Cenas de Navidad

Saturday, 24 Dec.  Chilly cloudy morn.  Dan was hoping to go to Orizaba for the second time.  By the time breakfast was finished, the sun was out and the weather looked perfect for the journey.  We walked a block and a half to catch the bus.  Should perhaps have waited for the next bus, as this one had hard no-cushion seats.  Carmen decided on this trip that when we have visitors, we will take them on this trip.  It will surely give them a thrill.  The fast ride around the curves of this hilly ride down across the green Metlac canyon and up the other side are quite exciting, as we said before.  As we passed thru Cuautlapan, we saw off to the south a factory with tall smoke stacks.  Some puffing dark grey and some white smoke.  Turned out to be the El Carmen sugar refinery (ingenio azucarero), the destination for all the trucks we have been seeing, loaded with the harvest from the cane fields.  Weird for Carmen to be around all these places with her name.

As we got into Orizaba, we debated getting off the bus earlier than last time, and taking a different bus into the town center.  Nope, we decided to continue on the same route which again dropped us off at it's journeys end in the middle of the city, about ten blocks from downtown, across from the huge stadium.  This time we walked along a different selection of streets, to learn more about the city.  Once we hit the central downtown area, the streets were mobbed with pedestrians and vehicles.  Not a fun town to drive in, as the streets are narrow.  But for a pedestrian the very clean streets are great, with smooth sidewalks and helpful whistle-toting traffic controlmen to smooth the flow and allow walkers to cross safely.  We saw many city signs saying the pedestrians came first.  We walked thru the central market which took a whole city block.  Then across it to the Palacio de Hierro (Palace of Steel), the former city hall which was assembled here from 600 tons of Belgian steel.  There were musician groups playing beautiful marimba music with percussion & trumpet.  We sat in the park at the palace and enjoyed the music, people and beauty of this place.

Orizaba's downtown is truly beautiful.  The palace, sheathed and partitioned with distinctive steel plates, houses the tourist office, a restaurant and a number of free museums.  First we visited the museum of Mexican presidents, containing flags, photos & history of each leader since the first.  Dan snapped images of the display of the president who had held his daughter, Harmony, when she was 10 days old, at Los Pinos, the presidential residence at Chapultepec in Mexico City. (Just think, she could have had dual Mexican-US citizenship, had things played out just a little differently.  But that's another story.) Then an interactive science museum, a beer museum, and a geology museum. There is also a football museum, this last which we didn't enter.

We got maps of the area and the riverwalk, which is something the city is very proud of.  We found the nearest stairway down to the walk, which follows the course of the Rio Orizaba (the city name derives from the nahuatl word Ahuizapan -- place of happiness).  Along this walk are various clustered areas of cages, a zoo of local wildlife species.   This riverwalk also seems to be a lovers lane, as we passed several couples discreetly embracing under the trees. There is a waterfall and seemingly ancient buildings towering above the edge of the watercourse.  Most picturesque.  We crossed the river on a swaying bridge, Carmen first, vocally castigating Dan behind her, thinking he was not walking gently behind her, as the bridge swayed a bit more than she liked.  Turned out to be a fellow behind him.

What a sight to see. In a street corner shop open onto the street, was a large bar with hundreds of bottles of liquor lined up high, and mixed drinks being whipped up to order.  No tables. Women generally don't go into most cantinas here, however nothing stopped them from lining up along with the dozens of men at this open hard liquor bar.  Now just why would so many people need a drink during a gorgeous day.

From here we hoped to find an Arabian restaurant that we saw last time we were in town.  Even knowing how we seem to misplace buildings, we had good faith in our directional ability today.  So we walked thru Parque Castillo at city center then east along Avenida Colón.  And we got lucky and there was Restaurante Biblos.  It was having a buffet this day.  And what a buffet we had!  Every single item was just plain fantastic to our taste buds!  We were the first to dine this afternoon, and while eating, several parties came in, walked past our table and very enthusiastically wished us Buen Provecho!  Needless to say, we left the restaurant very satisfied, terribly overstuffed, and all we had was one of each thing.  We definitely will be returning.  The family was from Lebanon, and the special Christmas Eve day buffet was a great introduction to all sorts of good things from their ethnic cooking traditions.

Now we had to find a bus back home.  We decided to walk back to the street where we got off the bus.  Was a good decision.  After getting on the bus, we found where it then went to, so that we can get onto it closer to downtown next time.  This bus - perhaps some of the gears went out on it while going up the last hill near Fortín.  It chugged and sputtered it's way up the hill.  We smartly got out where we thought the bus turned from the direction of our motel, only to discover that the bus then turned towards our motel.  We could have walked fewer blocks.  But in all, what a marvelous day this turned out to be.

Sunday, 25 Dec.  Cooler this day.  Plus much dense fog.  We laid in bed late, and watched a movie on TV, passing up a dubbed version of George C Scott playing Ebeneezer Scrooge.  Finally, after a leisurely brunch, we walked up to the park.  Stood in front of the church with some of the overflow crowd long enough for a Christmas blessing.  The fog gave a certain beauty to all.  We were very damp when we returned, as the fog was actually chipichipi, a light sprinkley type rain common to cloud forest areas such as this.  Coming in after the walk, our faces were moist and hair wet on top, with the whole effect like having come inside after having walked through a light snow storm, except we were not chilled, as the temperature was in the lower 60's.  How good it felt!

Our chuckle of the day turned out to be our main meal.  We decided not to go out and cope with the wet weather some more, just to get to the restaurant for the Sunday paella, since we were still being overly satisfied with yesterdays buffet dinner.  So what did we dine on?  In contrast to our grand meal the day before, we dined on left over thick homemade soup made with our lamb bones, rice and cabbage, along with a bolillo. For dessert, one of those Noir extra dark chocolates, from Italy (silky smooth fondant with bits of carmelized cacao nibs)--well worth waiting for.  Such a Xmas meal we have never dined on.  Next came a long Spanish lesson for the both of us.  Carmen's pronunciation kept Dan on his toes, but she is doing great at discerning the meaning of lots of vocabulary..  Now a bit of leisure reading-----------

FELÍZ NAVIDAD

Felíz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo

Christmas in Fortín de las Flores, Veracruz, México

Here we are near the end of another good year. Lots of changes are in the works, as we move into "retirement" mode, whatever that is. Carmen no longer works at Cap Sante Court, except perhaps for some fill-in work during times we're up in Anacortes. Dan is moving his accounting and tax work into lower gear, doing his client support by email and remote computer connection. We've settled in a beautiful, green area of Mexico, with just enough clouds and rain so we don't miss the Skagit Valley too much. The house here in Fortín is move-in ready, but will take some time to furnish. It will probably keep us busy for a few more years with planned additions and minor renovations. The green spaces in the yard seem just big enough to grow all the flowers we might want. And, the local markets are always filled with the freshest fruits & vegetables, so our food gardening will be minimal. We are thankful for our health, and we hope to establish a pattern of reciprocal cross-border visits to keep connected with dear friends and family. We look forward with anticipation to the excitement of living in a new land, and hope that the challenges ahead will keep us young in mind and heart.

Despite the variety of good things down here, there are some things we miss. In this season,we sit here longing for some fruitcake. Seems that it is not available here in Mexico. Hope to find some left over in Anacortes area when we get back there. Best wishes to all, from Carmen & Dan

Naranjas y piñas

Sunday, 18 Dec.  We did indeed go to the park this slightly chilly evening.  We decided to look at the menu  at the newly remodeled El Kiosko restaurant in the middle of the park, order something warm to drink, and avail ourselves of an outside table where we could continue our people-watching.  Carmen wanted hot chocolate, but it was not on the menu, nor was hot atole.  Is this really Mexico?  Dan ordered a cappuccino with rompope (eggnog). We expected it to be hot.  It was but warm.  The prices here are very high, so we will likely not eat here often, though it is a lovely place.  We walked the park for awhile and sat in one of our favorite benches.  Yes, we do have preferred spots to sit in.  Enjoyed watching the families stroll around, kids playing with light up balls, and an occasional family dog pressed into service, pulling a child past on a skate board, and all the many things that happen in the park on family night.

Was getting dark and colder, but there was an announcement made that a pastorela (nativity play) would begin on a little stage at 8pm sharp, so we waited.  After two more announcements, the play started a half hour later.  With anticipation we tried to understand the story, seemingly placing the nativity story in rural Mexico.  Stage lighting was almost nonexistent and not aimed where the characters stood.  Mics were almost unusable, as the performers moved around in and out of range -- presumably only those in the first two rows of seats could have heard the dialog.  Yes, the acting was spirited, but wasn't enough to hold us there, standing in the back in the chilly night air.   Our high hopes for an engaging time, such as we experienced years ago in Zacatecas one Christmas, were dashed, and after ten minutes, we left. We did enjoy the evening outing however.  But, so very glad to get back inside.

Monday, 19 Dec.  Took bus to the Walmart area, halfway into Córdoba.  We hope that the seasonal shopping opportunities will make for a greater selection of things we might buy for gifts to take back home with us.  There is a large tent outside Walmart for Xmas toys only, disappointing filled with virtually the same things as ToyRUs would have in the US.  Only a fraction of the stock is even labeled bilingually.  We are not in a "tourist" area, so no matter where we shop we find little of "artesanal" or "cultural" interest, other than some fragile or heavy pottery items that we have no way of getting back NoB easily.  Once we accepted the idea that "cosas tipicas" are not necessarily what the gringo mentality pictures as coming from Old Mexico, but really are what is typical of modern times, shopping became easier.  We also bought ourselves a blowup mattress, so we can camp out in the new house on our next trip down here.  We had planned to go from there to a hardware a few blocks further east, but our arms were too full.  So we bussed home, stopped by the Banamex for more money, unloaded, and ate a wee bit.

Then walked back to the bus stop near the north end of the park in Fortín, and head back into Córdoba.  We actually got off the bus at Walmart stop again, since we wanted to walk a bit east and check out a restaurant we had both once seen and then misplaced.  Found the restaurant.  If weather is good, we might go there for paella Xmas day, a Sundays only menu choice.  On we walked to the Metalurve hardware store.  Here we purchased lengths of chain and padlocks for our new house that we don't yet own. We will not have time to change the locks after purchase, before we leave here for the US, so we'll just chain up the gates.  Both front and back yard are fenced with ornamental vertical bars, and both doors also are gated. Also bought some heavy rope to give safety when climbing around on house roof.   Dan made queries about rain flashing and pipe insulation, but again, no one seems to know anything about such things here.  Loaded down, but the bus stop was only a block from the hardware store.  Another exhausting day.  But fun was had!

Tuesday, 20 Dec.  Dan wanted to visit Frank at the new house first thing in the morning.  Quick breakfast and off we went the 12 blocks.  Got there shortly before he had to leave to get building permits. Two rooms are now enclosed with ceiling slabs, and the guys are working with the form boards creating the flight of stairs to the upper floor. On the way there we had passed a man on a street-corner with really ripe luscious looking pineapples.  Thought we would buy one on the way back. However, in passing, we remembered that we needed to go grocery shopping and could not take the pineapples into the store with us.  Did our grocery shopping.  We do enjoy this time.  Soooooooo many new delightful foods to try.  Dan shouldered the 20 pound bottle of water and Carmen carried the two heavy bags.  We rather outdid ourselves.  Not that we needed everything today.  We did however want to buy some things to take home to the US before the stock was depleted.  Once items run out, they often are not replaced right away.  Of course, the airport security may take these small jars of macha (chopped peppers & peanuts in oil) away from us.  After we got home, we started thinking about the pineapples we had seen.  Ones in store were greenish yet, and a higher price.  Yep, we put on another 12 blocks round trip, but we purchased two pineapples.  Cost $1.50 US each.  Oh how sweet-------  Called the notario and he said to call back the next day.

We ended the day all settled on the bed watching tv, when out in the kitchen there arose such a clatter, we hopped off the bed to see what was the matter.  It was David Arnold calling us on skype.  We had an enjoyable chat.

Wednesday, 21 Dec.  Carmen woke with the song "Oh what a Beautiful Morning" dancing thru her head.  Shortly thereafter her brother, Guy, skyped.  This indeed did make a beautiful day.  Dan called the  notario and he said that there will be no news til the state offices reopen Jan 2.  Bummer.  He hopes to get it pushed thru fast at that time. We'll see.  Spending lots of time reading today and eating fresh pineapple today. While sitting outside our front door in the sun reading, a large black bird with a long tail landed on the parking area aways off.  It had many delightful sounds.  Carmen started mimicking it, and darned if it didn't hop our way.  Also a butterfly landed on Carmen's chest and then shoulder for awhile.  Though the air looks good today, there must be sugarcane being burned because when we came inside, we discovered that our reader and laptop were spotted with some specks of ash.

Thursday, Dec 22  Pretty quiet day here.  We spent a few hours sitting and reading in the sun earlier.  Dan has been under the weather the past couple days.  He is standing in the sun in the doorway right now, mostly recuperated, and eating a polveron (orange sandy cookie).   A couple days ago we got into a discussion about why all the oranges here are green.  Dan spent some time on the internet trying to prove to Carmen that good oranges can be green, not necessarily how we find them in a NoB market.  Turns out the USDA standards require that fresh oranges marketed in the states be mostly or all orange, and several tricks (ethylene gas, cold storage, dyes) are used to turn the fruit that color.  Here where the fruit comes right from the tree and nights don't get very cold, the oranges...aren't.  Okay, so Carmen bought two green oranges for $.18 lb US, and guess what - Dan and computer are right!  They are sweet and really flavorful!

Walking back from the grocery store, Volcan Citaltépetl (Star Mountain. Pico de Orizaba) overlooking Fortín

Seems that we talk mostly about food, new house, and walking or bussing around - yep, that, so far, is our greatly enjoyed retirement life.  Along with the flowers and butterflies and the vistas of green hills as far as we can see.

De un lado al otro

We have spent this week going de un lado al otro (back and forth) into Córdoba to see the notario, and inching along our house purchase.

Tuesday, 13 Dec.  Unscheduled, we decided to go to the notario's office to see what was happening with our house purchase, now that the paperwork had been in Xalapa since Thursday of last week, and over the long weekend.  Shortly after he arrived at 10:30am and was updated by his staff, we met with him.  It was clear that Sr. Limón Krause was in a very upset frame of mind.  He told us that we were not going to get the sale finished by the end of the year because the papers he had sent to the SRE (Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores) office in the state capital (where they needed to approve that we foreigners could purchase property in Mexico) had been rejected, and holiday office closures in Xalapa started at the end of the week.

The laws have changed this past year, and part of the changes have to do with how parcels of land to be acquired by foreigners are identified, using UTM coordinates (not degrees, minutes, seconds).  He had just called Fortín, and the folks at city hall there professed to know nothing about this coordinate system.  He also explained that the form he had sent them, which included both of us as 50:50 buyers was rejected, because only one person's name can be on such form.  We now have to send in two new forms, one for each of us, along with another MXP$5100.  He simply did not know how to best continue and said it would take some study to see how to progress from here.  He has been in this business many years as his grey hair shows, and he has never had this problem come up before.  Since the laws have changed, all the government offices at each level are afraid to make a wrong decision, so refuse to sign off on transactions.  He told us to come back Wednesday and he would have worked something out.

In the new house, Dan would like to insert an angled metal flashing between the roof slab (losa) and the wood boards (tablas) that are the underside exposed surface of the eaves (and interior ceilings), which are supported by large beams (vigas).  Rain coming off the roof tiles drips down over the edge of slab and back onto the wood--left untreated, the boards will eventually rot at the roof edge perimeter of the house.  While the wood is merely decorative, as the slab is self-supporting, we would like to preserve the appearance of things, and inserting and caulking into place a drip edge will make everything shipshape.  We decided this would be a good day to find a source of metal flashing, which, after a lot of wandering Córdoba streets, we learned apparently does not exist down here.

This city has sections of the town with different items for sale.  Like all the shoe stores were together, also the steel warehouses, hardware stores, what passes for lumberyards (all roughcut wood), etc are all grouped together.  Many blocks for each type store.  No luck finding any preformed flashings of any type, though we did find a source of galvanized steel sheet stock (lámina), which would necessitate a lot of work with tinsnips and bending, not a pleasant task to anticipate.  Anyhow, we sure are getting to know our way around some areas of Córdoba.  On the way home, we stopped by Walmart for Dan to check out the paint department for wood treatment.  A poor selection, although there were lots of colored paints, there were only a few cans of tinted varnish (barniz) for bare wood.  Carmen bought some boxes of giftwrapped chocolates to give our housekeepers and caretaker here at the hotel for Xmas.  By the time we got back to Fortín we were again exhausted.  In passing, we purchased a rotisserie chicken for supper which comes with roasted potatoes, rice and sauce.  Yum.

Upon returning home and after the quick meal, we had time for a wee nap, interrupted by a knock on the door.  It was Carlos, with a letter from Harmony, Dan's youngest daughter, in hand.  It had apparently arrived at the Fortín post office (correos) on Friday, but took until today to make it to the hotel due to the holiday weekend.  School pictures of her children, Dan's grandchildren Eliana and Braden.  We now have them displayed on our wall.  Our very first mail in Mexico!

Ania stopped by as it was getting dark to pick us up and take us to their home for a visit and refreshments.  We met her mother, who is visiting from Poland.  What a pleasant lady, and nice evening of conversation.  Ania plucked some fresh herbs (mint, lemongrass) from the garden and we had herb tea and homemade cake.  Frank drove us back home.  Their B&B is where we stayed a year ago, but it is easily an hour-long walk along some busy roads from downtown Fortín.  Also, not likely something we would likely do in the dark.  No direct bus routes between there and Fortín.  We are always thankful for the occasional driving around with Ania and Frank, and especially for this opportunity to meet Vanda.

Wednesday, 14 Dec.  Back we go to see Sr. Limón at 11am, He was in the process of leaving, and immediately told us to come back in an hour because he was on his way to Fortin to try to get some things taken care of for us. Not knowing what do do with ourselves in the middle of the shoe store district, we headed up the street towards the central park.  On the way we passed what is like one of our dollar stores.  Quite a sizable one.  The prices ranged mostly between 13-15 pesos (14 being near a dollar US).  We spent the whole hour here at Waldos.  Our big purchases were a bag of granola, mouthwash, and a set of three flexible spatulas.  We had searched all over for rubber spatulas in every store we visited, with no luck until now.

Upon return to the notario's, he now informed us that we now need, for the packet going to Xalapa, photographs of two sides of the property, with four copies required of each set of pictures.   Okay, we brought a compact Canon printer with us and we have pictures on the camera back in Fortín.  We bus back to Fortín and get back to the motel.  Dan takes time to use google earth, locate the property and determine it's coordinates, and then convert them to UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) numbers on a sketchmap of the property, just in case Fortín needs help with the process.  Dan gets the printer set up, we choose the two pictures, and print off one set and in the middle of the second picture on the page the colored ink runs out.  No problem, Dan had also brought down some new cartridges of ink.  Puts them in and yes you guessed it - they do not work.  At this point Carmen is having a not so good day, so she naps while Dan went out by himself to find more ink.  He went all over Fortin and then into Cordoba (Walmart, Office Depot).  No cartridges to fit.  Finally he came back to a small place in Fortin where the owner refilled the cartridge for him.  Printed off the rest of the needed pictures, had a bite to eat, and bused back to Cordoba, all by 5pm.

We now learned Sr Limón had located an environmental engineer to go to the property and do a GPS survey of the property because city staff in Fortin refuses to help with the forms and siting of the property.  When we got back home, Dan first calls Manolo to tell him what's up, then sends detailed emails to him and also the engineer that Limón gave us the name of, requesting that the survey be done as soon as possible.  We fell into bed exhausted again.  And we thought buying a house would be fast and easy, as long as we had the cash!  The bus ride home at the end of the today was bad, in that every couple minutes the alarm went off for someone to disembark, though no one was ringing the buzzer.  Poor bus driver must of been out of his mind by the end of the day.  Today we have first noticed a few people are getting colds.  We are still healthy.

Thursday, 15 Dec.  Got confirmation from realtor Manolo that the meetup with the engineer was set, so we stayed at the hotel, enjoying just doing some reading while sitting outside in the sun.  Then walked down to the house for the 3pm survey.  While we were waiting, we took some more pictures of the house, especially details of areas where we want to upkeep.  The engineer really liked "our" house and promised to have the report at the notario's office at 10:30 the next morn.  Our walk home was interesting in that we saw many trucks loaded with sugar cane headed for, possibly, a distillery near Orizaba.  We have detected a very little airborne ash that drifts in when the windows are open.  This a forerunner of the major ashfall season in May when the majority of fields are burned off..

Friday, 16 Dec.  Again we were at the notario's by 11am.  Our bus was 15 minutes early so we went to a big office supply store shopping for ink.  No luck.  We were told to return to Limóns office at 5pm, when he would have our new SRE forms and an accompanying escritura ready for signatures. We took the opportunity to run around following leads on getting some ink cartidges (cartuchos) for the printer.   We have finally realized that we'll have to special order these cartridges as no one stocks them in the city.  This will not be cheap, and generic cartuchos are out of the question. Maybe it's best we buy in the US and bring them down, along with bulk ink to refill them here.  Sounds like it will be one of those things we'll hope we can coax visitors to bring down with them.

Went home and napped, then did return at 5pm and this time were there for a couple hours.  New forms were typed up.  Dan found an error in the description of the property site, so they had to be redone.  The state's public offices are supposedly closed from 16 Dec until 02 Jan.  However, the notario said that he was sending the signed papers to Xalapa on Monday anyway in case there was someone in the office who could process things.  Also he has relatives there in Xalapa, also notarios, who could have the papers there first thing when the office reopens in January.  However, since it may happen that no one wants to take a chance on doing something wrong, the forms may all be sent to the office in Mexico City.  Hopefully we will have some idea of what is happening early this next week.  Still hoping to have this house purchased before our plane reservation on 11 Jan, so that we do not have to extend our time here.

Since the bus passes Walmart going to and from Córdoba, we stopped and did some grocery shopping.  Lamb, ground pork, ground beef, and a pork sausage (longaniza) made with anatto, a deep red Mexican spice with no hot to it.  Keeping in mind that we must use oil to cook all these meats, as they are all very lean.  Well, we also spent extra monies on ourselves just because Christmas is coming.  Cheeses (blue, one with pecans and an emmental), wholewheat (trigo integral) crackers, dates to nibble on and a box that still sits up on a shelf of extra dark chocolate with caramelized cocoa nibs which will get opened Xmas day.  On the way to the bus when walking thru the park in Fortín, we saw the cutest tiny month old curly haired white puppy.  Stopped Carmen in her tracks.  The two boys with it were so proud of their one month old puppy.  Good thing we are not living here full time, or we might be succumbing to finding a replacement for our dear Pepe.

Saturday, 17 Dec  Today is rainy and cool, the first gray day for awhile.  The poinsettia trees or bushes are droopy today.  So are we. We are thankful for occasional weather that makes us want to stay inside and relax.  As a special treat, Carmen spent time cutting, pitting and filling dates with blue cheese for Dan.  Surprise, Dan does not prefer them together.  He enjoys the sweet of the dates and the sharp of the cheese as separate sensations.  So she took the blue cheese back out and put it on crackers.  Oh well, she had something to fill her time.  Amazing how much TIME there is some days.  On the other hand, other days we are so busy, one wonders how there was ever time to work at our jobs.  (It is so good to find a sharp cheese here, thank goodness we both like blue cheese.  Finding any other hard sharp cheese, like a cheddar, has been a failure so far.)

Sunday, 18 Dec  Clearing off now.  Hope it gets pleasant out by this eve when we like to go to the park to meander with the other Fortín folks.  Dan got out that cute sort of cartoon book that explains all about house construction.. He is busy looking up terms from it in a dictionary.

Sorpresa sacerdotal

Last night another earthquake, about 7:15pm.  Felt the wall shake.  We went immediately to the USGS website and saw that it took about ten minutes for an official notice to appear there.  We posted our "I Felt This..." report on the site a few minutes later.  It's epicenter was down towards Acapulco, in the state of Guerrero.

Saturday, 10 Dec. Dan got an appointment with the dentist in Cordoba that Frank and Ania go to.  He said it was the best cleaning he had ever had, and it cost about USD$30.  The dentist gave him a colorful tooth shaped box of chocolate candy for a Christmas gift.  Not much happening here for us, what with the waiting for banks and notario to get all finished up for us.  There have been hundreds of loud fire crackers going off sporadically this past week.  Also a couple of parades each day.  Probably all for the Lady of Guadalupe who is celebrated on Monday.

Sunday, 11 Dec.  In the evening we went to the park to enjoy that Sunday special time of families strolling and playing there.  The Christmas tree there was lighted up, as well as wreaths of decorations on the city building behind it.  We had expected few outdoor decorations here.  But it seems that was wrong--guess the few Xmas lights we normally put up wouldn't be out of place here.   Some homes and stores are highly decorated.  Dan will be putting in pictures of one of the tiny front yards a block or so from the park, which had the biggest home display we saw.  It had various types of manger scenes and a multilevel landscape in model scale.

Monday, 12 Dec.  Everbank notified us that our bank wire will be coming thru on Thursday, and we walked up to Santander bank to advise Maria, but found it closed for the religious day.  Since the bank faces Parque Central park, as does the parish church, we heard and saw that much was happening there today.  Figured there were over 2000  people standing out in front of the church, spreading back into the southern half of the park.  There was a platform or stage erected just to the east of the central door, set up as an outdoor church chancel.  All the stage draped in white, and clergy in white robes and a huge display of flowers. In the crowds watching the service, many of the littlest girls were dressed up in colorful  peasant dresses and scarves, and the little boys had white peasant clothes, along with straw hats and perhaps a mustache and goatee drawn on with charcoal.  We were not able to get near the church so were standing up in the park, rather near the back section of people. We are not Catholic, but we could easily understand what was happening.  It was a beautiful service, with joyful and upbeat music that was from no church we had never been in.  One song seemed to have come straight from Israel, but with Spanish words instead of Hebrew.

Part of the way through the service, one of the younger priests left the stage and quickly was weaving his was back towards where we were standing.  To our absolute surprise, he came directly up to us!  He was trying to get us to come up front and stand in the shade right below the stage.  He said the sacerdote (parish priest) had sent him back with the invitation--he must have spotted our norteamericano faces out of all that crowd!  My but we were embarrassed, and we politely declined the invitation.  Bet everyone in town knows us now.  We dropped some pesos in the collection baskets being handed around.  We left just as the service ended, after a communion sacrament and while the father was sprinkling holy water out onto the crowd nearest the church.  Just before this, everyone shook hands with all around them.  Figured we best scoot out of there before one of acolytes located us again.  By the way, the rebuilt kiosk in the middle of the south block of the park seems just about ready to be reopened.  It's been obscured by tarps and a swarm of albañiles (masons) working on it every since we got here.

Alonso, one of the realtors who has toured us about, just stopped by to see if we had decided on a house yet.  Dan briefly explained the hassles we had been having with straightening out some of the parcel description errors in the earlier escrituras for the blue house, and he advised us to walk away.  And, of course, buy the white house he had shown us.

Seems we have lived thru the cold snap we have just had here--it's been taking two days to line dry our hand-washed laundry.  Dan saw on tonight's news that Tlaxcala dropped to -1ºC last night, and that residents of central Mexico were suffering due to the unnatural cold spell.  Today, however, daytime temps are now back into the low to mid 70s and forecasted for three or four days that way.

Terremoto!

Yep - an earthquake last night (Tuesday) about 11:15pm our bed rumbled for a few seconds. Enough to wake us. The epicenter was in the isthmus about 400km away to the southeast of us, and at 5.0 magnitude. Do not know how deep. We also heard some tap-tapping from the something rocking back and forth on top of the little table at the foot of the bed, but found nothing else that had moved.

Several parades lately. Marchers with instruments and banners and one with a dog weaving in and out. All in support of those traveling to be at the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City by December 12 for the anniversary of the miracle of the Virgin at that location in 1531. This site is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world, with millions coming here each year. Our Lady of Guadalupe is considered to be the patroness of Mexico and all the continental Americas. Local parades send off the pilgrims, often walking from a great distance, with many approaching over the last few kilometers on their knees. Used to be these pilgrimages were always on foot, but in recent years vehicles of sorts can carry the faithful the major part of the trip.

Carmen's having a hard time getting our occasional hamburgers small enough, as without the fat in the mix they just don't shrink down. We enjoy them on a split wholewheat bolillo roll, with sliced fresh tomato, sauteed onions and peppers, sometimes with fresh avocado to top things off.

Friday, 02 Dec. We visited the notario today to ask what the holdup was. He said he had not yet gotten a response from Fortín, so we said we would visit city hall and inquire. We then walked back in the direction of Fortín, with the intention of finding good hardware stores (ferreterías) in Córdoba and looking at tool and ladder availability and prices. Found prices for quite a few items to be less than Anacortes area. One hardware (Metalurve) was enjoyed by both of us, especially as we could wander the aisles and see inventory and price labels. So many wonderful items in it, also very clean bathrooms. Most smaller ferreterías typically have only sample items displayed on big signboards, sometimes only with with code numbers, so one has to speak to a clerk to get pricing and make the purchase, (hopefully) from inventory some where back where customers don't have access.

On our way home from Córdoba today, we planned to stop at Fortín city hall, but there were lots of chairs out front of the building with speakers and several young ladies all dressed up. The speeches and awards being given out were in recognition of the annual day of discapacidad, in support of the handicapped. Did not seem appropriate to interfere, so we went back at 4:30pm. The celebration was done, but, the man we needed to talk to had just left. Our meeting was put off 'til Monday. We did pick up our book of starter checks from Santander Bank.

In the evening we walked down to the blue house and also to view and compare a few new lots that realtor Rosset had showed us in that area the yesterday (Thursday). All are but a few blocks from each other, in the colonia Los Encinos. She, along with the architect, wanted us to see more in case we might change our mind and go with them. The other lots do not have the view or outside space that "our" blue house has. Totally this day we walked over 55 blocks. Looong blocks. Talk about exhaustion.

At this point we just remembered to tell you how clean the city park always is, since we walk thru it to the city hall building. It seems to be being swept continuously with brooms made of dead palm fronds. In the middle of the parks open paved space there now sits a Christmas tree made of probably wire frame and white outer covering with ornaments, and a growing quantity of large gift-wrapped boxes around the base.

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Saturday, 03 Dec. We got up early and walked over to where Frank is building the new house, and caught up with some pictures of the progress. Frank invited us to go with him to Cosco tomorrow. His suegra (mother-in-law) is in Veracruz with one of Ania's daughters, while Ania is away in Monterrey doing baby-sitting for the other daughter. Frank gave us a lift back into Fortín centro, where we visited Santander Bank, where manager María helped us set up our online acount access, and reset the PINs on both debit cards (Dan's of which refused had refused to function with the provisional PIN issued when the account was set up). Downloaded another ebook from the Anacortes library and finished the day reading, with Carmen a bit under the weather from the exertions of the previous day.

Sunday, 04 Dec. Dan went with Frank to the two properties Frank owns, and Carmen logged in another day of rest. Dan got to wear his new jeans, with cuffs rolled up, since Carmen does not travel with her sewing machine to be able to hem the jeans. At Xaltenango, the two men had a good time, cutting down several pine trees into 2.5m posts, which will be used to brace the concrete slab formwork for the second floor of the new house. Property watchman Ciro provided some more muscle hauling the limbed posts up the steep hillside to the parking area by the hexagon kiosko. Frank bought some triangulos Ciro's wife had made, to take home for supper upon Ania's return. After the logging, they stopped to pick up a pollo rostizado and had lunch at the house on the avocado farm. Frank mowed the lawn and Dan filled in an animal burrow that had appeared in the last week near the garden behind the house. The possum, presumed culprit, had met it's end due to an encounter with some other critter, and Frank chucked the dried carcass off into the weeds.

Monday, 05 Dec. This AM we did indeed go back to city hall and spoke to the person in charge of our papers and he told us that the hold up was because the notario had not sent him all the info he needed to take action, including a copy of what needed to go to Relaciones Exteriores. We informed realtor Manolo of this holdup and he offered to get involved and try to straighten things out, thankfully. We hung around reading, waiting to see if there would be further calls we would have to act on.

Tuesday, 06 Dec. We woke at 7:30am, to a party happening in the parking area in front of our motel room. It was given for a group of young ladies leaving for school. There were games and foods and lots of laughter. Was a joy to listen to. After waiting all day to hear from the notario, with no luck, we walked to the grocery store. On the way home it looked like it would start raining any second, so we hustled along. We did notice another house for sale. Now what? The house is in the area of Fortín that we had hoped to buy. Yep--we walked back to the house, but three blocks, and got the phone number. Dan called the realtor and 15 minutes later we did a tour of the house. It has possibilities. All on one floor, very high ceilings, and very muggy inside due to being closed up for so long. Three bedrooms and several other rooms that seemed to have been created during an earlier renovation, and which could be used for??? A large lot of 280m², with big paved area behind the house. All the windows would have to be replaced, and the kitchen and dining areas extensively reworked. Luckily we did not immediately feel at home, like in the blue house, so no problem, we still are hoping the blue house will soon be ours. Yes, we got rained upon on the dash back home.

Wednesday, 07 Dec. We talked to Guy and Gary, Carmen's brothers, on skype. Always a joy. For breakfast we tried a different brand of coffee. This one is smoother and richer tasting. Think we are becoming a half a cup a day coffee drinkers, that being a lot for us. Today is in mid-60s and raining off and on. This afternoon at 5pm we must be at the notario's office, rain or shine. We are hoping to not get too wet on our walk to and from bus. At least the requisite papers that are holding everything up will be signed and sent on to the State Department in Xalapa for the okay for us foreigners to purchase this house. We'll hold off posting this until we get back from Córdoba...

...and now to finish up the day. The rain kept up a very light drizzle as we headed over to the city and walked the three and a half blocks from where the bus dropped us, staying under the building overhangs for the most part. It took about an hour and a half for our paperwork to be drawn up, corrected and signed. There still seems to be some confusion on the legal description of exactly where the house is located, which still worries us. The papers will go by messenger tomorrow to Xalapa, the state capitol. We're hoping for the best, a quick positive reply, but have advised the realtor and owner that delays may occur. Hopefully, all gets done before Christmas holidays interfere. From the vantage point of the notario's office overlooking Avenida 1, we saw two noisy parades of vehicles starting off on the pilgrimage to the Guadalupe basilica. One was of taxi drivers, with a long line of cabs adorned with balloons and colored lights. The second parade was of Cablecom employees, in company vehicles. This parade had a band playing Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence", as they passed. Córdoba was as busy as ever when we got out of the office about 6:30pm, now rainy AND dark. Caught a bus with no problem on Avenida 2, but were thankful we were now well familiar with the route home, as knowing where you are with steamy bus windows, rain, and unilluminated street signs would be a bit stressful without that foreknowledge.

It's been dark and wet out, and we haven't been carrying the camera all the time. Will post this and then go back and might insert some appropriate photos later...

Frustración

Since we last wrote, not much has happened.  We have spent many hours in first one financial institution and then another, trying to get an account set up so that we can transfer money here from the US.  Need this in order to pay for a house--it sure is never portrayed as this hard on House Hunters International.  One must live here six months and have more than a tourist visa to have a bank account.  Since we qualify in neither case, we're casting around for some other way to skin the cat.  So how to pay for a house and be sure of a receipt?  When we were in Córdoba last, we stopped at InterCam, but have not yet been contacted as to whether they can set up an account for us.

Fri, 25 Nov. Today we visited Banamex, associated with BanamexUSA where we have a US account, and where we've been withdrawing our peso funds to live on while here. After speaking with the Banamex main office in Mexico City, the account manager said it was not possible to open an account without having lived here six months.  But one of the staff we talked to whispered that we should try the next bank up the street.  We would try that tomorrow.

We next took a bus to Sam's Club and next to it the Walmart.  Is it worth paying $35 a year for the few items we might purchase at a Sam's Club store?  Cat litter and cat food is cheapest there, just about US prices.  Much more of a selection of large tools, ladders and such, here than Walmart.  Large units, a la Costco style.  We had come here today because we found a mattress we would like on Sam's Club website, but apparently this brand is only stocked in the USA. Next we went to Walmart, where we tend to buy our meats. Good prices and the butchers as in other meat departments are in all whites, with heads and hands covered.  Shrink-wrapped US-style packages makes it seem, at least, very sanitary.  Most other stores' meat departments display the cuts on open trays, though refrigerated also.  Umm, more lamb, ground pork and ground beef.  The problem with their ground beef is that it has no fat.  Can you imagine having to grease a pan to fry a burger?  Also found a fish that we really like here.  It happens to be frozen instead of fresh, but it goes into freezer when we get home anyways. Also found there are some canned veggies here that are not presently in season.  Dan bought a pair of jeans so that he could feel better working around our house, that is not our house yet, and not ruin his easy-to-hand-wash light-weight traveling pants..  When checking out, the only bags at this station were tiny ones.  The clerk had no intention of finding any larger.  Dan became the talk of the area as he went charging off looking for larger bags.  He returned with a box and packed our purchases in it.  Turns out that the next register to the other side of us had larger bags, but our checker did not care to inquire.  Was exciting for a few moments, and the policeman on duty did not interfere.  Again had to wait maybe five minutes for a bus back to Fortin central.

Sat, 26 Nov.  Today we approached Santander Bank, a half a block north of Banamex, also facing the park in Fortín.  Yes, the branch manager María thought they could open an account for us, so we left copies of our important ID's and documents.  Come back Monday and she would see what she could do, and bring a few more pieces of info, including local references and a bank reference in the USA.

Feeling cheered by the progress we were making at Sandander Bank, Carmen suggested that we walk to a huge open air shop that sells ceramic items, including large flower pots.  Really large selection.  It is on the main route between Fortín and Córdoba, just east of the autopista overpass and then past the point where the railroad tracks cross to the south of the road.  Dan was really impressed that she wanted to walk that far.  This Carmen could not understand, until we kept walking and walking.  Hmmm - was a bit further than she remembered.  And a bit further.  And a bit further.  My land, where did the shop move to?  Finally made it -- and on a hot sunny day, which gave us our vitamin D for sure.  Wandering thru the shop, a fellow tried to help us and informed us that he knew no prices, but the lady who did would be with us shortly.  She had blondish hair from a bottle, but not dark skinned.  The first price she gave us was 2,000 pesos, for an ornate heavily glazed large item.  Carmen remarked to Dan that that was way too high.  Obviously she understood a bit of English, or, the expression of shock she elicited.  The quote on the next price item was 600 pesos and finally down to 350 pesos for a smaller but ornate glazed one.   The woman would discount everything if we bought a number at one time.  We'd have to pick them up here, she had no way to make deliveries.  Again, Dan and Carmen agreed on the same sorts of designs. It is wonderful that we so very much like the same things. Looking for large pots to put along the step down from dining room to living room.   Won't purchase them til next September. We took a bus back to the center of Fortín.

Mon, 28 Nov.  Now here we discovered that all banks are not created equal.  No seats to wait in and no numbers to take to be sure you are taken in order of arrival.  After standing for a goodly time, a woman with small child pushed ahead of us and the one ahead of us.  What can you do, but grin and bear it--despite the inherent politeness of the culture here, apparently when you're in a cola (waiting line) you hold your place steadfastly, or lose it.  Yes it looked as if we could get an account, and since we needed proof of domicile (evidence of current & taxes utilities paid) she decided we could take from info on the current owner of the house.  We said we'd have the realtor email it to her, and with that she said to come back the next day.

Tuesday, 29 Nov.   Back to Santander Bank we went.  This time we did not wait long to be talked to.  We got comfy in our chairs, expecting the worst.  María, started filling out forms on her computer and kept coming up with entry errors, as presumably the questions the screen asked were difficult to negotiate in our special case of circumstances.  She was on the phone zillions of times, but, voila, after nearly three hours of this, she pulled out two new ATM cards and handed them to us, to our complete surprise.  Thought for sure we were being legally denied again.  After signing more papers than you can imagine, which of course we did not read in much detail, we now have a checking account in a Mexican bank.  Oddly, the final paper work was done before we went to the teller to make our opening deposit of MXP $12,000, about USD $850. The woman who struggled through all this in order to help us, reminds us very much of Carmen's sister Cindy.  Very efficient.  Able to handle all the other folks coming to her with all sorts of problems and still with a smile on her face.

Now all should go smoothly for the house purchase, with a place to stash our funds from which the check to the seller will come.  We came back to motel.  Dan started the process of moving our money funds to the bank that we have set up with Mexican pesos.  The seller is hoping for closure on this Friday, but it seems as US banks are no faster than Mexican banks.  Ideally these things should take a couple days, tops, but now, realistically, we are hoping to have the funds here in Mexico by next Friday.  All this time we are waiting impatiently to put things in house (so that we can camp out there on our next trip SoB), check out the roof near the water holding tank, further test all the house systems, change the locks, etc.  The major problem seems to be that impatient Carmen is more impatient than Dan.  This is not news to anyone that knows us, but does tell you how we are individually dealing with it all.  And also, the notario does not seem to have the paperwork finished that we must sign to get the permission to buy Mexican real estate, to be able to progress further.  With this real estate investment in Mexico, we will have to consider putting together Mexican wills sometime soon, another task for a notario.

Now, just so you know that life is not perfect here--the weather has taken a cooling dive.  The nights have gone into 50s and days only upper 60s.  Chilly.  Sun is still warm and sky is for the most part blue, but does not warm the inside of the house until later in day.  Dan just tried sitting outside in the sun (yes, it got hot) and shortly returned inside.  But, the air is still cool in the mornings.  He is now struggling with understanding the packet of papers from the bank.  Wonder if we're signing our lives away?  If so, they won't get much more than 30 years worth (or whatever we have left).  We think this is a small price to pay for an almost perfect year-round climate, a constant array of flower blooms and the view of green-covered mountains stretching off into the distance all around us.

It was nice to skype this evening with Steve & Ingrid Ferris.  Steve called for some insight in pulling together last month's bookkeeping on Quickbooks.  The only disadvantage in dealing with with stuff like this remotely, is that Dan doesn't get a chance to sample some of Ingrid's luscious cookies fresh out of the oven.

Día de la Revolución

Sunday, 20 Nov.  We got up with Carmen ready to prepare pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast.  Dan reminded her it was Sunday.  And did we not agree to maybe go out for breakfast on Sundays?  OK.  Heading north toward the center of town, we passed by the little comedor ("eatery") where we had breakfasted twice before -- we'd try a different restaurant today. The walk to it took us past the plaza.  There were many people there and live music happening, but we walked on to our destination to enjoy breakfast before the festivities, whatever they might be.  We ate at El Parian, a restaurant up on Avenida 1, which we had visited on our last trip to Fortin.  A few itinerant musicians with guitars tried to entice tips from the patrons.  The filling meal comprised of scrambled eggs,sliced beef & rice for Carmen and a plate of hotcakes for Dan, plus local coffee and fresh OJ, including tip, was about US$5.00 total for the two of us.  From our table near the open door to the street, we saw many families walking past the restaurant, towards the plaza.  Cowboy hats, play rifles, one little boy with a long white fake beard.  Quite a show in itself.  We love people watching.  We always thought the fun in the park on Sundays was late in the day.

While wandering back thru the park, we saw that a huge sign which was set up in front of the city hall and temporary staging, was now being dismantled.  From this sign we learned that today is the 101st anniversary of the start of Mexico's revolution.  We had missed all the bands and speeches, which apparently took place much earlier.  Not knowing what might come next, we wandered the craft and food tents, then found a cast iron park bench in the shade and watched all there was to see.  Carmen got a bit panicky when a small bird flew into a very dense tree above her head, knowing that her time was coming for the bird splotch.  Safe again.

Not much was happening now, except at the parish church (la parroquilla) on the south side of the park.  They were having a sort of bake sale to raise funds. Families provided cakes and other foods, and portions were being sold by the piece in a tent-roofed area of tables & chairs in front of the church, with a variety of volunteer hawkers exhorting the goodies over a loud speaker, just like raising money for public TV or radio in the US.  Having performed earlier in the official festivities, some youngsters were wandering about playing various instruments, apparently just for the joy of it.

Dan had wanted some day soon to visit the city of the west of here, Orizaba, and today seemed a beautiful day for the attempt.  We had sat around in our apartment for a couple of days, held in by the chance of rain and waiting around for Manolo to call us about an appointment with the architect we wanted to query about the blue house.  So, we headed to the northeast corner of the park for a bus traveling west out of Fortín.  We were lucky, or were we?  We quickly ended up with a rather well used rickity bus.  As we boarded Dan asked if it went to downtown Orizaba.  Now there are two routes into Orizaba from Fortin.  One is a toll road over the Metlac bridge, very new and straight -- pricey fares, quick trip.  We chose the slower, but cheaper route -- windy, steep, and narrow.  This is the old Orizaba-Córdoba highway, which follows the natural lay of the land.  The driver drove way too fast for our peace of mind, but the scenic surroundings dampened the anxiety a bit.  Green forest and fields most the way, until we got into the Ixtaczoquitlán industrial area just east of Orizaba, and even this was pleasant along the tree-covered boulevard fronting some very big plants and facilities (including the biggest cement manufacturing facility we've ever seen).  Many views of Mt Orizaba, and back the way we came, of the town of Fortín on the other side of the Metlac barranca (ravine).

Once in the city, which is near 200,000 in population, the silly bus followed a circuitous route - not straight to the centro as the driver had, we thought, assured Dan he would.  We thought we were getting quite a tour, til the bus stopped and everybody but us got off.  The driver informed us that was the end of the line.  Oh great!  Dan reminded him that he said we were going to the center of the city.  Driver said it was the center of the city.  Well it probably was at the edge of the Colonia Centro, only we had a considerable distance to the downtown store and park areas we thought we'd have ended up at.  But with maps in hand, we enjoyed the walk.  What a beautiful city.  Many grand churches.  The river-walk was beautifully laid out.  One area along this walkway was a petite zoo.  We saw some guinea fowl and deer.  We passed an Arabian restaurant that we hope to visit another time -- just were not hungry this time of day.  We did not locate the tourist office, but we did find the huge Alameda park at the west end of the city, just beyond the river and backed up by forested Cerro de Borrego (Lamb Hill) which overlooks the city.  Someday we'll follow some trails up this hill to look out over the city. La Alameda has many activities and play equipment for children.  Totally treed.  The usual cotton candy and other goodies along with balloons and trinkets.  All sorts of food stalls.  The day was sunny with a light breeze with a bit of freshness in the air.  Orizaba is higher elevation than Fortin, so is cooler.

Yes there seemed to be a special something happening here too.  Maybe because of the Mexican revolutionary anniversary, or maybe there is always a stage with chairs set up in the open area.  At any rate, a fellow was giving a speech when we arrived.  Next a rather thin woman sang a few ballads.  After her last song the audience clapped for more.  She obliged with a bouncey baudy sounding number which was fun to hear and watch.   A young man dressed in Aztec-like feathered headdress and buckskins, performed a native blessing ceremony and dance, introducing a troupe of folkloric dancers (a dozen young women and nine young men) performed.  They were most entertaining.  The stage looked as if it would collapse as they were jumping and dancing about, with joyful jarocho music typical of Veracruz.

Decided it was time to find a bus home.  For some reason, we always find a bus easily going away from home, but what happens on the way back?   Of all the buses passing the front of the huge park, non had the word Fortin on it.  We got out our trusty map and walked to an avenida running one-way to the east, a few blocks away.  Found a bus stop.  Waited awhile, and finally after no buses came by marked with a Fortín destination, Dan asked the only man still waiting besides us, if we could catch a bus to Fortin from there.  No says the man.  Then he told us to catch the next bus to the Chedraui store over on the other side of the city on this same avenue, then walk a couple blocks further and there we would find the bus we needed.  Chedraui is a chain of huge walmart-type stores in Veracruz, so getting off there we did a bit of shopping, and then monitored the buses stopping in front of the store.  No luck for Fortín.  Since obviously the helpful man meant for us to wait to the east of the store.  We ambled about three blocks further, past the beautiful grounds of the Fundación Mier y Pesado, an art-deco palace of sorts, with its vast grounds populated with topiary animals.  This was built as one of the first group homes in Mexico for seniors.  Found another bus stop.  Waited again, getting later and more discouraged.  Only buses to Fortin here seemed to go on the toll road, which would drop us off far from our lodgings.  We finally decided that the next Fortin bus we would take anyhow no matter what the routing.  Our luck held and the bus was the one we wanted.  If only the young driver would have watched the steep windy road as much as he did his buddies on the bus.  We made it home with time to spare before dark.  We are not out often after dark here, any more that we are in the US.

Monday, 21 Nov--today is a national labor holiday, since Día de la Revolución actually fell on a Sunday.  (If a celebrated day falls on Saturday, the labor holiday would fall on Friday instead.)  After a yummy breakfast of milk poached egg on toast, we received an email from our realtor, telling us to meet him and a plumber at the blue house at once y media, 11:30am.  We expected that the plumber was only going to show us where all the pipes in the house ran, which he did.  Apparently he had visited the house Friday, when he said he had gone thru the entire water system and made sure all was working correctly, including laddering to top of roof and cleaning out the plant growth that had made the water pool below the tinaco.  We had understood that we had to pay for that to be accomplished, but someone else apparently did.  Just to remove one of our hesitations--but questions remain in our minds:  whether the plumber actually did the work, or is it just a temporary patch up job; actually how clean is that tinaco; do the pump, check valve and float valve actually work as required?  And, does the water heater actually work (which can't be checked now because the propane tank is empty)?  Now tomorrow we will make an appointment to see a notario, land lawyer, and work toward finalizing all.  It will probably take much longer than we expect.  Can hardly wait to start filling the house with essentials!

Tuesday, 22 Nov.  This day was full of doing battle with the computer and telephone.  Outside lines were being worked on.  Dan called the older notario that Frank gave us the telephone number for, a former mayor of Córdoba.  Surprise, wrong number!  It was a home number, according to the woman who answered.   Next he called the name Frank had suggested, from the listing in the yellow pages.  The secretary that answered said that the notario was out of town for the week, and to call again next Monday.  Next Dan called another notario with same last name (they might be brothers).  His secretary set us up with an appointment for 10:30am tomorrow.   Dan was very happy to get all this finally accomplished, as speaking to strangers on the phone in Spanish, without seeing the facial reactions of the person spoken to, is one of the things he most dislikes to do.  Rest of day, when the internet was working, we spent looking for foam mattresses, which seem impossible to find.  We also spent time searching and communicating with moving companies.  Moving into Mexico is nothing like moving about in the US, as aduana (customs) regulations are hard to navigate.

Wednesday, 23 Nov.  Dan barely slept last night.  So much going on, mulling over words to express our needs with the notario, thinking about the house.  He also said he laid awake thinking some about a book he was reading.  I had just read the book, and I had stopped at the same point, and stayed awake thinking about it.  The book is Outback, by Aaron Fletcher.  One of the books we brought down with us, written 40 years ago, which takes place in Australia in the 1800s.

We were early for our appointment with Señor Limón, in spite of taking a bus to Córdoba, and stopping at the Sears store for a brief time looking at appliances, which seem to be twice the price of those at Walmart.  And he was a half hour late. Dan explained the situation and we left the various copies of tax statements and legal papers (escrituras) we had obtained from Manolo.  We received an estimate of the cost of notarial work and all the government fees and taxes due from us, which will be between US$1700 and US$2500.  We must go back tomorrow to see if he found that the title is clear, and that we can proceed with the process.

In our hurry to get here today, we passed a panaderia that we now plan to stop at tomorrow (IF we can find it again).  It had in the window some small cake type donuts.  First we have seen down here. We just did not want to carry them along today, since we had planned to stop at a Wednesday-only huge open market (tianguis) that spreads along several blocks along our bus route just east of Fortín.  As it happened, just as we started to descend the long steep stairs from the notario's upper floor office, the sky opened up. Instantly the high humidity we had sensed today dropped.  Never before have we seen a city street with water flowing so heavily down it.  We sat on the bottom steps for a while, inside the building, for the rain to let up.  We then walked a couple blocks, mostly under store front overhangs, to catch our bus home.  Being wimpy about getting soaked, at this point we decided not to stop at the tianguis and risk a long walk home in the rain.  When we did get into Fortín, it had yet not rained there, so we got off bus early and did a little shopping at the local grocery store.  Yes, by the time we left the store it had started raining, lightly.  Generally, it seems like the attitudes here about falling rain are similar to what we know from the Pacific Northwest -- people generally ignore it, are clever at dodging the drops,and mostly forego rainwear, aside from the occasional umbrella (paraguas). We did get not too wet on the five block walk on home.  So here we are, happily fed and writing to you.

Modo de guerrero

Thursday, Nov 18.  Carmen started today in her great warrior mode.  Killing the tiniest ants in the world.  If they do not move, you do not see them.  They leave for a few days after lots of squashing and spraying. Rather a laid back day, waiting for the realtor to let us know that the appointment we requested with the architect of the blue house would talk to us.  This call never came yesterday, must be out of town.  In the morn Carmen decided it was going to rain shortly, and we needed more food in case the rain lasted more than one day. We first walked a few extra blocks looking for an appliance store Dan had seen.  Well the store is lost.  Amazing how buildings just walk away.

Grocery purchases at the Super Ahorros included fresh string beans for one meal at a cost of  US$0.03,  a large avocado for $0.37, and eggs are $0.10 each.  Yes we purchased other necessities of mouthwash, shampoo, 4 whole wheat  bran fresh bread rolls, 2 liters of juice, 3 new white potatoes, 1 yam, 3 mandarin oranges, 1 onion, 1 can of tuna, 1/4 kilo of ground local coffee, a bulb of fresh garlic, 4 fresh tomatoes, the reddest large pepper you can imagine, 3 limes, and a small bag of shell pasta.  No sweet bakery this time. All for 12 USD.  Seemed inexpensive to us, for many good things.  We like to buy for only 2-3 days at a time, that way food is fresher, and what do we have to do other than walk to the grocery store.  All unlike US where we keep a full freezer and shop only once a month.

And did it finally rain?  Oh my yes, if you can call the heavens opening up and dumping it all out at one time yesterday late afternoon. What a rain!  Think one would have been injured if he had been outside.  Only lasted for a short time, then we got a slower steady sort of rain later into the evening, along with some rolling thunder (which we rarely hear in Anacortes).  We enjoyed it all.  Today is overcast and rained lightly early, seems to be drying up now.

Thank you Sally for the pictures of the effects of the Anacortes house break-in.  What these pictures accomplished is that we can see that we should start discarding a great deal of unneeded stuff.  All we can see that is missing is the prescription meds, maybe a couple older cameras and the Wii set.  Hope it was worth their time and sore foot from kicking in the front door along with a try at Dan's office door.  Chances are that six months from now, when looking for something, we will find it missing.  So be it----------life thankfully goes on.

About 8:30 am yesterday and again today, we heard and saw a marching band go past our motel.  Youngish children practicing for a school event we assume.  Now it sounds like the event is actually happening on the school grounds but a block from here.  Always some sort of entertainment happening.  The central park is set  up with a row of vendor tents, with various sales gimcrackery, clothing and snack foods.  We've walked down the row of stalls a few times, but about half the stalls aren't yet open.  We assume it will all be in full swing this weekend.

Experiencias

Little things that remind us we're in another culture.....

Knife/scissors sharpener - when you hear a sharp little penny-whistle sound being repeated and moving down the street, you know when he is near.

Propane tank delivery - when you hear a repeated musical ditty from a LOUD speaker, which is always the same, you know that the delivery truck is near.  These sounds tell you to make a dash to the road if you wish their service.

We have not yet discovered how one knows when a water carboy truck is near.  Maybe you just set up a delivery schedule.   These are large plastic five gallon garafons of drinking water.  Without a residential water delivery account, we have been just buying 2.5 gallon bottles from the grocery, carried home on Dan's shoulder.

Every time Carmen is introduced with her last name, the folks nod their heads with a big grin and say, oh yes like the whiskey!  Seems one of the high priced whiskeys here is the Buchanan brand.  We see it advertised on local TV here.

Our big purchase at the grocery store this week is a plastic pitcher to fill with water to keep in refrigerator.  We have been refilling smaller plastic bottles from the big jug, by hand.  Hard to get into the small fill hole.

Today's experiences-
We met with the realtor at noon in the park.  A mother and son combo.  We were informed that the owners of the blue house, our first choice, would like to accept our offer, with a slight increase, which was still a bit below what we had decided would be our final offer.  We will be responsible for the check up and any repairs to the water system.  We have hopes that the realtor will be able to set up an appointment for us with the architect tomorrow so that we can see where the plumbing lines and maybe electrical all are located in this house.  We will then visit a notario who does work like a real estate lawyer in the US, and have it all checked out, and tell us how to go about getting the money to the owner.  All is cash here.  Our cash being in the US.  We will use a notario that Frank and Ania recommend, in Córdoba.  So soon we may have a real estate investment in Mexico.  Surely it can not be a worse investment than our others.

Upon leaving the meeting in the park, we walked across the street to the Banamex bank that is associated with BanamexUSA located in Los Angeles.  We have been having trouble getting our ATM cards to be accepted.  Now, you would think that banks are similar.  Nope.  Here, you figure out what you wish to accomplish at the bank.  Next you punch the right button on a machine that then prints out a numbered slip for you in that chosen department.  Then you sit down in a comfy chair and wait for your number to come up on one of the three screens.  Carmen finally convinced Dan to go to a desk clerk that seemed to be there for the sole purpose of helping confused folks like us.  It was suggested that we push a different department button.  All seemed very efficient for the throng of people there.  Our number was called and - of course we had to have our original passports and drivers license, not just photocopies, for them to help us.  Back the three blocks to our motel we trudged, then returned to the bank.  We got lucky number 13 for our next wait.  We got the same teller, thankfully.  We happily thought all would now go smoothly, as we handed her all our cards and papers she had required.  Still no good.  Seemed as if when all the various managers got together to discuss what to do to help get our money, no one had just the correct solution.  Finally, a manager took us back to the ATM machine and worked with us til the machine accepted our cards.  The first problem was that we were following the direction too exactly.  We were shown a trick to help.  It was simply to take the card back out of the machine before being told to do so, and to punch in our PIN before the ATM actually asked for it.  Waiting too long, ie for actual prompts to come up, only resulted in a message that we could "not be helped at this time."  Such a simple thing.  Now hopefully next time we will have no difficulty.

Lunch time, or should one say, time to prepare dinner.  Takes a bit to figure out how all the foods to be cooked come to the finale at the appropriate time.  It becomes a juggling act with the few pans available.

Latest update -- we just got a phone call from our dear across-street neighbor Sally, reporting that our house in Anacortes had been broken in to.  So much for security in the good old safe US of A, where we had, before leaving, advised the city police to watch the place.  In addition, Sally and Cathy had been stopping in regularly.  Front door had been kicked in, drawers opened, etc.  The Wii is missing for sure.  Sally will take pictures of all the mess and we hope this might clue us in to what else is gone.  How disheartening.....