Zorro

This is a busy time as many concerts and events are squeezed in before the snowbirds leave. A number of our Nova Scotia friends are leaving this next week: Kay and Paul from Kentville, Cathy and Gary from Waverley, and Sonia. Kate and Jack have another month. Steven and Heather, who own the house next door and have been renting it out, are here for a few days. They wanted to see LIA; we took them on Thursday morning. Many of the kids are at kindergarten in the morning, but about 6 or 8 little ones were there. The kids are pretty well looked after as far as physical needs are concerned, but they need contact and attention. Heather and Steve didn’t hesitate, but plunged right in playing with the kids (see photos); the latter had a whale of a time. We introduced them to Anabel, the director. Heather and Steve are avid bicyclists and are planning to go to LIA frequently in the mornings to play with the kids while they are here.


The weather has been outstanding recently. Highs have b een 25 - 28º C (78 - 82ºF) and about 14 - 17 (58 - 62) at night. Today, however, it got to 30 (86ºF). That seems to indicate that the hot weather (April and May) is here. In 2009 the high here in Lake Chapala was 32ºC (90ºF) so we were not far from that. It gets hotter in Guadalajara, but the lake moderates tempreatures for us.

Today, Gloria (I gave her name incorrectly previously) asked to come and we agreed. We took the 4 niñas to see an animated movie, “El Fantastico Señior Zorro (Fantastic Mr. Fox)”. Yes, the Spanish word for ‘fox’ is Zorro (zorra for vixen). As kids we watched the TV series and movies about Zorro and never knew that it meant ‘fox’! Maybe, there were hints by the narrator, but it never dawned on me. Barb was a bit appalled by the movie as it was pretty violent. The foxes made pretty short work of killing the chickens; then there was outright war between the farmers and the foxes and other animals. She said that when Matt and Jeff were young, she would never have stayed and allowed them to see such a movie. However, sitting in the movie theatre feeding the kids popcorn and pop is very easy and and not too tiring; she let it go! Also, the kids seemed to remain interested in the movie. In the earlier movie about the Tooth Fairy, they were bored; once they had finished the popcorn, they were ready to leave. After the movie we took the kids to the malecón in Ajijic to play on the merry-go-round etc. As we were driving them back at about 5:30, Gloria and Fatima both went to sleep. We did a good job of tiring them out; of course, we were tired out too.

I am gradually getting better and more confident in my oral Spanish; I am understanding more of what is being said and have less tendency to go blank when I try to speak. I think that the effort I have put into it in the last almost 2 years is beginning to pay off. Maybe I should be farther ahead, but in none of the other languages that I learned (French, Latin and Afrikaans) was I ever proficient orally. I don’t expect to ever be fluent in Spanish, but I am determined to be able to converse about ordinary and common things. Mexicans are patient and appreciate one’s effort even when you are mangling their language.