Its Warmer Here Now

People say that this January was definitely cooler than normal. It is really ok with me, after all, cooler would be something like 50 below Fahrenheit which is what it is with the windchill factor today in parts of Minnesota. I guess I can handle the 60's or even 50 (above 0 that is) for an overnight low temp as a winter temperature. I know those of you freezing in the up north or mountains are not appreciating my comments. Guess I have acclimated, when I put on jeans and long sleeves and the gringo tourists are in shorts and no sleeves. Tomorrow is a national holiday, Dia de La Constitución so the tour buses have rolled into town for a 3 day beach holiday.

Yesterday I set up a table at a sidewalk sale here and sold some photo cards and matted prints. My friend sold a lot of household stuff and the local people swarmed her table and she sold nearly all items, so it seems to me a thrift shop in town would be a good idea for the gringos cleaning house to help the poorer people in the area obtain needed items for very little money. With a poverty level of 50% in Mexico, the extremes of wealth are so obvious. Some people have so little, and then I think about all the stuff we got rid of when we sold our house and uprooted ourselves to move here. I should have cleaned house and emptied those closets more regularly when I had all that "stuff", knowing how badly some people need things that I take for granted. But the poverty is much worse here than in the States, so if any of you make a trip down here, please try to bring some donations of school supplies or used clothing and we can find local people who are in need.

Last Saturday we spent some time in Chacala, north of where we live. It is a lovely little village on the ocean on one of the prettiest bays on the Pacific coast. I enjoy sipping lemonade or a Margarita at the palapa restaurant Las Brisas and being entertained by musicians who walk up and down the beach playing music for people.



Some of the people are creative in their ways to make money to provide for themselves and their families. Here is a man who rides his bike down all the streets in Chacala selling Paletas (ice cream on a stick) from his cooler perched on his bike. He will ring a bell, or yell out what he is selling, or some have a loudspeaker from their car announcing what they are selling. It is a convenience to buy from these vendors and there are plenty of them. When we lived in La Penita, the town next door, it was nice to just run out to the street when I heard a loudspeaker, to buy hot fresh tamales, fresh fruit and vegetables, or fresh fish. The same goes for drinking water and gas for cooking, as the trucks drive up and down the streets with loudspeakers.

Here is the gas truck where you get a canister of gas that they will hook up for you, and take your empty canister away. Our house has the gas tank on top of the house, and it is larger than these small ones on the truck, so we have to call the gas company to come and go up on the roof and fill up the gas tank when it runs out. The problem is we have no idea when it will run out, and when it does and we call, they always say they will be over today, but they don't come. We call and ask them to come, and they say "2 p.m" but never come, then we call again, and they say "manana" but they don't come tomorrow. Once we waited nearly a week, before they came after calling daily.

Water is a problem in the towns here, for some people have it in their system, and others don't and have to have it delivered. Unfortunately the house we are in, and the one before in La Penita did not have water regularly flowing in the system. Their is a cistern in the ground with a cover, and we check periodically to see the level of water. It is pumped into a tank on top of the house, so when we wash clothes or take a shower, the pump will run for 10 minutes and pump more water into the tank to replace what was used. When the cistern is running out, we call one of the water truck companies who deliver, and hope they will come the within a day or two to refill our cistern. This costs about $15.00 and may last a month, depending on the usage and number of people in the house.

For drinking water, everyone has to buy purified water in big jugs. Commonly, you buy it from a truck that drives up and down the street full of jugs of water. Each jug costs about 12 pesos or more ($1+). We save a little money by driving to the water purification plant with our empty bottles and they fill it there for 5 pesos(50 cents about) per jug.

One way Mexico is very different from the States is that in small towns and cities there are many small business owners, and hardly any chain stores (except of course in larger cities, and more corporations from the U.S. are putting in stores like Sam's Club, Walmart, Costco, Starbucks, Home Depot, restaurants, and more). But what I like, is that the little guy is in business here and there are lots of them. (but I don't know how well they do, whether they all can earn enough to support their families from their business). When you walk down the street in La Penita there are plenty of shops: jewelry, paper(stationary), pharmacies, hardware stores, butcher shops, many restaurants, gift shops, tourist shops, bike repair, shoe repair, appliance repair, kitchen/household shop, furniture/appliances, liquor stores, grocery markets, pool halls, hotels, bungalows, beverages/ice cream shops, shoe stores, clothing stores, the video store, film/photo, health gym, sandwich shop, internet usage(room full of computers to use the internet by the hour for about $1/hour as most people don't have a computer or laptop in their home), bakeries, fabric store, seamstress, sandal making shop, lavenderia(they do your laundry for you), mechanics, car wash (by hand, not machine),tire store, coffee roasting, vegetable market, florists, beauty shops, glass cutting, plants, and more (I know I have left out a lot more). The people are in business for themselves trying to earn a living. for there aren't many big employers around to provide jobs. These shops are small and in some, the owner's home is behind the shop or upstairs. When I walk down the streets off the main avenue, I always find a shop I have never seen before. The above photo is of the shoe or leather repair shop.

My friend and old neighbor Alicia opened her own shop recently, which is very tiny. She sells anything to do with fingernails and some beauty items.














Please click on the websites (the Mexico Tourism Board is a beautiful one) I have highlighted on Mexico showing World Heritage sites in Mexico (Mexico has more than any other country) and an article on some smaller "magical" cities fascinating to visit.

Yikes, I think I just heard thunder, better turn this computer off. Or am I just hearing things?