Best friends forever BFF

All these years, and that's a lot of then, I thought BFF mean best female friend. My BFF corrected me last week when she cane to Isla Mujeres for five days. Best friends forever, now 35 years since we were roommates  in  Columbus, Ohio, in our early 20s. We used to joke then that we were one Eastern European heritage person named Zina Pacyna, munching sauerkraut and potatoes. Deb worked as a reporter and newscaster for WTVN radio while I did the same for WCOL.
 The day I moved into her apartment in the first ring suburb of Grandview  (We were Grandview Girls before the song!) one of my cats went into her bedroom and took a dump on her pillow. Yikes! Later, one of use was boiling eggs while  talking on the phone.  The water boiled out and the eggs exploded all over the kitchen. We were leaning up pieces of them a year later from a curio shelf and behind the stove.
 I was there when she started dating her husband Tom Cooper  and when they married in Pittsburgh's North Hills. After a stint at Dayton's WOIO-TV statehouse news bureau. she moved to take a job at Channel 11 in Pittsburgh to take care of her mother who had cancer. We were costume masters during Halloween in both Columbus and Pittsburgh. My favorite was when Tom, a detective,  borrowed a street snitch's pimp suit and Deb and I went to Goodwill for skirts that were too tight, too short - perfect! and went as his girls. The look on the wine store clerk's face was priceless as we entered to buy a bottle to take to an OSU criminology professor's party. We looked good!

 I landed  at WTOV-TV (Steubenville-Wheeling), so we'd see each other in Pittsburgh on weekends or at my mom's place at Lake Mohawk in East Central Ohio.
 When I was working at Cleveland  Public Radio, she and Tom stopped for a couple nights in my Lakewood apartment, on their way to Sacramento, where Deb had taken a job as a Statehouse reporter and anchor and Tom continued to study criminology  waiting out  the residence requirement to become the oldest rookie in Sacramento's history.
 Before I started my job at The Plain Dealer, I took a cross country train trip that included visiting Deb and Tom when baby bump Kenny was about to break out. She, as big as a house, met me at the Sacramento train station. We went to shower parties and swimming, hoping Ken would be born while I was still there. The next time I went, Kenny was a toddler and Kelly was a baby bump and we went skiing at Tahoe and gambled at night.
 So that is how it began for us. Now, the best friends forever will have to wait at least another year. But time doesn't matter, Everything is like it was yesterday.  Except a little more like the Edna birthday cards we sent each other our whole lives. Soon, we'll be the old ladies on a park bench, hitting people with our purses.
 In the  meantime, we stay connected on Facebook, where Ken and Kelly are also my Facebook friends. Would that be FFF?

Dance with me...

After a four month hiatus, the dance partners were reunited and it was as if he never left! Sergio has been off island for four months thinking in Cancun and working in Playa del Carmen. Now, he is back and ready to be a daddy to a boy due this summer.
And Punta, she's just glad to have him here, taking care of his lady and his dog, Maruka, who has been shuttling around three residences and grabbing the occasional golf cart ride with Punta to exchange stories.
And the plants and pool at Zina's Guest House need tending. Honestly, they've never looked worse! Welcome back!

Jackass, the Child

Eight years ago or so, I was equally appalled and amused by antics on Jackass: The Movie. Yesterday in La Gloria, I was not amused and thankfully, I was not a witness. My renters at Zina's Guest House were.
One of the 4-8 year-olds on my street found a traffic stopping game to play. He ended it as soon as his grandmother yelled him off the street.
Not named here to protect the guilty, the kid took a board and a Tonka truck to the median strip and planted himself. He set up the board to be a ramp down which he launched the Tonka truck in anticipation of oncoming motos and scooters. And then he watched them swerve and several times nearly crash so as not to hit his toy truck.
Let this be a warning to tourists who think the island is a sleepy village they can navigate safely on a scooter. You could hit a truck and maybe die! Let's hope no 4-8 year olds read this and that all their parents do.

The new look

Gradual upgrades to Zina's Guest House started a couple years go when I took down a wooden picket fence and installed cement and rebar pipes for the fence. This year, shortly before going to Ohio, I installed gates.
Their bright orange and green, along with the fence, make a visually appealing but secure property. On the roof, you can see two shade areas, one the triangle shadecloth above the pool.
The other, a tree trunk pergola with curtains over a beach bed. Both of those are on the roof of my living quarters, which serves as the patio for the complex.
The improvements to the Guest House itself have included addition of a twin bed to each suite and sealing the roof against moisture and insects. Thank you Sergio!

Get sister!

When you said, "Get sister," I thought you meant for good!

Totally Skyped

Two Skype phones and a Blue Tooth for my laptop. That's what I'm getting for Zina's Guest House via eBay merchants. It becomes a model of a Skyped House.
First, I ordered one nearly factory direct from Taiwan. Then this deal came along: a woman with another SMC phone and a Blue Tooth she had linked to her laptop.
I'm also going to try to rehab another cell to Blue Tooth off a laptop. But why bother now?

At ease! You've played enough.

Chaya, left, and Punta have had enough until the coming Sunday! Punta has just had a bath and will be posing for pictures as house dog of Zina's Guest House.

Family A-OK in Chile!

Sergio Rodriguez, my all around strongman and hired hand at Zina's Guest House, finally reached his family in Chile this morning. He had bundled up towels and sheets to take to the laundry here on Isla Mujeres and brewed some coffee before sitting down to Skype.
He reached sister Jimena, who told him that Sergio Sr, 76, fell off a horse at his campground in Rio Bonito and hit his head before the earthquake...terrimoto... and mom is resting for a pre-heart attack condition, but otherwise all is well. When can you come to visit, she asked. Soon! He'll go to the consulate Wednesday afternoon and hopes to have papers in order by Friday, then look for air fares.
Friday is also the day he is going to Cancun with me to register on my Sam's Club card and assist in hardware shopping!

Cultural mixing

Beginning with the Navy Officers Wives' Breakfast, it was a day that brought home the notion of bi-culturalism.
At the Officers Wives' breakfast, we have rifa, or raffle and then play loteria - lottery - which is audio-visual bingo. Look at the heart with the arrow through it on the left. Pretty romantic, eh?
The caller has a deck of cards from which she pulls one and with great enunciation calls it and shows the card. You put a chip over it and as it goes on, someone eventually shouts "Ya!" Done already.
While playing this, we still a chance to talk about tattoos. On eyebrows - Blanca has them. On lips, Blanco and Judy have them. And eyeliner, which Judy has.
After the breakfast, in which I didn't win a door prize or a rifa, raffle, I went on to the Centro de Salud, Health Center, for my H1N1 shot. "Do you have an appointment?" Jeannine and Gail asked me in front. No, but vaccine clinic is over for the day very soon! Only Lidia Guadalupe with daughter in front of me for la vacuna and ya! I was done.
I was warned that I may feel achy in a few days and told what to take.
Then to the Navy commisary , where Jeannine and Gail said they were headed, for dog food and rum - for mojitos I'll be making Sunday for my Lithuanian American guests. I was still early for lunch, but thought I'd go early to chat with Vivian. She was already packed at near sell out. Word has gotten out that Vivan's Qubano is Number One on Trip Advisor's list of Isla restaurants. So...
Gail and Jeannine were there already! And then Lynnie and Mary arrived. These were the Zina's Guest House guests I shared a cab already in route to going home on Fat Tuesday. Another chance meeting! Lynnie has been volunteering mornings at the La Gloria English School.
Felipe arrived and he saw Vivian makes tostones. Everyone in the Caribbean eats tostones, said Felipe, and for him it had been a while! Up until then, he was just looking forward to speaking grammatically correct Spanish on Isla! Most islanders here don't, a blessing for me. Ha!
Tostones are fried plantains, remashed and refried until they are like french toast. Vivian has taken it a step further and makes them the basis for a dandwich of grilled chicken and carmelized onions, using tostones as if they were bread. Felipe, a Puerto Rican, said it was a unique invention as he tasted mine.
Felipe had a side of tostones the chips, and a Cuban sandwich, classic recipe with mustard and pickle. Delish, he said. Yes, I tasted it too and had never had one made the classic way, mustard and pickle, before. Delish!
We then went to see if Rick had boarded the Ultramar in time to keep a date with Carlos. No lo se. I don't know.
Came home to let Boca out of her carrier for business and ran out again to Mar y Sol to see if contact had been made with the Little Yellow School house. Peggy and her husband raised $3,000US with "chili for the children." And that is to be featured on a US cooking show with Peggy carrying a bowl of chili at dusk. No sun. No shoot.
Home, Karina comes running over. Carmen is having surgery in the morning for a broken clavicle. Would I take Karina's muchacha to clean in the morning. Yes, for the upstairs apartment. Then Lynnie and Mary leave in the afternoon....again on Saturday.
And I laid down thinking how different my life and language have become. A day earlier on our Isla Mujeres tour, I pointed to the new graveyard. "There's the new cementery," I said. And we laughed. Cementerio is the word Spanish. Cemetery!

Open arms

A week ago, a couple delightful guests were leaving Zina's Guest House. They are working on Isla Mujeres with Cristina Salas, Dr. Salas's wife, in HIV and pregnancy prevention instruction with Isla Mujeres' youth.
Anna Douglas, left, the director of PEACE-Isla Mujeres, had placed Kody and Lena here guest house for a week out of their two month mission on Isla Mujeres.
Next to Anna is Dr. Carlos Cabrera, the director of Abrazos Abiertos, Open Arms, from HIV Yucatan, Kody Dobeck and Lena Noecker, teaching interns and me, at a reception Jan. 22 at Casa Sirena.
The misson: "An educational program designed to reduce the spread of HIV infection and teenage pregnancy in Isla Mujeres by utilizing a peer on peer education program (TEAM Isla), where local youth will have an opportunity to gather together to learn facts about HIV prevention, pregnancy prevention and other sexual health topics in a safe, honest and caring environment. Under the supervision of PEACE Isla Mujeres, two experienced Instructors/Interns from Brazos Abiert (see http://www.hivyucatan.org/en/)will lead the youth groups."
Lena and Kody stayed up late with their lesson plans and left the apartment in the mornings armed with carrots and condoms, heading for the secondary school.
Their youthful looks are on their side in gaining the confidence of Isla Mujeres youth, vulnerable to teen age pregrancy and HIV because of ignorance and custom. Thanks for your work Abrazos Abiertos! And PEACE!

Goodbye Mr Stress, Old Year!

There was Mr Stress before Scott and I got to El Cejas. He was worried about the arrival of his sweetie Kathy and his cousin Laura...one coming from Denver the other from DFW. We stopped on the way so I could get an email I forgot and Scott also checked the computer their for airline updates! Now with the address of a new German deli that sells sauerkraut, but it's still not opened, we were off. The address is of the mother of the guy who is opening the deli, so it was a private house with barking German breed dogs and open windows!
We have joked that buying shrimp on Isla is like making a dope deal with unmarked houses, etc. Why, it's like buying sauerkraut in Cancun!
A stop for doggy diaper pads and we were ready to eat! El Cejas!
While Scott texted the airlines and family one more time, the oysters Rockefeller arrived.
Great for Scott to share with Carlos the cabbie and me. And we each had a vuelve la vida cocktail, the one that includes raw oysters. I also had a naranjada, billed as OJ with mineral water, it was actually and orange juice and mineral water slush, but much tastier than an Orange Julius!
Then I was off to Telebodega, where I found the same new 15 cubic feet fridge that Inge had bought (we compared notes this morning!) and two table lamps for 110 pesos each, which they wrapped up for me to carry and promised January 10 delivery of the fridge.
Isla Gringo and B were there, too, for an emergency replacement fridge purchase for one of their units. We wound up on the curb as I waited later for Carlos to come back from the airport. They were having no luck with finding a station wagon cab to hail! Carlos was just two minutes away when I called to see if he could carry their little fridge too! No problem, he has a station wagon.
Great good luck could not keep Isla Gringo from fretting at McDonald's as he watched the baggage handlers and the ferries, alert to any mix up.
The only mix up was here, when I forgot I had an extra bag with sauerkraut and bratwurst. I loitered around the ferry dock for an hour until the right UltraMar ferry, alerted by shore crew, came back and handed it it to me. Good bye old year Mr Stress, Happy New Year!

Boca's big Christmas!

Santa Claus, aka Scott, took Boca out on the town Christmas Day night, leaving Zina's Guest House around 9pm.. She went to Miguel's Moolite first. We took the diaper so no one would be offended.
She made friends with customers and ate dog food and drank water out of a cup.
Then Santa and I took her to Brisas Grill, where she sat by the wall and stared at the lobster tank in amazement.
Santa opined that Boca is just learning to be a big dog now. How true. Feliz Navidad!

Deck the halls!

Boca was busy yesterday helping Sergio hang the Christmas lights around the Guest House property. Well, not really helping, but supervising!
After Sergio finished, the three of us went to the paint store. It was Boca's first golf cart ride outside a pet carrier and she sat pretty the whole time. She was on a leash that Sergio held.
So, she'll be supervising touch up painting on Wednesday. Today, I go to Cancun for some shopping and banking and a visit to the lawyer for my visa, which has been ready for me for a week!

My new hospital!

No, it's not the new supermarket...not a San Franciso, not a Comercial Mexicana. It is the new hospital in La Gloria. Looks like it's going to bigger than any hospital Isla Mujeres has seen!
This was originally announced for the end of the Salina, but soil borings determined that site was not suitable for a hospital. So, two blocks south of me @Zina's Guest House, before Hacienda Mundaca, is the corner lot. That's on the corner of the street leading to restaurant La Bruja!

Sue was so right!

After breakfast at Lenora's, Anne-Marie and Pascal took the ferry to "the other side" with me. Carlos, my driver, was waiting to take me on my governmental errands and I offered that he could take them to a car rental place on the way.
The cabbie mafia in Puerto Juarez had other ideas, saying he had permission only to take me. Being helpful, he had driven into the garage rather that meet on the street, so the union was sticking to its bully tactics.
Carlos engaged in heated debate with union officials on his cell phone and the thugs in the garage. "Si, they are her guests, it's a last minute thing," he tells the union. The fat guys kept heckling us and Anne-Marie and Pascal said it's OK, we'll walk across the street! To appease the hecklers, I said, perhaps you know a car rental agency they can use. Well, there are many car rental agencies. Oh, si. I thought you might know someone who would give you a commission! ha! Pascal had led the charge across the street and Anna-Marie was already wheeling and dealing!
Carlos and I were off. We had daunting tasks and hopes to visit Walmart.
When we got to Cancun's Palacio Municipal annexes, call the Tents, he was surprised I knew my way around, saving us time! And he saw he could pay his property tax early at a 20 percent discount, so he left me at the Civil Registry to get me CURP, unique personal ID. But then, even though he had a receipt, the computer showed he was in arrears from July...
Back to my issues...The man in charge, after sitting down to HIT SEND, noticed my f'ing document had a typo in one of three uses of my name!
No CURP for you. Migracion must fix its error! Carlos and I quickly thought out loud, it was nearing lunchtime. Carlos said, let's try his house, but I knew my lawyer's work habits. He might have a client at Migracion. Carlos also has a friend who works there, so we tossed the dice.
When we got there, Sue and Miguel were setting on a wall, waiting for their health insurance agent and Mauricio. I forgot it was Sue's finger print day!
Just to cover our bets, Carlos went in to see if his friend could fix it. Nope, need a letter petitioning Migracion to fix their typo.
Then Mauricio arrived and basically said the same thing. OK, if the government wants to forfeit my rental taxes for another month...
Mauricio took my passport and f'ing document as he escorted Sue to her fingerprinting.
He came back in minutes with a smile on his face! By then, I had bought two miniature live, decorated Christmas trees for 20 pesos less than Soriana's had them(50 pesos!) from a street merchant as gifts for Carmen and Deborah, and we had watched a show of force as a drug lord was appearing in court nearby. It was like a lights and siren parade of all the agents who had a part in arresting El Huevo, brother of the killed El Vacco. Being Mexico in a drug war, the agents all had stocking masks and helmets on too!
With the excitement over, we knew we had limited time to get back to the Palapas of City Hall...and there was tension: Would the man ever think an error could be fixed to quickly by Migracion?
He bought it! By now it was 1pm. Time was running out for the Hacienda, the equivalent of the IRS, to activate my RFC, taxpayer ID. We decided to go for it rather than break and chance me needing another Cancun trip.
The Hacienda is like a bureaucratic oasis in Mexico. Pleasant, clean, piped in music. But the wait would be an estimated hour and a half. Here's a ticket with your turn printed on it. Late in the day, all the appointments and walk ins stack up and the computer displays who is next. But it's like a lottery. New out of sequence number pop up along with the old as the office tries to service everyone who came in for the day, including those who walked out. You have to stare at the scoreboard or lose your turn. I am number 9044.
Carlos was antsy and I asked if he could go to the drug store and buy a syringe of a light cortisone Dr. Salas uses to take inflammation down in my back when my feet start dragging like they were, so off he went, leaving me to enjoy the ambiance. No, it is really nice except you have to stay awake.
He came back with the betamethasone and I was called within 20 minutes of the office closing.
Got everything in order, ready to hand to my accountant! A miracle! Quick conference and we decide to count our blessings and get me home before I collapse. So with my two miniature Christmas trees in one hand and my brief case over the shoulder, I head for the ferry. Margaret says hi, she's going to her accountant. Mary Ann's husband says,"let me take your plants." Rosemary says, sit with me, but I have to go to the front or I get nauseous.
And we launch into Mexican inflation and the gringos who want her to sell ice cream at a loss! She has hand made sugar cones and this is not a milk producing region, she has rent, electricity, spices, etc. and people get ugly when confronted with a cone that is 5 pesos more than a dish. Well, then Eberhard called - he forgot a set of stainless steel trays somewhere near the docks.
She goes up to the captain, who can't locate them, which produced a heat cell phone exchange. My neighbor Oaxaco, the tire guy, and his wife are behind us and totally amused!
I disembark and head right for my golf cart as the Special State Police are staging in the lot for an apparent drug sweep. Thank you Jesus, I am home!
I drive by the house, hand Eriso Deborah's tree, and head for La Bruja, since I could die of hunger at any time and doggie dog can wait.
Had a quick pollo en mole and made my way back past the park, when I see all kinds of poinsettias and palms. Got a red one in fairly good shape and head home!
I communized a couple tortilla's from La Bruja for Lora and she just can't believe I am home! She has her orders - a quick out and chew her bone. We will run today!
I take my shot and fall into a 9 hour nap! My legs are already stronger, my back doesn't hurt, thank you Carlos!
On November 28, Sue wrote in Dentro del Jardin to "not cheat on your cabbie." She was so right! I couldn't have moved mountains without him! Yes, I overtipped him!
He in turn gave me more business cards, promising tours, rides to the airport or shopping at a discount for my guests at Zina's Guest House. Be assured, I will not cheat on him!
Oh, I'll post the pictures another day! I need to sleep before Carmen gets here!

We're on our way!

This morning, Eriso surprised me with a tamale. A few hours later, Carmen went home to check on the grand kids and came back with a bowl of white bean, vegetable and meat soup. Wow! I felt so special!
Carmen earlier agreed to stay on and be homemaker to the guests at Zina's Guest House. How wonderful! She lives nearby, has a son-in-law and daughter with interests in two downtown restaurants, and is a worker used to working without a real job since Karina rented her shop out rather than keep it in the family.
Carmen also brought word from the shop keeper running Karina's store that Amelia is failing fast and can't feed her kids. I had dropped her carrot juice off earlier this morning, but just stuck it inside the door.
So as she cleaned the fridge, I went through the "food for ten armies" aka Three Hurricane Wilmas and made a food basket for Amelia and the family. Her husband is failing too with some complications to his tongue cancer. So, it felt good.
My legs have been a bit weak during the last day or two, so Isabel, Eriso's daughter, took the foods over along with a navy blue sheet to dress up Amelia's hammock.
Isabel said Amelia was overcome. Good that I have food for a few more hurricanes like that. Pensions are a week away and I my just have to dress two chickens for Thanksgiving and take one over!
Carmen tasted my cookies and suggested they could have been baked more and might not be so crumblie. Hmmm. I'm thinking it's a sea level thing and just cheat and put an egg white in. We'll see.
After she finished washing personal clothing, Carmen dug in and washed all my shoes! Yes, all my shoes. Now that's a trooper and a clean freak. I like that in a head of housekeeping!

A time to celebrate!

I can celebrate the progress around the house, that's for sure. But Friday afternoon, I will have an F-ing party! F for FM visa and a number!
I now have the best FM possible, a 2, and am listed as asimilada. Assimilated! The restrictions on me in Mexico are very few now. If I wanted to, I could just up and apply for a job! No extra permits needed. No hassles for the employer. Nada! But of course, with the multiple sclerosis, I wouldn't be a reliable employee. Hmmm...maybe that's what makes me fit in! Bad joke.
Anyway, I got the news Tuesday and after shopping in Walmart, the day I got chocolate chips - truly a stellar day - I went to Miguel's and we cooked up the idea of a brinda, a toast, to my new status of acceptance. A few people have been invited. Outside of that, I intend to buy a 2x1 cocktail for anyone who comes by.
Not that I will enter into it lightly. It'a full work day for me! I have to pay the electric bills, greet the aluminum guys again - daddy Hererra thought he was going to collect today but after looking at the folding door, agreed the boys did a bad job.
Today it was as much a job site as ever. I painted a window for privacy, to match the property colors, and hung a sea shell mobile over it with nylon net as a valance. Ricardo and I worked on the ceiling fan, I did laundry. A complete day! And Lora lost her fur-laden scab from the gaurd dog/taxi incident.
Carmen got the new huipil she was working for on credit and showed it off, saying she might want to work some tomorrow. And I can use her. Eriso will be here working, too, so it will be a job site again...still...maybe always? Ha!
Drew got his FM2 also and someone else got an FM3. All are welcome to the F-ing party! 4:30 to 8 tomorrow at Miguel's Moonlite!