A morning walk in my hood

So I heard that my readership is looking for some pictures of my hood.  I took my camera for an early morning walk today...at 6am. I am struggling with a bit of writers block but I think I can still muster up a photo tour. 

This is my freshly painted house hiding under this Nanchie tree, I have no idea how to spell Nanchie. Nanchies are little yellow cherry like things that are very bitter, the Mexicans pour sugar on top of them and they just love them....me, not so much. Kids think they are the best, mostly because of the sugar I am sure. There is some talk of building a new fence in the front this summer while I am away and also talk of cutting this tree down, there is a smaller one in the left corner that I will be keeping trimmed so that it doesn't get out of hand. You cannot cut down a mature tree without a permit anymore, so that will have to happen as well, I don't know the process but I am sure I will find out. 

My home

 This home is kitty corner from me, wonderful people they are, a husband, wife and a 4 year old. Husband is away now on a tuna boat. When the tuna boats go out to sea they are can be out there for anywhere from 2-3 months without coming home, they stay out there until they hit their quota. This leaves many women behind without their husbands for months. Reminds me of the oilfield work at home, High Level used to be full of women waiting for their men to come home, I was one of them, I always say "I was a single mother long before I got divorced". With the internet now and cell phones I am sure it is a little easier now for communicating.

Kitty corner across from me, wonderful neighbors, their house got painted last year and this year they got the whole inside tiled, they are collecting gravel/sand/bricks for a future project. A lot of people buy gravel/sand/bricks as they can afford too, until they have enough to build something.

Looking up my street. 

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Neighbors to my right, also wonderful people, also always under construction. Husband is also on a tuna boat right now.

A few houses down

Most evenings when you drive by this house below there is a gathering of white cowboy hat wearing men sitting out here and listening to Mexican music, the old lady that lives here is in a wheel chair and she is usually out there as well. From my house I can just faintly hear the music.

If you are walking south down almost any street on this side of the island you can usually peer through somewhere and see the ocean, you can always hear it.

Monica has done laundry last night, I think this women does laundry every other day. She has 4 kids and a husband to wash for. I just discovered the other day that she knits too, which is rare here. She had knitted all her kids and herself a sweater. She says it is her stress reliever. Her husband is a fisherman as well, he fishes off a small boat right here on the island.

This is a peanut roaster, this family operates a peanut farm out in the plantation. I've watched them fill a bee train up with peanuts, and  not with a loader, about 8 guys with baskets that I sure each hold a bushel of peanuts, they line themselves up and pass the basket to the front of the line. You are probably thinking "that would take forever", almost, but the people here are not as opposed to working for "forever" for their money as we are at home. Time is something they have lots of and they don't really put too high of a peso value on their time as we  do in Canada. The  more value you put on your time the higher the price goes on the product, which is why we can buy a bag of fresh roasted peanuts for 10 peso a bag or they also sell them shelled for 10 pesos a bag...notice no price difference on the shelled ones, all day long this lady sits out here and mans her peanut booth and is shelling peanuts and does not put a value on her time.

The hot dog stand, where I usually hang out on Friday and Saturday night, it's across the street from the basketball court do there is always lots of action. This is also a little convience store and an odds and ends store. If you need a spool of thread, some shampoo, a diaper for baby (yes you can buy just  one) a hair thinger, a nail clipper, some yarn, paper, glue, crayons, and of course junk food and coke and the such. On the weekend she sells hot dogs for 13 pesos. A dog hot wrapped in bacon and topped with grilled onions, tomatoes, dry feta cheese, quac, salsa, cream, and of course catsup and mustard, for 13 pesos. The back half of this building is also her home, she lives here with her 10 year old son and now with her grown daughter and her new born baby because her husband is ....on a Tuna boat.

The basketball court/volley ball court/skateboard park/soccer field, there are times when all 4 get played here at the same time. You can even ride your bike amongst the players if you choose. The other day there was a pretty intense volleyball game going on and a young couple were sitting in the soccer goal net making out...no one noticed.

My new paint. I am so glad this is finally done, now I can spiff it up with hanging pots and art and plants and fancy light fixtures.The paint store I was at doesn't mix paint, they have a small selection of paint chips to choose from. I didn't like the red  and the yellow they had, I bought it anyway and then I bought a liter of a brown and mixed it on with the yellow and the red  and I managed to get exactly what I wanted. I was thinking because I mixed it myself no one would ever have the same as me....wrong. Yesterday I walked past a house that I had never noticed before, it was exactly like mine, same shade red and yellow. Oh well.

I decided to accent the flaws in my concrete instead of fixing them....that's being half lazy, half cheap, and half artsy. I did however paint all 4 sides of my house, most Mexicans will only paint the sides that are visible from the street.

This wouldn't be complete without a walk on the beach...at sunrise.

It has been very windy here for almost a week now, as you can see all the ripples in the sand. The fisherman on small boats haven't gone out too far at sea for a few days.

A sea snake and a starfish and what I call a puffer fish.