Lunes, 2 Enero. It was lovely today so we put our
chairs outside and read. We were not reading actual paper books. Dan was in the shade with the netbook, and Carmen was in the
sun with the reader. Saw some huge bright yellow butterflies again.
They had been missing thru the past couple weeks of cool weather.
While reading we enjoyed all the many Mexican neighborhood sounds,
including the birds and fluttering butterflies. One must listen
really hard to hear those butterflies flutter. More often, we saw
the shadows across our books.
Mexican sounds: Where to
begin... Train whistles. They bring back memories
from early childhood for Carmen, since at that time she lived in a
small town where one train a day went thru. Actually there was a
train station there. Always was a happy event in her daily life back then. Of
course there were the train trestles over the river in midtown that
one was not allowed to walk across, but of course it was so daring
and fun! Other sounds: Probably mentioned most of these before –
The knife sharpener man with his whistle to let you know he is near,
the propane truck with that specific tune (that we are getting tired
of hearing many times a day), the children yelling at play, the occasional
street hawker, birds squawking or singing, dogs barking, buses, cars and trucks passing by, many people walking and chattering, the church and city hall bells, loud music coming thru open windows of homes, and from many open-front stores, and of course, the school PA system. If one is near a walled compound, otherwise undistinguished, you know when you are near a school, even without the PA announcements. Some school classrooms are open to the outdoors and of course there are bands and sports outside. Sounds from 7am til 7pm, since there are two class sessions a day. Think we might miss the school sounds when we move to our house, though there is a smaller suburban grade school four blocks further south of the blue house. Yes
this is a loud noisy country, and we love it.
Martes, 3 Enero. Bus into Córdoba. We have been
searching high and wide for contact shelf liner. The kitchen cabinet shelves
look almost brand new in our house to be, and we wish to keep them that way.
Since we were early for the notario, we stepped into an Ofix supply
store which we pass a block before his office. There, the first
thing we saw just inside the door, was stacks of exactly what we
wanted! Many colors to choose from. We went with the clear so that
we can still see the attractive dark wood shelving. Still had extra
time, since we were to meet the realtor there at 11am, we did not
want to be early, so we wandered the store, but found nothing else
that we just could not do without.
Still were a minute early. This does
not sound like much, but right away the notario came out to tell us that the
papers had been transmitted to Mexico City from Xalapa and we should get back
to him on Tuesday before he'd know anything. Being finished with our
notario meeting, we met Manolo, who was five minutes late, at foot of
stairs. Discussed our situation, and went our separate ways. Next
we went to Waldos, the dollar type store which is next door to the
doorway that leads upstairs to the notario's office. Here we bought
floor mats, canisters, metal hangers and some apricot jam. Happy bus
ride back to Fortín, which under most conditions takes a half hour or less.
Jueves, 5 Enero. Walked the 4 blocks to Frank &
Ania's obra (worksite) and took some pictures of the progress
since they left for the Pacific coast. We made a bit of a shopping
tour of the town on our way back home. The vet was not in. This
vets office is a few blocks from our house. No, Dan and Carmen have
no daily need of a vet, but our cats must have a doctor eventually.
Next stop was the grocery store for some odds and ends including some
for the new house. Tried several stores for boric acid and finally
found one 10gm bag at a farmacia, where we also bought 10ml
syringe. Dan has been reading up on termite control, since they can
be a problem in this warm climate. Seems that boric acid is a good
riddance to them. Upon returning home, Dan emailed pix to Frank and
worked on stuff for Don Clark.
Viernes, 6 Enero. Cut our loaf of Rosca de Reyes bread, a
ring-shaped sweet bread which is baked with a tiny plastic baby inside, representing the Christ child. The person who gets the little figure is supposed to buy the
tamales on February 2, Candlemas Day. This posed a problem, since as
Carmen cut the bread round, Dan said, oh I see the baby's feet
sticking out of the loaf. So Carmen pulled it out. Now the problem.
Which one of us has to buy the tamales? Dan first saw it, Carmen
first touched it. As the rest of the bread was cut later , would you
believe, Carmen bit into another baby – guess it really is her with
the tamale bill. The odd thing here is that the two tiny forms had
their hair parted on the opposite sides. Figured it was so the
Mother could tell them apart, or was it Jesus and Bizarro Jesus?
Today met the notario at noon with
Manolo also present, and we learned that SRE in Mexico City rejected
the paperwork due to an address confusion. Had a long session of
trying to figure out what to do, as the boondoggle seems to be due to
Fortín having changed the street numbers several times and two
offices in Fortín showing different avenue names. The notario
finally got a plat map showing that the property sits at the corner
of Calle 11 Sur and Avenida 21. The original deed for the house
shows Avenida 27 “renamed as Avenida 19, “ google maps shows
Avenida 15, and the two offices in Fortín shows Avenida 19 (property
tax office) and now Avenida 21 (plat records). Why this wasn't
nailed down originally when our paperwork (showing Avenida 19) was
started is due to Fortín's earlier unwillingness to testify to
anything to SRE. Now SRE in Mexico City is calling on them to write
a definitive statement as to what caused all this mixup, and Manolo
took it upon himself to go talk to the mayor and get a signed
document to clear it all up. This of course meant that the paperwork
all has to be changed to refer to Avenida 21 and then sent in to
Xalapa again, from whence it goes to the big city one more time. Our
meeting broke up with everyone with some degree of aggravation.
In our wandering about Córdoba today,
when we were actually looking for a chemical company to buy a larger
quantity of boric acid, we happened upon an artesanias
(handicrafts) shop along the south side of the central park of
Córdoba. Here we found and bought, after sampling, some really good
wildflower honey, much better than the stuff in the grocery stores.
Carmen was also oohing and aahing over a tiny glass dragon in one of the stalls. Maybe
she will buy it after she has a shelf in the house to sit the fragile
guy upon. Next stop was Walmart to buy a step stool/ladder, blanket and
foodstuffs. We have already looked at these and other
stepladders several times, in several stores, figuring we needed one to reach the upper closet shelves, and ceilings & window tops for basic cleaning chores. Still took us a lot
of ups and downs on the selection in the store before we settled for a
more stable one, considering that as we got older we'd appreciate the
wider steps and hand rail. We are probably great entertainment for other shoppers in the stores we visit.
Sabado, 7 Enero. Manolo emailed us today and said that
he obtained the necessary papers in Fortín and took them to the
notario. The new documents will go to Xalapa with the notario's
visiting daughter Sunday, and she will get them to the SRE office
Monday morning. Found boric acid paste among the anti-cucaracha stuff at the
Urbina hardware in Fortin. Lounged in the sun again while
reading. The internet connection seems to have failed, so no blogging
or other fun internet things. Dan worked on finishing up the
Operating Agreement for Don but couldn't send it on to him.
Domingo, 8 Enero. Beautiful warm day. A few days ago,
going thru our clothes to determine what would stay here and what
would be worn home, we discovered one of Dan's shirts hung in the
closet (as yet unworn on this trip) was starting to mildew. Today was a great day for laundry, so
it got washed and hung in the sun. Luckily this was the only item in
the closet with apparent mildew. Yes, we are learning about keeping
windows open to cut down on mold and mildew. Who would think that
more humidity could cause more work with housekeeping. Of course, there is no central heating in homes for a drying effect. We're thinking of investing a propane heatstove for just this reason, even though it will get used only a little bit each winter.
At noon we took a bus to the huge
Chedraui store located in a mall at the south edge of downtown
Córdoba. As we bussed thru the area that takes a long time on
Wednesdays because of clothing sales along the street (an itinerant
market area, or tianguis), we saw only car sales today. Lots
of used cars, by owners. Here at the Chedraui store – similar to
Walmart, we bought what passes for complete B vitamins (cheaper than
the drug store in Fortín), lansoprasol, a mattress protector we
liked, and some more food to store at the house so there'll
be meal-makings when we come back in June. Found another popular
chinese buffet restaurant but a block from this Chedraui, which we'll
visit some other day. Interesting that the only other such buffet we
found was close to Orizaba's Chedraui store.
Bussed back to a few blocks east of
Walmart where Dan had the Sunday special, paella (clams, crab, shrimp,
chicken, pork, chorizo & veggies, cooked in a delicious saffron
rice – half went home for a meal later in the week) and Carmen had
a fantastic arrachera (a charcoal-grilled, thin sliced flank steak)
plate, served with a bowl of most delicious beans with meat in broth.
Appetizers included tiny new red potatoes in a small bowl with a
thin pepper sauce over them and fresh tortilla chips with a tomatillo
and a red hot sauces. What a meal! All, with a large tip, for about
$21 US. This meal and the Lebanese buffet in Orizaba have been our only meal splurges, leaving lots of restaurants to discover when we're here full-time.
This Sunday evening was so lovely that we
walked to the park – especially great turnout, probably because the
past two Sundays had been rainy and cool. Lots of happy kids trying out their new Christmas toys: bikes, skateboards and the like. Churros from a stall
vendor for Carmen and creamy pineapple paleta for Dan. Tonight's
entertainment was a group playing mostly various drums, then later a
troupe hula-hooping, juggling--we did not stay for later when they
amped it up doing all this while unicycling. The orange yellow moon!!!!!!!!!!! It was near full as it came up behind and thru a
huge tree, then rose into the dark sky. What a way to end a
day...
Lunes, 9 Enero. We have been worrying about our return to the US, not knowing what would happen next
with this house purchase. Dan called US Airways to advise of our need to
cancel our return flights, and now we thankfully have open return
tickets, and don't have to firm up again until we have a solid date
we can actually leave on. Bus to Córdoba, and Notario Limón confirmed all
was delivered to the SRE offcie in Xalapa. Walked over to see big
SuperIberia grocery store a bit north of downtown, and next to the
huge public Mercado Revolución, (where we had a quick look-see).
Then over towards the river, a few blocks west of the market. It was
quite disappointing looking down from a bridge, a sad and seemingly not well-maintained area. Perhaps Orizaba's river walk is so touted that
twin city Córdoba did not want to copy-cat the idea, and so the
riverside doesn't get the attention it could merit. We both had
similar thoughts of winning the lottery and helping fund some cleanup
here.
Everytime we come into the city, we
make an effort to walk down different streets, to come to know the
neighborhoods better. It is a hilly place, with only a few blocks in
width on ridgetops running with the avenues, before the streets dip
down steep one or two block hills. On the bus ride home, we had
just crossed the train tracks near the autopista overpass, coming into Fortín proper, when a train that had just passed
whistled close by. Wow! Was it ever loud as we sat there backed up
near the tracks, waiting for traffic to clear. Upon arrival in
Ftown, we ordered a pizza from a new place, and waited the 20
minutes in the park for it to be baked. We ordered the Italiana
with sausage, pepperoni and salami. Hmm... The pepperoni was about
right. The salami had a strange texture and the taste was near
right. The sausage? Well lets just say that it is hotdogs cut up.
Do you feel the attitude behind this writing?
Martes, 10 Enero. On the bus after a leisurely morning,
and we discovered why one does not sit over the tires in the back.
Did not know a bus ride could be so rough. Arrived at Sr Limón's
office at 1:00pm, but his secretary had no word for us yet. Finally found Kedrop (Alaway) for MXP$286 at Farmacia de Dios, way
too expensive for allergy eye drops. Will have to bring supply from
US. After leaving the notario we tried to find Manolo at his office,
with no luck. We decided to walk south over to Avenida 11 along Calle 2, and passed by the huge IMSS hospital. Discovered a
discount kitchen wares store with a tall lever-type orange juicer like we had in our
restaurant (which Dan had bought in a market in Mexico many years ago). We'll want something like this when we buy oranges by the sack--who wants frozen or bottled OJ when local oranges are so cheap and plentiful? Went to the obra and took pictures of progress, but will
have to wait for internet service to be restored before sending them and passing on a message to Frank telling him he'll need to send
more money for building materials. Went back to the vet's office.
He was out on an obstetric call, and apparently makes pet house calls.
We talked to his assistant this time. She says he speaks some
English.
Carlos said the internet bill was paid
online but that Telmex had turned it off in error thinking it was
unpaid. They seem to be in no rush to restore it. Carmen called
again to confirm that our prior cancellation of air tickets had indeed happened. Seems our late lunch of leftover pizza and paella did not quite fill us up for the day, so we supped on blue
cheese and crackers. We bought more blue cheese a week ago, and to
Carmen's surprise Dan for the first time in her history, complained
that she had more than her share of something, the blue cheese, which
was true. This new wedge was cut down the middle to be carefully
watched.
Miercoles, 11 Enero. The flight we would have been on left
this am from Mexico City at 7:00am. How much longer will we have to
be here? This morning there is still no internet. Early afternoon Manolo came to our motel for the first time. Seems he had sent us two emails that we had not responded to, due to the fact that our internet was out. Bet he was worried that we had left the country. He wanted to discuss the whole situation and see if we could work something out so that we could get back to the US sooner, and his client would be sure to get paid. We arranged to meet him at the notario's office on Thursday at noon. The internet came back on at 3:30pm.
Jueves, 12 Enero. The meeting at the notario's office became a bit heated, but finally it was decided that we could draw up a legal buy/sell contract with the present owner (who is a lawyer, now living in Monterrey). We will all meet Monday at his office. We and the owner will sign papers that will guarantee the property will not be sold out from under us, that the house will come of the market and that the price will hold the same. Will give the owner 24% down. Then when final papers are back in a month or so, we will pay the final balance. In order to sign the final papers, we either have to be here to sign, or we can give someone a limited power of attorney. Frank and Ania have agreed that one of them will do this for us. BUT here is the next catch - they are not back here til the end of February. Frank might be here earlier to continue the work on their house. So there are still details to work out before we can be sure of things and fly back home. Meanwhile, we will be able to put our many things that we have purchased into the house, after Monday's contract is signed. There is no escrow service here, which makes these things more complicated.
Viernes, 13 Enero. Just realized this is lucky Friday the 13th. Dan quietly got out of bed and left Carmen to snuggle in for another hour. She does so love that time in the morning. She asked him to turn the sound off on the computer, which he did. Then he suddenly realized that he had an incoming skype call from his daughter, which of course did not make it's usual sound, the sound being turned off. We had a good chat with Heather and her two daughters. Just after finishing breakfast, we got a skype call from Carmen's brother, Guy. Does this not prove that today is a lucky day? This day started out rainy. Now the sun is burning thru! Hope it stays. Sounds like Anacortes might get snow today. Carmen was hoping to be there for one last snow storm -- Dan was hoping that all the snow would have already be done and melted off the ground before having to return.
