Los Niños Incapacitados

The charity dinner and dance was quite an affair. It was held at the Real de Chapala Hotel. It is the fanciest hotel (5 star) in this area. It is one block behind our house, but we had not been there before. We had seen their tennis courts because they are right on the street where we frequently pass. They also have quite a large pool inside the hotel courtyard. The dinner and dance were held on a huge courtyard outside with a band playing 60s & 70s rock and roll. There were over 30 tables with 10 persons each. Jack had organized us and reserved a table for 10. Paul & Kay (snowbirds from Kentville, N.S.), Cathy & Gary (formerly Five Islands Lake, now Waverley), Jack & Kate and Barb & I made up the Bluenose contingent. Completing the table were Mike and his Mexican wife. Mike, a Canadian, has lived here for quite a number of years and has owned a couple of restaurants as well as other buisnesses.

[There is an interesting story about Mike and Paul. Last year as a result of Jack’s bringing them together, they met for the first time in over 30 years. They had gone through basic training in Ottawa in the RCMP together. Mike resigned from the force after only a few years, but Paul remained in until his retirement a number of years ago. It is sometimes amazing how small the world can be.]

Anyway, there were apparently over 300 guests paying 700 pesos per head. Also, to raise money they had auctions, a live one and a silent auction. The live auction was interesting with over 10 items. Most of the items were donated by couples or foursomes for gourmet dinners for 8 persons; however, one item was a cocktail party for up to 30 persons. All of these were in some of the fanciest homes in the Lakeside area. The bidding was quite lively, in some cases by rival groups. Most were sold for 12-15,000 pesos each ($1200-1500). Thus, it appears that they raised a lot of money. Mexican governments provide pracitically no services or support for handicapped children so that Los Niños Incapcitados fills a real need. I read a newspaper article that said that one of their programs was horse therapy. On Satuday mornings, some of the children are taken for short rides on horses. Research has shown that such rides do wonders for the morale and well being of such children.

I was contacted by another charity, this one for an old people’s home. They are collecting donations of household items for a yard sale in March. They have a truck sitting on the Carreterra for donations, but they needed someone to man the truck for the afternoon. I agreed that it was a small thing that I could do and spent the afternoon before the dinner/dance doing that; if needed, I’ll probably do that a few times more. Indeed, there are a large number of charities who are all trying to raise money from the expats. However, I expect that a great many of the customers for the eventual yard sale will be Mexicans; it’s a great way for them to pick up household items relatively cheaply.

On a totally different topic, I went to the LaFloresta business office with our deed to get the house recorded in our names. While there, I asked for the amount of our fees.for water, street lighting, garbage collection and security. The base rate is a little over 500 pesos per month or a bit over 6,000 pesos per year. However, if you pay upfront for the year by the end of February, there is a 10% discount. As a result, it is less than $600 per year. I think that we have another tax of about $100 per year. So our entire costs for the equivalent of property taxes at home is probably no more than $700.