It's taken 6 months but the last few nights I've gotten up to pee and padded barefoot to the bathroom. Yeah I know this sounds weird, but 4 and a half years ago I would have thought that one always goes barefoot when living by the beaches in Mexico...wrong! And barefoot outside as well- yipee!
When we first got to Mexico and lived in Playa Ventura, Guerrero I saw a scorpion in the sink as we were moving in. Then in some laundry, another day a big one on the patio that was waving it's tail at a puppy who was barking at it. (smart puppy lept it's distance). We were about 2 hours south of Acapulco, right on the beach, and it was the tropics; we didn't even have hot water and didn't care. Ever. It's hot and humid day and nite, 24/7, all the time. (of course no air conditioning- half the time we had no electricity)We had tile floors but they were never cold. (I picked out that tile...well in the addition part of the house anyway, so the living room and bedroom. The kitchen was across the cement patio and the floor was already tiled. The upstairs, which you had to go outside to get to was also tile but not the pretty design I had picked out. I'll try to find a picture of it. When I started writing this blog I never added any photos so there's probably no pics of the floor. Hmmm well maybe because once I started adding photos I probably went back. Ha ha as always I digress....
Found some photos real quick. You can see my beautiful tile. And our wacky paint job. My amazing husband painted with all the colors I chose. He built shelves for my bathroom stuff and the bookshelves in the living room. Then we had someone make the 2 dressers in the bedroom and the long cabinet in the kitchen. How cool is that? Right? I actually got to say what I wanted the furniture to look like and then this guy made them. Sadly though, when we left, that "made for me" furniture stayed. I gave the kitchen piece to my friend Chela, and we gave the dressers to Jay, the guy who took care of the house for us.
So the scorpions were the reason I always wore flip flops in the house. Day or nite. I had a pair I kept next to the bed since I'm always getting up to pee. Outside- well it was always hot, so the sand was always really hot, and the road was dirt and so rocky, so I always wore flip flops or sandals. When I went in the ocean I always wore water shoes or sandals. Partly for rocks, and partly because I just have always worn shoes in the ocean or in rivers/lakes. When we got to Penasco and Baja there were so many sting rays it was a very good idea to wear shoes in the ocean. (Ok Penasco was Sea of Cortez or Gulf of Calif). In Playa Ventura I would see iguanas on the rocks on our beach, and one day a parrot walking down the road! Sounds so funny right? And then of course my story about the chicken fighting a huge tarantula! I watched- mesmerized- from the safety of the taxi I was in ha ha, and by the way the chicken won in the end- pecked that big spider to death. Made me look at chickens different after that! Yeah then last year when I was in Key West Florida when my brother in law was in the hospital, and I went outside to use the phone...and that rooster "looked at me menacingly" - I knew he wanted me to drop the chips and back away. I was eating chips or something and that crazy rooster just walked right up to me! Ha ha then later my little sister apparently took a picture of it and blew it up to 5x7 and gave it to me. I have it in a frame in my kitchen now.
Ok this is not a picture of the rooster that tried to extort me, but he looks just like him. In Key West both chickens and igunas are all over the place...wild. The chickens and roosters are in grocery store parking lots and parks, and the iguanas are near the water, in the grass. It's so crazy! But funny thing is, if I hadn't had lived down in Guerrero - in the tropics- I would have been really freaked out by the iguanas...instead I just thought it was weird like the chickens!
So- back to the barefoot me. Ok so we moved to northern Mexico after only 6 months in the tropics- yeah the weather was killing me! But- we moved to the desert! We weren't on the beach but only a 10 minute drive away. We stayed a year; the winter was cold and rainy, but the spring, summer and fall were SO hot! And although we had hot water we had no heat and of course no air conditioning. The floors again were either tile or cement, and again, there were scorpions. I was told- oh the tiny ones are more dangerous...Boy I learned back in Guerrero and it was the same in Penasco- wear shoes and never never put your hands in places where you can't see. Don't reach way back on shelves or under things. So I wore flip flops or shoes inside and out, as well as in the water. After a year we visited Baja and I was soooo excited about the weather. That's when I realized that climate is everything! So we moved to Baja, and lived at the beach again. For about a year and a half we lived in a mobile home on the beach and although I never saw a scorpion in the house I wasn't taking any chances. I wore shoes. I went outside to the beach every day, but unfortunately in Baja, where we were, the beaches have alot of people for holidays and alot of rentals, and the beach can have broken glass, so shoes again, plus sting rays.
Our last couple of months in Baja were on a hillside, and we found scorpions almost every day. OK so this has been a long story about wearing shoes! ha ha. Now we live in northern Calif, and I haven't seen a scorpion, or even heard of any. Our living room and bedrooms are carpet so the floor is warm. I still keep slippers or flip flops on my side of the bed; but in just the last week I've gone to the bathroom in the middle of the nite barefoot. I've started walking thru the house barefoot. I walk outside down to the street to get the mail, barefoot. I guess this all sounds kinda silly. But I grew up in Calif, barefoot all summer, and never thinking about it in the house; slippers were for winter or when it was cold or rainy. And my dreams of living in Mexico were always with bare feet on the beach. We've been back 6 months now, and in this house for 3...and I'm just now going barefoot. Viva
When we first got to Mexico and lived in Playa Ventura, Guerrero I saw a scorpion in the sink as we were moving in. Then in some laundry, another day a big one on the patio that was waving it's tail at a puppy who was barking at it. (smart puppy lept it's distance). We were about 2 hours south of Acapulco, right on the beach, and it was the tropics; we didn't even have hot water and didn't care. Ever. It's hot and humid day and nite, 24/7, all the time. (of course no air conditioning- half the time we had no electricity)We had tile floors but they were never cold. (I picked out that tile...well in the addition part of the house anyway, so the living room and bedroom. The kitchen was across the cement patio and the floor was already tiled. The upstairs, which you had to go outside to get to was also tile but not the pretty design I had picked out. I'll try to find a picture of it. When I started writing this blog I never added any photos so there's probably no pics of the floor. Hmmm well maybe because once I started adding photos I probably went back. Ha ha as always I digress....
Found some photos real quick. You can see my beautiful tile. And our wacky paint job. My amazing husband painted with all the colors I chose. He built shelves for my bathroom stuff and the bookshelves in the living room. Then we had someone make the 2 dressers in the bedroom and the long cabinet in the kitchen. How cool is that? Right? I actually got to say what I wanted the furniture to look like and then this guy made them. Sadly though, when we left, that "made for me" furniture stayed. I gave the kitchen piece to my friend Chela, and we gave the dressers to Jay, the guy who took care of the house for us.
So the scorpions were the reason I always wore flip flops in the house. Day or nite. I had a pair I kept next to the bed since I'm always getting up to pee. Outside- well it was always hot, so the sand was always really hot, and the road was dirt and so rocky, so I always wore flip flops or sandals. When I went in the ocean I always wore water shoes or sandals. Partly for rocks, and partly because I just have always worn shoes in the ocean or in rivers/lakes. When we got to Penasco and Baja there were so many sting rays it was a very good idea to wear shoes in the ocean. (Ok Penasco was Sea of Cortez or Gulf of Calif). In Playa Ventura I would see iguanas on the rocks on our beach, and one day a parrot walking down the road! Sounds so funny right? And then of course my story about the chicken fighting a huge tarantula! I watched- mesmerized- from the safety of the taxi I was in ha ha, and by the way the chicken won in the end- pecked that big spider to death. Made me look at chickens different after that! Yeah then last year when I was in Key West Florida when my brother in law was in the hospital, and I went outside to use the phone...and that rooster "looked at me menacingly" - I knew he wanted me to drop the chips and back away. I was eating chips or something and that crazy rooster just walked right up to me! Ha ha then later my little sister apparently took a picture of it and blew it up to 5x7 and gave it to me. I have it in a frame in my kitchen now.
So- back to the barefoot me. Ok so we moved to northern Mexico after only 6 months in the tropics- yeah the weather was killing me! But- we moved to the desert! We weren't on the beach but only a 10 minute drive away. We stayed a year; the winter was cold and rainy, but the spring, summer and fall were SO hot! And although we had hot water we had no heat and of course no air conditioning. The floors again were either tile or cement, and again, there were scorpions. I was told- oh the tiny ones are more dangerous...Boy I learned back in Guerrero and it was the same in Penasco- wear shoes and never never put your hands in places where you can't see. Don't reach way back on shelves or under things. So I wore flip flops or shoes inside and out, as well as in the water. After a year we visited Baja and I was soooo excited about the weather. That's when I realized that climate is everything! So we moved to Baja, and lived at the beach again. For about a year and a half we lived in a mobile home on the beach and although I never saw a scorpion in the house I wasn't taking any chances. I wore shoes. I went outside to the beach every day, but unfortunately in Baja, where we were, the beaches have alot of people for holidays and alot of rentals, and the beach can have broken glass, so shoes again, plus sting rays.
Our last couple of months in Baja were on a hillside, and we found scorpions almost every day. OK so this has been a long story about wearing shoes! ha ha. Now we live in northern Calif, and I haven't seen a scorpion, or even heard of any. Our living room and bedrooms are carpet so the floor is warm. I still keep slippers or flip flops on my side of the bed; but in just the last week I've gone to the bathroom in the middle of the nite barefoot. I've started walking thru the house barefoot. I walk outside down to the street to get the mail, barefoot. I guess this all sounds kinda silly. But I grew up in Calif, barefoot all summer, and never thinking about it in the house; slippers were for winter or when it was cold or rainy. And my dreams of living in Mexico were always with bare feet on the beach. We've been back 6 months now, and in this house for 3...and I'm just now going barefoot. Viva
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