A Wonderful Visit

SISTERS

 

Iguanas are ubiquitous here.  To say, "I saw an iguana!", would let us know that you are a tourist.  Nothing wrong with that, Bucerias needs your dinero.  But most folks here do not get that excited about them unless they are causing some sort of damage.  Some of you may recall that one time we had an iguana run across the courtyard into the pool to avoid the cat.  Crystal had fun catching it, the iguana that is.  (There are pictures is some previous post.)  We have two kinds here:  black and green; I doubt that is a scientific classification, just the difference in color.  The green ones are decidedly more interesting.  It is easy to see how close-ups of them were used as dinosaurs from 1930s into the '60s in such movies as King Kong – the original! - and Journey to the Center of the Earth.  Iguanas can go just about everywhere; they have these long claws/toes that can grip just about any surface and they can squeeze into rather small cracks.  There is one thing they cannot climb: glass.  As noted below a large green guy has taken to showing up right outside the kitchen window.  When he actually attempts to climb the window he makes noise that I would liken to fingernails on a chalkboard – ouch.  This was one of the new experiences for my sisters who visited us for a week.  They and Rebecca squeezed in just about as much activity as possible.  Mrs. T's story covers most of the action:

 

 

We had a lovely visit with Dan's sisters, Rachel and Janice.  We went whale watching (The women that is – dt) and saw lots of whales including a baby, who Oscar, the marine biologist and whale specialist, said was about 2 weeks old.  You could tell it was a baby because he was just learning to hold his breath and could only stay down for about 7 minutes.  We followed them – two adults and the baby – and every 7 minutes they came up.  The adults normally stay down for 20 to 30 minutes.  Oscar can recognize individual whales by their tails.  He said maybe he would name an unnamed well one after me.  What fun! (This is due to Mrs.T's underwater encounter which even Oscar has not had –dt)  We also followed a mating pack.  Simone was leading 5 males on a merry chase.  The youngest eventually dropped out.  (This sounds too familiar to me –dt) We didn't stay for the conclusion which would happen in deep water.  Oscar gave us the details of what would happen.  (These are too explicit for the general audience that might read this -dt)

 

On another day we went shopping in Puerto Vallarta with the two Judy's.  There were no cruise ships so PV was less crowded.  Rachel and especially Jan made a valiant effort to support the local economy by buying all kinds of amazing things which are not generally available in Ohio.  They got into the spirit of shopping in Mexico with bargaining on prices.  We saw some amazing sand sculptures, enjoyed walking on the newly improved Malecon, and climbing the metal sculptures.  When we got overheated we enjoyed stopping for a cool drink.  And we had a nice lunch overlooking the Cuale River.

 

The girls were quite taken by the green iguana who recently has taken to perching on our kitchen window ledge.  But mostly we just lay around by the pool or at the beach, listening to the waves.

 

We did take time away from our serious basking to walk into town for the Fiesta.  This is the week we honor Our Lady of Peace, the patron saint of Bucerias.  Every night there is a little peregrination – parade – sponsored by a different barrio.  There are mariachi bands and dancing, Indian dancers – usually children dressed in native costumes.   (You may have read about our participation in one of last year's events.  –dt) The church is full of flowers and music.  And of course there are fireworks.  I missed the dancing horses in the parade on the last day because I was SCUBA diving.  And unfortunately for them the sisters had already left by then.  But reports were that the horses were great.  The fiesta lasts about ten days and then we slow down to enjoy our routine life in Mexico – warm and wonderful.

 

Here are lots of pictures, many courtesy of Jan:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157629069421837/

 

We have heard that real winter has visited a few of you.  Keep warm and dry.

 

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holidays and More

CHRISTMAS and MORE

 

Well, the Christmas season is about over.  Here in Mexico Epiphany a.k.a. Three Kings Day is the main holiday of the season.  You can read a very nice piece about it at our sister-in-law's blog:  http://www.sue-feathersandflowers.blogspot.com/  (This is a great blog to follow!)  Soon our tree and Nacimiento will be coming down and going back into storage for another year.

 

The Muse has not been neglecting her duties; there is a short piece below that she wrote about the season.  But we have had a lot of interesting happenings that have filled the time.  Rebecca's sister Rita made her annual visit, but a week ahead of the holiday so she could return to Idaho to be with her family, particularly the grandchildren whom we are assured will be appropriately spoiled.  The two R's had their usual great time together.  It was highlighted by Rita's first adventure into SCUBA which she thoroughly enjoyed.  Mrs.T fails to mention the (temporary) tattoos they received on the beach one day.  And on the last day the waves were just right so they could boogie board.

 

Christmas was quite nice, particularly as it was a Whale of a Good Time.  Following up on her experience of being eyed personally by a humpback (The incident is now famous among divers all around the bay.), Mrs. T received a necklace made by Jorge, one of our local jewelers, and a family of whales made by Carla at Tunn, a new ceramic studio just down the street from the condo.

Here is Mrs.T's short piece:

 

 

WHAT the DICKENS?

 

We had our Christmas presents, remembered Christmas past, and the future – we leave to the future.

I received a set of whales made by Carla, a young sculptor who has recently moved with her husband and children from Zacatecas to Bucerias.  The family came to visit Christmas day.  The children, a boy about 3 and a girl about 1, ignored the coloring books I had bought them.  But they loved playing with the animal pillows and looking at our Nacimiento.  Kids being kids, if I had a large, empty box that probably would have been even better.  Nonetheless I enjoyed them.

Dan got some Mexican style Ranchero shirts and a new hat.  And also I gave him a chess book which should keep him occupied for a while; it is in Spanish.  (Nice beginner book with some challenging problems; easy to follow.  –dt)

We went to the 11:00 Mass, came home and stuffed ourselves - ham, potatoes, salad, chocolate torte, etc.  Then we puttered around watching football, reading emails, calling family and friends.  A kind of sleepy, happy repleteness, lapsing into naps.

As Tiny Tim said on that Christmas long ago, "God Bless us, every one."

 

Mrs. T did not write about our post-Christmas adventures.  First we had another visitor.  You may recall Daphne from our visit to Victoria; she made the wonderful Trifle which we had at an equally great dinner at Peter and Judy's home.  She flew down on New Year's Eve, one day ahead of the rest of her family, and needed a place to bunk out for the night.  We had offered our spare room which she readily accepted and we were quite pleased to have her visit.  She, Peter and Judy (who had come on the same flight), and R went down to the beach to watch the fireworks.    I had been hobbling around on a bad knee and did not feel like standing around in the sand.  Our three Victorian friends had not been here for the around-the-bay fireworks and hot air balloons and enjoyed the time.  (You can check out photos from last year.)

 

Then R had a bad experience going diving.  There were many divers over the holidays and for some reason Mrs.T was relegated to a crappy boat with bench seats with no backs.  Well, the captain was zooming a bit much and hit a wave with quite an impact that send the passengers akimbo and knocked Mrs.T off her bench, hitting the bench behind her.  She received quite a blow but was able to complete her dives.  The boat did not even have a proper ladder to enter and exit the water which made for more difficulties.  Fortunately an x-ray at Clinica Santa Rosa showed that she did not crack any ribs and just had a bad muscle bruise from which she has recovered.

 

About that bad knee:  I fell and essentially blew out my knee – great pain to say the least.  Dr. Victor called in his orthopedic specialist who did some arthroscopic work on it; Clinica Santa Rosa has a first- class operating room.  Since this was emergency surgery, Mrs.T called our insurance for preapproval and we expect to be reimbursed.  (Note to Rita:  While in the doctor's office we met some folks with family in Mountain Home. –dt)

 

The pictures are self-explanatory.   One of our typical sunsets is included for your enjoyment.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157628739839237/

 

Hope all is well with you.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

Vignettes of Life in Bucerias

MARVELOUS MEXICO

 

As we have previously mentioned, most things here at our winter home have become routine to us even though we are living outside the United States.  But they still hold a lot of charm, especially for those who have not ventured far from home.  Nothing wrong with home; not everyone has the same wanderlust.  We find it important to try to be attuned to the local culture and not impose – particularly patronizingly – our ways and values from north of the border.  And we think we have done a decent job of fitting in thus far.  Although we are proud to be U.S. citizens, we do not have a monopoly on what is right or good.  Every culture and peoples have something valuable to offer.  In this vein Mrs. T has a few vignettes of our life here. 

Mexicans love their holidays and find almost every opportunity to have a parade and celebrate.  Often we have just stumbled upon an event; we are not as plugged into the news as we would like.  Many times special activities happen on Sundays as happened with two of these stories.  As we do not normally take cameras to church, we do not have pictures for those episodes.

 

REVOLUTION DAY

As I watch Luche Libre, I think it might be a good metaphor for Mexico.  Full of color, passion, and movement, the spectators excited, involved – and yet no one really takes most of it seriously.  One of the things I really love about Mexico and Mexicans is the sense of humor.  Somehow I cannot imagine a wrestler in the U.S. wearing bright pink tights with a big purple heart across the rear.  (On the other hand, Mrs.T is not a devotee of professional wrestling.  –dt)

Which brings me to the parade.  After mass we encountered a parade down the lateral that parallels the highway.  It had already gone down several streets.  The parade celebrated the revolution of the campesinos which put Francesco I. Madero in power.  (There are several Maderos in Mexico's history. –dt) There were bands and a queen throwing candy.  There were several children's groups of various kinds.  Our favorite part of the parade was near the end.  A troop of little boys about 7 – 8 years old were decked out neatly in identical army uniforms.  Most of them had magnificent mustaches drawn on by eyebrow pencil and military hats made of construction paper.  They carried homemade mortars made of coffee cans fastened together and painted black.  How cute we thought.  The next group was a squad of campasinos of about the same age.  They had big sombreros and had bandoleers crossed on their chests.  Of course they too had mustaches and mortars.  There were some girls with them wearing big colorful skirts.  The girls had bandoleers and mortars too – but no mustaches; you might think it odd I mention that but you will understand if you have ever seen many pictures, especially self-portraits, of Frida Kahlo.  (http://www.reproduction-gallery.com/oil_painting/details/copy_artist/1022580036/masterpiece/Frida_Kahlo/museum_quality/Self_Portrait_with_Deigo_on_the_Breast_1953.xhtml   -dt)  Just as they got to where we were standing the kids started letting off firecrackers in their mortars making an impressive noise.  At first I did not understand but both some soldiers and campesinos began to fall down.  "They are fighting a battle," Dan said.  That explained why kids held their stomachs and made horrible faces as they fell.  They may have been crying and groaning too but I if so I could not hear it for the noise of the 'mortars'.  The battle went on for a few minutes with heavy bombardment and serious losses on both sides.  Finally we saw a small hand among the soldiers waving a white handkerchief.  The battle was over and the campisenos were victorious!!

 

VOTING

We knew elections were coming up.  There were the usual ads on television.  And the day after Thanksgiving we had seen quite a parade extolling the virtues of voting 'Green'.  But it was not a national election and we did not pay much attention.  When we arrived at church for Sunday mass – the week after the 'revolution' – we knew something special was happening.  There was more than the usual number of food vendor carts all around the square and other folks selling knick knacks.  People were milling about and a few musicians were playing.  We did not understand what was happening but there was a long line snaking around the plaza in the hot sun.  "What are all these people doing?" I asked a nun who was at her table selling rosaries and such. "They are voting," she replied.  (The nuns are there every Sunday; they are Sisters for the Perpetual Evangelization of the Holy Eucharist – or something like that.  They perform valuable community service.  –dt)

 

BIRDS

One morning I awoke to a cacophony of shrieks, hoots, screams, and whistles.  It sounded as if every bird in Mexico had taken up residence outside our window.  Not only that, but they all were complaining about it.  It did not seem possible to me that all those different birds could be in the same place.  When I peeked out the window I discovered I was right.

There was a good sized flock of Mexican black birds perched on the two palm trees near our window.  These birds are clever mimics.  They were going through their entire repertoire of other bird calls.  Whether this was some kind of bird version of our talent 'reality' contests or what exactly the point was I never did figure out.  Mexican birds do not seem to be as musical as the birds I am familiar with up north but they certainly are enthusiastic.

 

COOLING DOWN

The weather here has varied from hot to balmy.  If I get hot, I sometimes jump into the pool to cool off.  (Mrs.T frequently is hot due to hormonal issues common to women of a certain age.  -dt)  One day I was pretty hot so I stayed in the pool a long time just peacefully floating on my back thinking of nothing in particular.  When I looked up I saw two vultures circling high above me.  As I seemed to detect them considering me thoughtfully,  I decided it was time for me to get out and dry off.  I hope we get solar heating installed soon because as winter comes – even in tropical Mexico – the pool becomes more and more refreshing, so to speak.

 

CONSTRUCTION

There is new building construction happening on both sides of our condo complex.  One building is another set of five new condominiums, one to a floor.  I am not sure what the other building is going to be.  The buildings are six and four floors and tower over our two story building.  The lot where the burro occasionally grazed will be gone.  The new buildings will take part of the sky and we will no longer see as much of the sun or stars.  I suppose whenever you live in a town the sky is not yours to own.  Sigh….  Mexican building construction methods are not what we are familiar with.  There is one particularly nice thing however – the workers sing as they build.

We also have a major street repair project going on in Bucerias now.  They are relaying the cobblestones.  The official title of this project is 'Fewer Bumps.'  Note that is fewer bumps, not no bumps – truth in advertising I suppose.  Actually the cobblestones are fairly smooth in the sections they have completed.  Dan and I hope they do not run out of either rocks or enthusiasm before they get to our street because we have quite a few fairly significant bumps and potholes on Francesco I Madero.

 

Some construction pictures; self-explanatory:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157628337193587/

 

Hope you are enjoying the beginning of winter.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

CALL ME REBECCA

Face to Face with Moby Dick

 
The phrase "once-in-a-lifetime experience" is overused and abused.  Last week during her diving Rebecca had the unique experience with angel rays.  That could have qualified as such a special experience.  But yesterday (Wednesday) Mrs.T had an encounter that truly warrants that trite phrase.  Here is the story:
 
 
People have asked me if I ever see whales underwater while I am diving. The answer was "No." You see most of the places we dive are shallow in whale terms, no more than 100 feet deep.  We may see them while on the boat, but never while underwater.  Alex, my dive master, has been diving the area for 25 years - he started as a teenager - and he had never seen a whale while diving, until yesterday!  We were diving at Chimo, one of the deep dives on the edge of the bay.  Alex and I were diving together maybe 100 feet down or so. I was just floating along looking at the fish when suddenly Alex grabbed me and turned me around. There swimming right towards us was a very large humpback whale.  Did I say large?  It was HUMONGOUS.  It was gigantic. It was, in Spanish, El mas grandisima!! And it came right towards us until it was about ten feet away when it turned and swam upwards. It came so close that I could see the bumps on its nose. Alex had a firm grip on me so that although I had a fleeting thought to try and touch it I could not. Although truth to tell, I almost immediately had a second thought that touching something that big might be a very bad idea.  How big was it?  A rough comparison had its flipper about the same size I am. Was I afraid? Not really, for one thing humpbacks are very friendly, and for another I did not have time to be. Was I in awe and shock? Absolutely! Why did this happen? I think maybe the whale heard our bubbles and was curious and came over to see who made them. Either that or God loves us or quite possibly both; we both are nice people. When we got back to the boat we didn't think they would believe us. Fortunately Tony, the boat captain, had seen the whale when it surfaced.  As soon as we got our equipment off Alex got on the radio and started spreading the news all over the bay.  "Y yo tambien!" I shouted, "Me too!"
 
Usually R puts in way too many "!"s when she puts her stories together, but this time the story deserves them.  Needless to say she has been ecstatic since her encounter – walking on air.
 
No pictures this time.
 
Best wishes.
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

WARM!

MOVED SOUTH 2011

 

With each year our move south becomes more routine.  In about a week or less we are settled in physically and psychologically as well.  This year we came down a bit earlier than previously.  But the weather in Ohio was already taking on its usual grey drabness and it was time to go.  As one of our friends, WC, remarked, when the leaves had changed colors and were falling off the trees she knew we would soon be going south.  And the more we spend time here fewer things seem unusual to us.  The hibiscus, iguanas, Coronas, etc. are just all part of the background scenery.  So those of you up north may be reading more about ordinary things in Mrs. T's newsletters.

You probably noted that there wasn't any reporting during October.   R was still in recovery from her September show at ZAAP.  We had several social obligations and of course we were busy packing.  (We don't bring much down these days actually; everything we need is already in the condo.)  But here is a short report on our first few days.

 

Well here we are, safe in our southern home.  The flights were not too bad.  I was x-rayed because of my bionic knee.  (She always is despite having a card –dt)  And one bag did not make our flight but arrived and was delivered the next day.

It is very hot here – about 90F (31C) – every day.  Dan loves it and sits under the palapa reading.  (R does her own heavy reading; eyes shut. –dt)   But I feel it.  It drains me.  Fortunately I can jump in the pool and cool off.  (She doesn't jump in the fish pond behind the Philo house! –dt)   And it is only two short blocks to the ocean.  AH!  The ocean.  It is for me, dare I say, pacific.  Some conquistador got the name right as far as I am concerned.  Currently the Bay, our small section of the Pacific, and even a bit further out is quite warm and I can just float in it like the swimming pool.

Actually it has been too pacific.  I tried to boogie board, but the waves were not good enough.  My SCUBA guys told me to try later in the afternoon.  It was great to see all the guys again and I had two super dives this past week.  I saw lots of neat fish, eels, and rays.  One thing I had never seen before was an angel ray.  They have two rounded wings sort of like butterflies. They are two to three feet across and their stingers are only three or four inches long.  There were lots of them just resting on the bottom of the ocean floor.  (Mrs.T was actually out in the ocean at Las Marietas.  –dt)   If you dug carefully under each wing you could lift them up and they would just lay on your hands until you put them back down.  WOW!

 

I set a new personal record of staying down 52 minutes on one tank.  The record was especially noteworthy because it was my first time out for the season.  But Alex, my weekly dive master, does not breathe at all.  I think he is part Selkie (A merman; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie -dt)   Alex has big brown eyes and a mustache.  He is a little tubby.  (Sorry Alex.)  (I think I need to keep a closer eye on Mrs.T  -dt)

 

I was doing fairly well with Spanish but not so well with metric.  Fortunately Mathman has been able to keep me straight.  Recently he stopped me from buying 3 pounds of cheese when I wanted to buy 1 pound.  Between the two of us we do rather well.

 

Dan found a very large toad or frog in the condo pool bano.  And of course we have lots of kissing geckos.  They are called that because they make little smoochie sounds to each other and of course to me.  Did you know they can walk upside down on our ceiling?

 

As our condo is sometimes rented while we are gone, when we return we are never quite sure what we will come back to.  Things occasionally are missing or are rearranged.  We have generally been rather lucky and nothing important has disappeared or been broken.  Dan was a bit upset to find that we were missing about a dozen plastic ice cream and yogurt containers which we used to store leftovers.  Who could possibly want them?  And why did they leave the lids?  As we had mysteriously acquired a very nice Pyrex baking dish, I thought it was a good trade.  Dan hypothesized that the plastic containers were probably used as molds for a sand castle.  "At least they could have washed them and brought them back," he grumbled.  I valiantly offered to eat a whole lot of ice cream right away to get replacements.  For some reason this offer did not receive the appreciation it deserves.

Just a few pictures:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157628119946654/

 

Hope all of you are doing well.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

LET THE SHOW BEGIN

TRAUMA

 

Well, Rebecca's show opened, and as stated in the last brief newsletter it was an excellent opening.  There were lots of good food and many friends.  It was especially nice that Marla and Rik came to help.  And it was wonderful that Drew and Sharon came a long distance to the opening.  It was most gratifying to see the support given to Mrs.T by the local arts community.  Thanks also to the several of you who came from Columbus and places other than Zanesville.  And we look forward to seeing a few more folks during September.

 

R is still recovering from the trauma of the opening.  As many of you know, being in large groups, especially as the center of attention, is not Mrs.T's forte.  However, she handled it with aplomb and may have actually enjoyed the moment, although it was stressful.  She should be justifiably proud of her accomplishment.  But you can tell by the brevity of her report that she is still processing the event:

 

 

Nick says I can take it off my bucket list.  The art show I mean.  Since I did not know I had a bucket list this is not much of a relief.  But at any rate I am glad that I have done it.  I was really quite proud of the work I produced.  And work is the operative word here.  I was also pleased and gratified by all the friends and family who attended the opening.  I don't really expect to sell much, maybe one or two; this is more just to share with the world what I have done.  Now I have just two more things to do.  One is to figure out where to put all these works when the show is over.  And Two is to find out about this bucket list.  (I hope I don't have too many things I have to do on that!)  At any rate we are linking pictures of some of the works in the show for those of you in far places who can not come.  I am using the royal we since Dan does all the work of putting pictures on line.

 

Here are some pictures:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157627611010390/

There are more pictures than usual here, but several are nearly duplicates from different photographers. (Thank you RMc!) 

 

Hope all of all you are making the transition to fall.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

Preview

OPENING SUCCESS
 
 
Mrs. T's show opening was excellent.  The works are well hung (Thanks Paul!) and look great.  Everyone greatly enjoy her art.  I am sure we will have many pictures posted soon and perhaps R will write a story about the experience.  Here is a sneak preview; be sure to look at the videos.  Enjoy.  http://www.whiznews.com/content/news/local/2011/09/01/the-trees-she-loves
 
Hope to see a some of you during the month.
dan (&rebecca)
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com