Keeping myself out of Trouble

This morning’s outing took us out the gate and to the right walking towards the beach. Next to the corner ranch with the horse, there was a large trailer with British Columbia plates on it boondocking on the dirt frontage road we usually walk along. I began to wonder if they had tried getting into Los Arroyos Verdes and couldn’t fit through the trees. We did our usual route down to the papaya house and back.

As I was cooling off from our excursion, the RVers from the road came driving around the back of the property and after quite a bit of maneuvering, they managed to get their rig inside and are now set up in the back next to Lexi. They are friends of Dan, the photographer who lives in the casitas across the way.

 I did a little pre-cleaning on the house since the maids are scheduled to come straighten up at noon. Played some guitar and waited until they arrived, then headed over to the gym and did a little working out. After an hour working up a sweat, I went across to the office and paid our weekly bill for water and laundry. Lupe invited me to a Christmas Eve pot luck at her house. Nice. I’ll have to come up with something to bring.

I grabbed a towel and headed for the pool. Kitsy and Linda were sitting down for lunch as I jumped in and swam a few laps. After swimming, I joined them for lunch and ordered up a Caesar salad with shrimp. Good food and interesting conversation. Linda is looking into buying an RV, so we talked about the different types and advantages of each. Both ladies are fun to talk to and it was an enjoyable meal.

I returned to my nicely cleaned casita, let the dogs out then had a little rest. Met the new neighbors moving into the middle unit. A couple of seniors from Canada. He really wanted to talk about Trump. Me, not so much. After lounging a while, I got myself ready to go into Bucerias centro. At five, I hit the office and Joaquin drove me in to the Gringo Book Store. We drove into a part of town I hadn’t seen before. Many nice houses and cafes and boutiques. Nice, lots more city to explore. I had a peek inside the bookstore, then walked down to the beach. 

A website I found led me the AA meeting house. It is located right along the river bed that goes under the bridge from our side of town. The sign advertised English meetings at 6:30, that gave me an hour to grab a bite to eat.

I walked over to a taco stand on the north side of town and chowed down on a couple of freshly bar-b-qued carne asada tacos. Comfortable weather for sitting outside and watching the world go by. An interesting mix of locals, expats and vacationers move about the city each focused on their own agenda. The taco gals took great care of me and I was soon off to my meeting over in the arroyo. 

I walked along the malecon taking in the sunset as I crossed the plaza. I still had a few minutes to kill, so I stopped for a nieve de garrafa, a Mexican version of gelato. A little grainier and rougher in texture. I picked out the Gansito flavor. Sat along the sea wall and watched the sun go down while eating my little scoop of garrafa on a giant home made cone.

Exceptional sunset. Lots of activity on the beach and the plaza was full. Sometimes, I have to really stop myself and realize where I’m at and what I’m up to in order to avoid having the extraordinary become ordinary.

Six of us showed up at the meeting. Mostly long term visitors along with a couple here on a short vacation from the Midwest. It was a comfortable bunch of people and the topic was being judgmental of others. Lots of good perspective and an opportunity to look at how critical I can be both of myself and those around me.

 We finished a few minutes early and I strolled back over to the plaza. Got a churro from the fried banana girl and munched on it while watching people dancing to the salsa band on the bandstand. 

I slipped away from the noise of the plaza and sat on a bench in front of the church and got quiet for a few minutes before walking to the taxi stand and catching a ride home.