Tepic to Cuyutlán to Sunday

This is the first chance I've had to use the internet since our arrival last Wednesday. We're here, we're safe, we're still getting settled. The entire trip was completely uneventful, just the way we planned. Now let's return to the news.

Here's the promised shot of a bit of Pyramid Lake where we lunched lo these many days ago. Much nicer than the rest stop in Lebec.


Next, here's the stormy sky on Monday morning in San Carlos. I've never seen it like that; it's usually bright and sunny when we leave. These grey clouds followed us all the way to Topolobampo.


On Wednesday morning we left Tepic for Cuyutlán at daybreak. Easy drive into Guadalajara. Made a supplies stop at CostCo and Mega (a giant upscale WalMart-style market that has a good liquor section and excellent meat). Then on to the beach, the temperature rising as we went. There is a lot of road construction going on in this last stretch, widening the toll road from two lanes to four in many places, or three in other spots. It will speed up the trip by at least a half hour, and make it much safer.

Arrived at the house in the 84º afternoon about 1:30. Fernando and Chuy had opened up the doors, made the bed, put out the towels, and set up the furniture in the living room and on the terrazzo. Welcome Home! First thing we did was open the fridge for a nice cold beer. But (a) no beer, (b) no electricity and (c) mold. This was not good, especially (b) and (c); (a) we could deal with eventually. Electricity was out all over town for some kind of construction. I hope it is laying those ugly lines underground but nobody seemed to be sure. The garden looks fabulous; the gardeners built me a new garden area in the back; photos to come. I am delighted by their work.

Mr. C went up town and bought beer and we started unpacking. Dinner was already prepared; Chuy made chiles picadillo and they were waiting on the stove. The electricity finally came on around 6, after I had set up candles and flashlights. But the 'fridge did not spring into life. We had this same problem last year; the freon gas had leaked out. It was too late to do anything about it; mañana I will call Tonio. We still had some ice packs left from the road, so we jammed the most important stuff into one cooler, turned out the light and hit the hay.

Thursday morning first thing I called Tonio, the fellow who repaired the fridge last year. His wife said he could come on Friday morning. Not the greatest news but OK. We put some things in a 'fridge over at Jack's and headed to Tecoman for chores. Take the CD player to the repair shop, go to the bank, go to Telmex to get our internet connection (not yet; maybe later today or tomorrow. I'm in the local cybercafe.), and hit the Bodega for dry goods. Then to Armeria on the way home for a bag of deep fried, greasy, heavenly tortilla chips and to gas up the car with $2.67 a gallon Pemex! We were invited out to dinner, a lovely treat. A nice evening with friends at their home with a fine view of the sea and the sunset.

Friday was more unpacking while waiting for Tonio. I decided it was time to do a load of laundry. Mr. C went downstairs to check things out, then called up that I should not come down yet. Why? Dead mice in the washing machine. An hour later I got the all clear. Yes, I could smell traces of their late, lamented demise. But the machine worked just fine. Let me add that this was not the first livestock issue that confronted us. When Mr. C moved the fridge to plug it in, that was a large dead critter behind it. Probably a possum. It had been there for so long that there was no stench left. Like the trooper that he is, he got right to the chore of scraping it up off the tiles, depositing it in the garbage, and cleaning up the mess. He tells the story of his childhood assignment of cleaning out the potato bins in the cellar in preparation for the new crop; if you can get through that job you can do anything!

The repair man never made it. I called several times; no answer. More unpacking. More phone calls. We finally gave up, took showers and headed down to Dago's for Friday night shrimp and conversation. Dago has lost more than 25 yards of beach front where he had tables and umbrellas, thanks to the fury of hurricane Jova. It really did a number on our beach, washing away big dunes that acted as protection from tidal surges. I don't know if he'll ever get that back. But a fine dinner and lovely evening nonetheless.


Saturday I finally reached Tonio's wife and she had no idea where he was and couldn't reach him by phone either. So I called a different chap, Ramiro. I think I woke him up, but he said he'd come between 11 - 11:30. Fine. At 12:30 he arrived with his son. He gave the 'fridge the once-over, agreed it was the freon, went to Armeria for parts, came back and had it running just fine in an hour. For all of this: 1,500 pesos or about $130 at today's exchange rate. While he was fiddling around in the kitchen I was at Marie's playing a killer round of dominoes and catching up on local gossip. She arrived a week ago and it doesn't take long before the grapevine is up and running. Even Neighbor Nelson, still languishing up in El Norte called to check on the evening's events, a.k.a. Who was There, at Dago's!

Since it's Sunday I got my first glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice, still a bit tart because the oranges aren't at their full ripeness, but so delicious. Then more cleaning; there is mold on everything from the very wet and humid summer. But it will all wash away and we'll be ready for what the winter season brings. Fernando came by this morning with a bag of fresh dorado caught by his brother, a fisherman in Manzanillo. It's fish for dinner. I have to stop by Baby's on the way home to look over her selection of veggies. Then back home for more unpacking, rearranging, putting up the lights on the 3rd floor for the official opening of the season.

Tomorrow being Monday means tianguis. I guess we're here.