HITCH EM UP, HEAD EM OUT

Sigh....the time has come to leave our beautiful little casa and head back to the states. It's almost impossible to believe that we've been here for 4 months, the time has gone by so quickly. But the temps are starting to inch up along with the humidity, and we've been told by many that the summer heat and doldrums will soon be upon us. So we're returning to beautiful Texas where the weather is slightly more tolerable and the air conditioning is significantly more prevalent. We will be partly reversing course for the return trip; taking the overnight Baja Ferry across the Sea of Cortez and driving north on the coastal highway for a couple of hours. Then the plan deviates from our original drive down, and we head east into the Copper Canyon region, hoping to see some beautiful mountain scenery. After spending the night in a small town (the place we're staying is called the Championes Cabinetas...mushroom cabins...hmmmm, this could prove to be an interesting experience), we'll continue heading east/northeast, and stay the next night in the city of Cuauhtemoc. We were there several years ago with our church youth group and it was a fairly quiet place; pray it's still the same. Then the next day we plan to drive through the rest of (gulp) Chihuahua without incident and make our border crossing into Texas at Presidio. Hope all of you will keep your fingers, toes, eyes, etc. crossed that we have an uneventful road trip once again!



We have had a BLAST in La Paz and the surrounding Baja in our short time here. It is such a laid-back, easygoing place. And the folks who live here, Mexicanos and gringos alike, are the same. We will miss them but look forward to renewing friendships when we return. Now it's on to our next adventure...Yellowstone National Park. We will be visiting the parks (also Grand Teton) in mid-June, accompanied by our daughter Renee and her family. The grandkids are getting to that age (11 and 9) where spending time with grandparents is starting to lose its thrill, so we have to cultivate these moments while we still can. Terrible teenhood is just around the corner for them and we know that we will quickly become passe in their eyes (for at least a few years). Besides which, seeing Yellowstone is another item on our Bucket List, so we're getting a double hit on this outing.

We thank you for keeping up with us on this new life of ours. While we may not see you as often, you are all still with us in our hearts/minds wherever we go. Via con dios, amigos (and so will we)!

ESTADOS UNIDOS vs MEXICO...BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Just returned from a whirlwind trip to San Antonio, where we got to play catch up with reams of paperwork, paid our annual homage to the IRS, shopped till we dropped from our "bring back to Mexico" list, and actually managed to squeeze in some quality time with friends. It was GREAT to see them all; just wish we would have had more time to play! Our return flight was another edition of the Clampetts. We acquired some very-used luggage thanks to friends having a garage sale and the local Goodwill store, which we proceeded to stuff full of items from the aforementioned Mexico list. We then hauled all four mismatched, different colored bags to the airport and prayed they would survive the flight...they did! The only bump we encountered was when the Mexican customs agent watched our bags being x-rayed and determined we had several household items in tow (Barb's bad...she didn't take all the items out of their packaging and we guess that showed up in the x-rays). But when he asked what was in the bags, did we have cortinas (curtains), what else were we carrying, and how much did it all cost (whew!), she sweetly answered that we only had linens/other household items (TRUE) and that they came from our home in the U.S. (NOT QUITE TRUE-THEY ACTUALLY WERE IN THE HOUSE FOR A FEW DAYS...ok, LIE). For some reason, he decided not to challenge us. Maybe it had something to do with how funky those suitcases looked, like how much could the owners of such suitcases really afford to smuggle in? Anyway, it was smooth sailing after that and the shuttle bus service once again delivered us on time to our new hometown, happy but tired (and Bill's arms might have stretched a little from all that hauling ~ 250lbs).

Our trip home got us thinking about what we like in each place, so we've come up with a little Letterman list of top tens (sorry about the layout..just couldn't get it to line up...but you'll get the drift):

San Antonio vs La Paz

10. Tex-Mex meals 10. Mex-Mex meals
9. TV 9. No TV (we're reading alot)
8. No wondering about toilet seat availability in cafes 8. No wondering about tip (10%) in cafes
7. Great Chinese, mediocre seafood 7. Great seafood, mediocre Chinese
6. Lower gas prices 6. No shopping for gas-all the same price
5. Ice cold Shiner 5. Ice cold Pacifico micheladas
4. Breakfast tacos 4. Baja fish tacos
3. Spurs basketball 3. Lucha libre midget wrestling
2. Biz attitude-very efficient,impersonal 2. Biz attitude-inefficient,very personal
1. Old friends 1. New friends

So there you have it, friends old and new. Until next time, we send all of you our heartfelt thanks for hanging in with us. Adios!

WHALES & SAILS

Well, here is an update you can all relate to (or to which you can all relate if you are grammatical freaks).

Our 1st road trip from La Paz took place on Miercoles, 12 de Marzo del 2010 (that language training is really paying off), when we decided to go to Puerto San Carlos to take a whale watching excursion. Well, we went to see the whales and didn’t because: A) it was a little too late in the season, and B) the wind was so strong we wouldn’t have been able to stay in the boat. Swimming with the whales was not the objective. We did, however, have an experience we won’t soon forget; we lived through our first-ever desert sandstorm. The wind was blowing the sand so hard you would have thought you were in the Great Lakes region during a white out. You could see the sand blowing/snaking down the road the same way snow does (for you Texans, this has no connection in your synapses). We stopped in a town called Ciudad Constitution for lunch at a Birrieria. Pretending to know everything, Barb ordered the juicy Birria and Bill ordered the Birria el Horno. Wouldn’t you know it! The juicy birria was dry with a side of juice and the birria el horno was a soup (we think the switched up the orders, but as long as we got some of each tipo, no problema). In any event, it was roasted lamb and it was delicioso! Once again (and we keep re-living this), it’s all about the food!

Speaking of food, we also had a neat neighborhood encounter that we called “the Pied Piper of Sweet Potato”. One day a couple of weeks ago Barb kept hearing a high-pitched whistle and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Bill, being hearing-challenged, thought she was hallucinating. However, last week she heard the same sound again (kind of a combination factory whistle and Zamphyr-like flute). So we jumped in the car and tracked down the noise. It turned out to be a man with a fancy push cart who was selling both sweet potatoes and plantains (bananas) roasted over charcoal, which he served with honey and condensed milk drizzle…$2 per large serving. YUMMY!!! That covered dinner for that night.

There are actually several vendors who traverse the neighborhood with wares for sale, and many of them have a distinctive sound. The water truck (selling large bottles of water) comes by several times a day with a very snazzy recording (and each neighborhood gets its own unique tune). The LP gas truck makes one daily circuit, with its own distinct musica. We’ve also had vendors stop by selling strawberries (now in season) and shrimp (always in season), very fresh and very reasonably priced. Que padre! (Cool!)

Last Sunday afternoon, in search of fun, we headed into the central part of town to the zocalo (main square). We had been told that there was an all-day bingo game held there each week, smack dab in front of the cathedral. Lo and behold, there it was. Instead of bingo, it’s called Loteria and instead of numbers, they call out…in Spanish… figures which are printed on the loteria cards. But just like at the VFW Bingo halls in the states, the game is the same, and so are the quirky characters playing it (including the little old ladies with their special charms and markers who play 4 cards at a pop). Luckily for us, a very nice Spanish couple insisted we sit down across from them and helped us through each round. We didn’t win a single time, but the event was, as they say in the commercials, priceless!

Much later...

YIKES!!! How time flies, whether or not you’re having fun! We have been remiss in our blogging, and some of you have noticed. No, we haven’t been kidnapped or swallowed up by an earthquake (that was WAY north of here, at the California border). Just equal parts busy and lazy. Our continuing battle with the architect/remodeler is currently going in our favor, but only because Bill has put in many hours building our case. We recently had our second meeting with the consumer agency we filed a complaint with and it seems like the architect has decided to settle with us. Of course, we haven’t seen our reimbursement yet (that is supposed to occur on or before our third, hopefully final, meeting) but he has suddenly become a lot more cooperative about providing documents we requested and proceeding with the filing of paperwork necessary to close out the project for government purposes. We won’t bore you with any of the ugly details, but suffice it to say we fell into the same trap that many/most long-distance owners do and assumed the renovation work would be completed without our constant vigilance. Shame on us! Fortunately, we have found several independent craftsmen (electrician, plumber, carpenters, pool guys) who will be working directly for us and we hope to have most of our unfinished work finished within a month.

On the having fun side, we’ve made a few beach trips, been to our first movie (English spoken/Spanish subtitles/bad popcorn), and hooked up with some new friends. Seems like most of the folks we’ve met have a few things in common: a good sense of humor, no qualms about speaking their minds, an adventurous streak, and appreciation for good cold cervezas! Right now the “boat community” in La Paz is having their annual Bay Fest and we’ll be attending some of their “hot” events, like the Bocce Ball Tournament, Blindfold Rowing Dingy Race, and the Oldies Dance (with tunes played by the Barking Dogs band, featuring lead singer Roberto…the Italian guy we bought the casa from). And the best part is, it’s all taking place within a mile or so of our house, so we can walk home if those cervezas start adding up! Guess it’s about time to batten down the hatches and head to the marina. Until next time, remember…

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”

--William Arthur Ward

MID TERMS

Woo-hoo! We managed to make it through 2 weeks of Spanish school and are now beginning our break. We feel like kids again, reveling in the thought of no more homework…at least for a while. Our experience at “Se Habla…La Paz” Escuela has been wonderful so far. We started out in a class with 2 other folks our age (young) who had even less experience with Spanish than we did, so we immediately knew we were going to be okay. The course is set up to adjust to whatever level its students need; thus we started at the very bottom…present tense only for the verbos and a slew of words and helpful expressions (like “Que Padre” for “Cool”). A little akward for normal conversation, but ya gotta start somewhere! The instructors were VERY patient and funny and each one (we had two separate instructors for a total of four hours each day) took a slightly different approach; thus we got to experience the language from different perspectives. After the first week, one of our classmates decided it was a little too intense for him and dropped back to a 2-hr daily session (Que lastima!), so then we were three. Our other classmate was a delightful lady from Vancouver who had some experience with French, but no Spanish. However, she was a real trooper and in the course of 2 weeks we got to be good friends not only with her but also with and her husband and son. Perhaps the fear of failure mixed with all the laughs (not to mention some liberal doses of cerveza) did it! Anyway, this past Sunday found us all in a cantina sipping some Pacificos while watching the US/Canada Olympic hockey match. Did we mention that we were almost the only Yanks in the place? It was packed with rabid Canadian fans. Luckily, the Canucks won the game, we were very gracious in offering our congratulations, and the friendship not only survived but flourished. Unfortunately, their visit to La Paz has ended but Connie (ConniA in Espanol) & Mike are in the process of buying a “winter getaway” here so we hope to expand our friendship in the near future. Can’t wait to see who we’ll meet in our next set of classes!

Next week we hope to travel a little way up the road and over to the Pacific Coast to the port town of San Carlos, where we will try a little up-close and personal whale watching. From what we’ve been told we will be taken out on a smallish boat to view the ballenas and their babies as they frolic in the sea. The boats apparently get fairly close to the action, so we’ll be bringing our rain gear to avoid any big splashes or fallout from spouting! You can be assured we’ll be posting any good pics. This will be our first foray into the interior besides the cross-over on the drive between Cabo and La Paz, so we expect to see some unique country. How well we’ll communicate in a small Mexican town should prove to be unique, too!

An interesting cultural custom we’ve noticed and picked up on is the ancient, meditative quality of daily sweeping. Every morning most Mexican homeowners (or their maids) get out and sweep the dirt away from the front of their homes. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s a little shack on a dirt road (no, we’re not kidding) or a palatial estate with gated entrances. Someone is out there in the morning, sweeping the dirt away from the house, into the street. And because it’s a little breezy and a lot dusty in most areas of La Paz, by the time the next morning rolls around it’s time to get the broom action going again, same time/same place. Barb calls it “Mexican Tai Chi” because the slow, repetitive motion sort of puts your brain in a trance. Ahh-so, little grasshopper! Until next time, keep those brooms moving!

Some Interesting Notes

We had a light rain here last week and you would have thought there was an ice storm. People didn’t show up for work and there was hardly anyone out driving. The people you did see were in ski parkas and woolies because the temperature fell to around 50 degrees F. We were spotted instantly as Norte Americanos and not Paceños (locals) because of the T-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops in this frigid weather.

There is absolutely no need to waste money fixing potholes because all the locals know where they are and swerve to avoid them. We just follow a local citizen and zig when they zig and zag when they do. It’s quite a lot of fun actually. And if you need to park but can’t find a spot? No problemo; just double park and flip on your flashers, whether it be for a few minutes or a few hours. You’d think this was New York City!

We’ve always wondered why dogs in Mexico are always sleeping during the day. Well, we now have the answer. They bark all friggin’ night. When the sun comes up, they shut up and sleep. Barb is giving biscuits to the dogs next door. As soon as she has them under her spell, we’ll be slipping them a Benadryl at dark.

Next week we begin our Spanish classes, although we have already learned quite a few words from the people we’ve come in contact with; they are always eager to help us, even though we virtually slaughter many of the words and phrases we put out there. It’s undoubtedly a good chuckle for them, but they seem to appreciate the effort we make (along with a lot of hand gestures, sound effects, and smiles). Bill has gotten a bit paranoid about the double-r sound (remember “Ruffles have ridges”) of many Spanish words. Barb has caught him trilling away when he thinks he’s alone, trying to get it just right! (He’s always been an over-achiever.)

We also got word that our first visitors will be arriving the second week of March and we are eagerly awaiting their arrival…not to mention the suitcase load of contraband we will be asking them to bring down! Just kidding, Mike & Lisa. We promise to keep the wish list to a minimum; your smiling faces will be the best import we could hope for! We just hope the whales will cooperate and put on a good show for you when we go out fishing. Once we get the "ratings" back we will open up the reservation line. So start thinking about heading south...way south!

Time to go see about shutting up those dogs again. Ay,carumba!! Buenos noches.

A WEEK AND COUNTING

It seems hard to believe that it was just over a week ago we headed out of San Antonio on our “Mexodus”. With a little over 1550 miles on the odometer (not counting the ride across the Sea of Cortez), we rolled into our new second hometown of La Paz bright and early on Saturday morning, February 6th. Of course once we exited the ferry we came to a screeching halt and sat in line for 1 ½ hours, waiting for all the commercial big rigs to slide past us through the Federales, state, local, and insect fumigation checkpoints. When our turn finally came around it became a quick 5 minute game of smiling and looking dumb (or maybe the “looking” part should read “being”). In any event, when the officer opened up the back end of the truck he took one look at the mountain of belongings wedged inside and quickly waived us on through; we brought new meaning to the term “fully loaded”!

Since then, we have been scurrying hither and yon, attempting in our can-do Gringo mindset to accomplish all the work needed to settle into our house…you can already guess how successful we haven’t been. As feared, the work on the house ceased just about the time Bill’s plane left the ground the last time he was here (December). So our first order of business was to make an extensive punch list of everything that still needed doing or re-doing; the list was 4 pages long (3 pages in December). We had our first reckoning with the project contractor a couple of days ago, and all of a sudden we have assorted workers showing up! They’re not necessarily finished with the work yet, mind you, but at least they’re here. In addition, we have been out trying to acquire some furnishings, beds being a high priority since the concrete floors are just not that comfortable. Did you know that a Mexican mattress is shorter and wider than its American counterpart? Not by much, just enough to make our American linens fit a little funny. So we opted to pay top dollar (peso) for American king and queen mattresses/frames, since we brought our own linens after being warned that Mexican linens sucked. We have a feeling that we’re going to go through this kind of cultural awakening again and again. On a brighter note, the furniture we did buy here on previous trips has been delivered and looks GOOD. Can’t wait for those of you who have the interior design bug (and you know who you are…Nancy, Lisa, Barbara, etc.) to get here to help accessorize.

Carnaval in La Paz commences on February 11th; it’s the Mardi Gras of Mexico and we are very excited about experiencing it. Yes, we anticipate there will be lots of drunken revelry, crowds, and hoopla, but we think/hope it will be a little toned down compared to New Orleans. And you all know us, we’re into a good party scene! All the action occurs along the Malecon (the seafront boulevard that runs about 5 miles through town), with daily parades and many stages set up for singing and performances (and beer). Anyway, we’ll try to get some good pics and send them along.

Well, it’s finally daylight (yes, we’re still up at the butt-crack of dawn) and Bill is ready to head to his home away from home, Home Depot, to spend yet another wad of pesos. Barb gets to sit and wait for the plumber to show up…or not! What an exciting life we lead, si? Stay tuned for the next chapter…Spanish class begins next week!

The Sartors were in La Paz in November to check on the work we are having done on our house. The day before we were leaving Bill made a U turn on Abasolo (a common practice for the natives). All of a sudden, the Policia Preventia came whoop-whooping behind us to pull us over…sheeet! We were in a well-marked rental car and chubby copper-policía gordo—surprise, surprise--started to shake us down. Bill's big mistake was pulling out my money clip. Bill learned after that how to handle the situation a little more persuasively (i.e., no big bills in the clip).

I (Bill) went down again in December to check on the work we are still having done. Still having done. Still having done. We are working on our PHD in Mexican patience (I digress).

Anyway, I was on Prieto Avenue headed for downtown and I rolled through a stop sign like you are supposed to do there, and guess what… my good amigo chubby copper pulls me over AGAIN (in my rent car). I asked what was wrong and he tells me that I didn’t come to a complete stop at the stop sign. It was everything I could do to keep from laughing and said, “You’re kidding, right?” He didn’t have a sense of humor and asked to see my license and started to go through his routine again. When he was through trying to shake me down, I reached into my bag and handed him my FM-3. His eyes got pretty big and he gave me my license and FM-3 back and told me to have a nice day.

He passed me the next day and blasted his horn and waved. It’s great to have friends on the police force!