Semana Santa

Domingo 24– Sábado 30 Marzo 2013.  This was a slow week, due to weather and the Easter holidays,    with little of note that happened. So we'll dispense with our usual day-by-day commentary.  Our house renovation work has moved back outdoors, since the new bathroom is mostly finished. After a progressively more rainy sunday, our crew called in monday morning experiencing a steady downpour at home up in Coscomatepec, on the slopes of Orizaba, to say they would not be in that day.

They did opt for a chance at better weather here in Fortin the next day. However, it was still intermittently wet, so Dan suggested that the two guys not finishing the bathroom and tilework should attack the task of taking out part of the wall in the master bedroom. This is where the other window we removed to make a space for the terraza door will go. The guys were happy to get in out of the rain, since most of the demolition could take place from inside. Our pile of escombro (construction debris) at the side of the road is growing larger. Despite being sheltered most of the time, they were soaked by the end of the workday.

Wednesday was supposed to be a replay, with rain in the forecast, so when they left tuesday night they said if it was raining the next morning, we wouldn't see them until the following week. Seems they celebrate La

Pascua (Easter) season very seriously down here, from holy (aka, maundy) thursday thru Easter sunday. However, after a cloudy beginning here, and presumably rain up in Cosco since the guys didn't show up, wednesday turned out to be beautiful. Our welder, Mauricio, spent the day working on welding the structural skeleton for the mirador shelter's roof.

We have seen many processions of people thruout these last four celebrated days of Semana Santa (holy week). Some of but a few people, and some with a crowd stretching out a couple blocks long. People singing, bearing liturgical images, statues and crosses, usually adorned with flowers and fabrics. People carry candles when the processions are at night. Since we are contraesquina (kitty-corner) from the new La Trinidad chapel, the processions often pass by the house.

On thursday, even though the crew didn't show up, late in the day our carpenter Meliton, came to install the two puertas we had salvaged from the set of french doors off the dining area. He had stripped them, filled out the grooves where their styles joined, and refinished them. He reset the sheets of glass we had been storing and rehung the doors, one at the end of the passageway near the new bathroom, and the other in the master bedroom, and then installed the new locksets. Dan reinstalled the protection bars that we had repainted earlier, on each door. The welder has continued on the mirador all day. Both craftsmen returned on friday, and we had Mauricio here again on saturday finishing up the mirador superstructure.

Despite the sometimes cloudy days and precipitation, we are enjoying the climate here.  Being from the wet side of Washington State, we would surely miss the clouds, and the rain here just rolls off our backs.  Many locals carry umbrellas when the weather is inclement, but our long years in the PNW have trained us well on how to dodge between the drops, and how to find things indoors to do when it really pours. We are grateful for the flores this town is known for, and the front yard is colorful thruout the year, with the bugambilia always showing it's colors, and the plumbago, repeatedly showing its lilac-colored blooms  that come out after we cut it back regularly.  We will certainly miss our lilac hedge in Anacortes, but since the city there put in the front sidewalk, all that was left of that is a few small rescued reminders of it's former glory.

Our Gardi cat has escaped from our front yard twice this week, exploring the area outside the fence. Once he was sitting in the back area, just waiting for Carmen to come pick him up. The other time we found him on the sidewalk on the north side of the house. He saw Dan and was so happy to see him. So – kitty no longer gets to go outside 'til the extra rods have been welded into the fence to make the openings narrow enough to be cat-proof. Gardi is sulking. Smij continues to sleep in her drawer under the bed during the day. Wonder where she will go when the workers are cutting thru the wall to install the two small windows (salvaged from the laundry room) in her chosen retreat room?