Strange week...

We had the three days before Christmas. Now we have the same before New Year.

I noted strange in the title, because the year seems to fade away here. I see few reasons for this. First, we have beautiful sunshine everyday... all the days seem to look the same, weather wise. 

Then, the daily rythm is around food, either eating some or gathering some. The days are short, from 7:30 to 6:00, 6:30; By the time we finish breakfast and the morning chores, lunch is looming...then siesta, and a hop into the nice warm pool.

It is a toss... cooking or going out... when one pays less than $20 Canadian to eat for two with beer in a restaurant... it is tempting NOT to cook.

Monday, we went shopping to Wal-Mart and the Mercado, a BIG Soriana supermarket. We were in Chapala, about an hour away from the camp. To be frank, the shopping was below our expectations... the stores look like their norther counterpart, but it was Monday after Christmas, the shelves were somewhat empty and the stores looked disorganized. 

Once again, the lack of Spanish makes it a barrier. Asking for what you want is difficult at best. Understanding the labels, figuring out what are the fruits or the vegetables prove a challenge.

We bought margarine instead of butter and some imitation cheese instead of the real thing! Patience will fix it!

It was about 5 as we came back and there was a suggestion to go out for supper; we did. The same place as last week. It was it usual, good, no frills, and we had a shot of homemade tequila, offered by the chef (right on the picture below; left is Ken). The mural is marvellous...

We finished the evening with a Nevado de Toluca, a local ice cream. It was good, with a somewhat different consistency compared to ours. A bit too sweet, may be. It feels like Mexicans have a sweet tooth. We then strolled in the Plaza, enjoying the peace and the warm evening, chatting and being happy to be there.

Tuesday, was a day of rest. The dryer ran out of propane... so Louise had to organize the drying on various spots in the trailer. We enjoyed the doing little, a step at a time. I prepared my usual onion soup, not sure of when we would have it and with whom. The New Year's eve onion soup has been Jerome's staple for years and Julie prepared one too, in Burlington, to continue the tradition.

Wednesday... Last day of the 2008! We went grocery shopping, getting two humongous bags of oranges (about 100 juicy oranges for 1 peso each!). We will share these between the 4 or 5 couples interested here.

I went back with Sonya to get Rotisserie chicken for most of the people here. Very good chicken, a tad greasy, but so tasteful. Here, they serve it with roasted potatoes and hot peppers. Moist and a good 2 meals! (As I said earlier, cooking may not seem that great an idea here.)

We spent a few hours, until about 10:30, around the chimenea; Ken and Kriss, Sonya and Dave, Gigi and Chuck, Ross and Ruth-Ann and Ivan and his wife and sister in-law. Usual chatting; Ivan talk about his participation in the movie Willie 3 and his 70 foot fishing boat in B.C. It was interesting.

It is quite a learning experience meeting these people coming from so many places in life. When we were in Palm Creek, what struck us was the 'similarity' between the various couples; teachers, doctors, civil servants, businessmen. Here, we see a fireman, a couple who spent over twenty years on a sailboat, an ex US submarine officer. We need to explore more, but the "magnet" here is the lifestyle and the richness of the country, in people and things to see and do.

We wished 2009 to be a better and more interesting year for us. We know that, eventually, 2009 will bring changes to our family, not the least, we will probably be all living in a different place than in 2008, us, Julie and Dan and Sophie and Nick!

We wish you all a Happy New Year!