miercoles, el 31 de agosto de 2011

Buenos noches all. It has been several weeks of no fotos...and you having to read about what we ate for dinner...la cena.

Thanks for hanging in there!! Thanks to mi amigo Daniel, we have another counterfeit batería, but at least this one is working...for now!!

In a show of gratitude for all of you hanging tough, here are a plethora of fotos, with very little verbage. Enjoy!!

Some gatitos I saw on the way home from el gimnasio.

And of course, our local gato...Gato Blanco

Gato Blanco came upstairs today at 10am, had some leche and then spent the day in various sleep positions. We put him outside when we went for our alberca time, and he was still there, fast asleep, upon our return.

Here is the clima for the day.

Sunny until 4 or 5pm and then some light showers.

A sign painter....all by hand.

Just cutting the mangos.

This is the house/studio of a local architect. He is married to a senorita from Quebec.

There is another Pemex in town. It just never opened.

Despues de el gimnasio, I went looking for the carpinteros. I think I am close.

One of the canals in the industrial section of town.

Not the best signage.

It is behind a pole, there are no arrows and trust me, you will not get to either of those places by driving down that road.

Now this is a sign.

And I was getting closer to the carpinteros.

Don't judge a carpintero by their sign.

I met two great peeps here. Probably Mary y Jose? ja ja ja Great chat and here is a piece of mueble that we looked at.

It is a Mexican hard wood...I must get them to write it down. The piece of furniture takes 5 days to build by hand and is a solid construction. Precio? They want $2800 pesos for this piece and Roman says it is worth $2000.

They also quoted me $2500 pesos for a custom built piece and we have decided that the ready made piece is too big and I will head back and see what kind of negotiating I can do. Stay tuned.

Just a sign in the automotive section.

No need to guess what they are selling here.

And guess who waved to me from this shop? In the playera naranja...Elder from the llanteria. He was in this other shop working on a wheel.

I asked Daniel, the connoisseur of all food local, and he tells me these are not food, but just semillas...seeds.

WARNING....THE NEXT FOTO MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL EYES... SERIOUSLY.




I saw this pero in a parque after I left the industrial section. It looked like someone really loved it...there was a message on the shirt and there was a little sombrero on top.

This is a Fonatur monument that you see as you enter La Crucecita.

And as you continue into La Crucecita, you come upon another parque.

This is where day labourers and illegal immigrants hang out. Mexico has an immigration problem of its own, with lots of workers entering Mexico illegally from the sur...south.

La Crucecita is divided into sector and here are two of them.

Why is this hombre selling all the Mexico paraphernalia and why is the zocalo decorated?

15 de septiembre is Día de la Independencia...not to be confused with Cinco de Mayo. Stay tuned to the blog mañana as I will link you to some explanations.

This hombre is selling the rocking chair. We did not get to ask him the precio, but Sergio said $1500, Lalo was at $2000 and Daniel said $800. I was offered the similar for $1000 pesos a few months ago...but the gringo price is probably $2500 to start.

No need to guess what they sell here.

Bags and bags of matches. Used to light all the hornos y gas burners at the comedors.

And last but not least....

That is Roman working on installing the duct for our secadora in B10. He and Scott (a Newfie) had to chip through the decorative brick to be able to install the duct. It is currently held on by zap straps until we return in diciembre with some long bolts...hello Home Depot!!

Once again, thanks to all of you for being patient, y muchos gracias to mi amigo Daniel for getting me an otra batería.

Mañana? Back to stories about what we ate para la cena. Ja ja ja.

saludos

martes, el 30 de agosto de 2011

Buenos noches mis amigos.

It is martes, el 30 de agosto…Feliz Cumpleaños Gayle!!

1015pm and just back from el partido de rapido. The Nissan amigos are playing much better then they were at the beginning of the season!! They won again, sin Tonny, who will be off for una mes o mas.

Talking about Tonny…no show at Nissan this morning. Maybe he did not get the message ayer? But Carlos did talk to him hoy y we will all meet (cita) jueves 10am. As for where the tanque will be installed and who is doing the installing…stay tuned!! Ja ja ja

Light sprinkle of lluvia during the game, much better then what we experienced anoche y a la mañana…this morning. Pouring rain this morning and it lasted until noon. That is very rare here…we have had very few days with rain antes 4pm.

And anoche? Thunder y lightning most of the night. It is still rainy season…año pasado it stopped on 29 de septiembre. We will be in Vancouver enjoying the Indian summer by then!!! Good news though….very little humido today!!! Maybe that is over? A nice 27,7 grados as I type.

So our day?

Nissan first thing and with no Tonny, I had time to chat up Carlos and see what he learned in DF. It was a service manager course for a nuevo modelo…a muy caro Nissan…$300,000 pesos. Yikes. I also asked him about any other possibilities of how water gets in el tanque and we walked through all the parts and circled back to the tanque being the issue. That and the crappy Mexican gas.

Pouring rain and with the tanque issue, I thought getting the camioneta home was the smart move.

Waited out the lluvia (ok…I had a siesta…big deal) and then hit el gimnasio. Galdino has taken a shine to me and always wants to have a quick hola.

A quick walk through town (no camera=quick walk) but did stop at HSBC and took out even more pesos. The exchange is even higher today…score!!

Hola to mis amigos and ta da…along came Bexico. One of her regalo de cumpleaños was a gift certificate to El Yogis and she came back with some pantalones and shirts.

Chatted up the boys and Vicky gave niño a good luck rub, and then we were adios.

Checked in el centro comercial (mall) and we lucked out!! Super 8, the pelicula, es en ingles!! So mañana becomes movie miercoles!!

Picked up 10 kilos of wash and verdura and home we went for alberca time. Short swim…argh the volleyball peeps. Ja ja ja

Bexico went back to work as she has been paid the deposit on her Australian contract and has already been sent back some requested revisions on her China character design contract. Still busy!!

Me? Caught up on the comings and goings of the world. Will be avoiding ALL casinos in Mexico for the next while!! Ja ja ja…but not really.

Good dinner…need some new recipes. Mi madre said she will send us a new cerdo recipe. Had a quick iChat with them…excited abuelo y abuela!!

Last night we scored with The Kings Speech…a great flick that we had seen once before. Tonight we scored with episode 6 of Entourage!! Only two more to go and the series is over.

Updates? Too wet for Roman to work, but he promises me everything should be completed by fin de semana. I have promised our B10 landlords that I will try and bring his 2 surfboards back to Portland.

With the back of the truck empty on the way norte, it should not be a problem. As of enero (January), our landlords will be living in Kauai…hello Hawaii!! They have not been to La Crucecita for a few years…might as well take the boards with them to the islands.

Anyway, add to the list picking up the boards for R&H’s casa…our landlords at G10!! Ja ja ja.

Batería? What does this tell you about the vendor and the quality of the product he is selling? He is sending us a replacement (no money back), will pay for the shipping even, and does not want to have the other one returned!! Ja ja ja

Well at least I might get to use it one time until it craps out on me!! I thanked Daniel for his work on this issue and said we should leave a comentario on the website. He was waaaay ahead of me and that is his plan.

Nothing else is off the list yet…next week it all comes together.

Have a great miercoles!!

Marco y Bexico

lunes, el 29 de agosto de 2011

Buenos noches all!!

Good news? Daniel tells me that a new batería is on the way. Phew, as I know most of you are tired of hearing about Hurricane Irene and what we ate for dinner.

R&RJ are a-ok…lost some power for a few hours.

We ate leftover meatballs for dinner.

Now that we have that out of the way….our day.

Up early and then off to Nissan to try and head Tony off. You may recall I was to meet him at 130pm, but forgot about our comida…lunch date. I don’t have his number and asked Carlos to ask him to meet me at Nissan mañana.

I haven’t seen the new tanque…but I am told it would be at Nissan by noon. I guess I will find out tomorrow.

After Nissan, off to Che to pick up an incandescent light bulb. They don’t sell them at many places here…good on one hand, bad on another. I cannot get the lights in the ceiling ventiladors to work with the mini fluorescent bulbs.

Any who…asked Hector if I could borrow a ladder to change the luces in the bedroom. They are 10 feet above the floor…doph. Up he comes with the escalera and 5 minutes later…I see light!! I dropped him 20 pesos for the help, and even that he did not want to accept. He is a nice guy…a bit too serio, but oh well.

Then off to el gimnasio and a so-so work out. Not too hot today as it was slightly over cast in the morning, but just a baja energia día. Low energy day.

As for the weather, cleared up nice for the afternoon alberca time and then we had some nice showers start up at 6pm. Now at 10pm, no rain, but we can hear the rumbling from the montaña.

After el gimnasio, home for a quick shower and then off to West Park Café for the birthday lunch. I had invited Randy and Karen to join us, so it was a nice surprise for Bexico. And then they picked up the tab…nice surprise for me!! Ja ja ja

Great food again…good work Max.

Tranquilo day after that. Pool, some work for Bexico, and I went back to Che because I forgot to pick up some Parmesan cheese for the pasta!!

So where are we at with B10? Almost there. Today the locks were changed…the spare keys filed down by hand. Hello old school!! This week Roman will finish installing the duct for the secadora, install a shower curtain rod in the baño del segundo piso, and plug a hole where some hormigas are coming in.

We have a cleaning scheduled next week, and then the week after, we are moving in.

Bexico’s work update? I think all she has on the go right now is some character design for China and a movie for Australia. But I also know that she has several “maybe” contracts lined up too.

In her business, it is important to always be out there applying for these contracts as it seems to always be feast or famine.

Misc

The markets were better today and the Cdn dollar seems to hover a few cents above the US dollar, but the Cdn dollar vs the peso? Since May 31, it has gone from 11.8 pesos/dollar to 12.7…that is a 8.5% appreciation. At least I am making money somewhere!! Ja ja ja

Mañana? Tanque is the big ticket item. Wish me luck.

Hasta luego.

Marco

domingo, el 28 de agosto de 2011

Buenos noches amigos.

10pm and we are about to watch a video...thought I should drop a hola to all of you.

Those that took the time to email or call in some Feliz Cumpleaños for Bexcio, mucho grassy ass!!

We had a great day, muy tranquilo even for us!!

Desayunos for the birthday girl and then a video followed by alberca time. Yes she also snuck in some work but then it was siesta time!!

Great dinner at Krystal Rose (Jay, thanks for showing us this restaurante)...with typical funny stories to be told. They were all out of pollo because the other table ordered it all...ordered sopa de pollo sin arroz and it came con arroz y sin pollo!! ja ja ja But the coconut shrimp? Soooo good....hello two orders!!

A quick walk through town as the rain had stopped and hola to Sergio y Lalo. Nice to see the boys and get birthday wishes for Bexico.

Just had a phone call from mis padres...but not for me!! lol More cumpleaños wishes!!

I told you it was a tranquilo day...sin fotos!! argh

Busy two weeks coming up. Mañana I might see Yeu at 10am...not sure why. He might come to the condo to drop off a picture he drew, or maybe it is to look at zapatos? Lunch is at 1pm and I hope to fit el gimnasio in between.

I double booked Tony y tanque...might have to be martes. Doph.

Bexico is lining up even more work. She has been paid her deposit on the China contract, so she will start that and she has an invitation to Skype with another possible contract. Phew.

Hope you all had a great fin de semana. I promise the blog will get more exciting!!

Marco

sábado, el 27 de agosto de 2011

Amigos, I will post a quick blog update por la mañana...in the morning.

For you east-coasters...stay safe and dry.

Stormpulse.com

And don't forget...mañana is cumpleaños de Rebecca!!

saludos

viernes, el 26 de agosto de 2011

Hola amigos.

630pm and time for some updates before la cena y el partido de rapido at 9pm.

First things first….RJ y Roly…keep an eye on this website as you two are in the path of Irene!!!

Stormpulse...hello Irene!!!

We hope the rest of your trip is a safe one!! Buen viaje!!

Next up…Feliz Cumpleaños Jackson!! We hope you had a great birthday and mañana, you have a great fiesta!!!

Secadora news? Mañana I am told…holding my breath!! Ja ja ja

Tanque news? Lunes I am told, pero mi mecanico sufrió un accidente. He was not at Nissan today and el seguridad told me he hurt his hand. Maybe I can get an update from Carlos at el partido de esta noche.

Inmigracion news? We are legal for un año mas!! We went in and after a 15 minuto wait, we had 10 minutes of signatures y fingerprints and we received our nueva Forma de No Inmigrante!! And they even extended their expiry date to the end of September, when our originals were to expire. Easy peasy and we will share our lista to help otra personas!!

No news on the batería de mi camera. Oh well.

So our day was as we stated ayer. Inmigracion, Café Juanita for some libros, Fonatur for recycling, Nissan and then Che. No ah ha’s at Che…except maybe the Kit Kat bar!! Ja ja ja

When we got home, Bexico did the Fruver run and I got ready for el gimnasio.

Bexico spent her day working, threw in a quick siesta y some alberca time. She has landed the logo contract for England and her other contract is the stick figure animation for Australia.

Me? A very warm walk to el gimnasio and it was only hotter when I got there. 

¿Por que?

Imagine if you can, this is one of three windows upstairs in el gimnasio.

Minus the broken glass, that is exactly what 2 windows now look like. I came into the gym and someone has built an addition to their casa, blocking off the windows!! You think it was hot before? Ja ja ja

Good work out and then a quick stroll through town. Hola to Daniel and then home for alberca time.

The rest of my day? Web browsing and making sure I am staying on top of our to do list. That meant a few emails to Vancouver, checking up on the condo there etc.

Misc

And I thought there were a few bad drivers here. Look at this story from the Vancouver Sun.

Vancouver Sun

Did I read that right? Richmond. Hmmmm? Ja ja ja

As I was walking towards the centro despues de el gimnasio, I came upon a checkpoint manned by 10 Policia Municipal con machine guns…as well as 5 tamarindos.

They had no less then 20 motos pulled over as well as a few camionetas y carros. I asked a policia “¿sin papels?” (without papers), and he said sí.

Not sure what was happening to all the motos, but many a school kid were just standing next to their possibly confiscated motos. No fun.

I did see a few tamarindos get into the passenger seats of the cars and they drove off. I actually caught up to one and they were deep in conversation. They were not talking about the weather, but more likely the size of the donativo or as they call it here, mordido…translated as “the bite”.

For a few pesos all your troubles will go away.

Our camioneta? Almost 100% legal. We registered it when we crossed the border and we have Mexican insurance. The “almost” part? When we crossed the border, the truck registration was tied to our 6 month tourist visas as we did not have our FM3s yet.

I guess when we received our FM3 we were supposed to notify some government agency in DF and update our visa/FM3 number.

When I leave the country in a few weeks, I have to stop and give them back their registration sticker, or else I will not be able to bring the truck back into Mexico when I return in December. This is when I will find out of there is any issue with the “almost” legal.

And upon my return, I will ensure they have our correct FM3 numbers. Lots of paperwork and lots of little fees. Bienvenido de Mexico!!

Ok gang, 730pm and time for some oh so good chorizo quesadillas.

Will finish this update despues de partido de rapido.

Saludos.

Well, this is a first. The 9pm start for the partido, must have actually been on time as I got to the campo at 920pm and the game was over by 940pm. Ja ja ja

Carlos was not at the game as he was in DF taking a one day course for Nissan.


As for Tony…guess who had a transmission fall on his mano? It slipped onto his right hand, broke his index finger at the 2^nd knuckle, and split his finger open from tip to palm. Lots of sangre he said and he also became very light headed.

He went to IMSS, the free health care provider, and was out in 4 hours or so. No work for a month and he says he does get paid insurance from Nissan.

As for the instalación de tanque? He is going to meet me at Nissan on lunes at 130pm, we will pick up the tanque and take it back to his casa, where he and his padre will install it. Ahhhh Mexico.

How do I feel about this? Good for several reasons. I trust him, his padre is a mecanico as well and I will end up paying Tony direct for the instalación. Stay tuned.

Prior to heading to the game, I had a good iChat with mis padres. Seems like everyone is excited for us to get back to Canada…and have a niño!! Good chat, always nice catching up and I prefer the video chat vs email or a phone call.

Is it already fin de semana? Well we have quite the weekend planned!! Mañana is all about el gimnasio, possibly the carpinteros and can you say Nascar for 630pm?

Domingo? Hello cumpleaños!! Lots of chill-laxing and the day starts with Bexico’s request of cerdo hash para desayunos…even though we had it last week!! Nice dinner at Crystal Rose…hello coconut camarones.

Have a buen fin de semana!!

Marco y Bexico

jueves, el 25 de agosto de 2011

Hola amigos.

A nice day here in La Crucecita. Overcast morning after a night of rain and thunder in the montañas. But happy to report some sunny skies during alberca time!!

Saw this online.

Youtube video

We experienced similar during our huge storm and it was neat to think that only a few years ago, Bexico and I lived 2 minutes walking distance from the tower. Now that light show would have been neat to see live!!

Updates?

I brought the batería to Daniel and he will see what can be done. He feels soooo bad and I told him not to worry about it. I picked the vendor, all he did was help me with the technical side of ordering.

The bad news? I had emailed Daniel when I thought we had a good batería, so he released the funds to the vendor. Of course an hour later I had emailed him saying the batería was a dud, but too late.

He is going to contact the vendor…stay tuned.

Inmigracion? Online it states “sin resolucion”, but I asked mi amigo Lalo to call for us and Inmigracion says the Forma de No Inmigrante are ready for pick up. Until they are in our hands, we hold our breath!!

Why did I have Lalo call? It was truly a situation that I did not know what to ask and I sensed frustration on Inmigracions part when we did not fully understand them in person. We do much better talking face to face and we know talking on the phone is an opportunity. Who would have thunk at the age of 46, talking on the phone would be a challenge? Ja ja ja

As for the rest of the day, Bexico is all caught up on her work. She is actually waiting for feedback on two finished projects and is waiting to be paid her deposit so she can start her third. The client in England asked for some logos in less then 8 hours, and then said they had more time, so Bexico will have some more character design work early next week.

She has also been short listed for a project that I am forbidden to talk about, in case it gets jinxed.

Me? I am not jinxed…except for the camioneta y batería de camera!! Ja ja ja

I had a great day. Memo was at el gimnasio working the day shift, so we got caught up and hit the weights together.

Some good alberca time despues de our walk around town. Hola to the boys, veg run and we also grabbed a few regalos para nuestras madres!! Sorpresa!!

Mañana? Inmigracion for 9am, Café Juanita for the book exchange, some recycling at Fonatur, Nissan to check on the tanque and then Che. Roman y yo hope the plomero has finally received his refracciones/partes de la secadora.

At B10, nuevo refrigeradora is installed and just needs to be leveled. Can you believe that all the bolts on it are metric, except for the zoclo…which has NO translation that I can find. The “manual de uso y cuidado” has a picture of the vent below the door.

Anyway, I need to remove the zoclo and turn a tornillo (screw) izquierda (left) to make the front of the fridge bajar (verbo...to lower) and to the derecha (duh…right) to make the front of the fridge go levantar (verbo...to lift).

So add to the list looking for one small standard size socket!! Ja ja ja

Our pre-trip to do list is shrinking!!

-inmigracion

-grande fiesta para el cumpleaños de Bexico

-tanque…argh

-mas regalos

-chelas con mi Nissan amigos

-get B10 cleaned

-move into B10

-get G10 cleaned

-12 de septiembre cancel G10 phone y internet

-same day pay for G10 septiembre cuenta

-same day pay for B10 septiembre, octubre, noviembre y diciembre

-same day prepay G10 septiembre cuenta de electricidad

-cita con el doctor

-get the “approved to fly” letter from same

-call Rogers to activate cell phone

And? I am going to visit a few carpinteros that I saw near Pablo's shop, and see if they can build a vanity (?) shelf for our bedroom in B10. Could be interesting translating that!!! Stay tuned.

Mis amigos, both Daniel y yo are sorry about the lack of fotos!!

Have a great viernes!!

Saludos

Marco y Bexico

miercoles, el 24 de agosto de 2011

Buenos noches amigos.

What is this?

It is a picture of a batería for my Canon!! Why are there no more fotos? Because the battery has already failed!! Ugh.

The batería arrived and Daniel emailed me to let me know it had arrived. I picked it up and gave it a quick charge and it actually worked. Then I went and gave it a full charge and when I took it out of the charger, it would not fit into the camera. Huh?

I took a good look at it and the area where the prongs are, is very cheap looking. And after comparing the two batteries, I think the new one might be a knock off.

I have emailed Daniel to see if we have any recourse, but I am not holding my breath. Looks like I can kiss $700 pesos away. Ugh.

And continuing on the “it doesn’t work” theme…I took the camioneta to Pablo and he could not get the window to work. I need a new motor and guess what? Nissan cannot get me one before I go, so it looks like more business for Nissan in Burnaby!!

As for el tanque, I should have an update on viernes. Fingers crossed.

Some good news? Pablo did not charge me for the window inspección, probably because he made $500 pesos off me for fixing the tanque that is now basura!!

And more good news? Guess who is back in town? You got it…Senor Lalo has returned from Acapulco and is already back at work. Good to see our old amigo is safe and sound!!

Bexico update…

-should be finished the Portland contract today. They added another character and changed some colors, but that is a-ok because Bexcio is paid by the hour on this contract.

-China has sent her descriptions of the characters wanted and will send $$ (to start the contract) by the end of the week. Misc…I discovered that Chino is not China, but people from China. My mistake.

-England was a karate mouse animation, due mañana and Bexico has already sent it.

And Bexico has picked up a 4^th client, a stick figure animation from Australia. Probably 10 hours of work for this contract.

And closing one contract, she was paid the remaining money due o n her Ottawa work. Phew…one busy and pregnant woman!!

And all you blog follower y Arnolds, it is someone’s cumpleaños on proximo domingo!!

Inmigracion was on the list and I checked their website and there was no news on our forma de no inmigrante. Año pasado, we checked the site and saw our FNI were listo and we just went and picked them up. This time we were given a phone number to call, so mañana we will make that call. Stay tuned.

Ten pm and just heard back from Daniel. Bring the battery to the joyeria and we will see what can be done. I am sure this is not what he had in mind when he said yes to doing me a favor. Ugh

Our day? Bexico worked and worked, taking time outs for her own workout, some meals (hello…feed the machine!!), some alberca time and after watching parts of a movie for 4 days, we finished it!! Ja ja ja

Me? A little bit of hanging with Gato Blanco. He meowed from the ground floor, I told him to get up stairs and he ran up. He had a very little bit (hee x3) of leche, but really wanted some Bubba time.

When it was almost our dinner time, I sent him on his way and as soon as he got out our front door, he could see Gata Negra (español mi amigos) and started wailing. He ran to the second level, jumped on a ledge and kept wailing. Then ran to where GN was laying around, plopped himself next to her and gave us a wink. Crazy cat.

I want to be that simpático hombre, but I am not sure I like the volleyball game being played in the pool. Stay tuned.

On a pool note, our 2^nd float has sprung a leak. Hello Costco!! Alberca time today was great, empty pool and the cloud cover cleared just long enough for the sun to shine on our floating time.

And then at 430pm the dark clouds rolled back in and we had a good downpour that lasted 45 minutes or so. I am enjoying the 26 degree evening!!

La cena? Pollo from Che. I just don’t feel good about buying the pollo from the senoritas who sell it from their front door stoop. Hello? Refridgeration anyone? Well the pollo tasted great and no smell today!!

Here is a CNN article on Mexican food. A quick read.

The truth about Mexican food.

The rest of my day? El gimnasio…a 20 minute walk from Pablos. I was temprano and no less then 4 people asked me “por que?”. By 11am, my normal arrival time, the place was empty. Misc from el gimnasio? Hector wants me to buy some property in the montañasarbol de pino there)…or help him export his papayas to Canada. Ja ja ja

I picked up the truck from Pablo and took it for a bomb on the highway. Great truck!! I will have it checked out in Burnaby and see what mi mecanicos there say about it. Hope it does not need to be retired…but it is getting muy caro…very expensive…to maintain.

Picked up mi blancos…no sock “F”!! What the F? ja ja ja

And that mis amigos, wraps up another day in beautiful La Crucecita!!

Mañana? More work for Bexico and I plan to figure out the camera battery situation as well as see what is happening at Inmigracion.

Have a great jueves.

Marco y Bexico

martes, el 23 de agosto de 2011

Buenos noches amigos!!

Where to start? What a day!!

Good news first? Telmex arrived around 3pm and an hour or so later, we had our new phone y internet line installed. Excellent!!! That means we will be up and running when we return in diciembre.

Our técnico was Bruno who installed our line in G10. He is a qualified técnico who also speaks some ingles. We had a great chat in español and he mentioned that our español is mejor…better than last year!!

Part of our chat was about the effect foreigners are having on the price of land y casas here in Huatulco. Bruno wants to buy a small house, but it might be too expensive. I told him about the cost of housing in Vancouver and the reasons for it, and he was amazed that the same problem exists there.

More good news? How about that Bexico!! Ayer we updated the blog by saying she had 2 clients and tonight we can confirm that she actually has 3 and offers for more work too!!

She is currently working on an animation for Portland OR and had finished the character design for England. The client in England had now approved for Bexico to animate the character she designed, so now there is more work.

And her 3^rd client is the Canadian in Chino!! The contract with him is for character design. The offer for interview comes from a client who is acquainted with a previous client, so the connections are helping.

And more good news? When I dropped my blancos off at the lavenderia I was served by one senorita, but another senorita said “Marco” and then started looking for the lost white Nike sock. She must have seen it before and she knows I am looking for it, so she said she would find it and add it to my current load of whites. She knows to look for sock “F”…ja ja ja

And the good news continues….the Cdn dollar vs the peso is doing great. Today I withdrew some at 12.16 pesos per dollar, the best exchange since we moved here.

And how does this good news pertain to more good news? The camioneta is running great!! Why is it running great? Tony, mi mecanico, drained more water from the tanque y filtro de gasoline.

The bad news? Water is still getting into the tanque and the only fix is to buy a new tanque. Can you say $15,000 pesos? Ugh.

But even with that bad news, there is a silver lining. The boys at the refraciones counter thought it might be 3 or 4 weeks to get a new one brought in from the USA. Why the USA? Not many Frontiers sold here so they do not stock the parts. So the good news, a new tanque may be here in a week or so.

Hey…maybe I will have a new batería and will be able to take a foto of it!! Ja ja ja.

9pm…off to the partido de rapido. Will finish the blog upon my return.

saludos.

Hola. 1045pm and I am home. Great game, the boys from Nissan won their partido and I met a few more peeps, namely Raphael from Honduras via Miami and who knows where else!! Ja ja ja

Best part of the night was seeing this 5 or 6 year old niño staring at me as I talked spanglish with Raphael. I said hola to the niño and then asked if he spoke any ingles and he said no. I asked if he studied it in escuela (I know they do) and he said no. I then held up one finger and said “one” and he immediately replied with two, three and four!! Ja ja ja I told him he was muy inteligente and he smiled.

It looks like I will know the status of the tanque on jueves o viernes. Fingers crossed. Stay tuned.

Throw in el gimnasio for me, a workout for Bexico, alberca time for the both of us (under the blue sky!!) and that was most of our day. Of course Bexico was busy in her oficina and she also managed to spend some time at B10 arranging some of the items that are currently in the condo.

A big difference between G10 y B10 is that R&H have a house here and anything we did not want in G10, they store at their house. No such luck with B10, but there is not too much to store.

While at B10 working with Bruno, I did manage to get the new refrigerador unpacked and untaped. It is HUGE compared to what is in there now and definitely bigger then G10’s. Not complaining about the current fridge (many peeps here don’t have one), it will just be nice to have the room.

Hey, guess who plays rapido? Pablo, Tony’s amigo, who looks at car windows that don’t work. I am meeting with him at 10am and he will look at the window and see if it needs some WB-50 (Mexico’s WD40) or if we need a new motor…hello to another $1500 pesos if we do.

I will leave the camioneta there and grab a cab to el gimnasio and back. Hopefully we have the answer, and it is all fixed, in 2 hours. Stay tuned.

So, lots to do and we are staying busy.

Have a great miercoles.

Hasta luego.