Cold nights in Chacala

Chacala has been pretty cold again in the very early morning. Maybe 60 degree F. I am considering buying another blanket, but the minute I do it will be too hot for a blanket at night. Oh well. The days are lovely and just right, low 80´s F and clear and nice. Good sunsets. Dark about 5:40pm, light about 6:15am. Esparanza´s boys were surfing right in front of my camp yesterday morning. The early morning waves were pretty big and looked very scary for surfing. Those boys, Javier and Chuy, are amazing out there on those little boards, with the sun just starting to shine across the water.

Since I have been here in Chacala, I have been thinking about personal boundaries and how different they are for different people. Different cultures. For example, at campgrounds in the US the camp sites are usually set about twenty or more feet apart, to give the semblance of privacy, but here the campsites have zero lot lines and it´s very cozy. Mostly it´s kind of fun to be so close, sometimes not. But I have noticed that given the chance, even the campers from Guadalajara, etc, like a little space, and try to leave an empty space between families. I think I am getting more relaxed about people being so close, even walking right through what I think of as my living room, but it's still kind of hard for me sometimes. I often wake up early in the morning to a little face staring at me thru the tent screen door. It´s Markito or Jasmine, aged two, just looking at me, not saying anything. They usually want to paint or cookies. And I actually kind of love waking up to their little faces. Another little boy, Gilberto, four, likes to come and stand right next to me when I am reading or sleeping in my hammock. He puts my hand of his head. He was a buzz cut and he seems to like me to rub in head.

I get so much more physical contact here than I ever did before coming here. (Except when I used to take care of kids, and my son). But now, here in Chacala, I get hugs, and one-armed hugs, and handshakes, and hugs from the back while sitting down, etc, all day long. I really like it alot. And people always offer welcoming smiles and words when we run into each other. I feel so lucky to be here. Plus I get to hold babies and little kids.

My landlady, Esparanza and her son Jorge, about 14, and I have been looking at my English language gardening books the past few nights. They are for tropical plants and succulents, many of which grow here, so we have a good time recognizing plants. Today I am in PV, and I got E. some gardening magazines in Español, which I hope she likes. I gave her a pair of my reading glasses a few days ago, which she really likes.

This morning I got up and had a very very cold shower and ate and walked out to the beach road and got a ride with Fernando (otherwise known as "moola", I think because he speaks some English and wants to be rich). He is the youngest son of the owners of Chico's, and he is very nice to me. His little girl, 16 month old Fernanda, is one of my favorite kids here. He took me right to the bank this morning, on his way to the Las Varas laundry to pick up clean tablecloths for the restaurant. Then, as I was walking across the highway, the combi to La Penita, the next town south stopped for me. And at La Penita, I immediately caught the big bus to PV. Not a minute of waiting anywhere. Not that I am in a hurry, but it´s sort of fun when not to have to wait. And I saved 25 pesos going this way.

There are some old hands returning to Chacala the last couple of weeks: Michel and Cheryl, and Emily, and Anna the singer, Cleve, and Eden, and probably other people I can´t think of right now. The motor home area is pretty full, mostly French Canadians for some reason. The beach campgrounds, including where I am are pretty much empty except for Sunday picnikers.

I have been reading some history books about Mexico, and am amazed about how much the US is the "new kid on the block" compared to the rest of the Americas. There are lots of towns here that were built in the mid 1500´s, when the US was nothing. And the weather in most of the US is so un-user-friendly. Too cold (or too hot) to survive without serious protection and a source of heat, for many months of the year. No wonder no one wanted to be in New England until all the other good spots on the hemisphere has been colonized.

Anyway.