Month: November 2021

We decided to go and eat out for brunch. Halfway to town, Rosalie mentioned that she wanted to try Las Naranjas somewhere down the highway just south of Jaluco.

It was down a dusty side street but still a very nice place. It was obviously a Mexican restaurant as we were the only Norteños in there. On the way to the buffet, a guy stopped us and asked if we spoke English or French. (?) He had some apartments for rent in Melaque and wanted us to know in case we knew anyone who might want to rent one.

As it turned out the food was not that great and somewhat cold. Next week we go to my choice of restaurant.

Omar said he had to cut down some Cocos for a friend who was ill. I looked at him, and he knew we wanted coco locos. Later that morning he showed up with another friend and they started stripping the coconut palms. In the meantime, three kids also showed up to collect some. They had a hard time carrying them so the young girl dropped hers, lifted up her t-shirt tucked one coco inside and grabbed the shirt in her teeth. She then picked up the other two and went on her way. Later, Omar delivered two cocos to us but we had to go out so had to defer it to another day.

John, Ronda, Rosalie and I went out for America thanksgiving dinner. We only went for the great turkey dinner. John and I had a laugh at the table cloths being red and white but no blue. The next day Rosalie had enough leftovers for us to have her traditional turkey bun.

Rosalie had arranged to meet the young lady, Claudia, who used to her pedicures, manicures and haircuts. She had recently had a baby so has not working. Her husband wasn’t working that day either so she brought the whole family. We had a great time. David (Daveed) her husband doesn’t speak any English but showed interest in what we were saying and we spoke to him a lot in Spanish.

He offered to take me out fishing but I’d rather fish from the shore so politely declined. David Jnr. (about 10) loves fishing so he and his Dad go out often.

The week ended up with meeting Jim and Ylda on Saturday evening for happy hour and a meal. We went to Bugambilia’s for a drink. A huge party of young Mexicans at the next table were having a great time.

After, we walked across the road and had dinner at Ava’s restaurant. Not being finished visiting for the evening we went around the corner to Pata’s bar near the beach to each have a piña colada or margarita to round out the evening.

I wonder what next week will bring?

We were at Papá Gallos minding our own business when one of the beach people came by. He was selling hand carved figurines. They were a little expensive but we decided to buy some anyway.

The artist said he carved them from iron wood with a hammer and chisel then sanded and polished them with shoe polish. They are beautiful and we love them. They cost $2,200 pesos or about $132 Canadian for all three. Considering the work and time put into making them they were very inexpensive.

Also at Papa Gallos, we mentioned to Rafa that we prefer him making our margaritas. We told him we don’t want to offend the rest of the guys but he said they would be okay, as they were used to rejection.

After my guitar fell apart last year I decided that I wanted a new one. This time I was going to raise my budget to $300. We went to the guitar store in Cihuatlán and after finding the perfect guitar, and then buying a small amplifier, guitar cover, strap, spare strings, picks and a stand, we parted with nearly $600. It’s a great guitar but I still play like crap. However, I am getting better.

Dave Spink and Roz were back in town this week after many adventures driving down from Canada in their motor home. We went to see him perform at La Oficina and had great time reconnecting with them. And of course the music was great as always.

The streets around here have been a bit of a challenge lately. The water is still running freely down the dirt streets. Every time we leave it’s a tough decision as to which is the best route to take going out. We had one route picked out but the puddle we had to drive through kept getting deeper and deeper. Slowly though, things are getting better; things are drying out more each day.

Because of the extra water around, we have a lot more flies this year. Not too many mosquitos but there are some that really bite. So, we asked Omar if he could get us some cascaras de coco (coconut husks) as they smoulder well, making a great smudge pot. He told us that he has a friend who makes bricks and would likely sell us some. He did get some for us, earning him and his friend a small reward so that they would be interested in providing some again next week.

The 13th of November was the twenty-seventh anniversary of the first day we met; so it was party time. Any excuse for a party. I don’t mind parties but I have to put away all the electronics we keep on the patio including the big screen monitor that we watch Netflix on. The next day of course it has to be all set up again. It’s my job to do the dishes here, so the next day I had to do it in two shifts there was so much. It’s not as bad as it sounds really as we only have a small draining board.

We invited another seven people over and had a very enjoyable evening. They had a bit of fun getting here as the roads are still pretty bad. In fact, when the taxi came to pick some people up, after the party, he wouldn’t come down our street so went around the block to get them.

While preparing for the festivities Rosalie mentioned that we could use a few more good knives and forks and that we should bring some down next time in our carry-on. I reminded her that if the airlines think the little file on the end of nail clippers can take over a plane, what could someone do with a fork. “Look out he’s got a fork,” I think I might get one for self-defence. Eventually, though, we will have to register them and then they can only be used for hunting. Except of course in The States, where people will be able to open-carry.

The day before the party they were supposed to come and re-grade the yard but they didn’t show up. It might still be a bit too soft as there is still a lot of water around even though it hasn’t rained for over a week.

On the main road from Melaque, there were a huge series of puddles in the road that were a challenge to negotiate. When you drive through you tend to push the sand and dirt up to the side to form a hump which makes it an even more fun obstacle course. One day I bottomed out twice one after the other. So we were happy to see a grader levelling it out the other day and hopefully filling in the holes. Nope! Too much to hope for. They knocked the humps down into the puddle but didn’t fill the holes right up so the whole process will soon start again.

It’s starting to cool off a little here. It’s 21 C in the morning and gets to 30-31 C in the afternoon. The best part is that it’s getting less humid. The heat doesn’t seem to affect us too much but some of our friends really suffer. If it does get too hot (or even if it doesn’t) there’s always Papá Gallo’s.

My phone started to talk to me this morning. It was Siri. I don’t know what woke her up but Rosalie said Siri was talking to Alexa.

The car needed an oil change and the brakes were acting a bit weird so I made an appointment with a recommended repair place “El Cowboy.” Not an auspicious name but they were recommended.

The guy spoke English and wrote the appointment in a tatty old book. I arrived the next day at 10 am for the appointment and actually got in a bit early. He looked me up in the tatty old book and took my keys.
They were so busy that he had to do the work outside. I, in the meantime, sat and waited and amused myself with starting this blog on my phone.

A little while later the guy came looking for the security socket for the wheel nuts. I found it but at first, they had trouble making it fit. Eventually, it worked and they pulled the wheel off. They were quite professional even putting covers on the car seat and shift lever. They even stuck a list of repairs on the side of the car so the mechanic wouldn’t forget what he had to do. I may never get the glue marks off but what the heck?

After a while the mechanic showed me one of the brake pads, it was totally worn down. I think it may have been one he kept in the back for just a gullible Norteño like me. I told him to go ahead and change them and could see by the smile on his face that the bill just got bigger. I really don’t think they had a spare brake pad in the back but it sounded funny at the time.

Eventually, after giving the brakes a thorough cleaning and adjusting, they pulled it out and got it into one of the bays for the oil change. While driving it for that very brief trip, the mechanic heard a noise in the steering. I too had heard this noise but chose to ignore it as it sounded expensive. They did a fiddle here and there and carried on with the rest of the job. I noticed going home that the noise was no longer there.

During the oil change, they blew out the engine compartment and all the various filters. When the guy had finished the oil change, he checked the dipstick by first wiping it on his T-shirt and then again when had checked it

Then they checked all the lights and turn signals and topped up the windshield washer. On the way home I noticed the air conditioner was working better; so, bonus. We didn’t even get a complimentary dent this time.

The cost for all this service came to $1554 pesos or about $93 Canadian The last time we had an oil change in Canada it was $70. and the last brake job cost $700.

This is how we meet new friends:

Linda and Dan live close to us in Pinal Villa. Rosalie had been in contact with Linda through Facebook messenger but we had never met since they stayed away last year due to Covid. They called and asked if they could come by. Are we going to say no? I guess not! We had a really nice hour or so with them and agreed to meet again soon.

I, with my weird sense of humour, imagined them riding off on their bikes and the conversation going something like this: “So what do you think?” She replies “Well, Rosalie seems nice and I really like the dress she was wearing but he’s a bit weird with that phoney British accent and all”

Once they’re gone our conversation goes like this: Rosalie, “So, what do you think?” I reply ” She’s okay but I don’t like him. He’s younger and better looking and obviously way smarter than me.”

We all have these conversations when we meet new people and can only hope that they mostly go well; which in this case they did..

It’s so nice to see so many of our other friends arriving here. We were a little lonely last season but now we can’t keep up with the social life. We are suddenly inundated with invitations. I think that people we know here haven’t caught up yet and assume that we are the only Norteños here and invite us out.

Jim and Ylda and Art Sr. arrived on the weekend. We thought we were picking them all up at the airport but J&Y already had a ride so we thought we were taking Art home. He came out the gate and was greeted by a lady so we thought we had come to the airport for nothing. It turns out that this was the Mexican friend coming to pick up J&Y but they didn’t quite have enough room in their car so we got to take Art home after all.

I went to pay for the parking at the machine inside the airport. I inserted my ticket with the total being 60 pesos, I put in a new 20 peso note but the darn machine spat it out. I tried an old note and that was accepted. The guy behind me traded my new note for an old one and I tried again. No Luck! It spat that one out too.

I ran to the car to get change from Rosalie but she wouldn’t part with even 20 pesos. By this time I was getting desperate. The parking cost was probably getting in the 70 peso range and all I had were 500s. Finally, I borrowed 50 pesos from an acquaintance who happened to be waiting for his sister and I made it work. In the future, I won’t be going to the airport without a whole bunch of change. In the meantime, Art was waiting by the car sucking on a cerveza chatting with Rosalie.

I punished him by taking him home and feeding him one of Rosalie’s delicious dinners. He also had access to a cold beer on the way home so he seemed quite happy.

After we finally dropped him off at his place we dropped in to see J & Y who live almost next door. We only planned to say hi and leave but after a few cervezas we ended up driving home in the dark after all.

The following day we had to pay the money for the rest of our trip in December so off to the bank to take a hefty amount out, Like 70,000 pesos. We still owed Art about 22,000 so had to get that too. After paying all this out there wasn’t enough left for us so back to the bank. Unfortunately by then, the bank had run out of cash. I had to make sure I had enough for our car repairs the following day.

That evening we met with Dan and Linda for an evening of entertainment at Tito’s restaurant. We also met up with a lot of old acquaintances including Jim and Ylda and of course Art. Afterwards, we went by Banamex and picked up more cash.

It was a rough twenty-four hours.

A few days ago Rosalie was feeling a little queasy and as the day progressed she got worse and entered the full upchuck mode. I, on the other hand, was feeling quite chipper…for a while.

I drove into town and got some ginger ale which seemed to help a little. Then later in the evening I started to feel bad and entered upchuck mode as well. The heat seemed to intensify as we got worse. I had a rough night and sometime in the night I woke up and found that I had a bit of a fever. The next day we were feeling a bit better but still not quite there yet. The heat didn’t help. But it rained the next morning and cooled things off so that helped.

On the third day, we still felt queasy but were getting cabin fever so decided to go to Papá Gallos for a change of pace. I was still feeling bad enough that I thought we may have to return home. Rosalie though was getting desperate for a glass of wine so I toughed it out for her sake.

The main square was busy as Dias de Los Muertos was coming to an end so we decided to stop and take a look. There were students everywhere putting up shrines. Rosalie wanted some ‘pan muerto’ a festive bread for the day of the dead. Trying to enter the bakery we found that they were blocked by boards strung across the entrance. After thinking about it for a bit, I realized that it was to keep the floodwater out. I spoke to one of the shop keepers and he said that the water even came over the top of the boards.

At Papá Gallo’s we decided to only have one glass of wine each as we were still feeling a little off. The waiters were very talkative and friendly as we were the only ones in there. Anyway, after two hours, a lot of wine and a shared fajita we were feeling a hundred percent better, so we went home and watched Netflix.