The sand lot kids

My neighbours beside me have been building a garage since before I moved in, I had been told this construction that spills into my yard every once in a while would be done by the time I moved in but as it often happens here...not so, still working on it. They have a pile of sand in the front, half in my yard and half in their yard and half in the street....yes a sand pile with 3 halves.....just making a point here ok. Meanwhile my other neighbours across the street have the cutest little 3 year old named Andre, oh my gosh this kid is so cute, I would just love to show you all a picture of him but for obvious reasons I cannot post a picture of someone else’s kid on the net, just trust me he is so cute, I can’t stop spying on him, and he has the cutest little voice too. Love him. Anyway, he has a little cousin that lives up the street a bit and they have been playing on the sand pile for days now, and I have had so much fun watching them. Andre knows me so he shyly talks to me (if I force him) but his little cousin is too shy, he wouldn’t tell me his name (I know his name is Diego) so I call him the boy with no name, Andre thinks this is so funny. One day there were 4 kids playing on the sand pile for most of the day, I was just amazed at how there was never any fighting, or crying, how do they do that here? What would happen if we put one of our North American kids in the pile, would they still all play without fighting, or is it not the kids? Is it the fact that they are playing without toys; maybe it’s the toys that are causing the fighting at home, mind you today they each had a little truck...still no fighting.

Later in the afternoon my land lady and her son came over to clean the yard, apparently I am not doing a good enough job keeping the yard clean...how embarrassing, I thought I was keeping up with the sweeping pretty good. First thing in the morning all the women are out sweeping up all the leaves that have fallen overnight (Remember it is winter here) then they wash down their houses from the outside and the sidewalk (sand sand sand is everywhere) then they water down the street in front of their house to keep the dust down, then they water down their whole yard. This is usually done in either pajamas or in a house dress, I am too shy to go out in my pajamas and not old enough for a house dress so I get dressed first. But.....next week is Semana Santa (Holy week) and everything has to be spic and span clean and tidy (did not know this). So the back alley had to be cleaned and the road in the back and alongside the road, had I known I would have done this.

So dude and I are working in the back and mom is in the front, all of a sudden she hollers at him to come and help, he goes, I keep raking. He comes back a while later, shaking his head and looking all serious and mutters something about “dangerous”, “what happened?” I want to know. He’s very serious as he tells me that someone’s horse had wandered over and as it was eating the neighbours potted plants little Andre and Diego were hanging on to his tail and using it as a swing. Oh my gosh did I laughed, and then I noticed he didn’t think it was funny, he explained to me ever so seriously how dangerous this was because the horse could have kicked these little guys and hurt them really bad, because horses have sharp hoof and they can kick very hard....yayayay I know, I grew up with horses.... but I couldn’t stop laughing at the sight of little Andre and Diego swinging from the horses’ tail...seriously, is this not funny? If you all knew how cute this little Andre is you would have laughed too. I understand how dangerous this was and how lucky both horse and boys were that he intervened before anyone got hurt but I still have to laugh at the sight. I told him, “why didn’t you come get me, I would have come with my camera” now he really looked at me weird. He did finally laugh with me, when I just couldn’t stop.....or maybe he was laughing at me, I don’t know. I still wish I could have gotten a picture.

My yard is clean, so bring on Semana Santa....I wouldn’t be here, it starts on the 3^rd and on the 4^th I will be on my way to Canada. When I come back Andre will be 4, little baby Julio who drives around in the dessert truck with his dad will be walking, my friend who is pregnant now will have a baby, everyone will be a year older....including me. I just hope my neighbours don’t move, I love them.

Just some random picture;

I love this fence made of palms

A lovely little house for rent in case you're planning on joining me here

Soon my view will change

I will miss my limes when I get home, I can't afford them at home, they are 10 peso a kilo here....and in the rainy season they are even cheaper

 

This is hard to leave

I have done some work here, these are little wee moccasin flaps ready to be made into little wee moccasins when I get home

Sun, sand and surf

Shrimp, I will miss you

My dishes I bought a thrift store....fit for a Mexican Princess (which I am not)

Friday night on the Island

It’s a small town Friday night...thats a song too, I believe by John Melloncamp but I am not too sure.  I have often wondered why I feel so much younger when I am here. I am not alone in this, another friend of mine here mentioned it as well a while back and after a brief discussion we still couldn’t pinpoint it. I think I now have it figured out. There are a few factors, one is the music....if English music is playing somewhere it is almost always old stuff, stuff that I remember from when I was a kid. I walked by a mechanic shop the other day and they had Cindy Lauper blaring on the stereo, remember her? She had a few huge hits and then disappeared.....she’s here. And Tiffany is here too, and how about the Grand Funk Railroad, they sang “The Locomotion”...yup, they here too, and of course John Denver is here as is Ringo Star and I heard Stevie Wonder the other day and I think Olivia Newton John is here as well. When I hear these songs it makes me want to dance right there in the street in front of the mechanic shop....makes me feel young. I asked the guy if he could understand the words to the song, he laughed and said no, he just likes the music, can’t blame him, who doesn’t like chiving to a little Manic Monday ...on a Saturday while you’re playing with wrenches under a 100 year old Chevy.

Another reason I feel young I think is because some things here as just like they used to be....when I was young. Moms send their kids to the store for milk and an egg (you can buy just one egg) and they are excited to go, proud as can be to be to be given this grown up assignment. I see them walking by my house cuddling an egg or steering their bike with one hand and swinging a loaf of bread from the other.

Some women still wear “house dresses”, remember Sears used to have a section of these, women wear these to do their house work and they walk to the store with their curlers in. The older women that is ....which makes me feel young; I am too young for a house dress...yet. Although I have been eying those dresses up, I like them and will wear mine proudly when it’s time and I am willing to experiment with curlers as well.

I hung out at the hotdog stand on Saturday evening for a few hours; brushing up on my Spanglish and watching the village do “Saturday night”. Across the street is a volleyball court, which is a cement pad with a net. There is a game going on, the teams are a mix of grown men, teenagers, and little boys all playing together, and only half of the players are wearing shoes and the other half are wearing flipflops. Right beside it is a Basketball court which is a cement pad that is raised about 2 feet, no boards around it; you just have to pay attention to where the edge is or you could break a leg .....or your head. Then, to raise the stakes just a bit more there are skate board ramps set up on the edge of the court and there is a basket ball game going on and kids on roller blades and kids on bikes jumping the ramps....all at the same time on the same cement pad with a 2 foot drop if your judgement is off. And kids of all ages playing here, not once did I hear a kid cry, because if you cry you might have to go home and can’t play anymore, and no one wants that, because there is nothing fun at home like video games or whole rooms full of toys. This isn’t organized by parents or even monitored, and it works, everyone seems to be having fun. This is how it used to be.....makes me feel young.  

Kids and adults still ride double or triple on a bike, just like we used to do....at least we did until my sister got her foot tangled up in wheel spokes...ouch.

I get taken back in time so many times in a day here that is it impossible to get old.

A fatality in the garden

I’ve heard how it can happen, I’ve been told many a story but nothing could have prepared me for this, I couldn’t believe it....I didn’t believe it. One day my hibiscus looked like this;

And like this;

And one morning it looked like this;

See the 2 sticks in front of the little banana trees.....sticks, no leaves at all, not even one.

Not a leaf left on it, cucumbers were chewed to the ground, as was some tomatoes and the mint had been attacked as well, and no creature in sight to blame......except this guy;

Spotted him the day before up on the power line, I even took his mug shot just in case I ever needed to identify him late (as if I have hind sight like that) So naturally he got the blame, and if he would have been around that fatal morning I would have killed him without even hesitating ( I think), but he was not around (that I could see).

My Tio came over and inspected the crime scene very carefully and said it was ants, I said it can’t be, it was the iguana, he said it’s ants, defiantly ants. I of course didn’t want to argue with the man so I kept my thoughts to myself.....but I was sure it was not ants. He searched the yard looking for their trail, couldn’t find it (because it wasn’t ants) he said he would come back at night and look again.

Friends of mine came over and we did our own little investigation and concluded it with “it’s the iguana and defiantly not ants”. Because we are so much smarter than the locals you see.

Tio came back in a few hours and search the yard again, and found nothing (because it wasn’t ants) he said he would come again a bit latter yet, he is one determined hunter.

When he comes back later just at sunset, which is dusk around here he finds the trail...oh yes, 100s of ants are creeping up a trail in the back of my fence coming from 2 doors down, and then we see the path that was there all along. From 2 doors down there is a path that where the ants had worn away the grass and left a path in the dirt coming right to my garden. I would never have found it but once he pointed it out to me it was so obvious. It was ants! They had marched all night, munched away and then marched back and were now on their way back for a second night of thieving, pillaging and raping my garden. Tio had some kind of gadget that looked like a bicycle tire pump with a hose on it, he stuck the hose in the ground beside their house and pump some kind of poison into the ground.....don’t care what it is, as long as it kills the ants. I want to make sure this works so I sprinkle my killer ant dust on their path as well, we’ll double kill them, I want them dead.

I couldn’t believe the that ants were that smart that they would come in the night and eat all night and be smart enough to know when to retreat to not get caught...unbelievable.  

I love my Tio, he is so smart and I know nothing, except that I will believe him next time, and to think I would have killed an innocent iquana, I best leave all my killing to my Tio. I am told my plants will grow back stronger and better. A few days later my one hibiscus bloomed, it had no leaves on it at all, just one beautiful blossom. Crazy.                                                                                                                                                                         

a brown stick with a huge flower on it....amazing

On a whole different note....what to do when someone brings you flowers and you don't own a vase. 

A Mexican Luxury

A luxury that I thoroughly enjoy here is watching my laundry dry, yes that is an actual activity that I have here. every once in awhile it is the perfect day to just stay home and watch the laundry dry, and if you time it right, or wrong, depending on how you look at it you can stretch it into a 2 day activity. Sometimes when it is extra humid it takes two days to dry laundry. 
This is something that I just don't have time for at home ...much. Once in a while I do sneak in a day like that but it just isn't the same because at home it feels like I am playing hooky and should be doing something else but here it is totally acceptable....which is why I call it a luxury. 

still having some photo problems

I am still working in the plantation with the nopales once a week as well, after coming in from the field comes the job of cleaning the nopales. It's a very relaxing job, we sit in the shade in the front of my house and watch people go back, not too many people go by without stopping and chatting for a bit. It's a time when I am once again taken back to my childhood. It reminds me of sitting in the shade beside my house and shelling peas, the same kind of work, except this leaves me full of pockys, the evening is spend sitting on my front step with tweezers pulling out the pockys and sometimes I fond some a few days later.