Flu, flu, flu

We got a new computer. However, as I feared, the ‘migrate’ program, which allows one to move everything from an old computer to a new one, doesn’t work from an iPod. Thus, I had to transfer all the programs and data files in a number of steps. I called Apple and one of their techs helped to walk me through it. He congratulated me on having the presence of mind to use the iPod to back up the old computer before it konked out. The only difficulty for Barb is that the keyboard labels are for Spanish and there are a few extra keys. We can still select the normal English (Qwerty) keyboard, but the labels on the keys are not all the same. I type by touch and have memorized the keyboard, but Barb has always been hunt and peck. The letter keys are almost all the same; it is the other keys that are different. However, she is managing and the new computer is so much faster and better. It also has the latest version of iPhoto, which is the program she uses for all her photos (beween 7 & 8,000).

Of course, the last week has been all about the so called ‘swine flu’ pandemic (or not). Someone at Open Circle today said that the first case had been found in Guadalajara. I don’t know if that is just a rumour, but it is likely to happen sooner or later. However, to this point, everyone in Nova Scotia has been a lot closer to this flu than we have been!

I have a strong feeling that this is going to be another fiasco like the last ‘swine flu’ pandemic in 1976. In that event, swine flu was discovered in one US army base. The media and the politicians went into orbit; both Canada and the US governments ordered millions of doses of vaccine. In the end, about 200 soldiers on that base got the flu (not severe in almost all cases) and one died. However, as the vaccines were being administered, some people got an unusual illness that may have been a side effect of the vaccine. In any case, hundreds got ill and a number died. The vaccination program was cancelled (about a year later all those millions of doses were simply disposed of and the US government paid over $100 million in compensation). Most of the media (and many politicians) forget about the context and proportions. Every year about 37,000 Americans (and about 10,000 Mexicans; I don’t know Canadian statistics) die from whatever flu viruses are going around at the time. So far, there is no evidence that this flu, despite being given a different name, is any worse than most other flu viruses; in fact, most evidence is that it is mild. Nevertheless, the voice of Chicken Little is heard in the land. Of course, the other thing is that in the media, especially in the US, anything negative about Mexico is played up big. Fox Network, which in an amazing masterpiece of gall and effrontery calls itself a “News Service”, is especially notorious. The right wing is very exercised by all the Mexican illegals in the US. It is similar to the line about the 6,000 murders in the drug war in Mexico last year--how horrible! They don’t mention that over 17,000 Americans are killed with guns every year. That is just normal in the US and not even worth mentioning!

We are hearing long, piercing whistles these days and nights. Here, the old timers tell the newbies that it is the ‘rain bird’ which starts these whistles about 4 weeks or so before the rainy season starts. Supposedly, the newbies then go out looking for the ‘birds’. Actually, the whistle is made by an insect that emerges at this time of year; it is probably part of mating. There seem to be a lot of them here in La Floresta; we may be in a hotbed of ‘rain bird’ sexual activity! This is the hottest time of year here and it does get hot (well into the 30s every day). The house seems to get up to about 28 or so. We start the night with the fan going, but by about 2 a.m. it is cool enough to turn off the fan and even pull up the light blanket. It is amazing how uniform the weather is day after day--sunny, hot and dry. For about 3 weeks I have had a cough which I am pretty sure stems from the dryness; it is not uncommon here for Gringos. I am using my CPAP machine all night; it has a humidifier. That seems to help, but I may have the cough until the rainy season starts--less than a month if last year is an indication.

Scorpions

On Tuesday, we went with Kate & Jack to Super Burrito Restaurant. It is just up the street from where K & J live and is regarded as authentic Mexican restaurant. It is not fancy although the garden, where we ate, was nice with a big fountain. One of their specialties (which I had) is burritos. However, I think that I was told that burritos are TexMex, not real Mexican. It was a good experience and very inexpensive. Then K & J were over for dinner Friday night, their last night in Mexico as they left on Saturday morning. They were the last of the Nova Scotia snowbirds.

Part of our conversation on Friday was about scorpions. There are lots of them in Mexico, especially outside the more densely populated areas. We were saying that we had only found 5 or 6 in the 11 months that we have been here. Moreover, all of them were fairly small, about an inch or so. Then, late Saturday afternoon, I looked in one of the sinks and there was quite a large scorpion, the biggest I had ever seen. It was about 3 inches long with the tail straightened out. They are interesting because they have big claws in front, kind of like a lobster. We have no idea how it got up and into the sink.

Today, we had the 3 girls (Fatima seemed recovered); a couple of them wanted one of the bigger girls to come. At the center they arranged for Araceli, a ten year old. She was excellent in helping us with the little girls. As it happens, she is an older sister of Fatima and the baby, Yuliana. We did the usual--fed them and then let the little ones play in the pool for a couple of hours. During that time, Araceli seemed happy to be colouring with crayons. She is learning English and has a fair vocabulary. After the girls finished in the pool, got dressed and had ice cream and cookies, we bundled them into the car and took them to the waterfront in Ajijic. We were lucky to get a parking place and took them all for a walk along the nearly completed malecon. They seemed to enjoy that, especially when we came to a man throwing a fishing net. It takes quite a bit of technique to twirl it around and fling it out into the water. He had 4 or 5 medium sized fish.

Barb’s computer packed it in (we had it almost exactly 5 years). Fortunately, I had been suspicious of the way it was acting and just a week ago, I had spent all Saturday afternoon backing up everythiing onto our iPod. The computer went rapidly downhill this week. At first I thought it was just the hard drive (and that certainly reported that it had a fatal error). However, I called a computer guy. He came on Saturday and confirmed my suspicion that there was more wrong with it and that it probably was not worth tryng to fix. He reported that Macs were a lot more expensive here than north of the border. I looked up what I thought would be a good replacement and checked prices in both Canada and US. When I contacted an Apple dealer in Guadalajara, the price difference is not as great as I had feared (less than $200 and the prices north of the border included the educational discount; there is probably not much difference in the regular prices). Also, we would have no economical way to get one down here until Barb goes back to Nova Scotia at the end of July. We are planning to go to Guadalajara on Tuesday; the dealer said that we could get one immediately. The new one will be a big improvement as it is right up to date while the old one was getting obsolete. I should be able to transfer everything that was on her old computer to the new one.

The last of the Nova Scotian snowbirds

We haven’t had any big events, but the time seems to go by very quickly.
This Sunday only the twins, Dariana and Dareli, came. Fatima has not been feeling very well this week, according to Elvia; certainly, she didn’t act like her usual ebullient self. I noticed that she had a number of red spots on her face. In any case, she didn’t want to come. Usually, she has been the first to rush to the car. We did have a bit of a problem early in the afternoon with Dareli. For no apparent reason she started to cry and then had a major temper tantrum. We had experienced this once before. She carried on for quite a while and we tried to ignor her. When she quieted down, Barb got her (we had put her in the spare bedroom); she soon was fine. During the tantrum, Dariana had played by herself in the pool. Later, Dareli wanted her swim suit on and the two of them played in the pool for another hour. Kate and Jack had come over, and the girls were good as gold (the photo shows Jack holding the two girls). We had, as usual, given them some ice cream and cookies and when they were tired of the pool, we got out the colouring books and crayons that Wendy had brought from Nova Scotia. We didn’t try to get them to take a nap. Thus, I expect that they went to sleep very early tonight.
Kate and Jack are getting ready to make the return to Nova Scotia next Saturday. They are the last of the Nova Scotians that we know who are returning. Things will be very different from what they have been the past 6 months with everyone gone. Unlike last year, we don’t expect many visitors this year in the summer. My friend Johnny, from San Diego (soon he is moving back to Las Vegas), may be coming in August; however, his plans are still in flux.

I am still teaching one course during the fall and winter semesters. The exams were written on Thursday, April 9th, but with the Easter weekend, they were not sent until Tuesday. According to the tracking online, they arrived in Guadalajara airpost last Friday. However, they have not been delivered to me yet, even though the airport is less than 40 kms away. I am hoping that they arrive tomorrow as I need to grade them and get the course marks in. A number of the class are potential graduates in the May convocation. Once that is finished, I shall be more or less free until September (I’ll have to do a bit of updating for the upcoming course, but that doesn’t need to be done until later in the summer.) The free time will be good because I have not been doing as much work on learning Spanish as I should. I do attend the conversation class on Saturday morning and I am comprehending more and more as I listen.

Easter in Ajijic

Faye and Wendy flew back to Toronto yesterday. A week sometimes goes very quickly. As mentioned last time, the four women went to Tlaquepaque on Tuesday and shopped for hours. It was very successful. Then in the evening, the four of us went to a concert by the Guadalajara Chorale. This is a group of 16 or so teenagers (aged about 12 to 16 or 17 years old), mostly girls with 2 boys. They were very good. They specialize in Mexican and Latin American music although they also did 2 well known American spirituals. Their choral mistress is a vivacious young woman, originally from Cuba; she really sets the rhythm and gets an outstanding performance from her singers. They have performed internationally as well as many places in Mexico. I bought a DVD of a previous concert with quite a few of the same songs they did at our concert.

Kate and Jack had all of us over for lunch on Thursday. Later, for the last night as a treat from Faye, we went to 4, a restaurant owned by 2 Torontonians. Barb & I had heard a lot of mostly good things about it, but had not gone to it before. The food was excellent and we were satisfied that it was a good place to go for the last night (I almost said the last supper as it was Thursday and the night that commemorates that event at Easter). Of course, on Friday, there was the big reenactment of the crucifixion. It takes most of the day and tries to follow exactly the events of the day. We didn’t go as we wanted to relax. There are big crowds and the temperatures get pretty hot unless one is able to find some shady spot to watch. ‘Semana santa’ (Holy Week) is when the Lake Chapala area has a huge influx of Mexican tourists; in fact it is the busiest week of the year. Traffic has been heavy all week.

I went to Spanish conversation class this morning. Because LCS was closed for the Easter weekend, we met at the casa of one of the couples taking the class. They have a beautiful, large house up the mountain on the west side of Ajijic. It has a beautiful view of the lake and has a pool. The ceilings of the upper story, where we were, are very similar to ours; high cathedral type of wooden beams as rafters. The LCS Spanish program does not operate in the summer, but all of us want to continue; I am starting to understand more of what is said and others in the class say the same. We don’t want to lose what we have gained and are almost certainly going to arrange it privately. Joel, our instructor, certainly wants and needs the money. He says that he would like to set up his own program, but needs to save up some money to get it going.

Tomorrow, we get the ‘tres niñas’ again. Some of the godparents organized and Easter egg hunt for this afternoon. We didn’t go. That is not a Mexican custom (there is nothing about Easter bunnies either), but probably the kids got a big kick out of it;. It is like Halloween. Trick or treating was not a Mexican custom, but Mexican kids have taken to it with great alacrity. We had dozens of kids here compared to the handfuls we used to get in Bedford.

Skinny dipping in Ajijic

Things have been busy. On Thursday, Barb’s sisters, Wendy and Faye, arrived on time, but a bit tired. They had been up until 3 a.m. the night before and had to get up early .On Friday, they walked around La Floresta in the morning, walking the dogs and seeing the neighbourhood. In the afternoon, they walked down to Ajijic (all around the town) as well as doing shopping. I went down in the early evening to Los Telares restaurant; as with many restaurants, we were out in the garden. Barb & I had been there before, but not for a long time; we always like it. On Saturday, the women went to Love in Action to take all the children’s clothes that Wendy and Faye had brought. They had each gone to ValueVillage and bought clothes and sandles for the kids. They had filled 2 big suitcases and didn’t have too much stuff for themselves. However, the stuff was a huge success. Elvia, the housemother, immediately dressed all the girls in her charge in the new clothes and shoes. Some of the kids didn’t have light summer clothes but were wearing heavier sweat shirts. They now have some more appropriate clothes for this kind of weather.

On Sunday, we got the 3 girls again. Now, they have no hesitation about coming with us. In fact, when we arrived, they came running over holding their bathing suits. Two weeks ago, one of thetwins had started crying until she learned that Elvia was coming too. Not this time. When we got here to our casa, they jumped out and went running to the gate and knocking to get in. When we got inside, I was hanging up my hat and not rushing. When I looked around, I saw the twins in the patio undressing as fast as they could. Then, I saw Fatima lying in the little pool already and completely naked. We have learned that they are accustomed to eating the big meal in the early afternoon and we had planned to eat immediately, then get the girls to lie down for a nap before going into the water! While Barb was preparing the food, I got Fatima out and got all of the girls dressed again; however, I had to tell them that we would eat first before going into the water. Barb prepared the pasta and vegetables in sauce with canned salmon. That was a great success. Unlike last week when the girls were slow eating, this time they asked for seconds and thirds. We are learning what works. After eating, I didn’t think that there was much of a chance to get the girls to nap so we let them in the water. Again, they had a whale of a time. When they finally seemed to be tired, Barb did try to get them to sleep. One of thetwins cried for a long time and eventually got Fatima crying too. However, the latter did go to sleep. The twins never did even with Barb lying with them. Finally, she let the twins get up and they had ice cream and cookies. We gave Fatima the same after we woke her up at 5. We finally took them back at about 6:15. We are getting better, but it is still amazing how tiring 3 little girls can be. I have also been confirmed in my belief that little girls seem to be born with a screaming gene. They all do it when they are playing.

Today on Monday, Faye, Wendy, Barb & I went to San Juan Cosala; first to the very lovely and expensive spa on the mountain, Monte Coxala and then down to the spa by the lake. This is a busy week for Mexican tourists to come to Lake Chapala. Thus, there were lots of people on the side of the spa where most Mexicans go; I expect that it is less expensive than the pool etc. where we go. However, there were more people in our area than we have seen before. We also had dinner from Reuben’s restaurant, although we had a table out near the pool. Tomorrow, the 3 sisters plus Kate are going to Tlaquepaque. Barb is trying to show our visitors as much as possible in the week that they are here.

Movie stars

Again, quite a busy week. We only went one afternoon this week at the Amor en Acción. Barb was pretty tired after the busy week before. Also, we had Sonia from Dartmouth on Tuesday evening. She returns to Nova Scotia, Monday, the 30th and we wanted to have her before she left. Then on Saturday afternoon, we (Kate, Jack, Sonia, Barb & I)went to a concert by Los Cantantos del Lago. It is a choral group of about 65 singers. Most are ex-pats, but there are a number of Mexicans too. The choral master is very demanding and the group is quite good. This was the first of 3 concerts the group is doing over 4 days. It is for fund-raising as the group goes on a couple of trips to other cities in Mexico. The concert featured a wide variety of music from Mexico, Canada and the US. It also covered a range of time periods. Some of their songs they do achapella. The concert was held in the Sol y Luna (Sun and Moon) hall which is part of the Danza del Sol hotel complex. It is about 2-3 kms on the other, western side of Ajijic. It was the first time that Barb & I had been there, mostly because it is a bit far to walk from our place. The hall is quite good for a concert, although it was quite warm on a sunny afternoon. After the concert, the five of us went across the street to a new (to us) restaurant called Villa del arte. It used to be an art gallery and the owner of the restaurant is an artist; there are some of his paintings on the walls. We had expected the place to be filled with other concert goers, but there were only about 8 or 9 other patrons besides us. The food was good.

Today, we had the 3 little girls again. While Elvia was supposed to come again, when we got there we found that she was going to be cooking the dinner for everyone. The system is that each dormitory has a kitchen and the children and houseparents make and eat breakfast and the light evening meal in their own dormitories. However, there is a large kitchen and dining area where everyone gathers for the main meal of the day in the early afternoon. So Elvia was the cook for this main meal, although some of the children were away (as our three were). In her place, Elvia sent a 13 year old girl, named Cynthia. She was pleasant and a good help with the little girls. Barb had prepared a BBQ chicken dinner which we had almost immediately as it was after 2 p.m. The little girls ate a bit, but neither of the twins likes green beans, we found out.

After eating, we had the little pool set up again. This time, Barb had bathing suits for the girls. She had spent a good part of Saturday trying to find them. She went to WalMart (not something she likes to do even though it is only 3 or 4 blocks away; nada in bathing suits for little girls. She did find balls and a couple of toys as well as sunglasses. She bought 5 pairs of the latter, not just for the 3 girls, but also for the other 2 who live in the same dormitory--Leo and Belen. She thought it would cause trouble if they didn’t all have a pair. She ended up making a fast trip into Chapala to the Soriana supermarket (in fact it is like WalMart with appliances, clothing, etc. besides a food supermarket. She did manage to find bathing suits there; we were a bit worried that they might not fit because they looked pretty small. However, they are very stretchy and were fine. Barb used different colours to be able to tell the twins apart. Again, they loved playing and splashing in the pool. At one point, I thought that it needed more water, so I got the hose. We put the nozzle on fine spray and the girls had a whale of a timegetting sprayed and spraying each other. When they finally tired, we got them out for ice cream and cookies. When they were back in their regular clothes (after 4), we were wondering if they would lie down to sleep as it was well past their usual nap time. However, they were not interested in that. Our next plan was to drive to Chapala, park and take the girls for a walk along the malecon. However, by the time we found a parking spot (Chapala is packed with people from Guadalajara on weekends this time of year), the girls were all fast asleep. We ended up driving around a bit and finally took them back to the center at about 5:30 p.m. There were 3 tired little puppies. Truth be told, Barb and I came home and immediately lay down for over an hour of rest and sleep ourselves.

Our 3 niñas

We have had a busy week. Twice we went to Amor en Accion in the afternoon (Wed. & Friday). We took some diapers for the baby on Friday. Also, we found out that the water for the kids had run out and everyone had been too busy to get any and the water company didn’t come. I ended up going to get 4 20 liter bottles. We also arranged to take our 3 goddaughters on Sunday. Elvia, the housemother for the little ones hardly ever has a break, so that our taking the girls would be something for her as well. I’ll come back to that.

On Saturday night we had Gary and Cathy to our place. They are going back to Nova Scotia at the end of the month and time is running out. They hadn’t been over to see our place. We had a very nice evening.


We went to the shelter and they all arrived back from church at 1:30. We hadn’t quite understood that Elvia was going to come too. It was really good that way; at least one of the twins was afraid to come without her. They had not eaten so we went to the waterfront in Chapala and went to a restaurant after a walk along the malecon (everyone holding hands); I think that we made quite picture walking 6 abreast (2 Gringos, a Mexican woman and 3 little Mexican girls. The latter were dressed up as they had just come from church. After eating and walking back along the malicon, we came to our house; it was after 3 and the time the girls lie down for a nap. We had set up the little wading pool that we got for Aiden last year; they were promised that if they had a nap, then they could play in the pool. After about an hour and a half, we got them up. Well, the pool was an enormous success. They frolicked and played with great enthusiasm (see photo; Fatima is in the pink bathing suit). We then fed them (of course, finishing with ice cream) and took them back after about 6:30. It was all hugely successful. We also had lots of time to chat with Elvia; she had quite good English and we learned a great deal.

First, Elvia is a sister of Anabel, the founder and director of Amor en Accion (the photo is a bit dark; Fatima is in the center between Elvia and me; the twins are at the extreme right and left). Another sister also works there (they come from a large family of 10). On the waterfront, Elvia introduced us to her brother and sister-in-law (Barb had seen the brother at the Center also). What we also learned was that many of the housemothers have their children with them. Elizabeth (the housemother for 6 girls aged 7 - 10) lives with girls in another section of the same building where Elvia and the toddlers live. We knew that she had 2 sons living there, but there is a third as well. Thus, the mothers are given shelter with their children. Elvia does not get paid and I expect that is true of the other housemothers as well. Basically, they get food and shelter for themselves and their children. Six years ago, Anabel started simply by providing a meal for children in the neighbourhood. That mushroomed as more and more showed up. Then, she started a day care to help some working mothers. Finally, she started a shelter for children and in some cases their mothers. Right now they are scrambling to get more organized with the move and the expansion. The old place up the mountain is going to be entirely a daycare center. I don’t know if Anabel is continuing to run it or if someone else is. There is some government money for daycare, while the shelter does not get any at the moment. However, on Friday as I was passing Anabel and a couple of others talking near the front entrance, I overheard Anabel saying that they were applying for some sort of grant from the government. At the pool party last week, one of the godparents said that her 2 sons, who both belong to Rotary Clubs, were coming to collect information in order to apply for a substantial grant from Rotary International. The Center really needs additional money for basic operating expenses. The sponsorships go entirely for school and education expenses, not for basic operations or facilities. My admiration for Anabel grows as I see how much responsibility she is taking on.