A new Norm

It seems I have been here so long now that things that used to seem different or news worthy or photo worthy now have just become so normal that  don't whip out the camera anymore and I don't write home about it anymore either. Hence the long silence here. Forgive me. Also, I have been very busy. Aside from my part time job at my sister's restaurant, I have had 2 weeks of visitors that I've toured around and introduced to "My Mexico", this helped me see some things for the first time again, through other eyes....does this make sense? Here are some things that deserve pointing out...they are important.

1. The messier the food is to eat the better it tastes, most Mexican food is finger food....no utensils required, you need to have quac and salsa running down your arms and dripping from your elbows....that's good food.

2. Here in Mexico you can have a fire in a plastic pail.....for light when the power goes out

3. When the power goes out it is business as usual...changes nothing, except it's dark

4. The bus is never full

5. Don't put the toilet paper in the toilet...unless you want to call a plumber

6. The plumber is also the electrician and masonry guy

7. There is no end to the different ways of getting your stuff from point A to point B here...this is very entertaining to us North Americans

8. You must eat every couple of hours here in order to try all the food in one week...and still you will be short a few days

9. You could entertain a 3 year old on a Mexican city bus for days

10. Mexico is loud 

11. Stone Island is quiet at night

12. It takes almost all day to do nothing here

13. It dirty and dusty here but yet the whites on the wash line are whiter than at home....how do they do that?

14. It's impossible to have clean feet here for longer than 12 minutes

15. Why are pedicures $80 - over a $100 at home? Why? When 100 pesos gets you a wonderful pedicure here.

16. Where else can you trade a baby stroller for a whole fish?

17. Why is a jar of Vicks $18 in Canada but 53 pesos here? Shipping? It's just as far from China to Canada as it is to Mexico.

18. Why do we need such big houses in Canada? And such big cars?

19. Not everyone thinks getting on a boat to go to town is fun.

20. Mice are tricky to catch in a trap here, but you can coax them into a beach towel

21. Most public bathrooms are so small you can't change your mind in there, putting toilet paper into my back pocket is just a daily habit for me now

22. Apparently the whole Island smells fishy

23. Mexicans are laid back and relaxed...always, unless....they get behind the wheel of anything motorized.

24. Picking a basket full ...(which was really just a sweater bunched up to form a basket) of limes on the side of the road is always thrilling no matter how often you do it.

25. Old Mexican ladies are beautiful, regal and proud ..... genuine ladies, they are the monarchy queen of the family.....I want to be one when I grow up. My grandmother is one, so I think I stand a chance of inheriting that honor.

Mexico is loud....and can be chaotic at times but if your soul is at peace it will ride through the chaos in perfect harmony with your surroundings. Like what this cat was sleeping through, the lens on the camera was not wide enough to capture the chaos surrounding this peaceful moment.