We are trying to figure out the best way to get the girls and then to be able to show them around in the short couple of days they will be here. Because our small truck has only the little jump seats behind the front seats, they're ok for picking them up but not for sight seeing. So we thought ok- well I'll take a shuttle up there, rent a car, bring them down here, and then we can go with them back to the border and then Drew can drive them back and turn in the rental car. Yeah good idea except to bring a rental car into Mexico you have to buy the insurance from the rental car company- and it's $30 a day- so 4 days is $120, on top of $205 to rent the car (before tax). ...oh and $70 for the shuttle. Crap that's expensive. To drive the truck up from here is only $12 in insurance, from this side, the Mexico side. But now our wonderful new friends Anda and Rich have offered us use of their big suv! How nice is that? We might just take them up on it; I'll still drive up and pick them up in the truck, and we can send them back on the shuttle. Well tomorrow we're still gonna chek on renting a car here, cause if it's really cheap we'll do it cause I'm a little uncomfortable with such a nice favor with people we just met. Altho' I told her that and she laughed at me. We'll figure it out tomorrow.

I'm gonna go out to San Rafael with them on Monday and see what it's all about. They give their time out there at the community center, serving lunch, doing stuff with the kids, and I think helping adults as well; teaching them to make crafts, not really sure what else, that's kinda why I need to go for myself and check it out. Actually today these 2 guys Conrad & Mitch who are pretty involved out there as well, were talking to me They are part of this group that works with weekend ministries, which I on't really want to get too involved with; I probly said this before- they build churches and to me- Mexico, Mexicans don't need more churches. They need food, shelter, fresh water, skills, etc, I think there's already LOTS of churches here...But maybe I'm being too harsh since like I said, I haven't been out there to experience anything for myself. So- back to Cnrad & Mitch- I told them about trying to teach English to little kids in Playa Ventura, and how the kids were just not that interested- it was fun at first for them, new, oh they coveted the kid dictionaries I gave out, and the notebooks, but they got bored, and honestly- down there they have no one to practice with so....but here there are alot of English speakers. Conrad was kinda excited; he told me they are trying to put together a class and asked about my Spanish level, because they want a director to take on the whole project. You know I can get by well enough to teach little kids colors, days of the week, etc. But I want to approach with caution, ha ha me! For once I don't want to jump in headfirst, agreeing to something I haven't checked out. I do want to do something to contribute, but I had such a big head about Playa Ventura.

I even fooled myself, well it was partly ignorance. But it was ego. I was asked to teach the kids English and I said sure...and I thought it would make me a part of the community. I was going to do it for free, and thought- oh people will give me things, like fish or eggs or something....somehow I was making myself into someone important. That's humiliating to admit. But when the kids didn't care about learning, when they didn't come, ha ha I had to face myself. And I don't even think the parents cared either. Ok a couple of parents did care, and a couple of the kids actually cared, but on the whole, not so much. Kids are kids, of course they don't want to do something hard...but they had fun with the flashcards, and so did I. At least I figured out to just have fun with it. That it didn't matter if they learned the same thing over and over again. Then it went much better. And if they want some level of that here, great.

I have a few dictionaries, and some packages of flashcards. I gave the color cards to one of the kids in Playa Ventura, but I think I have blanks so I can color them...those were everybody's favorite- yelling out the colors! But I hesitate to think about being a "director" of a program to teach. I am no teacher, so again, we'll see. I do want to be of service, but it needs to be the right thing for the right reason. All that isolation down there pretty much humbled me in a big way ha ha!

We are going to bbq with them on Monday as well. So next week is kinda busy. There is also a meeting on Tuesday that I wanted to attend but now might wait until next month. It's a group I read about down here called "uncommon women doing uncommon things" or something to that effect. I am interested in finding out what they are about, and as it turns out Anda is involved with them. This month is a shortened meting, sort of a ok it's a new year meet and greet, so the perfect one for me to attend, but I need to know the timing in case I need to be available to talk to the girls on the phone since they fly Wednesday morning. So I a already getting more involved with things here, and I think that's a good thing.

Well I will finish with a sad post. A friend, well a schoolmate of Halla's is dead. According to Halla, a huge group of kids from Petaluma were in Tahoe for Ne Year's Eve, and this girl disappeared sometime after midnite and was found this morning, dead, in a snowbank. They were all drinking, and Halla says this girl did alot of drugs, and that she was really messed up that nite. Halla was not with that group of kids, she was with another group, but I guess tonite they are all at a candlelight vigil at their high school. Halla and I talked on the phone for about an hour earlier today, she was upset, and also told me there was a kid who is a known drug dealer involved, and she was sad, mad, upset. Luckily her sister is nearby, and she is with her friends. I cannot imagine what this girl's por parents are going thru. If I lost Halla I would die. Sometime, maybe next week if it's not too soon, I want to tal to her about partying. That lots of drugs and alcohol have these kinds of results. Yes lots of circumstances here; being out of town, snow, etc, but there's always something, the bottom line is that out of control drinking and drugging, kills. This girl is gone. Her family is devastated, they are all changed forever. Her parents will be in my prayers tonite. And I hope my daughter is ok, that she is able to move thru this. The other day I was talking to her about another friend who has become addicted to Oxycontin...She's been thru treatment, and Halla does not know how to be her friend, who to help her, support her. Well I talked to her and suggested some of the ways she might be feeling and she said it was exactly! how she felt. So I suggested Alanon and she was very interested, maybe we can go together down here; I know there's a meeting. My baby is acing alot, is becoming aware of alot, is learning alot. My baby, 19 years old, and growing up. I ache to see them both...ah- so I won't end on a sad note...cause...YIPEE I'm gonna see my daughters next week!!

I AM SO EXCITED! My daughters are coming to visit next week. Only for a few days, Wed-Sat, but they both have work and school, so you know what? I will take what I can get!! The tickets are soooo much cheaper coming here- actually they will fly from Oakland Ca to Phoenix Ariz and I'll pick them up at the airport, then we'll drive down here. Yipee. Oh and day 2 of elliptical..feels so good, but ouch ouch is so hard to start back!! But maybe if I write about it I will guilt myself into staying with it!

This morning we were laughing about how we went from sweating to freezing - it's all about the timing isn't it?? If we would have waited to come here until Feb or March we would have gone from hot to warming up...but we (ok I) was so ready to leave that place that we went a soon as we were packed. And actually now that I've written that, it wasn't just me- he was ready to go as well- I remember sitting in the water and him saying, in an exhausted voice- let's just get the HELL out of here. My poor hubby and the project house! Well maybe another good thing is to be here when it's quiet, cause I guess come March/April it's gonna get busy busy until next Oct, and I hear the middle of the summer is unbearably hot- Wait ha ha I already know how to survive in unbearably hot ha ha. So our thought process was to be in Playa Ventura thru the rainy seaso (the hard part) and then enjoy the good part...ha ha. Now we've come here, starting again with the "hard part" and moving towards the good part-hmmm ha ha again. But the truth is, we moved when we were ready to go.

But I do feel different here, hopefully it's not the newness. But I feel more, maybe, plugged in? Well the AA meetings in English are good, I go 4 or 5 times a week, and I really like most of the people; it's a pretty small group during "non season", and I don't dislike anyone, but I really really like a couple...One lady is here visitng for a week;her hubby is in the group, they both are- like us- but she has recently moved to Phoenix- or Tuscon (not sure) I think to take care of a family memeber; I'm really not too sure exactly what the deal is- anyway I really like her and hope to get t know her better. I go to some Spanish meetings as well; last nite we went to one I really liked and will go back with him when he goes to that one. He's kinda sticking to the Spanish speaking and to NA, so we both get our own laces to deal with our own stuff, and then sometimes we both go, to both....confused- ha ha I am. I like the community; today we went to the beach for Sam to run, then over to the docks and bought some fish, a ton of it for about $8...so ha ha we buy fresh fish and then freeze most of it. And we still have a ton of shrimp- well my daughters will love the shrimp- not sure about the fish. I try to speak Spanish in all the stores and to say hi to my neighbors, I guess maybe the big change is for me that I am not feeling so isolated. I also feel a little more confident driving here, still cautious, but not like in Guerrero ha ha! In the stores everybody speaks Spanish, altho' in Sam's Club there is a couple of people who speak some English. I prefer to try...

A guy I originally met on the Puerto Penasco forum was looking for a small place to live as he is about to takeoff in his RV to explore Mexico for a few years. Since he had been communicating with me when I was asking for info before we got here, I wrote and told him about the small studio here. He came to take a look but didn't like it (good we like having the property to ourselves). Anyway he lives in an American area, and we do not. He said this place is not Mexico and not the US- that it's the wild west. I think this place is what you make, but also probly has to do with where you live. There's Las Conchas, that is these million dollar (at least) estates, there are some trailer parks, some perm RV parks, camping and tranit rv parks. Then there is the gov't housing (I forget what it's called but I saw inside one of them...like that old song-' little boxes without top-es...and they all look just the same..' and there are rows and rows of them in a couple pf places. Us- we live in El Centro, in a Mexican neighborhood, everybody speaks Spanish and there are24/7 garage sales (well clothes hanging on the fences, and everything you can think of is for sale if you look. There are tons and tons of hole-in-the-wall taco joints & trucks, longo burros- yum! and anything thing else you can think of. And the hot dog stands! They are everywhere, too. Anyway my neighborhood is pretty quiet, the house across the street has the parrots, there's an old couple down the road a couple of houses who sit outside in the morning sun, and the bread truck- well it's a car- plays this really loud little song that has the words pan pan pan for most of it. He has breads and cookies, and you can buy water everywhere, too-  mean the big jugs. That's one thing we need, a dispenser for the jugs. Anyway- my point is I do not experience chaos in out neighborhood, it feels kinda...typical. I don't know, maybe when this plae fills up for those 7-8 months it gets a little wacky- I'll have to get back to you on that.

I know that this week the malecon has been very busy, no parking, lots of people walking, much busier than since we've been here. People on vacation- so will they be gone next week? I don't know. But I do feel more comfortable here. I think the other problem down there was that the whole town was related - or in one of two families- almost everyone...and living in a tiny place like that, well there was a lot of soap opera going on. And not being able to speak well enough to gossip with anyone except Chela, I was just not in the know ha ha. Too much back biting, double looks, cold politeness, and most of the time I didn't know why. This place- well Everardo knows a few people, but not too many, and it's much much more populated. And even though we own that house; I am more comfortable in this one. I don't hate how the bed fits! This couch is so much better than the outdoor furniture we had...uh..duh..and of course the whole hot water thing.

Yeah you don't need hot water to survive- but I have decided I want it. I also do not choose to live so remotely full time. For a vacation, fine, a little solitude is good- but not all the time. So I learned alot about myself, what I want, need, care and don't care about. So I wonder what lessons I'll learn here?? Oh- and I think next Monday I'm going with Rich and Anda out to San Rafael to see what/how they are involved and hopefully it will be a place that I can be of service. I told her today about my materials for teaching English to little ones, she thought that might be a great idea, so we'll see. And I also want to attend some of those lectures at the CEDO conservatory...oh maybe Halla will be interested in that place..Anyway the last couple of days I have been feeling good, like a feling of well being, that maybe this is the right place. No it's not down deep in Mexico, not the cultural area. blah blah blah, but maybe it's the place for us. I have visited alot of areas in Mexico, and Everardo has family in Morelia so who knows, we have vacations, or maybe we decide to move again, I just don't want to say anything absolute, cause look at what happened in basically less than 6 months in Guerrero- luckily we realzed we have options and so we made a new choice. hey- at least I did it. MOved to another country, and hey- started somewhere remote, no expats anywhere, almost no English, and which days do we have internet, or lights, or tv, and zero hot water-ever...some days finding milk was hard, or driving to the next town to find an atm with no money in it...ok ok..I tried it and now I'm trying something else. (we might have to break dow and paint in here though on our wn dime if we're gonna stay at least a year in this house...and it would make a huge difference...right now it's the principle of the thing- she should be paying for at least the paint..maybe we could ask her to go in halves...)

Did I say I am SO excited my daughters are coming next wknd? Yeah and for about $175 per person instead of $750..couple of hours flight instead of all day....one of the biggest things I figured out is I ned to be near my children..ha ha Poppi knew, but he let me figure it out for myself.. We will probly move back in a couple of years...unless of course they both move here...hmmmmm

 

Happy New Year! It's Jan 1, 2013. Let's see what this year brings. I slept in until almost 10am- then got up and jumped on my elliptical. I like to start things on the first day of things; first day of a month, a Monday, well ok first day of the year...I actually could have started late yesterday, but what the hell, right? Yeah we didn't get the missing washers until yesterday, and it turns out he took them off of the truck rack when he took it off the back of the truck. Then this morning I saw a couple of washers on the ground near the eliptical but I forgot to ask about them...I will when he gets home. He's at a Spanish speaking meeting and I think buying bananas and gas for the space heater.

Seems like we are spending about 100 pesos a week on the space heater, but man it is cold- freezing. Ha ha we went from sweating 24/7 to being really cold in the evening and late at nite. And he heard that Jan is going tobe even colder. But during the day it's not too bad right now; I mean I wear long pants but usually a top and a sweater that I can take off and on...so we'll see- but we want to be warm...

Yesterday I was talking with my Drewy (27) on FB chat and she was about to jump on a plane and come see me! She'd come from the 2nd to the 5th, even just for a couple of days would be good- damn- would be great, fantastic, wonderful!!! I miss her, both girls so much! So she would fly Wednesday and have to fly back Saturday so that only made Thurs and Fri, but neither of us cared. Then we saw the prices...ouch (meaning shit!). Not sure if it was because of buying a ticket with one day notice, or bcause it's a vacation time down here, but for her and her sister to come, was $937 round trip, but if they wait one week- $350 round trip for both. We were planning to reimburse her for the tickets, but $937?? So Drewy agreed it was too much. We started trying to figure out if they could do it next week- when we started seeing the high prices she told me that Halla was coming too- so we had to see when school starts back up, and that's Jan 14 so next week is kinda the only time. But I saw right away the tickets were so much cheaper next week. So I don't know what they are going to do. Actually Wednesday Drewy is supposed to talk to her old job about possibly going back there so that's important,and I said, well if they want you back, make sure you can take off a couple of weeks in between and come see me again! Maybe Rex could come that time.

My plan is to go up there in late Feb I think; that way I can hopefully take care of my taxes. I'm going to call up there to the lady who did my taxes last year, she's with a little H&R Block  office that opens up in Jan. She's great and hopefully can get me squared away quickly. I didn't work all 2012, had renters starting June 1...or was it July 1...shit- I need to email Boyce and ask when they started to rent...Drewy wants me to stay with them; they have a spare bedroom,and hopefully I can score a car, too...from her or maybe Halla's car. Worse case will be a rental.

Anyway we'll see. Poppi is home, he went to get gas for the space heater, so I probly have to get dressed ha ha. I really need to take down Christmas today, time for a new start. I'm so glad I exercised! It was only 15 minutes, and I will stick to that for this week, then next week up it to 25, then hopefully half hour to 45 min...I just have to take it easy this week cause I tend to overdue it and then I'm in pain and limpy and don't want to do it. But the fact for me is, when I exercise, I always always always feel better.  I hope I stick with this- well the room is convenient, and the shower is great, so I think I'm off to a good start. I really want to try Zumba soon- maybe next Tuesday at 10am; Anda wants to go, too. Yeah gotta find that schedule today. Ha ha when I dropped by that place for the schedule the lady started telling me how they have a zumba "light"...she said for...she didn't finish her sentence so I just jumped in and said for fat people? for old people? Ha ha she was embarrassed and didn't know what to say...so I laughed and said thanx!

Last nite we went to a Spanish meeting and it was freezing. Then we went to another one which was a marathon. (all nite) When we got there, they were eating, so we had a glass of juice, but when the meeting started we left cause it was just so cold. Got home around 10:30, and watched tv, tried to see New Year's Eve around the world,...but ha ha....our able tv still thinks it's an hour ahead, so we missed most of it! But it's all good.

Ok well Poppi just made some tacos- beans and cheese...so gotta run... 




 

They delivered the elliptical before noon!! Actually close to 11:30am, when we were just finishing a nice breakfast. Everardo ate liver and onions and eggs, I skipped the liver, and put some cheddar & jack cheese in one of the fresh hot tortillas ad scooped egg into it. I had gone to an AA meeting at 9:30 so that's why we were eating late. It was down on the malecon, upstairs from this place called the Candy Cake; they have an open patio where you can sit and see the ocean. It is beautiful but it was freezing!! Luckily I had my jacket and a hat! I went to it last week and it was not cold at all, so it's hit and miss in December I guess. They have a couple of locations for this store, and they have all kinds of cakes, and coffee. You can buy a whole cake to take home and they also have some single pieces. There's one over on this side of town where we got the little oreo cake I had for my birthday. Ha ha that seems like forever ago. We haven't even been here a month but it feels like we've been here a long time.

I'm so happy that we are going to be able to get the bathroom issue resolved- cause we both want to live here. It's been cold i the morning and at nite, and altho' warm, shirt sleeves warm during the day; I think only 1 or 2 days have been hot since we've been in this house- so the smell has not been an issue since Everardo fixed it...and he has an idea about the final fix. But we are going call someone for an estimate, and then decide whether he can do it, and which way he wants to fix it. But he is confident he can take care of it, and I have learned to trust that confidence. Our house is starting to feel homey. I'm glad I put up Christmas decorations and that we got  a tree. I am however, ready to take them down ha ha, and will probly start tomorrow. It takes awhile to put the manager scene away. But like I said, I'm glad I put it up. It had me thinking about the kids when we would put it up, and them pointing out their favorite pieces. Ad when I was a kid, my mom would put it up herself; we had an upright piano, very tall, and she set it up on top. We would stand on the piano bench and look at it. They started that set in 1945 right after they got married. The pieces are clay, painted with so much detail. They collected pieces over the years...which one of my kids does it get passed down to? How the hell did I get it passed to me??? Well maybe they can share it...hopefully not a decision to be made for a long long time! It has all these different figures; farm animals, a guy with a bear, the thief with the knife on his side, the guy with the sheep, the 3 kings, a guy with a bundle of sticks, women in shawls, kids, chickens, sheep, horses, anyway it's very cool.

After I put it all away we can really settle in since we have decided we want to stay here. We are not even going to go take that second look at the place Nikko showed us. We really like the location, and the layout of the house itself. And now we have an "exercise room".....I put my Abbey Road blanket on one wall, it's the album cover with the Beatles walking across the street, Paul with no shoes because it was during the time when they were saying 'Paul's dead', and my purple shawl over the window...hmmm I like to listen to 70's rock and roll while I'm exercising soo maybe I should shoot for a 70's theme in that room...the one thing we will have to think about is if we want to paint on our own dime. Maybe just this living room and the kitchen..well and the hallway that connects the two. I think I could live with that... but do we spend the money?? I think that question can wait for now.

Ok so the story of the elliptical today- it got delivered, but like I said, we just finished eating so I did not jump on to start me routine. Poppi went to a meeting, and I talked on Skye with Drewy and Rex for about an hour. Very cool cause I got to see their new house! It is so beautiful. I love her taste, too. Simple elegant lines, nice. Not cluttered or gaudy. And Danica's room is really cute actually she shares it with the baby of the roommate, but I think baby sleeps with mama right now. BUt it has a kid bed and a crib, and butterflies on the walls. They did a walking tour with skype so I got to see the whole house, ha ha except Cory's room (roommate) cause it's not done. They moved in there when we were moving in here. It's a big house with a huge backyard, they did great choosing this place, oh and it's 4 bedrooms so the one they are designating as a den, that's my room when I go up to visit! I comented it looked like a mix of 2 of the houses we lived in while Drewy was growing up and she shouted to Rex, because she has said the same thing. I'm so happy they are happy. That's all we want for our children, for them to be healthy and happy. So then I walked her around our little house and yard so now we know where each of us is when we talk. Actually the skype worked great on her IPhone, and hopefully it was free for her- it was free for me from my laptop. (hmmm have to google that).  So- after that we took Sam to the beach.

The beach was sunny but the breeze was cold. We saw a dead stingray and I guess I didn't now what they looked like or had a picture in my mind of a really big one, you know the kind with the wide fins like wings? This was a tiny thing. And I've been reading that here they are pretty common when the water's warm- which is when I'd want to go in- so you need to walk with a kind of shuffle, shuffling so they know you are coming and you don't step on them- cause the sting is very very painful. Great right? Everardo says I should wear water shoes in the water here, so that would be ok, altho walking by shuffling works well. Anyway I took a picture of it and Sam sniffed it real good. There were quite a few people on the beach, not alot, but groups. And people trying to sell them stuff, necklaces, sunglasses, these really cute little planes made from aluminum cans. Poppi was very interested in those; the guy let me take a picture and he asked him a bunch of questions cause he's gonna try making them- they are probly good sellers. There was a guy in the water with a jet ski enticing people to come out, but I didn't see anyone do it. Also a banana boat went by but gave up right away. Horses on the beach, and I saw people paying for that the whole time we were out there, maybe an hour and a half...Alot of people come down for the holiday between Christmas and New Year's; I hardly saw anyone out there last week, so it's after Christmas. I was also reading that the border has been really busy this week with travelers coming down- ha ha we saw people in Sam's club buying instant soups and sandwich makings!

We drove around looking for this gym Everardo heard about yesterday, but it's only open Mon-Fri, not sure what's going on with him not making a decision. I know one part is he doesn't want to pay 350 pesos a month, about $28, because it was cheaper when he was here before- but that was 6-8years ago and things change. Not sure if that's the only thing, but he'll work it out so I am content to drive around and look cause I'm getting more familiar with the streets, where things are, how to get home, etc. He really is looking for good weights; otherwise he is a jogger and rides his bike so doesn't need alot of aerobic machines, just weights. Anyway driving around is good so when it fills up around here I'll know all the side streets. After that came home for a little computer time and a little reading- no don't have the hammock up yet, but soon. Sitting outside in the sun reading is nice when there's no breeze, otherwise the couch is pretty comfy, like today when I read and then drifted off into a small nap. Yeah- naps goooood.

So- about 6:30 pm finally got my water and my music, tshirt and shorts and headed for my elliptical. Took my phone and set it to 30 min, even though for my first workout I was planning only 15-20 min...then 3 minutes into it- one pedal and leg fell of the machine! I guess it was noisy cause Everardo came out as I was heading in to see him. Well that's what we get for in-store assembly, right? So he messed with it, took off the other side, looked at the manual, put it back together and realized the bad side was missing  washers- guess we need them. While he was doing that I started thinking about the whole 70's thing. The room is so cold and ugly- it's that weird afterthought 3rd bedroom that can be accessed off the front porch or thru a long weird hallway behind the dining room. But- it looks better already and the ideas are a comin' to me. Like I said, it feels different, good, now that we have decided this is where we want to be. Hopefully for as long as we live in Puerto Penasco. Which at this moment we think is about a year and a half to two years. Then back to Petaluma. However our minds are subject to change at any minute ha ha.

So tomorrow we'll g to a hardware store (Fetterria) and get the 2 washers, no point in going back to Sam's cause I'm sure they only have the hardware associated with each piece of equipment. In the box was a sheet showing each piece of hardware and the qty, so we know exactly what they're supposed to look like. There's actually another piece of exercise equipment in that room, this thing you sit on and pull back with your arms and your legs are out in front of you. I think it's mainly for arms but we saw a commercial on tv that showed it being for legs and stomach...blah blah blah, maybe after I get into a routine I'll give it a shot...cause my tummy has grown into quite a gut with all this lovely hot chocolate...truth is I'm hopin' the elliptical helps with it. I had this bench for doing sit ups I liked cause it had this U shaped bar you pushed...anyway it got stolen from the Playa Venutra house when we had just been there a couple of weeks. It was in the yard and Sam was sleeping in the house, after that he slept outside except for when it rained. The patio was covered but poor baby is afraid of the lightening and thunder...me too.

So it's December 29th, maybe one more month of cold weather, maybe less than a month since we hear by end of Jan it starts to warm up....short cold season, cause we hit Puerto Penasco Dec 3rd and we were wearing shorts and tshirts for about a week before it started to cool off. But still during the day is a light sweater or sweatshirt only, and with any movement you warm up and simply tie it around your waist. Ok time to snuggle in, watch a little tv....have a snack....

OK, a giant bowl of ice cream followed by hot chocolate make for a tummy ache in the middle of the nite! Today I am pretty tired; slept crappy due to stomach ache. But it was a nice day anyway. My new sponsee came over for a chat and some step work, then 2 other ladies came over about an hour and a half after Pam. One now lives up in Tuscon (or Phoenix) and the other is becoming a friend here. She took us out to lunch at a little place I hadn't been and I had chicken enchiladas and they were yummy...and filling! Anyway the reason Anda came was I had asked her to take me to Sam's club cause she has a membership, and I heard there was a gold's Gym brand elliptical there. I have been online, and to the second hand stores and all the street flea markets and haven't found one I liked. Actually I like the one I left in Playa Ventura...

We added up how much we spent in cuotas (tolls) and gas coming up from Playa Ventura to Puerto Penasco and decided that Everardo's trip down there will either be by bus or plane, and I'm not sure when I'm going back, so we may trade the elliptical for pay to the guy who's watching the house for us- he really liked it when he saw it. The elliptical and the books I left were the only things I really want; and if he takes the bus he can bring books- if he flys he can ship them. So I'll give it up. But because of my foot problem, the elliptical works best for me. I can also ride my bike, but I know myself and I only want to ride my bike for pleasure.

So Anda said sure and came by a little after noon. She had a friend with her, Donna who is visiting for a week and used to live here. Sam's Club is basically Costco, and is wned by Wallmart. I didn't know this cause I never thought about Sam's Club before; we have a Costco card but don't like Costco in Mexico- their stuff is way more expensive here- and poor-er quality which I also think is bad...what do we send the "seconds" down here?..so anyway I don't shop in Mexico Costco. Well there isn't one here anyway, and I may come to think the same about Sam's Club. We walked around and the prices didn't look that great- except the chicken seemed like a good price, and they had cheddar cheese...only one type, one size- but ...ok. We ended up buying a membership card- it was $32 for both of us for a year. And we eat ALOT of chicken ha ha.

So we bought the elliptical and they are going to assemble it and deliver it tomorrow for free. Yipee, I am so so so so ready to get into an exercise routine. I think I'm happier about this than a car.

Oh and Everardo has- oops had these snow pants, like for skiing; they are almost like overalls. Anyway we for sure didn't need them in Playa Ventura ha ha and don't really need them here- it's not that cold...so he too them down to the docks this morning and traded them for 12 pounds of fresh shrimp!! What a deal eh? He's eating some beautiful cerviche right now, and later I will be eating them sauteed in garlic and butter...yeah pretty nice deal. And some fisherman is happy for the pants when they go out all nite on the boat.
You know there some construction guys working down the road, building what looks like an OXXO. (711). It's going up fast, and after how slowly I saw things getting built in Guerrero I commented on it. Poppi says oh they hire crews from somewhere else wh come in a do one project, then they move them to another place (town or state) to do the next project. So the workers are not even from here. I had said before- hey maybe you can get on with that construction crew since he has a construction background. But he said no- these guys are one crew who get paid really well and travel around Mexico working. The thought behind it is; if they hire locals, there's not alot of work and so they work slow to drag it out. They'd have to hire new crews every lace they go, weed out poor performers, etc. This way they know their crew, they pay them really well, and they just move them around. They pay thir room and board wherever they go Now I do not understand who "they" are; do companies contract or bid for jobs? Is it gov't run? (like the gas stations...no choices only Pemex)..so I don't know, I kinda get info about things in bits and pieces from people and then different pieces start to fit together ha ha...this includes info from Everardo! He doesn't always know either, but hears things, and we go from there.
He has mostly lived in the US for the past 30 plus years, with short stints here, I don't think as long as a year at any one time. He has lived up and down the Pacific coast, actually rode the freight trains and stayed different places and then moved on. But he was in Gilroy just south of San Francisco for about 16 years from a teenager until late 20's or early 30's, then became the vagabond. Trains, hitch hiking, walking, Calif, Oregon & Washington. When we met he had lived in my town previously, and had returned, been there about a year before we met. He laughs and says he knew me before I knew him; he first saw me when I was bald...going thru chemo...and he said, but you always had this posse of women around you. We became friends a few months later. Then some time after that when we both out of relationships; we went out for a coffee, and then....

So he came and met us at Sam's Club to take a look at the elliptical before we spent almost $400 on it. We have been laughing at ourselves; we keep making a budget and then blowing right thru it. But to retrieve the elliptical in Playa Ventura would be way more than $400, and we will sell that one (hopefully) to our caretaker...so we bought it....with the cheese of course ha ha. It would be nice for that house to sell down there, and when it starts getting busy down here in 3 months Poppi may find some work at the beach...but for now we are just playing it by ear...so tomorrow I start workin' off the ice cream and hot chocolate eh??

It's cold outside and we're drinking hot choclate. This is special occasion chocolate, hmm maybe I shared this the other day- but Poppi remembers his grandmother making him hot choclate with this chocolate, and he does it just so. It's sooo chocolatey! But it tastes like love cause of the way he makes it and talks about it as he does it. I love this man, he is so tender in these little ways that never fail to touch my heart.

Well I am excited cause the landlady just sent me an email from Phoenix, and she said to go ahead and get a estimate for fixing the bathroom!! Yipee!! We kinda thought she was gonna try to brush it off, but she answered me tonite and I sent her an email about it only last nite, well it was a reply to an email from her. She still has not sent back the contract or made any comment about my changes and/or additions. Not sure what's up with that but I am happy not to have to sign it. But the real good news here, is that if we can fix the bathroom, then we want to live here! We like the location, the little yard for Sam, the layout of the house- for the most part anyway- ha ha that weird hallway along the back of the house to the third bedroom..but I digress. I don't care about that part, and can be storage if we want or need it. Sam and I took a walk today; I brought my walking stick in case any dogs tried to attack him, but no dogs came that close. We only walked for 20 minutes, stayed on our road, it crosses a couple ofpaved roads beofre it ends by a paved road that has the flea market stalls.

Those stalls are packed on the weekends, but some are open during the week. We only walked past, then hit the end and walked back. Sam chased the ball a little bit, but mostly wanted to smell everything. I want to do it alot, so people get used to seeing me, seeing us. I'll probly start walking the other direction as well; I think it goes much further- my only concern is aggressive dogs. However ha ha, in Playa Ventura- no dog was aggressive towards Sam as soon as they got close. And hopefully it will be the same here, but I know people have pitbulls...so me, Sam, and my walking stick will carefully check out our neighborhood. That walking stick was my Dad's. He gave it to me before he died. He died young, at age 59, from an aggressive fast cancer.  (hmmm all of a sudden aggressive is my favorite word?) We were all in shock, it was 1980, I was only 24. BUt cancer research has come a long way since 1980. I hope for me, that having breast cancer in 2009 was my cancer experience. my only cancer experience. (insert little prayer here ha ha) (ok not ha ha)
Anyway this walking stick is very special to me. It's gone on all my camping trips and been near the front door of every house I've lived in. So now I need it again; to walk with me and Sam.

So again I say yipee! I want this to be our place for the next couple of years...or at least year and a half if we decide 2 years is enough o Mexico. We do want to be near my daughters.... of course if we're gonna stay we're going to have to decide if we want to paint on our own nickel. She won't pay for paint, maybe I can get her to pay half....but it sure would help this place..even just a couple of rooms; this living room and the kitchen I would be happy. Ha ha how quickly I jump into the future.
Well- that would be me! viva Mexico!!

Went to extremes today. Did not buy a car. Did not buy an elliptical. But we went to check out this place called CEDO- which stands for something about conservation of both the desert and Gulf of California. They have lectures in Spanish & English on Tuesdays and Saturdays, about the tide pools, the ocean, the desert, etc. They have tours and activities, and I think I'll start with the lectures and see what happens. They had a tour scheduled for tomorrow (Friday), to take a boat to an island and do some snorkeling- actually that's why we decided to check the place out today. But it's cancelled due to the guide is sick, & not too many people signed up- ya think? The water is cold! Anyway, it costs $100 per person- so we would have passed regardless. Hopefully by the time the weather gets better we will know how or where or with who to go snorkeling. But the lectures are free, and I'm sure some of the other tours, like thru the tide pools, or the walk thu the volcanic area in the desert here.
The place was very cool; they had a skeleton of a fin whale out front.

Anyway- this place is at the beginning of a neighborhood called Las Conchas. It's a ways out of town. This is where the "other half" lives. The 1% - ya know? House after house...ok McMansion after McMansion ....huge houses on the beach or tall enough to see over the house on the beach. I saw thru a window a winding staircase in one- made me think of my daughter Drew; who always wanted to live in a house with "twisty" stairs. And at one point we did! She loved that house. That house was almost 4000 sq feet- and these houses were bigger! (yeah- to have a 4000 sq foot house n Calif- the PG&E is $500 per month and that was in 2000) So these houses! And there were SO many of them. Some had tiles on the  outside, some had statues (yeah you can money and ZERO class or taste), but some were really nice. We drove all thru the area, and it was big, it went on forever. Not too many of them had cars out front or looked like there was anybody there. And there were no stores. So you would have to drive back into town to go shopping. Not even an OXXO or a Circle K. (Mexico 711)...None of those little stores that are on every corner.

On the way back we turned and went thru another area, a little closer to town. It was the poor area. I don't know if was part of San Rafael or not, that's the area where the people live who came up here to work from other parts of Mexico and Central America, and when the economy tanked, they were left out in the cold. Literally. That's the place I am planning to go out to with Anda & Rich - my new friends who work out there- anyway not sure if that's where we were or not. Anyway to go from ridiculous rich to the humbling poor....the houses in some cases were barely houses;made maybe of cardboard. Made the houses I saw made from railroad cars look pretty good. Some were cement blocks; seems like there's alot of cement blocks around. One kinda funny thing was, there were these tiny shacks, part cement block and part cardboard...with Sky satellites on the roof! And people had water, too, at least some cause I saw laundry hanging. Not sure how they get it, from the truck- but nobody had the tanks on the roof...the roofs wouldn't hold, in some cases not wide enough...and I heard in San Rafael no water no electricity. The fact is- it was hard. But you know what? WE saw kids playing in the street. We saw people walking and talking, hanging up laundry, sitting around bullshitting in a group. So as always, people find their way. Always hits me hard. And reminds me of how grateful I need to be. The small crap I complain about. I am for sure going with Anda and Rich as soon as they get back from Arizona. I kow I am not interested in building churches- that bugs the shit out of me- Mexico doesn't need Americans coming down to build churches!! They need houses, medical care for their kids, education, they need help- but not saving- ya know?

So it was interesting, and sad, and humbling, and...hopeful. I kow in this place I can find a way a way to be of service....oh- and I got a sponsee! Very exciting to have a woman ask me to help her work thru the 12 steps of AA. I am enjoying the meetings. I asked a guy who lives here yesterday if the English speaking meetings get bigger during the season (April-Oct). He said yep! Actually we had more people during this week and probly next cause people vacation down here over the holiday. I liked it, and it was good to hear that people find their way to us when they're down here. Working with someone is always good, enhances my program, when I go back over the steps with someone new, I always get something out of it. So again-  yipee.

Maybe we'll look for a car tomorrow. For today- I am good. Grateful for a home, a wonderful husband, and a cute doggy.