Hot and getting hotter ...

 

                                             Huge mango tree in side yard ... still a month to go ...

 

 

 

Bouganvilla next to the Casita

has probably been there 30 years

or more

 

 

                                   
                                     My niece Andrea grocery shopping, a few years back ..
                                              Hortencia's Tienda has since been renovated ...

               ____________________________________________________________________

..... and the sky is not cloudy all day ....

Saturday was my first 2 shower day ! By September you can get up to 3 or 4 even ! and it's not cause
you're dirty ... it's more sticky gooey salty ... time to break out the medicated baby powder !
A lot of the men walking around with no shirts !! or rolled up over their bellies ...
a fashion statement I have taken to of late ... I even went for a swim today ...
I walked barefoot to Isabel's Playita, and jumped right in .... perfection ... except that ...
about an hour before I showed up a little boy of 3 was stung by a small blue jelly fish ... he was digging in the surf and grabbed on to it ... poor little guy ... neighbours all pitched in with medicine and yes there was some urine administered, but I saw his feet, ( the jelly was in his hand full of sand that he rubbed all over his ankles) and he will probably have those scars for life ...poor little guy ...

I haven't been to PV for a while, but it still is a happening place.  A few weekends back was the
first Gay Pride parade ever ... that's an event to behold I'm sure. Also the Bougainvillea Festival, and
the Anniversary of PV as a " township " etc. etc.  They keep the tourists busy around here !!

There was a prize catch in the bay this week.  The guy with the littlest boat and motor, who fishes every day, came up with a Giant Sea Bass... a Morrow they call it here ... 85 kilos, the biggest caught around here in over 10 years !! Pina ! I was very happy for him, and he's still getting praised for it ...and he's very proud.  I hear it's not the first time he's pulled in a big one. We shouldn't be surprised really, the very best fisherman in town has a boat & motor only slightly bigger !

Still waiting for mangoes to ripen. I think my Avocado tree is fried by the sun.  The tapachine, or Flame Tree is almost 3 feet tall, and there is one new Yucca tree and Plumeria coming up, that were transplanted 2 years ago .... as the saying goes .... never give up ... but the " lawn " is another matter.
If it doesn't rain soon it may be lost .. and I don't think sod is the answer ... can it grow in sand ??

The little bananas that taste like apples are all over, ripe and delicious ... I suppose they are available in California, and maybe even in B.C., but not in Terrace Bay, Ontario that's for sure, and probably not in Boise, Idaho either .... maybe Idahoans grow little bananas that taste like mashed potatoes and gravy !

Rocky caught 14 small Bonita on his kayak the other day, and Silent caught 3 big ones and gave me
and Lily some ... with beans, carrots, rice, tortillas ...it's easy to be a cook in Yelapa !!

A young woman in the village wants to learn English, so we agreed to meet so I could assess what
level she's at, but she had to cancel.  She's working with the Delgado's office conducting the
Yelapa Census.  I understand it's happening in all of Mexico ... good luck with that !!
Last census put Yelapa at 800 people, but some say a lot of people in El Paso, ( up river ) were
missed, so they are starting up there first.  The results will be very interesting.  When Yelapa got electricity, I heard that it was a responsibility of the Government to provide it to villages over 1,000 people, and that was almost 10 years ago !!  Vamos a ver ... we shall see ...

I learn a lot more about Yelapa in the summer, the families and history, plus my Spanish seems to improve too .  More time, less people, more sitting around the burning egg cartons, ( Yelapa
mosquito repellent ) ... so I can ease drop better and ask questions a little easier. 
I have a curious mind, and in some ways not too shy to ask for help, so at some point, I will wake up
bilingual ...listening to the speak Spanish Cd's I've had for 3 years couldn't hurt either !!

One thing I am figuring out is the Grandparents ... many of them younger than me, but still ...
Let's say you have a family, Mom, Dad, and 5 boys, but 3 of those boys each have different Dads,
( for as many reasons under the sun) so they have their maternal set of grandparents, and visit their Dad and their paternal grparents, and the Dad has a wife, and so they are also grandparents, that's 4 sets, and more often then not, the boys have lived with the fathers of each other, and have been "adopted" by the other father's parents so add 2 more sets, that brings us to 6 sets of Grandparents.
 If you add the in laws of the boy , ( once they are married,)  and they marry and have children with more than one woman, you could grow up in Yelapa with 10 sets of Grandparents !!
That could only be good !

We  Are Ready for Rain, and The Stanley Cup Play Offs !!  Two of the Original Six . Sweet .
I remember not long ago, walking the beach with a sign I made so all the Canadians would know
one of the Restaurants in town was going to have the Olympic Hockey Game on TV !
That was a big deal ! ... now ... I can watch from the comfort of my own hammock !
Now that's progress !!

Yelapa should be back to normal by today, Monday.  The Fiesta carried on for days, work got done but there was a shut down of sorts ...a passage into the slow, heavy days of summer. 
Once it rains, everything changes again.  It's still slow, but the heaviness and waiting dissipates,
and it seems then everyone is grateful and relived.  Not a bad way to live. 

I can't imagine the people suffering over the world with no rain for years ... tragic ...

Mimi and I were ONE NUMBER off the 50 million pesos lottery ... instead of 359062 it was
359762 !! That close !! We didn't win any of the other 5,000.00 pesos prizes .... it was go big or go home, but we sure got excited, and wide eyed about the whole thing !!
It really did give us a boost to think, we are that close to our dream ....
Not that money is everything, we both know that , for sure , but having some gets you farther than
having none ... in some cases ...

I took the heavy heavy headboard " Up River Octavio " ( a very gifted man of less than 5 feet tall, who was a maestro with his chain saw, machete, and ways of the world... now deceased from too much coca cola)  made for me 8 years ago, to Mimis and the 2 boards make a perfect bookshelf, spread across 2 solid wood " director chairs" with the canvas removed, that I found on the path, for free, and it now holds all the hardcover books, so we have a lot more room on the other metal shelves

I wonder how many new books will be left behind now that so many people use their tablet ?!
More progress ....but we have a lot of books, and you can see a pattern by what  Yelapa Visitors
leave behind ....

We are settled into summer and waiting.  Looking for those cloudy skies and listening for thunder.

We have 3 birthdays behind us,... my Dad, born 1927, Playita Jim, born 1932, and MVB, born 1934 ....they all are great inspiration to me .....
Just pack up all your cares and woes .... and blankets, extra pillows, special books, heavy clothes,
(clothes ?)
 Get out all your fans and hankies and bathing suits, sun hats & umbrellas !!
And enjoy , enjoy , enjoy ... have a laugh ... be in nature ... even if it's in your mind ...

I love my perch here, but I can close my eyes and be on the farm in the valley, or on the shore of the great lake where I grew up,  I have been blessed, like many of us, to live connected to the land,
prairie, mountain, or jungle, and that's a gift that always keep on giving....

Have a great week ...... Hug a Tree !!
xox
k