I hear the whistle, but I can’t go, I’m gonna take it down to Mexico

San Antonio Tlayacapan, Jalisco, Mexico

(Note: new version of Blogger seems to have some formatting glitches, sorry)

Into Seattle

Leaving Hawaii with mixed feelings, we boarded a redeye flight on June 26 to return to the mainland, en route to Mexico. The redeye was not our choice, but Alaska changed our nonstop to SJC to a connection through Seattle a few days before the flight. Flying in the times of Covid. Seattle was semi-terrifying as SEA was very crowded and many folks seemed to have only a cursory interest in masks and distancing. So we did our best to dodge the more flagrant violations of polite (and sane) behavior, moving our seats a few times as we waited for our connection.

Just a bit crowded

 

When it was time to board the plane, it was clear we were on a smaller 2 x 2 configuration, again, due to equipment changes by Alaska. When Mark asked the gate agent why our seats had been changed to not have any space between us and others, given Alaska’s notable advertising of space on planes, two to a row, the answer was “if you are a party of two you sit together.” Simple enough, but on a 2x2 plane, this means technically the entire plane could be full if everyone were in a party of two. This was not quite the case, and yet we got pushback from a FA when we moved across the aisle to 2 empty seats so as not to be directly behind 2 people directly in front of us, and 2 more in front of them. Harrumph!

Happy Birthday, John!

We spent 5 days in the SF Bay Area (No quarantine or temperature checks here! Land of the free!) on a mission to have a birthday pizza with son John, reconnect at a distance with some friends, and relocate our small storage unit contents from Dublin to San Jose in order to save $100 per month on the rent. We accomplished the latter with help from John, then headed to a SJ park with 2 pizzas to celebrate as best we could John’s birthday – which was in fact that very day! We had about 10 boxes (out of about 100 stored) that we decided to sort and downsize. After all, if we haven’t needed it in 3 years?! The owner of the motel where we stayed in Palo Alto looked a little surprised when we pulled in with a U-Haul truck, but we explained what we were doing, the place was empty anyway, and he let us use the room next door to sort while we slept in the other. Very kind!

On to Mexico, this time our nonstop was changed to include an LAX connection on the way to Guadalajara without our knowledge until check-in, to a DAY LATER. LAX was as equally concerning as SEA regarding respect for La coRona. We arrived in San Antonio Tlayacapan on July 2, where we spent another 14 days in quarantine at our new rental in El Parque. It was quite easy as our property manager, as well as a friend who lives around the corner, brought us groceries, and neighbors carted our garbage bags down to the dumpsters, thanking us for being “responsible.” At one point one of our kind couriers expressed some surprise that we needed rum…again! New purchasing allocation and recycling strategies were deployed!

 

We were fortunate to catch up with our insular Peninsular friends, Ita, Sarah, Pamela and Bruce, in properly spaced lawn chairs on the front lawn, and then with Tony & Amy, also well-spaced in their backyard. It was so nice to see friends after so long away, and also to drink good wine! We also checked in with our Oakland neighbors, JP and Ann.

Our Supply Chain!

 

After the 2 weeks, we very slowly re-entered the social scene, and at that only barely. We had lunch outdoors with friends Peter and Heather (and Misha the Dog) and spent a brief time at our old watering hole, the Once-and-Future Mama’s Bar. During our absence, there was a rent dispute at the previous location (which was in fact the second incarnation of Mama’s – read on,) so the bar was moved – lock, stock and barrel, literally -- to a new spot, which turned out to be in the original Mama’s Bar location we had first visited in November of 2017. That location was also previously closed, and moved, due to a rent disagreement with a different landlord. To clarify, the “disagreements” tend toward “oh, your business is doing well, so I am going to triple your rent!” The most recent move literally left only the concrete slab and two bathroom walls behind. This was totally fair as the place had been built from the ground up by the bar owners, so it was their property. Ah, Mexico!

We currently limit our days out to a restaurant or bar to about twice per week, with masks and hand sanitizers. (No, he didn't eat that at one sitting!)

 

Mark finally broke down and bought a Weber (charcoal, of course) which is parked on the mirador (rooftop deck) and he is very happy. He is working with a local teaching woodworking shop to get some cedar planks made for his famous salmon. And…then…a Weber smoker turned up on Facebook!  It’s Mark’s Christmas present. And we’re looking forward to smoking a turkey again, which was our tradition in Oakland.

 

Now that Linda is not working (finally!), there is extra time to fill:

 

We have been volunteering as walkers / cuddlers at Lucky Dog again. It has been fun to do, although a little weird with masks. We were always careful to wash our hands / arms between dogs, so not much difference there.

We are in the initial stages of looking into assisting the Feria Maestros del Arte organization here at Lakeside, whose mission for the past 19 years has been to help make a market in Mexico for the Mexican folk artists in about 10 Mexican states. It has the added benefit, beyond sales for the artisans, of keeping folk art traditions alive. With La coRona, this year’s big in-person fair in November will likely not happen, so we are helping the people who run it think through options and also start to build an online platform that could eventually reach NOB. (North of Border)

A great ceramic artist; we may have to get the Mermaids!

We are also spending a couple hours a week at the Recycling Center – which is a new process in this area. It’s pretty interesting to see / smell everyone’s garbage as we sort out the different types! (Rinse / wash your bottles and jars out, folks!) They can only find buyers for certain materials, which change frequently, and all items need to be sorted prior to sending them out. In addition, shrink-wrapped labels need to be removed. It’s very interesting to be on the “ground floor” of such an effort. And we’ve only seen a couple of cucarachas, shockingly!

This from 2019 w/o masks

 

Mark was challenged by the “mom” of Pancho Villa, the African gray parrot, to work on a burning mosquito repellent solution using spent coffee grounds. Not sure what Xanthan gum really has to do with it, but…it something for Mark to muddle about.

Planting things: the basil we planted initially was going great guns, but suddenly all turned weird colors with spots, so now we are thinking replant. Mark has gotten enamored of starting from seed various chili pepper plants (tabasco, piquin) particularly since the gardener at our friends’ house pulled them out!!

We are planning to stay put in Mexico for a while, as things are looking stable here for now. But we will be moving to another casa in this development in December, as the owner of our current place is probably coming down. We’re looking forward to another point of view, but not to moving all the stuff we’ve somehow accumulated. It’s a shock after living out of a carry-on bag for 5 months while we travelled Asia!

Here's to health and sanity for the rest of 2020!

2020 June 27 – September 21