Martes Noviembre 30, 2010

Buenos Noches amigos!!

What a busy Martes (Tuesday) for a guy who does not work…according to one of my amigos!!

I sit in the living room of our casa, being cooled down by our newly repaired ventilador de pedestal!!

The story regarding the fan is a fun one. Fan has been broken for a while and I finally decided to solve the issue. Here in Huatulco, you just drive (or walk) around and you will finally find a store or house that sells or services what you are looking for.

The other day I drove by this place and decided to check it out today.

Doesn’t look like much eh? And they did not speak very much Ingles, so it was up to me and my Spanglish. Roto (broken) worked, returno a dos a la tarde (return at 2pm) worked and no telephono also worked. No point having them call if I cannot understand them.

I also asked cuanto cuesta (how much?) but they could not tell me. This was pelligresso (dangerous) because they could end up trying to charge me an arm and a leg. I let them know a nuevo one was only $300 pesos and that seemed to sink in.

I dropped the fan off at 11 am and returned at mediodia (12 noon) but they had not looked at it. I was heading to the gym and said 3pm and they said ok.

Bottom line, Bexico and I walked back there at 430pm and it was all fixed up and cleaned up too. $120 pesos for what I do not know, but it is working like a charm!! The senor asked us to bring him any other electronic problems we may have!! New Mac repair guy? Lol

The rest of the day? Jumped in the truck around 11am and headed on some errands.

First was a thank you card for Sandra and her helpers at the Migracion officina. I left the card with the seguridad and as I left she asked me for my name and if I was Sandra’s amigo. I laughed and said it was from Marcos and Rebecca, the dos sympaticio Canadiense!!

Then it was Nissan and ta-da…the part was in. But first you slide over to the caja (cashier) to pay the bill. The parts guy gave her a recibo that stated the full amount, not the amount minus the $200 I had already paid. So she gave me $100 pesos back from $500, and I had to “perdon” her and we cleared it all up.

As for the part, it took 5 minutes to install and works like a charm. Here is what the old one looks like.

What made me laugh is that this old one is made in Mexico and the new one is from the US of A. Now that the fan works properly, we are planning to hit Puerto on Viernes!!

After Nissan I popped into Che and as I was walking the aisles, I saw a senorita with a 4 litro jug of limpiaparabrisas in her cart!!! Where did she get this I asked myself and went to the auto section of Che. There was a sale sign for the limpiaparabrisas, but it was attached to a case of aceite por moto. So I asked the hombre “donde?” and he took me to the clearance section by the front door.

I could not believe the oferta (sale)!! I had paid $15 pesos for uno litro and I was about to pay $20 pesos for 4 litro!! I bought three as who knows when you will find windshield wiper fluid in Huatulco again. And the stuff is good up to -40 celsius!! Lol

Came home and then off to the gym. Took this photo on the way…which one should we buy? lol

Gym was good. Calor as it gets…probably 35 plus in there…yikes!! Had a lesson with Rosa and I found out I am now part of a comedy routine. Ayer (yesterday) I was approached by an hombre I had met before and he said hola. I replied hola back and left it at that. He is slightly “disconnected” as Lalo would call him, and when he was done his workout, I asked him “finito?” (finished?) and he said with a straight face “no, mi esta Francisco”. I rolled with it and reminded him who I was and left it at that. I guess Rosa overheard the conversation and today was laughing so hard about it.

At 3pm when Gimeli came in, Rosa told him the story and as I was getting ready to leave, I said fintio and Gimeli said “no, mi esta Gimeli” and we all laughed!!

I learned today that a carro that is diez ano CAN be sold to a Mexican…not that we will sell our truck.

The gym is funny…today it was about the guys working out in flip-flops…but I guess that is normal as Silverio was wearing two shirts while working the gate. He must have been frio?

I met a VERY muscular Canadian at the gym today. He was sweating a ton and asked if you climatize after a certain time. I said 3 months was not yet the magic number and he laughed.

This guy is 51, lives in Vancouver and was is here on a vacation. He was telling me about the 450 pound bench presses he used to do and then went on to actually do some 400 pound squats. Yikes.

Left the gym and came home for alberca time. After that, we went for the walk to pick up the fan as well as conduct some errands.

Here are some photos from the walk.

A possible job for me? Home delivery.

This is the same pollo store…they are always busy and the smell floats over our compound regularly…especially noticeable at 4pm.

We saw this poster hanging and it talks about a big festival for the Virgin de Guadalupe that culminates on December 12. This festival and Navidad will be an interesting time around here.

And then we saw this cutie walking around La Crucecita.

Hit the “mall” to find out if there is an Ingles film playing and we will be seeing some Ben Affleck flick manana. It is called The Town in Ingles…not sure what it is called in Espanol.

Fresh pan as a pre la cena snack, picked up some platanos and then came home.

Fixed the Nissan, wrote this blog and it is now time for la cena…chorizo quesadillas…mi Padre’s favorito!!

No big plans for manana, but may get the wheel looked at. Oh yeah…it is also RJ’s birthday manana. All you Arnolds, don’t forget to call your madre. Feliz Cumpleanos!!

Have a great night!!

Hasta luego.

Lunes Noviembre 29, 2010

An otra dia tranquiel in Huatulco…another quiet day in Huatulco. Maybe because it is Lunes?

Keeping it short and sweet…

Had a great chat with Silverio (Silberio) at the gate. He was the only one of 3 seguridad not wearing the new blue Coors Light playera (t shirt), so we chatted about that for a while. We also talked about his espousa and the dos hijo he has, aged 7 and 5.

Then he asked me a pregunta that I did not understand. I asked him to write it down and he did. Es de usted su camioneta? Cuanto le costo? Is it my truck and how much did it cost? There seems to be an obsession with how much a gringos items cost…because they cannot get the same items here, and because they cannot afford them anyway.

As per normal, I am vague about the price and I was on my way.

No photos on the way to the gym…very rare not to have at least one.

Now at the gym, I had a great cardio session and then spent some time in escolar before hitting the stacks.

On Viernes, Rosa had asked me about a word in Espanol and Ingles, but I did not recognize either and could not find them in the libro I take to the gym. So I did the research over the fin de semana (weekend).

Well…the word did not have a very good meaning at all. Essentially the word was about a pedophile and I was shocked and caught off guard. I showed it to Bexico and she too did not know why Rosa would ask me about such a word. Maybe her hijo was in danger?

Come today, I had to ask and at first it was difficult to communicate the issue, but at the end, Rosa was clear that the word carried a bad meaning, but I did not know why she would bring it up in the first place.

Well here is the perfect example of why it is important to learn Espanol, don’t jump to conclusions AND ask questions.

The answer? Her amiga Paty is still looking for a novio…a boyfriend. Every day we add to the list of requirements…trabajo, dinero, pelo etc. The last few times we added the age of 20-30 and Rosa was trying to add to the list, this requirement: must love kids and want to have children. Lost in the translation was the “man who loves kids”…phew. That was a weight off my shoulders.

Prior to this escolar session, one of the regulars was on the bike a few down from me and she too asked me a pregunta I did not understand. This is the first time this person has ever spoken to me…let alone showed that she knows how to smile. Normally she is one of those stern looking Mexicans.

I yelled down to Rosa (I am up on the “ramp” and the music is soooo loud) and asked her to escriber the pregunta so we could review it later.

The question? Very bizarre. Es de usted su camioneta y cuanto le costo? This is the same question Silverio had asked. This senora also wanted to know the model and if it was legal for her to buy it from me. I told her it was a 2001 Supercharged and NO it would not be legal for her to buy it. The laws are clear on that…no foreigner can bring their vehicle into Mexico and then sell it. Por que? No idea, but it is the law. I them made her laugh by saying that if I sold the truck, I would need to take a taxi everywhere.

The senora owns a hotel across from the seguridad gates and I have seen her a few times on calle Carrizal. I guess she has seen Bexico and I in the truck a few times? Two peeps interested in the truck in one day…good thing we put the high tech alarm in it…lol!! We are not worried.

But talking about the truck, we hope the part is in manana, and we also still need to get the front right tire balanced and/or aligned.

After the gym it was a catch up with Lalo and the boys. I guess they were sad because someone they knew had died on the highway coming in from Pochulta, just West of the aeropuerto. They had the periodico (newspaper) and it had the story….and VERY graphic photos. I asked why the photos and the answer was “more photos, more papers sold”.

While I was at Gabriel the Owl, a gringo came by and pointed at the Sunwing welcome sign and said that Sunwing was not a good airline. He continued by saying that he had to wait 10 hours for his flight.

I laughed and said mi Madre y Padre had to wait at this end for their flight home…but unlike him, they waited at the alberca and had la cena before their siesta and trip to the aeropuerto. This hombre did not know why the flight was delayed in the first place, and I informed him it was the airport in Acapulco that had originally delayed the flight…not Sunwing.

Enough water cooler chat with Lalo and the boys, so I came home and we hit the alberca ourselves.

There was a nice viento (wind) and so it was not too hot…still 31’ish in the shade though!!

We postponed taking the fan to the supposed electronics repair shop (photo tomorrow) but we did our quick stroll to pick up some pan for dinner (ok…I had a cookie too), another hola to the boys, veggies and then a paleta for mi novia!!

La cena was thighs de pollo, arroz y elote dorado!!

Some great news regarding our vacaciones to Canada!! We are fully booked for flight, rental car, hotel in Whistler (with passes) and today we got a deal on the condo we rented when we visited Van from Toronto!! Deals or best prices on all parts of the vacaciones!! Let it snow, let it snow.

That is all for today amigos!! Hopefully manana it will be photo Martes!! Sorry for all the script.

Hasta luego!!

Domingo Noviembre 28, 2010

Welcome to our 16th official blog follower!! Now if Danno could only figure out how to become a follower...

Quiet day here in Huatulco.

Woke up on this sunny day and remembered it was pan frances Domingo!! Bexico whipped up some tocino y huevos revueltos for her desayunos.

We loaded up the truck and went to Mojon, stopping at La Bocana to rent a boogie board first. We hope to make it to Puerto this week…all depends on the part for the Nissan. This will allow us to buy our own boards and stop paying to rent them.

No search at Copalita, coming or going…nice. I forgot to blog that the last time we went to Mojon, a big rig had rolled into the ditch right before the turn off to Mojon. Looks like he took one of the sharp corners too fast.

The palapa is sooo nice to have!! It is truly our piece of heaven and we are both excited about the day we have our villas on the same spot.

We worked the pala and sieve and quickly cleaned up a bunch of the sand. It makes a hug difference, but there is sooo much sand…duh…it is a playa.

Bexico hit the oceano (o sayano) on the boogie board and had a blast. I read for a while and then hit the playa looking for interesting shells…possibly my new photo project for all you bloggers!!

Here is my haul today.

It was a good day for walking the playa, as the tide was out…way out. I haven’t been at Mojon with such a low tide, in such a long time.

This photo shows the Eastern headland of the playa, and high tide goes almost all the way to the rocks on the left of the photo. Low tide adds almost 50 feet to the playa.

I too hit the oceano and had a blast on the boogie board. It will be sooo cool to be able to hit the waves when ever the urge (or good surf) occurs!!

This last photo is Bexico post-boogie board, as she gets ready to continue with some work for the London based project she is contributing her artwork to.

We stopped at Che on the way home…fresh Christmas trees for sale and the toy department is getting busy!!

Also stopped at Pemex…50 litros for $500 pesos…about $1.17 Cdn/litro. The drop in the Cdn dollar did not help. Oh well, as we really don’t drive that much.

Came home, and had a quick shower at the alberca (get rid of the Mojon sand) and then a quick dip. That takes us to 7pm Huatulco time.

Bexico is iChatting with her madre, and I am about to get la cena started. Cerdo y mashed papas!!

Manana? Take the floor fan to the “shop” that we found and maybe they can fix it. I will also hit the gym and ensure some float time at the alberca.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Seahawks lost baaaad…Hassleback has got to go. Saskatchewan leading the Grey Cup by 3 points at medio tiempo (half time) and I am sure Senor Pucks is full of Canucks watching the game.

Was about to sign off when I over heard Bexico telling her Madre a surf story.

Bexico needed some wax for her surfboard and so she went into the one surf shop in town (no boards, just clothes) and innocently asked for surf wax by brand name, vs asking for ceras (surf wax). Of course the brand name was Sex Wax…made famous by Dr Zogg. The look on the poor counter girls face!! Lol

Oh yeah…on Viernes, I was stung on my leg by una avispa…man did it hurt. And then soooo sore that night. Two days later, it is still tender and itchy!! But no anaphylactic shock!! Phew.

Hasta luego mi amigos!!

Sabado Noviembre 27, 2010

Howdy all!!

A quiet Sabado here in Huatulco, but here is the update.

Had a great sleep and then went off to the gym. First I stopped in to catch up with Lalo. I found out he had been up late a few days ago as he had to get in a Mexican line up at 2am to get a replacement ID, something he needed for a credit application.

I guess he lost his ID in Acapulco and now wants to buy some electronics at a 0% interest rate, with 52 weekly payments.

The peeps that can provide the ID, only come to town a few times and there is no official announcement. They are here for 3 days and day one is quiet because no one knows they are here. Day two and three are lined up as word has spread via radio, taxi and overall word of mouth. He got into line at 2am, and was Segundo (2^nd) in line. By 9am when they opened, there were doscientos (200) people in line behind him…and they only had 85 numbers (as in “number 34..you are next”) to hand out…many angry Mexicans he said. Welcome to Mexico!!

There is an interesting story attached to this photo.

On the way to the gym I stopped to take a photo of the man carrying boxes of zapatos on his back…a portable shoe salesman. In the background you can see the Fonatur guy in charge of cleaning up the block. It is his block to keep clean and no one else will do it.

As I put my camera away, the cleaning guy asked me in Espanol, how much was the camera? I don’t like flashing prices etc, so I told him a low number and then asked if I could take his photo…con permisso? He then said he would return on Lunes to the same spot and I could take it then. Kinda bizarre conversation…maybe he was in a hurry…maybe on Monday he will return in a tuxedo? Or with his gang? Lol

Continuing onto the gym, I found an addition to the “what’s for sale in the back of this pick up?” series.

It looks like patio furniture from the 70’s? Something the Brady Bunch or the Partridge family used?

Gym was ok…tenso glutios so the bike was more of a stretch vs cardio. I spent some time chatting up Logan, Ghimbeli’s hijo as well as telling Ghimbeli about the week. I tell you, learning how to say temblor and terremoto (earthquake) added a whole new dimension to my conversations!! Logan is a nice nino and now calls me Marcos and looks forward to meeting me again proximo Sabado (next Saturday), the only day I see him.

Here is a photo of Ghimbeli and Logan.

Headed home and stopped in at Home Depot #2 to get the price on a chica pala. It was $85 pesos so I checked in at Jonathon’s, but they did not have one that was chica. Back to the other store and here is what I bought.

Pala is shovel, and since it is feminine and ends with an “a”, small is chica vs chico.  Entiendo? Understand? It is only a 2 foot long pala.

And why did I need a chica pala? I am going to use it at Mojon along with this.

It is a strainer around 18 inches wide that I bought for $45 pesos along with a plastic container that it can sit on, for another $70 pesos. I will shovel some sand into the strainer to strain out all the small pieces of thorns etc that were in the sand on our lot. Soon we will have super soft sand!! This project will start manana.

The alambre poo-ass (barbed wire) project will start once I am sure the price I am being charged in Huatulco is fair. No real worry about trespassers at Mojon, it is more about ensuring squatters would not move in. They do have squatter rights in Mexico…we need not worry as long as we make our property look like it has an owner.

Came home and had some quality alberca time and that leads us to now.

630pm here and since North Korea hasn’t bombed anyone today, I will go make la cena…hamburguesa con pickle…what a treat!! Lol We already had our ensalada and I have some mucho roja sandia waiting for me too!!

Manana is Mojon and some NFL Espanol in the afternoon. The Grey Cup is on at Senor Pucks…but not my gig.

Amigo, enjoy your game in Seattle and have a Widmer Hefe for me!! Or bring some up to Vancouver for January…hmmm?

Hasta luego.

Viernes Noviembre 26, 2010

Hola to all. You have made it to Viernes, Friday!!

What a fun filled day. Had a great sleep, experienced two large earth quake tremors, found out the word “barbed” as in barbed wire is puas in Espanol and better yet, it is pronounced “poo-ass”!! What a day!!

Starting at the beginning…had a great sleep and got right at it. Vacuum and mop and the place looked and smelled great.

Off to the gym and it turned into a 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour. (Gilligan reference…for you young people…Google it). I had a great work out and our escolar lesson was all about ayer (yesterday) at Mojon.

We also had a great talk about the price of barbed wire, how to pronounce it (Rosa says poo ass with a straight face!!), as well as what I thought were Gringo prices for the corta perno (bolt cutters)…$600 pesos. More on that later.

Words we used today:

Oceano, olas, boca, trompa, pero.

The sentences were along the lines of a pero running into the oceano chasing a coco. He would then jump into an olas and come back to the playa with the coco in his trompa.

Here are some photos of the iguana that re-appeared after a few weeks away. The photos were a bit (hee hee hee) tricky due to using my telephoto (only lense with me) from only 3 feet away.

And here is mi amiga Rosa at her desk. She cleans the gym, gives some training advice and also mans this desk.

You can see her libro on the desk; it is her Spanish-Ingles dictionary that she uses for our escolar lessons.

EDITOR'S NOTE

After some looks of disbelief from you know who and a little more research on line, I can state that the pero in ayer’s blog photos, was not a Sheppard, but some sort of Black Lab. Will you stop laughing now?

On the way home from the gym I stopped at another hardware store and asked about the cost of bolt/wire cutters. They did have a $600 peso set, so I no longer feel like I was given Gringo prices from Jonathon, but I also saw some shorter sets at $275 and $350 pesos. Good to know.

Came home and had some alberca time with Bexico before we headed out for a walk around La Crucecita.

Our walk started at a corner store that is stocked to the rafters with candy, gum and chocolate bars. Bexico picked up some gum but the sueno (dream) of more M&Ms disappeared, as they only had peanut not chocolate.

Rounded a few more corners, past the funeral parlor, and onto hardware row. There are three big stores here and we found alambre de puas and corta perno in the first two. The corta perno were all about the same price, but we found the 30 kilo roll of alambre de puas was $30-$50 pesos cheaper then anywhere else we had seen it.

We hope to go to Puerto next week and we will check out the prices there as well as maybe up in Santa Maria de Huatulco.

I took these photos as we walked towards Parque Central and the zocolo.

This is a young boy with a custom made knapsack that carries his wares. Just trying to make some $$ for his family.

And here is a colorful photo of a hombre making his living.

If you see a window full of these:

And then see this sign:

The odds are that your novia will be found inside.

I love mi novia and all about her. One of my favorite stories is regarding the two years of snowboarding we did and not a day went by without a comment about sore feet. Well we decide to get some new boots and we find out she has been wearing boots two sizes to small. Someone had an issue (no longer does after years of intensive therapy) regarding what she felt were big feet and bought boots too small. I love this girl!!

Anyway, I guess she talked to the gal in the Zapateria (where they sell zapatos…shoes) and was told she MAY not find many stores here in Huatulco that sell female shoes her size. Bexico took it all in stride!! She only needs flip flops here, but was looking for a pair of boots to wear in Whistler.

This last photo is of a dulce (candy) store that also sells birthday and Navidad supplies/decorations.

We stopped in for more veggies…everything was fresh today…the sandia looks delicious!!

Came home and had a poco ensalda, some pan with o&v and shortly after la cena which was one of Bexico’s favorites, tomato sauce con chorizo, pollo, cebollo y piemente roja. All that on pasta with some parm cheese on top!!

And currently I am sitting in the living room, updating the blog as Bexico watches for the 36^th time, the movie To Gillian on Her 37^th Birthday. Not a dry eye in the house.

So to wrap things up, we experienced two fairly large terrmottos (earthquakes), or temblors (tremors). One lasted only a second or two, but the second one was a full 5 seconds. Our buildings are constructed of concrete and rebar, but that is not the norm in the barras. Hope all is well, but I am also told these temblors happen often.

Manana? Gym and hamburguesa Sabado!! Probably hit Mojon with surfboard and boogie board on Domingo.

But wait….the best news is still to come. Bexico has been hired via an on-line posting and freelance website, to do the 22 pages of drawings for someone’s graphic (not dirty!!) novel!! The person who hired her is in London England and Bexico is completing the work from Huatulco Mexico!! Gotta love technology. Congratulations mi novia!!

Hasta luego!!

Jueves Noviembre 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving to all our blog followers from the USA.

It is Jueves…almost Viernes Negra…Black Friday for the shoppers up North.

What a day….considering we slept in until almost 10am!! Not so bad for Bexico who worked late, until 230am or so. But what is my excuse after going to sleep at 1030pm or so? Ah  Mexico!!

After desayunos, it was off to the gym. On the way I took these three photos.

This first one is from "vendor row" and shows three vendors in a row.

The first vendor is selling poinsettias, the second has got the furniture for sale (I even saw a catalogue) and the last one is the plant vendor.

I often see these carts around town and am impressed at how hard the staff work to make a living.

They sell bebidas (beverages) as well as bolsas de chicharron…bags of fried pork rinds. Yummy!!

And this is another in the series of the “what’s for sale in the back of the pick up?” photos.

Today it was propane stoves.

As for the gym, it was a great workout but no escolar today, as I was in a hurry to get home and go to Mojon. I did stop off at Home Depot to talk with Jonathon. He is not as fluent in Ingles as I first thought, but this is great as it makes both of us work harder for the conversation.

I did ask his young hermano “hablo Ingles?” and he stared at me. I then introduced myself (in Espanol) and asked his name. Not 5 minutes later I hear him tell his mom “he asked my name”…in Ingles!! Lol They just are shy to use Ingles…self confidence?

I bought some clavo at 1 peso per piece…20 for $20 pesos. They are also available by the kilo, but don’t need that many!! I will use the clavo (nails) to hang bags etc at the palapa. We worked for 10 minutes on barbed wire and got all the way to alambre (wire), but then I had to draw a picture. I am such a bad artist, but Jonathon got it and we went out back to find rolls of alambre de puas. The Spanish word pua means sharp point.

I need the barbed wire to replace the corroded wire at Mojon. I was quoted $500 pesos for 300 meters of the thinner gauge and $700 for an unknown quantity of a thicker gauge. I will check around and if they are close in price, I will head back and pick up a roll. 

As for the cutters…I was quoted $600 for a corta perno. Corta comes from the verb cut and I cannot find out what perno means. Anyone? Either way, that is rich and I think that is a gringo price. Will update you once price comparison is complete.

We bolted for Mojon quite late, passed through Copalita without being stopped, and arrived at Mojon around 2pm. The palapa is a sight for sore eyes, but today it was not as necessary as it was partly sunny and partly overcast with light clouds. No complaints as it is better then what Vancouver experienced!!

A dog owned by Scott, our local Newf, ended up joining us. Scott has lived here for two years and does some work with Roman, and is also the proud owner of the only wooden house I have ever seen built in Huatulco!!

Here is our photo essay of our time with the dog. He is part and/or all one of those Shepard type dogs. All about fetching (a coconut) and FULL of energy!!

After the playa, it was a quick stop by the military at Copalita, where I asked one soldier if his ropa (I need to look up “uniform”) was hot and he laughed and said no. I told him it was mucho calor for a Canadian. We were asked for passports (not sure why or if the military are legally allowed to) and flashed them our new FNI (forma non Imigrante) cards, which seemed to impress the soldier. I had shown the cards to the second soldier and he pointed me to the first guy…I asked “patron?” (the boss) and he said si.

Stopped at Nissan and it looks like una semana for the part has turned into dos (two) as we will head back Martes (Tuesday) and see if it has arrived.

Quick stop at Che where we loaded up and had our groceries bagged by one of the friendlier school kids. Bexico likes her because she reminds her of Munchie, her niece. This girl at Che is the Mexican Munchie!!

La cena was pollo pechuga with some funky tomato arroz (rice) and pequeno ensalada mixta con 1000 Isle salsa (dressing).

And now you are all up to date!!

I did find out from mi padre that the reason los padres flight was late was a delay in Acapulco on Lunes.

Manana? Gym, check out alambre de puas prices and see what else comes our way.

Hasta luego amigos.

Miercoles Noviembre 24, 2010

As Marcileano at the gate would say…Hola Hola!! Marcileano is great. He smiles a lot and until recently all he ever said was hola hola (hello hello) or would mumble some other Espanol. We have started to have basic conversations with him (in Espanol) and I think he appreciates it. Esta noche (tonight) I told him about our movie dilemma and he was genuinely interested. On to the rest of the blog....

It is Miercoles Noviembre 24 and it is 815 de la tarde.

What a day. It started at 115am (yes...115am) when my alarm went off. I could not remember why my alarm was going off and then it dawned on me…drive M&P to the aeropuerto.

Earlier in the evening Padre had been keeping his eye on the YVR website and saw their plane had actually taken off at 740pm Van time, headed for Hux. Based on the 5.5 hour flight time, it should arrive at 310am or so and take off 4am or so.

I think I found out why the plane was delayed. Check out this link:

WHY FLIGHTS ARE DELAYED

Prior to a quick siesta, it was a close game of Scrabble and if it wasn’t for the heroin, Bexico would not have won. Who knew you could score so many points on heroin? She is a triple crown Champion!!

The drive at 130am is quick, but pitch black. No highway lights here!! When we got to the aeropuerto the parking kiosk was closed and the big gate into the airport was closed. Doph…but then a seguridad hombre came and let us in.

As we pulled into the parking area, we could see people milling about, airport taxis waiting for the arrival and two big buses doing the same. Padre had been correct…all the kiosks in the airport were still open at 2am!! I guess not everyone had called to check the flight status as some people looked like they had been at the aeropuerto since 3 pm…the original time the airline had requested their presence. Yikes as it was 11 hours later.

Unloaded M&P, checked them in and said our fare wells. Quick drive home and then after 90 minutes of trying to fall back asleep…all was well. I did get a Magic Jack voicemail from M&P and they arrived at their Vancouver hotel at 10am. I guess there were strong headwinds as the 5.5 hour flight was now 6.5. Not the ending to the trip I would wish on them, but they had a good time other then that.

Falling asleep around 4 and then getting up at 930am did not bode well for the day. We rearranged the condo and moved our stuff back into the big bedroom and started up the washer/dryer. As we can only use one at a time (breaker trips), the dryer is still going at 830 de la tarde (830pm).

Hit the gym but was pooped so I gave up and had escolar time with Rosa. I wrote out a few sentences in Ingles, regarding the flight delay etc, and she had to write them out in Ingles. Once that was done, we had to read each other’s work.

Some words I learned today:

el horario is “schedule”

el vuelo (bwelo) regular is “scheduled flight”

muy retrasado is “very late”

salir (from salida…exit) del aeropuerto is “depart the airport”

avion (ab-ion) is “plane”

and tarde can be “afternoon”, “late” or used to tell time as in las sies de la tarde (6pm).

Slow walk back to La Crucecita and stopped in at Gabriels to chat up the boys. As much as I like having the internet in the condo, I do miss my daily chats with the boys. Spent a good hora there, saying high to Sergio’s hija (sies ano Daniella) and asking the vendor next door “como esta su nueva hijo” who happens to now be quarto semanas old (4 weeks). This baby was tiny!!

Talked with Sergio about going to see a movie for dos por uno noche (2 for 1 night) and we laughed at the guy from the Hangover, who is in the new movie with Robert Downey Jr, Here it is called Todo un Parto or All Delivery, and in Canada it is Due Date.

Bad news though…we went to the cinema at 6pm and the movie was only in Espanol, so no movie for us. Must get Espanol up to a decent level…so at least we can go to a movie!!

Here are some photos I took while at Gabriels. The shop is located on the zocolo (town square) and in the town square is Parq Central (yup…Central Park).

This hombre (and many like him) drives up with his pick up truck full of coconuts…cocos they call them. He has a big tree stump as a cutting board and with a few swipes of the machete, he cuts them open, pours out the milk into a plastic bag, throws in some fresh coconut and ta-da…a bebida for the peeps.

Headed home and had a quick alberca time followed by la cena…ensalada mixta and some Bubba burritos!!

As there was no movie for us, we stopped in at a small grocery store on Carrizal, just to take a look, as we had never been in it. Not a bad selection but the prices are higher then Che. We bought some OJ that we cannot find at Che, as well as these:

These cost $65 peso, due to the fact that they are imported from Alemania (Germany). We haven’t seen these ANYWHERE in town, but these Pepinillos Agridulces (direct translation is sour pickles…but they are truly gherkins) will be great on the Bubba burgers!! Score!!

Score uno limon paletta por mi novia and we came home.

So you are caught up in regards to the goings on in Huatulco. Manana…gym and then Mojon. I might stop in at the Huatulco Home Depot….

And pick up some nails and wire cutters so I can do some fence repair on the property. I am sure Jonathon will help me learn the words in Espanol!!

I hope all you BC’ers are not mucho frio!! Hit 32 degrees here today.

Hasta luego

Martes Noviembre 23, 2010

Hola all!! It is 545pm in Huatulco and I know what you are thinking…what is it like with mi Madre y Padre gone? Well….they are in our condo, sitting on the couch, because their flight has been delayed.

We called a local number for Sunwing and Padre was told that his flight would now leave Huatulco at 330am…yikes. He also checked the YVR website and the flight coming down is now not scheduled to leave until 710pm Van time, 910pm Hux time.

910pm leaving YVR, 5.5 hour flight, it will arrive here at 240am, thus the 330am departure. So…it is a good thing we checked first as that would have sucked to drive out there, only to return.

After the local call, we plugged in the Magic Jack to call both Padre’s Holiday Inn in Vancouver as well as mi hermano, to let them know los padres flight would be quite late.

Bexico and I had planned on a simple roti dinner, so we went back to pick up another bird and the pan (bread) I had forgotten on the first trip…doph. More veggies and sandia and we are set. A little cantaloupe with cassis for los padres and they are set for la cena and then a power sleep before we leave the condo at 130am.

Our Mojon plans for manana might be delayed until after yoga on Thursday, but all is good.

Today was a quiet day with the anticipation of the airport run.

Bexico was up early for yoga and had a successful class…her hernia did not act up!! Bex had an iChat with RJ on Sunday and my understanding of the situation is that she will be a-ok, she can continue to do stomach exercises, but only while laying on her back, and that if the hernia continues to impact her, I can use the first aid kit we brought with us for a quick nip and tuck. Maybe I should Google the procedure first though?

M&P went for another walk around La Crucecita and I hit the gym. Marcos the muscle head was there…this guy is huge!! Anyway, today was an Ingles lesson day for Rosa and it was about her being sad. I had asked her how she was and she did the so-so thing with her hands. I asked her if it was physical or emotional and she said emotional.

The gist of the lesson was this following conversation.

“How are you?”

“I am sad”

“I am sorry you are sad”

“Why are you sad?”

“I know how you feel”

She accomplished the first 4 lines without a problem but it took a while to get her to understand the last line. Here is how I explained it.

Ayer, su pero muerto. Ano pasado, mi pero muerto.

Yesterday your dog died. Last year my dog died. Thus, I know how you feel.

I didn’t pry to find out why she was sad, but she was happy to have the Ingles lesson and we had a laugh about the number of bench presses I was accomplishing (and the # of kilos), vs what Musclero Marcos was and had obviously accomplished.

Came home and did the first of the two Che runs. Padre came with me and paid for the groceries (grassy-ass Padre) and then we did a drive through the industrial area to show Padre the guys building wooden shelves and bed frames, right on the side of the road.

After we came home it was alberca time and after that Bexico and I headed out.

That takes us up to ahora (now). Bexico has fed M&P an ensalada and in 15 minuto I will start the papas and reheat the pollo.

Tonight Bexico will defend her Scrabble championship, having laid a beating on M&P. No respect for her elders? Lol

Hasta luego.

Lunes Noviembre 22, 2010

Buenos noches to all!! What is the temperature in the city from which you read this blog?

The web says it is currently:

Ø     Minus 5 C in Vancouver

Ø     Minus 4 C in Victoria

Ø     A balmy 12 C in Toronto....and of course 28 C in Huatulco.

Mi Padre y Madre don’t look too concerned about the weather they will experience upon their return to Canada manana.

That photo was taken today as they got used to what we call floating.

This fella uses the heat from the a/c exchange to keep warm.

We have now seen him a few days in a row.

I had a great day and it started with my walk to the gym. It has been a few days since that occurred as Viernes I drove and on Sabado and Domingo the gym was cerrado.

Always see interesting happenings on the way to the gym and hoy was no different.

I saw this truck parked outside on calle Carrizal.

These are all bbqs and there were 5 guys walking up and down the street, going door to door and business to business, offering these for sale.

On the way to the gym, I was asked if I wanted one and I could not understand the cost, but we still discussed how it was used, with carbon (charcoal) and it had an area to keep tortillas warm too. I let them know they were no permisso at our condo and he thanked me and I was on my way.

Upon my return, there were now 5 guys milling around the truck and I asked “cuanto vende?” and he had sold 6 since I had first seen him. The guys wanted to talk, and I found out that amongst the 5, they spoke one word of Espanol.

The word came about when I asked if they spoke Ingles and the one Ingles word they used is the complete 15 minute conversation, was the empathic response “Spanish”. Lol We talked about where we lived (our condo and they from a town I could not pronounce), my shoes, how much rent we paid (I did not disclose) and my watch and heart monitor. They had me laughing and I repaid the favor several times!!

My escolar at the gym started with me writing down “how was your weekend?” in Ingles and then letting Rosa know she needed to answer it in Inlges. After I had ridden the bike, I came down to see she had explained her Sabado, but not her Domingo.

On Saturday she took her son to the parade where he marched in costume. She also said it was way too hot for her. I asked about Domingo and she said she relaxed.

Weekend in Espanol? El fin de semana. Como fue tu fin de semana? What did you do this weekend? Ten on buen fin de semana!! Have a great weekend!! I will practice these and start using them proximo (next) Viernes y Lunes!!

Memo is back after not seeing him at the gym for over a week. Neuvo corte de pelo (new haircut) and I asked him if it was for his novia and he stated very clearly…NO!! ha ha ha. I asked him if “estaban perdi semana pasada?”…were you lost last week? He laughed and said he was at home working…not sure what he does and won’t ask until I have known him for a longer amount of time.

Good session and then came home. Loaded up M&P and we drove to Santa Maria de Huatulco. I have blogged about this town previously, but it is a quaint place to take los padres (my parents).

We parked the truck and walked the main strip. As we were getting close to half way, we were approached by a mujer (woman) who in perfect Ingles said hello and asked if we needed any help.

I just asked M&P if any of us recall her name…but nope. Doph. She was super friendly, lives in the USA and her ties to Huatulco are through her madre. She wants to come back here full time and make Santa Maria de Huatulco a tourist destination. Good luck as it is so far off the beaten path and is 30 minutes from the ocean. SM Huatulco is located in some beautiful mountains. But there is nothing else really there.

And how many tourists do they see? Based on the gawking as the three of us strolled the town….not so many. The gawking was not rude, they just don’t see many tourists. It makes me want to be able to speak more Espanol so I can show them we are just sympatico (friendly) Canadians!!

Spent an hour touring the town and then came home for our own floating time.

After the alberca, Bexico and I walked around our end of La Crucecita where we discovered a treasure trove of dulce (sweets) at a corner store. Bulk packs of gum, M&Ms etc. Cha ching!!

We then bumped into our landlord, Heidi, and her mom. We knew it would happen sometime.  Arrocito for the big turkey feast on Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving to our Northern neighbors.

Popped in to see Lalo and catch up on the news in the Mayor’s world. All about buying a TV and a big ass stereo from Elecktra which he will send to his family in Acapulco.

Picked up some pan and a few orejas (palm ears) as going away treats for M&P and then back to the condo.

La cena was chorizo quesadillas but first we had a small ensalada and the pan con oil y balsamic vinegar.

As I write and post this blog, the three Scrabble players are duking it out with Bexico in the lead…trying to put a Scrabble beating on mi M&P. She beat them anoche and is trying to go 2 for 2.

Not sure how this all works…we are getting a ton of views for the blog, but only a total of 6 of you replied regarding the root vegetable. Thank you to all of you and the correct answer was chosen by most of you. It was a jicama the size of a volleyball.

Here is a link to some jicama information.

All about Jicama...but were afraid to ask.

Manana is a quiet day….the gym, Che, the alberca and then take M&P to the airport.

Great news for Bexico as she has had an inquiry regarding an on line posting she applied for. Not sure about all the deets, but someone in London England is asking for some drawings and Bexcio is submitting some samples of her work. Good work Bexico!!

Hasta luego.