Update

We’re still waiting for the rest of our buds to come down and join us so in the meantime we try to connect with other people we know here.

Rosalie has taken to trying to stretch my brain by inviting a neighbour over who speaks no English at all. Her name is Fidelia. At first, we thought she was being nosy because she asked a lot of questions, but I think that the locals have a genuine interest in us and like to find out about us and our way of life. She speaks no English so it was a good learning experience for us.

A lot of Spanish verbs end with ‘arse’ (ars-a) Rosalie seems to think it’s funny and giggles whenever she has to use it. I tell her it was quite disgusting but I also make sure she doesn’t see me grinning.

The guy who runs one of the travel agencies here, Dan, has a sister, Charlie, who married a Mexican guy. They now live in La Manzanilla and run a deli. They have a new baby boy, nicknamed Nando, and while delivering some food to us brought Nando with her. Rosalie now has an adopted grandkid.

Walking through the tianguis (market) we were greeted by a lot of the vendors as old friends, which in a way I suppose we are. I was greeted by Jorge, the son of the guy I buy my T-shirts from. I couldn’t remember his dad’s name so I apologized and asked his dad again. It was Liborio! As soon as I asked I remembered it again. I think it goes a long way when you try to speak to the locals in Spanish even though many of them speak some English. Jorge does, but his dad doesn’t.

Jorge likes to collect the new twenty peso coins. I happened to get one so thought I could sell it to him for 50 pesos, but no, I had to let it go for face value. I was reluctant as it was nice and shiny.

Update on Amazon craziness. We were expecting a delivery on Thursday and another two on Tuesday. When the Thursday delivery came, one of the Tuesday ones came with it. Also, the other one expected on Tuesday is coming today with one expected on Monday. No idea when the one due at the end of the month will come, probably yesterday.

We got our rooftop shade cloth set up but learned the hard way about how plants survive here during the dry season. The first morning we went up to have our morning tea, we found all the cushions wet. The dew had soaked through the shade cloth. We can work around that and slide the cushions under a table for the night and cover our little TV with plastic. I just hope it doesn’t rain anytime soon.

Our ‘TV’ is actually a computer monitor that I use when doing our investments. I plugged in a Firestick and a Bluetooth speaker and it works just like a smart TV. Nice! Now we can watch Netflix on the ‘Big’ screen, but with the OTT app operational soon, can cancel Netflix, Prime video, Brit Box as well as others we won’t need anymore…we hope.