Amor in Acción (con'd)

We have become more deeply involved with Amor en Acción. On Thursday morning, Barb went to a meeting organising ‘Loving Arms’. These are volunteers who go in to play with and cuddle the infants and toddlers in the shelter. While there, she found that the houseparents and staff are being given training classes for 1-1.5 hours five days a week for some months. For houseparents of older kids it is not too much of a problem because they can play and look after themselves. However, for the housemother of the little ones, there is no one except some of the older girls; one we met is very responsible but is only 13 years old. They could use some help to supervise during that period. There are about 7 children plus the son of one of the other housemothers. That was too much for Barb alone so I went too in the afternoon for a little over 2 hours. Most of them were sleeping for their afternoon naps when we arrived, but gradually they all woke up. A couple were very shy because they had not seen us before. However, others warmed up very quickly. All have big, brown eyes. There was also a baby (about 8 months or so at a guess). She was amazing. She was awake very early. During a period of 2 hours, she did not cry or make any fuss whatever. She came to us strangers immediately. We went back again today for the same period. We certainly can’t go every day for the course, but we will go as often as we can. With a couple of the older girls helping, it is not too onerous. It is a good thing for the kids to interact with other people besides the staff etc. of the shelter. Of course for us, it is adictive. Those big brown eyes are irresistable. We’ll take the camera next time and put a couple of photos in a future blog.

For Barb’s birthday next week, Matthew and Angela are going to sponsor a child in Barb’s name. [A sponsorship is about $100 for a year; for the older kids that is to pay for school uniforms, books and shoes.] They also want to sponsor another in Angela’s name. Barb wants us to go the godparents route; that involves taking a child for outings and showing some attention (and contributing the sponsorship money if able). So far the godparents have been choosing from the older children. Barb is eager to do three children from among the little ones; she already has 3 picked out. We’ll see; this Sunday there is another picnic for kids and godparents. They are planning to take some of the little ones to see if potential godparents might be interested in choosing them. Barb says that we should get first dibs on those for our godchildren.

On Saturday I have promised to help another charity, the elders’ home in Chapala. As I mentioned in an earlier post, they have been collecting items for a giant yard sale to be held tomorrow and Sunday. I have my Spanish conversation class from 11:30 - 1. So I will be going to help at the yard sale only after 1. I was intending to go help on Sunday too, but with the godparents’ picnic in the afternoon, I won’t be able to.

Kiss me, Kate

There is a Little Theater in San Antonio. They put on several productions each year. Barb and I had not been to one of their productions. Last year in June with the heavy rains, the street from the theater was washed out and they had to cancel a couple of productions during the summer. Then we have been pretty busy. However, Kate & Jack had received 2 tickets for Monday night’s performance of the current production of “Kiss me, Kate”. They asked if we would like to go. We decided to do it; however, all the tickets were sold out. Because there are almost always some no-shows, they have a system of a waiting list. An hour and a half before the production, you can show up and put your name on the waiting list. We did that but there had been 5 people on the waiting list for the previous night who were at the top of the list. We got #6 & 7 on the waiting list. We then went back to K. & J.’s for chicken dinner. Sure enough, several people did not show up. About 5 minutes before curtain time, I overheard the manager say that there might be 12 seats available. The first 5 on the waiting list were seated. However, literally in the last minute, four people with tickets showed up. However, Barb & I got in and only one other after us.

The production was better than I expected. Several of the actors have had extensive experience in local and regional theater, mostly in the US. Not too many of the actors had really good singing voices, but the main female lead doing Katherine and the main actress had an outstanding voice. What was also interesting was that a number of the women in the chorus, who are in my age range, were able to do a creditable job of dancing. Also, the 2 men who played the gangsters and then sang the “Brush up your Shakespeare” song were terrific. The Little Theater is really lovely. It has very nice theater seats (about 250 or so seats). It also has a lovely patio for drinks and the intermission. The theater has been on the go for about 30 years, but the building is relatively new. It is very close to us (about 6 blocks or so). We shall certainly try to get to more of their productions.

Today was the March meeting of the Canadian Club at the Nuevo Pasado Hotel. They said today that this is the largest Canadian Club anywhere in the world. For today, they had arranged for 10 of the private hospitals in Guadalajara to present their medical services and facilities. They all seem first class facilities (internationally certified) with top specialists and technology. Americans especially drool at the prices they charge as compared to the US. The more we learn about the medical system here, the more impressed and amazed we are.

After the meeting, there was a Mexican fiesta. We had extra seats at our table and we were joined by an interesting couple from Lunenburg. The fiesta (including an auction of donated art) was a fund-raiser for the Easter passion pageant. It is a reenactment of the entire Easter story beginning with Palm Sunday and especially events associated with Good Friday. The actor has to carry the cross from the main church in Ajijic up the mountain to the shrine where the reenactment of the crucifixion takes place; then the body is carried back down the mountain to the church. It is the most elaborate Easter pagent in Mexico. This will be the first time for us in April.

Equipals

We have had a busy couple of days. In fact, tonight we are feeling a bit tuckered out. I had been asked to help for 3 hours on Saturday with a charity. It is a fund-raiser for the Old People’a Home in Chapala. In fact, some of the gringos go there and it is said to be quite nice and people there are well looked after. They are collecting almost anything that can be sold in a yard sale. They have a truck that they bring every day on the highway across from Superlake supermarket. It is one of the main places that stock foods from the US and Canada where gringos pining for their favourite things (for example, Barb’s Shredded Wheat) can satisfy their longings. Anyway, it is a good place because most gringos go there frequently. Anyway, I had agreed to sit in the truck. However, I have my Spanish conversation class on Saturdays, 11:30 - 1 p.m. However, Marilyn seemed so desperate that Barb went in my stead. Then, when Marilyn called to confirm the person who had agreed to do the shift from 1 - 4, he said he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) do it. So as soon as I finished my class, I went to relieve Barb and stayed until 3:30. (I have agreed to help next weekend when they are doing the yard sale itself.) I couldn’t stay longer because our friends, Kate and Jack, had arranged a big cocktail party for about 40 people from 4 - 6 p.m. at their place. Thus, I had to hurry home, change and walk to their place. It was very interesting, although we knew only a few of the people.

While there and talking to Sonya, who is from Dartmouth and whom we had met last year when we were down here, was going to the final concert in the Northern Lights Festival; she mentioned that she had an extra ticket which her landlord had given her. She was very willing to give it to us. Other people assured us that at the previous concert they had announced that contrary to rumour, there were still tickets available for the final concert. We took the chance that we could get a second ticket. In fact, the woman at the door exhanged the single ticket and gave us two seats together in the same row (there seemed to be 25-30 empty seats). It was a terrific concert. We were very pleased to be able to go. Needless to say, we were pretty tired by the time we got home.

Today, the talk at Open Circle was about local lore here in Mexico and it was very interesting and informative. Some things we had learned before, but there was lots new too. Jack and Kate did not attend as they were still recovering from their exertions for their cocktail party; some guests did not leave until about 11 p.m.! However, they joined us for brunch at Neuvo Pasada restaurant which is just down the same street where they live. Sonya joined us as well to make 5. After brunch we went to Sonya’s place which is just a couple of blocks from the restaurant. She wanted Kate and Jack to see her apartment because friends of theirs are looking for a place for next year. The apartment is lovely., newly redone, with new furniture and lots of appliances. It is only one bedroom, but is very convenient location also. In fact after seeing photos online and J & K’s favourable review, the couple are very interested.

After that, I walked up to J. & K’s to pick up the car as we had loaned it to them so that they could pick up stuff for their party. I then drove Barb and Sonya to the Great Chili Cookoff. This is a 3 day affair with the profits going to 5 local charities. In fact the governor of Jalisco State and other bigwigs made an appearance on Saturday (dozens of police all along the highway). On Saturday, after a parade, a number of couples make their chili specialties; it kind of like the Idol TV series because people can taste the chilies and vote for the best one. On Sunday, various chefs from restaurants locally do their chilies and again there is a contest. Apparently, this used to be an All Mexico Chili Cookoff, but organizers felt it was just too much to do on such a big scale, so it is now just in the Lake Chapala area. Nevertheless, it is still a pretty big deal. Also, there are a large number of people with stands selling all sorts of goods. Barb finally decided to settle the problem of what additional furniture we need for the living room. Up to now, we have only a sofa; it is a good size, but still seats only 3 people. We were thinking of a couple of leather lazyboys, but they are pretty expensive. One of the local specialties are called equipals (see photo). They come in many different levels and qualities; many restaurants have very basic ones. However, at the Cookoff, Barb found a furniture maker who does bigger, more padded and fancier versions. He said that he doesn’t usually sell retail, but just to furniture stores. He didn’t want to take his chair home (it was only a little over an hour before closing) and offered her a deal. She ended up buying 2 chairs and 2 foot stools. These chairs have tooled leather backs. It is really quite comfortable, even without the foot stool. We got the one chair today and in 2 weeks or so, they are going to deliver the second chair and 2 foot stools. With the 2 desks (which are a great success) and now getting the living room furniture settled, we shall be pretty well set for furnishings. We are gradually checking off items on our list of priorities that we felt we needed.

Just a brief comment on the weather. It has been getting warmer with temps in the afternoon getting up to 31 - 32 on some days. In fact, in the newspaper it said that a new record high for Jalisco state was set for February --33.4; the old record had stood since the 1920s.

VoIP connected again

Well, we have our VoIP phone again. Finally, after getting nowhere for almost a week, I used Skype to call Primus. As it turned out, all I needed to do was to use the reset button on the VoIP box. I had thought of doing that but was worried to do that without checking. However, on the 3rd try, the tech said to do that (others had wanted to get into the box, but I had had to do a reboot of my computer, which cut me off from Skype). However, as soon as I did a reboot after the reset, it connected! I shall know what to do next time. However, I also discovered that Skype could be a good alternative. What I need is a headset with microphone. Just using the built in microphone on the computer has a lot of echoes in our casa with solid plaster walls.

Today we had a new experience. Barb had learned that there is an Office Depot store on the highway from Jocotepec to Guadalajar. Always before, we have gone on the Chapala to Guadalajar highway; that way we get into the Guadalajara metro area on the south-east side. Going west to Jocotepec and then north to Guadalajara brings us into Guadalajara farther west. It was very interesting. It is much more rural from Jocotepec than from Chapala. The latter goes past the airport and it is much more built up along the highway. Near Jocotepec, we saw fields covered in white plastice with raspberry bushes under. Farther along, there were lots of pastures and cows.

We got right to Office Depot and Barb spotted the sign early enough that I could get over to get off the highway. Barb had wanted some supplies and that became more urgent with the 2 new desks (more file folders and file hangers for the file drawers). Also, we needed another desk chair. We ended up getting one for me and Barb can take the old chair I got last year. The new one has a screen back so will be cooler for down here. When we got back on the highway into Guadalajara and were looking for a turn-around to go back, we saw a sign saying to go to the airport. We would go in farther, then across Guadalajara to the Chapala highway. It was farther in than I figured, but we in fact did the circle around to get back to La Floresta. We didn’t take a wrong turn or get lost, which was an accomplishment. as it was mostly new territory in Guadalajara.We are certainly getting more comfortable about going into the latter, even though we have been doing that a lot less. We have been trying to buy as much as we can locally. In fact, it usually doesn’t cost more and we want to support the local businesses as much as possible.

There are an enormous number of events taking place right now; with all the snowbirds here, this is the time many of the organizations want to arrange fund raisers, etc. We cannot possibly do everything. The Northern Lights Festival is on for little over a week. This has been organized for 6 or 7 years by a Canadian musician from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. A number of musicians from the TSO come down here. They give 7 concerts here in Ajijic and 2 in Guadalajara; the musicians also give master classes for some of the advanced students in the music school in the Univ. of Guadalajara. However, we waited too long and by the time I went to get tickets, they were all sold out! There are other concerts during March and April.

Mardi gras

They really make a big deal of the pre-Lent period. For 3 Sundays, there was a parade around Ajijic. In the parade were a number of people on horseback. Also, there were a number of young men dressed in women’s clothes, well padded to look very bosomy and often with masks. Most carried sacks containing confetti or flour; they would throw the latter at spectators lining the street. However, the targets are usually children or young people. The parade would make its way to the bull ring which is on the boundary with La Floresta. There were usually some events at the bull ring, sometimes bull riding (no bull fights here). These events were increased during the last 3 days before Lent began, especially on Shrove Tuesday, the day of Mardi Gras. That night we could hear loud music going almost until midnight.

Today was both exciting and frustrating. Last summer we got a small desk that held the printer, the router and VoIP box; I could put my laptop there also, but it had little space for working or for storage. Barb had no desk and sat on the sofa with her computer. A few weeks ago, she stopped at a furniture store which makes furniture to order. She asked about a desk. They would make a pine one to her specifications for 2600 pesos; formerly that was about $260, but with the decline of the peso, it is closer to $217. That included a bottom drawer that served as a file cabinet with rails to hold file hangers and a pull out shelf for the laptop. They also would stain it to match the china cabinet. Barb ended up ordering 2 matching desks (each 48 inches wide) that would just fit in the dining room on either side of the china cabinet; as you can see, they arrived today. The only difference is that my desk has the file drawer for legal size and hers is letter size. Thus, for less than $440, we now have 2 very nice desks with good storage for files, etc. This was the good side.

However, we had to move the hardware for printer, etc. including the modem/router and VoIP decoder for the internet phone. Getting the latter to work last May was a real trial. After a couple of very frustrating weeks, suddenly, for no reason that I could figure, it started to work and has done well ever since. I tried to disconnect as few wires as possible and return them to exactly the same connections. However, while everything else is working, the internet phone is not! I have been fiddling with it all afternoon and evening, but with no success. I don’t why it started to work last year and thus no idea what I need to do now.

Amor in Acción (con'd)

After looking at a number of the charities in this area, Barb is especially interested in Love in Action. There is another orphanage on the other side of Jocotepec.That puts it quite a distance away (probably over 20 kns) while L in A is only about 5 - 6 kms in Chapala. On Sunday, there was a picnic for some of the children and godparents from Love in Action as well as an information session; Barb attended, but I didn’t. It was held just up the mountain in a gated community above La Floresta. Barb had been saying that there should be some program for the retired expats here to be ‘foster grandparents’ or some such. This would allow expats who are missing seeing their grandchildren as often to have an outlet. Then, she discovered that Love in Action has such a program, although they term them godparents to the children.. The most important contribution from godparents, they insist, is just taking them out for excursions, remembering birthdays, etc. Otherwise, they say that the children have few opportunities to go outside the center except to school. They say, yes, give presents, but small, relatively inexpensive ones; otherwise, there may be big gaps between what the children receive. The other thing is that they have some infants who need to be handled and given attention if they are to thrive. The workers there tend to be busy just feeding and changing. As you might imagine, Barb is especially interested in doing that. The children at the center have their tuition paid by the government, but there is no money for school uniforms or school supplies; they estimate that these extras cost about $100 per child per year. They hope that the godparents can contribute that as well They also are eager for sponsors who perhaps do not live here or who don’t feel able to give the personal attention desired from godparents but are willing to help with money contributions. Barb is going to go further with this.

Last night, there waa another Music Appreciation Society concert. This was a family from Toronto. Actually, the parents, both pianists, were originally Russian, but have lived and worked in Canada for a number of years. Their daughter, a soprano, has no accent and was mostly brought up in Canada.The parents did mostly arrangements for 4 hands of orchestral pieces. LLana, the daughter, did at least 3 songs or arias in Spanish; she is working on her 6th language! Altogether, it was the most extensive concert yet--over 1 hour for each half. Although some of Llana’s songs were 20th C, most of the music was 19th C--Brahms, Chopin and Lizst--and more in line with my preferences,.Jack & Kate were there, as was Sonya, from Dartmouth.

Lily

We have been having quite warm weather (highs of 26 -29 C, although one day up to 30 C). This may be a bit warmer than usual for this early in the year; I’m back to shorts and sandals.


We have a new addition to our entourage. We have taken a rescue dog, named Lily. A little over a month ago, a woman (from Montreal, named Cher) found her very sick in the Plaza. She took her to a vet. Lily was in really bad shape and close to dying. She needed IVs for 2 or 3 days because she was so dehydrated. Cher paid to have her treated with shots etc. Then, she took her to her place to get her back to health. However, as she couldn’t keep Lily, she put a notice up at LCS looking for a home. Barb was looking at the notices and planing to contact a couple. By chance, as she and Bijou were leaving LCS, they met Lily and her rescuer. With Cher’s agreement, Barb brought Lily home for a small test to see how she and Bijou would interact. It went well enough that we called and said that we would like to keep her. The woman gave us all the toys and things she had bought for Lily. The vet estamated that Lily is about 8 - 9 months old. She is a bit taller than Bijou, but may not grow too much taller. She is very sweet tempered, affectionate and I think very trainable. Unlike the 2 dogs over the back wall, she does not seem very barky. Bijou keeps reminding Lily who is boss, but Bijou has adjusted quite well. Lily and she play and we think it will be good for Bijou to get more exercise. Our first night passed entirely without incident; fortunately we have a king-size bed so that there is lots of room.

The other matter of interest to describe is Centro Amor in Acción (Love in Action Center). This is an orphanage in Chapala that I mentioned briefly before when we donated our old washing machine. They are in the midst of a big move and transformation. We visited their current establishment up the mountain in Chapala. It is very cramped with little grounds around; it provided a shelter and care for about 50 children ranging in age from infants to about 15, but conditions are spartan to say the least. However, they have acquired another, much more spacious propeerty. It has 5 or 6 buildings with fairly extensive grounds for play areas, about 3 acres in all. They are creating 4 dormitories for about 60 children in all. Each dormitory will have 15 -17 children with a small apartment for house parents. One area will be a nursery for infants and in some cases mothers. In addition, there will be a library and study area and some computers. They have quite a few expat volunteers, as well as paid Mexican workers doing the renovations in hopes of being able to move by the end of this month. When we dropped in, we got a tour plus lots of details about their plans. It was very impressive. The property had at one time been the estate of a very wealthy family in Guadalajara. However, a few years ago a couple acquired it and set up a shelter for women and children. However, they have gotten older and have health problems. Apparently, they had about $800,000 invested and the property was appraised at $1.2 million. However, they have sold it to Love in Action for $300,000 and we were told that even that money is going to another charity. This is not the entire story of this impressive operation, but I think that I’ll leave more details until my next post in a day or two.