After WE GO

Lora crunched plastic bottles all day yesterday waiting for this morning's WE GO! Then, she chilled out a bit before being babied by Janice, one of the renters from Michigan.
Janice misses her Chaucer, a shnauzer, which Lora is not! But she still thinks she could be a lap dog, which she is not!
Well, she also thinks she is obedient, which she is not! That is why WE GO on the sea road this morning, where there are no cabs in the predawn hours to attract her attention. She liked it quite well. Now, we wait for Carmen and the accountant, for whom I am not ready. I think there is an obedience problem, not just with Lora. She's looking at me saying there is a problem, which she is not!

A strong resemblence....well, ears, eyes....

My friend Felipe is on the island with friends from Boston. Felipe and I became friends while working together largely because of a mutual fondness for Isla Mujeres. Felipe was the guy who did the final edit of my stories and put headlines on them.
How they would have talked at the newspaper if they knew we had taken separate vacations together to the island!
So we had plans to hook up for dinner last night but ran into each other at late breakfast! Me with an Obama t-shirt that got me to thinking there is a resemblance! Well, consider Obama's ears. Consider his nose. Consider his mouth. Then consider Felipe's. Felipe thinks I'm nuts! Well, at least he's not offended.
So then the party of eight hooked up for dinner, departing my house 15 minutes early. But they had already started setting up the room at La Bruja for us. We all had various things but the most popular item was shrimp brochetta, which I had strongly recomended. Some had appetizers, some had drinks, some overate! Faced with a 1,300 peso tab, we just decided to throw in 200 pesos each and have our lovely waitress keep the change.
OK, so even with the afternoon's suntan, I still think Felipe bears a strong resemblance!

Merida without me...

Carmen is off to Merida today with her mother and without me. For the past month, she has been here instead of Halacho, where she liked to sit and watch the passers by.
She was diagnosed with a "gall bladder tumor" here on Isla, with a not too experienced ultrasound reader, and a decision was made to just let it go.
The films were sent to a specials in Merida and it's not a tumor after all, but a huge, life-threatening stone. One false move, or meal, and she would develope jaundice and die.
So Carmen is taking her to Merida today for a morning surgery, and presuming all goes well, leaving her to the care of another sister in Merida before she returns to Halacho, a village an hour away.
The weather here has broken wonderfully. It's all sun, still not HOT, but temperatures will climb over the next few days, when Deb and Kate arrive.
Carmen will be back in time to set up their aparment and the one upstairs for the February 1st arrival on monthp-long guests from Alberta. I guess we can blame the Alberta Clipper on them! But I suspect they just won't want to hear about it.
Me, I'm making rice water and chicken broth for Amelia, who asked for atole made of rice, leaving Carmen scratching her head. She want's no sugar or cinnamon or milk in it, so it's really not atole! But, I'm using jasmine rice, which I think she will like. Her husband is in grave condition in Cancun, and she is at death's door here. So sad.

Amalia's Story

Amalia is my neighbor. For the last 20 years, after a mastectomy, she has been battling breast cancer. It's cells have cause tumors in her brain, liver, lungs and intestines. Each one has been irradicated. She was on chemotherapy, tamoxifen, for most of the last five years.
For the last four years, she has sold Fuller products door to door.
For two years, probably a bit longer, I have taken her carrot juice almost every day. Both she and her doctors believe it has made a difference.
Two years ago, while I was in Ohio, she fell. Screws were used to pin her hip together. She rallied and continued to sell Fuller.
I dedicated my Thanksgiving cooking to her. She had never had an American Thanksgiving meal. Yesterday, she sent a Mexican New Year's meal to the house. Well, I had to make corn muffins and take them over!
For the holiday, six of her seven children came to visit. When I showed up, she was picking the meat off the government-gifted turkey carcass to make relleno. She offered me carrot and broccoli salad and PRI-gifted sparkling cider.
We chatted, I met her "kids" and their kids. Our dogs played together. It was a good afternoon.
Today she is going to see the orthopedic surgeon in Cancun. The pain in her thigh and knee has kept her bed ridden for the past month. Her husband had tongue cancer removed last year. And then, a foot had to be amputated for diabetes. He too, is bedridden. But unlike Amalia, he wasn't able to rally for the New Year. She is one tough cookie. Happy New Year, Amalia! And at least a couple more!

Job site crisis!

The masons underestimated their need for bars for the fence posts, so one of them and I will be making an emergency run to Marma with the golf cart and bringing back a bar first thing this morning! Marma delivered just a half hour before their arrival yesterday, some 9 hours after I bought.
I have made Tuna Helper, with an extra can of tuna and one of mixed vegetables for their breakfast. It's cold out there! And I think I will do the chicken roasting for lunch also. I might just open a box of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix I brought from the US to round out their lunch.
The guys fed themselves last night, getting rolls from a street vendor. They didn't say they were hungery and I was so tired, I doze while they worked. But I feel good about it because the end is in sight!
Carmen will come back Monday to dig me out of cement dust and redo the rooms. She's having some abdominal pain and eating light. Her symptoms are just like what I had when I was devoloping gall stones without a gall bladder in Ohio. She's getting an ultrasound before we consider that trip to Merida toward the end of next week.
Currently its 63 degrees and cloudy. I slept on a heating pad!

Two year check up!

 

The Health Census made its biennial visit just after I ate two eggs for breakfast. That must be why my cholesterol was at an all time high. No, I think it was the Philadelphia cream cheese toasts I had yesterday! Blood sugar good at 76.
Ah, but enough about me. These two ladies are going door to door with not terrific local cooperation. People just don't want to let them in.
The questions are innocuous enough. Except for the sneaked in political ones. What is the greatest danger facing the country today? The narcomenudistas. The drug lords. Claro que si, they agreed.
But beyond that, answering the questions made me realize just how well I have it as a visitor in this country. I don't count the fruits and veggies I eat by the number of times a week, but by the number of times a day. I really had to mentally count and recheck myself for the number of chairs I own. How much do I spend on food a week? Do I eat out? Rarely, it is expensive. Claro que si.
These women are better educated than most they survey. They see it all. They like gringo households. We are just so sensible in the nonsense they see. No, I don't have video games. I have canned food for the foreseeable future. They said many don't see a future without video games.
Some of it was rote: Do you understand English? I try.
As they left, they were going to break for breakfast up the street. A greasy spoon. Yes, it is bad, they said. I think they cook with lard. The Department of Health Workers agreed. And the tortas are gigantes. Huge hoagies! Filling fried in lard. So, off they went into the cold air, now 72 degrees.
Me, I went for boneless skinless chicken breasts. I'm on top of that cholesterol today. Hasta proxima vez. Until next time.

Virgins on Parade

This weekend marks the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe. There are the official doings. There are also a lot of unofficial displays of faith, like this little parade in front of the house this morning.
Next week, we celebrate the Feast of the Immuculate Conception. At least "trick or treat for Jesus" will end. De la rama, of the branch, involves a group of kids carrying decorated tree branch, a replica of Jesus, a manger and a virgin - sometimes a picture, sometimes a Barbie doll! There is a 72 verse song. If you tip, you get another verse.
Anyway, Lora wanted to join, like she did in the spring for a Passion Parade. NO, she had to go to her pet carrier.
I have a load of laundry to hang now. But I did want to share the parade!

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!

From ant to grasshopper!

After three months of property maintenance and upgrade, while working on imigracion and taxpayer issues, the light at the end of the tunnel is here!
This morning, I go to Inmigracion for an upgrade in my status, giving me more rights on Mexican soil. My house is clean, my downstairs suite is in perfect condition. Oh, OK,there's a squeak in the ceiling fan for Ricardo to take care of by Monday, when it becomes occupied, a new bodega door arrives Wednesday and through all this, it is time to rest!
Trip Advisor has updated its site to include a picture of the property, an agent has taken me on, and the "cannery" is full.
I have had two actual beach days since coming back from my Ohio home in July. Crisp weather that we are having, I don't miss it. But by weekend, when all the dust has settled and a toast has been drunk, I am a beach baby with few cares in the world!
The picture at the top of the page is from my kitchen looking back to the downstairs apartment. The crafting table is about to be set back up so the most difficult task for my coming weeks will be to decide which beads to nice with which shells in cafting necklaces, frames and other high art!
As Jimbo on Isla would say, disfrutes! Enjoy! I sure plan to. I think I'll book a massage!

I want to move!

Two nights in the back apartment have me considering moving there next spring! Bigger bedroom space, nice dinette, good closets. I could reserve the kitchen in the main house for me and the guests of the complex and create space for a family of 5 in the main hose, or one bedroom and two daybeds and a trundle in the great room.
Well, it's a lot to think about. Would in effect be creating a true bed and breakfast. But I do love the back house!
Margarita didn't show up today and after her booster talked to me yesterday, I figured she might not.
Seems a bad man has her under his wing and in the sack! And he is a suspected house robber. She probably cased me as not having anything worth stealing.
Her sponsor was very apologetic. We both had the same rule: no lies, no theft.
Margarita told the lady and old man I only paid her 30 pesos. One lie. And that she left the job site because she was hungry. She told me she wasn't the multiple times I offered her food. Eveyone in the area knows I'm generous with food, so Elisa was here asking about that.
And no, she was not the one collecting a commission. The old man, who she first said was an uncle, is getting money from her and apparently she hid it from him.
So, I have a couple other options within the neighborhood for more mature women eager to work. You'd think it would be easier to find someone on an island tourists perceive as poor.