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.....

Felíz Cumpleaños

Wednesday, 09 Nov. Happy birthday to Carmen! Ania and Frank invited us for a birthday dinner. Ania made a vegetarian borscht-type soup with fresh beets, which was delicious. Next we had some specially made three-sided filled tortillas, stuffed with mashed black beans cooked with avocado leaves and then browned lightly. These triangulos are made by a family in Coscomatepec, and are one of Frank & Ania's rare and special treats that they wanted to share with us. They are thin and you add other goodies (thick cream, shredded meat, cheese, avocado, etc) on top al gusto. Really good. For dessert she had made a banana cake (with their own fruit), chocolate, and coconut with a dash of cinnamon, which was magnificent. Carmen made a wish and got the candle blown out while other hands were protecting the candle flame from the light breeze. We ate outside on the front patio, with Merle Haggard playing in the background-- Carmen's chosen music from Frank's CD collection. One of the palms out in the lawn had a huge flower or seed pod almost two feet long.

This is only the second time that someone made a special birthday dinner for Carmen, since she was a child, so this was extra special. Must say that Dan has done some birthday cakes in the past though. What a perfect day!

And Carmen's perfect birthday breakfast that started the day? It was a chocolate frosted vanilla cupcake, pineapple tart, bread pudding, all shared with Dan. On the side was fresh banana and mandarin. Plus a bit of yogurt for health. Wish you could have been here. We are fine, just exhausted from being on the go too much. Looking at houses, walking, just enjoying life. And what have we accomplished since then? Read on...

Friday, 11 Nov. Frank picked us up to help him move a bed frame and mattress to a downstairs room in their house. Ania's mother would be arriving soon for visit of a several months, and their den/office will be her bedroom during that time. This 83 year woman from Poland speaks at least Polish, German, English and Spanish. We look forward to meeting her. Then Frank drove us in his pickup back into Fortín with his extension ladder, so he and Dan could inspect the upper regions of two of the places we are looking at as a possible house purchase. They climbed on top of and around on roofs looking at the condition of the tiles and materials. One is in good shape--the other (which we call the blue house) is in need of eventual surface repair, but not critical except near the tinaco (a roof-top water storage tank which gives pressure for the house water). This tinaco might have a leak. At least there was a puddle under it and it had almost no water in it. Missing roof tiles and water system faults will give us some bargaining power, as we will probably make an offer on this house.

Saturday, 12 Nov - been here one month. We took a bus east into the city of Córdoba, the nearby city of about 200,000. We were able to walk around many, many, many blocks and not get lost. All thanks to the fact that Dan had printed maps from Google for most of the places we want to go, and unlike Carmen, he almost always knows where he is on those maps. We stopped by the oficina de turismo, which is in city hall across the street from the central plaza. The fellows in the office were very helpful in telling us on which of the one way streets to catch the bus back and where some stores were that we were looking for. We were there mainly to look for furniture for the house we do not have yet. We are quite disappointed in the selection of living room furniture, which seems to all be puffy and overstuffed. We have found that many of the businesses, for which addresses we have copied from a year old yellow pages, are no longer at those locations. This trip into the city is just to see what is available, at what price. Lots of street work going on there. Last year when visiting, we were unable to find a bus to return to Frank & Ania's B&B, where we were staying, and had to take a taxi.

Shoe stores. There were so very many blocks of nearly all shoe stores. A few eateries amongst them. You just can not imagine what it is like to keep walking and walking past shoe stores. How can there be so many people needing shoes? This is a Saturday. There were thousands of people crowding the retail stores of all kinds. They were buying too. We ducked into a Sears store and it seemed to be wall-to-wall shoppers. Does Christmas shopping come early here? Never have we seen shopper crowds like that in the US.

Tuesday, 15 Nov. Wandering about one day, Dan has finally found some tuna (fruit from a prickly pear or nopal cactus). He saw some the first day we were in town and when we went back to the store a day later, they were gone, never to be found anyplace til two days ago, in a tiny stall in front of a house on an otherwise residential street. Tastes a bit like a honey dew melon. Even tho' ostensibly de-spined, one must be very careful not to pick up an irritating near-invisible prickly mini-spine that might have been missed on the outer skin of the fruit. Despite taking care, however, this morn, Carmen took a tiny spine from Dan's finger with the tweezers. He still has one more tuna fruit to eat. They are full of tiny seeds, so Carmen does not indulge.

Yesterday, Dan crafted a long email to the realtor for the blue house, with a purchase proposal. We sent it on to Frank & Ania for a quick look over, and their reply this morning said all looked good. We sent it off at breakfast time.

Today we bused to Peñuela, which is a small town SE of Córdoba on the way to Veracruz City on the coast. Peñuela is much smaller than Fortín, but easily accessible as one of the Córdoba Metro bus lines shuttles between the two outlying towns with the city in between. Frank suggested we go there since we were not happy with any of the furniture we were finding. Many craftsmen here are hand building furniture and in styles that we like! Yippee!. Bedroom, living room and dining room furniture, all made of real wood and not just composite materials and stuffing. They do deliver for free to Fortín and it takes all the shops about three weeks to build what we could custom order.

We took time to walk the extra two blocks to the Parque Central, which is dominated by a huge very modern and dramatically styled church. We always visit central plazas if we can find them. Dan is still waiting for a bird to drop a plop on Carmen's head, since this happened to him while sitting on a park bench last year. There is but one main street thru town here, so we had an easy time finding where the buses stop. We maybe waited five minutes for the bus to Córdoba. Since we had made such good time with our investigations in Peñuela, we decided to stop in the city once again, where we wanted to look for a store stocked with some queen-size mattresses, which we are finding very hard to find as doubles (matrimonial) and kings are more the norm. No luck for the plain foam (without springs), two-face reversible design that we prefer. We have not been able to find one easily in the US either. Our present one needs replaced, presuming that we undertake to bring down the unique six-drawered storage bed that John Janda made for us..


Ania has loaned us a stack of Spanish learning books. Bet they would help Carmen if she would but read them. Dan has found the verb book very useful. Carmen has found more people who speak English, and a lot more of them who won't admit to it. As we know from personal and daily experience here, it is hard to have the fortitude to even make the attempt, knowing that one might be mangling the grammar or pronunciation, and hence, imagined ridicule. Today a bus driver, one day a store clerk, braved the situation and started simple converse in English. The bus driver had lived in Oregon with an ex-wife from Seattle! Small world!

The bus we took from the city center to Walmart is the one that had the English speaking driver. We were the only ones on the bus and he happily chatted to us. Before going into the Walmart, we crossed the busy street to visit a moving van company. Nope, they do not ship down from the northern border--just the Mexico City to Veracruz City corridor. Back to Walmart. And what was the sound in this store today? Why it was Elvis singing Blue Christmas. We discovered this time, that this store does indeed have a small frozen section. With ice cream! What a time we had selecting the flavor for today. The sun was a sweltering low 80s, but the ice cream was still semi frozen by the time we got it home. We also bought some lamb steaks for $4 US a pound. We can testify that they are delicious along with fried potatoes smothered in lime juice and fresh broccoli. We again waited for a bus less than five minutes. They are so very frequent, no matter where you are headed for. One slight problem as we got into Fortn. The stop before we expected to get off was long. We kept considering getting off the bus and walking the one extra block across the park. Finally as we had decided to do so, the bus rolled out from the curb, and would you believe it - it turned the corner away from where we expected it to go. We had an extra block to walk. All buses marked Fortin obviously do not have the same route thru town. This one was going on to Orizaba, the large city which is west of Fortín. Upon arriving home, we discovered that the container of ice cream would not fit in our tiny freezer, so we bagged it in a ziploc and ate all that was melted. Had to then wait awhile before we were hungry for our second meal of the day. While waiting, Carmen did a siesta, then read. Now Dan is indulging in those leisurely pursuits.

The news is that tomorrow the realtors for the blue house owners want a meeting with us at their office. Wonder why? We rescheduled it for right in Fortin, as trying to find addresses in the city, on schedule, is still problematical for us.

La busceda continua

Tuesday, 07 Nov. We are having quite a learning experience, with trying to find the most suitable place for us to live, and it is exhausting. Our realtor Alonso took us to see some beautiful new homes, just being completed and put up for sale, at Cortijo San Antonio, on the site of a former chicken farm, and next to the grounds of an exclusive equestrian club. This is in an area of "greater Fortín" about a kilometer north of the main Fortín-Córdoba road, north of the El Bosque ("the forest") neighborhood, and about 20+ blocks west Walmart on the paralleling Pueblo de las Flores road. The gated access to the development comes in from the main road, along a driveway with new houses on both sides, each with its angle-in parking area under the front of the house. The drive progresses into a sort of large cul de sac, in the shape of a tee, so the driveway does not make a full circle. In the middle there is a grassy public area with a huge palapa covered patio with table, chairs and BBQ fireplace.

The 16 houses were all very different and dramatically styled, with angles, curves, balconies, and colors varying with each unit, both outside and inside. All attached, but each with totally different garden spaces tucked into the corners. After touring many of them - what fun - we of course would like the one at the back of the cul de sac best, thus the problem of driving to it. Would always, if you could get in, have to back out one direction past last three houses before getting into the other arm to the tee to make a turn. A beautiful spacious kitchen in this house. All had a maid's quarters on the third level, with laundry setup there. The head of the construction was there, and he was willing to make any changes we wanted, including a washer-dryer area on the ground floor. But, they were far from our loved park and quiet Fortin de la Flores

On the way back we asked to be dropped off in town. We walked to the park, bought a cup of rum raisin ice cream and another of mamey (in flavor, this tropical fruit is sort of cross between a sweet yam and a canteloupe). Then sat in the park and slowly devoured every speck while enjoying one of our favorite places and watching the activity at the end of day: people on the way back from work or school, exchanging a few greetings to those passing by us, listening to the birds and watching a few well-fed dogs heading home. We decided at that point, that no matter how convenient or beautiful all other houses were, we must live within walking distance of a park like this.

Tuesday, 08 Nov. Today Alfonso took us to a house in town that we had visited before, one of the three we are at this point considering. (Well, we might still be considering the huge house just south of Walmart. It is in fourth place though since it is not near "our park".) The white house we re-visited today is overpriced to our thinking (it's more than the exquisite Spanish colonial one we mentioned in an earlier post), so they likely will not take the offer we would make. It would need some remodeling to make it fulfill all the requirements we are insisting on, basically a home capable of us living on the ground floor. A bedroom, or area that could convert to one, must be downstairs if needed in the future when we're ancianos (old folks), as well as a full accessible bath. This house would require some remodeling: taking down a wall between the existing half-bath and a slightly lower level service area to add a shower.

 

Kitchen counter tops are limited and not usable to roll pastries on. Has a large pantry area or closet, and has good bedroom closets in the whole house. The floor tiles through out the house are a nice rose except for ugly ones in the kitchen. Would need full window screening. Good window spacing, but all of the windows are steel framed and require some regular upkeep -- many of the windows are jalousied, therefore hard to screen. Room layout both up and downstairs is quite unique, spacious rooms with high ceilings and overhead fans. The master bedroom has a walk-in dressing room and full bath. About 14 years old, and in a good location. Really has all we need or want.

Nice plantings and a mandarin tree in the back. Although we're not looking for a huge garden space, this house has ample opportunities for growing anything that this climate supports. Since the back yard is larger than we want, so we would probably put in a patio and or terrace much of it. The roof might have a leak, so Dan plans to ask Frank to bring his ladder over soon, so that he can climb up and check it out. Saw a wee squirrel in a palm tree whose fronds wave over the kitchen door, the palm growing in a wooded area of a large walled estate just north of this property. And we are told there is a rabbit that visits the grassy backyard, which is walled with densely leafed vines covering the high walls.

When leaving there today, we told Alonso that we loved the house he showed us last eve, but the problems we saw were that we could not count on getting our car to the house because of the problems with the driveway configuration, if a car was stopped in front of any of the other houses. Also, we are quiet private people and expect that the public area just out in front of the house would probably make for late evening happy hour noise. While many might enjoy this type thing, we wouldn't. And, likely, we would feel quite constricted in that tight concentration of homes.

One other house in the running for us is dark blue colonial style and about seven blocks south of the white house we visited this morning. It is maybe our dream come true house. Price is good. Location is good. We feel so very at home the moment we step onto the property. Very nice inside. Great kitchen. Unfortunately the living room is sunken one step, but with careful placement of furnishings, perhaps we will not fall over the edge. Has a lovely study, fireplace which we would likely seldom use. Gorgeous staircase. Floors are tiles in the dark orange-ish red. Lots of wood-framed windows all fully screened and barred. Nice but limited spaces for vegetation both front and back. Problems? But of course. We would need to build a full bathroom, and maybe a bedroom, utilizing part of the backyard-parking area, unless we do some other magic for the bedroom. Needs a roof built over the parking area if we want to protect our vehicle. Probably would put a patio on top of garage or bedroom-bath. No windows on south side, since it is attached to house there. Don't know yet about the condition of the roof.

Third place is not built yet. There are two really small and narrow houses being constructed two blocks further south of the blue house, just off Calle 11 Sur. The realtor assured us that it was not too late in construction for us to make changes. So we thought about what changes we'd like, and are to meet with the architects Thursday, to see's what's possible, at what price This house would have all we want and need, but in a very small way. No windows on the two sides of building, because it is attached to other houses. Does have a small garden out back and three bedrooms and two full baths upstairs, as well as one of each downstairs should our plan-modifications be possible to implement. All three places have room for house-guests, or if it comes to that, space for a live in maid/caregiver (which at present would cost about US$10 a day).

There was a house plan that we saw on the web in Fortín that we wanted to see. Dan especially liked the floor plan and lot layout. We finally saw it a few days ago. The house itself we could not get into because the manager of the property was gone when we arrived, but were able to look into the windows. Very much out in the canefields, so we'd have to plan to be absent the week in May they burn the fields, which María admitted was a like a scene out of hell (followed by several weeks of ashfall, until the rains return to bring it all to earth and wash it into the ground). Guess it did not matter that we wouldn't actually get in, since the location was too far out and the dirt road going into the new house area went into a low dip with slippery mud. We imagine it would flood at the low spot with every major rainfall. We were thankful to get out of there without sliding off the road.

Tomorrow Ania and Frank invited us for Carmen's birthday dinner. We are looking forward to that. Ania is a great cook! Their large property is filled with beautiful plantings. The annuals from the tropics that we put indoors at home, of course become perennial shrubs and trees here. The poinsettias have been in bloom since our arrival here. Also being that it is far more humid here, the mosquito population is booming. Not many flies however.

Oh, we had a surprise and luckily not a disaster past week. We have to light burners with matches each time cooking happens. Matches of the large wooden type were very hard to find. Dan had to light Carmen's fire when we had but the wimpy matches. Well one day we discovered that the new box of matches had burned on the end along with tops of some of the matches. What ever kept the whole box from flaming up? Must of been too close to a pan on stove which got hot. Matches are now safely removed from burners' reach.

Día de Muertos

It's Wednesday evening of the Day of the Dead, November 2nd. Oh my, time to catch up here. We just had burgers with Mennonite cheese (a Monterrey Jack type), fried onions and fresh tomatoes for supper. Certainly no problem with the foods here. Was soooooooo deliciosa. S'pose we will have our piece of Mexican chocolate yet tonight. When talking to Dan's daughter Harmony a few nights ago, she asked us about restaurants. Can't say that we know much about them. All we have seen in this town is Mexican type cooking (these days this includes pizza, rotisserie chicken, burgers and antojitos -- traditional dishes), all of which of course we both love. This food is not the Tex-Mex the US thinks is Mexican. Probably other ethnic types in Córdoba. We rather thought we would go out for breakfast Sunday morns. But this past Sunday as we were eating our main meal of the day, we suddenly realized that we had forgotten to go out for that meal. We are entirely content with Carmen cooking here. We seem to be able so far to buy all foods we are hungering for.

Okay - back to Friday, 28 Oct. We did it! We took the proper bus to Walmart and again back home. So easy. Actually we got off the bus a bit early and visited the Office Depot a few blocks west of Walmart. They seem to stock about the same items & brands as NoB ("north of the border"), except all the software is in Spanish and the keyboards have different characters & layout. Then we walked into a residential area to explore. Eventually back to the main drag (which farther east moves into downtown Córdoba) and Walmart. Poked around at various things, and among other items got some Old Milwaukee N/A beer (made near Mexico City) for Carmen, at US$1 per can it's two times as expensive as Gallo (Guatemalan cheap beer). Bought our meats last, so they'd be cold on the trip home. Store is similar to the one in Mt Vernon, WA but a bit smaller and without the frozen section, with more fresh produce and tighter aisle spacing. Then walked out to bus stop, across the parking lot at the street edge. Had to wait maybe 10 minutes for the bus. Buses are many and frequent. Only about a ten minute ride between the center of Fortín and Walmart.

Saturday, 29 Oct. In the morning realtor María took us to see a nice house in the Nuevo Córdoba area south of Walmart, but for us, too near the railroad tracks. Considering that at least a dozen freight trains pass thru here in each 24 hour period, this is a big consideration for us. Also visited a single-story house in Las Palmas, the gated development north of here. Good floor plan and quality construction (but no jardín, garden space), but the thought of having to drive (or bus) every time one wanted for any supplies, and having to trade old-town ambiance for stark modern bedroom community surroundings, soured the deal. Also visited some houses on a street corner in an older section just north of Las Palmas, but the screeching brakes of the buses rounding the corner and the amount of work needed to fix them up to our sensibilities, made them no-gos for us. Mexico is a LOUD county to live in (vehicle traffic on main streets, music from open windows, new construction everywhere, passing street vendors, loud-speaker equipped hawkers and announcers driving by, etc), and finding a place that promises a bit of tranquility is difficult. Later, Frank came for dinner of smoked pork chops and garlicked mashed potatoes. He brought a couple beautiful flowers, anthuriums, which you will see a picture of, from their garden. Some day I will get to cook for Ania too. She returned from Acapulco Sunday.

Sunday, 30 Oct. In the morn we again walked to the Spanish-style house, hoping for another tour. Doña Flor was not there, so we walked seven more blocks south to the two new constructions, one of which we are considering. Bumbled about in the dug up partially started construction, envisaging changes that would make the floor plan work better for us. On the way home we chanced on a woman coming out of a door in the wall of a house that had a En Venta (For Sale) sign on it. So, we asked to see the house, which totally blew us away as it was revealed to us when the garage door was opened wide. Parking for three cars under an exquisitely designed home in an oriental style, with Chinese roof tiles, multi-split leveled, with a stream running through the home into the front yard. Three dining rooms (the largest, banquet sized) plus a sunken bar and cardroom. The back wall of the rear patio was designed to trickle water down into the stream. Four full suite bedrooms on the upper floor, jacuzzi room off an upper deck. All of the woodwork in the home came from Xochicuahuitl trees from Oaxaca, and took three years for a carpentry team which worked out of the garage space to complete. The lady of the house, a widow, had been married to a Chinese gentleman from California, and she has filled the home with unique Chinese artifacts and one-of-a kind art, and she gaily regaled us with a description of almost every other piece, much to the dismay of the other extended family members who would have liked her to stop talking and let us leave. She needs to sell and move into a smaller place on one level. No pictures, we were too daunted by the environment into which we had stepped, almost by accident. Price, without furnishings, only MXP 6,500,000. Back to reality -- later back in our apartment, Rosset (realtor) dropped off the plans for the houses under construction for us to draw our hoped for changes on.

We again visited the Parque Central in the eve. This time we have a few pictures of the fun activities for the children. We were extra tired so did not stay late. Did of course have our cone and paleta on the way home.

Monday, 31 Oct. Realtor María took us to visit another house in Nueva Córdoba. If it had been near here we would probably have scooped it up. It is well away from the railroad line and the same distance from the autopista (limited access highway that goes to Veracruz from here), in a former farming area bounded by two arroyos with flowing streams. The new house, painted Carmen's favorite shade of peachy orange, sits at the front edge of an old rancho. It was built for the parents/grandparents of the family which still has their various family homes here, and has all the features we're looking for, except the fencing around the yard would have to be adapted to keep cats inside. Another strange thing, in comparison to everything else we've looked at, is the fact big windows look out in all directions, with no privacy behind high walls as we've come to appreciate, in a way. We know not why, but the intended occupants never moved in. We met two of the brothers who live here and run the various family businesses. A bit behind the house was a barn affair which is now being used for a snack food repackaging plant. Big play field between. On down from there there is a gated community, Residencial Rancho San Longinos, the family is developing, on the former cane fields between the creeks. The only entrance to this development would have been past this luscious small house that seemed to be built just for us, a perfect house in a green area. But, one must drive thru many narrow city streets, up and down steep hills and over the railroad tracks to get there. Felt a bit claustrophobic until right at the rancho. On the way today, María suddenly discovered she was driving on fumes. She turned around and backtracked to a Pemex gas station. Luckily got there in time. This added a bit of excitement to the day. Sure did love that house.

Tuesday, 01 Nov. Frank and Ania asked us to go to their houses at Coscomatepec to the north, but we had already made an appointment with Alonso to see a house in Nueva Córdoba. What a house! Well worth considering. We rather got lost in it, but are certain we could learn to find our way around it eventually. Price was good for what it had. Property is totally enclosed with high walls. Across the street is a huge place much bigger than all the neighboring homes.

Front lawn about 33'x33', a covered (open on one side to the big yard) garage area behind an automatic door which would park 10 to 12 Smart cars. The kitchen was huge, but the cupboards need work. The living and dining room area was maybe 36'x12'. Three bedrooms, two with full with baths. One half bath. A separate spa room had a huge jacuzzi with two sinks, counter, toilet and shower. Also a room that could be a TV room, sitting room or office space. The maid's quarters, with full bath, are upstairs, the only structure up there, plus a huge expanse of flat concrete roof.

The area behind the main house is a 24' deep tiled patio, with a huge cistern underneath. More than we hoped to pay (asking US$135,000), and in need of some electrical work and some rusted door/window gratings that needed beefing up. Probably could stand a full coat of waterproofing on the roof. And what an expense furnishing it, as our few possession would get lost in the space. But it is in a really nice quiet medium income neighborhood, only four blocks from the main road at Walmart. Tempting. Too much lawn, but we've have already designed the garden area there to get rid of lawn. Carmen also drew a sketch of the total layout. She showed it to Alonso and he laughed. Guess her architecture skills did not impress him. Always good to have a laugh for the day. Glad we could help him with that. Oh, the stuff dreams are made of.

Later this afternoon we walked to the park and viewed the town's ofrenda, or offering, set up in front of city hall. A display of favorite things of the honored dead, on the traditional seven-stepped structure, like an altar. Here will be breads, sweets, fruits, cooked dishes, packages of smokes, preferred libations and the like, with each level decorated with green boughs, flowers, aromatic herbs and yellow and purple ornamentations. Leading up to the structure is a winding path lit with candles, strewn with marigold petals and an elaborate symbolic "painting" created in colored sawdust, similar to the traditions Dan witnessed in Antigua Guatemala at Easter times. We learned that the entire central park in Cosco is traditionally so decorated and hope that Frank & Ania have gotten a chance to see it there.

Now here we are today, Wednesday, 02 Nov. Someone near by is playing an electronic piano. Earlier was drums. Actually the drums are practiced every day for a couple hours. Rather enjoyable actually. Last eve we got a call from realtor Rosset to say that we could meet today with the architect that is building the two houses, one of which we are considering. We had talked about the plans, but had not actually put our thoughts on the drawings they had given us. So we stayed up last night 'til nearly midnight, with Dan getting everything drawn that we hoped for. Today Rosset picked us up and drove us there, where we met the two architects, husband and wife, at the site. Turns out Sylvia & Memo are friends of Frank & Ania, and it was Sylvia who drew out the plans Frank is demonstrably using now. They seemed to understood our reasoning and desires for the changes we had sketched, including the addition of a bedroom and bathroom on the lower level. When all was said and done, it was decided that they would check to see if the next lot down was available, because this house had progressed far enough that some walls would have to be torn out and remodeled. We shall see how much the cost difference will be. We did not actually add much cost wise, just some things done differently. It is a very small house, though only about 200sf smaller than our present home. However, the garden area here is rather microscopic, but enough. With this property we could keep the Anacortes house for a few years to see how things go. Then sell one or the other. Sound crazy?

After a very lengthy time at the new house property, Rosset (and 13 year old daughter Emilia) started to drive us back home, and when she had only traveled a couple blocks we heard a clicking sound and soon discovered a wire embedded in a tire. Worried about a flat, she drove on a ways and then found a roadside tire repair shop (open sided well-used shed with some shade-tree mechanics working on some tires, using all hand tools). This on what seemed like a country road south of Fortín. All was repaired for US$2.75. Two nails in the tire. As today is the Day of the Dead, a family holiday, we had planned to walk down to the old city burial grounds to see what was happening. Rosset offered to take us there, as it was quite close to where the tire shop was located, and then we would walk home.

She dropped us off at the large cemetery (panteon) where thousands of people were honoring their dead relatives with fresh flowers, and some with song. Grave sites of departed are treasured and important in Hispanic culture. This is particularly true during this annual holiday, celebrated November 1 and 2. Traditionally, the Day of the Dead is a time when the deceased return to visit loved ones. Hispanics not only clean and decorate the grave with flowers, but will bring food and drink to celebrate the dead. One group gathered around a grave with a harp, and other string instruments. Carmen says her heart melted just hearing and seeing this. Certainly made us think on our loved ones, both dead and alive. Masses of flowers. You could not possibly picture such a site without being there. The flowers are yellow double marigolds which represent earth, white babies breath representing heaven, and purple celosia representing mourning. Marigold petals are spread on the earth wherever one honors their family members who have passed on, even in front of homes on the town streets. Quite a marvelous event to be part of. We do put flowers on graves on Memorial Day, but nothing such as this. One tombstone gave us pause, with thoughts of our mothers now gone. It reads... "Thanks for sharing your life with us: your smile, your kisses, your council and fine examples as a woman; as an exemplary mother and dearest grandmother & great-grandmother. You will always live in our hearts - your children."

We walked the approximately 30 blocks home in the scalding sun, appreciating the shade of trees, enjoying the 3-4 inch long lizards scampering across the sidewalk and up the walls. Along this walk there were hundreds of families heading for the panteon, their arms loaded with flowers. Many people selling refreshments and foods out their front gates. Dan is now reading "Lost Horizon". I finished it last week. Great read.

We added up our food purchases and are indeed spending a wee bit less than $5.00 a week for groceries. Plus $1.65 a week for drinking water.