El Niño in Lake Chapala

They say that no one talks about the weather as much as we Canadians and I’m going to keep the tradition going. We have heard that after a brief balmy period, there is now big snow storms and cold weather in Nova Scotia, although that is not unusual.

However, the weather is unusual for this area of Mexico; this, along with unusual weather patterns elsewhere (especially in Europe, is being attributed to El Niño, the cold water inversion in the Pacific off the coast of Mexico and Central America. There was unusually cool weather and a couple of rainy days in early January (this is the dry season but I see that we had rain last year in January also); however, I had thought that it was getting back to more usual weather the last week or so. Temperatures were warming up. Daytime highs were 23-25º C and early morning lows were in the 12-14º C range. Today turned out differently. After a sunny morning, it clouded over after noon and began raining in short bursts. We have now (almost 7 p.m.) received significant rain. Barb intends to turn off her irrigation system as there is enought water for the grass for a couple of days. It will undoubtedly be colder tonight,.

We did not go to Open Circle this morning. Our friends did go, but most said that we didn’t miss much as the speaker had lost her notes and was not very well organized. Sonia was the only one who said that she had enjoyed it. However, she admitted that the speaker was not very good and also that she had dropped off to sleep.

We had an upset yesterday while taking the girls back to LIA. We were driving up the main boulevard in Chapala. The pickup in front stopped and I did as well. Then, another car banged into our rear, pushing us into the pickup ahead. The young fellow driving the car that caused it all, quickly backed up and drove down a side street away. The pickup did not receive any damage; we got a new dent in the front bumper and a small hole in the rear bumper. We were not injured as it was not a huge crash and everyone was buckled in seat belts; however, the girls were upset and cried most of the way back to LIA.

Progress is continuing on the bodega. Tomorrow, Feb. 1st is a holiday in Mexico, but the men are coming to work anyway. The holiday is Constitution Day (Feb. 5), but it is being celebrated (as many holidays north of the border are) on Monday to give a long weekend. We really noticed heavy traffic and big crowds yesterday and today, probably an influx of visitors from Guadalajara; this is a favourite outing for Tapitios (the nickname for Guadalajarans) and every weekend there is an influx, sometimes rowdy young people. Holiday weekends, it is much larger.

We are awaiting the arrival of Matthew and Angie next Saturday evening.

Busy days

Things have been a bit hectic since we arrived back. First, our ahijadas (goddaughters) were very happy to see us and we them. The twins flung themselves at us and squeezed so hard around our necks that we almost lost our breaths--delightful! We had brought back ponchos for the 3 girls crocheted by Barb’s sister-in-law, Jess. Jess also made three bead strings (Darianna is holding one); they are now attached to their purses. Barb had previously got the hats, sunglasses and purses. There they are, dolled up in the second foto (the photo is a bit dark but is not too bad if you click to enlarge it). We took them down to the malecon in Ajijic and strolled along. I think that we made quite a sight and I caught a number of people smiling as we passed. Even when we got to the playground, the girls were reluctant to take off their finery to play as you can see in the third foto. We had been taking the girls frequently to a restaurant; however, we decided that for the money we were spending, we could get 3 roasted chickens plus salad and tortillas, enough to feed all the little ones in the 5 and under house (before Christmas there were 18). When we arrived back, there are now 24! Well, we are going to continue bringing food, but we have to increase the chickens to 4. A chicken with salad and tortillas only costs 80 pesos (i.e., less than Can. $7.50) at the rosteria in Chapala; the guy chops the chickens into small pieces. The kids now know what to expect and go rushing to their places at the tables as soon as we arrive.

In February 2008 when we first visited Kate & Jack here in Ajijic, we met Sonia who lived in Dartmouth. She was down here last year for some months as well. She had sold her condo in Dartmouth and moved to Ottawa. This year Barb helped her to find an apartment to rent just a few blocks from us. She immediately began hunting for a house to buy as she is going to move down here. She did agree to buy a very nice one and is to have the closing next Monday on Jan. 25th. Unfortunately, while waiting (her apartment was the only one without bars on the windows), she had a break-in, losing her computer, some jewellery and some cash. Even more, she was nervous about staying there longer. Barb invited her to stay with us until she can move into her new hourse. This week, she decided to go on a short trip to Manzanillo, which is near Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast. She returns tomorrow on Friday.

About a week ago, we called Jose Luis, our contractor, about the irrigation system as one of the sprayers had broken off. While here, he mentioned to Barb that his men were just finishing a job and had no others at the moment. We had 3 more jobs that we intended to do, but had been thinking about waiting until late Feb. or March. In any event we decided to go ahead and they started last Friday. They have already finished installing a small patio off the spare bedroom. Yesterday, they started working on the addition to the bodega (garden shed). When finished, the bodega will be 3 times the current size. As usual with Jose Luis, he is making it extremely solid. The final job to do is in the driveway inside the walls. There are 2 long pads of cement for the wheels with grass in the middle. It is fine now, but during the hot dry season, we often go for days without moving the car and the grass under dies. The men are going to replace the grass in the middle with cement and flagstones. We are also having him install an electric light in the big star that Barb got for over the table in the gazebo. She had intended to put a candle in but the little door was too small for a big candle; in any case, a candle is lost in the big star. We'll provide fotos in a future blog when everything is finished.

Return from Nova Scotia

January 7

We are finally home from Nova Scotia. We left on Dec 15th. Our return yesterday was a long day. We got up at 4 a.m. and Wendy drove us to the airport. The new security measures for flights to the US really are slow. No carry-on luggage except camera or computer cases or a purse. However, Barb had quite a few of her medicines of which they examined everyone; our computer bag had a number of pockets, each of which had to be examined. Then, there was the all over pat down. Fortunately, ours was only the second flight to leave Halifax so the line was not too long. US Immigration was more picky than it used to be as well. Until we got to Guadalajara, the rest of the trip went like clockwork as the weather was good in all areas. However, now Mexican Customs requires that everything passengers from foreign flights have (checked as well as carry on) be x-rayed. However, they have not got that operating very efficiently. There was a very long line and we ended up at the end. Then to cap it off, Barb got a red light which meant that our luggage had to go through an intensive hand search. Fortunately, the Mexicans doing the search were friendly rather than threatening.

There was another little incident while we were waiting in liine. A sniffer dog, named Filepe, stopped at Barb’s large suitcase and the handler asked if we had any food in the case. Barb, without thinking about all the possibilities, answered in the negative. The handler insisted that the dog had detected food. I then reminded Barb about the fact that she had purchased 14 bottles of Omega 3 fish oil (She saw a research report that said that Omega 3 is very effective in alleviating lupus). Barb had an opened bottle in her purse. She could show it to the handler who let the dog smiff it and confirmed that that was what Filepe had detected. Once he was satisfied that that was all we had, the handler became friendlier and that was that. It was an impressive demonstration of the ability of sniffer dogs; none of the bottles in the suitcase had been opened. With everything, we were well over an hour after landing before getting out to meet our friends, Kate & Jack, who had come to pick us up. They had just about given up that we were actually on the flight. It was about 10:30 p.m. (12:30 a.m. Halifax time) when we got home.

Chris and Stan, who had looked after the dogs while we were gone, were here. The dogs were very happy to see us as we were to see them. Everything went very well and Chris and Stan did an outstanding job. Today we are very tired, but it is wonderful to be back in our casa in Ajijic.

The weather here in Ajijic has been a bit unseasonable since we left in December. It has rained quite a bit (more is forecast in the next few days) and been cloudy for many days. That means that the temperatures have been low. I saw that the low in Guadalajara about 3 nights ago was just under the freezing mark. However, it doesn’t get as cold here because of the moderating effect of the lake. This morning the low was about 13 C (55 F) which isn’t too bad. However, because of not too much sun (today it was mostly overcast and the sun at best was very sickly), the house doesn’t warm up like we usually expect. The indoor temp is about 16 C. We are using some of the warmer clothing we brought down.

As we get settled again, I hope to resume regular posts to the blog.