Chacala and Christmas

Yesterday morning I woke up in my tent, thinking I wanted a bed, that my nice 4 inch foam mattress on the ground just wasn't enough. So I went up to Susana'a and did reservations, thinking about finding a bed somewhere. On my walk home I noticed an old guy was hauling stuff out from behind Patti's place (orange house across the road from Concha's). And there was my bed. I got it for a few pesos, partly because it is kind of old and the wood was kind of crummy. And missing a couple of bedboards. Then I walked on the Chico's restaurant. I was having a Coke there and resting my foot with the broken toe, and telling the owners/waiters, cooks etc about my "new" bed. Chicha (the owner) asked me where the bed was, and then said something to one of the waiters. He hopped up and headed out to the parking lot. Then he turned and sayid, "come on, we are going to get your bed!!!". So we went up and got the bed and took it to my beach camp. When Esperanza saw the bed and the missing boards, she disappeared somewhere and came back with three boards that fit perfectly. Boards made out of wood are precious here, and very expensive, so I was very lucky.

So now I have my smaller tent as a bedroom with a real bed, and all my stuff and my desk in the bigger tent. The smaller tent has a better view. This morning I watched it get light lying on my bed looking out the screened tent window. The waves were huge!!! Every solstice they get big for a day, and I guess this was the day. Beautiful big, crashing waves.

There are three kid Christmas parties here this year, plus the nightly posada. Yesterday afternoon the county-level officials came down to Chacala to give the town an reward for being cleanest town in the certain category, or maybe it was third place. But, in any case, the award seemed to be $1000USD and a regular sized pickup for collecting local trash. There were also four wooden life guard towers standing there, at the party, but I don't know who brought them or where they came from. I think there has been food and pinatas before I wandered by, and there were large rubber balls, big bags of candy and a yoghurt drink for every child.

Today is the party the EBACH (scholarship kids) but on for the little kids, and then this afternoon the people that made a house out of the restaurant next to Las Brisas (from San Diego) are having a party. I think they are some kind of evangelical Christians, and I have the idea the party is related to that, but hopefully I misunderstood about that. Las Brisas is having a $15USD dinner on Christmas Eve and Casa Pacifica is having a potluck on Christmas Day early evening.

Being a very Grinchy person, I plan to have a quiet day on the beach, drawing, reading, and writing. We'll see.

The nightly Christmas posada, which goes to a different house or business very night, is still going on. Last night the kids sang going to Coco's, and seemed to be having a great time.

The circus is in town. Not the gypsy circus, but a bigger one with a big tent. I am not expecting to get any sleep til after midnight. They are parked in the field out behind the beach near Esperanza's. Last time they were here they has a big parade, plus the loudest loudspeaker you ever heard going around town on the truck all day, advertising the circus.

This is the Friday before Christmas, and so far there are not alot of Mexican campers here, which seems kind of unusual to all the shopkeepers, etc. They are thinking maybe people will are arriving today for the whole next week. Who knows. Three police have made the street a one way loop thru town, hoping to avoid giant traffic jams (two buses and a small pickup can cause alot of traffic problems on a 12 foot wide road.

Anyway. I am still loving the beach, especially with a bed. There are lots of very nice visitors here, including alot from Vancouver Island, for some reason.