Almost fin de semana

 Not that it really matters. But the dates do.  We went to Chapala this morning to pick up our ID cards that show we're now officially temporary residents of Mexico.  This means we can fly in or out with or without the car (which is also officially temporarily imported --with a $400 hostage fee refundable on returning the official sticker).  We're just officially official.  You might not think that's so important in Mexico, but they believe in paperwork and getting it right.  We had to have more pictures taken for these visa cards.  The instructions were to remove glasses and have your hair completely brushed back from your face and off your forehead.  Sure enough, when we went to claim our cards at the Instituto de Nacional Migracion, the lady behind the desk asked Bob to take off his hat as she compared the picture to his (apparently) real self.  But we passed and are now completely legal.

We haven't been to Chapala much yet.  In case you don't remember, Chapala is the big little city of the municipality of Chapala, which includes Ajijic, among other villages.  It's like the county seat.  But it was certainly bustling today as the weekend before a major holiday was beginning.

Here in Mexico, Halloween is not a big deal except for a few families and kids who copy trick or treating like in the US.  And although real pumpkins don't seem to grow here, jack o' lanterns are everywhere in the form of terra cotta pots and even painted talavera ceramics.

But the big holiday is El Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, which is actually 3 full days starting on October 31.  The Wiki link above has a much better and fuller explanation than I can give.  But starting already we're hearing the rockets (cohetes) and the bands beginning. From a couple of blocks up the mountain, the drums and tubas dominate, so it sounds very much like marching band practice from a distance.

One of the strangest images from this holiday is the Catrina, the dolls and costumes reflecting all kinds of people but all are skeletons. Or sometimes only skulls. Pretty gruesome reminder of death, but it's such a happy holiday and the purpose is to remember the dead. Here's a picture of some Catrina dolls.

Anyway, the next several days will be noisy beyond compare and even Daisy has started trembling and hiding or jumping into our laps.  If I could find a way to turn them temporarily deaf, I would do it for the next few days for sure. Scaredy dogs below:

Howdy--big brave dog:

I'm sure there will be lots more to share as the holiday rolls on: castillos at the plaza, parades, bands, dancers, and so on.

We're heading out to a Western BBQ at the Chapala Country Club with Johs and Judy this evening--two for one wine and beer from 5:30--7:00.  Whoo-hoo! 

Plants among us

And, yes, Z, with more pictures:

Took this picture at a nursery (viveros) nearby. And, yep, that's a poinsettia--the same as the ones you see in pots every Christmas, and I'm standing as tall as I possibly can. We have a couple of these trees in our garden and some of the leaves are just beginning to turn red. When I saw the picture, it reminded me of the first time I saw these plants grown so tall.  It was in Baguio about 1982, the first time we went up there.  Curious, I looked up the elevation of Baguio--5000 ft, just like here. Hmm, I wonder about their respective latitudes: Baguio, 16.4 N; Ajijic, 20.3 N.  Hadn't really thought about it before, but that explains the similar climates, of course. (I'm really fighting the nerdy geographic urge to go on and find more places of similar latitude and altitude.......Later!!) There is a picture in a box in the garage in Louisville similar to this one with several of our 1982 selves standing under a large poinsettia tree just like this one.

The other day we went to a place we'd heard about for years about halfway between here and San Juan Cosala.  It's called Viveros Cactus, and it's a Biosphere, a beautiful garden of about 2 acres or so where they cultivate various kinds of cactus, some really exotic.

It's really hard to get a sense of how spread out this biosfera really is, but here are some pictures for examples:

I'm making up names for these because I don't know the real names.  I call the one above graveyard cactus. Or maybe just Tombstones. The one below is obviously an octopus cactus:

Below are twisted sister and pots o'cactus.  I'll let you figure out which is which:

Ok.  Hope you enjoyed my little slide show.  It gets boring uploading all these pictures.  Maybe I'll just load them somewhere else and put a link in next time.  Especially for the house and garden pictures which we have tons of.  The last cactus is really named barrel cactus--I think.  If it's not, it should be:

One day in Mexico

I realized that I've rendered myself mute by telling myself that I have to write everything that's happened to us in the 6 weeks or so.  But...never gonna happen. The longer I wait, the heavier the burden ("It'll take hours! I don 't have the right pictures!  I need to sort and label the pictures!" and so on.) So I decided to just start from right now, today, and if I can keep that going (following Z's noble consistency), maybe I'll eventually go back and pick up some other things.

So, today I woke up first about 7 am and drowsed a bit before getting up a little before 8.  Even though actual sunrise happens before that, the full effects don't happen until later.  There are large trees to the east that block the sight of the sun, but the slanted morning rays across the village below us and the lake and mountains beyond are captivating. I went downstairs to the kitchen and started the coffee and let the dogs out.

[ They sleep now in their kennel together in one of the spare bedrooms.  Howdy gets so freaked out by the noise of the loud thunder and cojetes that he paces around and around our bed at night. One night a thunderclap was so loud right above us that he leaped into bed with us.  Hasn't done that for awhile.  We were also hoping that the kennel would soothe him and feel like a safe haven.  So far, he hasn't said, but we're sleeping better anyway.]

Then we all trooped back upstairs with coffee to watch the morning light.  Bob decided it was probably time to get up. It was chilly enough this morning for jeans and long sleeves but very pleasant.  Gorgeous blue skies and the incredible view.

[On the upper floor there is only one bedroom, but it's gigantic.  Huge room with king bed, sofa, fireplace, large-screen TV (55"") on the wall opposite the bed--actually too far away to see it very well from the bed.  I think 100" might be just right. The bedroom has south-facing sliding glass doors that open onto the terrace, about the same size as the bedroom.  The suite includes an enormous closet with glass doors fronting the hanging parts and built-in drawers and shelves.  Through the closet is the bathroom with toilet, double vanity, large walk-in shower, and huge jacuzzi tub that overlooks the garden and the lake. There's also another big linen closet. And a small private terrace past the shower and tub. The only other room on the 2nd floor is the laundry room with w/d and a door that opens into a small drying area.  There's also access to the flat part of the roof where I now have a clothesline.  Yay! The combination of altitude, low humidity, and abundant sunshine means everything dries in a jiffy.  So I get to indulge my (strange, I know) affinity for hanging out clothes while feeling oh so virtuous about using solar power.]

Isabel, the housekeeper, was due at 9, so we had planned to go out for breakfast with the dogs, then take them to the malecon for a walk.  We went to Yve's, one of Bob's favorite places.  Yve was born in Mexico, French father and Mexican mother..  The tables are arranged in the garden around a pool with a fountain in the middle and along the side, plants arranged all around.

Bob always, ALWAYS has chilaquiles for breakfast.

I had a spinach, mushroom, and cheese omelet. (Yve's is also the restaurant that adopted the burro Vino Blanco after his elderly gringo owner died.)

The dogs settled at our feet while we ate.  We haven't taken them out to eat with us much this time, but they were very good.

Then we drove to the malecon to walk off breakfast. Still so beautiful, a bit warmer, but a breeze whipped up the lake almost into whitecaps. 

Our walk was fairly short because we had to be back home by 11:30 when Daisy and Howdy had beauty appointments with Edgar the groomer. They were very good as always (I think they secretly like the bathing and clipping and attention--who doesn't?) and now sacked out in the den with us.  But looking lovely and handsome, respectively. 

So when we got home, Isabel was still here cleaning, Ricky the gardener was in the atrium scrubbing the fountain, and Edgar arrived soon after to groom the dogs in the carport.  Who thinks we do nothing all day?  Somebody has to supervise. So it's 2:30--Bob is reading, the dogs are napping, I'm finally completing a blog (!) and the day is young.  Even though it started out chilly, it's now about 80.  The pool temperature is 78 and we have plans to go in it.

And I have finally written another blog!!