice to have a surgery...rehab....Yeah I was wondering why this treatment is not popular in the states since it's very popular in Europe, Asia, Russia...etc. Not too hard to figure out right? The drug companies have pain meds for these problems, the surgeons, the rehab centers....yeah there's big buck to be lost if treatment was as simple as sending light into your body! I spoke to a woman who had laser light on her back after being told she needed about $56,000 in surgery. I also spoke to a guy who had it on his foot after an accident. They were with the people at the flea market. Today in his office there was a woman who came down from the states and she was 99 years old! She kinda reminded me of my mom; she was wearing a baseball cap and was very spunky. Ok so for now- I am a believer. I will continue to post my results, let's see if my pain remains gone. Even this morning my left hand was going to sleep if I held it up high, like for driving- hand at 11pm...so we shall see. Vamos a ver.

Now- the gym. I know I wrote that the gym was in pretty sad condition. I hadn't been back and was waiting for Everardo to come down and take a look and see what he thinks. This afternoon, on the way back from my doctor appt, we stopped there and went in. There's a hanging punching bad that he is interested in and we looked at a couple of machines that I can use. One I didn't realize what it was for, and it's exactly what I wanted; weights that you pull down behind you, in front, and them pushing down in front for the backs of the arms where unfortunately for me I have grown tent flaps (yeah gross isn't it). Then there's a couple of pieces of equipment for sit ups, the slanted kind and then one that you can do other things on as well. Anyway we found about 4 pieces I can use, so I'm excited and planning to start tomorrow. Going there today also let me see that it's safe- the floor is not going to collapse and neither are the stairs outside. It was kinda creepy when I went down there alone, but today, it was just dusty, and old, but workable for what I need so I say- ok! Yesterday we went up to the segundas to look for a piece for the blender and I got a scale. I haven't been on a scale in a very long time. Ha ha when I go to the doctors office and they want to weigh me, I say no. When they push it I tell them to write down anything they want, but I am not standing of that fucking scale! Then they leave me alone. So- I have a scale, I have a workout, I have my dance/walk, and last week I started to try to eat better. One easy thing is to just not buy the cookies....Everardo doesn't eat any of that stuff, it's always for me. If it's not here I can't eat it. I'm going to keep a log, exercise, food, and weight. I set some goals, some attainable goals...but I prefer to keep them to myself for now. I'm not trying to wear a bikini by summer. I don't have a long term goal- really my goal is the process. I haven't had a drink of alcohol or a hit of pot in over 13 years. I never thought that could happen. But I what I need to realize if I really want to change my life, then I need to take steps to change my life. I'm not telling anyone my plans, they're just for me right now. I know I'm ok just as I am, but I think I can make some positive improvements. I'll keep you posted....
Life is good, hubby is wonderful, and doggys are amazing. Will anybody find out or tell us what happened to that place? I'm so sorry for the families, but PLEASE stop showing us pictures of their misery! Stop having it be the top story every day with all these "experts" talking out their asses about what they think. Either that place was hijacked and it's somewhere (an would we be told if that was true?) or it crashed into the ocean. And man- why don't they ask the NSA to help look for it, right? They listen to what we say, read what we write, and I'm sure watch us while we sleep (& other things). Come on! Technology can see an ant at the bottom of a well, a rock on Jupiter, a shell at the bottom of the ocean and they can't find a single trace of that huge airplane! I for one don't believe that no one knows where that plane is!

Viva!

Living in the moment or not...

It's funny, we call Mexico the land of manana, we do things on Mexican time, but it's also a place of "in the moment". Example: We took the dogs to the vet in Maneadero; not here because everything is more expensive in gringolandia (American prices for everything) and Maneadero is about a 5 minute drive. It's where I went to the dentist...Ok we get there and Hazel needed her last puppy shot and they both needed rabies. But the vet said he didn't want to give Hazel a rabies shot since she was getting the other, and told us to bring her back in 2 weeks. I had asked about Bordatella (sp), and he didn't have any but said he'd order it and took my phone number- and also said we could just get it when we came back. Ok, we come back for Hazel's rabies shot, and he says- oh I don't have any but I'll order it...We dropped by the other day because they never us the tags that go with the rabies shot, and they didn't have any; said that the guy who brings the shots didn't bring them with him. Ok, so we'll check back. Oh- did you get the Bordatella? Oh no, but we'll order some. SHIT! Next time we go I want to wait while they place the order...

The phone company (Telnor- which is the Baha version of Telmex, all owned by the richest man in the world-Calos Slim), we had gone at the end of Jan to ask them to move our service and to pay the current bill. They inadvertently charged our debit card for the move charge (327pesos), and we said no- we just wanted to pay the bill, and pay the move charge over 2 payments...easy right? Ha ha They said oh we'll reverse the charge in the next 24 hours. Now there's no online banking here, and to go to the bank is a trip to Ensenada, which we make weekly so no big deal. But the return was never made. So after a month we went back to Telnor, and luckily took a bank statement showing all transactions and asked for the money to be applied to the current bill. OMG- ha ha I guess it's kinda funny now (just kinda since it's our money). First they think our bank statement is fake....then finally agreed to return the money- no they cannot apply it to our bill...this all took over an hour...& after we left she called us and said we had to go to the bank and ask for it....what???It was all so weird...and yet- we went to the bank- I waited outside because I was so pissed off, and they said they'd get us the money! Couple of days later I get a text telling us we have received the refund. So weird! 

We've been calling the Dish Ntwk the last few days because when daylight savings time started a few weeks ago, our tv didn't change. I wouldn't really even care but I'm watching this series at 11pm and so now it's on at midnite...Well 3 or 4 different "customer service" people have told us- oh we'll send out a new signal and it will change. Well it's been a few days and (big surprise) no change. So today the guy told Everardo to give it 3 hours because they were sending the signal and if it didn't change call back. Hmmm ok no change, called back and it rang for about 15 minutes...we were laughing because we figured they knew it was us, but I just held onto the phone while I was on my laptop...a guy comes on after about 20 min- and after a long conversation which lost me, Everardo said muchas gracias and hung up. He said the guy told him that only the border area changed to DST, the rest of Mexico was changing April 6, and we just have to wait. Ok fine- but WHY couldn't any of the first people tell us that??? 

So what does all this long boring story of my life mean??? Couple of things. One thing is you need to complete any transaction you are doing with a business in the same day. Any time you walk away and they have another step- it does not get done. They put it aside and go on to the next thing. It's the same in the store- oh we'll have it tomorrow...whether or not the person telling you this has any idea if the product will be available ha ha...  It's like they don't want to say no, or disappoint...or maybe they don't want to say they don't know. 

And here is the other thing: my continuing opportunity to practice acceptance. Man that is the lesson that never lets up! And it's the main cause of any arguments we have. I get frustrated and he does not. He almost never loses his temper. Ha ha sometimes even that pisses me off! I know there is no such thing as customer service in Mexico and in the grocery store & the bank I've gotten pretty good at it; I can people watch, chat, munch on something...etc. But in other cases...not so much! I was good at the telephone company until she started telling us the bank statement was somehow faked. (yeah for 300 pesos- about $25USD). But yeah afer that I was just mad. When we left I was still steaming- yes they told us they were going to give it back- but isn't that why we were there in the first place??? Finally Everardo got mad at me for being mad. "What good does it do for you to get mad at them??" So we had a fight in the car but got over by the time we got to the next place we were going.

So I'm trying to take a look at it. First I was just mad....you can put people in little uniforms but that doesn't mean they know anything! We went to Starbucks- which we haven't done since we got here. I mean it's sooo expensive- like $5 for a cup of coffee! But that day I just wanted caramel. (Unfortunately it was the day before the Telnor fiasco) So we went...Everardo's latte was fine. I ordered a cold drink...and well. I think all the ingredients were in it, but what a mess...and the caramel squirted on top...yeah it was a mess. So they have Starbucks, but people don't get trained on how to make the stuff.....and I didn't even get mad after spending 123 pesos on 2 coffees...shame on me for going. We actually laughed about it. There was so much ice that I only got a couple of sips and then begged Everardo for some of his latte ha ha.

But after a couple of times in different place I start getting mad. Again, shame on me. I know I should have low expectations here, and then I get frustrated when things don't go the way I think they should. So maybe it's about my ego. Apparently my ego is the size of Chicago! Funny I see myself as a nice person, caring, understanding, I always tip good, try to be polite, positive....and then when I fall- I fall off a cliff. Why is that? If it's my ego, then somehow I must want the person to know I'm smarter than they are?, or that I'm very important and why are they screwing up my stuff? I guess I've grown up in a world where everything is right now, everything is available, and everyone will fall over themselves to get it for you, your choice, your price, your way. Hmmm sounds like a hamburger commercial eh?

My husband on the other hand is very patient. When things go wrong he just waits, or accepts it and moves on. I think it's a cultural thing. I see it here, everywhere. You wait in line. You ask for what you want. Maybe you get it and maybe you don't. You don't rock the boat. There's always a ton of people at the bank, at Telnor, in the stores. People do not get mad, not even frustrated. But I think maybe the right spot for me is in the middle- not to get all wrapped around the axle, but also not to just blindly accept, either.


I read this saying on facebook the other day....can't remember the words but it was about worry- that worrying today doesn't fix today,  just wrecks tomorrow..or something like that. Anyway I do understand that when I get mad it only hurts me. But it's also true that very often I get mad just for the moment and then get over it. And sometimes I just need to vent. If I am not outwardly rude or mean to the object of my frustration...well isn't a little venting ok??? Ok sucks I gave my bad temper to both my kids ha ha. Anger and stubborness.

Well to catch up from last week, I did not return to the exercise class, so yeah I lost the money. But oh well...I have continued my beach dance/walk. This week I'm adding in eating right....when I fill the kitchen with good stuff I tend to eat good stuff...vamos a ver...

Tomorrow I'm going to see a doctor who does laser treatments. Both my wrists ache; I've been wearing wrist braces at nite and sometimes during the day- especially if I'm on my laptop alot. I had the same problem last year during the winter, then it went away as it got warmer. But this time it may be worse- my hands fall asleep if my arms are not straight or level. Like holding up the binoculars makes my right hand start to tingle, sometimes in the morning I can hardly hold anything, and usually I cannot make a tight fist. It may be carpel tunnel in both, and I heard this guy treats it with laser therapy instead of surgery. I believe that the meds I take can be a partial cause for my aching joints- I looked it up and it can cause joint pain. I only have to take them until this November, but it's been 3 years...well 5 counting the drug I took first which also had joint pain as a possible symptom. I heard about this doctor when I was at the little flea market at the beginning of our road at the main road. I heard these women talking about "trigger finger" (which I also have going on right now) and also carpel tunnel, back problems, etc. I was looking at some stuff near them, and excused myself into their conversation. Two ladies and one husband raved about this guy up in Ensenda...and when I heard what he charged....ok I'm in! So I'm going to see him tomorrow. He may even have advice about the trigger finger. I been researching it on line and one symptom of it is fluid around the joint and I have that...Anyway I'm kind of excited because sleeping has been hell with waking up with my fingers feeling like they're going to explode- ooh I gotta remember to tell him that. Oh and he speaks English, too. Hmmm maybe I should wrap up this post and research laser treatments.

So- acceptance and balance...

Would my US friends be horrified?

I went to the dentist today. On Saturday I was eating cheese and crackers and felt something and a cap popped off one of my back teeth. Luckily I didn't swallow it! But gotta say....eating really good jack cheese and some gouda, with saltines was heaven, so I put it aside and continued to munch. We went shopping at Mexicana Comercial; it's a huge grocery store in Ensenada, but someone told me that in other places in Mexico they're even bigger. It's just such a better deal than the other grocery stores we been shopping at. Calimax is everywhere- kinda like Super Ley over in Sonora & Super Precio in Guerrero. But the Calimax near us- as I'm sure I've already said here, is really expensive because it's the closest to the American enclave out here. Ha- I should try one of the many Calimax's in Ensenada to see if it's any cheaper. Anyway at Mexicana, the meat is sooooo cheap. Then when we were there Saturday I saw all the cheeses. The first couple of times I saw the stand alone display of cheeses, and they were from around Mexico- Sinaloa, Chihuahua, etc. and so all "white" cheeses. But this time I stopped at the second display and found yellow cheeses...yippee. Sharp cheddar, and then the two I bought- oh ha ha jack is not yellow- but this jack was much better than I bought from some other places...very flavorful. And I also bought a small round of Gouda which is also so good. I was very excited about my find, and so losing a cap from my teeth was not going to spoil my pleasure!

Because I had had a root canal, and then had it capped, it didn't hurt, even with coffee or cold water, although I was still careful to try to sorta slurp onto one side....Well I washed the cap and put it in a plastic bag and then today we went and found a dentist.

That was after my latest zumba experience- which didn't go all that well. I've been walking down the beach for an hour every morning first thing (well half hour each way) with Sam & Hazel and they have come to not only enjoy it, but to expect it, and they will wait while I have my coffee, but then the looks start, and if I get up to go to the bathroom and/or put my shorts & tshirt on...they start jumping all over the place. And when I say "walking" well I use the term loosely because I dance during most of it. I play the zumba music Ericka gave me when we left Penasco, and it's always fast and so it's motivating me to keep moving. When my rock & roll songs come on, if I am breathing hard- ok panting and trying to catch my breath I might listen to one, keeps me walking and dancing, but slower. Luckily I know the steps to the song for my arms and also one for the legs, and then after that I just sort of make it up as I go.

Our beach has lots and lots of clams on it, some shells still have clams, some are filled with sand, and some are empty. The empty ones are of no use for me- they don't throw far, but the other two, I can fling them into the water and then Sam goes crazy putting his head under trying to retrieve them while Hazel bites at his back legs. It's my mistake if I pick up a clam on the way out because then Sam will pester me for the entire hour. If I wait until the way back, well at least he only bugs me for half an hour. I can't really throw very far; with his ball I have one of those chuckers to get any distance. So I walk and if I pick up a clam I kinda wait until the water is coming in and then throw them....but like I said- wow when did I start throwing like a girl??? So I dance and sweat and the dogs have a good time and if I go around 8am, then by a little after 9 I'm in the shower and getting ready for the day. Yes I do remember writing my intention to do this twice a day, and now that daylight savings time has started I may do that. I may also try going back to the zumba in the back yard of that young girl for 50 pesos a week...cause if it's still at 5pm it's not going to be cold, or get really cold during the workout. Vamos a ver.

Ok, so Everardo started going to a Spanish speaking AA meeting over in Maneadero last week. Actually last weekend I asked him why he never went after we heard about a 10am meeting over there. (It's about a 10-15 min drive). So he went but wasn't thrilled with the 10am but heard there was an 8am every morning so her went to that the next day (Tues). He really liked it. He said it was pretty small so everybody got a chance to share. The other meeting was big; they went around a circle reading and commenting and not everyone got a chance to share. So he really like this one- I think it's a discussion meeting and with only 6 or 8 people everybody gets a chance, and the Spanish meetings are and hour and a half and you get to share for 15 minutes. And another cool thing happened. Getting up early and going to the meeting gets him going and when he gets back he's ready to do something. Last week he worked on the kitchen tile job- it's slow on the wall in a tricky spot behind the stove, he made a spot outside for a garden, went and picked up some horse poop for fertilizer (ha ha it's free around here-lots of horses). He started another little project bringing up these thick ropes that wash up on the beach from fishing boats and is putting them on the short wall in front of our place, draping them on both sides so we can see it as well as people driving by. Then yesterday when he took the dogs swimming (yeah the water is warm enough already!), he pulled into shore this huge - well I don't know what it's called. Kelp I guess; it has these thick arms and these bulbs on them that sometimes I throw into the water for you know who to chase....

Well the piece he dragged up here was weird- it has all these small stones wrapped up in it; tiny strands of the vines wrapped all around these smooth stones kinda like hair. I'm sure the stones got smooth being in the water, but does that mean this kelp/viney stuff was on the bottom of the ocean, how else did it get all these stones? So he took a knife down to the beach and cut off a bunch of these stones, but left the thin vines that they were wrapped in intact. He put them all around the area he is making for the garden. Looks pretty cool. Oh and he also bought a couple of really big fat tomatoes, ate them like apples, and planted the seeds in small cups and put them in the window so we'll see if they grow. Anyway the point is he feels motivated in the morning now, and prior to this he felt like he sat on the couch all day playing games on his laptop. Now that's not really true, but he was doing it for a few hours every day- and now he's not doing it until late in the day or in the evening when we're watching tv- and I'm cruising facebook or writing here ha ha.

He came home last Wednesday and told me there was a zumba class in the same building as his meeting and it started at 8am like his meeting! Ooooh...yep I was interested. So Thursday he went and asked how long the class was, the price, etc. They said 70 pesos a week, but then said only if you buy a month's worth, otherwise it was 100 pesos a week. hmmm. So I went this morning, after being very excited about it all weekend, it was inside and probably not the hard cement I was dancing on at the girl's house...we could go together...So of course last nite I started watching a movie really late that didn't end until 12:30 (with Jennifer Lopez when she marries a bad guy, tries to escape him, learns how to fight...yeah seen it a bunch of times and yet watched it anyway). The thing is- for me, going to bed at 12:30 means sleep is at least 1:30 so getting up this morning at 7:15 was tough...did I mention I also had bad dreams associated with the movie so I didn't sleep well? Ok so I dragged out of bed. Bugged Everardo to drive faster because it was going to start without me...ha ha of course when I got there it door was locked, 3 other women also came and all talked about why is there no class...all in Spanish so that was good for me. Then one called the instructors and they said half an hour, or 9am....well now it's 15 after 8, so I went into the meeting where Everardo was and closed my eyes, amd almost went back to sleep. Ok they show upabout 8:40; it's a husband and wife, and they had a flat tire. There's kids there with other women because today they celebrate Benito Juarez day, even though it's the 21st, they celebrate the 3rd Monday of March so people can have a 3 day wknd, schools and bank closed- uh oh will the dentist be closed? (And I don't know if the celebration works this way all over Mexico or just here in Baja.) We didn't start until about 9...

So I talk to the woman and I try to pay, and ask if she has change since it's 70 pesos and she says no problem. her esposo will handle it after class to put me in the book. Well then she tells me that it's not really zumba....that every day is different- we dance on Monday but other days we have kickboxing, working with the rods, the jump ropes...etc. hmmm I think, and she rushed to say that we are always moving, there's always steps....I guess my Spanish is getting better cause all these conversations are in Spanish and I'm holding my own..ha ha. She tells me she wants everyone to enjoy themselves and to work on their bodies. She asked if I like to do abdominal workouts and as I smiled and said "of course...not- look at me" she looked at me for a moment and then laughed. The routine was ok, not too much dancing, but alot of areobics, right? Kicking and arm waving..I was kinda disappointed, and then when the zumba was over her husband took over with the mat work. Now I did not want to do the mat work, because I didn't have a towel and I didn't want to lay on a dirty mat...but I did. She was busy making some protein shakes that apparently they sell, to which they add some Herbal Life stuff...hmmm again. Then after it was over I went to pay & he didn't want to give me change for my 100 peso note. I told him all the ladies there told me they pay 70 pesos a week. He and his wife then told me that's if you pay in advance, but other women were lining up to pay their 70 pesos and I realized that none of these women can afford to pay a month ahead. The Everardo showed up and I told him they wanted me to pay 100 pesos, and he said, this week we are paying 70, and the wife quickly said ok. Then the guy say I have no cambia (change) & a lady behind me speaks up because she has 7 ten peso coins to pay her week. So she pays and he gives me change. BUT SEE? She was paying 70 pesos, just like everyone else...I always get the gringo tax!

So I may or may not go back tomorrow morning. I really have no desire to do kickboxing, or jump rope...and actually I missed my dance/walk with my doggys on the beach this morning. And if I do return, it will only be for this week. If I had loved it, if it had been more zumba dancing (ha ha Erika spoiled me in Penasco), if it was zumba all week...but I also was going to have to sit around for a half hour afterwards each day because I would finish at 9 and hubby not until 9:30...and the truth is, walking is working. I am feeling better, energized, and my clothes are starting to fit a little better after just a month or 5 weeks (just a tiny bit better but hey progress is progress), so I'll see how I feel when I wake up.

Ok so after all that- we came home; Everardo took the dogs for a walk while I took a shower and made my protein shake. The off again in search of a dentist. But he had one in mind because he asked a lady at his meeting and she told him who she went to, but then told him about another dentist that was very popular, and that's who we went to see. Kinda funny- he's right next door to a bakery! Oh man all the sugar smelled so good. Ok this office is about -well I suck at approximating size, but maybe 20 feet across and 15 feet deep. The entire office. The front half was the biggest, a few chairs for waiting, maybe a coffee table- no, I think just some chairs. Then a wall with a couple of decorative square holes in it that went 3/4's of the way across and then the patient room. No doors. You walk in and to the right is a dentist chair, and just enough room for the dentist to stand next to it. Behind him is counter space with those things you put the instruments in..what are they called...autoclave? Actually there were 2 of those. On the far counter, which can be seen from the waiting room is a small tv on pretty loud. There is a spit bowl next to me that looks pretty old, and a light above me. I was surprised when I heard a drill; he drilled the left over cement inside my cap and cleaned it. But I was looking around this tiny room- he and I could not have both been standing up. And it was a cement room...so nothing was sparkling white, no shiny chrome, and he was not wearing doctor whites. But I did see him wearing gloves, and I did see where he got his instruments from (altho' not the drill), and he did shoot my tooth with water and then air.....He used tweezers to place the cap, fit it on perfectly- actually I wondered how he knew which direction to put it without trying it once- and then had me bight down hard for a little while. He said my tooh back there was getting old (ouch) and that I need to be careful in the future- no more biting thru bricks or hunks of wood....oh and the best thing was....it cost about $16USD. Yipee.

So the place did not look like a dentist's office, there was no soothing music, no receptionist, no magazines to peruse while you wait. I have no idea how he does xrays- or if he sends you somewhere else- Everardo talked to him about getting his front tooth capped because he has a big chip...we looked into in Calif and it was going to be soooo expensive without insurance that I decided it gave him character ha ha. I don't think the office was 15 feet deep, because I think I was about 8 feet from the open door to the outside, maybe 6. He charges about $20USD for a filling. Wow! Can't beat that. I believe it was clean, yet not sparkling white and shiny as I said. He wore a mask when he worked on me. What I was having done I don't think risked any infection...he simply cemented my cap back on, and only drilled the back/inside of the cap. So it was fine. Would I go back there? Yeah I think I would, I guess maybe depending on what I needed. I am terrified of getting root canals, and I've had a couple, maybe 3 or 4, and I need the pain meds as much for my anxiety. There were more people in the waiting room when we left..ha ha of course I heard them come in and spied on them thru the wall...

The longer I am here, the more my perception changes. Things do not need to look perfect to be perfect. A job can be done simply. I want places to be clean of course, I want professionals to take care of me, and I want safe practices and environments...and I believe the doctor and dentist offices I have been in have done that. Like I said, I don't know how he does xrays...I would want to know...but overall it was ok. When I got here almost 2 years ago, would I have been fine in that office? I'd like to think so, but I'm not sure. I come from a world where we expect alot. We expect the most current technology, we expect total customer service, we want things to look good, bigger is better. We want to be impressed. Well my experience today impressed me; a nice man doing his job in a modest office for a more than fair price. Hmmm sounds pretty good to me.

Sometimes we forget

Sometimes we forget this is Mexico. Sometimes we forget that this is a foreign country. Sometimes we forget that just because the culture is not our own, that it isn't necessarily wrong. Sometimes we forget that we never did know everything, and for sure we don't now.

I was with a small group of people today and we were talking about the lessons to be learned here- mostly patience...but it's more than that...it's acceptance. Customer service as we may be used to in the states, in the grocery store for example is not the norm for many places here. If you don't like standing in line somewhere, or don't feel like someone is taking your order fast enough, well you can leave and go somewhere else. When I first got to Mexico and we had been in our tiny village for about 3 weeks we drove the 2 hours up to Acapulco to go to Costco. There had to be about a million people in line and 2 registers open...and other employees talking or eating (in my opinion standing around), and I was soooo pissed off. I was the only one. Everone else was just waiting. Maybe chatting, talking on the phone, or simply looking around....but definitely not stressed out like me.

When we went to the next town to pay our electric bill, there was also a long line- and it didn't matter which day you came. And if it was time for someone's break or lunch, they went. I had been waiting about half an hour and was getting closer to the window when some woman rushed in and wanted to be at the front of the line. The people at the front front would not let her in. Then a huge argument ensued with her husband who told us all that they had been there in the morning but the office closed so they had to come back. Nobody cared...get in line. But she stayed by the front trying to merge. My husband showed up and once he saw what was going on told me to hold my ground. She tried to push in front of me when it was my turn at the counter and I didn't let here. As I was waited on I heard some positive comments about Guera (sounds like wear-a...means white lady), I didn't really understand them but I understood the tone and got smiles and nods from the other women there. The bank up in Cruz Grande was the same. People lined up and would be sneaky and all of a sudden in front of you. The people waiting on you don't care. Someone puts their face in and they get waited on.

Penasco in Sonora was about the same in the grocery stores and the bank. You gotta stay alert ha ha! So here it is much the same. There's a grocery store about 8-10 miles up the road towards Ensenada. It's the closest so we go there for onesy twosey stuff, but it's expensive because it's where all the Americans from here go. We found a grocery store in Ensenada that seems to be only Mexicans shopping, and the prices were great. We figure for the groceries we just bought there for 400 pesos, we would have spend around 900-1000 in the store near us or even the Wallmart in Ensenada. If you look you can find much better deals...but they do not come with customer service- the cheap stuff or the expensive stuff.

Here it's kinda mixed up. There are lots and lots of Americans, Canadians, and other expats; in fact you could never have to speak Spanish...I see they are having a St Patrick's Day party, and of course Valentine's Day was a bug thing, too...for the Americans. We don't hang out with any of them, with the exception of the people we see in AA meetings, our next door neighbor and his friend (who is now our friend) and his dog who plays with our dogs. We shop in Mexican stores in either the next town (Maneadero) or go up to Ensenada. When we eat out, we eat at the stands almost all the time, and really have no involvement around here. There's an online newsletter that I subscribed to when we were first looking for a place over here, and I still get it. It comes out just about every day and talks about what's happening, has the menus for all the restaurants here, and who's selling what- new and used. But the prices are ridiculous! And only Americans eat and shop in these places...because the prices are ridiculous. Even the house that has an every single day yard sale has ridiculous prices...I mean c'mon...a garage sale- stuff should cost .25cents, maybe a dollar, not $25 for something used...Ok so the other weird part is the Mexicans who charge outrageous prices because they know they Americans will pay it! And they do, so we almost never eat out around here. And even the little hole in the wall Aborrotes have higher prices than if we go 5 miles down the road. So there's alot of everybody screwing everybody.

We went to the segundas today; I was looking, or planned to look for kitchen stuff for the walls, you know like a picture of food, or I don't know, kitchen-y. I'd know when I saw it. We went into this one place that has all these antiques...and the stuff is nice, but I asked the price of a small rectangular painting of a table of food and utensils...I really like it, and it was 750 pesos! What??? Yeah I didn't get it. But I also forgot I need to point things out to Everardo and then walk away...then he asks ha ha. It's frustrating to do that, but he gets a way better price than I do. Well on the way there we stopped in a nursery and he looked at plants and I looked at clay (pottery) suns to put on the wall. I wanted bright colors, cheery. Our place is so small and I think filling it with color and positive energy goes a long way to make it feel like a home. Well I got the first one for 80 pesos. Then after tramping thru the segundas, and only buying a ceramic fish (for the bathroom) and new cutting board, I had been thinking and decided that different suns, different colors and faces might be just the trick for the kitchen, so on the way home we stopped at a place we'd been to before and I found another sun, really different from the first one and got that. Of course with hubby asking the prices. You know, they don't care if you buy anything or not...the segundas have so much stuff in them, and sooo many people digging thru it. The stuff is cheap, and you can get lucky and have a great day. Tomorrow we're going back to Ensenada for the noon meeting and we're gonna stop at a place we went to today to get a sun I really liked at the time, but decided 200pesos was too much even though it had a lot of work to it...the ray were all separate and painted and it was all different bright colors, but I hadn't had the bright idea yet of doing all suns......Anyway I need to have Everardo ask the prices in the segundas as well when it's something I really want. What I should be doing is trusting my Spanish and my gut enough to ask for myself and then barter....

Ok so back to the conversation today....This woman who hadn't said much as we were talking about learning to live in another culture, to accept, and maybe to come to understand...and she speaks up and promptly bursts into tears. Now this isn't completely weird because in the short 4 months I've lived here I've seen her cry at least twice before. (ha ha here I am talking about a group of expats chatting after saying I don't really interact with them...so there's a few I see around, ok?) I know she rides horses alot, and they are not her horses, but owned by some Mexican people who live near her, I think it's a couple of different families that own a few different horses. Horses are everywhere around here, in fact up on the main road right at the mouth of our road, whenever there's a cruise ship in Ensenada, there's a big string of horses tied up, and buses come from the cruise ships and drop people for a horse ride out to the beach. I think they pay $20 a pop, and really they just ride out to the beach (down our road a little ways and then across a small patch of land to the beach), then they kinda just stand around, and come back. Sounds kinda chintzy, but they people keep coming.
So this woman is always talking about riding horses up in the hills, and today she started to talk about a horse and I almost turned my mind to something else, but she had started to cry so I listened. Apparently one of the horses was pregnant and about to have it's baby (yeah I know there's horse terms for this but I don't know them and am too lazy to google it for this post, sorry), and there was some kind of argument about who actually owned the horse or who was going to own the baby horse. The the horse disappeared, she thought one of the guys stole it...and the next thing she knew was the horse was hit by at least 2 cars. Now I think all this took place on Wednesday afternoon, and I'm not sure what road she's talking about because we went out, and I never saw anything. But anyway, the horse had 2 broken legs, and a guy from one of the cars had a head injury and had to go to the hospital. One thing to note: if your animal "hits" your car, you are responsible for the damages. It's like when we were down in Guerrero, where there were alot of cows along the backroads, if you hit the cow, the farmer had to pay you, so what usually happened was he gave you the cow and there was a big bbq after that. We were at the neighbor's when word came somebody hit a cow, and out friend had to leave to go help butcher the cow.

Well nobody wanted to claim the horse after the cars hit it because none of them have any money, and people here are afraid of the police..The really really horrible thing was that the poor horse was left on the road for 24 hours, in pain until a vet came. The vet put the poor horse out of it's misery, but had no instruments with him to perform a cesarean....so a man who was there whipped out a big knife, cut open the dead horse and took out the foal. The vet had left and so they called another one, and he came hours later, and put the baby horse on an iv and said if it made it thru the nite it had a chance. Then some women showed up to take care of the foal, and promptly took out the iv. The baby did survive the nite, but died the next day. The woman telling us the story was almost hysterical..and I am not sure of any of the facts, but I am sure that this woman was losing it. I went and sat by her and hugged her. She was there for all of the things she related to us, and she was sad and angry...and powerless. The guy who owned the horse did after all go down to the accident and pay for the man who had to go to the hospital. I don't understand about the vets taking so long because there's one here and another in Maneadero and they don't charge too much (well the one in Manedero) and would have come right away, so I don't know what was going on. But my concern was for her. This is Mexico, not the United States. Yes, people are afraid of the police and in many cases for good reason. Animals are not treated the same way at all. They are possessions, and as little money as possible is spent on them- again many times because people can hardly feed themselves and/or their family, or pay for drinking water, or or or....I don't agree with the treatment of animals here; our dogs are our kids. They sleep in the house, they do everything with us. Here if you have a dog it's probly just for protection, and there are so many strays, all over Mexico- it's a huge problem..

So I stayed with her and we chatted for awhile. I told her if she is going to get this upset over every "injustice"- perceived injustice, she's gonna want to kill herself. This was not the first story of something upsetting her I've heard, but certainly the worst, the saddest, the most awful. But there's not too much she can do about it. I'm sure I would have been horrified myself...maybe I would have thought to call the lady at the dog rescue, she probly could have gotten someone there quicker...but we have to learn some acceptance here. Yes, we think our way is the best most times. Is it? Not sure....not sure I'm qualified to be the judge of anything. So yeah, sometimes we forget. But I want to be here, maybe I can contribute in a positive way, and sometimes I just need to be. It's been a long day...but still...Viva!

Rain....and then gone...for the season?

Well it poured rain on Saturday and both Friday and Saturday nites. Not sure if I mentioned that although it didn't leak much....the place did leak a little. Around a front window and the bedroom window. So when it dried out Saturday afternoon, Everardo went around and caulked windows and patched the roof over the porch- of course it leaked right where you walk out thru the sliding glass door. And that door is the on ewe use all the time. We only use the kitchen door to get in after we've been out because the slider has no key. Anyway his work paid off and as it poured Saturday nite- all nite it seemed, and hard with really strong winds, we stayed dry.

The rain on Saturday was mostly in the morning and then during the nite. I had tried twice to take the dogs for a beach walk but it started to rain hard both times I ventured out. So the third time, it hadn't rained in over and hour and the sky seemed to be clearing up, so I said "let's go!" We get down the path so we're on the beach and the sky opens up. I had 2 tennis balls and the ball checker so threw for them anyway and at first they were happy to be playing in the rain. I was soaked to the skin in 2 minutes. Hazel was the fist to dissapear and I saw her running up the path to get home but Sam hung in.....for a couple of more minutes..and then I chucked one hard, he started off, took just a few steps and looked back at me like 'are you nuts?' and took off for the house. When I got up there both dogs were on the porch, toweled dry by Poppi, who ordered me to a hot shower. But, something happened.

By Saturday nite I had bumps on my face, I thought they were bug bites, big and red, like a spider had marched accross my forehead and down my cheek. Oh and one by itself on the inside of my forearm. I put my bug stuff on them but by Sunday morning they looked like something I had before, down in Playa Ventura. They looked like pustules...bumps with liquid inside- and I had it the first summer we were in Mexico. It was on my arm and my leg right around the knee. When I popped a couple I realized they weren't bug bites and we went to the doctor. He said it was an infection from the water. That at the first rains, the water came down from the mountains and there was basically sewage coming down into the ocean. There was no plumbing for people up there, and people who do have plumbing, even some in the town where we were, sometimes the pipe just went outside of their house or led down to the water. The doctor said that kids and people who were not used to it caught the bacteria every year around that time. Yuck- did I say yuck yuck yuck? So he gave me an antibiotic shot (in case you haven't realized that theme, you get a shot for everything!) and some cream to put on them. He told me not to pop them but if they did pop to wipe it right up.

Ok so none if these bumps were far enough along to start popping so I slathered on the cream I found in our bathroom. The box it came in said it was only by perscription so I knew it had to be it. I'm going to write the name down and save it in case there's ever a next time. I already re-looked up all our other meds and wrote what they are for on the packages, but I think I'll just make a list and keep it in the medicine drawer.

Today is Wednesday and I woke up today with just a couple of bumps left and none with liquid. But I was careful, kept my hair back with a headband and put the cream on every few hours. If it hadn't worked by Friday I was going to go to the doctor but looks like no need. SO- ewwww! Did I get it from the rain? Or from something that the dogs ran thru and maybe it was like a poison oak or something? But this was the first really hard rain, and seemed more like it came from inland than the ocean. I mean I know it came across the ocean, but maybe went across Baja and moved up. Baja isn't really wide- you can cross it in about 3-4 hours from here, so maybe the clouds sucked up water from the mountains around here? I don't know, what I do know is, water...icky bumps....Oh and I was not in the ocean (too cold this time of year). Well anyway crisis averted.

Some amazing and fantastic and wonderful happened this week as well. Friday I had sent a one liner message to my younger daughter simply saying I miss you and I love you. I told myself that i needed to accept that she might not reply, but I needed to not have any resentments. Well she did reply! She said she missed me too, and wanted me to call her. So I did. On Monday late morning and we talked for almost 2 hours! At first it was light and casual, as if we talked all the time. But an opportunity opened up and I felt I needed to say how I felt. At first that part didn't go so good. We had resentments, anger, guilt...blame....but we kept on talking because we love each other and because we can change our relationship right this minute if we want to. So I told her how I felt and she told me how she felt. And we worked thru it. We talked again yesterday, in the morning before her afternoon class, and then again- she called me when she got out of school at 8:30 pm. We talked about a million things, both those calls were over an hour as well. We talked about some important things...I think she is putting huge pressure on herself and maybe doesn't know how to resolve it, change it....and I had some suggestions. She has work and school and is living in her dad's house with him and his new wife. School is really tough and she is rethinking her path, and then worried that she shouldn't be rethinking...that's alot of pressure. Unfortunately for her, when her dad and I divorced she was 13, and she always chose to stay with him because he spoiled her so much- I mean cooking for her, doing her laundry, cleaning the house, etc. Now at 13 maybe that's ok, but it went on and on and now she's about to be 21. He a wonderful dad and just wants to take care of her- he's a big caretaker, wants to take care of everyone..but this has not turned out so well because well, now her expectations...yeah she never wanted to stay with me because I had rules, curfew, not allowing her to smoke weed in my house....Anyway now she has a new stepmother who job it is not to be her maid. My daughter knows this on some level but has big resentments going on. So they argue...alot. I was so happy she confided in me. And I told her I think she needs to move out, right now. She wants to live in San Francisco which I think is a great idea, but that plan is a ways off, at least to the fall semester. She needs to move out now. Is she is unhappy with the living situation she is the one who needs to make a change. Her dad's new wife is not going anywhere. And she's not that new, she's been in the picture for almost 2 years. So my darling daughter just had so much inside, struggling with school and her home life...I wish (or well what's done is done) but I wish she would have confided in me sooner, but we're here now. So the second time we talked, last nite, she was excited and had already talked to her really close friend who needs a place to live as well and they are going to look together. I also told her it's ok to change her mind about school.

She's still taking alot of general ed, and she could just get an associates degree for now, and finish her Bachelors later. Or change back to her original idea of a degree in something environmental which is what she had always talked about but got disillusioned last summer. Then she made a huge leap- and I think she felt pressured and at least partly by me- and wanted to be come a landscape architect.....well now she's in an architecture class and doesn't like it at all...well that was the impression I got, we plan to talk about it more. But I don't want her to be unhappy or stressed out. Stay in school and look for a different path, or the path she had been on before- you know how the grass if always greener...in fact I wouldn't mind if she took the fall semester off and got used to living on her own...she'll finish this semester (it's about half way), and hopefully move out in the next month or 2 at the most...then she can work and settle into being her own boss, realize her responsibility. (she told me her stepmom was not the boss of her & I told her, when you are in their house she sure is the boss of you!) Yeah I want her to finish school, but the cool thing is, you can start again twice a year, at the beginning of every semester. I just want her to see she has options, choices, and yes they all come with responsibilities, with prices, with consequences...but she is in control - if she chooses to be. I want her to choose to be happy. I already know she will be a huge success at whatever she chooses. Hell she works in a very popular upscale restaurant and makes great tips...as a busser ($150 the other nite in tips) and she's gonna train as a server. People love her, she is so open, sincere, and has such compassion. But my baby girl bottle up her negative thoughts and emotions...and sooner or later they have to come out. That's what we talked about the first day when the conversation went to the dark side...you gotta talk about that stuff. Maybe that's why she opened up the next day. I am so so so so pleased to have my daughter back in my life. I will try very hard to respect her space and her likes/dislikes...like she hates long messages (and my argument was well if I don't hear from you for 8 months, I have so many questions so much to say)...but we kinda caught ourselves up and I'll try to send short and sweet msgs. With my older daughter we write books to each other as well as phone calls every couple of days so i can get it out there ha ha. So we promised to stay in close touch. It will take work on both our sides, but I'm willing and I think she is too.

So all this means life is goooood. My hubby is happy, my dogs are happy. Long walks on the beach for doggys and me, and jogging for him. We're still exploring and finding better places to shop- like shopping in Mexican stores where not too many if any Americans go makes the bill so much cheaper! We bought a week's worth of meat, milk, bread, and couple of other things and spent 400 pesos (about $32USD) and for about the same amount of stuff in Wallmart or even Calimax (which is near us but where all the Americans in this area shop) it would be about 900-1000 pesos. So making a list and going into Ensenada for groceries to a Mexican store is REALLY worth it. Just like the vet for the dogs- we go to Manedero, the Mexican town on the way to Ensenada and it's really cheap. The vet here in Punta Banda, well their clients are again-Americans and Canadians...so you pay pay pay.

I love it here! The ocean is so amazing, the weather is nice...still cold by nitefall and man today, really nice in the morning for my walk in a tank top and shorts but cold by afternoon. We are snug here with Sam & Hazel sleeping on the floor in front of us. These dogs have the life! Viva!