Garden Restaurant

We are finally getting more rain. It has not been heavy, although Thursday morning it rained quite hard for a bit over an hour, with a bit over an inch. However, most of the rains have been about half an inch or less, but they have been frequent--every day and even twice one day. Thus, the cumulative effect has been significant. Also, there hasn’t been too much runoff as the rain can sink down. Our street down from the Carretera is now covered in green grass between the cobbles. I said our rains here in La Floresta have been light, but Chapala, barely 5 kms away, gets much more. On Friday morning we had a light rain (less than 10 mm.), but when we went to Chapala, the streets were small rivers. I hope that it is beginning to raise the level of Lake Chapala.

We have discovered a new outing for the 3 niñas at the Garden Restaurant. They have a blowup plastic trampoline that little kids can jump on. We like the restaurant because it has a huge garden with a number of fruit trees (grapefruit, orange, lime and banana); they also have a peacock and 2 peahens, plus some Bantum chickens. Last year when Jeff, Tarra and Aiden were here, we went there. It was great for Aiden, because he could run around when he didn’t want to sit longer. The waiter there knows us well and is great with the kids. Last week, they made quaesadeas even though it wasn’t on the menu. However, we got hamburgs and cut them up this week. After eating the kids play on the trampoline. After we take them to one of the malecons (walkways along the lakeshore). By the end of the afternoon, they are usually tired out; Barb and I are as well. We ususally come home and lie down for a while. [By the way, if you click on these photos, it enlarges into a full size photo.]

We are doing an information page (with photo) of each child at Love in Action. We are getting more information about their backgrounds. All of their stories are wrenching and some are truly horrific. These individual pages will be sent to the godparents and sponsors of the kids so that they can learn more and feel more in touch. Just in the last couple of weeks, there was another family of 5 brought to the center; the mother would go off sometimes for days and leave the 12 year old girl looking after her younger siblings. They arrived without clothes so are having to share with other kids the same size. We want to try to get some more clothes. It is troubling to learn of kids in such need, but it is also extremely heart-warming to know that Love in Action is giving them a chance to get an education and some hope for their lives. Anabel, the founder and director, also is housemother for the age 13 and over girls (she has 14 girls). Several of those girls realize how important an education is and really put themselves into their school work and are doing really well. Anabel glowed as she was talking about them.

Harper's screwup with Mexico

I feel compelled to comment on the Harper government’s imposition of prior visas for all visitors from Mexico. It is extremely ham-fisted, and in line with other aspects of its handling of foreign affairs (for example, it has screwed up relations with China royally). Mexicans now have to go to Mexico City to get visas to Canada; for some reason, the consulate here in Guadalajara is not being used. In spite of pretty harsh screening procedures for Mexicans at American entry points, the Americans have not done anything as draconian as Canada. Such procedures are usually adopted only by authoritarian regimes and police states. The government claims to want good relations , trade and economic interchanges with Mexico, but is now enraging vast numbers of Mexicans.

Of course, the current system for handling refugee claimants needs to be reformed; it is a hopeless muddle with bogus claimants clogging and taking advantage of the system. A huge backlog and opportunities for endless appeals mean that cases drag on for years. Many Conservative Party supporters want to vastly reduce or even eliminate acceptance of refugees on humanitarian grounds. Harper and his colleagues know that that is not acceptable to the majority of Canadians. Instead of trying to fix the real problem, this policy simply inconveniences vast numbers of people who would not be part of the problem in any case. The policy probably will slow down the numbers of those who would abuse the system, but won’t end the problem. However, Harper doesn’t care about alienating Mexicans or sullying Canada’s reputation abroad when his government’s actions appeal to the Conservative Party’s ‘nativist’ supporters. Harper focuses on nothing but narrow, short-term political considerations.

Harper is now here in Guadalajara for the NAFTA leaders meeting with Abama and Calderon. He might as well have stayed home for all the good he can do for Canada here at the moment.

Back in action

I see that it is more than 3 weeks since my last post. The information on shigella said that although most people recover quickly, it is often some weeks before they get full energy back. Because of a pinched nerve, I had stopped jogging for 3 weeks or so. When I started again, I found that it was much harder and I tired so much more. I didn’t do much work on my Spanish either. On the jog today was the first time that I started to feel even close to what I was before. Also, while Barb was visiting Toronto and Nova Scotia from July 14 - 27, I did not do much and didn’t feel I had anything to say.

We did get our 3 niñas yesterday. It was a real pleasure to see how excited they were to see us after 3 weeks. Barb had brought back a number of dresses and other things for the kids (including the Canada t-shirts); she brought backpacks. Those were a real hit. Once they were given them, they didn’t want to take them off, even while they were eating! When we took them to the play area in the Ajijic malecón, as you can see, they kept them on while on the swings and slide.

The rains in July have been much less this year, although we have had a couple of good rains in the last week or so. Especially, there can be big differences in the amount of rain just a short distance apart. Letitia, our maid, was excited one day. Here in La Floresta, we had a nice (15 mm.) rain and a small amount of hail. However, in Chapala where she lives (not much more than 5 kms. away), there was a great deal of hail and a lots of rain. The latter had meant that they had had to cope with many leaks and drips. Most houses here have leaks; with rains confined to a 4 month rainy season, one forgets. As the end of the rainy season comes into view, why bother? We have had only one leak this year and not every rain. There is only a small puddle which soon dries up. A large number of roof tiles would have to be taken up to find the one small leak. Thus, we have not felt compelled to do anything.

One thing I did do while Barb was away was go to the movie house. It is located upstairs in the small mall where the El Torito supermarket is. Thus, it is only a 10-12 minute walk away. The first movie I went to was the latest Harry Potter movie. Newly released movies appear here very quickly. They are in English (except of course Spanish language movies) with Spanish sub titles. It was distracting because I was intrigued to see how much Spanish I could understand and especially to see how they translate slang. The movie prices are very inexpensive. For the Harry Potter at 6:30 p.m., I paid 38 pesos (less than Can. $3.50). I did go to a second movie matinee on Sunday. The ticket was 20 pesos! However, as in Canada, the money is in the food. I got a medium bucket of pop corn and small pop-- 40 pesos! That is still inexpensive by Canadian standards, but twice the price of the movie.

Moctezuma’s Revenge and Doctora Monica.

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but on Friday about 1 a.m., I was awakened and for the next several hours had recurring bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. At about 9 we went to see our doctor at Maskaris Clinic. Dr. Garcia was not in that day, but his fill-in doctor was Doctora Monica. She has the looks to be a movie starlet. Unlike many doctors north of the border, she was not wearing a formless white lab coat, but slacks and tight sweaters. Of course, good looks are not what is important when one goes to the doctor. However, it does help to take one’s mind off what is ailing you, if only marginally. Fortunately, she seemed to know what she was doing as a doctor also. She got me on an IV immediately as I was dehydrated. Then, after a test to discern what organism was my problem (shigella - a fairly common bacterium, especially in 3rd world countries but about 14,000 cases in the USA each year according to CDC), she started me on antibiotics. Because my nausea did not respond to gravol, etc., she decided that I should stay overnight (the clinic has 2 hospital beds) on IVs. Because they do not ordinarily have a nurse on duty 24 hours, they brought in a nurse, Susie, just to look after me.

Susie, whose regular job is in the Municipal Clinic in Chapala, has been taking English classes at the LCS and was eager to practice; she was also encouraging me to practice Spanish. We had an interesting conversation that went back and forth in English and Spanish. Dra. Monica was there all night (over 24 hours on a shift). She was able to get some sleep in another room, but a man came in complaining of stomach pains so that she was working with him until 2 or 3 in the morning. Susie, who had been sleeping on the 2nd bed, got a matress and slept/rested on the floor beside my bed. If I so much as turned over, she was up to see if I wanted or needed anything. Both she and Dra. Monica kept a close eye on me. Just before noon on Saturday with the nausea finally at bay, Monica said that I could go home. However, I ate little that day and only a bit more on Sunday. When I weighed myself on Monday morning, I was down about 6 lbs.

On Sunday morning at 1 a.m., Barbara suffered the same combination of effects that I had had. I don’t know if I had a more severe case or Barbara is just made of tougher stuff than me, but by noon she was able to begin small sips of water. It had taken me over 24 hours, almost 3 liters of IV and numerous injections to reach the same stage. By last night she was able to eat some shredded wheat. However, today she found that she is down 5 lbs. She had been taking off a few pounds since January, but still had 3 lbs. to go to her target. She is now well below that target, but it is a hard way to lose weight.

On Friday, I had originally had an appointment to go to Guadalajara to see a specialist for an electomiography test regarding my pinched nerve. That was then changed to Monday; at the time we expected that Barb would be able to go and do most of the driving. However, as noted, she was still wiped out. I went in by myself and got stopped by a cop (paying 350 pesos). The test was successful in confirming exactly where the problem is (e.g., eliminating any carpal tunnel involvement). It will now have to be pursued further, although the specialist assured me that while it required treatment, it was not serious. Again, the personnel and the equipment are very up to date and top notch. As with most doctors here, he spoke excellent, idiomatic English. I noticed that most of the specialist textbooks on his shelves were in English.

Altogether then, we seem to be recovering well and our impressions of health care here continue to be that it is as good as what we could receive at home and that specialist care is available more quickly than it would be in Canada. The appointment with the specialist was made while I was in Dr. Garcia’s office for within 2 days. The cost too, although more than the virtually free care that we Canadians get, is still, especially for Americans, surprisingly inexpensive. My visit to the specialist (wirh his fancy equipment) cost 2,000 pesos, or about Can. $180 at current exchange rates. Of course, for working class Mexicans that would probably be close to a week’s wages.

The circus

We have had a busy weekend with the girls. We had taken them on Saturday afternoon. We came here again. We had pizza, but none of them ate much; they seemed more interested in the hot sauce than the pizza. We got them into their bathing suits, but the wading pool seems to be waning in interest. They spent more time running around with the hose, spraying each other and a great deal else. However, we heard that Tobolandia (a water park just 4-5 blocks from us) not only has a big pool and water slide etc., but also has a pool for little kids. Alternately, we may get plastic air bags and use the pool next door. Steven has left us the keys and is urging us to use his pool. We are planning to do so and maybe the kids would get used to it. On Saturday, after the water games and ice cream, we decided to take them to the malecón (water front). Barb suggested that we take them to the malecon in Jocotopec as it would take longer and would be different for the girls. It is just over 20 kms. However, by the time we got to Jocotopec, Fátima was asleep. Barb took the twins for a walk while I stayed with Fatima. On the drive back, all 3 fell asleep.

A circus is in the area; in fact it is just on the Libramiento (the short highway that we take to get to the highway to Guadalajara) and thus about 6 blocks from us. They were giving a special deal for kids from Love in Action--two free tickets for kids with each adult ticket. However, initially we heard that the shows were at 6:30 and 8:30. We thought that that would be a little too late for the little ones. We then found out that there was an afternoon show at 4:30 on Sunday. Thus, we called to say that we would take 4 kids (our 3 and another). Eventually, we ended up with 5. A couple of guys from Canada, who are godparenting 2 boys in the 6 - 9 age group, had taken 6 of the boys to swim at Tobolandia yesterday. They said that they had been determined to take only their 2 to the circus today, but when they got to LIA, the others wanted to go so badly that they couldn’t refuse and ended up with 8! We all sat together so there was a small LIA section. The circus was quite good. I’m sure that it is not as spectacular as the ones in Las Vegas, but the kids were enthralled and Barb and I enjoyed it too. Of course, watching the excitement and enjoyment of the kids was a pleasure in itself. There was a little rough spot at the beginning. Dariana, who is the shiest, was upset and started to cry at the beginning. I think the loud music and voice of the announcer, plus the lights, frightened her; she is the one who cried at the puppet show also. However, Barb held her on her lap and gradually she got calmed. There were an elephant and a tiger as acts; the kids' eyes were as big as saucers. Surprisingly, all 3 girls rushed forward (we were close already) to get a closer look at the tiger. It was a very successful outing.

Puppets and the election

There are not a lot of new things to report. Barb and I have volunteered to gather information on each child in Love in Action and then make up a one page fact sheet (including a photo) for each. These will then be sent to the respective godparents and sponsors. It is a bit of an undertaking. However, fact sheets should be very useful for the godparents and sponsors. Otherwise, with all our friends from up north gone, we have a very quiet life. It is much cooler now that the rainy season has started. We have not had any big rains, but we have been getting frequent short rains of half an inch to an inch. The mountains are green again.

As the photo shows, we did take the 3 niños (plus Sara, a 13 year old girl from LIA who came to help) to the puppet show. It was a bit different from what I expected. I include a photo showing the scene. It involved a good deal of arguing back and forth between the 2 main characters. However, they kept doing songs and music between the spoken sections. Our girls did not seem very interested or absorbed by it. I don’t think they understood what was going on; as it was all in Spanish, I didn’t understand everything that was going on either. In fact in one section the fellow in the chicken costume used a little whip to hit the other character who then made a big show of crying loudly. Dariana got upset and started to cry; Barb had to take her outside. There were a number of other kids from LIA there and the older ones got into it, shouting back and even getting up on stage to dance around. In fact at one point one of the puppeteers led a line of kids all around the auditorium. After the puppet show, we got a pizza and went to our house. Then, the little girls again had a ball in the wading pool. Steve next door invited Sara to swim in his pool (it is too deep for our little ones). Sara enjoyed it. Thus, I think the afternoon was a success.

There are election campaigns on in Mexico with voting day on July 5th. This is the mid-term elections (no presidential election), but representatives in both state and federal congresses as well as mayors and state governors are up for election. All sorts of walls and billboards have been painted touting candidates. We observed another approach to campaigning on Sunday. As we were walking to Open Circle, we noticed a big crowd gathered where the horses congregate on Camino Real about 3 blocks from our house. There was a band, lots of people with bright red t-shirts and a lot horses. We didn’t find out until later what it was about. During Open Circle we heard the band parading down the street. When we finished brunch we noticed a big parade on the street next to the plaza. There were a few young men dressed in women’s clothes and dancing in front of the band. There was croud of people with the red t-shirts; then we could see that they had the name of one of the candidates for mayor. There were also large numbers of horses (over 50 at least). There were also people carrying flags with the PRI banner (Insitutionalized Revolutionary Party). This was the party that dominated Mexico from the late 1930s until the later 1990s. During that time Mexico was virtually a one party state under the PRI. There were other small parties, but the government and the unions ensured that the other parties never got more than minuscule numbers of votes. It has changed in last 10 years or so. Although the PRI still tends to be the largest party, there are 2 other major parties which make elections quite competitive.

Jim Cook's blog

Tomorrow, there is a puppet show for kids at the Auditorio just a few blocks from us. A number of the godparents from LIA are going to take their kids and so are we. All kids love puppets and this is also a benefit for Niños Incapacitados (a charity for handicapped children). I’ll give a report in a subsequent post.

I am really enjoying the Spanish conversation class. As I get further into Spanish, I grasp more of what is being said although I still need to learn a great deal more before I can fully understand and follow all the topics. Also, I am almost as far along as other members of the class, so that I don’t feel so out of place. Although we have had different backgrounds and different experiences, we all seem to share the same values and attitudes to politics and to social mores; we also share curiosity and interests. I guess it is not surprising that people who are interested in and willing to put the effort into learning Spanish and Mexican culture are very similar. For such people Mexico is not just an inexpensive area with a great climate to retire to. Moving here is an opportunity to learn and experience a very different world and provides very different ways of looking at ourselves and where we came from. Our conversations in the class range far and wide. For example, one of the couples lived in and moved to Mexico from Oregon. Someone then brought up the fact that Oregon allows assisted suicide for people with devastating, terminal illness. That launched us into a discussion of that.

The couple from Oregon, Jim and Carole Cook, recently joined the conversation class. They like to travel and have been doing excursions since they moved here in 2007. Jim keeps a blog and used exactly the same term and idea for their actions as we have for ours--Mexico Adventure. The blog is truly outstanding. Jim is a really good photographer. His commentary also gives the background and context for each photo. As I looked at the blog, it was like looking at one of those expensive, beautiful coffee table books. He has developed quite an archive of different places and topics. My impression is that he and Carole research and plan their excursions very extensively before hand; it is not a casual tourist approach but one that includes an effort of study. Mexico has so much of interest. People north of the border are really ill-informed and ignorant about Mexico and that included me before we arrived here. Cities are much older here and have an extraordinarily rich architecture, art and culture. As I am learning, there are huge differences between cities. Thus, getting acquainted with one city or area in no way allows one to assume that he/she knows all about Mexico. Jim’s blog (http://www.cookjmex.blogspot.com/) is an excellent way to get introduced to some of this richness and diversity.