December 02/09

Laundry day came and went yesterday, once again I found it to be a very relaxing experience, it is such a sense of accomplishment when it is all back in the house washed, dryed and folded. It also smells so good, a mixture of the wind and the sea and I do tend to go a Mexican with the fabric softener as well. I met a Mexican man once that told me that most men work mainly to keep fabric softener in the house......they looooove fabric softener.
Another thing that they love are Emperador cookies, tea is always had with cookies here. The cookies are nothing special, we have them at home as well, I believe the same cookie but with a different name.....I can't remember the name, rarely rarely would I ever buy cookies at home, but for some reason as soon as I get here I have to buy them to have with tea. They are just the plain regular cookies with icing in between, usually available in chocolate, vanilla or maple..like the Oreo cookie. They only come in a package of 8 here (like everything else, no big packages) which is a good thing for me. I ate a whole package yesterday, just because it had been 10 months since I had any. Don't really have an excuss for the package I ate today, I'll think of one for tomorrow's.
Did I mention I am right next to the RV park? ok....I'm right next to the RV park and they got 4 more campers today, 2 with Alberta plates, haven't meet them yet. The manager told me I could use their library anytime I wanted, I will sure will check it out yet. I'm pretty well set for books for a bit yet. I'm reading "The Silver Chalice" by Thomas B. Costain, lately I've been into books writen by people that have long been dead. Just finished reading "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy, I was surprised that I really got into it, I had always thought Mr Tolstoy was just for people with an ancient literature degree, turns out he was just as normal as anyone.....and a good writer, I really liked it and will keep my eye open for more of his books.
Today was fairly unevenful, I just sat around and cranked my neck this way and that way spying on all my neighbours and all the traffic going by. Dud in the trailer park came with his jeep and loaded up his tree stump and took it home to work on, hope I get to see his finsihed art. There were horses running all over the place today, I have no idea why they are so busy galloping by here. Cowboy with the mare and little foal were heading home down the beach when I went for my daily sunset walk and he hasn't slowed down yet and the poor little guy was way behind and crying again, am I am going to have to have a talk with the dud? And the funniest thing this morning, a horse pulling a wagon with a guy on it wearing a cowboy hat and a cowboy shirt unbuttoned all the way with shirt tail flapping in the wind, barefoot in sandels, galloping by at top speed and he was holding a surf board....a long board, a cowboy surfer?.....and what was the rush?
I managed to score a few coconuts which will be great in my morning fruit smoothie, but I don't have a macheti yet so I might have to flag down a cowboy tomorrow morning to open one.
I still don't have a shower in my bathroom, I have 3 toilets and 2 sinks but no shower, Nina was going to have someone come manana, and then they were supposed to come manana and they have still not come. Today her cousin came to check on me and was surprised that I still didn't have a shower, he said he would take care of it......manana.
I thought I made a video today for you all, I thought I did pretty good walking around my little casita, I even narrarated it really nice but when  I went to view it I couldn't find it on my camera....I guess I was just walking around talking to my camera with nothing being recorded. I really should read that big fat book that came the camera some day.
The guy with shrimp truck came by today, I am having friends over for a big shrimp fry on my outdoor stone BBQ on Saturday so I didn't buy any today because I want them to be fresh. Hope he comes by again Friday ro Saturday morning otherwise I have to go hunting for him, I might buy some scallops as well....hope my scallop guy hasn't moved from last year.
It looked like there were lots of tourists here today, lots of horseback riders anyway and a lot of people out in banana boats this afternoon. Cruise ships have been coming in a little more regularly now since the HINI scare has settled down a little. I guess business had been pretty skimpy here for awhile, first the reccession scare and then the flu scare really hurt things here. Ahhh but they can't scare me away! I'm here for the cookies!

A weird day

This morning started off like every morning will...I hope. A beautiful sunrise, me having coffee in my sunporch waiting for Salvador (fruit/grocery guy), I planned on having eggs and toast for my second breakfast. Because I get up so freakishly early I have to have 2 breakfast, the first one is usally just fruit and yogurt, the second one required something more substanial, like eggs and toast. Aside from having fruit and vegetables Salvador also has other nessessities like eggs, bread, beans, rice salt, tostadas, corn husks, and sugar. I really never have any need of going to the grocery store excpet for creama and coffee and meat. He arrives right on time and I get my eggs and bread and as I am frying up my eggs it starts to rain...seriously, unheard of this time of year. It rained for a bit and then stopped for a bit and then it poured for a few hours. As I sat under my palapa (it does keep the rain out) I watched as 3 guys were fishing with a net,(Peter, James,and John?) I've seen them out there before, it is pouring rain and they are in the water up to their necks dragging their net in and out, I would have stayed home but they were very faithful fisherman. Not sure how bountiful the catch was. The horseman came with his horses but he must have been sent home for lack of tourists, it didn't take long and he was heading back, little guy was still galloping alongside. During this pouring rain I decided a hot cup of tea would be nice and then found out I had no electricity, I just can't seem to have all my utilities working at once, so I fired up my nice BBQ and kept a fire long enough to heat up a cup of water for tea. I am reading a book a friend gave me on Sunday called "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer/Annie Barrows, not a book I would have picked up but it has kept me intertained all day, I'm almost done. Every once in awhile I have to jump up and see whats going on, horses going by, 2 duds on a motorbike with a young horse on a lead rope running alongside, I was going to go to the store for cheese and tortillas (Salvador does not have cheese and tortillas) but the road is a mucky mess from the rain and I don't have rubber boots or any shoes other then flip flops, then I see a guy walking by barefoot, when you don't have the right footwear wear none I guess. I stayed home, I'm too busy spying on the guy living across from me (kind of kitty corner form me ) he has his door open and is sitting in front of the doorway painting a pictures, he probably has no electricity like me and has to sit in the doorway for light. I decide I must meet him and see what he is painting, but not today in the rain. I am not the only one that keeps busy with weird activities, there is a guy from the trailer park who has found a big tree stump that must have been uprooted during the storm, it's about 6 feet tall and is all narly and has many cervices and knots in it and he sees that it can be a work of art so he works on it with a chisle and pick getting the ants out of it, can't have ant in your art. There is a restraunt up the beach that has an old worn out ugly sign and he feels that once he has this tree trunk looking all fancy and artsy he will donate it to them and they can put a new sign on it. So, you see we are all very busy being busy bodies.

The rain has stopped and the sun is peeking out once in awhile, might even have a nice sunset and the electricity is back on, painter guy has shut the door to his house, and I will go and find some supper before it gets dark and I have to stumble around in the puddles. Stay tuned for an exciting Tuesday....laundry day. I hope I still have water tomorrow because it has to be laundry day, I'm looking forward to using my fancy laundry facilities.
A little side note; my pictures are scattered all over because I can't seem to figure out how it is supposed to be done, I had this problem last year as well and never did figure it out. I also can't figure out how to put captions under them.

First night in the little casita by the sea

November 29th (I think)

Turns out I live on pony lane, in front of my house is the ocean and behind my house runs a road alongside the coconut plantation. Somewhere down this road I believe live all the people that have horses. They are constanly galloping by my house and as my friend Kathy pointed out to me they leave a lot of fertilizer behind (horse poo), the composting guru that I am I plan on scooping up some to add to my plants that I plan on buying soon. I figure it's so hot here it will compost in days. I must have a garden, I just can't live somewhere and not grow stuff. I plan on doing the scooping after it's dark out because the locals will think I am completly loco if they catch me out on the road picking up horse manure. So tonight I went out there with my shovel in the dark and guess what...it's dark, I can't see a thing, need to buy a flashlight. I have a candle but the wind kept blowing it out. People often ask me "what do you do all day there" they have no idea how busy I am and I really can't explain it, don't really want either, they might think I'm loco too. Anyway.......I was going to tell a sad horse story.....There is a man who rents out his horses on the beach to tourists for trailriding and every morning he brings his horses in from somewhere up my road. He has them all tied up together and comes galloping up the beach really fast with them and one of the mares has a little foal (cutest little thing) the foal is not tied up, he just runs along side but he always stays behind and the dud does not slow down or look back to see if the little guy is still there, poor little guy just running and trying to keep up. Today at 3:30 (same time everyday) dud goes home with his horse, just at my house he makes a turn into the plantation but the little guy is so far behind he goes straight instead of turning. After awhile I can hear him crying (neighing) and he comes back, confused, he turns, going in the right direction now but soon comes back when he can't see them ahead, he's just crying in such a panicky tone, my heart was breaking for him. He went left and right but kept coming back and crying and crying. He raced back onto the beach and just turned in circles for awhile and then came back and just circled around the corner and crying. Dud must have been all the way home before he realized he was missing the foal, it was about 40 minutes when he came back on his horse with the mare in tow, poor little guy was so happy to see them and finally go home. I sure hope dud slows down from now on. These are the things that keep me occupied all day. Since hurrincan Rick came to visit everyone is rebuilding palapas and the palm branches are being hauled out of the plantations, all day long wagon pulled by horses drive by my house, piled so high with palm branches sometimes you can't even see the driver, pickup trucks full as well. These guys know how to load up a truck or wagon to the max.

I spend the first night in my house and aside from a midnight visit to the bathroom it was pretty uneventful. I had taken all percautions to make sure I didn't have any creepy crawlys in the house.Nina had sprayed some stuff to kill off any bugs they have and I had chalked out all the holes the house to keep out cockroaches. They have a chalk here that cockroaches don't like, if you draw a line with it they will not cross over the line (so I am told) Must work, I have not had a single roach in my house but I forgot all about my bathroom. At 1 am I had to go to the bathroom and so I wander on over there and open the door and the place was swarming with roaches.....all sizes, unbelievable. So back to the house for my spray and sprayed the bathroom and as soon as I could see they were getting drunkin-like I took a broom and swept them out. Today I chalked the door way and any little holes. Will be keeping on top of the chalking from now on. I have geckos and iguanas running around all over the place and I don't mind them because I know they are harmless but at night when it is dark I assume every little scurrying sound is a rat, keeps me on edge a bit. The last bit of my evening was spent just sitting and thinking of how thankful I am to God for everything, it is truely due to Him that I am here and I must never forget that the more I yield to Him the more amazing my life will be and in turn I will not be able to help it but praise and worship Him, and I pray that this will spill out to my nieghbours and everyone around me. Once again I got a lesson this morning in the Spanish service on praise and worship.

My little casita by the sea

November 26, 2009

2 years ago when I was here I found a beautiful little house on the beach, the house is nothing fancy and really not beautiful, it is the yard that is so beautiful and it’s location. The house is just a little square brick building, one room. The toilet and shower are in a separate little building just off to the side of the house and an outdoor laundry area as is common in the Mexican homes. In the past there has always been someone living in it but this year it was empty and I felt it should be mine. Unfortunately hurricane Rick gave it a little beating a few weeks ago and the yard is a mess. It had palapas that came halfway down the beach and beautiful vines, plants and trees and those have all been ripped out and all the debris is scattered all over. The lady that owns it, who happens to be a friend of mine (I rented a place from here last year as well) told me she would have it ready in a week but all week I did not see any work being done there. Meanwhile everyone on the Island has heard that I am back and has a place to rent or knows someone who has. I did go and look at a few house and found some very awesome little houses for rent, all within my budget, I didn’t even look at anything that was not within my budget. All the houses that I looked at were nicer then mine but the yards were not nearly as nice, some had no yard. When my North American friends see the nice little houses I turned down they will think I am crazy but to me the yard and the view is worth more to me. Yesterday when I went for my 4 pm walk on the beach and stopped at my house and finally saw some work being done there. I quickly picked up a rake and helped rake up all the garbage. When we had a few piles made we set them on fire (don’t need permits) She got the inside of the house cleaned and has promised to come back tomorrow to clean the bathroom, which I can clean myself if she doesn’t come back. The yard is a project that will take longer. I told her I can pick away at it while I life there as well. It is a bit yucky though because when you have piles of dried palm trees and old rotting wood laying around here you get rats and all kinds of creepy crawly things living in there. (BIG creepy crawly things) So, there may well be a bon fire every night at my house for the next week or so. I will be slowly moving in over the course of the next few days here. Tomorrow I will go get my things that I have in storage here and see what I have. It’s been 2 years since I put it in storage and I can’t remember what all I have, it will be like Christmas for me. Then I will make a list of things I need and head to the mainland and do some shopping (not my favourite thing to do) I do know I need to buy some lights, the little place is not lit up very well. I also want some plants, a Poinsettia or 2 is a must....there are so cheap here. A friend already lent me hammock which is the key piece of furniture. As we were working out there last night the sunset put on a very colourful show for us and I knew I had made the right choice.

November 29, 2009

This morning I went to get my things that I had stored and moved into my little casita on the beach. Shortly after getting there I discovered that I didn’t have water, what the heck? Had water yesterday. My water is pumped in from a well, I have a pump house and was shown how to turn the pump on and off, it was supposed to be as easy as flicking the switch on and off. The pump burrs and makes noise but no water. So I shut it off and plan on going to find Nina, but first I have unpacking to do and organizing...so exciting. I had gone shopping yesterday in Mazatlan for some supplies. I bought a twin sheet set for 210 pesos, a bath towel for 49 pesos, a twin sleeping bag for 87 pesos (yup that’s under $8)a thick blanket for 79 pesos, these were the big items. I also picked up some smaller stuff like candles and a BBQ lighter, bath mat and such. I organized my little place as best as I could without water, all my stuff that was in storage needs to be washed. Salvador (my fruit and vegetable guy) came by around 9 ish. I had run into him last night at one of the restaurants and had asked him what time he would be by. He drives the same route everyday and does pretty well at staying on schedule. I also caught the water guy this morning; I will be boiling my drinking water but...no water today, so I bought some even though I am against buying water. It hurts me to buy water, even though it only cost me 12 pesos. The water guy was so sweet and had fun with my Spanish; it took me a bit to understand that you can only buy as many jugs as you are returning. I did eventually get that and then remembered that I had gone through that whole ordeal last year only then I didn’t have a jug to return so I could not buy a jug. Luckily for me there was an empty jug in this house that I could return to him. How does one get started when you first move here if someone didn’t leave a jug behind for you, and people wonder why it pains me to buy water. Then I wandered over to get some lunch, a big tuna sandwich and then Kathy came to visit and drop of borrowed water dispenser and some duct tape to tape plastic around my mattress (just in case of creepy critters) then we chatted away the afternoon. I wandered over to the RV Park and met some wonderful fellow Canadian and a nice couple from Quebec  and for a small fee got set up with internet. So for the next few hours I sat under my palapa and updated my blog site as I watched 2 guys do some kind of kite surfing in the ocean....life was great, then I lost the internet connection, just as my pictures were being uploaded....dirty dog! Just then my friend Lydia (missionary with the La Vina ) called and told me she was on the Island and could I met her to give her a book I had brought from Canada for her. The book is “The beautiful side of Evil” by Johanna Michaelsen, very good book on how the evil spirit can disguise himself. The author grew up in Mexico and writes of her experiences of being deceived by the evil one. The things she writes about remind me a lot of things that I see here in the Island. Despite all the darkness here there is hope, today a 12 year old kid came to Lydia and asked to be put into a drug rehab facility. Another kid (these 2 boys were friends) was put into this same facilities 2 weeks ago, he had been there in the past and had run away, had also run away from an orphanage that Lydia had put him in so we just have to pray that this time God will get a hold of these boys. So my day went on and I never did go talk to Nina about my water...oh well, manana. I just finished watching the sunset over the ocean and now have to go over to Miguel’s restaurant and get some supper. Since Miguel’s is just around the corner from my house I’m sure we will get to be good friends. Yesterday I had enchiladas that were awesome, not sure what I’ll try today..