El juego hermoso

Sábado 05 Julio 2014   Why it is called “the beautiful game” always was a mystery. No longer. Futbol (you might know it as soccer) mania cannot be escaped in whatever corner of the world you might find yourself, outside of the USA. It's the most popular sport played across the planet. Over the last half of June and the first couple of weeks of July, the elimination tournament known as the FIFA World Cup (Copa Mundial) is played out, this year in Brasil. More people watch these broadcasts than any other event. We are now veterans of this here in Fortin, as we were first here thinking about finding a retirement home, four years ago during a similar time. Still can remember the flat screens TV's playing to load and attentive aficionados at every possible open-to-the-street venue we passed.

It's a beautiful game because it can be played on almost any flat field, little team & personal equipment is required, the ball is always highly visible, anybody can score, scoring is rare enough that each point made is memorable, the rules are very simple, collaborative skill and intelligence is needed to score, a team doesn't have to win to leave the field satisfied (hard-fought ties are sometimes the most talked about games), and except for rare overtimes, the game never consumes more than two hours. It doesn't hurt that, at a national level, a lot of very smart, very fit and arguably very attractive players fill out the teams.

Contrast this with the paint-dryingly boring games that populate the NoB networks: baseball, basketball, golf and “American” football (and that, a real misnomer).

Why is the USA the only country where soccer has been almost a second place sport? Perhaps because there the crowds can't chant with any conviction “We're Number One!” Perhaps because the media can't get behind a sport where there are rare time-outs and the halftime cannot be longer than 15 minutes, therefore not allowing enough time for lots of commercials? Perhaps because the American public has been now well trained to demand spectator sports broadcasts long enough and slow enough to allow for frequent and extended beer and snack breaks?

The scoop is that this tournament has actually amped up US public interest in the game, so things perhaps are looking up. Both the Mexico and US teams made it to the octavo eliminations, succumbing to Holland and Belgium, respectively. It was great while it lasted. That last four minutes of the Mexico-Netherlands game was so disheartening—“we was robbed!” Please tune in and enjoy the rest of the tourney—personally, we're hoping that tiny Costa Rica triumphs.

There was a field-of-vision eye exam scheduled in Veracruz city, so we decided to go down a day early to see if we could catch some of the port's festivities surrounding the presence of the Tall Ships, which were due to sail out the same Monday as the eye exam. We found accommodations at the Hotel Posada del Carmen, one block from the pier. Our room, on the sixth floor, gave us a view of four of the ships, and later the Sunday parade that came down the Boulevard Avila Camacho that evening. This was the last port of call for the Velas Sudamerica 2014 Regatta that left from Rio de Janeiro in early February. The extremely long, slow-moving lines formed up for people to board and visit the ships this last day convinced us our time was better spent on land. We've been on large sailing ships before.

We walked around the downtown area, visiting a few of the sights including the city museo and the Baluarte de Santiago, a fortified cannon battery that used to sit on the coast here to protect this city. It is now inland about four blocks from the water, and city maps showed how, over the years, the city configuration of today was built up on reclaimed land around the present day port basin. We arrived just before closing for the famous naval museum, so we'll visit there another day.

The next morning we visited the mooring area for the other three veleros altos, including Mexico's Cuauhtemoc training vessel.  Ships were also there (in homage to the 100^th anniversary of the brave who died in defense of the port from the invading US yanquis) from other countries: Brasil (Cisne Branco), Colombia (Gloria), Venezuela (Simon Bolivar), Chile (Esmeralda), Argentina (Libertad) and the Peru (Villavicencio).

The Mexican vessel was moored just in front of the Pemex tower at the foot of the malecon. Off to the northeast, across the basin, one can see the cranes above the working port facilities. The city buildings in this downtown area were all spruced up, sporting fresh paint, for the centennial observances held here earlier in the year. Unfortunately, the eye exam took place over in the other end of the city, so we had to leave before the zarpa (setting sail) of any of the ships. On the way home we stopped a couple of times at mini-fruit stands to check on buying a box a mangos, but the peak of the season seems to have passed, and they didn't look good enough to chance it. We got back home in time to see Mexico beat Croatia in game #34 of the FIFA Cup. We reflected on how our friends back home in Anacortes, a town with a large expat Croatian population, were probably rooting for the other side this day.

We have been jumping thru hoops for more than a month now, dealing with the fallout from BanamexUSA's abrupt action to close our accounts in Los Angeles. No great problem making wire transfers to other US institutions (at least while we still own a bit of property there, with an address of record), and redirecting social security payments was a snap. But, we have been fighting with BmxUSA for over two weeks trying to wire funds to a recently opened Banamex account here in Fortín, still not accomplished.

Interestingly, opening the Banamex peso account was no problem, but part of the process was completion of a W-9 form, in English, and an agreement (again in English) stating: "The undersigned hereby authorizes [Banamex] to report, on (an) annual basis, the account holder information and any interest earned to the US Internal Revenue Service and to withhold any US tax on such interest, if withholding is required, at the current applicable rate." We are attempting to maintain Mexican joint bank accounts well below the US$10,000 amount to avoid annual FBAR reporting, and to be able to maintain FDIC and SIPC protections on our assets NoB. This may be impossible depending on how other US financial institutions react.

It is incomprehensible to us how rejecting investments from persons outside the US (ie, stopping money flow into the US), coupled with requiring that US citizens living abroad remove their funds from the US (ie, making money flow out of the US), can make any kind of economic sense to the US economy in the long run. Seems that paranoia in the US congress (source of these xenophobic new laws), on both sides of the aisle, is moving that once-great country nearer to a fiscal meltdown. I guess we will have to do some investigation with a goal of discovering some Mexican financial instruments that we feel good about--where it seems like where we will ultimately have to place our assets.

On the home front, seems like every several days there is a new orchid, bromeliad or heliconia to amaze us, as plants we purchased along the way open their blooms for the first time. Our vanilla orchid continues to grow taller, and its now above the tree planted to support it, surging up along the tall bamboo pole erected on the south wall of the front garden. Summer rains have lessened the need to get out the hose to irrigate by hand, and we have had more time for reading and jigsaw puzzling.

Vacación y regreso

(Domingo 28 Abril - Sábado 18 Mayo)  April 27 we left Fortín by way of taxi to Orizaba, where we took a bus to Mexico City airport Here we walked across the street to the Hotel Aeropuerto where we stayed the night. On Sunday we got up at 3am to be the required three hours early for the flight from the AICM to Seattle, WA, via Dallas. Flights were good except for very rough weather for about ten minutes over Texas on the second leg. Dan's daughter, Heather, picked us up at SeaTac and we stayed with her and the two girls for three nights. Next, our friend David (and tenant at our house on Fidalgo Island), picked us up there and drove us to Anacortes. Here we stayed until Dan's daughter Harmony picked us up and drove us to her home on Mercer Island to visit with her three children and husband. She dropped us back at the airport in Seattle on monday evening to catch the midnight plane to Pittsburgh, PA. Dan's daughters toured us around the Seattle area environs a bit, and we visited the grandchildren's schools. We really enjoyed our time with them. In Anacortes we visited with friends who stopped by and did some weeding and mowing in the yard to help David out.

Two of Carmen's brothers, Gary and Guy, picked us up at the Pittsburgh airport – a 4.5 hour drive to our northern Penna destination in Potter County. We first stayed with Gary and Alice in Coudersport. They toured us around each day. We visited Letchworth Park in New York state (the “Grand Canyon of the East”), Pennsylvania's own grand canyon (Pine Creek Gorge near Wellsboro), and the bible camp at Mahaffey, where they volunteer often. While touring the Allegheny countryside which we loved, we saw lots of wildlife, including wild turkeys, deer, opossums and more. By contrast, we have rarely seen wildlife in Mexico. Saturday they drove us to St Marys where Carmen's sister, Cindy and her family live. Here many of the relatives gathered for a day of eating and chatting, which always makes for a great day! That Sunday morning there were actually snow flurries! Alan & Cindy and their two children took us to the Elk Country Visitor Center in Benezette. We visited the newly constructed interactive & educational facility, situated on top of a hill, where we could listen to the elk sounds and then push a button which then put our picture on the display while we recorded our attempt at calling an elk. The elk were all in hiding this cold and windy day.

Cindy drove us on Monday to Guy and Mary Lou's home. Carmen had told Guy that we would help him plant his garden. Little did she know that it would be two gardens of more than a quarter acre each. For only two people? Well – he plants to give to relatives and all who stop by his free stand out front of the house. After purchasing seed, while Guy, when necessary, ran the tractor, we three planted two varieties of sweet corn, green stringbeans, yellow waxbeans, peas, sunflowers, dill weed, pickling cukes, beets, carrots, three types of squash, and both red and white potatoes. We had perfect weather! Cool mornings and sunny afternoons! We were grateful for the exercise. We did a short walk up his back hillside of forest and a wild turkey ran, then flew up in front of us. While sitting on Guy's porch, having a picnic with Cindy and Alan, on the hillside across the road, two woodchucks came out of their holes and cavorted about for us. The first breakfast at Guy's, four deer walked past the dining room window. Wish we were there when the wild strawberries were ripe! Guy drove us back to the Pittsburgh airport May 19. We certainly enjoyed visiting with everyone! Wish we lived closer, but we just do not get everything we wish for. Now, we're hoping for some visitors from the north, to show them around our part of the world.

Our return flight home went well until we hit Dallas/Fort Worth where we had a 13 hour delay. We went thru three different planes, three different gates and three different flight crews for various reasons. Instead of our planned night in Mexico City and a bus ride on home after a night's rest, we took a straight 37 hours getting home from the time we left Guy's house. Actually that is not exactly accurate, since American airlines did put us in a hotel for three hours during the night. We got home just as our work crew was leaving, so Dan drove them to their bus.

So many stories could be told about our trip to the US, but this blog is actually more for the story of getting our lives and house in shape here in Mexico. So...

While we were gone, our crew often spent nights in our house, for which we were thankful. Having them around was more secure than having the house empty every night for three weeks. The guys used their own linens and food, and used our stove and frig a bit. It surely kept our kitties happier, having them around. Frank & Ania supplied the cats with food & water, and kept the litter boxes clean, while Artemio watered the plants every day.

Our crew accomplished what we expected in our absence. Now the whole house has been scraped of old paint. The west and south walls are painted with our bright blue new paint, along with part of the west side of house and the whole east side of house. Festermicide was painted on the exposed wood on the under side of the porch roof. The crew finished painting in the master bedroom, the one they used in our absence, so it is now finally ready for us to move into.

The tiles over the big double gate to our back yard (car parking area) were removed and the roof there rebuilt. All the broken tiles on the lower roofs were replaced, and all the clay tiled roofs were pressure-washed and sealed. Tiles, old and new, that we are keeping for future repair jobs were moved into the rooftop water tank area for storage, out of sight. All the old remaining tiles were moved to Coscomatepec, a gift to the workers to use/sell as they see fit, and the outside barbecue area where the tiles had been sitting was cleaned up.

The new walkways in the front garden are just about finished. All in all, everything appears to have been well cared for in our absence (none of the plants died during the hot weather we missed here), and it seems we are in the home-stretch on the renovations here. We must say – it felt so good to be back home again here in Fortín. We both wondered how we would feel about our move here, after visiting our former abodes. All is good.

El Viaje...SoB*

Lunes 10 – Miercoles 12 Sep 2012.  Another night with restless sleep. Monday morning we arose at 5:30am, as we want to be at the border about 7am. We asked last night about how to find the border crossing from here. Take bridge #2 we were told. And where might that be? Just go straight down I-35 at the front of our hotel. It will end and continue as a street leading right to the bridge and you cannot miss it. We had gassed up the night before, so we were as ready as could be. Dan is now more nervous about things since Carmen does not speak Spanish yet, so it all now falls to him to interpret all the signs and directions, plus maneuver the car defensively thru Nuevo Laredo traffic. (He actually hasn't driven in Mexico since a one day jaunt down to Ensenada in Baja California, part of a cross country road trip with high school friends the summer after graduation.) We had re-read all our info (printed from web forum posts made by other ex-pats) the night before about where to go and what to do once across. Hoping to follow it exactly so as not to be shot at. Carmen checked with the motel desk clerk when she turned in the keycard, and learned there was a US$3 toll to cross the bridge (which will be our last use of US money for a while). Off we drive to see what mexperiences await. *SoB – south of the border

Sure enough, after handing over our bridge toll, signage begins in Spanish – giant signs across the road to tell us which lane to get into. We immediately had to choose the proper lane to be in. Do we have anything to declare? The car is full after all, but most of it's just “stuff,” with nothing of any significant value. Maybe we have to declare the cats? Decided to get in the “Nothing to Declare” lane. At this point you can get a green light which allows you to just continue on, or you can get the red light which means you pull over into the open garage area and customs officials have the option to ask you to remove everything out of the car for inspection. Booya, we got the green light! Must admit that the officials could have chosen to relieve us of some items, or levy a small duty on us. Guess there were just too many others passing thru with loaded pickups, vans or small trailers to bother with just a sedan.

We followed the big blue signs as told to do in our info from the web. A large sign across the road said to make a U turn (retorno) to the left. We knew that at some point we had to go back under the bridge that we crossed over to get to the buildings where our passport & visa would be inspected, and where we'd get our permit to bring the car into the country. Turned out that after the U turn, we discovered there were two roads paralleling each other, and we had taken the closest, and wrong, one – it was not going under the bridge but into the city. Consider that there are policemen with rifles all over the place...now what? Shortly there was no traffic, no police at the moment, and a possible U turn spot. Dan whipped around, going over the previously traveled road expecting to hear sirens. Again we were lucky. Got on to the correct road and in a minute or so we were in front of the correct building. Pulled left into the parking lot only to discover we were in the bus lot. Got back out and drove a few paces to the correct lot. This was the one time that we had to leave kitties in the car with rolled up windows. Was a bit after 7AM and the sun had not heated things up yet. Oh thank you Lord.

We both walked up the flight of steps into the long building. Papers in hand. Dan asked the first person he saw in the first of close to 100 offices along the one wall, just where to go. Everyone else at this spot was filling out FMM visa forms. The man assured us that we did not need one. We did not really believe him, but could find no forms to fill out, so we went to the window he sent us to. No line here, where the young lady looked at our documents to make sure that we had all the correct items and the perquisite number of copies. Then next to another window where there was a line. Waited quite awhile as no one else seemed to have all their papers together like we thought we did. Meanwhile shift change was happening. Over and over. There would be at any time one to five clerks to wait on us. The clerks would just take off and turn people over to another clerk, in the middle of processing them. Now we noticed, of course, that everyone else had those FMM visas we had seen earlier. We knew of course that on an airplane even citizens of Mexico had to fill out this form for re-entry. What could we do – just stand in line.

Finally our turn came. New surge of nervousness. Dan hands the fellow our paperwork. We indeed had everything we needed. It took about 45 minutes to process us here. The temporary vehicle importation permit, with an official decal which is adhered to the front windshield, is tied to our No Inmigrante visa, which expires next July. The visa gets renewed yearly, in Córdoba, for the next five years, at which point we can apply for Inmigrante status or start another five year No Inmigrante series. All this means is that we have only a one year permit for the car. We assume there must also be a way to renew the car permit each July, hopefully not involving a trip back to a border station. Since then Frank has told us that there is a law where vehicle renewal is not necessary as long as we have the long term visas, provided we have a copy of the appropriate law with the papers in the vehicle to prove this fact to an adamant traffic cop. Dan was handed all the papers, and paid the US$300 fee for a 2006 vehicle, charged to our Mastercard. Discovered his name was spelled wrong, so all the papers had to be done again. Thank heavens we checked everything before leaving the window. Availed ourselves of the free restrooms there, then back to our car. Very happy with our decal to stick on our windshield. Found kitties in good shape. The car interior had not gotten hot. And no, we never needed the FMM document, our plastic visa card showing that we were residents was enough.

Now, two hours have passed since we crossed bridge #2, and its time to leave this parking lot and continue on to the animal/plant inspection point, and then the later interior check point south of the city. Dan told Carmen to look at our printed directions. Oh no, I don't need to she says. You go to the further end of this parking lot and turn left. Positive. Good. So off we go and we are getting more and more puzzled, since we both remembered that there was supposed to be very little traffic on a bypass route, yet here we are on city streets in rush hour Hmm. OK, Carmen read the papers another time. Oops! We should have turned right out of the last buildings instead of left. We certainly did not want to backtrack, and we both felt that we were going the right direction – so on we went. About half an hour out of town we saw a plant-animal inspection station sign. However, we couldn't see a building to go with the sign, so the cats got into the country without anyone seeing their paperwork. On we drove, now about twenty minutes south of the city, where sure enough – here was the interior check point. We of course stopped at the barrier where many security guards stood about, and again choose the nothing to declare line. Remember the red/green light? We got a green light again – so on Dan drove. Now he has only driven maybe 45 minutes of his 2.5 hours since we left the US, so far. He did however have to talk to everyone for us. Carmen told him to pull over at the soonest possible place, which happened as we got onto the toll road (cuota) a bit past the inspection station. She would consider all his talking & dealing with the officials as part of his driving shift time. Now wasn't that nice of Carmen?

We had read that this part of the drive south of the border, between Nuevo Laredo and San Luis Potosí was the most trying of our journey – hills and curves. No sooner did Carmen mention the nice straight road when boom! Talk about high steep climbs and sharp curves. The road was a divided toll road and in excellent shape – but WOW it was difficult. Very glad to have that part of the trip over with. Getting gas was no problem, as Pemex stations (prices just a bit less than currently in the US) are spotted frequently along the route. Thereafter we came into beautiful green covered landscapes. Pleasant drive and we just ate what we had of our car food. Late that afternoon we made our planned stopping point, Matehuala. Dan noted that this town's name is a sort of syllable reversal/change of how Guatemala may be pronounced. (“Matewala”--”Watemala”)

We exited the cuota highway and drove in on the business route, so we could check out the town. Carmen watched for topes, speed bumps that are an effective obstacle keeping local traffic to low speeds. Dan had a list of motels here, and a map of town printed from Google Earth. Saw the inexpensive Capri north of the town center that some have recommended—it looked a little seedy. Then we passed the spacious Midway Inn Las Palmas, the place many ex-pats stay. We ended up staying at a lovely motel, the Parador Don Juan just south of the gateway arch in Matehuala, where the manager, who had worked in the US at one time, said of course we could take our cats inside with us. Big room, lots of hot water, air-conditioner, and very clean, for MX$400 per night (about US$30), one quarter of the price we would have paid at Las Palmas (and, would they have allowed the cats?). There was a fried chicken restaurant a few doors down and the food was scrumptious. Note that we could have made the travel thru Mexico in two days, but the days would have been a bit long and it would have taken us thru the last mountain range, with the dramatic drop into western Veracruz, after dark. Did not want that. We were happy with the shorter days of driving, and no urgency about being off the roads before dark, or wondering if we could find a room in the late evening.

Started this Tuesday morning out fresh as could be. Snacked along the way with car food. Saw lots of goats being herded, and also cattle tied or guarded along the road and in median strip. No land being wasted. Several more signs for plant-animal inspection stations, but no visible stations themselves. We realized by now these were for transporters of farm products going across the state borders—surely they wouldn't be interested in the two felines. After leaving Matehuala we headed south, noting the roads off to Dolores Hidalgo and San Miguel de Allende, and past Querétaro and San Juan del Rio, and shortly thereafter we picked up the Arco Norte (the new bypass route that skirts to the north of Mexico City). Here we got the second rain of the trip, quick deluges, intermittent for a little more than an hour. We had a bit of sporadic rain in the States, and we had used that time to listen to a recorded book on a set of four CDs. We had discovered that it was not possible to hear the book well enough when we had the windows opened, which was most of the trip. So the book was relegated to rainy stretches and the few times we had the air conditioner on. We finished the book on today's run. Today we planned to be on the bypass for just a short time, as Tula would be our stopping point in the evening. By the time we got near there however, it just seemed too early to stop.

We took another look at the road atlas and decided to complete the Arco and drive on a bit farther to Cholula.. We had spent a night there with Judy, Tammy & Jason, when we visited the pyramid there. One of the largest in Mexico, and only a wee bit has been excavated. Cholula is a smaller town just west of Puebla, a large colonial city where we knew there would be a problem finding reasonably priced lodgings, to say nothing of having the cats with us. We drove into the west side of town and of course did not know the town at all. Dan had not been prepared to visit here, and did not have maps printed or scoped out the hotel scene—we just hope we'd get into the area where we had stayed once before. Wandered about a bit on narrow cobbled streets, and finally saw the pyramid off to our right, towering above town. Drove a bit farther east til we almost passed a possibility, which proved to be the “SuperMotel,” a quick right turn thru the portal and we were in, obviously, a “no tell motel.”

How interesting—the price list on the wall had a MX$150 special for five hours, and a 12 hour rate for MX$200. You pay for your room which includes a garage which you drive into and then the garage door is locked behind you. From there you go into your room. In some of these facilities, they are rented by the hour--the five hour limit told us we were dealing with, perhaps, one small step above the hourly type. Dan spoke to the attendant and asked where the office was. We assume that usually the attendant would be the only one you'd see, paying her cash, no registration, no names, etc. Dan explained to the man in the office that we wouldn't leave until the following morning, and he offered us a rate of MX$280 (US$21) for 24 hours use of the facilities. Drove around again until the attendant waved us towards one of the rooms, collected our pesos, then pressed her remote to slide the door closed behind the car. They didn't notice the cat kennels, and of course once we were shut in, who could tell? It was quite an experience for us. Kitties loved all the different levels in the room, which was equipped with marble accoutrements, a bedside toilet paper dispenser, rubber liners under the clean sheets and pillow cases, huge bath towels, a bidet in the bathroom and free porn on five channels of the TV. We wondered why there was no mirror on the ceiling. Would have been almost elegant if the carpet had been in better shape. Once you leave this place you do not get back in, so we ate cold pork & beans with crackers for supper. I guess we could have ordered take-out off the printed menu in the room (replete with the back illustrating sex toys one could buy),delivered right to the room. There was even a little “air lock” type cabinet on the front wall, so that anything one ordered could be paid for and passed thru without any faces being revealed.

Wednesday morning has arrived, our last day of driving. Now you understand, we have never been in one of these hotels before. Should be easy to get out. However it took us some time to figure out how to operate the garage door opener. It proved to be a button on the wall near the entrance that we had taken for the doorbell. We had been worried that we might not be able to take the cats into lodgings here south of the border, as few Mexicans travel with pets, and few hotels will accommodate them. But we lucked out, and in a pinch in the future will not be reticent to drive into one of those interesting motels surrounded by high walls and equipped with individual garages. As we left, a red pickup entered. The women in the passenger seat was scrunched down, bent over and had her hands covering most of her face. Wonder what she thought of the folks driving out not trying to hide their identities at all?

A note here on the toll roads. The entire trip in Mexico cost about US$85 in tolls, a quarter of which was on the new Arco Norte. The cost was well worth it to us, as these highways are very safe, good roads, equipped with passing lanes, where we could maintain a better than 60mph rate for the most part. (Except for that tropical downpour Tuesday that cut visibility to almost zero and the speed to match, for a short time.) Every several kilometers there are pull-offs for repairs, a supply of radiator water, and occasionally an emergency telephone. On the Arco Norte we were given a plastic card to carry with us and to pay when we got off. All the other cuota routes had periodic toll booths that varied in cost. We could have made most of the trip on libre roads, free to travel on, but they would have been thru all the pueblitos, towns and cities, and the trip would have taken much longer due to local traffic, pedestrians on the road, topes, etc.

Again Dan studied the map and discovered there was a bypass around the south side of Puebla. We have been on buses thru Puebla and the traffic is horrendous. We needed gas right away, since we are still not letting our tank get below half. We were unsure how to get onto the peripheral bypass (periferico), since the signing was strange to us. We inquired at the gas station, and the only periferico the young attendant knew of was the one around the north of the city. We did not believe his directions, taking us back north and west, so on we drove in the direction we had headed, found the entrance ramp to the correct highway and proceeded easily most of the way around the city. Then Molly, the voice of our GPS, told us to make a turn. [Dan just realized that in Spanish, this name would be pronounced as “Moh-ye-yee” so he will hereinafter spell it as “Mali” which is pronounced the same in both languages.] She could be very insistent. When we were obviously in a new construction area, as this was, we were usually right to ignore her and follow the road signs. But, we are suspicious that here on the SE side of Puebla we should of listened to her. We ended up on narrow busy streets for awhile, with lots of unmarked topes. A cautious look to the cars up the road going over the bumps usually gave us enough warning. We were heavily loaded, and only a couple times did we hit on the frame between the sets of wheels. Did finally get back on the toll road which runs between Puebla and the port city Veracruz on the Gulf coast. Dan drove til we got near the mountain pass dropping from La Esperanza into western Veracruz state. Then Carmen took over because Dan wanted to take pictures. We happily cruised along, stopping for special views of the overwhelmingly green, mountainous landscape and the snow-covered Pico de Orizaba (18,000 + ft high) north of the highway. When we were most of the way down on the east side of the pass, traffic came to a standstill in both lanes. The cause was road resurfacing, and we spent an extra hour here inching forward. On the valley floor traffic opened up and we cruised past Rio Blanco and Orizaba without a hitch.

We took the cuota right to the edge of Fortín, and paid the final MX$10 toll on the exit ramp down into our new hometown. Stopped by the Super Ahorros grocery store for some produce and bakery goods. Drove on to our blue house, Casa Azuledos. Was so very good to be at the end of the journey. We could not have asked for a better trip. Guess it was simply meant to be.

El Viaje...NoB*

Jueves 06 – Domingo 09 Sep 2012.  Oh, why did we do this to ourselves...4:30am is soooooo early! Carmen likes to get an early start at the beginning of trips. We had failed to be able to spend more than a few minutes with Dan's daughter Harmony a couple weeks ago, so we wanted to stop by her house as we passed there, only a few minutes off Hwy 90 on Mercer Island in Seattle. The plan therefore was to leave the house by 5:30. However, it was 6:05 when we pulled out of our driveway. It just took longer than expected to recheck all the house and repack all that was in the car around the cat cases. There was not a spare spot in the Focus. We knew that we had little time to see Harmony before she had to take children to school. A traffic jam occurred heading east out of the city, so we now realized that we had missed seeing the children, but we still hoped to visit with her when she returned from dropping them off. No such luck. Chris, her husband was home, not feeling well, and he said we had missed her by two minutes and that she had to go to a meeting so would not be home til much later. What a bummer of a way to start our trip. *NoB – north of the border

Dan drove the first 2.5 hours, then Carmen the next 2.5, then the same shifts in the afternoon, throughout the travel. We had mostly divided highways in US, and we stuck to the toll roads in Mexico. There were some two lane roads, mostly in Texas and some north of there. At one point on a two lane country road, there was a sign that said “pavement ends 20 miles”. Did not say what condition the road would be in – should we back track 20 miles or take a chance? We took a chance and found but a wee bit of road repair., but it was a Sunday and the machinery was all unmoving and parked off to the side. We did have the voice of “Molly” (our GPS) which tried to tell us which roads to take. She was not always correct however. Especially where recent highway changes were made.

The fact we were transporting our two cats was the only reason we drove a car down to Mexico, considering we both hate to drive long distances. Would not leave our little loves behind though. Mexico no longer allows pets on their planes, and busses south of the border are chancey (they would enforce their rules that animals in the luggage area had to be sedated—and a week of repeated sedation would be a recipe for sick animals). So that left the car. We could not possibly all fit in our Smart Car, so the ford Focus was the choice of travel by elimination. Two medium size kennels would just fit across the back seat. Next problem? We knew from past experience, even on short trips in town, that Gardi cat screams at full volume when in a car. We bought some spray that is supposed to be calming, plus spray catnip, plus some tranquilizers for the him if needed. We had kept the kennels open, in the living room, for a couple of weeks before the trip, and both cats were used to going in and out of them at leisure, sometimes even napping there on the folded towels we had for bedding. We had sprayed the inside of their cases the day before we left, when they had to be in the car all day while movers were there. Gardi did a bit of talking – not too loud shortly after we left home, then one big yowl that could have blown us out of the car. That was it. There after he would talk quietly a few times a day. Mostly when he had to use his litter box. Each kennel/carrier was big enough for a small litter pan in back, and had food & water dishes attached to the doors. They were able to stand up and move around a lot more than their people could, considering the excess stuff packed even around the feet on the passenger side of the car.

Okay – back to our dreaded road trip. Carmen took over at Harmony's house. We felt foolish eating our second breakfast in front of her house, so we drove a few blocks and indulged in some salmon patties left from the day before and still cool from being frozen overnight. Got back onto I-90 and headed east across the mountains and on over the high plateau land to I-82 which heads southeast into Oregon, then to I-84 across the NE corner of Oregon and into the SW corner of Idaho. We found a lovely rest stop for lunch that actually had trees, toilets, and picnic tables. For our first picnic lunch, we indulged in sandwiches with Goober (peanut butter & grape jam) which we had not had since who knows when. Also had a can of pork & beans, eaten cold. On we drove. Dan had pretty much planned where we would stay each night. The first was to be beyond Boise, Idaho. But with about four hours sleep the night before and a later start than planned in the morning, we called it quits at bit earlier than that.

Found a Motel 6 in Meridian, Idaho. This chain motel takes pets at no extra charge, and we stuck with them for all four nights in the US. Second floor. The receptionist told us not to leave our dog in the room by itself. We did not correct her, as we were unsure how they might react to two cats.--dogs are the most frequent companions of guests at Motel 6, as we can attest. We carried our luggage in first to check the room to be sure cats could not get out of the room anyplace (plus the two luggage bags were in the car on top of the kennels—leaving just the center space between them for rear window vision). Checking the room out first became the norm, to be sure Smij cat could not get behind or under anything where we could not get her out. Hiding back in some unreachable corner or under a bed is something she really likes to do. Seems to make our little scaredy cat less scared?

Next we carried both cases inside. Smij is one pound lighter than Gardi, so Carmen carried her. Poor cat. Carmen seemed unable not to bounce the case all about. Once in the room, Carmen and cats were closed into the bathroom, hoping the cats would get used to that room before they were let into the bedroom. Here the two small litter boxes were dumped together into a larger bin for the night. Seemed to work well. Dan then went out to find us some supper. There was a China Wok a few doors away. Buying a small enough quantity of food for the two of us is always a problem and we keep forgetting to buy one diner only to share. Dan came back with two meals and you know how big an Oriental meal can be. Both were delicious and we saved the rice for breakfast. Our fortune cookies seemed fortuitous.

Breakfasted after a good night's rest. Now to get the cats back into their travel cases. Carmen put their small litter boxes in and then their towels, and next she turns around wondering which cat to try to capture first. Miracle of miracles, they both walked right over and into the cases!! Talk about shock! Off we went, but first Carmen visited the Winco supermarket bakery here for some fresh donuts to take on the way with us, as she is always hungry about 10:30am.

Friday we drove thru lots of burned off grassland. Only once had fire hopped across the road. Did not actually see anything burning, but did see smoke in the distance. We saw very little wildlife on the whole trip. A few antelope and a roadrunner. Saw some tremendously breath-taking country and some really boring country. Conservative drivers that we are, we rarely accelerate up to 70, except to pass a few times, and stuck to the righthand lane mostly moving along somewhere between 60 and 65 MPH. And, the cruise-control in the Focus definitely made the long days behind the wheel do-able, being able to remove the foot from the pedal often. Utah, New Mexico and Texas are pretty barren this time of year. The rock formations were magnificent (a few arches, lots of mesas, interesting outcroppings), all very visible with their lack of vegetation, something we haven't seen much, as green covers almost everything in the Pacific Northwest we are used to.

As we moved onto I-15 South, we were rather dreading the drive thru Salt Lake City. As it turned out, we went thru so fast, we hardly realized it had happened. Did not go thru the downtown, as we took the I-215 bypass. At Provo, we headed off on US-6/191, and ended our day in Moab, Utah, between Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Most expensive overnight by far. When we arrived at the motel, a lady ahead of us just could not decide if she wanted the room or not. Just cost too much. She went back outdoors to think about it, and we swooped it up, and took the last room in the inn. Noisy, as it was next to the ice machine, but it was a room. Cats seem to have adapted well to the in-room routine, exploring all the corners, windowsills and smells left by previous occupants, before settling in like real travel troupers.

The next day, Saturday, we headed further south, leaving US-191 at Monticello, where we took US-491 into SW Colorado and south to Gallup, NM, then moving onto I-40 East. That day for lunch we were on outskirts of Albuquerque where Dan spied a sign for a Cracker Barrel store/restaurant, and said that he wanted to try it. That we did. Well, we walked into it and discovered the rest of the world was there too and we just did not want to spend a couple hours eating. We drove across the street to a Denny's, which we normally would never eat at, except we just wanted to get food and be on our way. We never left the cats in the car by themselves for more than a minute or two, on the entire trip. Carmen went into the restaurant and ordered a roast beef dinner. She actually went into the kitchen, since no one came out to help her. She then went to the bathroom. Then came out to the car so Dan could use the potty. On the way our of the restaurant Dan saw a meal there at the cash register – it was what we ordered, so of course he picked it up and brought it out to the car, thinking it had been paid for. Carmen did the right thing and went back inside, located someone and paid the bill. Needed gas so decided to eat the meal at a gas station, where there might be a chance of some shade. On we drove. We found no gas stations in Albuquerque, visible from the highway. Our tank was a bit on the low side. On we drove and took the first gas we found, outside of the city but before the turnoff on US-285 south. Across the road was a wee bit of shade in sort of a pull-off where we dined. We spent a pleasant night in Roswell amongst the statues of extra-terrestrials. Worked a bit on the spreadsheet for Strom-White, trying to resolve the discrepancies between our list and what got tallied onto the moving van. Hopefully we can email this to Teresa before we cross the border. No supper this evening Still full from the one shared meal earlier.

Sunday we drove into Texas, joining up with I-10 East at Fort Stockton. Lots of flat, then some trees and into the rolling hill country Now, Dan never cares what he eats. But Carmen does, and today she wanted a large milk shake to pick up some extra calcium. Sure enough the town we stopped in for gas had a Dairy Queen. Sort of got this meal free, since we used our gift card from Discover. Actually we used a Shell gift card earlier that we had had for years, never being able to bring ourselves to use it before this, knowing how Shell gas always seems overpriced in the States. But, seemed senseless to carry these cards into Mexico where they would have no value to us. Doesn't it feel great to get something for “free?” We left 10 west of San Antonio, heading due south on US-83, one of the few two lane roads we traveled. Here was where the “pavement ends” sign appeared, but only 8 miles of recently oiled/graveled surface to get past. This last night in the US we spent in Laredo, a few miles north of the bridge over the Rio Grande. Carmen went next door after all were settled and bought one Tex-Mex meal. Was the closest restaurant, plus it was nothing like the real Mexican food we knew we'd get in Fortín. Now for a nervous night of anticipating the problems of getting across the border. Got all our papers in order. Dug out our pesos, stashed away since the last trip. No luck with the spreadsheet, as this Motel 6 did not have easily accessed internet—it will have to wait until we make a connection further south. Tried to sleep. This is the last night when we knew for sure that our cats could go into the room with us. Travel with pets (mascotas) in Mexico is difficult, and we were expecting a problem with this for the next two nights before arriving at our new home.

When we were planning this part of the trip south, we had some second thoughts about driving down thru “forest-fire alley,” what with the drought conditions so prominent in the news earlier this year. The alternative would have been a longer trip down I-5 and then another decision on where to cross into Mexico. In retrospect, so far, it seems we made the right decision, for this first 2000+ miles of the trip.

Volando

Martes, 17 Julio 2012. Taxi over to the departure terminal at 3:30am cost P$100, as we weren't up to walking even three blocks at that hour of the night. As it is it was at least a ten minute ride as one-way limited access streets makes it hard to get back to the terminal conveniently. Waited 15 min for check-in at 4am when gate clerks started, hundreds of people waiting.  While waiting for the first flight, a Chinese fellow sat down beside us and talked our ears off. He was most interesting though. He is teaching Chinese at a university in Puebla. One thing we learned, is that in China children are obligated by the state to take care of their parents. If they do not, and the parents do not have savings to support themselves, the government takes money from their wages to pay for the parents' care.

Most pleased with ourselves, being early and all checked. The lady that checked us in upgraded our seats so that we could sit together on the second flight, without us even asking. She told us to just show our FMM form she told us to fill out, to the person checking us onto the plane. We did not have our original FMM this time, since we gave it up to obtain the five year resident's visa. We walked up and got in the line to get on the plane and lo and behold, the attendant got very upset with us for not having our form stamped. Next time we will know. We were kicked out of line, and had to go to an immigration office to get our papers stamped before we could board the plane. The plane was due to leave in 25 minutes. Boy did we walk fast! Asking here and there where this office was, an attendant told us which was the closest. Made it with ten minutes to spare, a huffin and puffin.

Since we had but the one small bag we were carrying, and we had a five hour layover, we got off the plane last. Mistake. Houston's custom line was a total boondoggle. Many hundreds of people waiting in a long snaking folded line that moved ever so slowly. The line that was for customers with no checked bags was closed. The other area for those with checked bags had 40 stations and ONLY three were open. While in line we kept hearing people say that they missed their connecting flight. One lady came up to an attendant near us and said she had lost her mother-in-law who was in a wheel chair. The attendant started laughing and asked how that was possible. The next thing that happened was an attendant came through the front area holding the hand of a little girl, yelling at the top of her voice a good five minutes saying that this girl could not find her mother. Finally someone in the middle of the hundreds raised her hand. The immigration clerks were taking forever with each party, seemed like everyone had to press fingers down on a scanner to get fingerprints checked. Amazingly, for unknown reasons we were just asked a few brief questions and were waved right through.

Now why did we have to go thru security again? Same hundreds of people. Far more efficient here. However, besides taking off shoes, belts, everything out of pockets, including kleenex packets, the attendants tried to tear out our sewn in extra pockets, not believing they weren't holding anything. Two hours to get thru immigration, customs and another security. Long walk to our next gate. Found a Subway for lunch. There were no empty tables. One table did have some food containers on it, perhaps discards, and we assumed wrongly that the person had left. The gentleman, an airport employee, returned with more food and was not angry with us as he wandered off and found a single seat elsewhere.

The second flight, flying above the cumulus – we had a young fellow from Puebla, Mexico sit next to us. He was most fascinated by the mountains and snow. His English was good. Our flight got into Seattle 20 minutes early. With very fast walking we just made the 5pm Airporter bus. The lady behind us had a terrible cold. Sure hope we do not get it. The second part of our bus ride into Anacortes, the driver let us out at Commercial and 34^th, so we had a shortish walk home. Arrived to find that Sally, the neighbor with our house keys, not home. Thankfully our stashed outside keys were in the right place. We did remember how to unalarm our new house alarm system. Seems that our cats set it off about six times while we were gone. It is very loud and one of the neighbors at least got really angry at being woken up at 5am. We are trying to find out how to undo the outside portion of the alarm. Shower, soup and bed for us. The total trip house to house takes, at best, a bit longer than 24 hours. Today we were up at 1am (Seattle time) in Mexico City, and got home before 8pm, for a long 19 hour day.

Our moving company has been notified, and someone will be here the next few days to see exactly how the movers will handle our goods.  Since much is already packed, they might get it all done in one, instead of two days. We're still planning for the first week of September. Sure is cold up here, summer definitely did not arrive here in our three week absence. Found that the new sidewalk at the front of our house will make the driveway too steep. We told the city and construction company our concerns and they assure us that it will be corrected. Next week will tell. Bye for now--posts will be infrequent until end of September or so.

Oh my, but we do have lots of excitement in store for us! Down our way visiting beautiful Veracruz? Please do visit us. Will be a year before we will actually feel ready to house you in perfect comfort, but so what – feel free to come earlier if you wish, if you don't mind a little indoor camping as we renovate and add on to our new home.

Carmen and Dan

Hasta Luego Fortín

Lunes, 16 Julio 2012. Frank stopped at 7:15am, said he would take us to bus station.  We ate a quick breakfast and he showed up an hour later. The bus which picked us up in Fortín coming from Córdoba, only stopped at Orizaba, and was not a local bus, stopping many times as we had expected. It was a four and a half hour ride, enough time for nearly three movies. Unlike the US, these buses have seat belts and window screens if one wants shade. At TAPO bus station, Mexico City, we shopped for antihistamine & phone recharge card to use in September. Lunch at Church's chicken same like last time. Huge meal. We couldn't possibly eat it all. The five-piece chicken meal was the smallest choice, with at least a cup and half of mashed potatoes and gravy and the same of coleslaw. Two delicious biscuits. Yes we took the extra back to the hotel with us. We took the Metro (subway), with tickets Dan saved from two years ago. We got on the pink line heading east to the Pantitlan terminus then changed to yellow line two stops to the airport. When we got on to the pink line, which was extremely packed, Carmen shoved Dan hard for fear his behind was not inside the door as it closed. From the Metro stop at the airport it's only a short three blocks (across the overhead to other side of the busy multilane street) to the Hotel Aeropuerto, P$590 (multiply by .074 to get US$) for a clean & quiet (room on back side of hotel, away from the airport ). Ate the second half of our meal, watched some TV and to bed early.

Otra Vez En Fortin

Martes, 26 Junio 2012.  Actually this is being written on Saturday, June 30. We have been very busy settling in to the blue house in Fortin, and this is the first opportunity we've had to write a bit about our comings & goings. For those who await our words with bated breath, please excuse us, since there'll be more delay as we also have to find a location with internet to actually post this to the blog. Tomorrow Mexicans vote for their next president. How very sensible, setting election days on Sundays, when most folks are off work and can more easily manage to get to the polls. What exactly is so special about Tuesdays that make them voting day in the US?

We have been in Fortin since June 26, late afternoon. Took again a bit longer than 24 hours for the total trip from house to house. This time we flew on United Airlines, having used up our free ticket on US Airways. Another difference: United allows a free 50# checked bag, while US Air charged us $25 for the extra bag, for each of us. This is important as we presume we will always have some gear or items we cannot find in Mexico, and that extra baggage allowance will come in handy. We arrived in Houston at midnight with a nine hour layover. We took that time literally. Flights to Puebla leave from an older, carpeted terminal, suited for the smaller planes flown by United Express. We found a darkish spot where we pulled out the four attached chairs and slept on the floor between the wall and chairs. Was not bad., and much more rest than the red-eye flights last time with US Air. No folks around 'til 5 AM, so some actual sleep was possible.

We flew into Puebla on a 60 seat plane, this time, instead of into our usual destination of Mexico City. The fare was virtually identical, and got us into a smaller airport two hours closer to Fortin. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! You walk onto the tarmac from the plane, and the one immigration agent happily checks your passport. Here all luggage goes thru Xray. Oh no, we expected the worst! We usually travel with but one small carry on bag each. Quite a different experience having six bags, with two of them about 50 pounds each. The only clothes we had were three pairs slacks. We had left all the clothes here that we brought past winter.

Of course they just could not resist taking everything out of the heavier checked bags. Rather unusual and not the typical luggage, so naturally the customs inspectors asked the age of the various electronic equipment, and carefully looked over the various tools. We thought we might not be allowed to bring in all the vitamins we had packed. We take a lot, plus this was a six month supply. We had one bottle that was outdated, and yes, this was our problem item. Everyone there was required to inspect this bottle of multivitamins. Finally, we were allowed to keep it. The aduana folks were uniformly polite, fair and not at all jaded and perfunctory as we have experienced in Mexico City. We hope to always be able to travel to and from this airport in the future.

Here we took a taxi across town to the bus terminal, the huge CAPU (Cental de Autobuses de Puebla), (major slow traffic, full of trucks-- the route between the airport and in-city bus terminal is along the major Mexico City-Puebla-Veracruz highway) where we had several choices of buses. Waited only half an hour, and we were off again. Grabbed some quick sandwiches at the the Subway shop in the station. One bitty problem when we got on the bus – a lady was in our seat and she knew she was in the wrong seat, but this was the seat she wanted. She moved across the isle. Same thing happened in the row ahead of us – the bus driver made the woman move. The scenery on this two hour bus ride is not to be missed. The faint of heart might prefer to sit on the side of the bus behind the driver, since there are deep ravines along the other side. Also four tunnels to go thru. This road is going thru major repair at present, so the ride probably took an hour more than usual. Gave us lots of time to admire the scenery.

When we got into Orizaba, Dan called our friend Frank to let him know that we would be at our house in 25-30 minutes by taxi. Frank had our house keys, since he and his wife, Ania, did the final house closing for us. Not only was Frank there when we arrived, but he also told us he would be back in 45 minutes to take us to his house for dinner. On the way to their home, Frank stopped at the new Aurrera supermarket in Fortín for some essentials: a large jug of drinking water, mop, yogurt, cereal and some bleach to treat some mold spots we found under the kitchen sink, and perhaps have some left to swab out the water tank on the roof one of these days. By this time the rain was coming down with unbelievably huge drops—a suitable welcome to GREEN Fortín. Ania had prepared one of her favorite meals for us and another guest. It was a homemade sauerkraut dish and was indeed delicious. The conversation with David, a fellow teacher at the Tec, soon to move to Queretaro, was enjoyed.

We blew up the air mattress we stashed with our clothes and a few housewares purchases made last time, and fell into bed, the first night in our Mexican house, which we are calling Casa Azuledos.

Hacia el norte

Sabado, 21 Enero.  Breakfast at the nearest restaurant this morn.  Good fresh food.  Tall fresh orange juices and a bit of black refried beans, fresh bolillo roll and scrambled eggs with chorizo for Carmen and with ham for Dan.  When we first arrived here this visit, Dan suggested going out for breakfast every Sunday morning.  Well, we have mentioned in this blog, every time we have eaten out.  So you know, that it has been seldom.  It's just that Carmen so  likes to cook (and wash dishes), and foods are so available.

Will we be able to fly back to Seattle this next week?  And, do we really want to?  The weather in Fortín is certainly more pleasant - and the beauty!  Well the beauty is different, both places have their own beauty for the soul.  But, our kitties are still in Anacortes, and Dan's obligations back in Anacortes can't be put off that much more time.  Did our presumably last grocery shopping here today at the local Super Ahorros.

Domingo, 22 Enero.  Spent hours reading outside our motel apartment.  A lovely evening to go to the park.  Must have been near 2000 folks there.  Wish all of you could enjoy this pleasant activity.  Saw two people we know and chatted a bit.  Sat here and there, enjoying the changing scene and views.  Wandered the two blocks to take it all in for the last time, this trip.  We finally ended up on an unoccupied park bench in a space we most enjoy, in a circular seating area with a fountain in the middle.  Our realtor and daughter, from Cordoba, were there riding their bikes round and round.  Guess folks from other towns love this park too, and come to enjoy the ambiance, so unlike the larger city spaces.  Some flowers are in full bloom, including the bird of paradise and many lovely huge gardenia, which unfortunately, Carmen is allergic to.  No matter where we sat, she kept smelling these flowers and a sore throat started, supposedly from the scent, as is typical for her.  We sadly slowly walked the three blocks back to our motel, telling this part of the world goodbye til next time.  Looking forward to hundreds more adventures here, when we return later in the year.

Lunes, 23 Enero.  Bus to Córdoba to meet with notario at 11:00am. Finalized our testamentos (wills) and the poder (power of attorney), the last which allows us to leave Mexico and still have the house purchase close, after the powers that be see fit to finish with all the papeleo (red tape). Had to go back at 4:30pm for final version, and got the originals of the wills to take with us. These wills cover our assets and investments in Mexico only.  Today we discovered that the daughter of our friend Ania (who has the power of attorney for us for this transaction), who lives in Veracruz, is married to the son of our notario's good friend.  Having put this altogether, the notario now recalls who this Ania is.  Small world.   Sr. Limon showed us how he made his flourished signature, which he says all notarios must have to distinctively mark documents.  Will miss our visits with him for awhile, as we've gotten quite friendly.

Carmen's sore throat turned out not to be just allergy.  Bought lozenges and other soothing meds.  Went back to the apartment and made air reservations since nothing else is expected to happen with our house purchase for 20 days minimum.  Next expected step is to finally settle when Ania & Frank return from La Peñita, and the house will finally be legally ours. Good things do happen, and we hope to not have to have to process additional paperwork, which would entail visiting the consulado in Seattle, and expensive courier service.  Meanwhile, the realtor said that he was putting extra locks on the gates and house for us.  Air reservations are for Thursday.  The airline rep Dan talked to, left Dan hanging for a loooong time.  Seems that our flight down was on a free ticket since we took a bump last time -- this was the ticket on which we had to cancel the earlier return flight for the 11th.  Turns out that value of the return portion was so low, that, with additional charges plus the expected change penalty fee, our return would cost more than a new one-way ticket!  So much for flying back for 2x$150!  Next visit, we think we will only buy one-way tickets, then purchase the return flights only after our plans truly solidify.  

Martes, 24 Enero.  We walked to the ADO bus station in Fortín and made bus reservations from Orizaba direct to the Mexico City airport for Wednesday.  Since our flight leaves at 7:00am Thursday, we had to bus into DF the previous day.  Bussed to Cordoba. Bought benadryl and cold meds, since Carmen is getting worse. Went to notario and paid the costs for the wills, and picked up a photocopy of the poder.  With all the extra hoops the notario has had to go thru to settle this house sale, we keep expecting the original quote to go up.  So far he says no, and that we can settle up when we get back in June.  Stopped by grand opening at the new Bodega Aurrera grocery store in Fortín, bought just a donut and water, and then stood   forever in line to pay.  All so we could get a free shopping bag.  Then another line outside for free bag.  Carmen walked to front of line after some time to see what the problem was.  No bags. So we left.  As we walked past the front of the line, a new batch of bags was arriving, just plain too late to get back into the long line and wait longer in the hot sun.  So home we came.  

Well, Carmen, feeling under the weather, went back to the apartment and Dan made a final visit to Frank's building site, where he took pix of obra to email to Frank.  Had a good talk with foreman Manuel, who again hoped we would have work for him on the house on our next visit. He offered to trim back the grass before we got back, a good idea in this area where anything green grows with abandon.  Dan walked back to the Aurrera to get our free bag and by now there were no more. We had had great hopes for this new grocery store, but it is basically a big box store and we will probably rarely shop there. When Dan got home, he sat outside reading, and waited  for the motel staff to walk by, then gave them the tips we felt they well deserved for the careful attention they gave us these past months. We dined this late afternoon at the El Parian Restaurant, just catching the last of the multi-course comida corrida (lunch special).  We enjoyed a luscious soup and then a huge serving of albondigas (meatballs) with tomato sauce, which we mostly brought home for the next day.

Miercoles, 25 Enero.  Started today with checking in online with US Airways and printing boarding passes before leaving the motel. We also confirmed the Airporter at Seattle.  At a local papelería, Dan got fotocopies made of our FMM-Turista visas since they will be collected at airport and these have been used as ID for our house purchase, so it seems we should keep some physical record of these documents, just in case.  One final look around to make sure we'd left nothing behind, and a heartfelt gracias to manager Carlos for all the consideration and help during our visit.

We were a little sad to leave our comfortable little apartment, as we have had a wonderful three and half months here in this convenient location a few blocks south of downtown.   Suites María Antonieta really did live up to its motto "Su hogar lejos de casa" (your home away from home).  Our accommodations were always secure, clean, affordable, well-maintained and professionally managed.  Thanks to the smiling and responsive housekeeping & maintenance staff of Alicia, Joaquina and Carlos, we never wanted for anything.  Manager Carlos and his sister Sandra were always attentive and helpful when we had questions, and their facility with English is a plus.  We highly recommend the accommodations here, to all who are just traveling through or wish to stay a while visiting beautiful Fortín de las Flores.

Dan walked to park and hired a taxi, then back to the room for Carmen and luggage.  We're off!  The taxi took us to Orizaba, a half hour ride mostly thru countryside, cost was about US $7.50.  Got to the bus station with plenty of time before departure--better safe than sorry! The deluxe bus to the AICM (Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México) had time for three movies. As before, the scenery along this journey is magnificent.  Ate a shared meal of lasagna at the airport food court. Checked in for the flight about 8:00pm.  Why so early? We figured we'd not really get much sleep at a pricey nearby hotel and we had to be back at airport by 4am.  So we chose to sleep at airport, and the only seating, other than in the food court, is beyond security. 

What a fiasco at security!  We looked ahead a saw that we didn't have to take off our shoes--great, it looks like this will be a breeze! Hah!  Dan's bag was indeed totally taken apart, every little thing was taken out.  Same with the shoulder bag--the person kept saying, why do you have so much food?  We carry food with us for the trip, and yes, we always seem to have more than we can eat.  Our bags were packed very carefully and very tight, so we had to take them to another table to get them back together.  Carmen's bag was a different story.  The bag was unzipped, and they freaked out.  Inside were two long cardboard rolls which they had to tear open.  We had rolled up the tubes to protect a bunch of small jars of a local condiment we are taking home as gifts (chopped peanut and peppers in oil).  Three people were called in to look at it.  No decision could be made.  We knew we were taking a chance that it might be taken from us.  Finally the head of security was called and he said it was okay.  Luckily, after all this, they totally neglected the rest of this bag, or they would have taken the cuticle nippers away, which were plainly listed as an item not allowed.

Jueves, 26 Enero.  Sat up or half laid down in the terminal concourse, impossible to really sleep, so we dozed fitfully after wiring and locking all our bags together. The darn seats were made with arms solid to the seat, so one could not lay down.  Read some on the netbook, as there was no free wi-fi here.  Just amazing how much noise was made thru the wee hours--hammering, talking, cleaning, etc.  The airport security guy whizzed by about once an hour on his Segway.  Lights were all on bright thru the night, although we were the only people in the concourse.  The first flight out was 5AM, so things came back to life about an hour before this.  When we finally did board for our flight, we did not have to go thru another carry-on baggage check, as we had experienced here a year and a half ago.

Adiós a México!  On the MEX-PHX flights, having bought the tickets so recently, our seats were not together, but as luck would have it, a few people did not show up, so we did get to sit together.  We got some cups of hot water and made our instant oatmeal for breakfast.  Dozed a bit.  Ready for Phoenix?  We had a short plane change here, so were anxious.  We had been told to check our bags on the former flight because the flight was so full.  Passed thru immigration, and then some time was taken waiting for our bags, before proceeding to customs.  Is it poor airport planning, or is it just that the TSA doesn't trust the security barriers at foreign airports?  After customs, we rechecked our bags thru to SeaTac, and exited into open part of the terminal, and so had to go thru another security check.  Shoes off, everything out of pockets, etc.  Carmen left her inner safety pockets hanging out, empty, and a large muscular woman inspector started yelling at her, "What is this, what is this", not recognizing the pockets as such.  No matter that they were empty.  Had to take the belt off too.  But it is all plastic, says Carmen.  Louder yell.  The woman got right into Carmen's face and told her that if she says take the belt off, then take it off.  Was scary.  We finally made it thru.  Next trip, we will definitely rethink our money belt, important documents stashing system. Happy to be back on a plane, and so happy we had rechecked our luggage so it did not go thru this intrusive security check--and we thought what happened at Mexico City was bad!  On the plane we again asked for hot water, and made our cup of soup for lunch. When we got home, Dan's bag had a note in it saying that it had been opened for a TSA security check.  Glad it was not Carmen's bag.

An hour and a half wait for the airporter bus.  The sun came out to greet us and it was a pleasant ride north to Anacortes.  Paul and wife Barb met us at the Airporter drop-off to drive us home and give us the large box of mail they had collected for us in our absence.  That night Gardie snuggled and talked to us all night.  Smij cat, who is terrified of strangers, never appeared for the ladies who cared for them.  She did finally come out of hiding Friday evening, 24 hours after we got home, and had her cuddles all that night.  All is well with the world here.  We will let you know when things firm up in regards to the blue house.

A side note:  Got on the scales when we got home.  Thanks to lots of walking and eating very well, but differently, we each lost about 20 pounds. Yeah!  Maybe this was because we had a cookie problem.  Yes, cookies--basic to the staff of life--which the Mexican baking industry apparently does not do well.  We bought several kinds to sample and all were waaaay overbaked and dried out.  Carmen can't wait to start turning out delights from her extensive recipe collection, and spread some cookie appreciation around Fortín.  We'll try to keep this appreciation personally under control, and eat those cookies in moderation, in sync with enough physical exercise necessary to burn off each day's cookie calories.

Thank you Frank and Ania for all the help & encouragement you've given us, as well as your open and welcoming friendship--we'll be your neighbors soon.  For all of you that are looking for accommodations in the Córdoba/Fortín area or in beautiful Coscomatepec, and enjoy a country or garden setting, remember that Frank & Ania are your engaging hosts at Las Magnolias B&B.

Any other questions?  Please send us comments at etepetzin@gmail.com and we'll try to address your questions and suggestions here in later posts.

LLegada

We made it and are now in Fortín de las Flores. Took us 34 hours of travel from the time we left home to walking into our hotel. We did get a delay out Charlotte. The plane started and then the captain said there would be a 15 minute delay to check something that was not working right. We got going 2 1/2 hours later. Better there than in the air. This of course made us miss our bus out from the Mexico City airport and thus gave us another three hour delay. However, this gave us time for a meal of chicken, mushroom white lasagna at the airport in Mexico city. Was quite tasty. We are learning better how to get around at this airport. Thank heavens.

Today was perfect temp. Cooling now, along with light rain. Grocery store is four blocks away. We did shopping today while the sun was shining. This apartment at Suites María Antonieta is quite nice. Comfortable bed. Good shower, after they got the hot water heater going. Best of all - the young managers here at hotel speak more English than I do Spanish. You can not imagine how much better I feel about this whole affair with more English spoken, than just the two of us. The Cablecom TV also has several channels which broadcast in English with Spanish subtitles.

Well, my first meal prepared here was successful. Different stove and cooking pans are always a thrill. I cooked rice, fried a pork steak, and then heated the rice in the fry pan to soak up meat juices. No veg today, but fresh broccoli waiting for tomorrow. Did have fresh avocado and most delicious fresh roll - all from the Super Ahorros store a few blocks away. We bought enough food for three days. Probably will cost us about five dollars per day for all our food, maybe less, but we will be eating very well. Another delight, since I am a major butter eater. We had heard that the butter here was not good tasting - well I find it quite delicious. All in all a great time so far.