On a Horse Again
Mrs. T has a history of falling out of bed, even pre-strokes. Sometimes I have heard rather significant thunks. Perhaps it has been due to very vigorous dreams. In any case, that explains the first part of this newsletter.
One item Rebecca has very much avoided in this edition is her trips to the dentist. She said it was too painful a topic. Rebecca has bad teeth, probably due to a lack of fluoride when growing up. She has a great aversion to the dental profession. She will only see our dentist, Dr. Adrian, here in Mexico. Dr. Adrian is a great guy whom she trusts and she visits his practice. This year she has had problems with fillings coming loose, necessitating several visits. And she needed a 'crown extension' which was rather difficult. Unfortunately, dental visits have consumed quite a lot of Mrs.T's time.
That aside, we are back into the normal rhythm of life. We feel quite fortunate in having avoided the weather miseries in the US. Philo was quite frigid for a while and now it is wet. Perhaps the pond will be refilled by the time we return. What will the rest of winter bring? Of course we don't know but Mrs. T saw a lot of wooly caterpillars before we left.
Somewhat sadly, Bucerias is no longer a small town where tourists from Puerto Vallarta could come for a day trip to see 'typical' Mexican life. Now we are a busy exurb of PV with lots and lots of construction. It seems like the entire world is moving here. The number of condominiums being built is extraordinary. We would be wealthy if we had invested in concrete. It has made for significant noise and dust.
Here is a vignette of some activities:
I was riding in a horse race when my horse stumbled. I quickly slipped out of my stirrups because I didn't want to be squished by a 2000 pound horse. I mashed my toes painfully as I fell. Then I woke up.
"Did you fall out of bed?" Dan inquired sleepily.
"No!" I answered. I was still in bed.
"Are you alright?" Dan asked.
"No!" I was not alright; my toes hurt horribly where I had kicked the wall.
"Is there anything I can do?" he asked.
This question had me stumped, there is not much you can do for toes, alas. "No," I replied at last.
"All right," Dan replied and fell back asleep.
Dan knows that if I fall out of bed it is his duty to help me up but in this case there was nothing for him to do. He has explained to me ad infinitum that if I would sleep like a grown up and not flop around so much I would be much better off. He is probably right, sigh! But in a couple of weeks my toes changed from bright purple to pink and I am back to as close to normal as I ever am. (Indeed! -dt)
My efforts at finding a horse to ride in Mexico have had mixed results. I tried to get in touch with Pablo, the owner of Speedy Gonzales. (Rebecca rode Speedy last season. -dt) But, although I talked to his brother's wife, in spite of promises, neither Pablo nor Speedy ever showed up. Taking pity on my disappointment, Edgar, our condo handyman, found a new vaquero, Antonio. Antonio came with a very nice horse, Big Mama. Big Mama was white speckled and quite large. (Although not as big as Jewel whom she rides up north. -dt) Big Mama liked to trot and more or less insisted on it. Aside from this we got along pretty well. Antonio liked to talk in English. He told me about the pirates who used to live in Bucerias and buried their gold here. He told me about the Indians who buried their dead with artifacts beside a certain type of tree. Things were going along fairly well, although I could have done with a little less trotting and a little less talking. But be that as it may after two weeks Antonio, and Big Mama disappeared and did not show up nor answer the phone.
What to do? I pondered this for several days. One day as I was walking back home from the dentist, I spied in the distance a man leading a string of horses.
"Oh horseman, vaquero, senor," I called. The man looked around, and not noticing me walked on.
"Oh caballero man!" I called loudly. The man, his name was George, Jorge in Spanish, looked around and saw me waving violently. He paused and I rushed up.
"Would you like to take me horse riding on Thursday at ten o'clock?" I panted, being a little out of breath.
"Of course," George answered, "anytime you want." (Perhaps the $1000mp offer also made an impression. -dt) So George and Johnny, the horse I ride, have been going for an hour every Thursday. George rides Simon. Johnny is very well trained and neck reins. He is a little picky and likes only red apples. All is well.
In Bucerias they have started having bilingual Masses so we are back going to church. We go in a taxi because it is a little far for me to walk now. Still we both enjoy going. I don't read in mass these days. (She did pre-strokes. -dt) They have put baby Jesus in the nasciemento since he has been born now. You are not allowed to put him in the manger until Christmas. The wisemen are not supposed to appear until Epiphany in January when they arrive.
We have all been very busy watching them building the condos across the street. Some of us actually went so far as to offer advice which was not well received. (Yes, there has been some sidewalk superintending. -dt) Edgar and I had a plan to rent out pool chairs in front of our door and then he suggested we could sell drinks. When I returned home yesterday (Probably from shopping -dt) I was disconcerted to see a Mexican was ensconced by our door selling drinks!
There are lots of different machines, large shovels, medium backhoes, cement trucks with loading hoses, who knows what all. All of the construction is noisy and dusty, but it does provide free entertainment. Sometimes they work until 11PM and as I understand it they do not get paid a higher overtime rate. The worker who explained it to me said they were supposed to be grateful to have a job. This seems unfair to me. (However, by Mexican standards they are well paid. -dt)
I have been doing fairly well at my scuba. I believe the therapy swimming I did last summer has helped me. I really enjoy my scuba tremendously. I see lots of amazing sea creatures. Some of them are old friends and some I do not know. When I return home I look them up and try to find them in my identification books. Last week we saw a very large blue triggerfish. Last week I was able to get back on the boat without anyone pushing or pulling me! This week we saw a little pink and brown nudibranch. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudibranch -dt) And I saw two really amazing anemones, not to mention loads of fish and a very fat sea cucumber. (Post strokes Mrs.T's diving has been curtailed in time and depth. -dt)
Before we started diving we saw four whales and a huge pod of dolphins. We also drove through a large mass of krill. These were little baby shrimp. We saw a baby whale learning to jump. He would jump with varying degrees of success and then his mother would wave her fluke and he would try again. Sometimes the baby would do a very respectable jump and sometimes a little belly flop. He reminded me of a baby learning to walk.
We had a delightful Christmas. Santa brought a new spur to Rebecca to wear and The Editor received a new assistant. The previous assistant has been promoted to associate editor.
Here are some pictures and a couple of videos. Unfortunately videos do not transfer well, so I am not sure how well they will play on your equipment. https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAmfAT The video of the baby whale learning to jump with the mother, either encouraging or admonishing, is quite amusing. Many thanks to Alejandra for taking the videos.
Best wishes and high hopes for all of you to have a Próspero Año Nuevo!
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com
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