Where does the time go? It's Wednesday already and it seems like we just got here. I'll take the update one day at a time and see if I can remember what's happened.
FRIDAY
Up at 2 AM, into the van at 3:55, at the airport at 4:30, in the waiting area by 5:10, on the plane at 5:45, airborne at 6:15 on our way to Los Angeles. It was raining heavily when we walked out the door and we were greeted with more rain in LA. Out of one terminal and into another to check in for the flight to Manzanillo. Flight delayed one hour while we awaited the passengers from another flight that had been delayed. We finally got out at 11:45 (1:45 here). Arrived to the utter chaos that is the ZLO airport. It took about 1 1/2 hrs. to get through passport control, recover our luggage, navigate the swarm of sniffer dogs ~ they discovered carrots, celery and cherry tomatoes in our luggage and confiscated them. Carrots, for God's sake!). One more inspection of the baggage, turn in the declaration papers and we finally pushed through the doors into the airport at almost 6 PM. The first thing I saw was Fernando's beaming smile, a mighty welcome sight. Home by 7:30 to a wonderful dinner prepared by Chuy. First thing we did was hook up the modem and try to log on. It worked, but only long enough to send out one message, then it died. No phone, no internet. A couple of Indio's, hot chiles rellenos and we fell into bed, lulled by the soft sounds of the ocean.
SATURDAY
Now came the daunting task of getting things cleaned up, arranged, stowed, etc. The kitchen was the first project and it was a mess, mainly because of the awful mold that had accumulated in the drawers and cupboards during the hot, humid summer. Everything that we left behind had to be inspected, cleaned or tossed. I graciously left Senor C. to do that while I unpacked, looked out to the sea and marveled at how in 12 hours I had gone from a dark, rainy, cold place to this warm, sunny spot. Que milagro.
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| our first sunset of the season |
Early trip to Tecoman to lay in stores. We filled up the cart and were back home in an hour. I decided to do some laundry but the washing machine had other ideas. No go. No sierve. OK, so put "new washing machine" on the next shopping list. But, after all it's 13 years old, sits unused for 7 months a year, wasn't very expensive in the first place, so what can you expect? We'll look Thursday when we go into Tecoman again. The rest of the day was spent with more cleaning, unpacking, searching out stuff I know I left but can't find! No phone, no internet.
MONDAY
Off to tianguis. Nothing has changed except perhaps even more clothing stalls. My vegetable man greeted me with a big smile and a handshake. Again I marveled at the abundance of beautiful, cheap produce, bought enough to fill my two bags, gave everything the once-over, and came home.
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| Oranges anyone? |
In one chapter he details the making of a mirepoix as a flavoring agent. So I bought enough of its ingredients ~ onions, carrots, celery ~ to make it. Right after lunch I launched into this project. I chopped and diced, and re-diced, sweated and sauteed and ended up super delighted with the outcome. My veggie man was selling big bags of small Roma tomatoes so I bought one, ground them up and added them to the mirepoix, added garlic, a jalapeño and some cilantro and ended up with a fabulously rich and tasty sauce. It's to go with an eggplant/zucchini/cheese dish.
TUESDAY
Senor C. has come down with a cold so things slowed way down. Even so, he went off to Tecoman to visit his money and bring some home ~ the ATM's were not working when we were there on Sunday ~ and eyeball the washing machines at the Bodega, a sort of mini-WalMart. We have to go back on Thursday and will do some comparative shopping there and at a couple of other appliance stores. Raul the window man showed up to fix some of the screen sliders that have frozen in place. I have an old equipal table that needs to be fixed; the top is very badly weathered so I think I'l get Pedro, the carpenter, to build me a round top that will seat 6 and we'll put it up on the 3rd floor under the palapa. I've wanted a better table up there for years and now's my chance.
On the family front, Alex left today for a visit with Emily in Buenos Aires. Andrew and Ariel follow next week for a big family Christmas. Then they all return home the end of December. Bien viaje to all.
WEDNESDAY
That's today. So there you have it, more or less. Senor C. is NOT feeling any better but insists on soldiering on. I'm going out this afternoon for a domino game and to check out doings on the malecón. I hear that there was a lot of damage done to the puestos both by the big storm earlier in the summer and by the federales who tore down several that didn't have the proper permits. Dago's was one that got razed. I'll take pictures.
2 comments:
I devoured every word. Thiis sounds like an Upstairs book, but I'll check it out. You left a car there, correct? Just applauding the wonderful and brave news about Cuba and hooooray for Potus! Great writing, as always, here in your post. More rain here, we keep trying to appreciate it...
We don't have our own car but are using the same one we used last year. It belonged to Jack, Fernando bought it and has given it to us to use. Nice!
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