Martes, 26 Junio 2012. Actually this is being
written on Saturday, June 30. We have been very busy settling in to
the blue house in Fortin, and this is the first opportunity we've had
to write a bit about our comings & goings. For those who await
our words with bated breath, please excuse us, since there'll be more
delay as we also have to find a location with internet to actually
post this to the blog. Tomorrow Mexicans vote for their next
president. How very sensible, setting election days on Sundays, when
most folks are off work and can more easily manage to get to the
polls. What exactly is so special about Tuesdays that make them
voting day in the US?
We have been in Fortin since June 26,
late afternoon. Took again a bit longer than 24 hours for the total
trip from house to house. This time we flew on United Airlines,
having used up our free ticket on US Airways. Another difference:
United allows a free 50# checked bag, while US Air charged us $25 for
the extra bag, for each of us. This is important as we presume we
will always have some gear or items we cannot find in Mexico, and
that extra baggage allowance will come in handy. We arrived in
Houston at midnight with a nine hour layover. We took that time
literally. Flights to Puebla leave from an older, carpeted terminal,
suited for the smaller planes flown by United Express. We found a
darkish spot where we pulled out the four attached chairs and slept
on the floor between the wall and chairs. Was not bad., and much
more rest than the red-eye flights last time with US Air. No folks
around 'til 5 AM, so some actual sleep was possible.
We flew into Puebla on a 60 seat plane,
this time, instead of into our usual destination of Mexico City. The
fare was virtually identical, and got us into a smaller airport two
hours closer to Fortin. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! You walk onto the tarmac
from the plane, and the one immigration agent happily checks your
passport. Here all luggage goes thru Xray. Oh no, we expected the
worst! We usually travel with but one small carry on bag each.
Quite a different experience having six bags, with two of them about
50 pounds each. The only clothes we had were three pairs slacks. We
had left all the clothes here that we brought past winter.
Of course they just could not resist
taking everything out of the heavier checked bags. Rather unusual
and not the typical luggage, so naturally the customs inspectors
asked the age of the various electronic equipment, and carefully
looked over the various tools. We thought we might not be allowed to
bring in all the vitamins we had packed. We take a lot, plus this
was a six month supply. We had one bottle that was outdated, and
yes, this was our problem item. Everyone there was required to
inspect this bottle of multivitamins. Finally, we were allowed to
keep it. The aduana folks were uniformly polite, fair and not
at all jaded and perfunctory as we have experienced in Mexico City.
We hope to always be able to travel to and from this airport in the
future.
Here we took a taxi across town to the
bus terminal, the huge CAPU (Cental de Autobuses de Puebla),
(major slow traffic, full of trucks-- the route between the airport
and in-city bus terminal is along the major Mexico
City-Puebla-Veracruz highway) where we had several choices of buses.
Waited only half an hour, and we were off again. Grabbed some quick
sandwiches at the the Subway shop in the station. One bitty problem
when we got on the bus – a lady was in our seat and she knew she
was in the wrong seat, but this was the seat she wanted. She moved
across the isle. Same thing happened in the row ahead of us – the
bus driver made the woman move. The scenery on this two hour bus
ride is not to be missed. The faint of heart might prefer to sit on
the side of the bus behind the driver, since there are deep ravines
along the other side. Also four tunnels to go thru. This road is
going thru major repair at present, so the ride probably took an hour
more than usual. Gave us lots of time to admire the scenery.
When we got into Orizaba, Dan called
our friend Frank to let him know that we would be at our house in
25-30 minutes by taxi. Frank had our house keys, since he and his
wife, Ania, did the final house closing for us. Not only was Frank
there when we arrived, but he also told us he would be back in 45
minutes to take us to his house for dinner. On the way to their
home, Frank stopped at the new Aurrera supermarket in Fortín for
some essentials: a large jug of drinking water, mop, yogurt, cereal
and some bleach to treat some mold spots we found under the kitchen
sink, and perhaps have some left to swab out the water tank on the
roof one of these days. By this time the rain was coming down with
unbelievably huge drops—a suitable welcome to GREEN Fortín. Ania
had prepared one of her favorite meals for us and another guest. It
was a homemade sauerkraut dish and was indeed delicious. The
conversation with David, a fellow teacher at the Tec, soon to move to
Queretaro, was enjoyed.
We blew up the air mattress we stashed
with our clothes and a few housewares purchases made last time, and
fell into bed, the first night in our Mexican house, which we are
calling Casa Azuledos.
