Domingo 16 – Sabado 22 Sep 2012. (Sun 16th) You have heard
how everything runs on a slower timetable here in Mexico. Well I
would like to say that even the roosters get their day started late.
Thankfully, as we do not like to be awakened by their cheerful
hellos. Actually there are two near here, but not too near.
Desayuno at Cafetería Fortín to post blog entries. This
restaurant is the one 15 blocks from home, and west of the central
plaza and a half block south. Always good, but smaller amounts than
the restaurant four blocks from home, where we would have gone,
except they said that their cook had not shown up yet this morning.
We were also able to send the final moving list to Teresa, which she
will translate and use to get our things across the border.
Since it's Sunday, a day with the least
amount of traffic on the streets, we decided to venture out with the
car to start to get accustomed to driving around here, with the goal
of getting to Walmart, halfway between Fortín and Córdoba. On the
way we thought to stop by to say hi to Frank and Ania. We had called
all three of their phones to see if they were home, but no one
answered, so we just took a chance. We tooted our horn at their gate
and the gate opened; someone must be home. Such a beautiful piece of
property they have on the hillside, filled with plants that are still
seem exotic to us. Ania was out back working in a garden. Stayed
maybe an hour to chat, then headed out for shopping.
We had to wait for a train at the grade
crossing halfway between here and there. Luckily it was not a long
train. On the top of the train cars sat many travelers, mostly men.
Folks from south of the Mexican border come into Mexico this way.
And no, they are not deported. Mostly they are treated generously by
the local citizens. Word has it that folks in Fortín are especially
good to them – the teenage girls in the back of the pickup in front
of us gaily waved back. At Walmart, we stocked up on some heavy
stuff (cat litter, detergent, etc), since we had the car with us. We
were also looking for some clothing storage bins (which we plan to
seal up with a little container of silica gel inside, to keep our out
of season clothes dry) and a pressure cooker. Turns out all the
cooker boxes had been opened and the weight gizmo removed by some
light-fingered shoppers before us. On the way out of the store, Dan
bought a small Mexican flag from a stand. Today is Dia de
Independencia, and we thought we'd show the colors. It's now
hanging on the porch a few feet from our front door. ¡Viva
México!
Mon 17th. Walked up to
visit the Fester store for info and prices. Back home Dan swapped
out some electric outlets--whereas the US has duplex outlets, Mexico
uses snap-in units into a holder that will fit any combination of up
to three switches, ungrounded or grounded outlets. Put away more
food items. Frank visited at end of day, and of course we offered
him his favorite Gallo beer. Garbage day? Not too sure just when
garbage pick up is supposed to be. Seems very erratic. But it does
happen. Dan read in a newspaper that the dump site for Fortin was
being closed and we assume this has caused a pick up problem today.
Folks here tie their garbage bags high on their steel fencing in
front of their homes or businesses, out of reach of wandering
pooches. Sometimes the ladies down the street from us simply take
their bags out to the truck when it pulls up in front of their
houses. Surely this must cause a longer day for the sanitary
workers.
Tue 18th. Scoped out the
restaurant near bus stop for a possible meal stop on another day.
This involved walking inside, checking out the menu, and asking if
they had internet available for us to use. Yes they do, and we met
the chef, a young lady in white jacket, very neat & spiffy. Took
bus (felt good to be on a bus again) to Pretensur to see roofing
materials and get prices. This factory, about five minutes down the
main drag into Córdoba (halfway to Walmart) manufactures concrete
roof files, blocks, pavers, posts and boveda-type precast
roof-spans, selling locally at very good prices, shipping all over
Mexico and into the US. Lots of variety of tiles, and we walked
around the lot to view samples, colors, etc. These would be to
replace the clay barrel tiles on our upper roof, a large quantity of
which are broken and letting water down onto the concrete slab. Just
replacing the clay tiles would be a frustrating task, as the next
trip up to the roof for maintenance probably would mean newly broken
tiles. They are very fragile and one must walk with extreme care in
exactly the right spots, and even then they may crack. We are
looking for a style that most closely resembles the old hacienda
look, so the new roof does not look out of place on the house. Those
cost of these interlocking concrete roofing tiles alone, at the
factory, will be MX$155 per square meter, which works out to just
about US$1.00 per square foot. Ten tiles cover one square meter of
surface, applied with the proper overlap.
(Wed 19th) Breakfasted at
the Restaurant Maria Guadalupe. This rather new business is
nine blocks north of home, on the corner of Calle 11 Sur and the main
road between Cordoba and Fortin. We catch buses on this corner. They
don't have wi-fi there, but passed us the ethernet cable from their
counter PC to connect us while we sat there. This restaurant is more
upscale with it's menu and atmosphere. Back to food – Carmen had
an omelet stuffed with potato and chorizo which are two of her
favorite foods. Other fillings are available also. Dan had machaca,
sort of a scrambled egg dish with tasty beef strips, onion, tomato,
and small black beans. Of course the plate also had black beans
pureed on the side. (We recall that in northern and western Mexico
one would find pinto beans as their portion of frijoles).
Fresh pastries were included. Usually a pastry basket is set on the
table and you pay extra for each one you eat. Of course coffee,
fresh squeezed orange juice and the most elegant bowl of fruit. Was
melons and guava cut up with a huge amount of pomegranate nibs on the
top. Five pesos more than the other two restaurants we have been
breakfasting at, but the best breakfast yet. Posted a blog entry &
checked email, where we got the final billing from Strom-White. So
right away, Dan authorized a bill-pay from our bank in Anacortes, and
paid them. Returned to the Fester store for more info on sealing our
roof, and also stopped by Cablecom, where it was confirmed our
package would be installed by Saturday. Tapped the ATM at the
Banamex.
Thu 20th. Stayed home
thinking internet might be installed today. Silly us. Dan worked on
a timeline for the upcoming home renovations, translating it all into
Spanish so he'd have it ready for the crew. Carmen unpacked all our
meds. Difficult to decide just how and where items are to go in a
new place. We have determined that garbage pick up is on Monday and
Thursday. Worked some more on the second blog entry about our
travels down here.
Fri 21st – Hot cereal at
home. Washed bedding and jeans, all by hand in our kitchen sink.
Really not that big a thing doing hand wash since Carmen thinks the
scrubbing is tightening up the flabby skin in her upper arms, from
weight loss. Do not want to buy and install the stacked washer and
dryer until work inside and on the roof on the laundry room (the
cuarto de servicio, which will double as a little shop) is
finished. Dan spent some time trying to get some sticky paint off
the office shelves. Smij in bed. Gardi enjoying catnip, being
combed and the feather on a string toy. Carmen studied Spanish. No
Cablecom yet.
Sat 22nd – Woke up this
morn for the second time with a tap tap tap noise going on outside.
This time we went out the front door, instead of the back as
yesterday, and quietly around corner and discovered two woodpeckers,
enjoying themselves. Lighting was such that we could not see their
coloring. Bigger than downy woodpeckers though. We both finished
books. We discovered that there was a part of the ceiling in
bathroom entry which we missed in July when we painted with
festermicide. The ceiling there is a goodly 10 feet high. There was
grit from termite chompings on the floor below that spot. Dan took
our ladder up the stairs and climbed up and painted and syringed the
poison into tiny holes. All the spots where we have put this
festermicide so far seem to be rid of the varmints. Stayed close to
home again waiting for Cablecom; no such luck today. Found a local
radio station that plays enjoyable age-appropriate songs (mostly love
songs it seems, with some great danceable bouncy cumbia
thrown in), a good change from the typical pop, rap, ranchero
and norteño stuff we can normally find.
