The Lord Taketh and He Giveth

A few weeks ago we had a lady dropped off at Casa Damasco by the police, there were a few different stories as to what happened to her but the end result was a broken back, an arm in a cast, a dislocated shoulder and a few stitches in the other arm. The first day that we met her she took a few teaspoons of water but no food, just swallowing the water seemed to be painful to her. We redressed her stitches and tried to get her to take more water but she would not. The second time we were there her condition had not changed a lot although they told us that she had eaten some baby food during the week. Last week she was awake and alert the whole time we were there and she ate about 2/3 of a jar of baby food, our hopes were high that she would recover. The very next day she passed away. I was surprised as she had looked so much better and had been so responsive to us. I really thought she was on the road to recovering, but I guess we really didn’t know what she was recovering from and what kind of life she had had. The pastor assured us that God had brought her back to us briefly so that she could prepare herself for going home, home where she will be forever safe in God’s loving arms. This is the second death like this that we have had there since I’ve been here. The sad news of her passing came the same day that we heard that money had been raised in the English Church to purchase a permanent home for Casa Damasco, a home that is much more suited for a long term care facility (which is what Casa Damasco really is) There is a 12 room house in Francisco Madero right beside the Red Dragon (prostitution house) The owner is serving a 25 year sentence in prison, for what I do not know but I could give a pretty good guess. In Mexico a 25 year sentence is actually 25 years, none of this early parole, getting out on good behaviour or any of those other get out of jail early cards that you can draw in Canada. Now we just need to pray that all parties involved will have the patients and knowledge needed to endure the long paper trail of purchasing property here; I’m hearing it’s a very complicated process and the seller being in prison could make it worst. Here is a link for Casa Damasco www.casadamasco.com

Update on a few things

The worms.....a few weeks ago I wrote about waking up one morning and finding a lot of worms in my house. They have never come back, I have not seen one single worm since then and I still do not know where they came from.

My plants......my plants that a neighbour gave me are now 3 weeks old and are all doing just fine. The plants that I planted from seeds that I had bought are not growing at all and 3 of the 4 plants that I bought in Mazatlan at a green house died.

Tranchilla in the water tank.......Who knows? What’s in the water tank is none of my business any more.

Alote.......is very good with chilli powder on it; corn will never be the same again when I go home.
Water Issues.......We are still on a 5 days with water and 8 days without water schedule but I have learned that during the 8 days without water I can still fill my tank at night and that way I don’t run out of running water. The problem with the hot water is that sometimes the pilot light on the hot water heater gets blown out by the wind (its outside) and then I have to wait until my land lady comes as she is the only one that has a key to get at the hot water heater. Right now I’ve had hot water for about 2 weeks straight....that’s a record.

Knitting...... I brought a whole suitcase of wool with me thinking I would just be knitting up a storm for lack of other things to do. I am almost finished my first project, a shawl. I seem to have found a lot of other things to do. I met a lady on the Island here that is in a wheel chair and I was surprised to see that she was knitting; it doesn’t seem to be very common here. When I leave I plan on giving her all my wool instead of dragging it back with me. I had 50 lbs of wool with me.....what was I thinking? Maybe it was brought especially for this lady in the wheel chair, yes, that’s right that was my plan. Oh wait, I already confessed that I came here without a plan. I ‘m so glad God’s in charge and not me.

Caldo.....is a sauce that goes on almost everything, tacos, enchiladas, tostadas, chilaquiles, and some other things that I can’t spell. I’ve been trying to learn how to make this sauce and keep getting a different recipe from every person I ask. Today was my 3rd attempt and it was very good, finally. I think I’ve got it. Although I think this is like making bread, even though you use the same recipe each time sometimes it’s great and sometimes it‘s just not. I was hanging out at meat market this morning and a gentleman that owns a restaurant on the beach stopped by (just to hang out) and he gave me his recipe and I raced home immediately before I could forget anything and it was a success. By the way, the Spanish words for garlic and eyes are different by one letter only....an easy mix up.

The José saga......I now have 3 José’s in my class, we spend about 10 minutes at the beginning of each class deciding who will be who. They are a rather funny bunch.