So we went to Ensenada for a couple of days....

We left for Ensenada on Wednesday as planned. Still have Lucky on my mind, but we had already made this plan, and arranged for someone to stay at our house to babysit both dogs. Well she came anyway to take care of Sam. He always knows when we're leaving, even before any suitcase or backpack come out. And this is the first time we both went anywhere overnite and left him behind- and it was the right choice, it would have been a huge hassle to have him with us now.

So the drive over here took about 6 1/2 hours, and over a road called "La Rumorosa" which crosses the Sierra de Juarez mountains- wow what a trip! There are these huge canyons and the road just winds around and thru the mountains. Now it is a separated road- meaning one direction is 2 lanes and there is a second road going the other way. Everardo says years ago when it was just a 2 lane highway- one lane each way, that you could always see cars that had driven off the road; that all they did was bring the bodies up, and left the cars; it was a really dangerous road. I was not nuts about it when we had to pass or wait behind double trailer trucks, and I was also not nuts about some asshole drivers who thought it was a raceway!

Next time we come I will be in the car with Sam following Poppi who will be in the truck pulling the trailer and not looking forward to it- although now we're gonna go back a different route- heading towards San Felipe and then cutting north on the 5, so we'll see which route we like better. On the way here, we picked up 2 guys right after Puerto Penasco on the road to El Golfo, and they were headed to San Felipe so it was their lucky day since we were going that way- but when we missed the turn they didn't tell us and we went north all the way to San Luis, so we went on that windy road after Tecate. In San Luis Everardo got out and asked them why they didn't tell us we missed the turn and they just shrugged and said, well I guess you wanted to go a different way- too bad for them, we were not going to go way out of our way to take them to San Felipe at that point, so they hopped out to find another ride back the way they came.

We got here early afternoon and so grabbed a cheap motel and headed down to Punta Banda to see the first house that I had been emailing with a guy about. The house was not too bad, but it was on their property and this guy talked our heads off! I thought -oh God- this guy is gonna be talking all day every day! And his son and daughter and law also lived there with their kid...and their places were about 50 feet from our front door....ahhh NO. So good we went there right off so we could write off that area, because in fact we decided that maybe we did want to be in Ensenada the city...Punta Banda was more than a 10 minute drive as we were led to believe. We went back to town and Everardo saw THREE different people that he knew! Can you believe it?? One guy still has his stand in the same place selling jewelery, and he actually put us in touch with the place we'll rent to start. He told us about it day one, but we spent 2 more days calling, looking at, and driving around before we came back to it.

It was very very very frustrating trying to find places to look at; one set of houses I saw that were along a beach, on a website had a woman that seemed like she didn't really want to rent anything. I had emailed her previously, so I emailed and called her to try to set something up. Turned out that the prices were "wrong" on the website, and the house that was available was not really available. Then there was another one that looked good, but when I said we wanted month to month at first since we weren't sure what we wanted- it went up 20% in price! With another website the house was also not available for long term, but another one was- we went to see it and it was awful! She tried to tell us the people had just moved out and it was obvious it had been empty for years...it was near the beach and so the price was ridiculous.

Well ok cause we wanted to be in the city anyway...so we did a combination of driving around and calling places we found on 2 websites for in town. There are SO many streets and thousands of houses. It was tiring and frustrating; the fact is we were tryng to stuff days of work into 2 days. So- we went to see the lady that Antonio (Poppi's friend) told us about. She owns the little store next to Antonio's store. She has a house, still in the city, but far from downtown, starting up into the hills. She could not leave her store and her nephew is there, but sleeping- I think he works at night. So we drove by, and will not see the inside until Sunday morning at 7am. We took a taxi out there, and well, it does have a yard and a fence. It is not the style we're looking for, but it's in the lower end of our price range...so unless something else happens, we're gonna take it so we can move here, and then look for something better from here. She is not in a hurry, and we can have our move in date as Nov 1, and she did not ask for a deposit or anything, she is going on Antonio's word. This means alot, cause a house we wanted to see yesterday afternoon, the woman said we needed a person here to vouch for us- we don't have that. Well later she called back and offered it to us if we gave her 2 months rent, and a security deposit of $1000 dollars- not pesos. We hadn't even seen the place and were tired. We declined.

Ok well there's more to tell but I gotta get up cause we're gonna go look for an AA meeting in English that I heard about...but I'll end with info about a celebration we went to yesterday morning. It's the Day of the Boy Heroes- Ninos Heroes...kinda cool: And the president of Ensenada, the marines and the navy were there- marching and playing trumpets and drums. And of course lots of speeches- which was when we left...

The Niños Héroes (in English: Boy Heroes), also known as the Heroic Cadets or Boy Soldiers, were six Mexican teenage military cadets. These cadets died defending Mexico at Mexico City's Chapultepec Castle (then serving as the Mexican Army's military academy) from invading U.S. forces in the 13 September 1847 Battle of Chapultepec, during the Mexican–American War. One of the cadets, Juan Escutia, wrapped himself with the Mexican flag and jumped from the roof of the castle to keep it from falling into enemy hands.^[1] The Niños Héroes are commemorated by a national holiday on September 13.
The Niños Héroes were:

• Juan de la Barrera  (age 19)
• Juan Escutia  (age 15–19) (?)
• Francisco Márquez  (age 13)
• Agustín Melgar  (age 15–19) (?)
• Fernando Montes de Oca  (age 15–19) (?)
• Vicente Suárez  (age 14)

Chapultepec Castle was defended by Mexican troops under the command of Nicolás Bravo, including cadets from the military academy. The number of cadets present has been variously given, from 47^[3] to a few hundred. The greatly outnumbered defenders battled General Scott's troops for about two hours before General Bravo ordered retreat, however the six cadets refused to fall back and fought to the death. Legend has it that the last of the six, Juan Escutia, leapt from Chapultepec Castle wrapped in the Mexican flag to prevent the flag from being taken by the enemy. According to the later account of an unidentified US officer, "about a hundred" cadets between the ages of 10 and 16 were among the "crowds" of prisoners taken after the Castle's capture.^[4]
The six cadets are honored by an imposing monument made of Carrara marble by architect Enrique Aragón and sculptor Ernesto Tamariz at the entrance to Chapultepec Park (1952);^[2] and the name Niños Héroes, along with the cadets' individual names, are commonly given to streets, squares and schools across the country. For many years they appeared on the MXN 5000 banknote. The Mexico City Metro station Metro Niños Héroes is also named after them.


The bodies of the six youths were buried in the grounds of Chapultepec city. In 1947 their remains were found and identified and, on 27 September 1952, were re-interred at the Monument to the Heroic Cadets in Chapultepec.
On March 5, 1947, a few months before the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Chapultepec, U.S. President Harry S. Truman placed a wreath at the monument and stood for a few moments of silent reverence. Asked by American reporters why he had gone to the monument, Truman said, "Brave men don't belong to any one country. I respect bravery wherever I see it."^[5]
The Metro Niños Héroes station in Mexico D.F. honors the memory of the cadets.
Several Elementary and Middle schools through Mexico are named after them with their complete names.

RIP Lucky

This will be a short post to say good bye to my sweety pie puppy Lucky. When I woke up Sunday morning he was dead. I have been so sad for the past couple of days. But big changes are coming up and I want to share them, but I'll do it later today, maybe tonite. This is about Lucky.

I know I wrote about him before. We got him when he was about 3 weeks old-way too young to take from his momma, but I think he lost momma right after birth. He was found in a cardboard box on the side of the road with his brothers & sisters, I think later most of them didn't make it. They came to the center where I teach, and he was so tiny, he just caught my heart. He almost fit in my hand. He was obviously part chihuahua- he had those intense eyeballs, and they kinda protruded from his head like a chihuahua; he look at you from the side cause his eyes could just turn all the way to the side. What else was he?? Hmmm I thought maybe deermouse; his legs to were long for him, but they folded up like a deer in the woods when they lay in the tall grass. And he was soooo soft. I think he was also part coyote with those ears. His ears were bigger than his head, and very pointy, just like a coyote. And he always ate like there was never going to be another speck of food on this earth. He never did learn to take food from your hand "nice", it was always a quick grab, and those teeth were sharp! Last week I gave him a bit from my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and man he got me good! He punctured the top of my finger and the blood poured down my hand, it hurt for days, actually still a little sore ha ha it's keeping Lucky in my mind. His tiny back legs we a little bowed, so maybe part boxer.

His ribs stuck out. We kept feeding him, took him to the vet several times, and the vet gave us vitamin powder, told us what food to give him, but he just stayed skinny. But we loved him, snuggled with him, took him everywhere with us, just like Sam (our big black lab). I took him to the park, the one place around here with grass, that nice thick grass. Sam loved to roll in it; Lucky kinda tiptoed thru it, but enjoyed watching his big brother chase the ball. We took him to the beach, Everardo took him swimming. At first he was scared, but he trusted Poppa and he swam around, always close to Everardo. Then he'd sit on the towel under the umbrella and watch us.

After zumba and Poppi running on the track, we drive home and grab the dogs and take them for a drive. We've been doing it since the end of June when it started getting so hot that during the day it was miserable...even the beach trips were at the end of the day. Anyway we'd take a drive in sort of a big loop, and usually stop at this one little path down to the beach. Sam would run down to the water, and ha ha usually do a big poop. Everardo would make Lucky walk the path, not carry him, and Lucky would march after him. I always swept him up in my arms to carry him back and Everardo would complain to me- that Lucky always made it on his own when I waited in the car, which I did when I was wearing my new tennis shoes and didn't want to get them filled with sand....and in the dark..who knows what else!

At first both dogs slept outside and Sam would bang on the door about 6am to come in, but then started it about 3am...so they started sleeping inside but with the door open a crack so Lucky could get out to poop about 4am which became his custom. He had has kennel outside, and inside a giant stuffed bunny and a towel to sleep on; Sam preferred the cooler tile, but I think Lucky's bones made the floor to hard for him. When we were up, he like to snuggle next to us on the couch. He had funny expressions, cocked his head to ask a question, ran to the kitchen when he heard any food sounds ha ha. But if he was on the couch he was stuck. He never could jump off the couch, when he did, he's always do a face plant; his legs couldn't hold him up. Sometimes if you swept him up real quick, he'd let out a little cry. But mostly he was a happy puppy. When you held him he would just conk out- fast asleep. You could hold him like a baby with his fat tummy sticking up. He would be like a little rag doll and his head would lay one way and his legs another. He would be walking around, and then just plop down wherever he was and be fast asleep. He would find a way to be touching you, and usually have his head propped up, and his eyes would just droop and close. Funny, he was soooo painfully skinny, his ribs showed, the ridge of his backbone, the bones of the top of his legs- hip bones I guess, he was really just a bag of bones, except right after he ate and then he had a puppy tummy- just for a little while, but it always gave me hope...then he'd poop it out and remain his skinny self. We had to be careful not to hug him too tight, and that was hard cause we just wanted to love him up all the time.

His bones never got strong, and even though he seemed to be getting better, then he started to slip. He never played too much, he was content to watch, snuggled in your arms of course. Saturday, his last day, I took them both to the park, then for a long drive. Everardo was still in Coahuila (just got back yesterday). About 10 pm he threw up, but not too bad, and I didn't worry too much. I had given them both Pedialite during the day because of the heat, and I gave him some more. But a couple hours later he puked again so I changed it to water. I put him in his bed and layed on the couch and watched him. He had the dry heaves later, but wouldn't drink any water. I pet him and talked to him, resolved to take him to the vet again, and this time ask for a blood test or something, something more definitive...anyway he went to sleep and seemed ok. At 3am he was ok because Sam wanted out and woke me up; the door was stuck almost closed, but a few hours later, he looked like he was sleeping and I thought good, he needs it poor baby. But then I looked closer, and he was gone.

I took him out to the center, crying the whole time. Claudia, who works with the dogs, was so gentle with him, and promised me to bury him there. I hope he's somewhere playing in the grass, frolicking like he never could here!

What a gift he was in our lives. And if he was going to suffer, if he was always going to be weak, have weak bones and be hurt easily, then maybe it was for the best- sooner than later. Loved that baby puppy.
Love you Lucky.

Dancing in the rain and the availability of milk

Only in Mexico! I started laughing so hard I couldn't follow the steps. Ok it started like this- they have the free zumba classes in at least 4 different parks here, some at 6:30 like ours, another I know isn't until 8pm. A group in Mexico called DIF sponsored an event via the zumba classes, called a kilo for Penasco.

DIF is roughly translated to Development of the Family- here in Puerto Penasco, they feed the poor, clothe kids in need, support families in trouble- it's a government group. They do alot of fund raising activities, and tonite was part of a 5 week activity, and this was week 2. All the zumba groups come to one of the sites where the classes are held, and everyone is encourage to bring a kilo of food, packaged rice or beans, canned food, etc. Last week they collected 80 kilos of food. There were a bunch of city employees, "important" big wigs who all took the microphone to speak and everybody clapped. Blah blah blah....Same thing this week. But they collected a bunch more food and that's what matters.

Last week I did not enjoy it at all, our group was in the very back, and we couldn't see the instructers- and there were 2 of them- why didn't one come to the back or at least half way. They were all jumpy and smiley- I guess if they came to the back they wouldn't be "seen and appreciated" by the big wigs standing around watching. The other thing was all the women dancing in front of us knew the steps, so we were kinda just stumbling around and trying to follow whoever was right in front of us...
I just started making up my own steps to the music...then I started to have fun.

I wasn't really planning on going tonite but a couple of nites ago our teacher said "oh Teresa can give you a ride" (in Spanish of course)...so I went. Oh and she was supposed to lead 3 numbers tonite so that was another reason to go- support her and know the steps to at least those 3 songs ha ha. It was laid out a little better, long lines of women across so not as many deep, so you could see much better. Anyway after the warm up, during the second song, it starts raining, lightly at first, but by the next song it's pouring! We are getting soaked right to the skin in about 2 minutes, but laughing and we keep on dancing. So then we stand around, in the rain for a few more minutes, the rain starts to let up and we start another song- I think they were trying to cover the player/speakers...why they didn't use the elevated covered patio we were dancing in front of...and then the lightening, and finally the wind starts in. I was wondering if any of the trees near us were going to blow over- yes it was that windy! We keep dancing. I am laughing thru the whole experience. And then for the final blow, the rain stops but the wind increases and the mixture of sand & dirt that starts to hit us is the last straw for the big wigs and people start to scatter. The music stops and it's done. We never got to our teacher's songs...As I turned to head for the truck the sand hitting my face really hurt!

It took me less than 10 minutes to get home and by then it was pouring again, and as I opened the gate in our fence the sides whipped out of my hands and slammed open. I realized the windows were open in the car so I ran into the house to get those keys, and silently thanked God that I had decided to leave the doggys in the house with the fans going cause it was just so hot outside. Sam doesn't like lightening and thunder one bit, and I would hate for him to be alone in it. Yeah Lucky is with him, but he's only 3 months old and Sam barely acknowledges his existence.

I am worried about Lucky, but we have taken him to the vet several times, he eats good, sleeps alot, and his poops look ok. (sorry for that part but we are doing all we can to take care of him) He is growing, no longer fits in my hand, but he remains a bag of bones- his little ribs are always showing. We have dewormed him over 7 over, and now we're giving him powdered vitamins in his food. The vet had us change from dry puppy chow to another brand, but he stays skinny. He turned 3 months old a couple of days ago and I know it's normal for him to sleep alot, and really, this past month in this unbelievable heat, Sam sleeps inside all day, too- oh and me too almost. But he just seems, well, fragile. I think his momma was malnourished and he certainly was; we got him when he was only 3 weeks old and he and his sibling were in a box on the side of the road. Not sure if all of them, but some died. Anyway we give him lots of lovin' and this heat is supposed to left....hmmm...when? Hopefully in the next couple of weeks. He sure is cute, and today it was even hotter so I bought a bottle of coconut flavored electrolytes water and gave them each a bowl and saved a little for me ha ha.

What I would love is some milk! We bought a gallon either Monday or Tuesday morning before Everardo left for Coahuila, and on Wednesday morning it was bad. I knew when I took it out of the fridge- when I opened it I could see cottage cheese like stuff....yuck. I didn't bother to bring it back cause last time Everardo got into an argument with them about it. We found out that some of the stores take deliveries of milk from non refrigerated trucks....and I forget which ones are which. It totally pisses me off- we like to eat cereal at nite sometimes when it's just to hot to think of cooking. We both like milk, but in Mexico it can be a problem. In Playa Ventura the milk was always good- when you could get it. You never knew if the store was gonna have milk, or what store. Even the kid who walked by the house with the pail of milk from his family's cow was inconsistent. I wonder what the milk secret will be in Baja??????

I got an email from the guy with the houses for rent in Punta Banda today, and they're both still available. I think it's just a few miles away from Maneadero and we will for sure at least take a look since the rents are $300 and $250....wow- you know what? We started in Petaluma (Calif), moved down to Playa Ventura, (Guerrero) then up to Puerto Penasco (Sonora), so if we moved to Punta Banda (Baja) we have gone from one P-town to another!! ha ha ha ha

Ok fun fact about Mexico
The Zapotec civilization (600 B.C.-A.D. 800) established great cities along southern Mexico and developed the first writing system in the Americas.

And so it begins.....again

It's official- we are starting a new adventure! Not today, not right this minute, but we are in the planning stages. We are going to move again. Probably not a huge surprise if you have been reading my posts; me saying I'm sick of the desert, that the heat is killing me, and yes I know it's just a couple of weeks or so before it starts to cool off, but then we have a nice 3 months or so, and then cold cold cold. That will last until beginning of March...so extremes....

We've done the tropics; beautiful, super bug bitey, and this humid heat 24/7 365 days a year. Oh and remote. Now we done the desert. Not alot of bugs...but I do have an itchy rash from the heat, my friend Karen out at the center had the same one, and now Everardo as well. The doctor gave us some cream that helps with the itching...I do love how you can go to the doctor for about $10! And taking your dog to the vet is even cheaper. We're still taking Lucky and the last couple of times he didn't even charge us. Lucky is just so skinny; and the vet gave us some better food, I guess with extra nutrients. He also gave him another shot of medicine for parasites. Poor little guy has had a couple kinds of worms and parasites, but he keeps on kickin'. Actually he's 3 months old today. He sooo tiny. But the other day I had him and Sam at the park and this old guy came up & started talking to me- he had seen me out at teh center and was asking if I was still teaching out there. Well Sam ran right up to him tail wagging, but I was holding Lucky and he started growling, alot. I didn't laugh out loud cause I was glad he did it. Little big man.

Ok so back to the start of something new....we are gonna go over to Baja, maybe as soon as late next week, or for sure the following week. The reason we have to wait is because Everardo needs to go see his brother first. Well as it turns out he doesn't "need" to, but he wants to see his brother and so yeah, he needs to. His brother is sick, but it turns out it's kidney stones (I think), and he needs to have a procedure where they use a laser to try to break them up. He's out of the hospital now and goes back in on Monday, so Everardo is going to go see him. He hasn't seen him in 6 years, and before that- it was 30 years! I really wanted to meet this brother, he's the only one I haven't met, but this is not the right time. Poppi is gonna one of those big buses, and if I went we'd probably drive and the cost of the gas, hotels, and I know he's worried about his brother- yeah he's gonna be fine- but he's worried anyway...I understand this completely. If I'm with him, he has to translate for me, introduce me, basically "worry" about me, too. I would be fine, but when we went to Morelia, he was very conscious of when I couldn't tell what was going on, wanting me to like them, and them to like me.....he's this totally easy going guy, and sometimes only I know when he's worried or sensitive to things. So- since we want to take this other trip, I'll sit this one out. I'll babysit our doggys; that was another reason we decided to make the trip to Baja in later Sept rather than end of Aug, because we need a dog/house sitter, and worried if someone just left them outside all day in this heat. Basically we need someone to sit in the house so they can be inside as well, and let them out to pee, etc.

OK so we'll go to Baja after Poppi's trip, which will probably take a week; he has to go to Coahuila, and it's by bus...he may fly back though if he can find a flight for about the same as the bus fare- and he thinks he might be able to.

We're going to the Ensenada area. Ensenada is a huge city and we don't want to live in a big city, but there are tiny towns south of it that we want to take a look at. One is called Maneadero, an small agricultural town, and not too far from the beach, and only about 10-15 miles south of Ensenada...I need to check that distance again. Anyway the area is not desert! Yipee. I also looked up the weather, and it's not super hot or super cold. It's also on the Pacific ocean....not warm like down in Guerrero, but probably not as cold as northern Calif where we came from. Ensenada is only an hour, maybe a few minutes more from the Calif border, so maybe the climate is like San Diego.I've been looking at alot of photos, and I see GREEN, I see grass and trees and bushes. And it looks like there's some mountains, or at least hills. But we'll find a starting place, then come back here and start packing....did I say Yipee??

When I first started looking, I thought maybe San Felipe; it's almost directly across from us here. But I found out it's a desert area too- so no way! ha ha. Everardo told me about Maneadero; he says it has a big open market for vegetables and fruits. He also said he could probably find work there- maybe in the fields, also there's a guy he used to work for....ouch the fields- that's brutal. But that's what I like about him, he will find something. There's also some touristy places, in Ensenada, at the Bufadora (it's a big blowhole at the ocean), and actually I've been emailing with a guy who has a couple of houses for rent, in the $250-400 range. I gotta say though, I kinda want a house not as falling apart as this one....

So that's the new news. Of course Poppi says- this is the LAST move for at least 3 years! Unless it's back to the states....I know, it costs money every time, and I know, everywhere has things you don't like..but one important thing is this makes it even easier for our families to see us. Here is that crappy 4 hours thru the Arizona desert with the bizarre Mexican shuttle bus ha ha. And the truth is, I need to be near my kids more than I thought I would. And Everardo wants his family to visit as well, and maybe his aunt and uncle could make that trip easier. Hopefully we have a long life ahead of us, and we can travel all over Mexico, cause I know there's lots of places I'd love to live, but right now, our families have to be a huge part of us...
ok-enough for now...

Mexico fun fact:

The first great civilization in Mexico were the Olmecs (1400-300 B.C.) who established many cities along the eastern coast of Mexico, sculpted the famous Colossal Heads, and worshipped a mysterious, unnamed god that was part human and part jaguar

The best coca cola I ever had!...and rain

It was today, tonite really, just a little while ago. The best coke I ever had. I swear I could taste the shiny-ness, the sharpness of the bubbles, the sugar was like a thick wave inside the coldness of the wet. I never tasted anything like it, anything so complete, anything so good. I was dead after zumba, in fact about the second to last song I started thinking I might puke. I was so hot, so tired, so.....sick. As I danced I thought I can't stop because I might fall down and then everyone will look at the poor old chubby white lady....and I will be breathing so loud, and my heart will be beating so hard that I will only hear rushing in my ears and so won't understand what anyone is saying. And of course I'm totally insecure about my weight (yes even at the ripe old age of 56) so I'll think they're laughing, and then the teacher will want me to take it easier.....yeah I was thinking all that as I kept pushing and as the song ended looked towards the outer sides of the area where there were bushes I could run over and throw up in.....So the next song started and I pushed just as hard, then mercifully that song ended and the cool down song started....I was shaking and put very little effort into the cool down.

Everardo showed up right after it ended as he always does. He either runs the track for the hour or works on the equipment doing push up, sit ups, pull ups and jumps rope. He always shows up at the end and carries the huge speaker the teacher uses to her truck for her. The teacher told us that tomorrow we're joining another class in the "pencil park", and while she was talking Poppi asked me if I was ok. No- I think I'm gonna throw up...just like last nite, I thought I was going to throw up last nite, too...but I started feeling better when I got home. Well this time, he said he thought he was gonna puke, too. I think it's a combination of things; it's SO hot, we both push so hard, and we're trying to figure out how early to eat, what to eat...so enter the coca cola.

When we got in the car Everardo said, I gotta stop on the way and get a coke, I need the sugar. We live 5 minutes from the track and there's a little aborrotes (grocery) on our street, so he stopped and ran in. He passed it to me and said I bet you need the sugar! I don't like soda, I never drink it. I didn't drink it growing up so I guess I never developed a taste for it. When my kids were here a couple of weeks ago, they both said they don't drink soda- yippee I did something right! They didn't get it as kids and now they don't like it.

So back to my story- He handed it to me and I took a big swallow. After a few seconds I said wow- I think I DID need sugar. And it tasted SO good. I took another big gulp before I handed it back. It tasted amazing, refreshing, cold, tart and sweet at the same time, like syrup but cold and sharp. The nausea lifted, I mean it was completely gone! I don't know, maybe we need to split one before exercise? Or should it be after? It was a small coke, 10 or 12 ounces, maybe before is better because I don't like feeling like I'm gonna throw up during my exercise routine. Ok maybe I should google a better solution eh? Poppi says we need to get some Pedialite for our workouts while it's so hot- hmmm that might be a good idea eh?

Ok in other news; it rained last nite- and I mean poured buckets! It was raining so hard it was pounding on the roof. I posted a couple of photos on facebook of the street in front of our house- oh I mean the river in front of our house. And we are one house in on a side road of a main road (a paved road), which is also flooded. There's no sewer system for water run off. I just hope it doesn't rain again tonite. There are intersections all over town that are flooded, it will just take the sun to get the water to dissipate. We took a drive out to a neighborhood called Cholla Bay (pronounced choya), and part of the road out to there is dirt and really messed up. We were driving the truck but what about people who live out there who just drive cars? What a mess- good thing the average rainfall per year is only 2 inches- I guess that's why they don't bother making improvements.

Actually that neighborhood is kinda sad. Lots of fancy houses, some not so fancy; but it looks like not too many people live out there full time, and there were so many for sale! Lots of unfinished huge houses, and lots of houses falling into disrepair. Everardo said when he was here in 2005-6 that this area was booming, and to rent even a camper shell was expensive; a woman wanted to charge him $300 a month for a camper shell on her property- when he stopped laughing I think he told her to go f**k herself...ha ha. Not everywhere was like that, but a small apartment or room in someone's house was $500 a month. There was money here and people here and building like crazy people. I keep hearing it's coming back, not sure I see evidence of that. Well this weekend is Labor Day and "they" are expecting big crowds, I hope so, Everardo would LOVE to make some sales at the beach. It's so freaking hot tho', I'm worried about him walking the beach- but he'll do it, and I know he'll make some money.

Ok talking about rain,we got a call from Jay, the guy who takes care of our house in Playa Ventura, and he said....wait for it.....THE HOUSE IS LEAKING!! In the same F'ing place as last year. Where the new construction meets the old; meaning our bedroom, and the new family is there renting the place. I was pretty surprised, but Jay said there was an earthquake, and also, that it had been raining for 3 days straight down there and it started leaking on day 4. Oh and the kitchen is also leaking. But he knows what to do to fix it, and just needed the ok from us (really- you needed the ok to fix a leak??) The cool thing for me was I answered the phone and I understood everything he said- but to be sure I had Everardo call him back when he got home. I think I'm gonna talk to Poppi about contacting a real estate person in Copala or Marquelia in the next couple of months, before Dec when there's a big tourist time...

Yeah I thought the storm last nite would make it cooler, but I was wrong, sadly very wrong. The air is like when you take a hot shower with the door shut, and after you turn off the water you can feel the water in the air? That's how it is outside. I don't know, maybe it's a sign that it's gonna get cooler? Oh and maybe a pig will fly over the moon. Arrgghh this heat is killing me! Did I say that out loud??

Ok Mexico fun fact:
Modern Mexicans are a unique blend of many ancient civilizations, including the Olmec, Zapotec, Toltec, Maya, Aztec, Inca, African, French, and Spanish.

It's just so hot!

I can't believe it's actually getting hotter. Walking to the washing machine across the yard has me dripping with sweat. The streets don't have too many people on them, and I understand, I just want to stay in the house with the curtains closed to keep out the heat, and all our fans going.

Sunday we went for a drive, not really to escape the heat, but to do something in it. It's too hot to go to the beach, and the water is so warm it's not really too refreshing, and lately has had so much crap it it; sticks and algae, stuff like sawdust, I think because of the passing storms. It only rained here a tiny bit thru the weekend even though weather channels and websites said we'd be hit hard. I was looking forward to it because I also read it would cool down up to 10 degrees. But- no way. So we took a drive, heading south towards Caborca but then veered left instead of right to head for Desemboque. We left the house at 2pm, and so once we took the Desemboque road we started wondering how far it really was. I looked it up later after we got back home and it's says it's almost 7 hours!

Well after about a half hour we started thinking maybe we should undertake this adventure another day when we leave really early and/or want to spend the night, so we turned back and headed for Caborca. Well I just looked that up and it's almost 3 hours from here, but it was fun driving along the roads. One part we had been on when we moved up here, but at the end of 3 days of 12-15 hour driving days and we just wanted to get here, so I didn't remember too much. It's still desert, but much more beautiful than here- much more green and lush. Hmm using the word lush to describe the desert, but it was pretty, lots of different plants, trees and bushes, and lots of huge rock formations- and I love rocks.

Ok Mexico fun fact:
 Mexico’s flag is made up three vertical stripes. The left green stripe stand for hope, the middle white stripe represents purity, and the right red stripe represents the blood of the Mexican people. The picture of an eagle eating a snake is based on an Aztec legend.

There was also agriculture in some places; I don't know if they had to bring in better soil, but the ground isn't as sandy as it is here, much more dirt. So we saw fields of asparagus, lemons, and grapes. Olive trees, fields of them. It made me think of coming up thru Sinaloa- which I always thought- oh the drug cartels! But what we saw was agriculture- field after field of strawberries, avacados, asparagus, lots of veggies. So all in all it was a nice ride. When we finally hit Caborca we were really hot and tired, and so we really just drove thru the outskirts to head back home. We came down a side road and there was a small checkpoint. Just 2 cops; a man and a woman. She asked if we had any alcohol. We said no, then the guy told Everardo after we asked for directions towards Sonoyta, don't stop for anyone who tries to pull you over- we are the only ones. Wow- we thought he meant on the highway, but we drove down a couple of more streets until we found the highway, and it was a brand new road. Beautiful and paved, with the "chicken lane"; meaning cars would pull over to the right where there is a dotted line so they were half in the lane and half on the side, then you pass them in the middle which is the same passing lane for those going the other way. But we didn't encounter much traffic (the heat remember), and so we followed this road to Sonoyta and then turned south back down to Puerto Penasco.

So we did a big desert circle. If we had been in a more agricultural center, we would have made a crop circle ha ha! So our little drive turned into 5 hours! One nice thing though, as we headed out of Sonoyta, there was a family with 7 little kids, and they plus momma and poppa jumped in the back of the truck and rode with us all the way home. They lived out in San Rafael, in a little blue house with Dora the Explorer painted on it. (cute). It was nice to be able to help somebody out, right?

Well the next day-yesterday (Monday) I had grudgingly agreed to go with my friend Deb to Phoenix to help her friend Sue pick up a car. We had all been talking about driving back alone on that drive and how it sucked cause you get so tired on that round trip- that I had just done taking my daughters to the airport. So when she asked me, I couldn't say no. We went up with her friend and then Deb didn't want to drive back alone. I said yes cause she said we'd go early and just come right back so be back early afternoon. Arrgghh she picked me up at 5:45...AM! Well I brought a pillow and slept in the back part of the way up. Then there were some "issues" with picking up the car, $$ issues which I stayed out of, but ended up not getting home until about 6PM! Oh wait- it was 6:15 cause she said- see you can still make it to zumba!! Yeah...not!

But Everardo had made a nice dinner of carne asada and beans and I added some of the extra sharp cheese I bought in Phoenix, so it was goood.

So the other fun thing I did over the weekend, was get Rosetta Stone put on this new/used laptop. Karen emailed me and she did have the activation card in her wallet so she gave me the number. Oooops one problema! The license is only good for 2 seats- meaning you can only install it on 2 computers. And it was already on my crashed laptop. So I finally got someone from India on live chat, told them I was Karen and after quite some conversation, got him to open another seat. So I am back up and running. When I get my laptop fixed, I'll de-activate it on this one so she'll still have 2 seats available. I sent her an email and told her I impersonated her ha ha, I hope she sees it as "ha ha" as well. But man when it's so hot day and nite, little frustrations become big ones.

Last nite, since I missed zumba it was only natural to crave ice cream, and when we went down to the malecon to get some; Everardo back into a really big (tall) truck with my car and made a huge dent in my trunk, and cracked the tail light. Didn't do a thing to the truck luckily. This morning he had to take the back seats out to get to the trunk to get it open and pound out the dent some. My poor car just struggles for life, but keeps on chuggin' along. Well zumba tonite and I already did Spanish for today. Now I'm gonna look up a small town in Baja we might consider as our next spot to land.....it's close to Ensenada but not a big city and supposedly has a nice beach for him to work....as soon as I figure out the spelling I'll put it here- something like Maneaderos....wish me luck cause this place lately is killing me!!

ARRGH the DMV on a hot day in Mexico!!??

The heat,of course, continues. Did I say it makes me crabby? I think hubby would call that an understatement ha ha. But add heat to frustration...not good coming from me. Yesterday was run between computer places day. The afternoon before is when my laptop suddenly went dark, and so my first trip began. I went from place #1 to place #2 for a second opinion and ended up leaving the laptop overnite. They told me they'd try to call me before 6:30 pm but I understood that meant tomorrow, so the next morning I waited until 10am (they open at 9), and went in. She looked up and said- oh I was just about to call you- yeah sure I thought...and she told me this big long story about they thought it was the motherboard but there's a tiny chance it's the processor (which is not on the board). Anyway she was going down to Hermasillio this weekend and could see if they had one down there (they didn't have one there to test it), and she'd be back Tuesday. Hmmm well now I already owed 150 pesos to hear what place #1 told me for free. Then I'd have to pay for this additional testing, and wait a week to do it...so I said no, thank you, I'll take it now. Well I had to come back in half an hour for it, so we went to breakfast. When we came back...

So the woman speaks perfect English but when we go back and this time Everardo comes in, they start speaking in Spanish. I can follow at first but she spoke really fast, and so I got lost, and stopped them to ask what they were saying. Then they went back to Spanish....uh oh, my sweaty crabby brain started to get pissed off. This was my computer, I had been handling the business regarding it, and suddenly I cannot understand or make any decisions cause I have no idea what's being said. That lack of control can get to me, even though I know I'm in a country where I'm still struggling with the language...but I'm frustrated and hot, so I start to lose it. Oh- and I asked for the case, and she looked surprised, went to the back, and returned with it, saying, in English- well they said you left it on the chair...ahhh ok thanks. So they return to Spanish and I'm just standing there while they have a loud antimated conversation. Arrgh! So I turned around and walked out.

Everardo comes out a minute later and says, as I slam the car door- what's wrong? Wellllllllll I say...she speaks perfect English-why did you have the whole conversation in Spanish, effectively leaving me out (and I was thinking- and then you were in charge...). He just shook his head...At place #1 the guy is American and his wife (or girlfriend) who works there, too, is Mexican, so the conversation was in English. I just want some control over the things that are about me, if I can.

Ha ha forward to today. I get up at 8:30 but get dressed right away cause we're gonna get my Sonora drivers license. Everardo gets up earlier, so he was ready..and had made me coffee (love this man- even when he pisses me off). We think go early and finish it, then have the rest of the day. Did I say ha ha?? First to the bank cause we know we're gonna pay...ok then stop at the Red Cross where they ask you if you're allergic to anything (& in case I forget, they asked that at the DMV too), and you do and eye test...ha ha it's on the wall behind the guy's desk, and when he got to the really small lines, he "helped me" when I said P instead of F.. .more than once...ha ha ha ha. Then he asked my height and weight (of course I lied about my weight), took 200 pesos from me and gave me a small receipt like document. Of course there was conversation between the guy (maybe he was a doctor) and Everardo about the weather, the beach, working on the beach...I understood most of it, but of course was hot & sweaty so was irritated....I answered all his questions in Spanish, but he looked every time to Everardo to repeat the same answer.....

Ok off to the DMV. Now, in Playa Ventura, the "dmv" was a small office (room) in a small building that had other businesses in it. We gave a guy 200 pesos for each of us, he snapped our pictures and then we chatted while someone made up the licenses. Everardo's was for 4 years, but mine only 1 year because I had a 1 year temp residency card. When we got here, Everardo changed to a Sonora license right away because we bought a car here in his name and so he had to have it. He went to the Red Cross, had his eye test, went to the dmv, paid...I think 1000 pesos....and got his license. Oh- and somehow I thought the Red Cross was for a blood test, but no, just filling out the particulars, and the silly eye test. So, they tell us that they are going to call Hermisillo (state capital I think) to confirm that me having a Guerrero license would "make it ok" . Ok for what? Of course the conversation took place in Spanish. They also said we needed the original phone bill, not a copy, so Everardo went home and got it while we waited for the call. Then a man called me up to the window and asked if I wanted a special license. I said no, just to drive my car. He said ok, pls wait. Then Everardo came back and they told him I could only have a "special temp license", but it wasn't clear if I would be legal to drive either of our cars because they were not in my name. Now I was pissed off. We followed all the rules, did everything right.

We changed the license plates from Guerrero to Sonora, and Everardo changed his license. Changing those plates wasn't cheap. I got my new Temp resident card, which allows me to live and work here in Sonora- but not drive? Everardo got mad too, and then we waited to talk to the head guy there. Wait and pay wait and pay- the Mexican way. So he tries to tell Everardo that it doesn't matter that we had licenses in Guerro- every state is different, and he says..well you gave me one! Then Everardo talked about my immigration card and the guy said well that's Federal...blah blah blah....and of course it was in Spanish, and as it got heated I got lost (again). Ha ha Everardo called him a racist. Anyway they both calmed down and they guy said I had to take an exam at the police station. I said a driving test? Ok no problem. "oh no!" he exclaimed- not a driving test, just answer a couple of questions like identifying a stop sign. OH! So it's just about more money! Of course Everardo had to say that ha ha...It was kinda funny cause usually he's the most patient guy I know- I'm the one who gets frustrated....

So- we go to the police station to sign up for the test which is on Wed and Sat. But they say pls pay us $150 pesos, and come right in. We chatted with this guy (in Spanish) about the weather and how tattoos always have a message. Then he looked at my California license (no interest in the Guerrero license), and he stamped a piece of paper and told us to have a nice day. Oh and while we were waiting to talk to this guy, a man who had to be 100 years old in a police uniform walks by us and has this huge pistol on his hip- it looked as old as he was....not that was scary ha ha. It was like a cowboy gun.

Ok back to the dmv. Every time we go to another place the outside heat hits you like a brick. I have been completely soaking wet and then dry about 5 times and this is before noon.  I forgot to say- as soon as we pulled up to the dmv-the first time- and I saw this beautiful big cement and glass building, I knew it wouldn't be as easy as Guerrero....these guys will want lots of pesos and fill out lots of pieces of (useless) paper. So, we go back in and this time someone is at the "reception podium" and we tell her what we want. She looks at all our papers (again), tells us to take a number and goes off to make copies. I get called about 15 minutes later to the window where we started a couple of hours earlier, and the lady typing in my info tells the woman she called over to translate how we were mad when we were there earlier.....of course she was the one who had decided to make the Hermisillo phone call- which I never heard the result of...anyway I could understand her ha ha, and you should have seen her face when I started answering the questions in Spanish! ha ha ha haha

They asked me about allergies, if I wanted to describe my tattoos in case they could be used for identification- I looked at the English speaking one, and she says, "well in case of emergency...if...if..."I started laughing and said "if" and I drew my finger across my neck.....Oh and they asked me my blood type. Do people know their blood type? So I said B...B positive. Then asked if I wanted to be an organ donor? In Mexico- don't think so. I don't want them in a hurry for any body parts when I'm on the table....

So, in the end I got my license. They said only for 2 years because your immigration has to be renewed in 2 years...( I thought- arrgghh you think I'll be living here in 2 years!!! I so hate you all) but that was only thoughts..oh and then they said..$580 pesos please. wait and pay wait and pay. But I  will say this- this dmv was JUST LIKE the dmv in the states! ha ha

So now I'm home, and the laptop guy just called- I dropped it back off after the dmv for him to look at the hard drive again for the Rosetta Stone password because he said it came up when he looked at it. So he just called and said, hmmm it's not there. Shit! So I can go pick it back up...and he say....$pesos please!!!

It's 3pm and oh soooo hot outside.....but it won't start to cool off before about 7pm so I might was well just go down there...well maybe a small nap first...and maybe try to find out my blood type ha ha!

Hmm today's Mexico fun fact- I wish I would have had one of these today.....
One unusual Mayan weapon was a “hornet bomb,” which was an actual hornet’s nest thrown at enemies during battle.