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.