Melaque – Aged but not deceased

La Tempesta

It started with a little bit of rain that we obviously laughed at. However, I checked Windy.com and saw that we were going to get the edge of Hurricane Lydia.

It started to rain and at first, we didn’t worry too much, but as the afternoon wore on we started to get a little more concerned. There was a little bit of a retreat deeper into the patio to avoid the splashing rain. At one point I rushed upstairs and found that most of our stuff in the palapa was soaked. I grabbed the TV and any electronics and retreated to the downstairs patio.

I eventually took the TV indoors and set it up so that we could watch some Netflix…then the power went out. It was still fairly light out so we weren’t too concerned. As the evening moved on we started to look for candles that we knew we had but couldn’t find. Last year Dave and Barb bequeathed us a citronella candle, so we used that for light. Also, I used the illumination from my MacBook to give us another form of light. We could still read our books on our phones so that was some consolation.

We had a good stock of tequila and wine so we decided to enjoy that and make the most of a bad situation. Then our neighbour Jacquie came by! She and the folks in Bungalows Itzell suggested that we move our car as it was in danger of being flooded. This was in the middle of the storm. Rosalie looked at me and said with a tear in her eye “I don’t have to come with you, do I?”

I grabbed one of our umbrellas, waded my way to the car and took it to a safe location. It took seven minutes there and back and I had to wade through knee-deep puddles. By the time I got back, the umbrella was wrecked. It was like our parents saying they had to walk to school uphill both ways in two feet of snow. Except I was in a T-shirt and shorts and the water was a balmy 25C.

The neighbours were putting up flood barriers so we had to take things seriously as they were obviously more experienced than we are. I had been tracking the storm on Windy and knew that it would be over by morning. I told them that, but would they listen? No, of course not.

Later, the power did come on. However, we noticed that the roof was leaking in the living room and also at the foot of my side of the bed. Rosalie will get used to sleeping on that side, I know she will.

Meanwhile, we were both fairly pissed and enjoying the whole silly situation. I guess that we know that if you want to live down here you just have to roll with these kinds of punches.

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day. Our stuff will dry out soon.

Brrrrrr!

Our parotta tree has started to drop its leaves. The tree is huge but the leaves are the size of clipped fingernails. There are millions of them and they come down like snow. They also make quite the mess and we are constantly sweeping the patio.

It’s chilly in the mornings so I light the chiminea up for a while. There are all kinds of wood and it’s easy to light. At the market they sell little bundles of ‘ocote.’ This is a type of wood that is naturally full of flammable oil so it lights easily and hotly.

It’s been a nightmare with the WiFi lately so I asked the PC (computer) Doctor if there was some way we could get better reception. He shook his head and said the problem was all over. The local company is working on it but it may take some time before we get it to where can access our bank accounts regularly. It’s been worst on the weekends, so, I suspect they cut it off to work on while nobody is working or at school. We shall see.

Don’t know what this wood is but it’s very hard and heavy and burns beautifully
Beautiful
No margaritas today
Ocote

It’s getting a bit lonely here, now that Brent and Hauna have left so we have to go to the beach more often for the company of the waiters, and of course margaritas. After we dropped Hauna off at the airport the other day we went to one of our local beach restaurants. We didn’t stay long as there was a very cool breeze blowing from up your way that’s even affecting us down here.

In a previous post, I mentioned that we had a fit of madness and looked at buying a half an acre lot with a small house on it. A contractor was recommended to us by a neighbour, so we had asked him for a quote to enlarge the building. We didn’t hear from him for a while and didn’t really expect to. Anyway, by this time we had decided against buying as it would tie up some of our money. So sure enough, we got a call from the guy.

I expected that if we were lucky he would do what we wanted for about $20,000 Canadian. We met up with him and through an interpreter, he told us that he could do the job for about $3,500. I was a bit taken aback, even though it would only be the basic building with no finishing on the walls or floors, it still seemed inexpensive. We were tempted!

We talked about it for a while but neither of us wanted to go through the hassle of outfitting it, so, for now, we are giving it a miss. Besides, we’d miss Omar.

Residente Temporal

As we go to Mexico so often we decided to try for a permanenté visa. This would allow us to stay as long as we want instead of just 180 days as a tourist. We would also get further benefits which are not altogether clear just yet.

We had to go to the Mexican consulate in Vancouver for the first part of the process. We wanted to get full Permanenté but could only qualify for Temporary at this time which means that we have to re-apply each year for a total of four years before it turns into Permanenté. Our applications were accepted and we got an Mexican visa stamp in our passports.

When we arrived in Mexico we had thirty days to complete the process. We looked the forms up on-line and at first it looked somewhat daunting. Of course, everything is in Spanish. We could have gotten some help but found out that it is very expensive.

I wasn’t feeling good with my cold so Rosalie went to the local immigration office to make enquiries. She came back armed and ready to go. It took a bit of time to fill out her form but she succeeded and then she did mine.

One of the problems was finding where I was born. Neither England, UK or Great Britain was on the drop down menu. But Rosalie persisted and I was eventually born in “Reino Unido De Gran Bretania e Irlanda del Norte.” I was quite impressed.

We took the form to the immigration office and crossed our fingers.

The young lady we saw spoke passable English and was very helpful. I was concerned about the second set of forms that we had to fill out as they also looked really daunting. We needn’t have worried as the young lady did it all for us.

After much signing and initialing she gave us yet another form to take to the bank to pay our fees. We couldn’t use our bank for some reason so had to go to the BanaMex.

We walked inside and stood there looking stupid (easy for me, I know.) A Mexican lady helped us out and we took a number and waited. We still haven’t figured out the numbering system. Once again the lady came to our assistance and called us to the counter when our turn came.

The young cashier took our forms but when it came to paying wouldn’t accept our local bank’s debit cards. So, Rosalie sat while I went out to the ATM.

After we paid we had to go get copies of the receipt at a photocopy place, then return to immigration and we were done for the day. Now we had to wait for a couple of weeks before we would hand in a new set of special size photos that we got done at a local store. We also had to get our finger prints taken.

Our notification arrived way earlier than expected so off we went to finalize everything. We handed in our photos and and all the paperwork was stamped. Then they took the same stamp pad and took our fingerprints. We were told to come back in a week for our temporal cards.

It was several hours later and we still had ink on our fingers.

We had been to the bank the day before to update our account and they took our prints electronically. Although I did have a few issues with the scars from my surgery.

When we returned on the appointed day, to pick up our temporal cards, they were not ready so had to wait another four or five days. Ah, that’s Mexico.

By Tuesday of the following week, we went back to the immigration office and our cards were finally ready. Time to celebrate. Off to Papa Gallo’s on the beach and have some nachos and a few “pops”.

Us, the proud parents of our new Residente Temporal cards. Notice Rosalie is doing the two for one thing again. She behaved this time though.

As Faye and Mike said, we now have an immediate compulsion to turn the radio up real loud and rush out and sweep the street in front of the house.

Banned!!

Rosalie and I went up town to get yet more money from the ATM. This, of course, is extremely hot work and needing to cool off, we headed for one of our favourite restaurants on the beach.

We sat at a table which was under a palapa but on the sand. After ordering a beer each we set to saving the world. Halfway through our first beer, Rosalie suggested that we go and sit at a table on the actual beach as it was closer to the waves. So that’s what we did,

We sat for about an hour and a half and drank five beers between us. The problems of the world were slowly getting sorted when we decided to leave. I asked for the bill but got quite the shock when it arrived. The five beers we had came to 180 pesos but there was an additional charge of 200 pesos. I called the waiter over and asked him to explain. He informed us that it was for use of the umbrella at our table.

Yea, right! I wasn’t about to pay that and told him to go back and adjust the bill. He said okay, but I had to pay him to pay him for the beers first, which I did, adding a tip.

As we were leaving, an old lady, whom I suspect is the owner’s Mum started yelling at me. From what I could get, she was telling us not to come back. I informed her “Yo no turista” and we went on our way. Our bill had been overcharged the last time we were in so I think they took us for tourists who didn’t know any better.

It is the custom to charge for the beach tables here but you are normally informed of the charge beforehand. The reason for the charge is that Mexican tourists bring all their own food and booze and just use the tables. When we were there the tables were empty so we weren’t stopping anyone from sitting on the beach. Also, the charge of 200 pesos was way too much. Oh well, there are lots more restaurants to get thrown out of.

This morning, Chrismas Day, we were told that the restaurant in question had a fire last night. Someone getting too silly with fireworks. And no, it wasn’t me. Karma perhaps!

Those are the notorious tables we sat at.

We visited another of our regular restaurants the other night. The entertainment is good and this is the same band that we will see New Year’s Eve.

Our next door neighbour has a couple of lovely kids so we bought a soccer ball for Ivann who is about 10 and a doll for Camila about 1 1/2. They much appreciated the gifts and their Mum made them say “Gracias”.

We must be getting acclimatized as, when we get up the temperature is about 20-21 C and we feel quite chilly. The same in the evenings. It’s going to be hard coming back to Canada in April.

It’s Christmas and we wish all our friends who read this, ‘Feliz Navidad’.

Ole, Ole

What a night!

Mike and Pat sent an email on Saturday asking if we would like to help with the Christmas parade in Barra on Sunday. All we had to do was sit in the back of his tricked out VW Bug and toss candies to the kids.

It started well. We got to their place in plenty of time and had a few margaritas to get us started and keep us warm. We had picked up a few beers on the way so these went into the cooler in the back seat with me and we were all set.

Mike and Pat’s Mexican friend Cruz and his wife Candy were with us as well as Cruz’s friend Joshua. Cruz had his dune buggy with a boom box strapped to the front and flashing lights all over. He went first as we didn’t want that blasting at us from behind. Mike’s car was decked out with lights and came next. Joshua followed with a car covered in lights. All the vehicles had advertising for Cruz’s body shop business stuck on them.

After we joined up with the rest of the vehicles driven by a lot of Canadians and the parade was on. There was a police car leading the way which, apparently, was quite rare.

**We’re a bit fuzzy as we had already had a margarita**

It took us some time to wend our way downtown as they don’t stop the traffic, people just get out of the way. As the parade got closer the crowds got denser. Rosalie and I were throwing candy to the kids as we went along but Pat warned us to try to save some as we were going to go to the village of Jaluco because the kids there don’t get a lot of stuff. We were also going to do a bit of Melaque. It was tough as we wanted to give all the kids some. I’m sure they didn’t suffer though, as all the vehicles were throwing candy.

I’ve never seen so many kids in one place. We tried to target the little ones but often the bigger kids got in the way so as the bigger ones bent down to pick up the candy we would throw it over their heads to the little ones in the back. I would slyly give one or two to the adults as they like candy too.

The thing I liked best was just seeing everyone having so much fun. And the Mexicans really appreciate the parade. There’s nothing official about it; no permits or red tape, just a bunch of people getting together and doing something for the kids. And lots and lots of noise.

After finishing up in Barra we took a pit stop at Mike and Pat’s before finishing the rest of the trip. The parade through Jaluco and Melaque was small, just us three vehicles but it was still a lot of fun.

At the end of the evening, our small parade ended up at our place and invited our next door neighbours in. All the time Cruz’s boom box was blasting away. He finally shut it down and turned off the lights because they didn’t want to kill the battery.

Rosalie and I weren’t prepared very well, but next year we will be, should we be invited again.

Kids and ‘orses

The kids down here are just beautiful. We have a little neighbour, Caramila, who tries to break into our front patio. Her little hand sneaks through the gate and she tries to undo the latch. As soon as we say “hola” she takes off.

The families are very tight here. We often see older kids looking after the younger ones. Caramila and her brother Alan, often pass by and she likes to wave at us. We saw her outside one day in a traditional Mexican costume so we had a great photo op. When we take photos of kids the parents are very proud.

Bill and Connie had just arrived and dropped by for a glass of wine. People do that here: just drop in. After a while, a horse and rider came by and Bill jumped up and Yelled “Chris.” I was somewhat startled and wondered what the hell I had done now. As it turns out, Christian was the rider of the horse. Bill and Connie have known him for some time.

Rosalie and I were introduced to Christan and his horse also named Chris. It was like a Chris convention. Christian runs a horse tour business so it looks as though we may be going riding one day; although I still haven’t gotten over that nasty rental bike saddle yet.

I offered Christian a cerveza as he looked hot and he happily took it. We chatted for about half an hour and then he rode off. About an hour later he returned and we chatted again. I think maybe he was looking for more cerveza. We’ve seen him around town a few times but didn’t manage to talk again.

Our bits and pieces are starting to build up so we have to find a storage locker for the summer. We have a lead on one so we will have to go and secure it on Monday.

Our social calendar is going to have to slow down. We’re getting too old for all that dancing and stuff. Although we do still enjoy it. Also, it gets quite costly going out, night after night.

We tried a Tequila liqueur at Mike and Faye’s place that Rosalie liked so much she decided to order some – 5 litres. At 92 pesos ($6.01) a litre, she thought it was a deal, which it was. When we got it home we found that instead of coffee flavour we had gotten almond. Several phone calls later we got it exchanged and all is well.

While we were exchanging the liqueur, we met Mike and Faye’s pet iguana. They named it “Iggy” but I was going to suggest Raphael. They feed it bananas and it isn’t in the least bit afraid, even of me. They invited us to stay for dinner but we didn’t fancy Kentucky fried iguana so we grabbed our hooch and went home.

Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle

After trying out Gerry’s bike the other night I wondered if I could ride it sober. We wanted to buy a couple of bikes but decided to rent some for a day to see if we could do it and if we liked it.

We went to the adventure tour shop and looked at a few bikes. Having made our choice, we paid 180 pesos ($11.68) for both of them for the day. Rosalie hadn’t ridden for some time and got off to a bit of a rocky start. She wobbled down the road expecting to be hit by a car at any moment. But I think only one car passed us on the way home.

When we did get home, however, she had remembered how to start but was not too good at stopping. She wiped out onto the concrete and scraped her leg.

We rested up for a while and after a few tips and checking with Gerry to see if he had any training wheels, we were off again. That’s my girl, tough as they come!

She did way better this time. We rode over some pretty bumpy roads and I had a terrible saddle so have a few saddle sores to show for it. Rosalie was leading so I think she did it to make me suffer as well. Also, my bike was a bit big for me so if we buy one I have to remember that.

So we took a trip into town to get some more money for our trip to PV. We went through some traffic as we were going the wrong way up a one-way street like most people here. I managed okay but Rosalie was a bit apprehensive. On the way back she was a lot more confident but we still drove the wrong way up another one-way street.

The following morning we had to return the bikes as well as get ourselves to the bus depot with our little carry-on case. I had planned to take it on my bike but couldn’t figure out a way to do it. So, we strapped it to Rosalie’s carrier. I watched with some apprehension as she wobbled up the road but she seemed stable enough and made it safely.

How I feel riding into town. Note the rooster I was about to strangle.

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

“Queen”

Another strange week

This was written last week.

I don’t think the weeks are that strange, it’s just that we are no longer on holiday but actually living here. It just feels different. When we go uptown we don’t wander around the shops ogling tacky tourist crap, (T.T.C.) We go for groceries and things we need in the house.

We’ve had some fun with our bank account. First, we couldn’t access our online account. Apparently, we have to use it every month or else they make it inactive. That got sorted out but then the property manager couldn’t cash the cheque we had given her. Off to the bank once more while the property manager waited in the branch in Manzanillo. We got that sorted out too. We didn’t know that we had to Activate the cheques. We are now waiting for the next unexpected bank problem.

I miss the Big Green Egg so we went and bought a charcoal BBQ. It took me the best part of the afternoon putting it together (?) as I only had a bent fork to work with. I did try it out last night. It lit up fairly quickly with help from my personal little fan. We tried hamburgers but they mostly broke up; the sausages were good though. I’m looking forward to our first turkey cooked on the beast. Or perhaps a rooster.

Rosalie has had a few hassles and had to go and see Dr. Rosa. She’s fine but can’t drink alcohol for a couple of weeks. I’m disappointed because now I can’t blame her for drinking all the wine. So now I have no idea where it all went.

I got another new hat last week, lighter than the last one, looks like a Tilly hat ($85) and only cost 80 pesos ($5.22). I love it so far.

It’s starting to cool off here. 21 C when we got up this morning. But it hits 28 C during the day. Our bedroom faces south so it warms up during the day. We keep the curtains drawn and that helps. As soon as the sun goes down we open them up and get a nice cool through – draft from the front bedroom. We have to close our window at night though because of the f_cking rooster.

I tried riding a bike for the first time in years. I haven’t lost the knack, I thought my knees wouldn’t take the strain but they were great. The seat was a bit high and the first time I turned a sharp corner was a bit hairy but I didn’t embarrass myself so all was good We are now looking for a couple of bikes as the walk uptown is getting a bit tedious. We were told we can rent a bike for about $100 a month. We also found out that you can buy a used bike for about $50. Decisions, decisions.

Gerry and Elaine, our neighbours, arrived last night. We ended up with ten of us at The Red Lobster for ribs followed by drinks at their place. Rosalie still can’t drink so she had to drive me home to our casa next door.

Boy! life down here is so hard.

A strange week

A strange week indeed. We went to the bank one day last week to get our account sorted out. We then walked over to the Banamex to withdraw some cash. “Why a different bank from our own?” you may ask. Well, the Banamex has a better rate for withdrawing pesos from our Canadian account than our own bank.

On the way, Rosalie spotted a sign offering two for one margaritas so she had to drag me in to try some. They were very good but after one Rosalie starts to giggle so we were a bit concerned that she may not be able to take advantage of the two for one.

At about this time we got a message from Mike and Pat asking if we wanted to meet them at Tito’s bar on the beach at 5 o’clock. We decided to go but, as it was only 3 pm and we had time to kill, Rosalie, being the trooper she is, ordered her second drink.

We eventually strolled to Tito’s and met up with the rest of the guys. We only stayed a few hours as we had been out since noon and were getting tired. Rosalie wanted to walk home. It only takes half an hour but I was insistent on getting a Tuc-Tuc. We walked as far up the town centre but no Tuc-Tucs so we ended up walking the rest of the way.

The following day Mike and Pat took us to Manzanillo on a shopping trip. That blew our budget for the month but we did stock up on a lot of things for our whole stay. For instance, we bought two 1 ltr bottles and two 750 ml bottle of liquor for $42 as well as few non essentials like food and paper towels.

On Friday we went with Mike and Faye to La Oficina. Before we left, Rosalie locked up the house not knowing that I was still in it. When we got there we bumped into Mike and Pat again. We ordered our meal and I got a bottle of wine as we thought it would be cheaper that way. After eating, just as the music started, Rosalie said she wasn’t feeling well and would I get Mike to run her home in Pat’s car.

They left, I put some money on the table for Faye to pay the bill, grabbed my bottle of wine and hurried after them. When I got home Rosalie had locked the door on me again. She managed to get her head out of the toilet long enough to let me in.

Poor kid, she was up all night throwing up. The following morning she was feeling a bit better but I started to feel a bit queasy. I had a dentist appointment to fix a cracked tooth ($32) so I went even though I wasn’t feeling 100%. That afternoon I felt a lot worse and slept a lot. The next day we were both feeling better but hung around the house and napped all day.

This is the first time Rosalie’s has been sick down here. I think it was a mild case of food poisoning but we will never know for sure.

We met Dave Spinks at the market yesterday and apologized for leaving early and assured him it had nothing to do with his music.

The rooster’s still at it. I’m hoping to hear, at about 4 am, “cockadoodle BANG!” I’ll go back to sleep with a smile on my face. The next morning I’ll ask Rosalie to get bbq chicken for lunch and hope it’s him.

La Oficina

Mike and Pat asked if we would like to go to open-mike night at La Oficina. We had been there on our last visit and it was great fun so we said “Sure.”

Dave Spinks, the cousin of Bill of the famous Bill and Michael couple, was the host. He plays and sings and invites others to play as well. We saw some great talent even though it’s early in the season.

The videos are a bit dark because of the low lighting in the restaurant.

We always get there early so we get the table in front. Even if we got the table in the back it wouldn’t matter as the place is fairly small. It’s owned by a young American guy Aaron and his family. His wife is Mexican and they have two lovely kids.

The evening is very informal. The young son, about 4 years old opened the proceedings by singing to us on the mike. Later when Dave started his act the same young man accompanied him on a bongo drum. All the while a large friendly dog wandered around looking to be petted. The place wasn’t overly crowded as most of the Canadians haven’t arrived in town yet.

We had the added fun of watching the Canucks play a game on the big screen TV. They won in overtime.

La Oficina isn’t unique. There are several small restaurants in town where very talented bands play through the winter. We plan to follow the music this year and see a lot more of them.

This quad is underloaded and the driver much too old.

We had booked our dental visit for next week but heard that the dentist may be a groper so we canceled. We will go back to the same cute 14-year-old dentist we saw last year. She was very competent and I’m not as concerned about the groping bit as Rosalie is.

Another storm just missed us. I woke at 6 am to the sound of rain and in the distance, the sound of drums playing. I guess a celebration of some sort was going on. It woke the bloody rooster up though. We ‘re noticing the temperature is slowly going down at night. We are getting into winter after all. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that.