Aged but not deceased

Today we went to Santa Clara. It’s amazing to see our huge bus wend it’s way through the narrow streets. The bus has steerable rear wheels as well as a great driver Roberto so that helps. 

We never really know how far we have to walk when we leave the bus as it’s hard to park in such a small town. But Dan does a really good job and with Roberto and some times a few pesos, we don’t often have to walk far.

Today we were at the copper foundry ‘El Puertón’ in the town of  Santa Clara del Cobre. They gave a great half-hour presentation of how they make the items from scrap copper. They use copper from old wire, electric motors, old pots and pans and anything else made of copper as the mines ran out years ago.

The copper is melted into chunks of various sizes depending on the size of the piece being made and then the pounded flat like this:

All the items are hand made and some take up to six months to complete. The only mechanical thing in the place was the fan to blow air for the forge.

When he took it out of the water it was clean and ice cold because copper is such a good conductor.

The copper trade is a very generational thing. One of the guys, Miguel, is the fourth generation of crafters and his son is also Miguel or Miguelita. Miguelita is like an apprentice. He goes to school during the day and learns his trade in his spare time. They have to start young to find out if he’s any good, also to see if he wants to continue in the trade. He says he’s liking it so far as the tourist give him tips.

After the presentation, we went to the store and because there was a lot of stuff, Rosalie bought most of it. She said that, as I had purchased a $130 guitar, she had the leverage of $1,300. Of course I jest. We have been really good on this trip and kept spending to a minimum. Having said that, we thought we would need to visit an ATM to top up. We did, however, buy a copper water bottle. It’s quite beautiful and of course very healthy.

Our day didn’t end here so now we are off to see some architectural ruins.

 

Up early again. Breakfast at seven and on the bus by eight. We had another two and a half-hour ride to the mountains.

On the way up we had to stop as we were crossing from one municipality to another. We had to pay a “toll” as the municipality we were leaving receives no revenue from the butterflies,

When we reached the town of Ocampo and got off the bus, we had to walk uphill a bit to get to our ride up the mountain. Walking doesn’t sound too bad until you realize that we were at 10,000 feet and the air was thin.

We had the choice to walk up or ride on a horse. We chose to ride as we had another 2,000 feet uphill to go. It was very steep, rough going. Each horse was accompanied by a guide who walked or ran alongside or behind. Halfway up, Pat came roaring past, hanging on for dear life. At the top, we got off and took a minute to calm ourselves and wait for Mike. 

They rotate the horses at the top so that they get a good rest. Not the guides though, they ride/gallop back down to get another customer. They have to be very fit because they have to run up 2000 feet at that high an altitude

There was still another 300 meters for us to climb and it too was rough going. It was worth it though as the Monarchs were spectacular. We had to be very quiet and no flash photography. They are mostly huddled together for warmth against the trees and branches and don’t want to fly too much as that burns energy. There were hundreds flying around though.

We also saw hundreds of dead ones lying around. One of the guides would pick some up and turn them over and then put them to the side. I think he was looking for tags. 

We chose to walk down as I didn’t fancy riding down on that steep hill. The walk wasn’t too bad but we had to stop a few times to rest our knees and get our-breaths back.

At the bottom, we were surrounded by vendors and people trying to get you to eat at their taco stand. I found it very annoying at first as all I wanted to do was rest up. We found a restaurant with Mike and Pat and had a bite to eat.

Afterwards, Rosalie was surrounded by kids selling stuff. She bought two shawls but then noticed a third little girl who hadn’t sold one. So now she has three, as well as a bunch of other stuff. I just stood to one side with my wallet open as Rosalie had left her purse on the bus. On the way back to the bus we walked through a gauntlet of stalls.  At the end was a little girl wearing butterfly wings so I took a picture. She immediately demanded 20 pesos which was way too much so she only got ten, which was also too much.

The drive back to the hotel was uneventful except for a glorious sunset. Rosalie and I went out for a snack and then tried to buy some white wine. We tried three places but could only find red. I started to panic but Rosalie calmed me down, pointed out that we had enough for the evening and we could get more tomorrow in Patzcuaro. Phew!

We had to be up early as our bus left at 6 am. We were off on our tour to see the butterflies at Morelia in the state of Michoacán. We walked to the taxi stand at 5:30 only to find it empty, so we decided to walk. It took us twenty minutes and we had to haul one carry-on case, one backpack and another bag.

We arrived on time but the bus didn’t. It arrived at about 6:20 but that’s Mexico. Nobody complained, we stood and chatted while we waited.

The trip took eight hours and we had frequent stops on the way. Also, we were given snacks on the bus. We arrived at three-thirty and after checking in went on a short city tour. While on the tour we were told that there was a special event at the cathedral at 8:40 pm. That of course bought a laugh as nothing here is that precise.

We met up with Mike and Pat at 7 pm and went for a really nice dinner. Then, we walked to the cathedral to watch the show. They do this event every Saturday but there was a special group in town so they did it today instead. Our tour guide Karen said that we were the special group. Yeah right!

The elevation in Morelia is 1900 meters about 6300 feet. It makes it a bit harder to breathe but not too bad. The temperature is a lot cooler and we had to bring heavier coats and long pants.

The Monarch butterflies migrate from Canada and the Eastern States from October to March. About 100 million of them fly 2,000 miles to Mexico. It takes them about two months. They converge on an area 50 miles wide near Texas and proceed as a group the rest of the way. They go nowhere else in the world just Michoacán where they stay for about five months,

They fly at 10,000 feet and rely on the air currents to carry them to save energy. Over the Great Lakes, if bad weather hits they will land on boats and anything else that floats until they can take off again

They arrive in Mexico in late October and early November. The Mexican people believe that they are the souls of the dead and have a huge celebration culmination in Las Dias de Los Muertos (“The Day of the Dead”) November 1st.

This is the fourth generation in one year, because, on the way back they stop in Texas. They mate, the females lay about 400 eggs each and then die.  The new generation then does the same thing further north and  finally again in Canada. Where the whole process starts again. It takes nine months to make the trip back.

It’s amazing to think that this little creature that has a four-inch wingspan and weighs less than 1/5 of an ounce can achieve such a feat. They have never flown this route before but still, they know which way to go. 

An experiment was done to see what would happen if butterflies were taken from Kansas and released in DC. For the first few days, they flew south toward the Gulf of Mexico, Then, they realized something was wrong and changed direction and headed southwest to join the rest of the group. No one knows how they do this.

The Monarchs eventual destination in Mexico wasn’t discovered until 1975, The sanctuaries are protected but there is a lot of illegal logging in the area and a great threat to the monarchs as well as the local guides.

 

 

What the heck! it’s raining! It hardly ever rains here, What to do, we have no rain gear and the temperature dropped to 27C. I think it’s because we were going to mock you guys and your snow. Karma, as follows:

Us, enjoying the sun you’re not getting.

At least the hammock is undercover so I can have a nap later. I may need a blanky though, it is a bit chilly. They just announced that the fashion show Rosalie was going to tomorrow has been cancelled due to rain. Oh well! There go my few hours of freedom.

I feel a bit bedraggled.

To amuse myself, if you can call it that, during this wet and turbulent time,  I have been setting up Rosalie’s new iPhone. Once I finished with it I nervously handed it to the boss and my problems began. “Chris! This won’t work. Chris! That won’t work. How do I turn it on? Where is it?” The questions are endless.

Rosalie is a very intelligent woman until she touches anything electronic. Then she becomes a Neanderthal in the first degree. It’s fun though to see her face light up when she discovers things like face recognition and wireless charging.

When Rosalie looks at me like this and asks for help, how can I refuse?

When most of it is working okay, I say most, because the drama never really ends, Rosalie is happy with a big smile on her face. I, on the other hand, I am a snivelling wreck and need a shot of tequila to calm me down.

The main thing we have to set up is her library accounts. She has been using ‘Overdrive’ but now it wants her to use ‘Libby’ so now I have to set this up. I know little about ‘Overdrive and nothing about ‘Libby’. I finally got it sorted out and just needed to sync her phone with her iPad. After more confusion and not a little cursing, I got it figured out and pressed the button to generate a sync code… Nothing! The internet was down. Probably some water in the Frizzle box. Or maybe they ran out of steam and had to send out for some. Who knows?

Of course, I have been typing away but have no way of saving as the blog is saved online. Oy vay! as Peter would say. I will keep typing and hope for the best. It all turned out Okay or you wouldn’t be reading this.

There I go, making fun of Rosalie again. But she’s a great sport and laughs as hard as I do at all this nonsense. I didn’t intend to write a blog today, just make a few notes and stuff but my fingers got away on me and here we are. We do have to keep ourselves amused as apparently, we have nothing else to do down here anyway.

 

While learning the various ways to tell the time in Spanish I got to thinking. It hurt my head a bit but I managed.

We are constantly being asked, by friends and family in Canada, what we find to do down here. So here is a typical week. This doesn’t include grocery shopping, time learning Spanish, writing blogs and generally sitting around doing nothing. Oh, and drinking wine.

Sunday:

We saw Cathy and Al off by taxi to catch their bus to PV. Relaxed for the rest of the day and entertained Bill and Connie who dropped by. We were invited out to dinner this evening but chose not to go.

Monday:

We went shopping uptown to get stuff ready for dinner tonight at Mike and Faye’s place. We were joined by Bill and Connie and had a really nice evening. I missed the Leafs game but I’m so loyal to anyone who wants to give me a free meal.

Tuesday:

More of a relaxing day today. Mike and Pat dropped by and we had yet another good visit.

Wednesday:

It’s market day so we had to go to that and get supplies for me to make jalapeno poppers for tonight’s party. There was an invitation to Dave and Roz’s house, we really wanted to go to that one, to meet more people and refresh acquaintances. The music was terrific as usual. One guy limped up to the mike with his autoharp. He can’t play the guitar anymore because of arthritis, so he learned the autoharp. Arthritis doesn’t stop him; he just keeps trucking along.

Mike was nice enough to drive us home so we didn’t have to scramble for a taxi. I missed another Leafs game but a guy from Ontario and I kept up with the scores together on our phones.

Thursday:

George, a guy from Liverpool whom we had never met before, had phoned and wanted to meet up with us to talk about our Brit pensions. We met him and his wife Sue at the local coffee shop. We had a nice visit with them and agreed to go on a plantation tour with them next week.

Friday:

Another new friend, Denise, dropped by to show Rosalie how to make salad rolls. I sat and let them get on with it but agreed to be the chief taster. I wanted to supervise but seeing they both had sharp knives, I backed off. The rolls were great. Now I want to learn how to make them and put in my own peculiar ingredients. This evening we were invited to Mike and Pat’s house in Barra for a lamb dinner. Jim and Ylda were also there and a few stories were told, a great time was had.

One of Pat’s famous mango Margaritas

Jim, Ylda, Rosalie and I caught a taxi back to Melaque. I gave the driver directions in impeccable Spanish and only got us lost twice. I didn’t miss any Leaf games as there weren’t any.

Saturday:

Rosalie’s sister Suzanne and her hubby Vic arrive today so once more up to town for supplies. When we got back I hopped on the bike and went back, to get, yet more wine. I made my special jalapenos with big shrimp and cream cheese and wrapped them in bacon.

As I was writing this, Bill, Connie, Mike and Faye dropped in. Mike and Faye left after a few minutes but Bill and Connie stayed for a glass of wine. Mike and Faye may come back later on.

Vic and Suzanne arrived safely and we had them to dinner. They brought with them that elusive iPhone, so Rosalie is happy. I drank a few too many tequilas and we had a nice evening. I missed yet another Leafs game. They won all three, so there is that.

Me, at the end of the week.

 

I don’t use Facebook. I don’t have enough time to find out how someone changes their baby’s diapers and how healthy the poop looks. I do have a Facebook page but haven’t looked at it for months. The only reason I have it because the blog ends up posted there.

I think it’s funny about all the angst and drama the site causes. I know of people who have blocked someone only to get a family member to be a friend so that they can still watch what the other guy is doing. They think they’re being clever but in reality, I think it’s quite sad.

I do have sites I look at. I love The Chive, It has a lot of T & A but also has a lot of good entertainment, mostly photos and gifs. Not that I have anything against T & A.  but after a while it gets boring. You see one you’ve seen them both, so who cares. I  also read the news and check on the Maple Leafs., but not all day, an hour or more in the morning and that’s it.

 

Me checking out T&A on  The Chive.

Rosalie’s look of disapproval.

It seems to me to be a place of distant revenge. “You called my hubby a doorknob so I’m going to shame you on Facebook.” Then the person goes on and makes a complete idiot of themselves, and the war is on. “He said”, “she said” unfriend, dislike, block. All because her hubby is a doorknob. He is, I’m sure I know him. Oops! there we go, now I’ll become a target.

 

The time spent looking at this stuff is astounding. If we could just gather up all that energy expended scrolling we would solve the world energy problems. It’s not just a case of spending a few hours when you get home from work in the evening. You take it with you everywhere in the form of your cell phone. Production must have dropped when the cell phone was introduced.

Fake news is also a huge problem. Some people will believe anything just because it’s on Facebook. Unless of course, it doesn’t agree with their own beliefs. Then: It’s all lies, no matter how true it is. We’ve seen this time and again over the last four years or so.

I like The Chive because all you have to do is look at it. No need to make a comment although it has annoyed me at times and I have a wee rant by myself, unless Rosalie’s in range and then she gets it. Most of the pictures I put on the blog are from The Chive. Anyway, I don’t have any more time for this rant I have to get back and see if I can find that lady with big hooters again.

 

Cathy and Al came in by bus from PV on Thursday. We walked to the bus depot to meet them and quickly whisked them across the road to Papa Gallo’s for two-for-one margaritas and a plate of nachos before heading home. That will teach them to drop in expectedly.

That afternoon and evening went by quite fast and a few wines and coffee tequilas were consumed along with some jalapeño poppers that I had made as an appy.  Rosalie provided a delicious dinner as usual. We somehow made plans to go to Barra the next day and toddled off to bed.

The next morning we set out bright and early (9:30) and caught the bus. Rosalie had a follow-up appointment with the doctor in Barra so Al, Kathy and I went for a coffee. Rosalie texted after about 10 minutes saying there was a line-up and she wasn’t going to wait. She met up with us and we walked on up to the Malecon.

Then, we decided to catch a water taxi to the little town of Colimilla across the lagoon. The taxi was free provided we ate at the restaurant. Al and Cathy wanted to go for a walk first so we headed into town. The streets there are quite steep so Rosalie and I left them to continue, while we waited for them back at the restaurant.

When they got back they told us that we were actually located in the state of Colima, not the state of Jalisco. This came as a shock because we knew that the border is about 20 km south of us. Out came the phones with Google maps and we looked it up. Sure enough, the thin strip of land we were on was in Colima. However, the tip of the peninsular where the Grand Bay Resort is located is still in Barra and therefore in Jalisco state. No wonder I’m going nuts.

I had my usual Ensalada con Cameron and it’s the best I’ve had yet. It was slightly pricey but so large that I couldn’t finish it all.

We caught the water taxi back and enjoyed a restful afternoon. That evening we went out to ‘Restaurante Albatross’ for dinner and entertainment. Afterwards, we walked up to ‘La Oficina’ to watch Dave Spinks play. Unfortunately, the girls didn’t need a drink so we didn’t stay and went home instead.

Now it’s party day. My first task was to zip up to town on my trusty bike to see if Carlos was there that day, he was. Kathy needed to buy a new purse. Rosalie was pretty tired after the last few days so she stayed at home while I walked into town with our guests as I couldn’t fit all of us on my bike. I guess I’m not as much a Mexican as I thought I was.

There wasn’t one there that Cathy liked so we went to get some groceries. I found a couple of tetra packs of Chardonnay wine so I grabbed them as they were the last two. They were 86 pesos each ($6). Thinking I had got a bargain as this was a name brand wine, I rushed home to tell Rosalie who was equally thrilled. We did a taste test and decided it was no better than the 50 peso variety. Such is Mexico.

The evening went well. We had about 20 guests but only 8 chairs and nowhere near enough plates etc. But we have excellent neighbours in Gerry and Elaine so we raided their patio and kitchen. From them, we borrowed a long table, 6 chairs, plates and cutlery.

The party went really well. I had the idea to call a travelling troubadour named Gerry (a different one) to sing for us. Rosalie had to call him though as my Spanish isn’t quite there yet. She had a really hard time getting him to understand but he eventually got it and even showed up reasonably on time.

The following video is not the best but we don’t have a lot of outside lighting.

Al and Cathy left this morning after a very nice visit.

 

Mexican names are interesting. They all seem to have a multitude of names, but for a good reason. Their first name is their Christian name. This is often the saints day that they are born on. Then they may have a middle name but always have two last names.

The first of the last names is from the father’s side of the family and the second name is from the mother’s side. Women do not give up their names when married. Northerners have a problem when a Mexican gives his or her surname as ‘Bello Ruiz’ they only want one name, not two

The question has been raised as to why Mexicans have such indifference to dogs. It’s because they don’t consider them a person as we do. They are just an animal and have no feelings. They are tied up most of the day and as they get older and become less of an amusement they are put on the roof as a guard dog. They get fed last in a family and only if there is enough food to spare. We may not understand this, the same as Mexicans can’t understand why we pamper our dogs so much and consider them a member of the family. There’s a cultural difference.

When there are no tourists in town the people are openly friendly. They say “hola” without being prompted and generally, they know us. However, when the tourists arrive they tend to tighten up a bit. They are rarely unfriendly so if you say “hola” to them you usually get a smile. They also have a great sense of humour.

You can understand why they get a bit up-tight with tourists when they hear things like: “There are too many Mexicans on the beach” or “Why don’t they learn to speak English or French.” “Why are they so noisy” They are wonderful people and unfortunately some of the tourists are not very nice and act badly, forgetting that this the Mexican’s country, not their’s.  We are all, just guests.

There are 8 paid statutory holidays here. Plus 12 un-paid holidays. There are also 20 festivals that start 5 or so days prior to the actual day. The festival of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico starts 12 days prior to the day.  During the festivals, are when we hear the most fireworks. The priest sets one off at 6 am to call people to church.

Linda, the lady who runs the seminar asked the local priest if there had to be fireworks. He just said “Yes.” When asked if they couldn’t just ring the church bell instead; he just said “No”

In addition to this, each town has its own Saints day. Melaque (St Patricio) has its day on 17th March, St Patrick’s day. Duh!! I have no idea what the day is for us in Villa Obregon or what day next year in Pinal Villa.

Rosalie and I after one of our parties.

We and all our friends here feel perfectly safe. Yes, there are a lot of murders. Fortunately not near us. They are usually between rival cartels, the police or the army. As I’ve said before you don’t hear of Mexicans going into schools, or cinemas, or festivals and just indiscriminately shooting people. They just don’t do that.

We plan of staying here for many years. It’s a great place to spend the twilight years. And that’s what my blog is all about.

We went to a seminar the other night about the difference between hot and cold cultures. It was very entertaining and very interesting!

If you would like to see the whole seminar just click this link. You can see the backs of Rosalie and me (yellow t-shirt) on th right.

Our cold culture attitudes are all about ‘me’, whereas hot cultures are all about family. We notice this a lot. If a Mexican has to choose between being late for an appointment or picking up the kids, the kids will always come first.

In the north it’s all rush and go, go, go. Money is everything. Time is money.  We are always complaining about something. Mexicans are happy if they make enough to last them the day. If not they are still happy. Not all Mexicans of course. There are a number of real entrepreneurs here.

We often thought that Mexicans lied to us but we now know that that it’s not exactly true. They just don’t want to disappoint us. For instance when we asked if WiFi was provided with our rent we were told “yes, of course.” If we had asked when it would be provided we may have gotten a different answer.

Their families are huge. When a baby is born it has god parents. When it is baptized it has more god parents; or sometimes the same ones. When girls reach 15 she has a quinceañera. This is considered the point that they reach womanhood. We have noticed  this is also the time that a lot of them get pregnant.

A huge party is thrown equivalent to a wedding and is very expensive. To cover the cost they add on more god parents. For the dress, for the shoes, for the beer etc. All these god parents contribute and become part of the family. So now we know why there are some many people at the local parties.

Another thing we noticed is that most Mexicans are less material than we are. Some northern people will go and spend $300 on a carving knife. A Mexican will get one from the market that is just as sharp (we have a couple) and does the exact same job for 80 pesos. We’ve seen the local shopkeepers use them and trust me they are sharp.

Many things that Northeners covert are available here, they have no fancy name attached but work just as well. There is less of ‘Keeping up with the Jonses’. They are just grateful for what they have.

We noticed in the restaurant the other day that one of the tables was new and hadn’t been covered with a table cloth yet. It seemed to be made out of rough sawn palm planks. I made the comment that it does the exact same job as a $2,000 dinning room table in Canada. In fact this one was ‘hand made in Mexico’ so would probably fetch a good price from some idiot back home.

To be continued.