Living on the Northside of Chacala

Saying "the northside of Chacala" really makes Chacala sound like a big place. Of course, when you are walking from one end (Casa Pacifica) to the other (Majahua and Mar de Jade) it does seem pretty far but it's certainly less than a mile (I think).

I have been living in the Orange house, on the north end, for three days now. I still miss the beach a lot, but I am starting to feel at home here again. I am kind of moved in, after carefully cleaning sand and dirt from everything I had at the beach. Tomorrow I am going to set my tent up on the terrace here, and scrub the dirt and dust off it. Get it ready for next winter on the beach.

This house has the best hammock I have ever laid in, and I love it. A Canadian woman, orginally from Eygpt, sells them at her hammock shop right at the north end of the street market in La Penita. She makes special orders at a Mexican hammock factory, choosing the colors and styles. Really really comfortable. I fall asleep almost everytime I start to read in it.

One thing about living up here that was worrying me was that the grocery stores in Chacala are all down at the beach, and it's a long walk to the stores, and then it's uphill going home. But, lucky for me, Frank, son of Chico and sister of Aurora, has opened his second market, right near the school, next to where Pati has her aerobics classes. Much handier for me and no hills.

Visited with Trini and Maria (little Maria) today, and arranged for a second reservation in just a couple of days for Beatriz. One is a month reservation starting in a couple of weeks, and the other is for two months starting early January. Her rates are going up, $350 a month for multiple month stays, and $400 a month for one month stays. (Those are the winter rates summer rates are seriously less). I can't remember her nightly rate. She is still one of the cheapest stays in town, mostly because most landladies would rather have nightly rentals, at least in the winter. Dona Lupe's is open right now, for the long or short term. She is asking $250 a month for the summer, going up to $300 a month in the winter. That's a very good deal, in my opinion. She also has a basic room, shared bath, for $100 a month. Really basic.

Anyway, it's kind of nice to be back in this neighborhood. Lots of friendly neighbors. When I was walking over to the store this afternoon a gang of little kids were picking up plastic again.
Boys on bikes and girls actually carrying the plastic, I noticed. I also noticed a jetski in the back of a truck parked near one of the houses. UGH!!!! I have been invited to two little girl birthday parties this weekend. Time is really flying. I remember both of them being born.

Maria has dyed her hair a kind of henna color. She used the leftover dye to dye the heads of her filthy little dirty (really dirty!!!) white poodle dogs. They look really strange.

The pool (blue tiles) Paul (a gringo from CA) is building in front of his very nice two rental units, each two bedrooms, is almost done. So is the downstairs unit. Really nice job.

I really really miss looking at the beach from up close (twenty feet from my tent) and personal. And I miss the kids hanging around with me all day, and my landlady, and being on the south end of the beach. Much easier to visit Chico's and Fonda Lupita, and to get rides into Las Varas. Oh well, I plan to be back there in November. And I probably will have alot more privacy here, although I have had a lot of company here these first few days.

It's kind of strange to have a telephone again. Since I have been in Mexico I have had a phone for six months (last winter at this house) and it's kind of handy to make calls on, but I hate the phone ringing. Not that it rings that much. It's nice having internet right here at home though.

I left a chair down on the paved road, at the end of the driveway from this house this morning. I clothes-pinned a note on the chair with "COCA" written in BIG LETTERS and then wrote how many I wanted (in glass bottles). I had asked a couple of people down the road to ask the guy that drives around town every other day taking Coke orders to stop at my place. That guy takes your order and the next day the big Coke truck drives around town delivering Cokes and taking your money.

I went down to get the chair late in the afternoon, thinking I had missed him, or he hadn't stopped, but he had stopped!! He had clothes-pinned my receipt onto the chair. Neat!!! At the beach I had to work out a deal with Dona Lupe to get my Cokes. because the Coke truck driver doesn't like the crummy beach road. She would buy them for me, and I would pay her extra and then wheelbarrow the Cokes to the camp. Sometimes her husband would help me, for a small tip. Not that having easy access to Cokes is really a good thing for me.

This morning the water guy came up to see if I wanted water. I have had the same water guy (the blue five gallon jugs) everywhere I have lived in Chacala, although I have noticed there are other water trucks. Maybe he has dibs on my business. And the vegetable truck guy came up to the house too. He comes to Esparanza's on the beach at first light in the morning, but he got here about 11am or so. It was fun buying fruits and veggies on the beach. All four women (including me) who lived right around where I was camping would stagger out to the truck, straight from bed and in jammies or whatever, to buy his stuff. Plus he always remembers my name, and I like that.

It's getting warmer here now, but still okay. Low and mid 80's with some humidity but not bunch. Nice breeze all day.