Why don't we play anymore?

Almost every evening just after it gets dark there are a bunch of kids that play hide and seek on my street. They hide behind garbage cans, trees, plants, cars, telephone poles, behind fences, on top of fences, or cars. I hear scampering  and scurrying and loud whispering all evening. Sometimes when I am walking a kid will happen to jump out of his hiding place and startle me. They just pop of nowhere sometimes. You are not supposed to scream when this happens because it alerts the person that is searching. If you see a kid hanging out behind a garbage can you are not supposed to say "hola Ricado how are you?",  you just smile and wink and walk by. Sometimes they have a designated safe place that they try to run to without getting tagged, this causes more running and even shrieking...mucho excitement. I love all these sounds, the scurrying, running, shrieking, and loud whispering, they are the sounds of a simple and fun life happening all around me, they are sounds of my childhood. This is how I grew up, running around outside until I was called in at night. At 8 pm almost on the dot all the kids go home and you can hear the leaves rustle and the crickets, and of course the surf. 

 A few days ago a friend  and I went to the far point (Los Chivos) to swim and eat pizza, we were entertained by a group of about 6 kids from the ages 3-8 (guessing) playing in the water all afternoon (it was a Saturday). These kids played without an adult hanging over them all afternoon. They had a boogie board and a paddle board and fell off them in every way possible I think, head first, nose dive, butt first, they ran into each other, knocked each other over (accidently). There was a boat docked so they climbed into it and fell off of it every which way possible too. We saw a 3 year take a very impressive nose dive off a boogie board in very shallow water, his nose must have been packed with sand, he shook it off and didn't even squawk not even a bit. Not one kid cried, no one ran to tell mom anything, no one was hungry or had to pee, no one hurt themselves, they didn't fight over the boogie board, not one mom had to yell at them once or remind them to be "good" or to share or to take turns or to yell "stop that", or "do that once more and we are going home". Nope. There were no hovering and yelling moms.

At the same time we watch a father play in the water with his 2 daughter, they had no toys, but they were just playing in the water, chasing each other, racing, shrieking and laughing, making us laugh. Then they discovered the paddle board and had fun falling off of it as well. You could tell the father was really having a good time, he wasn't pretending, he wasn't playing with his kids because his wife told him too or because they begged him too, you could tell he was really into it, his laughter was genuine, he was running and playing with heart and with pure joy, and you could tell they were used to playing with him, this was not a special occasion. They weren't clinging to him with fear that if they let him go he would go back to the table and check his phone messages and the fun would be over.

Today I was at Los Chivos again ( I like it there) 3 little kids entertained me on the trampoline, yes there is a big trampoline beside the ocean. They jumped on that trampoline for 3 hours, non stop. They played all kinds of silly games, I heard them make their rules up as they played, and change the rules as they played as well. Again, they jumped into each other every way possible and fell every way possible, and again not once did someone cry or whine and not once did an adult intervene. I didn't even see their parents. 

Last night as I came home from the beach my neighbors were in the middle of a very exciting baseball game in their yard. The 6 year old was batting and the mom was pitching and the dad was standing on the street in case the kid hit it over the fence and onto the street, which he did many times (their yard is small) in fact it is so small that any Canadian dad would have never tried to play baseball in a space this small. They were so fun to watch, they were laughing and their commentary to his batting was so fun, every time the ball went over the fence they were cheering and clapping, the kid was jumping up and down laughing at his parents being silly and chasing the ball. I laid in my hammock listening to them for an hour, almost made me tear up. (i know...I'm sappy sometimes) 

Again, they were not pausing and checking their cell phones, or their watches for the time to see if they had spent enough "quality time" with their son, nope, this was real, just parents playing with their son because they like to play and have fun too.

Quite often I see North American families here on vacation, most of the time you see the adults sitting in the restaurant under an umbrella sipping beer and the kids sitting in the sand close to the table, sometimes they  play in the water on the edge but it all seems very awkward and a bit stressed, no one really knows how to behave, how to relax, how to have fun. Everything has to be just right, the right clothes, swim suits, life jackets even, sunscreen, hats, umbrellas, towels, bathrooms, and of course they will needs toys of some kind (what else do you play with?). So they sit in the sand and dip their toes in the water not really knowing what to do and usually end up just annoying their parents. The parents just want to relax (they are on vacation after all) the loud Mexican music annoys them, the kids are annoying them, the internet connection on their Iphones is intermittent and that annoys them too, the bathrooms are dirty, the table is wobbly and the bees keep trying to get into the coke bottles, the waiter has limited English and the food doesn't come fast enough, the sun keeps moving  and the umbrella is never in the right place and when it's time to leave the kids have gotten themselves dirty and maybe even wet...now what!? When asked back home "how was your holiday?" they say things like "nice, but it was tiring", or I've also heard "I need time to recover from the stress of going on vacation"...have you  heard that? I may even have said that years ago myself. I used to not know how to vacation either. They should give classes, and have Mexicans teach it.

The other day there were a lot of Mexican tourist on the beach that have come from inland Mexico, it must have been a Mexican holiday. What a different scene that was. I saw kids, parents, grandparents in the water, some with swim suits but the majority were in there with their clothes on, I saw little kids digging holes in the sand  and filling them with water and making sand mud and lying in it, I saw them covering mom or dad with sand mud, burying their parents in the sand, whole families playing soccer, parents building sand castles with the kids, the music was loud which resulting in some spontaneous dancing.

We have lost this in our country. We no longer like to play and have fun, good clean, silly fun. Simple fun for no reason other than just to have fun. Adults don't do it anymore and kids don't do it anymore. Kids need to have trophies and prizes as motivation to get moving. There has to be adults with clip boards and rules supervising and organizing. Plus we are too busy. Could an adult even play with their kids for 3 hours without checking their cell phone these days?

 Oh...those parents with the boy playing baseball, they had a set of 3 month old twins sleeping in the house, don't tell me they aren't busy too. 

This is a beautiful shot of Los Chivos that I scooped from the internet, no idea who to give credit, its clearly taken from the air. You can see how there is a perfect little shelter from the waves, perfect for a beginner swimmer and for kids to play in the water. 

Yes, she runs, she is a beauty, pure genius. I happen to know this young man that built this, he is a mechanical genius, he built a working washing machine out of a plastic cup and the motor from a  remote control car for his sister's barbie dolls when he was 8, and it worked.  

 
This is an amazing shot that a friend of mine snapped on a beach a little further south of here. I am always shy of snapping pictures of other people's kids but I think I would have caved and snapped this one too. A true picture of what happens on a real beach when it is full of nationals vacationing. I have seen parents clean and pack their kids up in so many interesting scenarios but this is priceless. There is so much happening in this one shot. You could write a whole story, maybe even a book on this one picture. One thing you know for sure, these kids had a great day at the beach, they played their heart out and will fall asleep on the way home and get carried into the house.

A Day at Los Chivos

This morning when I walked the beach  I noticed how very warm the water was, perfect for swimming. I decide I will go swimming today. I sort of learned how to swim last year. I want to spend lots of time in the water this year.

I hurry with my laundry, I wash as much as I have line to hang, I think of maybe buying an old spinner washing machine. Hand washing clothes is so hard on them, they wear out sooner, plus it takes forever to dry, usually 2 days.

I grab a few pesos and head over to Los Chivos. It's a little cove at the point of the Island where there usually aren't any waves, and usually no people, prefect for beginner swimmers like me, that have issues with swim suits, and crowds of people. 

The place is deserted, so it seems. The pizza places looks a little shabby, could use a good clean up, hurricane debris still laying around. Shouldn't you be cleaning up instead of sleeping in a hammock I think, and then I remember what my house looks like. Shut up I say to myself. Dude wipes down a table and a lounge chair, brings me a towel and a boogie board, we chit chat a bit, I order a individual pizza and a coco and tell him I am not in a hurry.....neither is he I see. I am the only one there. I like it like that.

I get in the water, it is warm, like a bath tub. I have a great time. The water is so clear you can see the bottom, occasionally I see little fish, which is always a little startling at first. I swim, sit and dry off and get some sun, the locals have all commented on how white I am. I am in and out of the water all afternoon. I  am amazed at how silky the water feels on my skin, like when you put bath salts in your tub.

A tourist wagon comes by with a small parade of really white tourists and a guide, they are snorkeling, they are going to be disappointed I think. You don't see bright tropical fish this close to the shore, and once a whole parade of people jump and splash in the water even the little fish I've been seeing are going to get scared away. I work on my tan until they get bored and move....didn't take long and I was alone again. I Should have brought a book. The pizza was good. nice crust, nice size, perfect for me. Occasionally a  WiFI signal drifts in  and out, I'm a little internet starved, no internet at my house yet, although a little internet break would do me well, I waste way too much time on it, but man, it's hard. How spoiled are we now? I would give up hot water to have good internet service if I had too.

I love hanging out here so much I almost wonder if I should volunteer working here, just long enough to clean this place up, it is an amazing spot and set up beautifully, it just needs a good cleaning.....I should probably just mind my own business. Takes awhile to stop thinking like a North American. Messy and dirty keeps the tourists away, making it quiet and peaceful for me.

I wonder if I buy a paddle board would this be a safe place to store it, or would it disappear? It would probably get lost among all this junk and debris. I discovered paddle boarding last spring and bought one in Canada, only had time to put it in the water 3 times, which was enough to know that I love it, a great alternative to surfing, which I am too old to learn now, plus my body is way too uptight for surfing.  Once my house is clean and organized I plan on going shopping for one here. I watch another small gringo parade come and go.

I pay my bill and leave, 55 pesos for a small pizza and 20 for a coco. 4 hours well spend. As I walk home I see a cruise ship is it port, that explains the 2 gringo parades. I hope the locals are making some money off of them, they've been hurting for tourist income for a few years now. I did read in the paper that ships will be coming more regularly this winter, I saw a schedule posted somewhere, I should get a copy of that. It's a good day not to go into the mainland for shopping when the ships are in, some areas can get a little too crowded for me when there is more than one ship in at a time. 

The first picture below is a perfect hot of Los Chivos, not taken by me, I found it on the internet and don't know who the photographer is. You can see how the little bay is sheltered from the surf making it an ideal place for beginner swimmers and for little kids to play in the water. Every time I am here I think of my grand sons and of how much fun it would be it bring them here......one day.

You can see the bottom the water is so clear

When you get up early

When you get up early

The same shot, the one on the left is taken through my sunglasses, the one on the right is the real thing

Left shot is through my sunglasses, right one is the real thing

Seriously this was an incredible morning 

A Marlin Taco....or 5

Today I take a short walk on the beach in the morning, cowboy is just bringing his horses in, there is a little baby lagging behind, again. He waves and yells "Welcome Maria". I can 't believe the beach is  so different each day, I can't explain it. Would I ever get tired of it?

I get home and do the last of my laundry, every piece of cloth in this house has now been washed, by hand, by me. Leaving a house empty in this humid climate is very smelly, I should install some fans, that might help, I should get going on that, it could take a while. I should ask that guy, the one that installed my lights last year, the ones that don't work now, because the plug in and sockets are all rusty. Rusty like my hair brush, cheese grater, paper clips, nail file, and all my bobby pins.

I don't eat much breakfast, just 2 bananas, I have an appointment for a massage and a chiropractic adjustment, I can't turn my head without feeling like I am over stretching a tight rubber band, this is normal for me after a busy golf season. I take the tourist ferry across, it costs more but it's closer to where I am going. I want to take a bus downtown because I don't want to arrive all hot and sweaty. I remember the driver from last year, he washes his change with a lime once in awhile, The lime is the reason Mexico doesn't have Ebola, or H1N1, or pig disease, just put a lime on it. Lime cures all. You can even soak raw fish in lime and eat it, it's called ceviche.

I get to down town, I'm a bit early, time to go to a bank and stop at the fabric store to eye up some cushions for my living room. Is it cheaper to buy some already made or to make some, or will I just buy the fabric and procrastinate making them until the last week I am here, sounds about right, just buy some already made is say, but then there is less choice of color, pattern, fabric, however with this many choices it will take....forever. Just buy some. Not today, just looking. What else did  I need? I left my list at home. This is normal.

My massage is great, as his hand glazes over some "flabby" parts, I wonder if he is thinking "this girl could do with a little less tacos"? He's right, I would be fine with less tacos, I should start taking better care of myself, I should eat more fruit, the fruit here is great, I eat a lot of it, but as a snack in-between meals, I should eat fruit for my meal. I'll start today, I'll stop at an El Dengue and have a yogurt and fruit smoothie for  lunch. He has a hard time doing my Chiropractic adjustment because I won't relax, I apologize and we try again, no go. He leaves me in the room to "breath" a bit, he finally gets it. This is normal too. He suggests another massage next week, If I must. I walk out feeling better, not great, but better.

I head to the beach, I need to catch a north bus to go check up on my phone situation, whoa, wait, what's that? Marlin taco special, with beans, soup, chips and dip and a drink for 60 pesos, right in front of the ocean, I sit myself down at the very front table facing the ocean. I plow my way through a plate full of marlin, beans and tortillas, soup and chips before I remember......yogurt smoothie!! Dang! I just don't care about the "flabby" parts  right now, the waiter keeps calling me "his pretty". This place is FINE, the tables and chairs are wooden and not wobbly, the Jamaica is served in a big glass glass, not a stained plastic tumbler,  the marlin is perfect, the music is nice, the volume is reasonable, and the view worth a million bucks.....did I mention the waiter calls me "his pretty". I like this place. If they had cake I'd move in here and live here....ohhh and free WIFI with no code needed. I think I should write a  book about the food in Mazatlan, I think I could be called an expert foodie. I know where they make the best yogurt fruit smoothies, haven't been there yet, but I know where it is. I 'll get there yet. Not my fault there is a taco stand on every corner.

I finally get on a north bus and we cruise down the malecon, I see the city is redating the malecon, I thought it was fine the way it was, they've planted big coco trees in the meridian. I get off and have  to walk about 3 blocks in, good, need  to walk off my tacos, how many did I eat, 2, 4, gasp....was it 5, if I walk 1 block per taco does that zero it out, I doubt it.

 I see the old "San Diego" Hotel is getting a makeover, i hope they leave the old traditional tiles on the outside, I already don't like the new modern marble looking tiles that are going up, hope they leave the row of colonial rocking chairs in the open lobby. I walk past the Dodge dealership they have the most beautiful outdoor showroom in the world...I think.

About half way there I catch a whiff of carne asada, I see a taco stand across the street, the smell is incredible, it's floating across a 4 lane street and almost makes me forget that I am not hungry. Then I see a fruit smoothie place 2 doors from the taco stand, who would walk past this smell and get a smoothie instead of tacos, somebody that's really daft that's who. However, a smart person would have 1 taco and a smoothie, that might be a compromise I could live with. How does carne asada smell so good here, it's just marinated thin beef strips, maybe it smells this good in Canada too when we BBQ but we don't do it on every street corner we do it in the privacy of our fenced in back yards. Our country is too sterile, it never smells like anything.

I get to the Telcel place and the "Engineer" tells me that yes he can unlock my Telus Iphone, I leave my phone with him and am to come back tomorrow, would you believe that the first thing i think when he tells me that is....."Marlin tacos by the beach again".....that smoothie place is a little out of the way, ah ha, and that other place just lines right up, it's right where I catch the bus, unless I take the village ferry, then the taco place would be out of my way...a  bit, and the smoothie place a bit closer, a bit. Life is so hard here.

I stop at the market, I have an inflammation in my lower back, apparently a concoction of red cabbage, pear and lemon is supposed to help, there is no red cabbage in the market. I'll try my fruit/veggi guy that lives on my street tomorrow,  them I remember that he told me yesterday that he would have beautiful papaya today, great, while I'm running around Mazatlan my beautiful papaya is cruising around Stone Island, hopefully he will have some beautiful papaya left tomorrow as well.

I'm on the ferry home with my neighbor who is my land lady's oldest son, (my roommate's brother) he is a tuna fisherman, all tuna boats are docked right now until January, but some are working on board doing maintenance, he says he's been on board painting all day, aside from one little spot on his pants, which could be a bleach stain, he has no paint on him, and he smells as fresh as a daisy patch, and his hair looks perfect, he must be a different painter than i am. He gets off on the colonia side and says he wants to ride his bike the long way around to get some exercise...ah ha, I think you're up to no good, ...painter man. He better smear some paint on himself before he goes home.

On the way home I see a new hamburger stand ``hamburgers lucky``, I have never had a hamburger in Mexico. I've always thought that hamburgers are for babies that haven't discovered tacos yet, but, could I be missing out on something? Maybe hamburgers here are like hotdogs, totallllllly different.

I'll leave you with some random shots of Mazatlan

Sunset from the Malcon

New palms lining the malecon, Palms were donated by the Ejido from Stone Island

Plaza Republica

I love interesting door, here is a tree root growing out of the wall

So much going on here

From the top of Icebox Hill

update

I've been back to the Telcel place 2 times since then and my Iphone is now unlocked and has a Mexican Telcel chip in it and works fine.

Have not had a fruit smoothie yet. But I know where they are.

They did chip away all the old traditional tiles on the Hotel San Diego, I saw them shovel the broken tiles into a barrel, had I had a truck I would have asked to have the barrel, they were all broken but would have made a great tile mosaic project in my back yard. I remembered later that I could have sent my Mexican brother with his truck. All the updating and renovation that is going on here this season is an attempt to built up the tourist industry that has been destroyed by the media in the last few years. It saddens me that they feel they have to tear down the traditional Mexican decor and replace it with a more modern look. The Golden Zone already doesn't look very Mexican with its Mac Donalds, Dairy Queen and Applebees restaurants and huge places like the Rui, the San Diego was still a reminder that this is Mexico. oh well....that's my rant. Just don't mess with the taco stands. 

How I Got A Room Mate

Many times people ask me what I pay for rent, what kind of deal do I have, do I pay year round, do I pay utilities? I don't like to answer any of these questions. Mostly because it causes problems in the Mexican community. They all have a place for rent, or have a family member or a friend that has a place that they would like to rent out. Regardless of what I tell them my rent is they will give me a "better deal", they always have a "better deal". To the gringo community what I pay for rent is irrelevant, it means nothing. Should I move out and you move in the rent will change, it may go up it may go down. Even if the house next door to mine is exactly like mine the rent will be different. Rent is whatever you can negotiate with the owner and what you negotiate will depend on the family's needs at that time. After you make the deal those needs could change and then so will your rent, usually without notice. If this happens it does not matter if your deal is on paper or verbal, you have no recourse.

This year my family's needs changed, so did my rental agreement.

When I first rented this place my land lady asked if she could keep the one room as a storage room. As her children moved out over the years they left behind "stuff" that they wanted her to keep for them (yup, know all about storing stuff). I didn't need the extra room and so I agreed.

Soon as I arrived I noticed a car and a motorbike parked in my driveway, which I recognized, they belonged to my land ladies youngest son. He is 26, I have known him since 2007. I saw that a kitchen and a shower and a toilet had been installed in the "storage room", clearly he was living in there. Remember, Mexicans don't need as much space as we. A whole family can live in your living room.

At first I got all "Canadian" and was really annoyed at the breach of our deal, at him moving in while I was gone. He was smart, he waited a few days to come around, probably working up the courage to face me. Meanwhile the locals all knew he was living there and were wondering what I would do. They were very curious but didn't want to come right out and ask. They asked "how is everything at your house?", "Any problems at your house this year ?", and of course "if you have problems at your house this year I have a place to rent". Everyone was acting all concerned. My response was simply "nope no problems".

I had time to think, time to feel convicted, time to ask myself some questions. "why can I not share my space?", my Mexican friends and neighbors, and my adopted family here have shared everything they have with me, their food, their homes have been opened, their lives are totally open to me, they share things with me that I do not write about on this blog, and I can't share one room? Am I not here to submerge myself in the Mexican culture as much as possible? I often speak of my heritage here, my roots are here, but yet I want to stay separate from them?  Shame on me.

When he finally came around he was rather sheepish and I felt bad that he so felt bad. He asked if it was ok if he "stayed" here "sometimes". We chatted and we made a "deal".

He will be living here and his girlfriends will "visit" sometimes. Yeah yeah,  I know how girlfriends "visit". We have established boundaries, that I already know will be broken, we've discussed how many people is a "party" and what volume of music is considered "too loud". All of these will all be breached at one time or another, some were breached that very next weekend. However, our communication is good, everything gets addressed  and I always have to remember that this is how the Mexicans live and I am now living the Mexican life and I like it. He is part of my family. And you cannot choose your family....so they say.

There are perks to having a roommate, his brother calls him my secretary, and he's been called my door man. If you come to my house and I am not home he will tell you where I am and will tell me who was by when I come back. He helps me with my cell phone and  installed Mexican aps on my Iphone, he was a huge help in getting my (our) internet  installed. When he is at the super deli he texts me asking if I need anything.....that's when I order a watermelon. (just kidding) When his girlfriend cooks (when she's visiting) he proudly brings me a plate. He gives me a ride in his car and will lend it to me (I'm waiting until he fixes the brakes) He is very eager to help me with whatever I need. He went away one weekend, at first I was happy he was going away, it would be quiet like it used to be, but by Sunday I realized that I actually missed him. He is a part of my life now.

The locals are still making sure that I know that if I "have problems" at my house they all have a way out for me, some are curious as to how often the girlfriend "visits", I just say "yes she visits". His mother has made it very clear that if he gives me any problems she will kick him out. She comes by often to check if he is cleaning, "so that it doesn't stink", yeah I know what she is checking for.

We have had some funny moments. This house didn't really have electricity for 2 people, it barely had electricity for one. I could never be in the shower and have the stove on at the same time, the breaker would flip. The first week our breaker and lights flipped on and off like a Christmas tree gone crazy, I always had the candles ready. We've had water overflowing in the back yard due to one turning the water on and not telling the other. We've had a few too many people over and then accidentally had a party, it happens. It's all good. It's Mexico. 

My room mates Volkswagen, named "Bowtcho", his other car is a BMW which he usually keeps on the other side (Mazatlan) A beautiful old BMW, the kind I would buy.

And his helicopter, that's what it sounds like

Fish that was prepared by his girlfriend, a prefect little tin foil package ready to put on the grill

Ceviche also a gift from the visiting girlfriend.....I like her

Bought a BIG cake of fresh cheese  (queso fresco) off a guy on a motorcycle (not the helicopter) and now that I have a room mate I can share too, 

This is what I do with this cheese, this is my favorite lunch or I eat it with crackers in the evening, sometimes with a glass of wine. Or I put it on almost anything I cook, eggs, potatoes, even on top of soup.

Just to be clear, he has his own kitchen and bathroom in the room that I never used (the storage room) and it has its own entrance that opens to the front yard, my entrance opens to the backyard. Which makes the front yard now his, I still have my backyard to myself. This was a fairly standard Mexican house where you could walk right the house, in the back door and out the front. 

My arrival on Stone Island on November 21

The first thing I notice is the airport in Mazatlan has received some renovations, a little updating. Nice. My Mexican brother picks me up, he has a "new" truck, now he has 2, one on each side of the docks. He says if I ever need anything from the mainland to let him know, he can get it with his truck, I imagine a stove with an oven in my little kitchen....maybe. He drives the long way to get to the dock, he asks if I am hungry, "Is the Pope Catholic?"  I say. We stop at a road side taco stand, oh my. It's a good thing we don't have tacos at home, I'd be as big as a house. Nothing like the smell of carne asada on the side of the road.

We chat all the way in, about what's new on the Island, not a lot, that's how I like it. He drops me off at the dock , he has some other business in town. The ferry fare has gone up from 6 pesos to 8, or was it like that last year already, I can't remember. Tourists pay 30 for a return.

My back yard looks amazing, green and thick,  but the bricks on the ground have green mold on them from all the rains they had. The need pressure washing, my screens have fallen out of the windows, I could silicone them in but I like being able to take them out to wash them. Everything inside my house is covered in 1/4 inch of dust, everything, and it smells moldy....yuck. I take the plastic cover off my bed and locate the bag with my sheets, they smell horrible but will have to do for today. I find my hotplate and wash a tin cup for coffee in the morning. I inspect for mice and rats,  don't find any, and no poop, just loads of gecko poop and 2 dead cockroaches.....not bad.  

 

I head to the nearest store for dish soup, bleach, toilet paper, cream, coffee, some yogurt, and laundry soap. That should do me for the morning. Not sure when sunset is, its 4 now, I should head to the beach, I am so excited to see the sunset over the ocean. I don't see many sunsets in Canada, I am so far north that for half the summer the sun doesn't set, then during the other half I am in bed before it sets, I rarely miss a sunrise but miss the sunsets. I take the long way to the beach, I am not ready to have long welcome home conversations with all my neighbors along the way.

The sight of the familiar beach is always such a "ahhhh" moment, I can almost feel my shoulders releasing. "I'm here, I'm finally here", it's beautiful. I stay late and  get some amazing shots. How any sunset shots can one have? Many.

WHen I get home from the beach I see the neighbors setting up for a party, just great. The music starts at about 6 pm, by 7 I am ready for bed, I am still jet lagged. So very very jet lagged, I hear nothing all night, not the music, not the dogs barking, not the roosters, I hear nothing until 6 am, best sleep I have had in a month. I am home.....and I have an unexpected roommate.

 This is how it goes here, plans and deals that you make keep changing. He's young, he has a motorbike and a Volkswagen (bowtcho) and a BMW. Stay tuned. 

Jordan

When I meet people from other countries I love talking to them about their country, over the last 4 year I have gotten to know a young man that has worked at the same golf course as me (he quit this fall as well) and is from Ramtha Jordan, he was always saying I should go visit his family and he had planned on going home this winter and invited me. You have to be careful when inviting me ....I might show up. By the time my travel plans were set he had changed his mind about going but his family invited me to come anyway, so I did.

I arrived in Amann and was picked up at the airport by the family and drove to Ramtha, it was dark but I could already see that this is was a totally different land than Turkey, it was not as rich looking, it was not as clean, and the cars were not as new, we were in an old Toyota Camry. The family shows me where my room will be, the closet that has been emptied for me, shows me where the bathroom and kitchen are. Now it is time to facetime with their son in Canada ( my friend)  so he can talk to me in English to make sure they haven't missed anything, he makes sure they have shown me where everything is, I insist I am fine, I don't need anything. Then he remembers the internet and gets me to hand my Iphone to one of his brothers and soon I am connected to Wifi internet.

I went right to bed, and fell asleep immediately and woke up to the sound of birds singing which is always such a beautiful way to wake up, it was 4 am, which is still when my built in alarm goes off, I listen for movement in the house, there is none. I manage to sleep again and wake up at 6 am, still no movement. I look out the window and see lemon trees filled with big lemons and I know I am going to like it here, but  where is the coffee, I must have coffee. I peek out my door  and see two  brothers sleeping on the floor in the living room, I am probably in their room. I tiptoe past to the bathroom and have a peek in the kitchen, no one around. Luckily I can always read or write to keep busy. No one moved in that house until 9 am and coffee wasn't served until 11 am.  Gasp!.

 My host families are 3 families (all related) living in a compound in 3 homes (13 people total) They all contribute to the running of the 3 homes as one family. From what I see, this works very nicely. Between the 3 houses there was one car, an older Toyota Camry. If you needed to go somewhere where the bus couldn't take you you took "car #11"..... you walked.

One day some cousins came to visit and we all piled into a bus and the car. We went to a beautiful place beside a river that runs along the Syrian border, there was a water fall and soft lush moss. I was in love. We found a spot with some tables among many many other families already picnicking. The men build a fire, the kids jumped in the pool build into the rocks, the women sat around and chopped parsley, onions, garlic, cucumbers, we mixed hamburger (all meat was Kosher) we made kabobs on sticks and handed them to the men to BBQ. We roasted onions, tomatoes and chilis and made salsa. We filled pita bread with a hamburger mixture and roasted them. We ate, and talked, and took turns holding the 2 babies. Then we packed our stuff up and moved to a table closer to the river and watched the sun set over Syria. The hookah pipe came out of the trunk and we heated up water and had tea. We passed the hookah around and watched the show of sundown. It was surreal, the place glowed of peace and family. I couldn't believe the night was real, couldn't believe that this was Jordan.

You can see the glow, it as surreal, it was so soft and peaceful

One day 6 adults and 4 kids climbed into the car and we headed to another beautiful place, we drove for 2 hours. We stopped at a tea stand where I was given a little paper cup of special tea, I had a child and a half on my lap, my elbows could not move, I didn't drink my tea for fear of spilling it down the little girls back on my lap. We stopped on the side of a road on top of a hill and we ate our packed lunches from the trunk, and I drank my special tea, we looked down in the valley at Israel. It looked like Moses was going to come around the corner at any time. I felt like I was in someone else's life, someone more special than me, I didn't feel worthy to see this beauty and feel this peace.

Can you imagine the chariot races, I saw them as if they were real

We drove further and got to some ruins, we clamored out, a few stayed back and spread a blanket on the ground and brought out the hookah pipe, some of us took off to explore, we marveled at the oldness of it all, we imagined great chariot races in the crumbled stadium, we imagined queens slowly gliding down the wide rock stairs. We wondered how old that great big tree was, we bought postcards for our kids so we could one day tell them of the day we bought them. I took many pictures of my new friend, her head scarf, her purse and her shoes all matched, she was glamorous and liked having her pictures taken, she is 21 and will post them on your facebook. She is a devout Muslim, but she is women. We are all the same. I bought an authentic Jordanian head scarf, the design, the color has not changed, ever. The vendor tied it on my head. 

Again we picnicked among the singing birds, we drank tea and again passed the hookah around. I listened as they explained their education system to me and how the men can still have 4 wives, and proudly spoke of their government, their police, they love their country, I could hear the pride and again I felt their peace. We drove home in the dark through the rolling countryside. We stopped on a hill and saw the lights far away of Syria, the night was silent. The kids were sleeping. I couldn't believe how happy I was.

In the day we drove to the Syria border and saw the road that the refugees and the wounded get brought in on, hospitals are starting to fill but yet Jordan is taking in whoever needs medical help and shelter. This will pass they say, we love our neighbors, all of them.

We drove around the country side, they showed me the olive groves, the tomatoes fields, the greenhouses  that the Pakistanians usually tend too, we stopped on the side of the road and ate romaine lettuce, we stood on hills and looked into valleys, we stood in valleys and looked up at old rocks formations, we hiked through some rocks and along trails and saw caves with water running through and pooling in a natural pool made in the rock, the water was clear and drinkable, I wanted to sit in the pool and look up at the stars, stars that shepherds saw long ago that lead to everlasting life, but it was daytime. I have to come back here, I want to swim in this pool.

We stopped at a shepherd's camp, run by an old women, she was the head shepherdess. She invited us in, she made tea, we sat and talked (not me....I listened) sometime its good that you cannot talk, it makes you listen more. She was kind, she was not sad, she was at peace with her nomadic simple life, she had a radio powered by a battery and a tv. She is not poor. She is a shepherdess.

One day we stopped at a bakery somewhere and we all choose a tiny little pastry (a dainty) each piece about a square inch was wrapped in pretty paper, then stopped along the road and laid a blanket on the ground, pulled out the propane water heater and made tea ate our dainties and smoked hookuh. I wish we would stop along the road side and sit on a blanket and eat dainties and sip tea in Canada....just anywhere on the road side, why don't we? Because we are in a hurry!!!!! Always in a hurry!!

The kids wanted to take me to the mall, I don't like the mall but they wanted to show me that they too are modern. It was fun to see their excitement, we went on a roller coaster and some kind of upside down ride, we looked at pretty purses and shoes, the boys love shoes too, we bought some fuzzy bunny slippers for a special little girl. We ate special ice cream, and admired the huge Christmas tree, I didn't expect any sign of Christmas in a Muslim country, but there was the tree.

One day we went to see how olive oil is made, very fast and very efficient, once again I could hear the pride as they explained the process.

Sacks of olives waiting to become oil.

I went to a baby shower of a neighbors where we all sat on the floor and ate out of 2 platters of chicken, one in a tomato sauce and one in a white sauce, we were 15 women sitting in a circle eating with our hands, then we drank tea and a few women started smoking (cigarettes, not hookah), it surprised me to see a women covered completely, holding  a cigarette. I was surprised over and over about the freedom that the women had, they did not seem suppressed, it did not seem that anyone was forcing anything on them. I think we should all take our televisions to the nearest dump and shoot them. If you want to know what is happening somewhere, go there.

We stopped the car at another ruin site, when we climbed down we met a family from Saudi Arabia, the man was important, I didn't understand why but they all insisted I have my picture taken. The man laughed and through my translator, he said he had been to Canada and we charged him for everything, everything had been so expensive, nobody had offered to pay for anything for him. I apologized for my expensive country and said I would not charge him to have his picture taken with me, he smiled,  and admitted that he had loved Canada and the people. We had our picture taken, but he couldn't shake my hand because he is a married man and cannot shake another women's hand. He has same head scarf as I. Maybe one day I will find out why he is important.

The Jordanian head scarf, looks a bit odd on me 

We sat on the floor in the family room in a circle and watched TV sipping tea, my translator wasn't there but we talked, somehow, we laughed, we listened to music, we passed an Ipad around and looked up stuff. We watched horse racing in Dubai, we watched news and shook out heads at the lies that were being told. We walked around outside in the garden and gathered herbs for the hookah pipe, lemons for the salad and the tea, we ate an orange off the tree. The mother of the house washed everyone's shoes every night before she went to bed.

The night before I left it was the 7 year old's birthday, her 2 uncles and 2 older brothers gifted her the bunny slippers, she was thrilled at how soft they were. We sang happy birthday, ate cake, and drank tea,  her picture was taken many times over, selfies were taken and posted on facebook.

I was taken to Amman the next morning,  I wasn't ready to leave. I was given a box wrapped in pretty paper as I got out of the car, I didn't open it until customs made me unwrap it (can't remember where) it was a whole box of different tiny dainties. 

 I will have to come back. I have some new friends.

no, I did not go see Petra, just wasn't interested this time, maybe next time.

I was in Jordan for 6 days and aside from the head scarf I bought I didn't spend a cent, my host family would not allow me to pay for anything, nothing. That in its self is a very humbling experience. The hospitality of these people is incredible.

If something ever happened to Mexico I think I could live in Jordan, I think.

One thing that was very un nerving was not being able to understand anything, not a word, not being able to read anything, not even numbers, not even prices in the market. This is not a language that you can't pick up quickly....at least I couldn't.