Jobs & houses...oh and hot sand

I have a job interview! Yipee!! Luckily even though I'd like to get it, I don't care if I don't. 20 hours a week would be perfect, not much money...but I keep saying I don't need much....ok ok I need a little. So she emailed me this morning and I was pretty surprised cause she was interviewing a "girl" this morning that was a computer WHIZ and wanted half the money I want....(wow half). I thought it was interesting that she said a girl, that's why I put quote marks around it. I mean unless she's under 21...I'd say a young lady or young woman if I was speaking to someone I didn't know...hmmm she probably is really young, and probably Mexican and doesn't need money, but could use the experience. Oh and maybe this woman I'm going to interview with is older than I'm thinking she is....who knows who knows...the cool thing (for me) is that this girl can't give her 20 hours a week-hmm maybe she's in school- so Diane wants to talk to me about the job. Did I say yipee??

I'm so glad I was honest with her when we talked on the phone. I know excel & power point, but haven't used them for a few years; well excel just for personal stuff like when I was job hunting in the states, or figuring out tasks when doing some home project; creating our original list of household things in categories for moving to Mexico as cost effectively as possible...but I am good, I used a computer to do my job for the past 30+ years. And she also needs a voice on the phone good with customers- and this I EXCEL at at! I am so good with customers! Vendors as well. So vamos a ver eh? Like I said we chatted on the phone once and now she wants to get together soon; she wasn't feeling well today so said she'd get back to me. That's fine with me; we ran around alot this morning cause I had a migraine that brought me to my knees on Sunday, and after the shot, slept all day.

 Yesterday I was still wiped out. Hopefully that's it for migraines for a few months, usually 2 a year, but sometimes 3. I bet if I look back thru these blog posts I can find the last time...I do think it was twice before this year cause I got the shot in Penasco twice I think. In Playa Ventura I had 1, but I didn't know about the shot then and I just suffered for 2 or 3 days. This one sucked extra cause along with it I got panic attacks; my other 2 or 3 times a year fun thing. But as of this morning I think I'm all good. Woke up early, we went out early-8am and I had McDonald's for breakfast in Ensenada- big mistake...not McDonalds, but ordering off my own menu of always having an egg mcmuffin with cheese and ham....and oj, I went with Everardo and had scrambled eggs and pancakes..sorry folks I wouldn't recommend it! But we ran our errands, and when we got home, Mike the maintenance guy was here.

I swear he's been working on our toilets since we moved in. And I can't believe this is week 4! We're still supposed to go downstairs for number 2, but honestly the last couple of days I just didn't care- and fortunately it was all fine. So today we get home and he's stomping around pissed off- the new toilet for upstairs is defective, leaking water on the floor and down the pipe onto our front porch...no not yucky cause it's just water. He was here about 3 hours I'm guessing and in the end we have the original toilet ha ha...ok so back to running downstairs.

Anyway back to yesterday afternoon. About 4pm we decided to take the dogs to the beach. One or both of us try to take them for a long walk every afternoon, even if we walked in the morning by the estuary. But that road is often busy, not super busy, but with 2 dogs- one of which does not mind, chases floating pieces of paper, or flower, or simply the wins itself, and the other has only the water on his mind so is pushing pushing is to walk faster....anyway the beach has been winning out. Plus even when we do go to the estuary we cross over to the beach for the walk back, and Sam loves loves loves the beach. Hazel simply loves loves loves whatever Sam is doing. Ok so we turned left instead of right when we hit the beach. We discovered this Saturday morning actually- that there's a hot water spring right there in the sand. I always kick off my shoes as we hit the firmer sand, and I noticed almost absently, that the sand was really warm. When I noticed it, I had been thinking about the sun, except that it was early. Then I walked in a little bit of water where it seemed the tide was going out but still water hanging way up the beach, and it was warm, too. Then I saw a puddle, like someone had dug a small hole that I could stand in with both feet. Wow! The water was too hot to stand in! As we walked a little further we saw a guy with a shovel digging a hole and the lady was sitting in the hole. I realized I had seen that the other day. Yeah a "duh moment" You know how people have a lightbulb moment, well mine is simply "duh". I guess that's why my campo (neighborhhod) is called Agua Caliente (hot water)...duh! So yesterday we walked that way again and found the warm water, and Sam chased the ball. But it was getting cold, and we only thru it on the beach- he was actually ok with it- kind of a surprise, but maybe he remembers he gets cold when we get home. We towel him off but he has to stay outside for a while.

So this guy is walking towards us from further down the beach. As he gets closer we recognize him with his 2 chihuahuas. We've seen him a couple of other times and just say hi, and try to catch Hazel who wants to play with them; oneof them is very interested in Sam who can't be bothered with yet another tiny dog, and the other runs with Hazel so it's win win. We chat with him yesterday, well mostly Poppi cause it's all in Spanish but I talk a little and understand a little (ha ha), and he tells us where he lives, in the campo next to ours and there, you don't pay electric. Then he tells Poppi that he works for the guy who owns that campo and that he can probably get a job over there. Wow- so we both get leads on jobs! Everardo's would probably be full time- but only 8 hours a day, not 12 like alot of jobs around here. So he's going to go over there tomorrow morning. They talked alot about houses for rent around here. We pay alot. He told us about a guy who rents big mobile homes- you know like the double wides?? Ha ha I can finally be trailer trash! Ok sorry, actually my mom lived in a double wide mobile home for about 20 years after my dad died, and it was a nice place. A really nice park, and a nice living space, huge with a family room, a living room, a dining room, huge kitchen and even a sunken tub in the master bath. The guy lives (I think) in this castle down the road back towards Maneadero on the edge of the estuary. You can see the castle from the road and I think you can rent it for a special occasion, for the night, ect. Anyway this is the guy who owns the trailers, and apparently he has them in several locations. We're going to see him. And Vladmir (the guy on the beach with the chihuahuas) also told us that houses rent from about $200-350USD. We're gonna start looking around.

Yes we've just been here going on 4 weeks, and we did sign a 6 month lease. And I do love this house. But the truth is, it's HUGE. The living room and master bedroom are about the size of the Penasco house. We have nice views, but so do lots of places. I probably wrote about it before we got here, that we just wanted to fins somewhere to rent so we'd be here, and then we could take our time looking around. It took me these 3.5 weeks to realize that Everardo is right- this house is way too big for us...for the money. And really, it's worth $500 a month, we just don't need so much house. And for me- I hate stairs, I do not want to live in a 2 story house. I grew up in a 1 story house, and then lived with stairs for years and then back to 1 story and that's what I like. It's funny, my Drewy has lived almost her entire life in 2 story homes and she likes them- it's what she knows. Bedroom go upstairs. Me, cozy is good. In fact Everardo thought our Petaluma house was too big, less than 1300 sq feet, but I thought it was just right. This is much bigger than that. Of course maybe I just hate the kitchen being way downstairs when I want to snack! It is also the campo. I wrote about the devil woman, and she has so many brothers & sisters and nephews and and and...add to that some of them are drug addicts and maybe dealers....and there's so many empty houses in here. And wherever we are in town, a restaurant or the beach or even a meeting, I hear that air sucked in "oh"..awkward silence.."well be careful there..." I mean I'm not scared or anything, the devil woman is just a bitch, and the hearing about houses being robbed have always been when nobody is home, so I'm not concerned for my safety. And usually the dogs are here if we're not (ok except for beach walks), and they are a good deterrent. We don't go out much at nite. So I'm not worried about that, more that it's just sort of isolated. The fact is we're almost for sure gonna move at 6 months- the house is big and we pay high rent. But it could even happen sooner; I mean if we find somewhere we like better-house and neighborhood, we might just break the lease. The problem with that of course is losing the security deposit of $500, so we'll just have to see. But you know what, when Poppi said that to me, that maybe we just let go of that deposit if it's for the right place, I felt a huge relief. We have options, and that immediately makes it easier, even to stay. And the family that owns at least 2 and maybe more of the other campos- we heard so many good things about them, everybody loves them...anyway options options.

So it's been an interesting few days. And my journey continues of thinking I want something, getting it, and finding out the grass wasn't greener ha ha. But we knew when we called this lady we'd be looking possibly at more expensive places, and this was the last place, almost an afterthought on her part it felt like to me. Maybe because it was more than we wanted to pay, maybe because she hadn't rented it out before-which I didn't know at the time. The people want to sell (but want way too much), and just started to rent it out, which I guess is why Maintenance Mike calls it a nightmare ha ha. He was working with the electrical before we got here, and told us the lights started working the day before we got here ha ha! And I know I complained about what we had to clean up with regards to their clothes, bedsheets, etc. We shall see what tomorrow brings; Everardo will go check out the job front with this guy, and maybe that woman will contact me tomorrow for that second interview. ooooh if even one of us works I can justify paying for zumba- another tentative yipee. I downloaded all the zumba music Erika gave me from Penasco onto my laptop and my phone, and I think I could probably pick 45 min to an hour of it and make up my own routine- but I do love exercising with a group in a class..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oooops I had more...

I had more to say but that post felt so long. We did get tv finally, on Tuesday, so I think we're all set. Well it will be about a week before the water stops being salty but in the scheme of things, that's not so bad. Maybe we needed to live in the other places first and go thru some tough or at least frustrating stuff, to see that this place ain't half bad- know what I mean?

Earlier this week was the anniversary of my dad's death. Nov 4. 33 years ago- I can't believe it! I was in my early 20's, and now it seems like I hardly knew him. He got sick and died in 3 months, altho' they think he was sick for 3 months before that. I mean I knew him, but I knew my dad, as my dad. Over the years I came to know my mom as a person, but not him. I still think of him all the time and every once in a while I dream of him and he's so familiar. He was only 59 when he died, of cancer. I asked my brother when he turned 60 if he thought about it- yes of course. My sister turned 60, no wait 61, this year, well she reads my blog so she'll tell me if she thought about it as she went thru 59...me, I have already had cancer, and am finally starting to believe I beat it. In a couple of months I'll turn 57, but yes it's on my mind, too. Me going thru cancer, thru cancer treatment, is a huge reason, a huge part of why I wanted to move to Mexico. It had always been one of those dreams, and I had actually visited a few different parts of Mexico before I got sick. But I felt like, life is short, I don't want to think...I wish I woulda....

It has been an amazing adventure. But as always I am so selfish. I heard my husband tell someone today, that he was feeling stressed, kind of overwhelmed (he used different words), but so much moving in a relatively short time,  not just packing and unpacking, but emotionally. That he wanted us to be somewhere that I could be happy, but that was why he told me, when you decide you don't like it here- we go back to the states. That everywhere has things you like and don't like. I thought moving was easy for him- not physically- of course that's hard, gets tiring. But because he's lived so many places, including being homeless and living under a bridge, well I thought it was no big deal for him emotionally. That's what I mean about being selfish, I thought it was only hard for me. And being here now, I think of it as a big adventure; trying new things and finding out what works, and what doesn't. And for me, this has been pretty extreme- tropics, desert, and now here. And again, maybe it's perfect (oops not perfect but good) that we did it this way. Cause this is the closest to home climate wise, house wise, amenities wise. But I experienced so much and I'm so grateful for that.

Anyway...so we've been to Ensenada twice in 2 days. Lots of traffic there, and so much nosier than here. This was the better choice. Well and the whole I can walk on the beach every day here, see the waves from my couch, and hear the ocean- softly- from my bed thing ha ha!
We went to Starbucks yesterday and I was crushed to find they do NOT have Pumpkin Spice latte! The guy said they have it just for one month a year- October boo hoo. I also went this morning to my first AA meeting over here, and that was nice, too. Small meeting like in Penasco, and they have one Fridays at 6pm so I'll go again tomorrow...yeah settling in. So ok, I want to go check on Hazel. Viva.

Mexico fun fact:
Texas was a Mexican province which declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, resulting in war with the United States (1836-1838)

Salt water hot springs and a girl named Hazel

Our plumbing problems are not totally resolved, but are ok. It is still a drag to have to run downstairs to do anything besides pee, but not unmanageable. The toilet in the downstairs bedroom is very slow, and Mike says he's gonna replace it tomorrow. He still is not sure about the septic tank/tanks but he'll get to the bottom of it. So I'm not sure if I already described this, but our water comes from a well, is pumped up to a tank and then into the house. Sounds simple right? Oh I left out a little bit. The well is actually a hot spring, and the hot water is pumped up to a tank where it cools off before it transfers to another tank and is pumped into the house. Then to get hot water you need the hot water heater (ha ha crazy right?). But there's more. As it turns out, the water is salty. At first I didn't really notice, but then started to when it tasted salty in the shower. That a plastic glass I just washed, then filled up with water, tasted salty (the rim of the cup not the water). Our drinking water is in the big garafones that we get refilled every few days. I really started to notice in hte shower that the water felt, well rough I guess is the word. The soap didn't slide over me, and forget trying to shave arm pits much less legs. It's also starting to dry out my skin, Everardo's too.

So new decision. Everardo stopped the hot salt water from transferring to the other tank (cistern), and once it empties we're gonna have the water truck fill it up. I'm looking forward to it. When we were down by Acapulco in Playa Ventura,  people had the water truck fill up their cisterns, but our was filled by rainfall that was captured on the roof during the rainy season. We had on cistern on the roof and 2 underground. There had been a couple of rainy years so we were full to the brim. So we only needed the other kind of water truck- the one that brought the drinking water in the garafones (the big plastic jugs like you see in an office with a "water cooler"). We usually went thru about 4 a week; it was nice, they knew us and just brought them down. I think it was 23 or 25 pesos a jug, and the Pepsi truck brought them. In Penasco you could buy them from this truck that drove thru the neighborhood at 8:30 in the morning with the horn honking, and I think it was about 16 pesos per, but we took them right down the street and paid between 8 and 11 pesos. If we went down by the malecon, at the docks where the fishing boats came in it was only 5 pesos, but pretty inconvenient to save a couple of pesos....

This house has a dryer, but not a washer...until yesterday. We bought a used washing machine, brought it home, hooked it up and threw in a load. Ooops no spin. Loaded it back on the truck and went back to Ensenada this morning and the kid was really nice and we switched it for one I like better. He tested it to be sure, and now I'm doing laundry...in the house. Yipee. In Playa Ventura I never washed clothes in the arroyo (stream) next to our house like some of the neighbors, but I was pretty primitive there for a while ha ha. WE had an outside sink that actually had a small counter next to it with ridges in it, so I scrubbed the clothes there, and then took them into the shower with me to rinse them. This was the shower where you stepped on a piece of wood at the end of a rope to make the water come down. And of course, hung it on a line to dry...and it rained all the time down there...so sometimes I had to run outside to grab it. It was so hot there that it always dried in an hour or two, but I didn't always go get it that quickly...The truth is, it was a drag!! I hated doing the laundry like that. The last couple of months we were there, we took the laundry to the nearby town, Copala, and we would pick it up the next day, for about 90 pesos a week, about $7-8 USD. I was at a point I would have happily paid twice as much. In Penasco we had a washing machine, outside behind the bungalow next door. That damn thing beat the shit out of our clothes! It turned stuff inside out and I have tiny holes in lots of my tops now. And we used the clothesline. So- here we have a washer & a dryer. I actually bought clothesline and clothes pins in Ensenada yesterday- and later Everardo said wth? Why don't you use the dryer. So last nite with the load that never had the spin cycle, after I wringed (?) wrung(?) them out and remembered how much my wrists hated that, I used the dryer. Yipee....soft clothes. After we got home today with the replacement washer, I did all the laundry. So nice when it's in the house, in the "laundry room"...off the kitchen, so easy. As Everardo said, this place is the closest to Petaluma, the weather, the house, and the laundry. Yep- I'm likin' it. Like being home but not as expensive!

On the way home we decided to stop at St Paco's dog rescue. These 2 gray haired old ladies in this ramshackle house, filled with dogs! I think the house was just for the dogs, not quite sure, but it was a house full of love. All the dogs were lovely, loving, sweet. Different sizes, colors; they all had names... and I guess next door were all big dogs who were (I think) 2 years and older. They told us though, that most of those dogs needed to be socialized and probably not a good idea to put with another dog. They were working on them, one dog at a time they said. We were only there to look, but later Poppi said, all those dogs, and those women were so caring, and he thought maybe they lived there, and he said he thought- let's just pick one right now. Cause I was surprised when he said, yeah let's take this one. But this dog, super sweet but they said very protective, was getting over something and we didn't want Sam exposed to anything. I asked if they had puppies, and they said yes of course...over there. So we saw a liter of puppies; they said the mom was white lab and not sure about dad, and we met Hazel. She was the runt, the only one with no white on her, and smaller than the others. But she was very lively and the women said she was very aggressive and took on everybody else. There was a brown & white one who outweighed Hazel by 3 pounds and Poppi like her, but in the end Hazel came home with us. Sam was ok with her right off. She ran circles around the yard and climbed all over Sam. She actually has the same coloring as Lucky, maybe that's why I chose her, but more likely that coloring is why I chose Lucky...it's black with brown, kinda like a rottweiler (altho I don't think she has any rottweiler in her). We walked late this afternoon down the road towards the estuary and of course Sam went swimming. Everardo tossed Hazel in and she swam right out, then got a chill so I wrapped her in the long sleeved woodchopper shirt (you know- cotton long sleeves, plaid, usually red). and rubbed her dry. Then when we were walking back this other big dog that has met us out there before showed up. He and Sam are friendly, but the dog, after sniffing Hazel, want to play with her, but too rough. Sam jumped in and bashed into the dog! He's protecting his sister already! So he and the dog rough housed pretty strongly for a few minutes, and then every body calmed down, but he gave Hazel her space. We're making them both sleep outside tonite, Sam has a big bed and we gave them a warm blanket. But this is a nice house, and not ours, so we gotta get Hazel housebroken quick, and get her a bunch of chew toys so she doesn't attack any furniture in here. One positive thing was she went over & sniffed Sam's poop and then did one herself right next to it. They learn pretty quick when they have someone to follow. Lucky learned really fast, but being so young they have to go out during the nite, so hopefully we can make then a nice warm house until Hazel gets bigger.

So it's all good.

After one week

We are almost unpacked, now just little piles of stuff...on counters. I had no idea I had accumilated so much bathroom crap...lotions, perfumes, etc. I don't even wear perfume but have been given it as gifts over the years so they all stay pretty full. The only exception to that is some given to me by my ex brother & sister in law from Germany. I really love them; they were always so much fun. He is Palestinian (like my ex husband) and she is German. He speaks Arabic, English, Spanish, & German, but she only speaks German. I speak no German but they would come and stay with us for like a month at a time and she and I got along great! We laughed our heads off, ok ok usually drunk as girl skunks but laughing our heads off. Then they had a beautiful little girl whom I also love, who, at least the last time I saw her- a few years back- didn't speak English. I always remember when Simona and I were alone in the car going to the store and I wanted to say we need onions. I made hand motions like I was holding something small and round in one hand and cutting it with the other. Then I rubbed my eyes saying boohoo boohoo (crying right?), and she yelled..well she yelled whatever the word for onion is in German. So...yes once in a while I use a little dab of one of the perfumes they brought me from Germany.

The guy never came yet to hook up the tv. We lucked out with the internet- they came on Friday just like they said they would. It's the same company for the tv, and they said they'd come Sat or Sun, but here we are Monday afternoon and no tv. It's ok, I'm happy to have the internet first. But the truth is I'm getting sick of watching movies at nite. We watched Finding Nemo after a couple of nites of the black & white 50's movies, and the last 3 nites we've used that website Watch32 that has free movies online and Everardo hooks up his laptop to the tv, but I hate looking for a movie to watch. I never liked picking movies from On Demand when we had cable either. If they don't come today we'll try to call them tomorrow.

I've walked each day with Sam either down the road behind us that goes past the estuary or along the beach. The beach here really is amazing. The sand is so soft, and it glitters gold, like little gold flecks in the sand. Almost no debris, not alot of shells like Playa Ventura or Penasco, but really beautiful, much prettier than Penasco, and in some ways, more than Playa Ventura as well. Playa Ventura has a beautiful coastline, rocky and jagged at some points, and beautiful sandy beaches at others. It's open ocean, with the waves crashing onto the shore. Ok maybe just different, not better. Here we are in a bit of a bay, the land naturally curving inward, but this morning there were pretty big waves. You can see little neighborhoods or towns along the coast and also up in the hills. This morning there were this little birds on the beach- sandpipers I think; they have long skinny beaks that they put down into the sand. They look like little brown birds but when they take off and fly you see white and black under their wings. They didn't really mind Sam and I until I threw the ball, then mostly they just scurried the other way. I tried to hold off with the ball until we were past them, but Sam is jumping straight up in the air asking "now? now? now? now? NOW? NOW? NOW? as if he will literally die if I don't throw it. So I do. The other day I saw a seal with her baby- actually it could have been a sea lion, whatever it was I was very excited!

At nite the view is really beautiful from our house. We can see the beach out the side windows of the living room, and then the lights of Ensenada. I just love the little group of houses nestled together on the hillsides; some close to the bottom, some mid way, not alot of them on the top ridges, except right at the beach south of us. And so far almost all the people around here really really like it. They like the serenity, the calmness. There's alot of Americans, in Penasco I only interacted with a few; 3 or 4 from the English speaking AA, and then Deb & Rick. A couple times when doing something with Deb I'd be with a couple of ladies, but mostly we were with Mexicans. And of course in Playa Ventura, all Mexicans. I walked Sam up to the corner to go down by the estuary on Sat and there was a little flea market, well just 6 or 7 people set up, mostly Americans, and I chatted with them. We've met a few of our neighbors and except for the family who owns most of the land, they have been Americans. We don't have too many neighbors; most of the houses in our campo are vacant. Either owned by people who vacation here, or just plain empty.

Part of that has to do with the crazy devil  woman who is the family who owns most of the land in this campo. At first I thought she owned all of it except for ours, but a few places are otherwise owned. So some houses own the house and the land, others own the house but lease the land from her, and many are owned by her and she rents...some of them. There's probably 25 or 30 houses here, but that is a pretty uneducated guess, maybe a few more. Maybe as many as 10 are occupied full time, but it feels like to me that number is closer to 5 or 6...5 I am sure of, so maybe a couple more. So these neighborhoods, or "campos" have sprung up over time, maybe 40 years ago someone built a house here and leased the land from the family who owns it. When enough houses are in one place, they give it a name, like ours in Agua Caliente. There's La Jolla next to us and La Jolla 2 across the street from them. That's where we looked at 2 other houses. I don't know how many houses or people determines when a camp is formed, but I think one Mexican family owns most of the coastal land around here..their name might be Pacheco or something close to that. Ours is owned by a different family who's name I won't use because they are pretty fucked up people, and well at this point I just don't want to. But I will write about this crazy devil woman so ha ha I guess it's kinda the same thing.

The beaches in Mexico are all public, anyone can go on any beach. Us having "rights to the beach" for our Playa Ventura house simply means if a hotel goes up next door they can't use the beach in front of our house for their purposes. But here, people own the land right up to the beach, so even though it's public, you must cross private property to get to the beach. So for the La Jolla camp for example, if we want to go to the beach there, they'd charge us $3.00 to come into their camp. Now here, if we were renting from devil woman we could go to the beach no problem..it's less than a 5 minute walk, and I can see it from where I'm sitting on my couch right now. But, did I mention she's a devil? Yeah and in this case simply a F'ing greedy bitch. Right after we said oh we want this house, the realtor said, oh yeah- you have to pay the land owners here $50 a month to have beach access. This pissed of Everardo, but we said ok, well we'll just use a different access. And we found one yesterday walking down towards the estuary, so a 10 minute walk instead of less than 5. However, things changed when we got here, and suddenly the fee was beach access AND access to our house! The realtor was no help there, she said "I tried". She then said she'd pay half so now it's $25 to us. So we went down and talked to the devil. I mean this woman is pure evil. She has a cold dead aura around her. I mean I was spooked. If we didn't love this house I would have told her to fuck off and just gone somewhere else. As it turns out we really don't see her so I'm no longer upset about her like I was that first day. She smiled and I swear I thought a knife was about to go in my back. At one point she said she was a christian woman and I peeked upward to see if a lightening bolt was on the way or would she simply burst into flames. Anyway, she told us this big long story about the people who lived in our house for 40 years or something like that, they were their friends and the devils parents gave them access. But then they died, and the Canadians came- the current owners and they never asked for access to their house or the beach...yadda yadda yadda and some big long thing about who "really" owned the house, and how she'd like to buy it...oh and would we like to rent from her....She told us that all the land here is her family's so technically we do not have access to our house. She said it all with a smile on her face and in a way that we would "understand what is fair", and what has happened to her family that has not been fair...

So we heard elsewhere that she thinks some big company will buy all this land from her for a billion dollars (or some such number), and she will be filthy reach. So she doesn't want people in these houses, although she is renting out a couple. She wants this house because she doesn't own the land and she needs it, but as I said, I know she doesn't own at least one other lot. She has a terrible reputation around here. We have been warned or given "the look" and always told to be careful. Apparently her brother and his son are crack heads or meth heads, and empty houses get broken into. But we've talked to some people who've lived here for years and although they had nothing good to say about the family, their homes have never been broken into. I guess one of them is a drug dealer, but as long as they stay away from us I'm ok. I mean, there's crime everywhere, drug dealers everywhere- this is not cartel- just loser criminals. So she's talking away to us about how they are a "family" here, and we can be a part of that family. That she could rent a house to us cheaper than this one...like I would EVER make a deal with a devil. I told her we had a lease but she said oh you can break it and get all your money back. Yeah right. She was like an evil snake...can you tell I don't like her? So she tells us that she is not going to negotiate this fee with us. It is with our realtor. That she is just talking to us a neighbors, inviting us to be a part of the group. Then she says, in fact you do not have to pay, and the realtor does not have to pay, but you will not be a part of the neighborhood, you will have to just stay in your house. But she will have to tell her older brother and he is not as nice as she is. That he may have a problem because we do not have access to our house, so how can we be allowed to go there...anyway the words were something to that effect...and I took it as intended- as a threat! I said, look, we are going to have our realtor pay, we just want to live a quiet life and I want to walk my dog on the beach every day. She said, oh I don't mean anything by this, I just like to be honest and be sure everyone is on the same page. Everardo didn't get what she was saying at first and when I told him as we walked home he got mad...really mad- he said send her brother over..and some other things I won't repeat...Did I say she's a devil?? So- we want to live here, a week later we really like it here. We don't see her, and we are chalking it up to our rent is $25 more a month than we thought.

We did ask around and all the camps have a fee to use the camp to get to the beach if you don't live there She figures since she doesn't own our land she's gonna get something from us. Ok I know my readers are shaking their heads and saying- what? Move somewhere else! Well we're gonna stay 6 months; that's the lease we signed. Actually our realtor offered to refund our money, but we don't have another place right now, we finally found this place. She will let us break the lease in a couple of months if we find something else but we lose the security deposit. And the thing is- we really really like the house. So we're staying for 6 months, and probably a year, and who knows, right? Ok there's another thing that makes all this easier to swallow- we saw the paperwork from one person and then have heard the same story from 3 or 4 people (but seeing the court papers gave it some authenticity), that she is under investigation for numerous criminal acts, I think the one that they're going to get her for is that she doesn't pay her property taxes on all this land. She's so greedy that she takes takes takes, but she's not paying the gov't. Now she has an "in" somewhere; she's paying off somebody because they were supposed to start auctioning off some of her land a year ago and it was delayed, for a year. So something may happen soon. Or not. This woman I was chatting with on the beach; she lives in another camp down further and has 4 dogs- she lives alone. She had all the same stories when I told her where I lived, and then told me that the devil actually did some black magic spells on some people to get them to move out of their houses, and that this woman's friend does "cleaning" I forget the word but like when you burn sage to get rid of the negative energy or "bad spirits". Actually I burn sage around my home, and will do it here; I just found my sage last nite when emptying yet another bin ha ha.

So we are ok. I think if we just mind our own business & give the devil and her family a wide berth we will be fine. Oh and we're gonna get another big dog to keep Sam company and to bark real loud in our yard. That's one thing, most Mexicans are afraid of big dogs, the culture here about dogs is different than the US. Not for everyone but for many people here, they can barely feed their family, so a dog is an animal that hangs around the house, fends for himself where food is concerned. I know I've written before about the huge dog overpopulation problems here in Mexico- Penasco was terrible. I haven't seen too many strays here but have read on the local web bulletin boards that it is a problem here as well. Once the darn tv guys come we can run errands together and we'll head down to Paco's animal rescue and see what we can find- I heard they have a lot of dogs. I do know many Mexican families do have dogs as pets, and take good care of them, but there's just so many strays. One huge issue is getting the dogs spayed or neutered. It's like they don't mind with the females, but with the males it's some how some macho thing! Even Everardo was hesitant about getting Lucky fixed- but believe me- he would have gotten neutered.

So the plumbing problems are not totally resolved, now it's tomorrow. The guy who will empty the septic is supposed to come, and Mike needed to go to "town" (Ensenada) to get the stuff to finish fixing the toilets. So another day of having to go downstairs if we want to do anything besides pee....but that's better than the day & nite we couldn't use the upstairs toilet at all!! Remember our living room and bedroom are upstairs. Since the house was not lived in for so long the pipes are messed up, but Mike is a good guy and seems to know what he's doing so it's all good.

I moved the couch around this morning and like it much better. It was here when we got here and is one of those sectionals with a corner. The 2 ends have a foot rest that pops up, but my end doesn't work right, although we did get it to come up, so just leave it up! Anyway I pull the corner section out, and put one section between the 2 ends so we have basically a regular couch with foot rests, and my end? Well if I look to the left out the window- I can see the ocean!! It's an ok view, over one house and past another but hey- I have an ocean view from my couch. And we're far enough away that it's not real loud. Sounds crazy, but in Playa Ventura the ocean was so loud! I longed for silence.

Well it's 4pm so it looks like no tv today. Ha ha jokes on me- we went to Telnor (Telmex of Baja, both owned by Carlos Slim), in Ensenada and saw they offered Dish tv! So it was one stop shopping! In fact they offered to put it all on one bill, which we can receive by email, so we said, sure that would be great! It will be over 200 pesos cheaper than Sky tv for about the same number of channels. The only disappointment is they do not offer BBC Int'l News, which I really like, even much better than CNN Int'l. The guy did say that the CNN that they offer was out of Europe not Atlanta, but, oh well, we'll see.

My husband has been amazing, dragging things back and forth for me, moving furniture, AND cooking. Yum we had lobster a couple of nites ago, and whatever he's making tonite is a surprise cause he's downstairs in the kitchen now...where I should go ask if I can help. (the answer will be no- but at least I asked!)

Ok kinda caught up now, so catch ya'll later!

Mexico fun fact:
While bullfighting is Mexico's national sport, fútbol (soccer in the U.S.) is currently more popular

First post from Ensenada

WOW! So here we are in Ensenada!! We arrived late Monday afternoon, dark about 15 minutes after we got here, and we were pooped out from the trip. It took closer to 8 hours than the 6 the previous 2 trips, but we had the trailer, Sam, and an extra long stop at the first checkpoint...yeah they brought out the Xray truck, and scanned the truck, trailer, and the car. The wanted to know if we had the menaje de casa- but we didn't need it since we were moving within Mexico.

So let me back up. My last post was last Thursday from Puerto Penasco. Friday nite we took our friend Deb to eat tacos at our favorite place, then down to Thrifty for ice cream cones. I wish we would have gotten to know Deb & Rick when we first moved there, but oh well, it is what it is. Rick was up in Tuscon working but we said goodbye on the phone Sunday nite cause Deb offered to make us dinner so we wouldn't have to worry about it. She told us Rick had the map out looking at the best route for them to come visit us in January. And you know what? I believe they will. You know how it is when you move, or leave a job...you stay in touch with the people you grew close to, for awhile, and then life gets in the way. We knew we probably wouldn't have too many visitors down in Guerrero, but too bad because it's such a beautiful place, so different than other parts of Mexico, so tropical. I know my daughter Drewy hopes to go down there one of these days, and so I bet she will. I checked the tickets with a really cheap Mexican airline and it's less than $200 round trip from here to Acapulco; then we'd just have to rent a car, or take a bus or taxi the last 2 hours down to Playa Ventura. Everardo will probably go down there after the first of the year. I want to go to, but we'll just have to see. Maybe this time just him and I'll go when Drewy can come. So up to now, only family has visited- my kids and Everardo's cousin and her hubby. But I bet Deb & Rick will come, and probably Pam, too since she's the road trip queen.

So the weekend was a mad push to get everything packed. Saturday nite we went over to Conrad's hot dog stand (Backstreet Dogs), had a couple of hotdogs and said good bye. Oh and then our final trip to Thrifty's for ice cream- which I had to get in a cup so I could bring it home and eat it later since I was full from the hotdogs. True addict ha ha- I sure wasn't gonna say "no" to ice cream, but I couldn't eat another bite...and it was really good about 3 hours later! So Everardo got almost everything packed Sunday nite and he said about 9pm- ok go to sleep, and he lay down on the couch and went right to sleep- man I hate how he can do that! I have to relax for a while, then get sleepy, then fall asleep. Well I read for awhile, watched tv, then finally went into the spare room with a blanket- I had never in the year we were there, slept on that bed. The mattress is about half an inch thick and no box spring. But all in all, it was ok and I went to sleep around midnite. We woke up at 6am, actually I think he woke up earlier (well sure he went to sleep at 9!), I didn't get up for another half hour cause I knew we couldn't leave until 8am. But I got up and took a shower, and helped Everado stuff the last few things in the trunk of the car, the floor of the backseat, etc. I was worried cause I had planned all along to put the bin with my Grandmother's bowl on the seat next to me, and found out he had packed it in the back of the truck. Later in the day that would come back to haunt me. So we disconnected the telephone, internet, and tv and off we went. It was hard to say bye to Brownie, since we've been here we already thought about calling her to see how she likes taking care of him without us feeding him and picking up his shit, and without Sam to play with all day. We'd go back for him in a hot second if she said we could have him. We definitely need another dog here...couple of reasons I write about later.

We hugged the neighbor (ok her name is Naika) and her 5 yr old kid Omar, and Everardo gave him a pep talk about loving Brownie and treating him nice and how Brownie would be his best friend...and we left. We got to the telephone company 20 minutes before 8 haha, and had to stand around, but we were first and 15 minutes after that we were on the road. For the tv, we are going to have to pay for 2 more months because we had an 18 month contract (what is up with these long contract periods?), and even though we are changing to Dish cause it's less than half the price for the same or better channels, if we turn in the box now they'll want both months payment so we'll hold onto it until next month, then turn it in here in Ensenada. So Dish also made us sign 18 months...but like I said, Dish is 299 pesos a month and Sky TV was 510, and 572 during the summer!   So about $24 USD vs $40 or $45...it all helps with our higher rent. The first check point is right after Golfo de Santa Clara, so after driving a little over an hour. That checkpoint is horrible for the trucks; they line up for miles and miles. I know they're trying to do something to expedite it, but I don't know what. We've never been stopped there for more than a hola, donde van? Donde viven? Where are you going & where do you live? But this time it was different. And they wanted Everardo to pay some kind of tax because they thought we had a trailer full of stuff to sell, even though he told them it was our household stuff. They told me to get out of the car and take Sam out as well. I walked up to Everardo and he was pissed off, so I didn't ask anything else after he told me what they said, and took Sam down the path so I could use the bathroom.

My husband rarely loses his temper. When he does he gets white hot angry. I left him alone to do whatever needed doing. They pulled up their xray truck and xrayed the truck, trailer and the car. They decided maybe he was right (thank god) and told us to have a nice day. Whew...Of course he sped away and I had to step on the gas to catch up with him! An hour after that we stopped for a Sam pee, and he told me what happened. We went thru 2 more checkpoints that day, but they only made cursory looks; I had to open my trunk both times, and they looked in maybe one bag, and never inside the car or the truck. They walked around the truck at both stops, but it's completely cover by tarps so they couldn't see anything. The truck had bicycles and furniture, and they basically waved us on.

It was a long drive, and in many places, before we left Sonora, the sand coming off the trailer made it really hard for me to see, but soon we crossed into Baja and had different problems ha ha. There was SO much road construction! They are putting huge pipes under the road as it goes across the end of the Sea of Cortez, so we would drive along, then take a detour down hill and around construction, then back up. 7 times, and one of the times was for about 15 minutes. It was dirty dusty and really bumpy. I'm driving behind Everardo so I'm watching the trailer bump & bounce all over the place. OMG! My grandmother's bowl!! I worried and got mad at him and worried some more- after all I couldn't see the truck but I could see what was happening to the trailer and I knew I was certainly getting bounced around in the car. I knew I wouldn't know about the bowl for hours, or maybe until the next day when we unpacked so I talked myself down, out loud in the car, telling myself that worrying, being mad and upset was not going to change the outcome. That I just needed to accept that at that moment I was not in control....of anything. I started to feel better. I talked to Sam who had stopped hanging his head out the window for awhile and I told him all about the new home we were headed for. So as it turns out, the truck was not banging around as much as the trailer or me, and the bowl is safe and sound.

It took us all day to get here, and started raining as we came down into Ensenada. It rained most of the next day as well, and then the sun came out and I was back to shorts and tshirts until today (Saturday) where it's been cloudy rainy and sunny, alternating.  Sam is very happy here. If we walk about 5 minutes thru the neighborhood we get to the beach. If we walk about 5 minutes in the other direction we exit the neighborhood and walk down a dirt road that passes an estuary and he got to chase ducks...altho' the duck underwater when he gets close and they swim away. We have to find sticks for him to chase. The beach is amazing! The sand is so soft. Nothing like Puerto Penasco with all the rocks! The surf is cold, but not numbing, not yet anyway. Yesterday I saw a seal and her pup out in the water. This morning from out back balcony (too narrow to be called a deck- really just a walkway), I saw about 100 pelicans all bunched together on the water- must have been a big school of fish. There are hills behind us and houses nestled in little groups on the hillsides, it's really quite pretty.

Ok that's enough for now. I'll tell about our first few days, our current/ongoing toilet issues to hopefully be resolved by Monday, the devil woman who's land we must cross to get to the beach...and all the nice people I've met as well. But I'm tired, had to pack to unpack...will explain later...VIVA!