Fatima's 4th birthday

We are still waiting for the first rain. Last night there was some lightning and thunder, but only a few drops of rain. It will come. Last week when we were in Guadalajara, we stopped at a fan store and bought 2 ceiling fans (ventiladores). We have been using floor fans, but they bother Barb’s eyes. We hope that the ceiling fans will not be a problem. We are putting one in the living room and one in the master bedroom. There is already a ceiling fan in the dining room, but, except for breakfast and occasionally when it is too cool, we eat lunch and dinner in the courtyard in the gazebo. Thus, we almost never use it. There is a candelier in the kitchen. We are going to have them switched. The fan will be much more useful in the kitchen when Barb is cooking. José Luis came over and said that he would, with his youngest son, install the fans himself. And today they were here to string the wires. He figured that he could run the wires on the roof and won’t have to do them up the inside wall. I had never thought of doing it that way. I had been dreading drilling channels up the concrete walls with all the mess.They should be installed fairly quickly this way.

Last week, I finally bought and downloaded the Mexican map from TomTom on our GPS. However, I couldn’t get the gadget to find our location. I fiddled with it for at least 4 or 5 days. Finally, I contacted the company and they had me do a ‘hard’ reboot. Almost immediately, it worked! I’ll have to try it out on our next trip to Guad. I haven’t used it since we arrived 2 years ago (May 6, 2008 to be exact) and I have to learn everything again. Not all of Mexico is covered, although all the big cities are and the main highways.


Last Saturday, May 8th, was Fatima’s 4th birthday. We got pizza for the girls’ dinner; they loved it. We had a bit of celebration with the 3 girls here. The first 2 photos with some of her gifts, including a Mexican doll. Barb didn't want to give another Princess or Barbie doll, although, like little girls elsewhere with all the promotion on TV, they like them. Riding in the car, the girls surprised us by singing ‘Happy birthday’ in English. We went back to LIA a bit early and picked up a decorated cake and ice cream to take for everyone in the babies’ house. Fatima’s younger sister, Yuliana, had her birthday 4 days later (age 2) so we inscribed the cake for both as you can see ("Feliz cumpleaños Yuliana y Fatima". The 2 sisters seem to like the cake and ice cream!

May fiestas

Early May seems to be filled with fiestas, holidays and celebrations. As in much of Europe, May 1st is celebrated as Labour Day in Mexico. Actually, in Europe, May 1st was also celebrated by socialists and Marxists, the main reason that the US and Canada established a different date for labour day. At one time the Catholic Church tried to steal the thunder of socialists by celebrating May 1st in honour of the Virgin Mary. I remember when I was growing up that there would be a big parade down the main street in Windsor with loudspeakers blaring out “Hail Mary”. Of course, in England for centuries, it was May Day, a night for dancing and cavorting. It may have been derived from a pre-Christian fertility rite. Although we heard that there would be parades in Chapala and Guadalajara, there did not seem to be much on; as it was a Saturday, there did not seem to be any closing of businesses, etc. But with the other fiestas listed below, it was a long weekend for many Mexicans.

Monday, May 3rd, was Holy Cross Day and a day for construction workers to celebrate. Either the night before or very early on the day, they place a highly decorated cross on the highest point of the building they are working on. They put one on the house they are rebuilding across the street. All serious work stops for the day as the workers drink and eat into the small hours of the morning. Also, starting about noon, but really getting going in the evening, are the rocket firecrackers. It was interesting because the blasts were coming from all directions from different construction sites, some fairly close and some farther away. They weren’t celebrating across the street, but there were firecrackers on the street behind us. I’m not sure how long they went on; when I went to sleep about 10:30, there were still occasional blasts, although none too close. Lily is very frightened by the firecrackers and hid under the bed at times.

May 5th is a national holiday. It celebrates the Battle of Pueblo in 1862; a Mexican army defeated a French force sent to Mexico by Napoleon III to install Maximilian as emperor of Mexico. The battle was not decisive as the French later prevailed in capturing Mexico City and installed Maximilian with help from Mexican monarchists in 1864. Maximilian’s government was not recognized by most nations and his empire short-lived. Mexican resistance by liberal forces continued and when French troops were withdrawn, the regime collapsed in 1867. Maximilian, who refused to leave with French troops, was captured and executed. His wife, Carlotta, who had urged him to stay and fight for their empire, later went mad. Cinco de Mayo is not really that big a deal in most of Mexico (except maybe in the state of Pueblo) and there was not much in the way of official observances. It is more celebrated in the US where many mistakenly believe it is Mexico’s Independence Day. The latter is celebrated on Sept. 16th to celebrate the start of the war for independence from Spain in 1810. Nevertheless, this year the schools (at least in our area) were closed from Monday through Wednesday.

May 10th is also a big day--Mothers’ Day.. It is always on the 10th, this year on Monday. Many families hire singers or mariachi groups to come to the house to serenade their mothers, often in the wee hours of the morning. We didn’t notice anything like that last year in our neighbourhood; about half of the residents in La Floresta are Mexican, but the houses are spread out here. In Ajijic and other areas that are more Mexican, the custom is alive and well. In the older pueblos (towns) houses are much closer together. We have heard of ex-pats complaining about the noise and losing their sleep. Poor babies! Letitia asked if it would be ok to come later next Monday as there is a special do for mothers at school where her children go.

This is the hottest time of the year. We have noticed it the last few days. The highs are not hotter (29-30.5º C; 85-87º F). However, it is not cooling off as much at night. In the mornings, it had been about 15-16º C. This morning it was 19 C (66 F). We have been using the fan the last 3 nights or so.

Tonight, our friend, Sonia, is returning to her house in Ajijic for 2 weeks. We are gong to pick her up at the airport.

Rain birds

Last evening, we heard the ‘rain birds’ for the first time this year. Usually we associate them with May, but we are a couple of days before the 1st of May. I think that I talked a bit about these last year in May. The call is a prolonged sound a bit like a whistle; it stays the same pitch, fairly high. There were only acouple last night. Later in May when there a quite a few, the sound is continuous. Actually, as I mentioned last year, the sounds are not made by birds, but by insects. They are called ‘rain birds’ because they supposedly are harbingers of the coming rainy season. Last year, the first rain came on May 8th which I think was a bit earlier than usual. In 2008, our first year here, the first rain was on May 12th.

We have had more than enough excitement this week. Just after midnight Sunday night, the power went out. It did not come back on until just after 11 a.m. on Monday; apparently a transformer went out. That cancelled our irrigation scheduled for Monday morning. Barbara tried to make up for it in the afternoon. That was not a good idea. On Monday,, Wednesday and Friday, the water comes from La Floresta only in the mornings until early afternoon. Then, it doesn’t come on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until late morning to about 6 p.m. Thus, the cistern (aljibe) was low overnight. When the irrigation system came on at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning., it soon draained the aljibe and lost the prime. We had to wait for the water from La Floresta to come on and partially refill the aljibe. Then, in the afternoon, we primed the pump and got water again. Usually, the irrigation system timer is set so that the watering coincides with the water flows from La Floresta. We shall certainly be more careful in the future. Right now in the hottest and driest time of the year, the grass and flowers need more water.

We just had more excitement; a hummngbird was in the house. Our feeder is in the patio, but until it gets dark, we usually leave the door from the dining room into the patio open so the dogs can go in and out. Actually, during the day many of the other doors are also open. Thus, we do have birds flying in. Some fly right out again; we have to be quick because Lily is fast and kills any she gets hold of, as she did 2 evenings ago. The humming birds always stay too high up in the rafters to find the doors to go out. The usual procedure is to keep them flying until they get tired. Sometimes, they get so low that they do find one of the doors. However, often, they just get so tired that they flutter down and I can pick them up; usually, I throw a napkin over them so they don’t struggle too much in my hands. Then, I take them outside. That is what happened tonight. It often takes 15 or 20 minutes for them to get tired out. I find it harrowing as I hate to see them get hurt.

The deep end

It’s a long time since the last post. Kate & Jack, the last of our snowbird friends, left on Thursday. Things do slow down now. However, friends of Steven and Heather of the house next door are staying for a month. We went out to dinner on Thursday night with Cathy and Ian. They are in the process of buying a lot on the other side of Ajijic, near where Sonia has her house. They don’t plan to start building for a year or more, but are having a great deal of fun and pleasure in scouting out ideas for what to build. They plan to continue with their jobs for 3 or 4 more years before coming here for at least half the year. This is a working holiday for them; Ian works for a mining exploration company in northern Ontario and can do a lot of the necessary paper work and information to investors from here via the internet. His company has hired Cathy to do some updating and furbishing of the company website, which is also something that she can do here. However, they say that most work days, they spend the day in front of their computers.

Last Saturday, we took the 4 niñas (Gloria is kind of permanent member of the group; she is in the middle with long hair in the photo) next door to Steve’s pool; there is no shallow end so the girls have to be in water balloons . That of course, means that we have to be in the pool all the time. Both Barb and I got sunburned. The twins, who had been in that pool before, both went in quickly, but Gloria and Fatima took a few minutes to get up their courage. But all had a very good time.

We have been a bit mystified because everyone at LIA keep calling the twins, “Camila”. Finally, we asked Alvia. She just shrugged her shoulders and said, “I can’t tell them apart, which is Dareli and which Dariana, so I just call them ‘Camila’”. We have not resorted to that. When we first go there, we find out which is which and note what clothes they are wearing, usually different. Then, when we want to use their names, we look at the clothes. Actually, if I watch them for a couple of minutes, I can usually distinguish because there are slight differences in behavior, but it is very difficult if you just look at their faces.

April is usually quite hot, but this has not been the case very much this year. In fact we had quite a bit of cloud for a few days and the temperatures did not get much above 27º C (over 80º F). However, today we set a new high for 2010; it got to 31ºC (87.6º F). Last year the hottest day of the year (32 C or 90 F) was on April 28th. I expect that we shall be getting more hot days for the next few weeks.

Barb claims that she has finished making new flower beds. That aside from changing or replacing a few plants occarionally, all she has to do is maintain what she has. Even that involves quite a bit of work. I am trying to get her to let Rosendo do a bit more. He won’t do it as well as she does, but so what? Although she is letting a bit go, I am still working on that.

Mexico's health care 'system'

Twice (Jan. 24th & March 11th, 2009), I have talked briefly about health care in Mexico. On Friday, Barb went with Kate and 11 other women (it is another little charity that I’ll discuss a little later) to Civic Hospital in Guadalajara. Over the almost 2 years that we have been here, we have gradually been learning about the health care ‘system’ in Mexico and I think have now gotten a pretty good handle. I use ‘system’ in quotes because parts have been added over the years until coverage is fairly comprehensive even though there are cracks that some people fall through. I’ll try to outline the various aspects.

Private care

This is very comprehensive with excellent quality by and large. We go to Maskaras Clinic set up and operated by Dr. Garcia. There is a dental office and an extensive list of specialists from Guadalajara who come out regularly, often weekly. The clinic has both a pharmacy and laboratory as adjuncts. They even have 2 beds for overnight hospital care. I used it when I was suffering from dehydration last year. One can get almost any kind of specialist and test, often the next day. Last year when I mentioned that I had not had my prostate checked even though the PSA had been rising., Dr. Garcia had me in to Guadalajara for ultrasound and biopsy the very next morning. The equipment used by the specialists is the latest and many of the doctors have had training in the US or Canada. Most have their specialist certification from the relevant American association. The private hospitals are modern; people who have used them say that the facilities and service is more like a hotel than a hospital. Again, almost all get certified by American boards. The private health care and hospitals serve wealthy and well -to-do Mexicans, ex-pats like us and growing numbers of ‘medical tourists’ (mostly from the US some flown down by insurance companies). Costs are just a fraction of what they are in the US. That being said, just as in Canada and the US, not all doctors or facilities are equally good. Initially when we arrived, we were going to another doctor who also had a lab as part of his clinic. We found that the test results of the lab were not reliable.

IMSS

This stands for INSTITUTO MEXICANO DEL SEGURO SOCIAL. This is a government run health care and social pension plan. By law, all employers of full time employees are supposed to pay the fees for this plan. Large companies with strong unions pretty much do so. I won’t get into the pension part because the 2 can be separated. Ordinary Mexicans can also join and pay the fees themselves. The fees, depending on age, are relatively modest. For example, for children the annual fee is a little more than 1200 pesos; adults in their 20s are just under 1500 pesos. [The exchange rate is currently just under 8.5 pesos per Canadian dollar; thus, multiply the pesos by .085 to get the amount in dollars. 1200 pesos is just about Can $100] However, huge numbers of Mexicans are self employed in effect (like our gardener and maid) and can’t afford or decide not to get IMSS. Letitia did not have IMSS; Rosendo does but doesn't seem to use it.

With IMSS, one must go to IMSS doctors, pharmacies, dentists and hospitals. What we have been told is that the doctors and other practitioners are well trained and pretty much comparable to those in private practice, but offices and facilities are crowded and there can be considerable waits. Also, the hospitals tend to be understaffed, facilities not as clean as we are used to and often patients have to rely on family to provide food and some care. Recently, Rosendo asked for a loan of 1500 pesos because he needed some dental work (we have made loans before and he pays us back 100 pesos per week). When we asked about IMSS, Rosendo said that he would have to wait too long and he prefers the private system. For Letitia, the 4000 pesos for herself and her 2 children is too much. We have decided (sharing with Sonia) to pay for Letitia and her kids. It is not too much anyway because last year when she had doctor bills and medicines for her kids, we gave her over 2000 pesos extra to help.

IMSS is available to non-citizens like us. Cost per year for those over 60 is 3325 pesos or just over $300. Many expats here apply for and get IMSS as insurance, even if they don’t expect to use it. Some have used it and say that they received good care. We have decided not to get it because, unless we were really in dire straights, we would not use it. At any rate, IMSS made health care available for large numbers of working class Mexicans.

Civic Hospital in Guadalajara

This is where Barb toured on Friday. It is a modern hospital run by the University of Guadalajara and is a teaching hospital for its medical schools. It serves the very poor who have no resources, mostly from Guadalajara, but also other areas of Jalisco State. It receives money from the federal government as well as the local municipalities in Guadalajara. The ladies were especially visiting the wards for women who have just given birth. These women are impoverished and malnourished and often very young. As a result, quite a few had lost their babies. Others were clearly not interested in their babies (one can speculate why). Twice a year the women in this group bring layettes for the women with babies (blankets and other basics to take their babies home) and some basic toiletries for the women who have lost their babies. There is also a new, small burn unit; previously, the Shriners had assisted sending burned children to a Shriners’ Hospital in Texas; however, last year because of financial problems, that hospital closed. The women take teddy bears and stuffed toys for the kids in the burn unit. This hospital then helps some of the people who would otherwise have no health care.

Rural clinics

From the newspaper, we learned that Jalisco State operates a number of small clinics in remote rural areas. These are staffed by interns completing their medical training and are often very isolated. They were in the news because many of the interns are women and at least one had been attacked and raped. Again, these provide some medical care for those who would have none. Even these do not provide care for all the population. Some Indians live in very remote areas in the mountains with only narrow paths to get access. These people keep to themselves, have very little material goods (often inadequate food) and have to rely on themselves.

This health care ‘system’ shows the reality of Mexico. In the cities especially, Mexico is very much a ‘developed nation’ comparable to others in this category. However, some other areas (although these are shrinking) are like ‘developing nations’ or even more subsistence level living.

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.

March marches on

March is more or less half over. I have been to Windsor, Ont. for a short trip. RoseMary did have a serious stroke which has affected her mobility as her left side is pretty much paralysed. Fortunately, her memory and mind do not seem to have been affected. However, she faces a long road to recover some of her abilities. Her husband, Larry, is being a tower of strength; as well two of our cousins, our aunt and a friend, Sandra, are all visiting frequently.

My trip, with one small hitch which I will explain in a moment, went pretty much as scheduled. Fortunately, the overkill on airport security that followed the incident at Christmas on the flight to Detroit, has abated somewhat. It is back to 1 carryon plus a personal bag on board. I had no long lineups for immigration or security. However, it was eye-opening at the bridge for entry by automobile. The grilling by the immigration officer was extensive; the days of in and out of the US are long gone. Many Americans no longer visit Canada often, not because of Canadian red tape, but because of the hassle getting back into their own country! Americans used to sneer at Europeans for the hassles they used to have visiting other European countries. Now, Europeans can travel freely without visas or other red tape; the US is now not very far behind places like North Korea, Myanmar, etc. Americans are rapidly losing many of their freedoms. Ironically, the people who are screaming most about the growth of government as a threat to freedom are also the ones demanding ever greater infringements of their freedoms in the nane of ‘national security’. Homeland Security is more and more creating a situation that reminds one of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The only hitch on the trip came right at the end. I was in Houston, the plane to Guadalajara was there and ready to go and most of us had had our tickets and ID checked ready to board. Then came an announcement, “We have a delay because the captain lost or forgot his passport; he cannot fly to Mexico without it. We shall have to get a replacement.” It took about 40 minutes; the first officer, a woman, took over as captain and the replacement filled in as first officer. Fortunately, Barb was watching the progress online and learned about the delay before leaving home. She felt the practice of driving to the airport at night was good.

We went to a chamber music concert in the Northern Lights Music Festival on Friday night and have the final concert for this year tomorrow night. The Canadian Club has the Canadian Ambassador as speaker for their March meeting, also tomorrow in the afternoon. It will be busy. Also, a number of our snowbird friends are leaving at the end of March. After that, things should start to slow down a bit.

Yesterday, we ended up with 4 girls from LIA. For some reason that none of us have been able to figure out. Fatima has been reluctant to go out with us for several weeks now. Yesterday, she told Alvia that she wanted her friend, Glorieta (one of the recent arrivals since Christmas), to go with her. We agreed. We ended up putting the twins in the front seat sharing the seat belt! We see large numbers of kids sitting in the back of pickups, but Barb insists that the girls always wear seat belts regardless of how rare that is in Mexico. It turned out to be a very easy day. We took them to the Ajijic malecón (waterfront park). We also had gotten some little shovels and buckets for sand box. Well, they loved that and played happily for over an hour in the sand. Glorieta is the one in the blue and pink top in the center of the sand pile photo. Also, Dariana in the upper right corner is wearing the light blue sweater that Barb knitted; Barb was very pleased to see that. Then, we went to another play area where they have installed more equipment, including the little merry-go-round in the second photo. Again, they played for over an hour. Glorieta is a live wire and had all of the girls constantly on the move. By then, it was time to bring them here for ice cream and cookies. We didn’t even have to lie down, as we usually do, after we got back from returning them to LIA.