Our power epic

Well, we have just had a powerful reminder that Mexico can be different. We have been getting a good deal of rain; it has been raining almost every day, but not really extended downpours. We are certainly above average for June (average is 6.6 inches while we are probably going to be near 8 inches). At any rate there was a rain during the night early Monday morning. However, we did not lose power. About 10 a.m. I went out to pick up an external hard drive for backups that I had ordered on Friday and had arrived quickly. Everything was fine. A few minutes later, Barb was taking the dogs for their walk. As she went out, she heard snapping and popping overhead and the power line from across the street to our house and the one next door, suddenly fell down into the middle of the street! It had shorted and melted both the power lines and the cable holding up the wires. A few minutes later she saw some CFE (the government run power company) employees and told them about what happened. However, they shrugged and indicated that it wasn’t their problem. As we found out later, the wires were hot and energized the entire time over the next 2 plus days. When I came home not very long after, I called the La Floresta office to report as I was not sure that I could make myself understood to the CFE’s emergency line. They said that they would report it to CFE.

Over the next couple of hours, 3 times La Floresta employees came to examine. One of them even pulled the wires up out of the street and wrapped them around the tree out front. Because of the frequent rains, there have been many power outages. As we were to find out, CFE sets its own priorities in making repairs. Because we were the only ones out (the house next door on the other side from Steve and Heather’s doesn’t have anyone living there at the moment), we apparently have very low priority! At any rate, one of the La Floresta employees gave me an hint of what was likely to happen. He gave me a card with the name and number of a private electrician and urged me to call him. I tried, but the cell number on the card was not complete; it was missing one number (10 required). I then went to the La Floresta office to get a correct number. The manager said that I didn’t need to do that. The practice in Mexico is that CFE provides the lines to the nearest pole; then the property owner is responsible for the connection from there to the house. That is different from Canada. There, the power company does the connection to the meter and it is illegal for anyone to touch the lines up to the meter. However, the line was down before it got to the pole; thus, in theory it was CFE’s responsibility. I then went home and waited for CFE. Nobody came. Finally, when it got dark, we put on candles for some light, but went to bed a bit early with no lights or power. Of course, we did not have water either as the pump could not work. Fortunately, we can use a bucket to get water from the aljibe (cistern) so that we can flush the toilet manually.

Bright and early on Tuesday (after a poor night’s sleep), I went for my jog and then went to the La Floresta office as soon as it opened at 9 a.m. The manager said that he would contact CFE again, but if no one had showed up by 2 p.m. call him and he would contact someone to hook me up. Waiting for workmen to come in this situation is worse than watching paint dry. By 2 p.m., nada and I called. The manager said that he would contact someone. By 4:30 I was getting desperate and called Jose Luis, our trusted contractor. He said that he would try to get some help. He was not able to get through on the CFE’s 24 hour emergency number; however, he knew someone in CFE and called him. That guy told him that he would see if he could get a crew to come after their regular shift (of course paying them something to do so). Still nothing. About 8 p.m. an older man came saying that he had been called by La Floresta. He said that he could fix it, but not until the next day as he had to get wires and cables from a ‘friend’ in CFE! I said, “Wonderful", if he could do it.”

Late in the afternoon, I had finally wakened up. There is no one in Steve’s house next door (it had power all this time) and we have the keys. I took our long extension wire, plugged it in and threw it over the wall to our house. Using a total of 4 extension wires, we managed to connect up our refrigerator, although by that time, the frozen stuff had pretty well thawed out. Later, we connected our modem and internet to check our email and internet phone. Finally, we were again connected to the outside world. Again, we went to bed with only Steve’s wire for power. On Wednesday morning, I was still hoping that Jose’s friend would be able to get CFE to come. No such luck! However, about 10 a.m. the man from the night before arrived with his son and grandson. They had the wires and cable and set to work. To bring this long epic story to a close, just before noon, these men had again connected power to our house; we had no power for about 50 hours. The charge was 800 pesos (a little over $67) for wires and labour; at 600 pesos, the labour was probably a bit on the high side, but I was happy to pay, even twice as much! Later this afternoon, one of the employees from La Floresta came to check if we had power. He asked me if we had seen CFE. When I said, “Nada”, he shrugged and said, “Mexico”. I think that most Mexicans kind of expected that we were unlikely to get any action from CFE and that we would have to get someone privately to do the connection. Now, we know also. Everyone speaks disparagingly about CFE and I can begin to see why. In spite of many outages, the employees work until the end of their shift at 6 p.m. and then go home. There does not seem to be any working into the night to restore power. CFE’s union is one of the most powerful in Mexico, almost as powerful as the one at Pemex, the government controlled oil company. It was wonderful this afternoon when we were both able, finally, to take showers!

It was interesting with the people who reconnected us. It was the son who did all the work; however, the grandfather was kept very busy running after the grandson. The latter was a cute little guy, about a year and a half or so and just learning to talk. However, he was very mobile; he kept running out into the street. Thus, here we had 3 generations of males in the Mexican family. It is unusual that the men were taking care of the baby, not the mother or grandmother. However, I was very grateful for getting us reconnected. I must have said “Gracias” a dozen times.

Elvis Stojko

We seem to be well into the rainy season in the last week. We had a couple of rains during the first couple of weeks, but it didn’t change the pattern too much, i.e., pretty hot days. However, we have had a couple of heavy rains with cloudy and cool days this past week. We also rediscovered a couple of leaks, although not too bad. We have also had a couple of power outages. The first heavy rain last Monday brought down an enormous amount of debris from the eucalyptus trees. They shed bark like a snake. When we got up, we found large pieces of bark, especially inside and outside the front wall, but also in the back and in the courtyard. The next 2 rains brought less each time. The daytime temperatures have also been cooler--80º F (27º C) or less. Everyone is relieved, the mountains are turning green and the lake level has started to rise.

On Sunday at Open Circle, one of the speakers is Elvis Stojko along with his partner. They are talking about ‘alkaline water’. This is quite big in Japan. In the 1990s, Margaret and I heard about it from a couple of enthusiasts; we even bought the machine. It uses electrolysis to separate water into acidic and alkaline types. We didn’t notice any specific benefits, but we didn’t try it for very long; I can’t remember exactly why we didn’t continue. Anyway, it should be interesting to see and hear Elvis.

He lives down here close by in Lakeside but I don't know exactly where. He has been in the news a couple of times because he is coaching a young Mexican figure skater in Guadalajara. It is quite hard for the latter; as you can imagine, there is no program and few facilities. There is only a small rink, not a regular sized one for practicing and developing. It is an unlikely sport for a Mexican youngster, but kind of like the Jamaica bobsled team that came to the Calgary Olympics. The other former Canadian figure skater now living in Mexico is Toller Cranston, but he lives in San Miguel. He is more noted now for his painting here; some time in our first year here, there was a showing of some of his paintings. Our friend, Sonia, saw his mansion in San Miguel a couple of years ago. Cranston is not so popular with Canadians here; last fall, he was scheduled to speak to the Canadian Club, but literally at the last minute, he canceled. He was always unpredictable, and apparently still is.

Speaking of the Canadian Club, we have tickets for the July 1st picnic and affair. Last year, we waited until the last minute and the tickets were all sold. The Canadian Club has all its functions at the Neuva Posado Restaurant. The owner was a Canadian, but moved down here 25 or 30 years ago either before or after marrying a Mexican woman. The restaurant is part of a lovely, small hotel on the lake front; it is a favourite place for some of our Nova Scotia friends, especially the Sunday brunch. With all the snowbirds gone, we are not going out to eat as much as we do in the winter. We probably should go more as it is a tough time for the restaurants without the custom from the snowbirds.

Tobolandia

Today we took the 3 niñas to Toblandia which is a water park just up from us on the carreterra (highway). We have been looking at it for the past 2 years virtually every time we drove home, but had never gone before. It is especially for children. There is one area of shallow water and a number of water slides. In another area are huge slides for older kids and adults. Once they got over a little bit of initial hesitation, they absolutely loved the kiddie area. We did have a problem because the twins began to try to climb up one of the slides backwards. An employee had to come and order them to stop. The photos show a little bit, but it is huge with several different areas. Most families there seemed to bring their own food and refreshments, including coolers. This park is less expensive for working families than the spa and pools at Belanarios in San Juan.

We finally got a bit of rain this morning, but it was only a sprinkle; the weather guy in Riberas recorded only .03 in. (.8 mm). However, this evening, it has again clouded over and we may get more before morning. This is the last night of the festival in San Antonio and usually they have a big entertainment scheduled. Thus, it will be nice if rain holds off. We have had the firecrackers at 6 a.m. for the last 2 weeks. That should be finished. San Antonio is closer than Ajijic so this is the fiesta that we notice more than that of Ajijic in November.

I didn’t cover everything into the last post. I mentioned in May that we had bought 2 ceiling fans. Well, Jose Luis did install the fans quickly before we left for Windsor. They are a great benefit at this hot time of year. Although it does get very warm (mid to high 80s F or 30 C or higher), the humidity is low. Thus, if you have some moving air, the body’s cooling system of perspiration is effective. In the afternoons, the relative humidity can often be between 20 and 30%. In fact, the weather guy in Riberas recorded a 6% reading on May 28th when the temperature reached 91. Some people here use what are called ‘swamp coolers’ in the US. These are just a box with water and a fan. The fan blows the hot dry air over the water; the evaporation uses a lot of heat. As a result, the air that comes out is a bit moister, but quite a few degrees cooler. It is very effective in desert areas; it uses a lot of water but not much electricity compared to compressor type air conditioners. If fact, this kind of system is widely used in places like California and Nevada for cooling large buildings. It probably is used in malls and supermarkets here as well. As I have mentioned before, electricity rates are very high if you use more than 250 kwhs per month. Thus, not too many people use condenser air conditioners.


While we were in Ontario, the house/dog sitters, Chris and Stan, again looked after the dogs and house. That worked out fine. Chris and Stan are an interesting couple. Originally from Oregon, they have been here about a year or so longer than we have. Chris is in charge of subscriptions for the Music Appreciation Society and is also involved in the Little Theatre. Mostly, she had been backstage, but landed her first acting role in the season finale in April. She did a good job in her part. Stan, who had been in the choir, Los Cantantos, is writing a screenplay. His first draft was almost 50% too long. He was revising and shortening it. He said that our house is a quiet, good environment to work. They will be looking after things again in July when we go to Nova Scotia.

Chris and Stan live in Chula Vista which is only about a mile from us on the east side of San Antonio. It is an upscale fraccionamiento with a 9 hole golf course and country club; there are many, large, expensive houses built up the mountain. Like our own La Floresta, its services are managed by a board elected by the property owners. It has been the centre of a 9 or 10 month war. One group, the old board, had been running things for several years. Last fall, other property owners followed the bylaws with a petition to hold a special general meeting. At the meeting, a new board was elected. However, the old board refused to recognize the new board or turn things over to them. The new board got a court order demanding that the old board comply. The old board then went to a different magistrate and got a counter court order against the new board. The countersuits have paralyzed everything. The new board even visited the prosecutor’s office and the latter agreed that there was sufficient cause to lay charges of breach of trust against some members of the old board. When plain clothes officers arrived to make an arrest, there was some resistance and a scuffle. Those subject to warrants were released, but the charges have yet to be tried. The Mexican court system grinds extremely slowly and the suits are unlikely to be resolved for a long time. Accounts for Chula Vista are frozen; some property owners are voluntarily paying staff, but services, such as water and garbage collection could easily dry up. To break the impasse, the new board published a proposal: everyone on both sides would drop their suits and charges; both boards would resign; a duly called special general meeting under the supervision of court officials to ensure that everything was done according to the bylaws would be held and a new board would be elected and accepted by everyone. There were a couple of other points, but these were the main ones. So far, the only response from the old board was a demand that all suits and charges against them be dropped, but they have not agreed to any elements of the proposal nor offered any counter proposals. It has been very difficult for outsiders to sort out as the charges have been so diametrically opposite. However, this last twist seems to indicate who are the most intransigent, most self-interested and least interested in the well being of Chula Vista. Although quite a few property owners are rich Mexicans from Guadalajara, they don’t live there full time nor seem to participate in the governing. The warring factions are all ex-pats. Mexico has had many civil wars and conflicts in the last 200 years; it must be bemusing to Mexicans to see ex-pats behaving this way.

Things are different in La Floresta, although it too has many big, expensive casas. Our house is kind of at the lower end in size and market value. Many of the property owners are Mexicans (maybe close to half) and most of them are well educated professionals--doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. who live here full time They are part of the new rising class at the forefront of demands for change in Mexico--an end to corruption, more effective and efficient government and respect for the rule of law and human rights. Although there is a long way to go, the amount of change in the last 15 years is amazing. The executive and board who run La Floresta has only one ex-pat; the rest are all Mexicans. From all I have seen, La Floresta is extremely well run. In spite of many rising costs, the board was able to hold fees at the same level as the year before. With the discount for early payment, our annual fees were about 5600 pesos. At current exchange rates, that is just a little over Can. $500. That pays for water, garbage collection, street repairs, street lighting and security. For the last, La Floresta has guards in 3 pickups driving up and down the streets all night. The annual general meeting has simultaneous translations; this is good for us because Mexicans do most of the talking in Spanish. I have been greatly impressed with the seriousness with which they approach these matters of governing. The contrast with Chula Vista is striking.

Esperando la lluvia (waiting for the rain)

There has been a long lapse since the last post. Barb & I went to Windsor, Ontario to see RoseMary on May 24th; we returned on May 31st. RoseMary had not made as much progress in recovering from the stroke as we had hoped, especially in regard to mobility. Her right hand and arm are not as affected by the stoke, but she is not using it as much as we would wish. We observed her in occupational therapy and she seemed to have great difficulty in moving things to the left. She is conversing much more than when I was there in March and most of the time she seems to be completely aware of what is being said and what is going on. We went in to the hospital twice almost every day to help with feeding her. Three afternoons we also arranged to take her outside in a wheelchair; the weather was almost perfect, warm and sunny. At one end of the property, there is a pool with a fountain; also, there is a shady area with picnic tables, like a park. I think that she really enjoyed that. Also, one day we took her cat in so she could see her. They have placed RoseMary on a list of nursing homes, but we’ll have to see if any can take her with her degree of disability. We’ll probably go back to Windosr again sometime in the fall.

Here, in Ajijic, everyone is waiting for the rain to start; it is kind of like close to the due date of a pregnancy, anxiously awaiting the big event. Every day and evening, we look to see if there are rain clouds. There has been a bit of a tease with clouds and even lightning and thunder a few times, but no rain. It has rained in Guadalajara, in May (with hail even) and last night. It shouldn't be long now. As Rosendo, the gardener said today, it is coming closer, little by little. With the rain, the dust is settled, the temperatures are lowered and the mountains turn green again.

We had been told that there was to be a dinner/cruise sponsored by the Shriners tonight; we went down to the Ajijic pier, but nada. Instead, we went to Los Teleros restaurant; we hadn’t been there for a year at least, although we always like it. The food was delicious. It is a very slow time for restaurants this time of year. There was only one other couple there. As it turned out, it was Bill and Pixie Frayer. They are from Maine and arrived here just before we did; he also has a blog (http://mainetomexico.blogspot.com/) and it was amazing to read how similar our reactions and feelings about being in Mexico. Bill has been writing a monthly article for El Ojo del Lago magazine; he has also written and published 2 books of poetry. Barb plans to buy several copies to give to family in Canada because he expresses so well how she feels about being in Mexico. The Frayers were celebrating their 36th anniversary.

Mexico is in the midst of a census; an enumerator called here last Friday. Of course, they want to count ex-pats who stay longer than 6 months a year. According to the newspapers, some are refusing to participate. Paranoia sometimes runs deep. It only took a few minutes. Many of the questions were about the house (number of rooms, amenities, etc.) and of course, the number of persons and ages.