Internet has really taken a huge dump this past week. Eduardo assures me that they are working on it, but things don’t always move along as quickly as a gringo might be used to in these parts. Trying to download a photo is an exercise in frustration as I sit and watch the little buffer circle spinning around on the screen.

Thursday, I hung around Casa Chabacano most of the day while PJ went into PV with a bunch of her gal pals. They met up with some other women down in the romantic zone then headed over to Daiquiri Dick’s for a ladies’ lunch. I’d say the weather was beautiful, but sometimes I get tired of repeating myself. 

Now that we are settled into the new pad, I caught a cab into Cattleya’s flowers and picked up a late Valentine’s bouquet for Pea. 

Friday started out with some grumpiness at Casa Chabacano so to turn things around we headed over to our little gym and did some yoga and a minor workout routine. A few other residents were up there as well keeping fit on their extended vacations.

There is some paperwork that I brought back from the states for PJ’s signature, so we decided to ride our bikes over to the DHL mailbox plus kind of store. Luis was slow and methodical entering all of the information into the computer. Before putting the documents into the envelope, he holds it open like a magician moving it back and forth in front of you to assure you that no drugs are pre-stashed in the envelope before sealing it. ‘Nothing up my sleeve!’. The same for the plastic envelope that the paper envelope goes into for mailing. The dude kind of skeeved me out. Ninety dollars later, our two little envelopes with about 3 pieces of paper in each were ready to fly out to the east and west coasts of the U.S.

Some days in Mexico seem prettier than others. This afternoon wasn’t one of them for PJ. While I was inside the air conditioned office, she waited out in the sun and dust  watching the impoverished couple with a passel of kids, an oversized effusively perspiring man arguing with the bus driver and some skinny dog with teats dragging the dirt. There are days when she’s not so sure about this adventure.

We took one of the cobbled back streets into the totally local side of town north of the arroyo. Groceries already appear ridiculously cheap, but over here they are even less expensive. I loaded up on veggies to make some ceviche. Tomatoes at 5 pesos a kilo, about 12 cents a pound, carrots were even less. I got a big bag of produce for under three bucks. Now I had to haul it up the big grade up the south side of the arroyo. Put the bike in low gear and pumped it up the steep grade.

Once back in our colonia, we stopped at the mini- super and chugged down a couple of cold beverages before continuing down the dirt lateral road back to Los Arroyos Verdes. I made us a couple of tasty veggie tortas for dinner and we relaxed on the back patio eating and planning a restful evening

Home Invasion!

I heard a muffled shriek from the bedroom and ran in to investigate. The ants were moving down the wall like a theater curtain being drawn. Not a single line, the entire wall. Some would pool in a group for a few minutes and huddle up before getting the next play from their antennaed quarterback then dispersing towards their next objective. PJ was wigging out grabbing all of her stuff and heading for the door. With the ton of crap we’ve accumulated, I wasn’t really into trying to haul everything over to the motorhome at ten o’clock at night. We called the office, but it was the gate guy that answered. He came over but was of no help. He’ll let them know tomorrow. Thanks!

I walked to the RV and got our big can of Ortho bug spray and the war was waged. Knocked them down in the bedroom, but there was no sleeping in the killing fields. Bodies were everywhere and the bed had a few ants in it still. I got a call from PJ that a new hot zone had flared up in the dining room, so I moved my artillery into that front and had a brief skirmish with a couple of ant units on the far wall. A gecko almost got caught in the crossfire, but I shooed him off before letting loose with my can of chemical weaponry. It’s funny that none of the sorties took place any where near food. They might have been driven in by all of the watering that the gardeners had been up to all afternoon. The ants were all carrying little white ovals, eggs I’m guessing, that were being flooded by the endless sprinkling during the day.

We moved ourselves over to the guest bedroom where I moved the beds away from the walls and put a spray of protection around us. We slept in our little twin beds. Felt like kids at camp. PJ wanted to sleep with the light on, but once she was snoring I kicked it off and we slept okay given the circumstances.

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