Catching up on May

Because we were off line for so long, I wrote some notes in Word and saved them for later. So I'll post them here.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Short entry. We met Jan and Jack at their place (about 2-3 miles toward Chapala) at 10 so we could drive to Guadalajara to what Jack calls the Big 4: Sam’s, Walmart, Costco, and Home Depot. We didn’t really need anything but wanted to go along for the directions and experience. In fact, Bob drove and I took navigational notes. Very interesting in how much was the same as in the US and how different some things were. It’s a huge complex with an attached mall that we didn’t go into, and the customers were most definitely Mexican primarily. We bought just a few things, like a laundry basket and batteries, a set of Spanish language cds for Bob, etc. We had lunch at a restaurant in the complex (which also has Subway, Carl’s Jr, and others). Got home about 4 by the time we helped unload J & J at their house. We were pretty tired, so had leftover spaghetti and didn’t go out again.

Bob wanted to watch a Jesse Stone/Tom Selleck movie on one of the networks. It’s kind of confusing trying to figure out what time things come on. Of course, we’re on central daylight time, but the Canadian satellite system, Star Choice, is out of Edmonton, Alberta (mountain time) where Don and Shirley’s home is. So Bob was figuring out the guide based on all this information and decided the movie would start at 8 pm our time. So we settled down to watch the movie, but it wasn’t on. So Bob got on the phone with the technical service people (who have been very nice and accommodating). It turns out that the only network channels we get are out of Spokane—on Pacific time! Wha’??? And the movie won’t start until 11 pm. Well, we can change the location to a city in whatever time zone we want, but we did stay up and watch the whole thing. Got to bed after 1 am.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

We’ve been waking up about 7:30 or 8 on our own, but this morning we slept in until 8:30. We had stayed up late the night before to watch a Jesse Stone/Tom Selleck movie he wanted to see. We had big plans for the day. I had an 11:00 pedicure appointment. Bob had breakfast while I cruised the internet news and found C-Span 3 covering the House Judiciary hearing with Monica Goodling testifying. Although she didn’t really have anything earth-shattering to reveal, I was still fascinated by it. I know—what a geek. Bob dragged me away to go get my toes done. I met Jan at the salon which is right beside the street where the weekly market is held on Wednesdays, so Bob checked out the market and a few shops in the area. Street markets here are called tianguis which I think is from a local Indian dialect, but I’m not sure.

So, the salon is both hair and nails, like American salons used to be. For a pedicure, we were brought portable round tubs, lined with plastic wrap and filled with warm soapy water. Except for the lack of the vibrating chair and bubbling bath, everything else was much the same. Very nice pumice work and foot and leg massage. Cost: a little less than $8. A mani-pedi is about $15. This shop is a little high but trusted for sanitary conditions more than others.

After my pedicure, we walked through the tianguis but didn’t buy anything. Saw a bootleg copy of Shrek 3 already. Then we walked through the village a bit and came back home and didn’t do much of anything. About 4 here, I tried to call Min and discovered that our phone line was out. About the same time, Bob was trying to download something and lost the connection. Oh, joy. No home phone means no modem connection for both Vonage and the internet. Don’t know what the problem is. Don (the owner) told us he’d paid the bill through June, so we’ll have to go see what’s going on tomorrow. Who knows how long we could be out of service. Damn, damn, damn.

We were sitting out here on the terrace when someone went by below on the street and dogs ran barking to the iron fence. Bob went to calm them down and it turned out to be a neighbor named Roger. Roger thought Don and Shirley might be back since he’d seen signs of habitation. So Bob invited him in for a drink. Turns out Roger is the fraccionamiento (neighborhood) association president and even before he sat down, he told us he had lots of dirt to dish! Oh, my. And he did. We opened a bottle of wine (Concha y Toro sauvignon blanc—good), and he settled back to regale (?) us with his stories. There are so many characters down here. He’s supposedly a retired dot.com CEO from Silicon Valley before the crash. He bought a house down the street from us and moved down about a year and a half ago, but his wife decided to keep her job in Palo Alto for Genentech. They visit each other back and forth. He says they’ve been married almost 40 years. I’m thinking she’s discovered the perfect way to stay married to him……far away. After a couple of hours and the whole bottle of wine, we had to chase him away because we had a dinner appointment at 7. So, to soften the blow, I invited him to dinner here tomorrow night. I know. Stupid. But he’s lonely! And likes to talk!

We pushed Roger out the door and got to the restaurant a few minutes late. It’s less than a mile and on the main highway called the carretera. The ambience is lacking because it’s basically in a strip mall on the carretera, but it’s a new place and has been getting good reviews from the expats here. Manuel is the owner/chef who has lived and trained in the US and northern Italy. His wife is the hostess. Everybody speaks English. He makes up a new menu every day, depending on what he finds in season and in the markets. Last night he had two risotto dishes on the menu—one with salmon and one with beef strips. We all had one of those two except for Jan who had spinach ravioli. Very good dinner and it was our treat because Max and Janel, Jan and Jack were the two couples who had found our house for us. Manuel came out to the table to talk to us after dinner, and as we left the whole staff came out and shook our hands. This place is unusually pricey because Manuel is trying to create high quality food and service. Even so, total bill for six people with salads, dinners, Bananas Foster (just for one), drinks and wine, tip: about $160. Very nice evening.


Thursday, May 24, 2007
4:30 CDT

The Telmex (local) phone connection is still out, so we’re pretty much completely cut off from immediate communication. The satellite TV and radio work fine, but they’re only from outside in, of course. Feels very strange not to be able to pick up a phone or hook up to the internet.

It’s still pretty hot—88 according to the thermometer on the terrace, but it was well into the 90s when we were in town earlier this afternoon. The rainbirds (cicadas) are still singing their promise and off to the south over the lake there’s a dark cloud building. We’ll see. Everybody’s waiting for the first rain. There are reports of light rain in Guadalajara this week, and we felt two drops the other day—exactly two. But in the house and under the covered patio, it’s very pleasant. There are ceiling fans in every room and two outside where we’re sitting. And the air is so incredibly dry.

Today was the first day for Ramona, our housekeeper, to come. She’s in her early twenties, very nice and cheerful. She’s studying English through a profesora who also teaches Spanish. We might check her out. I’d like someone with whom I can spend at least half an hour or so who will correct my mistakes and help me fill in all the lapses of memory. I definitely need to tune up my ear.

After Ramona arrived this morning, we put the dogs in their kennel and went off to town to find the Telmex office. Actually, we knew where it was; we just needed to go there to report our outage. Very simple. There was a machine where you could enter your phone number and then it would print out your current status—bills paid, owed, etc. With that, we went to a window and explained “No hay teléfono en la casa.” Ok. In Spanish the clerk told me to go over to the right where I’d find a machine with phone to call someone who speaks English. Sure enough, there was a little desk and chair with phone mounted on the wall and a sign that said “English Spoken.” I pushed the little button and eventually got an English speaker who took information, checked the record, and said we would have a technician at the house today or tomorrow between the hours of 8am and 4pm. Uh-huh. Ask me if I’m skeptical that we’ll have communications back before sometime next week—if we’re lucky. Based on US standards…and BellSouth experience, I’m not looking for this to happen anytime soon. I do hope I’m wrong.

Meanwhile, I’m denied the internet and calling people back in the US…or anywhere for that matter. I don’t like it. This roughing it could get to me.

Anyway, after we got back from the Telmex office, we came back home to see if Ramona and the dogs were ok. They were fine in their kennel, but she seemed slightly hysterical that we were back well before she was done. (We were only gone about an hour!) So we took the dogs in the car back into town (about a mile or less) and parked near the plaza. We had had lunch as a restaurant called 60s in Paradise back in November and had noticed that pets were welcome. So we decided to give the dogs an adventure. The restaurant is a retro 50s/60s kind of burger place. From the street, you walk inside and down a passageway to the open-air tables and chairs. Old-time R & R is playing, and I DO mean old-time. On the walls all around are old vinyl records and album covers. The waitresses wear poodle (Ha) skirts and the owner is an American, former musician, who loves dogs. So we walked in with Howdy and Daisy on their leashes and found a table in the shade on the patio. Immediately, the dogs were surrounded by Rick and three waitresses. (We WERE the only people there.) Rick went back to the kitchen and brought back a yellow plastic dog bowl of water and two pieces of bacon—real bacon—for the dogs. Bob had a hamburger, fries, and root beer float; I had a chili dog and a Coca Light. Speaking of which: to me the Coca Light—not Diet Coke—takes almost as good as regular coke, not like diet. We had brought a case of A & W diet cream soda from Texas, but it won’t last forever.

After lunch we walked over a block to Janel Campbell’s realty office. She and I were supposed to meet up today to buy a present for Jan’s birthday, but she couldn’t call me, of course. She was walking out just as we walked in, so we went down the street to a little shop. Then, I called Mindy to ask her to report our communications problem. Hers is the only number I have memorized. That Russian-sounding guy is back on the Vonage line when you try to call out, saying: “The Vonage device cannot connect with the Vonage network.”

It was pretty hot by that time, so we brought the dogs home for water and a rest. Ramona was about an hour from being finished. She was so thorough. She even rolled up the Oriental carpet in the living room and dragged it outside so she could mop the whole tile floor. Anyway, nice girl and she’ll be coming every Thursday.

So now I’m very restless without phones and internets. Bob has music on the stereo, and it’s very pleasant out here, but I can’t settle down. He’s reading, but I don’t feel like it. Don’t feel like watching TV. Bob doesn’t want to go out again. Wah! I want my internet back!