FAOT, Over and Out!

Hola!
Well, FAOT has been over for over a week. Thank God! I am seriously glad it is done. I am so glad that I was just going to not show you any more photos, but I took these shots during the happier moments of the last night and they are cool to look at, so enjoy them.

Above, the Palacio is covered in the vivid reds and greens and whites of Mexico and below, the line is beginning to form for the last opera performance.

Senor and I did venture out that last night and all was going well until we got seperated.

It was really a nightmare!

I cried. If you saw me that night standing alone on one end of the Plaza, with little teary eyes, it was because I could not find Senor and it was really bad. The streets were so packed you could hardly move.

The one night we finally decide to go out late! We had been walking along, laughing, and we joked that it was worse than the crowds at Disneyworld. Senor joked that if we got lost there was no lost and found and we should just meet at the 9:30pm cafe Havana Show.

Sometime around 7:30pm, as we were trying to decide where to eat, a large group of teens broke through, in between us, and Senor vanished.

I searched forward thinking he had gone on ahead with the surge. He actually went backward. I stayed put on the west corner of the Plaza square.

Around 9pm I went to the staging area for the show and not long after I saw Senor in the distance. I burst through a couple of teens holding hands, just about took out an old abuelita and her grandbabies and grabbed Senor's hand. He had been on the east corner of the Plaza square the entire time. We were so upset.

As we hightailed it out of the Plaza, pushing and shoving through the 'Kissing Alley' to get to what we hoped would be a quieter Alameda, things got even more hectic. There were hundreds of people walking into town for the last night. We could hardly wait to get on our quiet little street. Senor says no night time stuff for him next year. I agreed and silently promised to get to the IMSS clinic this week and get some medication for my high blood pressure.

As soon as FAOT left, the Mexican Televinisa rolled in so they could close off half the streets in town and film their very popular telenova (soap opera). So now we are inundated with Mexican tourists who want to see their favorite stars and American and Canadian tourists who are realizing it really is okay to come to Mexico.

We rarely went out during the day last week because of all the road closures and these roads are still closed this week as the filming continues. Then a cold snap kept us in at night.

During FAOT I received some custom glass orders and I cannot justify running the kiln for only seven pieces, so I spent much of last week cutting over seventy pieces and just finished firing them today. What a relief!

Below are two of the custom pendants, and the colors are as brilliant as ever. I may be tired of cutting and firing, but the end result is almost always magnificient!

Senor took off the form on the bottom half of the column today. Then he and Umberto placed the form on the top half and began filling it. Remember, the walls to the left and right of Senor will both come down and open to the sala, which will be one room housing the living room, dining room, kitchen and small library. That window behind Senor will be the front door and the column will pretty much be in the center of the room, helping to hold up the roof.

A sweet friend gave us about twenty starts of bouganvillia and Umberto has been busy planting them against the coyote fence. I will be busy watering for a long time.

This morning I began working on the centerpiece I made last year for one of the tables for the Las Comadres luncheon. The three dolls, made of wire, just need a little touching up and they will be good to go to the luncheon. They just need new flowers and jewels and a good cleaning.

I don't have time to make a brand new centerpiece, so I said as long as it can be the same one from last year, sure I will bring a centerpiece. Perhaps no one will notice the ladies were even there last year.

Maybe a little later Senor and I will go down to the video store for a movie.

But for the moment, there is a little breeze blowing and the sound of the windchimes will lull me to siesta........

Que levaya bien.

Linda Lou

Streets are Packed

Hola!
This is the last day of FAOT, but the music is non stop and will continue throughout the night, with a closing opera performance in the Palacio, several more concerts on the Plaza stage, ending with a concert out at Las Delicias (across from the panteon) at midnight.
As you might expect by now, 'Announcer Guy' is really getting his workout, ladies flock to him, wanting hugs and kisses and pictures.I want to show you a few photos, just some interesting things I saw today.
Below is one of the kiosks announcing the day's venue. Behind are the Plaza vendors, just setting up for the day. Over on the Alameda there are a hundred more craft and art vendors, sparkly hat and bag vendors, and food sizzling on the asadors, and drink and food wagons selling margaritas and candy. These are the little FAOT buggy cars. They will take you wherever you want to go for a few pesos.

Below, a quartet of guitars makes music in the church.Outside, in the church wall, even this fellow stops to listen and watch the crowd.

Inside the Museum auditorium, there is even more opera, standing room only, this performance was packed.

Over at the stage in the Alameda, followers of the Buena Vida Social Club are enjoying the music.

A young girl in the Kissing Alley has a unique way to sell her jewelry.

Musicians in the Kissing Alley play for tips.

Baskets and bangles for sale.

Bread for sale.

Balloons for sale.

Streets are packed.

Senor says we are going out for carne asada tonight and then to the Havana Club music show at 9:30. I will let you know if this happens. That seems a little late for us, but he says it is the one music scene he really has hoped to make during FAOT.

As soon as the festival is over I will catch you up on construction around here.

Until then, Buen dia!

Try the video and see if you can get it to work, a short bite of the Buen Vida performance.

Health Costs

Hola!

Left the casa yesterday at 11:15am.
Arrived at Navajoa IMSS Seguro (social security and medical insurance) building at 11:45am.
Caja 6: gave them last year's paperwork showing we have Mexican medical insurance at 11:50.
Caja 12: got a receipt showing we have insurance at 12 noon.
Around the corner and at the bank: paid cash for renewal of one year, 2,216 pesos for me, 3,325 pesos for Senor because he is 60 now at 12:15.
Caja 6: showed director bank receipt and got stamped at 12:20.
Caja 12: received new papers showing us paid and good for uno ano at 12:25.
In the tracker and on the road home at 12:30.
Sometimes things in Mexico go perfectly, without a hitch. This was one of those days.

Above are the booklets IMSS gives you when you make your first visit to the clinic. They are good as long as your insurance is good. Our insurance is without restrictions and treatment and medicine are supposed to free.

Senor had an odd bump on his arm a few months ago, and it was getting bigger, not smaller. IMSS clinic visit, medication and no more bump. Free.

Now when I had my rebar accident we did go to the clinic, which was not open and was not open when we returned again at a later time. This is how I ended up at Senor Fernando's farmacia.

I have since returned to him and have been taking pills he gave me for the kidney infection and more lotion for the leg. The lotion actually is in a syringe now with a real needle on it. Like the first visit, that scared me. But he laughed and said......no, no, no eet eees nad a problem, you don haf to steek you body............. So I have been plunging the needle and letting the lotion drip onto my finger and spreading it around the wounds three or four times daily. My leg looks so much better.
The pills for the kidney are twice daily for about 14 days, and kidneys are feeling much better.

Bill for treatment from Senor Fernando: $175 pesos, about $14 USD, 2 visits for a leg and a kidney.
Bill for US treatment: $69 to sit in clinic room, $28 to pee in a cup and get diagnosed with kidney infection, $23 for SIX little pills that did...........nothing........... total bill: $120 USD.

Sorry, I am not really going anywhere with this post. It all started when I began adding up my Tucson expenses...............................but I think you know what I am saying here.




ANNOUNCER GUY




The program was for an Ecuadorian flute player.
I am sure he played every kind of flute that has ever been made. Together Senor and I took about 20 photos and only ONE came out in focus.
Here it is..................he was very talented.


So, as I close up here, I wish everyone good health. Don't run into any rebar in the night, don't get any kidney infections, but most of all have good insurance............just in case you need it.

Wimps for Sure

Buenos tardes.
It is late in the day and I am braising chamberle con hueso, which is a cross cut shank with bone in. It is cooking in a chili verde sauce and it smells yummy! Takes about three hours to braise, on the little hot plate. So while it boils (there is no simmer switch) I will get in some quick FAOT.


Below is the announcer for the FAOT festivities. Before each performance he walks all over town with his blue bull horn, announcing what the venue is and where it can be found. You may remember him from last year's FAOT posts. In this photo he is outside the church telling us that the flute and cello Johann Sebastian Bach concert is about to begin.

I went in early and sat in the fourth pew back. I would have sat in the third, but the seats are missing.

This performance was by Horacio Franco (Mexico) and Asaf Kolerstein (Israel). It was spectacular. I tried to upload a video I took and it would not work, so I will give it to you in still shots.

Kolerstein's cello is waiting patiently..................the church is quiet and still.

The musicians begin.

Franco's wooden flutes wait their turn.....................

Bach would be very pleased...........................

It turns out I am sitting in the nuns' pew. They were very kind and all five squished in so they would fit. I took several photos of them, trying to cleverly hide my camera in my lap, until the sister at the end coughed my way and gave me a snarly look. You can just barely see her head, it is turned and she is looking directly at me, with one raised Jack Nicholson eyebrow. At about that moment I realized the red light on the side of my camera was going off in her face with each shot.

Outside the church, near the tourist office, the children are having drawing classes.

On the Alameda a few folks are gathering for the country band. Believe me, the crowd became huge. You can see 'announcer guy' in the back. He is everywhere.

Hula-hooping and dancing.

Lots of food in the stalls.

The salsa band above was a hit.

Oops, dinner is ready. Gotta go.

We are thinking about walking down to hear the brass quintet outside the church, do we eat now or later.............but some cold weather has blown in and I am thinking sitting in the bathroom to be with a nice fire blazing and hot chamberle in chili verde sauce and then, a good book sounds good.

Jeez, we are such wimps................

adios!