Domingo 30 -
Sábado 12 Abr 2014 Close followers
will note that this post actually covers two weeks. What can we
say—life goes on here, not too much different from week to week, so
we're thinking we'll spare you the daily details from now on.
Newcomers interested in learning what life for recent expats in
Mexico is all about are welcomed to browse thru this blog's archived
earlier posts, accessible from the navigation column on the right.
From now en adelante (going forward) we'll attempt to just
fill you in on the new stuff that transpires.
The daily range of
temperatures is creeping steadily toward perfect, as it seems the
frentes frios (cold fronts) sweeping down from the US are over
for the season, and it's really la primavera (Spring). The thermometer rarely dips below 50ºF and the
nights usually are in the mid-60's. Some sunny days flirt with the
lows 90's, but are mostly comfortable, hitting between 75º and the
low 80's in the midday hours. The house stays pretty evenly in the
70's almost all the time, and the outside swings of mercury don't
bother us in the least. An occasional light rain in the evening (except for one heavy downpour a couple of weeks
ago at night) keeps things green..
We are still
waiting for the cabinetmaker who we had here last year to bring back
the one kitchen cabinet door that had warped, and which he took back
to the shop to fix. Unfortunately, we do not know exactly just where
the shop is, and we have been unable to get to him by phone. We do
know the shop is in Colonia San José, a residential area of Fortín
north of the autopista. So one day when we had the car out we
decided to try and find him, figuring we might happen to see his shop
sign or distinctive little blue car We had no luck, but then again
we (mostly) stuck to the paved streets. The main street north out of
downtown Fortín is paved but many side streets are not..We reached
the northern end of the street where it too lost it's pavement, and
turned around in a muddy cul de sac outside of the Metro bus
lot there. The following weekend, passing the Jehovah's Witness hall
(where we heard he attends church), we spotted his car, and tucked a
note under his limpiaparabrisas (windshield wiper), with the
message that he should get in touch. Fingers crossed...
On the way back we
decided to visit the Parque de Floricultura, a large municipal flower
market out by the fairgrounds north of town. It's a large facility,
full of plants and flowers sold by many vendors, but located beyond
walking distance from town, so buyers have to get there by car. Not
good planning by the city when its was built several years ago (last
year we were back in the US during the May festival). It is the site
for the week-long annual Feria de la Flor which we hope to
attend this year. On this visit we bought two plants, a cheerful
yellow rose and a baby Davallia (rabbit's foot) fern, for only
MX$20 each. These prices are ridiculously low, for gallon-sized
plants, and are clearly a result of the low customer traffic these
stalls see, located outside of town. Next time we'll take the camera.
The next week, we
were invited over for a meal at Ania and Frank's, which was to be
enjoyed under their new carport, located in the middle of their
beautiful yard. The local radio station had been announcing a
tourism fair (local foods, handicrafts, etc) in central park, so we
left early hoping to take a turn thru the large tented area set up in
front of city hall. No such luck, the day before had been the last
day and there was a crew taking down the venue. We used the extra
time we had before lunch to stroll the smaller floral market. One
stall owner gave us a tour thru the far back end of his stall, where
he was raising orchids. He explained that he had recently obtained a
license to propagate native Mexican orquideas, but he couldn't
work with any of the non-native species. He is working with a local
agronomist to perfect his procedures. This fellow had recognized
Carmen from passing our house and seeing her working in the front
yard lower garden. The meal was a great treat, with oven-roasted fish, stuffed avocados, and as alway, great company.
When we had been
out and about, we stopped in at the local water commission office to
remind them about the city water line leak near our back gate.
Having dealt with them before, and it taking almost a year to get our
new bathroom hooked up to the city sewer line, Dan expected this
would be the first of many reminder visits he'd have to make to get
this taken care of. (He had pointed out the waterline leak to the
engineer at the time our sewer connection was made, to be told to
wait until the dry season to report the leak. No great rush to fix
these things at that time, it seemed.) To our great surprise, several
days later, two guys worked one morning to fix the problem. When we
next have to do some concrete work we will probably put a hard cap
over that spot, as they only refilled the hole with soil and some
rock, a recipe for a future pothole right off the edge of our
driveway apron. We have noticed, after several weekend experiencing
city water shut-offs, that the pressure in the system is now better
than it ever has been. We assume the newly elected city hall crew is
fulfilling a promise to patch up the water system, and maybe that's
why we were lucky to get prompt action after reporting the leak.
