a week's worth of (non) news

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2009

There is something sweetly poignant about driving through a town early in the morning, before the day has gotten underway. You drive past the shuttered shops and the empty malls without their compliment of cars and shoppers. And the dark houses, where sleepers are still tucked up, their joys and sorrows still in the shadow of dreams, before it all comes back to them, whatever it might be. I like thinking about the temporary peace the night brings, unless, of course, you are a night watchman or a nurse on night duty. Or else this is just where my fantasty leads me as we slowly drive down Grant Street to the dread I-10, headed east to Highway 19 and the Nogales border crossing.

Yesterday, just on a whim, I checked out the AAA Mexico Travel Guide to see if there was any information about negotiating our way through town. Good hint: take the “International trucks” lane and you bypass the town. Yep, worked like a charm. We were at the secondary frontera in no time. Got our FM3 (Mexican travel document for long-term Mexico dwellers) stamped, car permit issued, and we were on our way. It took 2 hours, starting at the hotel, until we were tooling down Mex 15, the main costal N-S route. A bit of rain, some cloudy skies, some sunshine, hardly any traffic, and here we are at 2:30 PM at our favorite hotel in San Carlos, a semi-trendy beach town near Guymas. Three-hundred and twenty-eight miles today, for a three day total of 1,225 miles, just about half way from one front door to the other.

How do you know you’ve arrived in Mexico? Easy, of course, since now distances are marked in kilometers, all the signs are in another language, all gas is sold by Pemex, and long-distance busses are everywhere. Plus when you stop at a light, boys and young men swarm over your car, washing the windows and selling things like tortillas, furniture, candy, fruit (Mandarine oranges are now in season; big bag for 10 pesos (70¢). At all the topes, too, homemade tamales or tortas. Oh yes, and there’s the ubiquitous pick-up truck with Grandma and the kids and the dogs in the bed, none of them tethered, of course. Unless it’s Grandma, sitting in a chair that’s been tied down. Great sight.

Along the road toward Hermasillo there is a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe that someone lovingly painted on the mountain.



I took this from the car; it’s not the greatest but you can get the idea of its massive size. I don’t know how it was done, but there she is, smiling down at the thousands of passers-by speeding up and down this section of the toll road. There is another one, too, but I haven’t seen her yet. Even bigger, if I remember correctly. And we are entering the 12 day celebration of the Virgin tomorrow. Another interesting sight along the way, and I didn’t get a picture, are official signs that read, “Hassle Free Zone – USA”. We were utterly stumped by this sign, but I intend to research its meaning. Does it mean that drug murderers will leave you alone? Wouldn’t that be nice?

We got through Hermasillo in about 20 minutes, start to finish. Record time. It’s a strange route, partly through residential neighborhoods, partly on business streets, partly on recently widened and improved highway. The first time we did this it was probably over an hour to negotiate our way past the prison, past the coffee roasting company, along neighborhood streets where kids were on their way to school. Now, just zip, zip.

Right now I have the doors in the room open to hear the gulls shrieking and the surf rolling in on the sandy beach below. The place is pretty deserted at this time of year; much too cold to sit outside or swim. It’s quiet and peaceful. There was quite a bit of traffic noise at last night’s hotel; there will be only the soothing sound of the sea tonight.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2009

I woke up early this morning to the sound of the pelicans squawking as they searched out breakfast. (Consider the greedy pelican./His beak holds more than his belly can ~ Ogden Nash, I think). The sea was calm, the sky a bit overcast, but lovely to behold.



Last night we decided we’d take off for Alamos this morning to have breakfast at a delightful hotel where we stayed last year. From San Carlos to Alamos is about 120 miles, a long way to go for breakfast, but worth it in the end. Then it was back on the road to Topolobampo, near Los Moches. Although this burg is well known for two reasons ~ it’s the ferry departure spot for Cabo and the Baja and it’s a good deep sea fishing spot ~ there is only one hotel and one restaurant (two, counting the one in the hotel) in town. We’ve been staying here for years and it’s just as seedy now as it was then. Only this time they warned us that the “boiler” was broken se we would have no hot water. No problem! We were on our way to Mazatlán and would have a nice hot shower there! (See this for more about that!) We had a mediocre dinner and went to bed, having now traveled 1600 miles.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009

With light hearts and high anticipation we headed out of Topo toward Mazatlán, planning to get there in plenty of time to find our little seaside hotel, have a leisurely lunch, stroll the beach and look for a nice dinner spot. A couple of hours down the road we pulled into a Pemex for gas, foraged in the ice chest for some breakfast, and headed on down the road. The pilot does tend to have a heavy foot on these long trips, and this was no exception. We are barreling down the road and, from the opposite direction, comes the flashing of headlights. “He’s talking to you,” I said. “Who?” “That cop.” “Why?” “Because you’re speeding.” The cop makes a big U-turn, turns on his lights and pulls us over. He couldn’t have been more polite, pointing out that the speed limit is 110 km (70 MPH) and please slow down and have a good trip. The pilot said thanks and we were on our way. Let me tell you, there’s nothing like the prospect of having your car impounded, your stuff inspected, and your money spent for bail to bring speed religion into your life, and fast! From then on the pilot used the minute-minder (aka Cruise Control) to keep us legal.

So it was on to Mazatlán. We took the cut-off for the beaches and that’s when the nightmare began. From the moment we got on the waterfront road all we could think of what how to get out of the place. Construction is everywhere, the taller the better. Trucks, cars, busses, bicycles, scooters, people, blaring loudspeakers, honking horns; a nightmare. I’ve lived too long in a small town to be able to deal with that much confusion and congestion. And where might we have found a nice little seaside hotel? Definitely not in this town. After negotiating along the seafront, we turned left, found the freeway and heaon down to Tepic, another 4 hours down the road, but a place we know. We pulled into our usual hotel, got a room, had an early dinner and went to bed. Tomorrow we would be in Cuyutlán by 3 PM, all things going according to plan. And a day early, at that.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2009

We headed out of Tepic at 7 AM, already 8 AM at the beach. Easy drive on good roads without much traffic. We hit Colima at 1 PM, stopped at Cronos for crepes and beer, and were rolling through the Bienvenidos a Cuyutlán arch by 3 PM. Place looks just the same; dilapidated and drab on the main road into town, dilapidated and colorful everywhere else. A couple of years ago, in an effort to “spruce up” the town, someone came up with the idea of painting everything white (all the house and store fronts), and pulling out or chopping down all the trees and shrubs that lined the streets and masked some of the architectural flaws. Then they paved the road right up to the sidewalk so no future plantings could be undertaken. Even weeks won’t grow. Very, very bad idea. This is a town desperately in need of some TLC and beautification. In the past it always looked seedy, but it had a rather shabby charm to it, with trees overhanging the streets, giving some visual texture to the sight, shadow and color. Now it is stark, unrelievedly bleak, and looks hot, dry and uninviting. 2,235 miles later, we're here.

But the house looks wonderful; Chuy and Fernando had put it all back together for the wedding guests who stayed here, and then prepared it all over again for us. A pineapple was on the upstairs terrazzo table, a papaya and some beautiful bananas on the countertop, beer in the fridge. A perfect welcome. We saw Jack, we saw Marie, we unpacked a little, then went up to Baby’s for a few necessities ~chips, salsa, tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, cucumbers ~ for a big dinner salad, using the left-over tampequeño beef from my dinner last night. Then it was time to call it a day, get into bed and listened to the surf roll in and out. A sweet lullaby.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009

Something must have happened on this day but it seems so long ago that I can’t remember. Decided to put off a big marketing for yet another day. Can’t quite face it. We did go to Dago’s for dinner; eight of us enjoying good fish, beautiful sunset, fine fellowship.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2009

Off to the Bodega supermarket this morning to lay in stores. An hour , 10 bags, one box of wine bottles, and 1300 pesos later we came home laden with enough victuals to last about a week. I even went our on a limb and bought a big hunk of beef, keep in mind that it is usually very tough and tasteless, for a stew since the weather has been quite cool. Came home, settled down for an afternoon of reading (no internet yet) when suddenly the refrigerator started making awful grinding noises. We unplugged it and groaned at the thought of having to buy a new one. We bought this Mexican-made beauty in 2001 during our first year in the house. It has worked just fine, even though it is getting a bit rust spotted. Plugged it in a couple of hours later and all was well. It’s clear something is amiss but I’m not sure what, or if it’s fixable or has to be replaced. We will consult with Jack about a repair person.



Another way you know you’re in Mexico: street burning. Late this afternoon someone started burning something that was sending up plumes of dark, stinky smoke. The fire had been set inside the walls of the lot across the street, and it continued to burn for 3 hours. Fortunately the wind never shifted so that the smoke came directly into our house. But it was close enough. Street burning is almost an everyday thing; it you have stuff the garbage people won’t take, and I can’t imagine what that might be, just pile it up and burn it. Nobody ~ except some fussy gringo ~ will bat an eye.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREW. Grandson Andrew, currently languishing in Thailand in preparation for a trip to Paris, then Toulouse, then Barcelona, then home, celebrates his 21st birthday today. I find it incredible that he has reached that milestone already. It seems only yesterday . . .

At about 2 AM this morning it started to rain. Sometimes I think it’s raining when the wind is restling the palm frond outside our bedroom window. But this time it was real. It rained steadily until about 10 AM, then settled into a grey, overcast sky. However, we had things to do. We got the name of a refrigerator repair chap in Tecoman so went over to locate his shop. Then we stopped into a couple of the local appliance stores to see what they might be offering in the way of new machines. We did fine one that was OK but the door opening sides can’t be changed. Ours has to open on the right side. Next spot to look will be the Home Depot up in Colima or, if all else fails, the Sears. On the other hand, ours is now humming along sweetly so we may be off the hook.

It started raining again on our way home from Tecoman, and this time it didn’t stop until sometime early Monday morning. We pulled the outdoor furniture into the center of the >terrazzo, pulled any unpacked boxes still downstairs up under the overhang, and sat back to enjoy the show. No lightening or thunder; just a steady, even rain that washed any dust off the palm trees and other plants (good) but that left big areas of standing water, perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes (bad). But it did cool everything off very nicely.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2009

The day dawned bright and clear and warm, perfect for tiagues shopping. It was almost as though I had never been away. My usual green grocer saw me and quickly pointed out the redondos in his display, the little round squash I like so much. Strawberries looked good, avocados were not ripe but I bought some anyway and set them on the counter to soften, saw no chard or mushrooms, but did score on beautiful carrots and onions. The chicken man was there; this chap has really nice chickens that are fresh and tasty so I got some legs and thighs to bake The thing I did notice in the market, though, is that prices are quite a bit higher this year. What I brought home today cost quite a bit less last year. I also noticed this in the supermarket. It’s folly to compare here with the US, but these cost increases heavily impact the local residents.

Bought two poinsettias to begin the tarting up of the house for Christmas. Now that the rain has passed (I think) it’s time to get the lights up under the palapa. I checked out the other plants but nothing looked tempting. I am pulling out some shrubs in the front that are only good for a breeding ground for some strange insect that we are never able to get rid of. I’ll treat the soil, augment it, and try something else.

Still no internet connection. We can sometimes get a short signal up on the 3rd floor but it doesn’t last long. One of Neighbor Nelson’s other “J” sons (he has 4, all of whose names start with “J”) is arriving today with a newer, more powerful router which we hope will solve the problem. By the way, the youngest "J" Nelson told me that the "Hassle Free Zones" mean that nobody will stop you, even for speeding, if you have a US license plate. Too bad the pilot was in the wrong zone!

All that said, the refrigerator seems to be behaving itself. For now.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2009

I am up at the town’s internet café since ours is not working at all. Chuy came this morning to put the shine back into the house, leaving it spic and span. The sun is out, the waves pounding the shore, the sea a sparkling blue. Because of no internet I have had more time to get caught up on the periodical reading I brought down, mainly old New Yorker’s. They will go into the town library as I finish them. Also am rereading Evan Connell’s Deus lo Volt!, which I read several years ago when it first came out. Its subject is the crusades, the Christians vs. the Infidels. Current events, only eight hundred years ago. Good stuff.

I am hoping we'll get in-house internet within the next couple of days. At that time I'll put up the missing photos. Meanwhile, it's good to be here, to see old friends, and to look forward to some months in the hammock.