This Post is For You

Good Morning! Buen Dia!

I took the following two photos right before I left to go down to the soccer field track...at 5:30am. The sun was still behind the hills, but the sky was beginning to disclose that beautiful vermillion, pink and yellow glow. It's not unlike the pre sun sky back in Washington State, when we could see it...and that is the true difference, this glow can be seen every morning.

I took the top photo through the branches of our limon (lime) tree, which is so full of limes, we cannot make limonada fast enough to use them all. In the photo below are some of the silhouettes of the gorgeous palm trees here and of course, a tv antenna.

I want to start this post by saying thank you to all of you who have been following this blog....patiently....and not so patiently...

I want to say thank you to my friend, Emily, who continues to click and check for a new post daily even though she emailed me and said... your blog sucks! you never post anything.

I want to say thank you to my little brother, Paul, who said on the phone the other day, well, it is sorely lacking...

Thank you to Jim who checks it in the morning and evening and said, have you moved again?

Thank you, Mom, I know the last time I posted was September 12th.

Thank you, Carol, no, we are not just sitting around drinking margaritas all day and as a result are unable to find the computer and post new information....

And I could go on and on. And, if you're wondering how to get my email so you can email me about this also, it is on the glasspond studio website.

BUT, STOP!!! Don't email me about my duties as a blogger or the fact that you aren't getting as much information as you would like about what we are doing.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE!

AND, guess what!!!!! We now have internet in our casa!!! at least yesterday and today we have it.....

So, now, I will be able to post more often, unless our internet goes away and aren't you excited? I am so excited, I can't tell you how excited I am to be connected to the world again.

So, I want to tell you how this came to be and then afterward, you can check out the photos from the Independence Day celebration in Alamos.

Back in late June, when Eduardo and Perricio began construction on the adobe wall (which, if you recall, is made of ladrillo bricks (fired adobe bricks, not solely adobe, because adobe must be plastered or it will break down in the weather), we had to have water. In particular, to mix with the cement to make the brick mortar. And so Eduardo and Perricio could have something to drink.

So Carlos, who had helped us clear the brush from our property took us down to the Palacio and told them we needed our water turned on.

PRESTO!!! we came back to our casa to find city water running all over the yard.

When it began to get very hot in July, we could not stay here unless we had electricity that would enable us to install some ceiling fans where there weren't any and get the old fans working in other rooms of the casa. Ignacio called CFE (the electric company) and PRESTO!!!! we had electricity.

We wanted to begin receiving our mail from the Earth Class Mail system we had been using in the States. We went to the post office in the Palacio and asked for a postal box and PRESTO! in seconds we had a box and our very own number and a key for it.

At home, I realized that Earth Class Mail had shipped our mail DHL. We new the closest DHL office was in Navajoa and we were told by several people that DHL would not deliver to Alamos. We decided we would never see all that mail from the IRS and the banks and other assorted places like the college the kids attend, the housing they are in, the last bill the doctor's office sent, the refund from Comcast. What the heck, we don't need that stuff, do we?

On one of our many trips to check our postal apartido for mail, there they were! PRESTO!!!! Two huge fat packets from the northwest delivered DHL from the US all the way to Alamos.

After receiving a few Cingular wireless bills it became imperative, in August, to get a local landline telephone. So, we drove to Navajoa, went to Telmex, paid $300 pesos (roughly $30 US) and were given a phone number and told that our service would be on in ocho (8) hours.

So, boy, were we excited. All I could think about on the drive home was how I could call KD and give her our home phone number and tell her to use Cingular for emergencies only.

We went to Koppell ( a large furniture and appliance store in Navajoa) and bought a $400 peso phone, went home and charged it up and got the jack down off the roof and made sure all the wires were connected correctly and waited for the dial tone.

And waited..and waited...and waited...and waited.

Two weeks later we returned to Telmex and were told that service would be connected on September 1st.

Two weeks later our neighbor, who speaks fluent Spanish, went with me to Telmex. She explained the situation to the office manager, Ricardo, who told us Telmex would come to the casa on Saturday, or on Monday, to connect the lines, and we would need to be home to let them inside the casa. I stayed home Saturday....I stayed home Monday.....I even stayed home Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a huge storm came and rain got inside the room where the phone was charging and shorted out the base charger. Bill went back to Koppell on Thursday and paid another $400 pesos for a new phone.....our neighbor called Ricardo and said, where is Telmex? He said, they came, but could not find the house.....they will come again next Saturday or Monday. Our neighbor suggested we put out a sign with our casa number since we do not have one. Not only did I do that, but I put out a huge sign that read...TELMEX....ALTO AQUI.....we waited and waited.

On Wednesday, my neighbor happened to be near the Palacio when she saw a Telmex truck drive by. She flagged down the driver and he agreed to come to the house. He strung a new phone line from the telephone post across the street and put the line down through a hole he drilled in the roof and then attached the line to a phone jack he installed in our bedroom.

And we had a dial tone.

It was very exciting. Right away I called KD and the phone actually worked. Once the phone was up and running we were told by Ricardo to return to Telmex and get our prodigy internet modem and all that other stuff that goes with it. We did that and brought it home and had alot of difficulty installing it. We have free wireless for up to four phones, which we don't really have because it won't work. We have DSL which is what I am on now...and today it is working.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Returning now, mom, to my last post of September 12th. We were coming home from a storage unit trip across the border, if you recall, and we were excited because of the huge upcoming celebration across Mexico on September 15...Independence Day (from Spain).

We were up early to get to the alameda to watch the parade. This was a more serious parade, in that it showcased the municipal workers of Alamos and every child in town. Children in Alamos go to school either in the mornings or the afternoons and they wear a class uniform. Every uniform is different in color, or style or plaid. In the parade, each grade marched in uniform, silently and proudly, with the exception of the drummers, who were obviously proud and loud.

It was just very exciting to see hundreds of school kids of all ages, involved in the parade. The first line of walkers held large, decorated banners describing their class and grade. Many of them also carried large Mexican flags. And there were alot of proud families standing on the sidewalks. In fact, this parade was so popular, it went around town twice. After the parade, crowds of onlookers gathered at the Plaza de Armas, to watch the Municipal employees have photo sessions and then, to watch the horse dancing begin. If you have not seen this before, it is fascinating to watch the riders use body and reign signals to make their horses dance through the streets. And when the mariachi bands strikes up, the dancing gets faster and more exciting.
In the above photo, the crowds have opened up to give room to the band and the horse dancers.

The municipal workers, below, are wearing red on this day.

After the dancing is over in the streets, everyone moves out to the arroyo. Because it is filled with running water now, the dirt roads along the arroyo are blocked off and there are music stages and grandstands along the road. Later in the day, riders will parade their horses in front of the grandstand, the music will begin and the horse dancing will begin again for hours and hours. There are Tecate stands everywhere and long, long lines of men waiting to get their celebration beers. There is alot of drinking on this day. Someone told us that the horse dancing that goes on into the long hours of the night is done by some of the men who can barely stay on their horses. We didn't see this, but from our casa we could still hear the music and loud whooping noises at 2am......

For the families and folks who don't sit in the grandstands to watch the dancing, there are trampolines to romp on, games to play, typical parade souvenirs to buy, tons and tons of food to eat. Kids played in the running water of the arroyo, lots of Tecate drinking drivers of pickup trucks got stuck trying to drive through the arroyo water and lots of Tecate drinking drivers of other trucks spent hours trying to pull or push these stuck trucks out of the muddy waters. It was very entertaining........

You can just barely see the arroyo flowing in the foreground of this photo. Lots and lots of families gathered along the arroyo for food and drinks. In the photo below you can see one of many foot bridges that have been built across the arroyos. This allows for foot traffic during the rainy season. You can see Bill in this photo. He and others on the foot bridge are watching a truck try to pull another truck out of the water.

This a fairly easily crossed section of the arroyo. Cars and trucks do not tend to get stuck here. It is where the water gathers momentum and rushes down (lower left) into the muddy bottom of the arroyo where trucks and cars get stuck. For many people, crossing the arroyo in their vehicle is the only way out of their barrio to get to town or the homes of other family members or friends.So, with this last photo I will say adios...and thanks to everyone who is still reading the blog.

Tomorrow I am going to catch you up on the things that have been happening here around the casa.........