Saturday, September 19, 2015

photos


canajo's first day of summer



hard at work in the jungle

casa Vieja's Garden


Best Yelapa boots !

Rainy Season Update

Good Morning el Norte .... Happy Saturday... 

Well, basically the Rainy Season started September 1st this year ! So, if you are coming back before November, you may want to bring with you, a pair of boots like Ana is modelling in the following post !

We have had 3, maybe 4 downpours during July and August. 
Two, maybe 3 thunder storms. Then September came and drenched us ! 
Nothing the last 3 days...clear skies, but the Ocean still brown from the deluge. 
Top priority if you are on the hillside...Call Biko to have him secure it as much as he can,
with Chicken wire and Cement .
If I don't do that soon, my Bodega will be swallowed within a few years ... at least the back side and the roof.  
New, improved, " state of the art " ! Bodega ReDo is what I'm after next.
Soon as it stops raining, God willing.    

It's hot. It's humid. It's sticky and buggy and mucky. 
But I love my Life ! I really really do.

If, (I should say, when) I start over heating, and swelling up, and there is no water, or no phone, or no electricity, or no internet, and my floor is flooding ( not always when there is a flood ) but I remember my past, Terrace Bay, The Cold. The Bone Chill. The Mosquitoes.
This doesn't seem so bad.

I envision the Crones of my past.  
The Warriors and Pioneers long before me who Never Gave Up !
I look to the Elders in the Village, the Donas who grew up here, and Honour their Stories
and Will to survive. 

Yelapa grew 2 Generations in 10 years, basically, but the hardships that the People had
to overcome are still here. You see it every day. Everywhere.

Many people here still go without, what you and I have at our fingertips.
They work hard, everyday, to survive, and provide. 

If I feel that Nervous Breakdown coming on, I focus on Survival, and then get in the Hammock with a book ASAP.

Just Imagine what it was like 70 years ago .... 100 years ago... 
We have Elders here over 100 years old !! 

The air, the ocean, the river, the sun, the rain, the food, the peace, family.
And their Faith too ... built this Village of ...

Beautiful, Easy Going, Peaceful, Strong, Kind, Fiesta Loving, Welcoming, Warriors !!

It's a great place to " chanel " John Lennon ... " There are no Problems, only Solutions " .

Not everyones cup of Tea, for sure. I worked up to it slowly...but .. 
Even for me, loving it all as I do, I see, in my future, a little cabin on Jackfish Lake,
August and September... can it get any better ???

Many many Happy Returns of the Day...

I hope you are breathing in fresh clear air ... eating fresh fruits and vegetables ... and 
giving and getting a lotta love 





  


  

  












Tuesday, August 4, 2015

To begin again ...

... but where to start ?

    I have been home from my road trip for 15 weeks. 
    I am thrilled to report , I have unpacked !
    Around the 10 week mark, I took a day off; to replace the canopies over
    the kitchen island and bed, that protect from termites, other creatures
    and such, that fall from the palapa ... meaning roof ... and realized there
    was not a box, bin, bag, or crate, left to inspect and consolidate.

    WoW ! Now, with my memories and history gathered here I begin
    to create a home of my own, ahhh, to relish and savour and share
    with family and friends.     
    I can't wait !!  But.
    I will take a little holiday this month, to reconnect with Yelapa,
    take it all in ... recharge my batteries ... write ...


    Weather ? Weird ... but becoming more predictable every day...raining
    every , or every other day.  Wet, steamy, sticky, mucky, mossy, buggy,
    humidity is 105 %, sun is brutal, it's a test of endurance.
    The feeling is still the same, ... to burst out in laughter or tears ?

    Do both, while jumping in the ocean, or shower, grab a Corona from the  
    freezer, ( the electricity here so far so good ... up the hill not so good )
    get in the hammock, swing in the breeze, say yummm.

   This year the drainage ditch gets dug behind the banos.
   Being here this time of year you get to see up close and personal
   the deluge some of these storm produce. Mud.
   Retaining walls and " canals " all around each building are high priority !
   Google ... " How to install gutters on Palapa roof ? " or ask on the beach.
   I think someone there tried it .

   Living within Mother Nature. What a trip.
   Everything you do she is in your face.
   I'm so glad I went to Brownies and Girl Scouts !! 
   Thank you all my Scout Leaders !! Volunteers all !! 
   Growing up in the North, and being a Chesley ! , help with keeping the right   
   attitude, and adapting, but it ain't easy.
  
   The motto, mantra is ... Don't Sweat it ... so ironic, but true.
   An oxymoron, double-intandra ..you know what I mean ... 
   A clear example of the inside out of Yelapa.  You just feel it more now.

   We have Mexico Time, we have Yelapa time, and we have Yelapa  
   Summer time. 

   Everything slows right down.  The rhythm changes.
   Mexicans on school vacation come on the " Party Boats "
   and water taxis for the day.
   Three Americans from San Diego, mother 2 daughters on last day
   of their holiday, at Boca on the 3 0'clock, out for 2 hours, but they HAD
   to come to Yelapa, they have heard so much.
   One perhaps a volunteer at the clinic one day ??

   They would have been here 2 days ago but the hotel in PV sent them on
   the Island tour instead of to Yelapa !!
   They persisted and found their way, I'm pretty sure I will see them here   
   again...
  
   Buses jam PV with tourists and Conventions.  They park up on the highway 
   now, instead of downtown old town, Gracias a Dios .. 

   There is the smell of food cooking everywhere ... it smells good.
   Suntan lotion and beer.  No one runs for cover when it start pouring,
   or the thunder begins.  They carry on having the best time swimming,
   or crowded under a towel or umbrella.
   They aren't ready to go home yet.

   Observing and sharing in the Mexican Family Culture is a blessing and a
   privilege for me, and so many of you I know.

   WoW.

   Greener hills every moment.  Jungle growing 10 cm a day.
   Buds budding and flowers blooming.
   Yet everything needs to be cut back and trimmed and transplanted.
   Now I know what trees fall over and which grow into the house !!

   My machete is ready. 

   Our loved one Maria Von healing nicely in PV. Stitches out Friday.
   I will post an update on FB.

   Sooo nice to be back. I will post 1st Monday of every month...
   Yelapa Stories .... and more ..

   Hasta Pronto

   kelley
  

  

  

Monday, July 27, 2015

Hola..mucho gusto

omg so long and yet it feels like but a dream.
I am on my phone because neither lap top in top for and I wanted to pay tribute to my Father, I started the blog for him with his encouragment. Eleanor read or printed them out when he couldn't sit at the computer anymore. I saw them all stacked up.in their room..He liked to correct my spelling.
I have the giant list he and she wrote out for me for
my English classes of homonyms and synonyms..
for the high advanced..it's fun..
Always curious , like me, ??!! .. helpful, positive,
someone you could REALLY count on..
Persistent to the end...There was no such thing as broken in his world.  Everything could be
fixed or modified.There was no giving up.
I am missing him less and less because the longer he's gone the more he grows in my heart.
LOVE TO ALL...IT'S RAINING..

Me and Papa Don Hugo

He looks so dorky..always making me
 the star..
left me one year ago
28th of July
27 florescent light
27 9 way switches
believe it

down in the valley


the  first trans gendered 
mother and son !
or maybe the 2nd ??

more

Tuna Tuna..who wants some Tuna
six boats in total


Tuna Tuna ..who wants some Tuna..

my first Self ie


New photos from my smart phone

melt in your mouth home grown

muy bonito chicita

can you believe your eyes ?



Home is where the heart is