Happy News Years to me

Today is the beginning of a new year..2008. The church was having a New Year’s party last night but I choose to bring the New Year in on my Island. The neighbours next door had a party, with lots of cowboys, beer and music (yes, I was watching out the window) it was rather noisy until about 10 and then all was quite. In the morning after a good breakfast of eggs and potatoes and my fruit shake I settled on my roof top with my instant coffee and creama and just had some quiet time with God (and the birds in the mango tree) I’m praying I can be more focussed on him instead of me throughout this new year. After that I pulled out my Spanish books and did some studying.....I think this will be my morning ritual while I am here. I had lunch and grabbed a book and headed to the beach where I sat on a lounger from 1 – 4, it was a lot warmer today than yesterday. I’m reading “The List” by Robert Whitlow, which I think is a perfect beach read, so far I am really enjoying it. While everything here seems so slow, I am finding that time does pass by quickly and I seem to always be busy, but then everything you do here always takes longer than at home. I have no kitchen or bathroom sink, so to wash dishes I have to carry water up from my laundry room downstairs and heat it up on my hot plate. I have to wash my laundry by hand so I don’t want that to get out of hand so I do some laundry every other day, because of the dust and sand I sweep the floor about 3 times a day and wash it 2 times a day....each time carrying water up......I have to keep up to the lady next door, she sweeps all morning and afternoon, she sweeps her whole dirt yard, so I sweep m y roof. Shopping takes a lot of time as well, for my dry goods I go to the general store, they have produce but it is not very nice, then I have to go for a walk and find the produce truck, if I just hang out at home eventually he does come by, but sometimes I get impatient and go looking for him. There is a meat market if I should need meat, I haven’t ventured there yet, it’s on my list for tomorrow. Every other house has either a store or a restaurant in it and it is hard to tell when they are open for business and when they have decided to take a day off. I like this about Mexico, if you have 1 or more sets of plastic tables and chairs you can set up a restaurant in your living room or on the street in from of your house and open and close as you wish, no permit or license is required and no health inspector will visit you and you can serve whatever you want to cook that day. Should you get tired of it you just put away your plastic tables and you’re done, 2 weeks later you’re a little short on cash and out comes the tables again and you’re back in business. I love this; it makes so much sense to me. I’ve also noticed that dogs and cats are allowed everywhere; a stray dog was wandering around inside the general store today. Today when I was at the beach I went to use the bathroom at one of the palapa restaurants I saw a cat licking off the cutting board in the kitchen....when everything is in the open you can’t keep the outside things out, there’re bound to come in. When I came here with Barbara & Al a few weeks ago they brought their dog with them (Canela) and as soon as we sat down she disappeared, I wondered where she went and Al said “oh, she always checks out the kitchen first to see if she can find any food left out” I expected and angry cook to chase her out of the kitchen but nobody said a word. We get way too excited about stuff like this at home, relax, relax and put a lime on it. I’m being told that a lime works as a disinfectant and that’s why Mexicans squeeze lime on almost everything they eat. Speaking of relax, lime and disinfectant, I have to visit the meat market tomorrow (I said that already).....I promise you a picture of this place hopefully after I have built a good relationship with the meat guys, I must say I am a little intimidated of these guys with the machetes. Usually in front of the market there are about 6 guys just hanging around, I’m not sure if they all work there or if that is just “the” place to hang out. Normally in Mexico if there are 6 guys in a group just hanging out and a women walks by there will be some cat calling and hootchy hootchy kissy kissy sounds being made, (it’s a cultural thing) so that is why I have avoided the meat market......but tomorrow’s the day! I bought a crock pot and it came with a little Spanish recipe book and I plan on making something called “frijoles preparados estilo new England” and I need to get 225 gramos hueso de pierna con carne, according to my translations I need a 225 grams of bone of leg of meat.

Life on the Island

Life on the Island
I tell you, life on the Island is blissful and I don’t want to ever leave. As I am writing this there is a 3 piece matachi band playing next door, it takes me back to my childhood when my father would be in nostalgic mood and bring out his Mexican music. These guys are all dressed up with the hat, the boots, the belt buckles and thick black moustaches, I’m watching them out one window and every once in a while I run to my other window where I am watching my landlady open up coconuts, the way she is chopping at it with a machete I don’t know how she still has any fingers. Getting into a coconut is a lot of work, and she’s got a big pile, not sure what she is planning on doing with all that coconut but I’m watching and learning. This is what I do when I am inside, I run from window to window and spy on all my neighbours, between that and keeping an eye out on all the people coming by selling stuff I can’t keep my face out of the windows. I caught the produce truck again today; I bought a big papaya, 2 avocados, 3 monster mandarin oranges, 6 bananas, 3 tomatoes, 2 apples and 5 limes for 53 pesos. I like having a fruit shake for breakfast or fruit in my yogurt. As well as the regular honking gas and water guy, I also had a guy selling shrimp come by, a young lad selling pastries, a guy on a bike pulling a cart selling cheese and a few others that I missed when I was in the bathroom (I have to leave the window once in awhile). I also headed to the beach in search of my English speaking guy that might sell me a table but of course his restaurant is closed on Mondays, so I just hung out on a lounger and read a book for about an hour and went for a walk and then headed home again where I settled in my chair on my roof top until it got cold...yes cold. The weather has not been the greatest for the last 3 weeks, the Pastor was saying on Sunday that these last 3 weeks have been the coldest he’s ever seen it here in 11 years. Unless you’re sitting in the direct sunlight and away from the wind it is cold enough to wear a long sleeve sweater or even a sweat shirt. I had put a skirt on Sunday morning but I changed my mind before I headed out when I thought of my early morning boat ride and put on pants, good thing....it was cold. Whenever I want to go to the city I have to take a little boat across, it costs 5 pesos and only takes about 5 minutes but when it’s cold and windy it can feel a lot longer.
I love the relaxed feel to this Island, there are more bikes, motorbikes and donkey carts on this Island than vehicles. It is not uncommon to see horses walking by my house. This afternoon when I was walking back from the beach I passed a horse slowly walking up the road, all geared up with saddle and bridal but no rider, he had his head down and was just walking along, didn’t even lift his head when I passed him....there’s one POed cowboy somewhere.

A lot of church

I do a lot of church on Sundays, first I attend the La Vina English service at 9 am where I have also been recruited to be the greeter, at 11 am I attend the Spanish service (same church same building) I do this to help me with my Spanish. Then I have time for a quick lunch and then at 3 pm I head off to Villa Union for another Spanish service. Today while we were setting up the chairs and getting our one man band set up I noticed a gentleman leaning up against our van, (we always drive a van because we always pick up about 3 or 4 Spanish girls that teach the kids Sunday school) I had not seen him before, so I went out and introduced myself and let him know we would be starting at 5 and that he was welcome to join us. He was very clean cut with the standard Mexican gentleman attire, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, big belt buckle but I noticed that his hat was clean, his pants were freshly ironed and his boots were shiny. The people in this neighbourhood are generally a little more worn and torn. I asked him where he as from, turns out he was here visiting from Durango (up north). When we were finally ready I noticed he was still hanging out outside, I ask Pastor Kyle to just go over and make sure he had understood me and that I had in fact invited him (I don’t trust my Spanish) He did join us for our service and when Kyle asked if anyone had any prayer requests he said that this was the first time he had ever been to church like this and that he had felt totally at peace from the moment he walked in and that he wanted to give his life to the Lord....Praise God! Too bad we will most likely never see him again as he is going back to Durango, but he’s going with a lighter and peaceful heart, and a Spanish Bible that Pastor Kyle gave him. Also, the little girl whose father let me use their bathroom last week (after I begged) came to Sunday school this time. Most of the La Vina churches have a very well attended children’s Sunday school, even if the parents don’t come the kids always seem to pour in.

The Hillbilly Move

Today is the day of the big move to Stone Island; I am anxious, excited and just a little scared, not sure of what. I’ve spent the last few days gathering things that I might need, a little plastic chest of drawers, a hot plate, a small rack for my cooking things, and some cooking things, blankets and towels and such. Al helped me pack my stuff into the back of his little truck and off we went on the dreaded road to the Island that’s not an Island. The whole trip took about an hour and wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated. It was very rough and dusty but totally manageable. As we drove through coconut plantations, lush mango groves, chilli and tomato gardens and passing donkey carts laden with coconuts, Mexican cowboys on horseback (they remind me of my father) and dodging the occasional cow on the road I knew I was moving in the right direction. I felt as peace with my decision to leave my comfortable gated upscale community. After Al and I unloaded my meagre belongings I bought him lunch at the restaurant just up the street (every 4th house has a little store or a restaurant in the front) we each had a big monster sandwich with (carne asada) marinated shredded beef (Mexicans like shredding stuff....everything’s shredded), ham, cheese, lettuce, and mayo on a big grilled bun (bigger than a hamburger bun) and a pop for 36 pesos each. Al left with the intent on being back in the afternoon with some Mexican muscle and my new fridge which happens to be Barbara & AL’s old fridge that Barbara swears has shrunk and become to small for them (I hope it doesn’t shrink on me as well) I got set to work organizing and cleaning which didn’t take long as I don’t have a lot of stuff, I did say when I left home I wanted to learn how to live a simpler life and focus on quality instead of quantity. Now will be the test. My fridge did not arrive but Barbara and Al took the boat across and came to let me know they would be coming tomorrow...no problem. I wandered over to the neighbourhood general store and bought some fruit, milk and eggs ......I finally bought eggs, I had been afraid to buy them because I knew with my clumsiness I would break them on my way home. You buy eggs by the kilo just like everything else and they don’t have cartons, they put them in a little plastic baggie. So I bought 2 eggs (I’m going to learn to live by the day, instead of hoarding for the future) as I leave the store I see a lady setting up a hotdog stand and putting the first batch of hotdogs wrapped in bacon on the grill, I make a note to come back in about an hour for supper. She’s also got a big boiling pot of Atole (not to be mistaken for my beloved Alote) Atole is the Mexican version of hot chocolate but made with boiled corn, not totally sure but I believe (and I will look into this) that the corn is boiled and then put through a blender, not sure what else is added but I can taste brown sugar and cinnamon. I head back a hour later and have 2 bacon hotdogs loaded with guacamole, red salsa, green salsa, lettuce tomato and onions and a medium size cup of hot Atole, all for 25 pesos....not a bad supper at all. I’m going to like it here; there is food on every corner. After having my supper on my patio I settled into my nice big comfortable chair that I bought at a second hand store and started knitting myself a dishcloth, I hadn’t done any knitting since I got here. Before I went to bed I made sure all window and doors were locked and I guess I’ll admit, I anchored 2 chairs against each door....I know, silly silly. After I was in bed I opened up bible (randomly) and I read chapter 4 of Philippians, verse 6-7 really spoke to me and I realized how silly I was to expect peace from 2 chairs against the door when I could just call on my saviour to protect me, so I did just that and got out of bed and put the chairs away, and slept peacefully until a rooster woke me up at 2 am....aren’t they suppose to crow in the morning? At about 5 they started crowing again, there is no sleeping in Mexico, noise is a part of the culture. There was however no traffic noise, which had kept me up at nights at Lydia’s. First thing in the morning I jumped in the shower only to find out there was no hot water, my landlady had assured me there was hot water. I toughed it out and was reminded of my 6 weeks in Africa without hot water...it’s doable. Of course I didn’t see her all day so I couldn’t inquire about it. As I was sitting on my patio (which is also my dining room)having my breakfast of scrambled eggs, a fruit milkshake and coffee con creama (yes the general store had my creama) and listening to the birds in the massive mango tree that hangs over my patio I was feeling very content and most thankful. It was finally warmer than it had been for the last 2 weeks, I wore a sleeveless t-shirt for the first time and put sunscreen on my ears (they tend to turn red first) I finally spend some devotional and pray time, my pray was full of thanks giving and asking for guidance as to how to bring glory to God while I’m living in this beautiful place. I also spent some time going over some Spanish phrases I might need during the day, like looking for a broom. I figured I should prepare myself and look up the proper way to ask my neighbour “where can I buy a broom”, up until now I’ve just been calling it a scoobie doo, it’s really a “escoba” sounds like scoobie to me. I tried borrowing a screwdriver last night from them and it was not a successful visit. Who knows what I actually asked for? So I feel I need to redeem myself. My morning Spanish lesson was wasted when I went to the general store first thing in the morning to get some ice for my cooler (since my fridge wasn’t here yet) I notice they have brooms and mops. I thought about pretending I didn’t see them just so I could practise saying “do you know where I can buy a broom?” but I figured I would have plenty of other opportunities to come off as the dumb gringa without doing it on purpose. So now I need to find another excuse to chat with my neighbour lady. (Should I try borrowing an egg?)So I just bought a mop and broom and went on my way...got home and realized I forgot to get ice. I headed to the beach in search of a guy named Chris whom I met about 2 weeks ago when I came out here with Barbara & Al. Chris came to Mazatlan from Toronto on vacation about 10 years ago and just forgot to go home, he works part time at one of the beach palapa restaurants as a waiter, I was hoping (because he speaks English) he could help me find someone that would sell me a plastic table and some chairs. Turns out Chris wasn’t working today and in searching further I got a little side tracked, I ran into my friend Elizabeth and we sat and chatted awhile and then I ran into Hugo (I met him here 7 years ago) and we chatted. I also had another little problem, I had a $100 peso bill that no one had change for (I’ve had it in my pocket for a few days) Hugo solved that for me, he’ll be my banker from now on now. I asked him about a plastic table but he was a little busy at the moment. Hugo’s a tour guide and he had a whole bunch of tourists with him, but he directed me to a Effrehim (whom I also met about 6-7 years ago) Effrehim also works in one of the Palapa restaurants on the beach, but by now I know I should be getting back to mi casa as my fridge should be arriving soon. On the way home I pick up a marlin sandwich, again a big big bun with smoked marlin, lettuce and tomato for 7 pesos, yes 7, which is less than .70 cents, how can this be? No wonder these people are always poor. If I didn’t enjoy cooking so much I sure wouldn’t bother because I’m thinking it’s cheaper to eat out. My fridge arrived shortly after I got home, after seeing the narrow steep stairs going up to my loft in the mango tree the Mexican guy decided that Al’s plan of sliding the fridge on a blanket up the banister was too risky. He had a better plan and between Al and I our Spanish was not good enough to argue, he would park his truck alongside the building and he would simply lift the fridge up onto his shoulders and Al and I would grab it and pull it up. While Al and I are standing on the roof, with our hands in our pockets, rolling our eyes at his plan and shaking our heads we suddenly realize he’s already got the fridge on his shoulders and we need to get pulling! Hurry Hurry! We had just barely got a good grip and were hanging on when muscle man was already on the roof helping us pull it up. The whole process took maybe 2 minutes.....this guy could have peddled this fridge over on his bike. I’m sure the phrase “where there’s a will there’s a way” was invented by a Mexican. I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in my chair on the roof reading a book; I also bought some vegetables from the vegetable truck that drives around all day honking his horn, as does the gas truck and the water truck. I had a chunk of meat in my cooler that had thawed so I decide to make stew, I bought 3 potatoes, 1 monster sized carrot, 1 small zucchini, 5 limes, 4 tomatoes and 5 small jalapeño peppers for 15 pesos.....maybe it is cheaper to cook, I don’t know, this requires further studying. The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful, put my stew in the crock pot, sweep off my roof with my new scoobie, washed my floors, boiled some drinking water, oh...and fed my chickens, Yes I have chickens, I am so excited about that...well, my neighbour has chickens but they hang out in my yard and I am feeding them. Tomorrow is Sunday so I must head into the city for church even though I would really just like to stay here, during the day I had a list of about 8 different things I wanted to get while in the city but right now I can’t think of a single thing I need. I’m also not looking forward to the cold shower in the morning; I hope I see my landlady tomorrow

Christmas Day

In the morning I did some last shopping for my new apartment (yes, I’m moving to the Island) the stores that were open were almost deserted. I just hung out at home and got caught up on my writing; the internet was down so I couldn’t post anything new. In the afternoon Lydia and I decide to hike up to the lighthouse (to see how old and out of shape we really are) The Faro’s claim to fame is that is the tallest natural lighthouse in American Hemisphere. I am not sure what that means but it’s important enough to be written on a big sign at the base. As we huffed and puffed our way up we decide that maybe we were as old as our drivers licence say we are...maybe even a bit older. After we had a brief break at the top and finished taking pictures of the beautiful view of the city we realized it had only taken us 25 minutes...wow, are we in great shape or what? All the way down we complimented ourselves on how a great a shape we were in and how our drivers licence must be wrong...we are much younger than we had thought we were. From there we went to Barbara and Al’s house for another Christmas Supper and we gleefully ate chips and dip and cashews by the handful because we are in such great shape. That is, until we turned our backs to the chips & dip to watch a huge cruise ship come in (we were on the roof) and one of the dogs stole our dip...all of it! Never turn your back on the chip bowl....I don’t know what came over me because I usually don’t do that. ....I keep my eye on the chip bowl at all times. Oh well, probably for the best, we needed room for the feast Barbara had prepared for us, and it was indeed a feast. They had also invited Walter who is here from BC (another Canadian) and Rua who is from Lithuania, we had such interesting conversations and many hilarious stories of travelling mishaps and language blunders, good to know I am not the only one that has mishaps. And so ended another wonderful Christmas.
It’s official, you do not need snow to get into the Christmas Spirit, the Christmas Spirit is something that dwells in you, not in the snow, and if it dwells in you it follows you wherever you go. It has nothing to do with the snow, the Christmas tree or the gifts under it or the candy and tinsel.

Christmas Eve in Mazatlan

In the morning Lydia, I and Raquel’s (a friend of Lydia’s) 2 daughters set off for Stone Island loaded with Christmas presents and food bags for some extremely poor families. All 4 of us were very excited to be playing Santa to these children that were not expecting us. We had to conceal our treasures in back packs and black plastic bags otherwise every child on the Island would have been at our heels. Our first stop was Dona Sofia (that older lady that is slowly going deaf and blind) we gave her a food bag and a nice thick blanket, she had commented the week before that she was always cold and when we would hug her she always commented on how warm we were, and how she liked holding our hands when we prayed for her because they were so warm. She is such a sweet sweet lady (picture above). From there we headed over to a lady that has 2 boys with Muscular Dystrophy (MD) we dropped off blankets and some toys and children’s Bible story books. Off too Chuy’s house from there, Chuy also has MD but is still able to walk as long as someone holds onto him, he is such a cutie and such a sweet heart...he is so calm, polite, gentle and always with such a smiley face. We dropped off blankets, toys and again a Children’s bible story book which seemed to impress him the most; he keep commenting that it was new, these kids are used to always having to made due with other people’s hand me downs, getting something new is fairly special to them. As we made about 6 more deliveries like this the 4 of us kept commenting on how this was the best Christmas ever for us and how we are so fortunate to be able to do something like this....on the boat ride home my heart felt much lighter leaving the Island this time, I did however wish that I could have shared this with my family and friends at home.
Candlelight Service and a Christmas Eve Dinner
At 6:00 pm I went to the candlelight service at the Vina Church, the service was wonderful, music was awesome and Praise God the church filled up completely.
After the service Lydia and I were invited to Chalize’s house for their family Christmas supper, which is about 7 doors down from us. Chalize and her husband are elders in the Spanish Vina church and their whole family is very involved in all church activities. The party was rather lively with quite a few kids, and laughing singing teenagers, and of course music. Then the Piñata came out for the kids and it got really lively, and then the piñata for the adults came out and then it got out of control...pretty much. The food was awesome, turkey, Mexican mashed potatoes (different than ours) 2 different kinds of shrimp, some mixture made with hamburger, carrots, green pepper, walnuts, almonds and prunes, in a tomato based sauce...very different but very good, Chalize promised to teach me how to make it. Once again I was very frustrated at my lack of Spanish; I had to follow Lydia around like a puppy because I always needed her to help me communicate. Other than that is an awesome night, the party was far from over when we walked home at 10:00.

Christmas Posada at Villa Union

Every Sunday after our church service in the Golden Zone Barbara & Al and myself head off to villa Union where we have a service in the church that the La Vina planted there a few years ago. The church building is complete with a suite upstairs for the someday Pastor that God is going to send (he seems to be taking his time with that) Every Saturday they feed about 100 kids in the church building and hold a very well attended Sunday School class (on Saturday) for the kids, but on the Sunday afternoon church service there are many empty chairs, which could be why they can’t find a Pastor, no Pastor likes to preach to an empty church, but will the church grow without a full time Pastor? So for now a young couple from the US who came to Pastor at the Dona Chonita church come with us on Sundays ( their heart is in Dona Chonita and they are only filling in until someone else shows up) from what I’ve seen in the 3 times I’ve been there they are doing a great job. This Sunday were planned on having a little Christmas Posada out there.
Here’s a little side story to this story.......A few weeks before Christmas a lot of people from California drive down here to do their Christmas shopping because it is cheaper here and on Sundays is when they are heading home with all their Christmas treasures. The backs of pick-up trucks are loaded, all the roof racks are loaded to the max and some people even are pulling trailers full of stuff. About 90% of traffic heading out of Mazatlan on Sunday have California licence plates, traffic is brutal and it moves at a turtles pace. The highway out of Mazatlan is a 2 lane highway but when people here tend to get impatient is it very common to squeeze in beside the 2 lanes making it a 3 lane highway (happens all the time) Just past the airport turn off the 2 lanes merge into a single lane road and that happens right at a bridge that is only narrow enough for 1 vehicle at a time (even a Mexican cannot squeeze in 2) so when this merge happens traffic gets backed up. Al’s explanation “there are more cars than there is road”.
So....last Sunday being the last day for weekend shoppers to get out of here before Christmas was exceptionally bad, which we had anticipated so we left early but not early enough. Traffic was squeezed in 4 wide (on a 2 lane road) there were times when we didn’t move at all for 15 minutes at a time and then got to pull ahead about 12 feet. As we’re sitting in traffic Al realizes that he has forgotten the keys to the church building....we’re going to show up very very late for service and we will not be able to get into the church building. He calls young Pastor Kyle to see if he is waiting for us at the church, turns out he is 2 miles behind us in traffic and also doesn’t have keys.
3 hours later we show up at the church (this drive usually takes about 20 minutes and that includes making a few stops to pick up 3 very energetic young Mexican Sunday school teachers). Of course it’s dark by now but the moon was incredibly full and bright so we decide to have a moonlight service out side in the street....there are no yards here, so if you’re not in your house you’re on the street. Amazing enough Al drove a different van this time than usual (for no reason) this van had about 20 plastic chairs in it from a previous function, so we set up chairs and pretend that this was all planned. Meanwhile I really need a bathroom so I head to the nearest house, the houses in this neighbourhood are all built with tar paper, scrap metal, scrap wood and held together by rope, wire and God’s grace. I ask the gentleman that comes to the door “tiene Bano” ...do you have a bathroom? He says no. I say “por favour”...Please. He shakes his head and says no again. I know they have a bathroom and he is most likely embarrassed about crude it is, at this point I really don’t care what it looks like. So I beg “por favour...por favour” Please, please. He finally gives in and calls his little daughter Paula to take me through the back of their compound with a flash light and shows me the bathroom, which was the most beautiful bathroom I have even seen or used, I must have said “gracias” about 18 times to the man and his wife. I invited them to our little posada but they declined. I told them that we had “regales para ninos”...presents for kids, but they still declined. So I just said “gracias” another 18 times and went on my way. We had an amazing service under the moonlight; we even had some new people show up for the first time. (As apposed to our regular 6) Kyle played his guitar and led us through worship, of course we gringos couldn’t sing along as we need the overhead projector so we can read the words, but we hummed along. 2 gentlemen walked by and joined us (it’s very hard to get men here to come to church unless there’s a woman dragging them in) so this was wonderful, after the service we had some cookies and handed out some little toys that had been donated, I gathered up a napkin full of cookies and a 2 goodie bags and headed back to the family that had let me use their bathroom and wished them a Merry Christmas as well. (And said “gracias” another 18 times. On the way home I was just overcome with gratefulness to be able to have this amazing opportunity to be here.