Feliz Navidad

Hello and Merry Christmas to all. Its our final month in Mexico and wow have we had a time of it. In case you are not up to speed with what has been happening with us, let me give you a timeline.
November a week before Thanksgiving while getting some dental work done Suzanne started feeling a little ill, as things got worse I took her to the local hospital and she quickly got violently ill. The medical staff in our little village took great around the clock care and after three days and two nights in the hospital with meds, we found out the diagnosis.  TYPHOID FEVER, the thing that we took great pride in getting vaccinated for before we left Oregon. It is something that can be contracted from a wide variety of places, your water, food, or just the right thing you touched and it makes its way to your stomach. Fever, headache, and violent stomach pains accompany this illness. The recovery took about THREE WEEKS and consisted of 14 days of CIPRO 1gr per day along with anti nausea medicine.  By the way the total hospital bill & Dr bill was $683.US. all inclusive.

Fast forward, it is mid Dec and Suzanne is finally healed up and we both have had our dental work finished to great satisfaction, our dentist Dr Cotty McDonald has spoiled us to any other provider, she gave me a deep cleaning, 2 root canals and 5 crowns, Suzanne got a cleaning and 1 crown and neither of us had ANY PAIN at all, this came at a total cost for both of us together of $2100.US.

The cost of my work alone in the states would have been over $8000. I can not tell you how much we both appreciate the time and care we have received in both the Ajijic Hospital and at Dr Cotty's office in Riberas De Pilar.

We are winding down our vacation while celebrating Christmas in this magical village full of wonderful and warm people. Thanks to all and Feliz Navidad.

After the zombies

This is being posted late as we have had some moving issues and I thought I already posted it, SORRY...

The end of October starts the time to celebrate the lives of family and friends who have past on, in Mexico the parties start, even now as we are in bed the mariachi bands are playing in the town and the fireworks are a constant reminder that it is party time, scaring the dog, and waking us up at unthinkable hours. But to the people of this small village it is an important and also reverent time. On Oct.31st. The Celebration of the Virgin of the Rosary ends with a parade carrying her statue from the main plaza church thru the streets of the town to a small chapel where she lives all the other months but October....there will be Indigenous dancers, an outdoor Mass, they parade thru Ajijic, past all the altars the local Mexicans have made with great care to celebrate The Day of the Dead, which will begin at dawn on Nov1 thru midnight Nov 2.

The cemeteries are a place to go and decorate and celebrate with food and music, they have an all around festival atmosphere which seems strange at first until some of the locals describe just what is really happening and how it relates to their past heritage and the traditions they are passing on to their own children. We are welcomed here by the local people as though we have been the best of friends, and have known one another forever. It really is a wonderful place to be!

1.5 miles up hill both ways

By our house here in Ajijic, is a path up the side of the mountain that goes to a small chapel (Mission) where folks hike to get a workout and possibly some spirituality, what ever you believe in.

We started walking the trail last week 1.5 miles to the chapel, and it is not for the faint of heart, in places the path is narrow, the rocks are loose, it gets steep, and I'm not getting any younger, at least thats my story. We met an elderly Mexican man who was coming down from the farthest point of the hike, which is WAY past the chapel, all the way to the top of the mountain, a 6 hr hike. He said he started before daylight with his flashlight, and it was about 11am and he was still going strong, he said he has been doing this same hike since he was a young boy with his father, something to be said about hiking or at least walking more than just to the car and back.

                                                                   
                                                                    The Mission

Mural inside the mission

We made it!

Our HERO on his way down, after 6hrs, 

just like it was nothing!

Ahhhh ... the Artists

Out the door in search of some art supplies so Suzanne can actually start drawing and enjoy not working.   We headed down into the village with a purpose, not just for supplies but also to explore. The first little spot was out of most supplies as the schools have started and this one is closest to one of them, but still we found some #2 pencils. Knowing this was not going to be as easy as first thought, we headed to a few galleries and then into a well known and respected artist's studio. The artist, Efren Gonzales, is one of the notable artists and muralists of Mexico, his work can be seen all around Ajijic, some of his murals grace the complete sides of buildings here. He and Suzanne struck up a conversation about a graphite drawing of a Shaman that was on his wall done by another notable Mexican artist, Javier Ramos, who just then stopped in to the studio and NOW Suzanne is going to be studying with him for some personal lessons, and maybe me too, he made us feel so welcome.

This is one of Efrens many murals in the village

My First Time...

I mean my first time to get a CLOSE shave with an old fashion straight razor, you know the kind in the GODFATHER movie. Suzanne and I were walking in town and she said "Oh, Look a Barber Shop, don't you need a haircut."  Well, DUH, of course, but the eye catcher was the straight razor on his counter and the price of 30 pesos $2.00 & change for a shave. I'M SOLD. The nicest young guy, maybe 30 at the most gave me a wonderful haircut, and to top it off, I got my first straight razor shave... Smooth as a baby's ..s  80 pesos all together shave and all, less than $7.00 US.

Then, off we went to Francisco's micro-taqueria and had a wonderful lunch, and great conversation with Francisco, who would like to learn more English, Suzanne did study English  Lit in college and we both have had some Spanish here and there, so he would like to give us Spanish lessons in trade for English lessons for him and his sisters. Maybe we will get this in the works, he is a very nice guy. What a great day in the village!





 

Life after work " WORKING" what's up!

As the title of our blog is "Life after Work",  I thought going on a 3 month Mexican vacation would be basking in the warmth of the beautiful climate we chose and going to the Tiengas (street markets) for fresh fruits and wonderful veggies, all the while enjoying the culture and hospitality of this wonderful country.  As some of you know me, If something is not right an urge in me takes over and some how, some way, I end up involved in getting the project off the ground, or in this case IN THE GROUND! When we arrived our pool was dry, do to it loosing almost 18" of water daily, so it was best to drain it and find the culprit, so guess who is now involved. After working on it for four days we will fill it back up on Saturday, and hope the vacation part resumes quickly.
                                                            MAN it's a BIG POOL!

Wake up!

It is now the time of celebration of many of the cherished spiritual figures, and one of them is La Virgin del Rosario or, Our Lady Of the Rosary, so at the crack of dawn the cohetes de trueno or sky rockets blast off to call the parishioners to the Mañanitas or Rosary procession to the church. From 5:30 AM to 6:00 AM we hear fireworks followed by church bells calling the faithful to early Mass.....better than an alarm clock beeping, although frightening to our dog, Lola, who leaped up into bed with us, trembling like a leaf.  This will last thru all of October until the statue of the Virgin del Rosario is paraded back to her home cathedral in an impressive procession/celebration followed by an evening fiesta in the plaza.