the tropical blahs

I think this seasonal disorder has descended on me. I got up this morning and the only thing I could think of was how soon I could take a siesta. Mr. C went in to Tecoman this morning to pay the bank trust (second try). I, on the other hand, changed the sheets and fell back in exhaustion. It seems to me this happens every year; the heat, the change of diet (more avocado, more beer), or just the general lassitude that comes with the tropical lifestyle. He got home about noon with the following story. It took him only a few minutes to get up to the service window. That's when the trouble began. The first person he dealt with had no idea what he wanted. We go to this same bank every year but there's always someone who figures out what's needed. So he was passed to a second person. He, too, had no idea what to do. After 40 minutes of discussion, consultation, research and general futzing around, the young man asked Mr. C to indeed write out the checks for the trusts. Then he had no idea what to do with them. He suggested he come back tomorrow. Meanwhile he would research how to complete this transaction. Here's what's so mysterious about all of this confusion. Any non-Mexican with property less than 50 km. from the federal beach zone holds a trust that has to be paid annually, before December 31. And the bank doesn't know how to do it?!?

After lunch I read for awhile, "Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Ferris, an hilarious account of an advertising agency in the era of downsizing. I'd post a pix of the cover but my mouse is dead and I can't copy stuff onto the desktop and then post. Sorry. After about an hour, I fell asleep and slept for 2 1/2 hours. I wonder what tonight will be like?

Tomorrow we have to go in to Armeria to consult with Raul, the window man, about our screen sliders. The wheels have rusted out and frozen and the doors won't slide. Plus we need a new screen door on the downstairs small bedroom. Mr. C wants to get a haircut, too. 'Tis the party season and he wants to look his best. We have a big birthday party to go to tomorrow evening at a home way down in the colonia. In fact, it's the very last house on the ocean road. Lands End, one could say. I'm taking my camera.

Meanwhile, we now have to decide how long it's going to take the bank employees to figure out how to process a trust payment. Probably until next week.