A busy Friday

We had a very busy and interesting day, yesterday. It started early as Barb had an appointment with her GP at 8:30 a.m. She was thinking of getting the blood work that her doctors in Canada had ordered regularly; however, even in Mexico it would cost over $300. It boggles the mind to think how much it costs in Canada. Actually, as it turned out it was just as well she didn’t .

Anyway, at 12:30 we had an appointment with Jsun Mills; a coincidence that we have the same last name. He is a consultant on alternate energy sources--the sun. He was coming to see what we might do. We have been planning to do a gazebo in the courtyard and we finally have the money. However, we wanted to think about the possibility of solar panels for electricity. We were wondering if we could combine the 2, but we probably should think of 2 separate structures. We finally got a new refrigerator so that that should lower our consumption and we are now just under the level that would trigger the DAC. Anyway, Jsun had a little gizmo which shows where the sun and any shadows are all year round. Our backyard is very good for getting the maximum sun for solar panels. Also, he says that whether planned or not, our place is excellent as far as maximizing the passive solar heating in the winter months and minimizing the heat buildup in the summer. He has a designer and architect who he works with and will outline our situation to see if she has ideas on what we might do.

Then, we were going in to Guadalajara for 2 things. Barb had an appointment with a rheumatologist recommended by her Halifax rheumatologist at 6:30 p.m. We also wanted to submit our application for absentee voting in the election to the Canadian consulate in Guadalajara, which has hours 9 - 2, & 4 - 5. The consulate is sending all applications to Ottawa early next week, then the ballots will come back to the consulate. We go in and pick up the mail-in ballots, complete them and then the consulate will send them to Ottawa. I got out the maps and planned our route. It was actually not bad as the consulate is just south of the Cardenas freeway and the main street to the doctor’s office was close; we only had to go 2 - 3 kms north from there. Security in the building where the consulate is (Guadalajara World Trade Center) is very tight. It was a bit of a rigmarole to get in. While we were in the consulate waiting room, we started to chat with another woman, who turned out to be from Dartmouth. Not only that, but it turned out that she was Judit Rajhathy (I’m not sure that the spelling is correct). Both Barb and I had had brief acquaintance with her in Dartmouth! She wrote a book in the early 1990s about how to deal with allergies and sensitivities, especially among children. We had discovered in February that she had moved to Ajijic a few years ago and started a workout gym on the Carreterra. We had intended to contact her (Barb actually went to the gym, but she wasn’t there that day), but had not got around to it. Thus, we met her in Guadalajara where she was trying to get her renewal passport and was frustrated that it was taking so long; she in fact had had to change her plane reservations because the new passport was so slow in being sent. Anyway, we were trying to calculate the odds of meeting her there in those circumstances and decided that it was a very large number indeed.

We had lots of time to get to the doctor’s office. We did well navigating, Barb reading the map while I drove. We made one late turn, but back on track in just a few minutes. Going there and coming back, we had to go through several large traffic circles, which we had not done before. That is challenging, because the signs are not always very clear. However, we managed all of them successfully; that was very satisfying. We got to the doctor’s office with almost an hour and a half. Thus, we had time to go out for dinner, to an Italian pizza restaurant! Well, it was better than the McDonald’s, which was also nearby! Actually, the pizza was good.

Barb really liked the rheumatologist; it turns out that he did some of his training in Canada in New Brunswick! However, some of his comments were sobering. He wants to make significant changes to her medications, but is going to talk to her Halifax rheumatologist first. When we were coming home to Ajijic, we were surprised at the traffic; it was well after 8 and after dark. With the afternoon closing of many businesses, many people are not going home until later than we expect in Canada and the US. It was just about 9 p.m. before we got home and were very happy to drive into our own yard and ‘nuestro casa’. However, we noted that we had managed to get around Guadalajara without either of us getting short-tempered; we are obviously getting more confident and even comfortable in getting around Guadalajara. That is good because we have to go in to get blood work done in about 4 weeks and then back to see the rheumatologist in about 6 weeks.