Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sunday, off roading in la bocana, cleaning up

today was a crazy day - last night, at the last minute, we had frantic phonecalls of people wanting to stay for the evening to go to off roading today....since the 7 people from the capital, who were to be government officials never confirmed, we \started accepting other reservations.  one from a  family form bahia tortugas - mom and dad Antonio and the cutest little baby - Jose Antonio - with gorgeous huge  blue gray eyes !!  they were to arive between 3 and five. it is now 7 pm and they left this morning after breakfast and havent come back yet !!  they were actually referred to us by the local hotel - they were full and had no extra rooms.

the other call was from the local sheriff who had some friends in town - a couple with kids.  i tried to get them to tell me how many kids, but the phone connection was atrocious, so I just said - the cost will be for the parents and if the kids sleep in the other double bed - in the same room - there will be no charge for them. executive decision bur Les was busy with other guests downstairs.  well, they came and they were 5 total - mom and dad and three kids, being that one is mentally challenged and was so sweetly handled by all of them.

Then the local town bigwig (Nelo) called and said he had 3 people who wouldnt arrive til midnight - from san quintin. so, i told him to come over and i would show him their room and leave lights on for them.

we already had 4 americans staying in the half finished garage rooms.  so we had a total of 15 poeple. a record in our B & B !!!  Les was upset because as the Mexicans arrived they were quite loud. they had their off road vehicles and didnt come in quietly, but put all their macho noise to the test.  Les was worried about the other guests. i never heard a thing but was woken up by les all night long - he would traipse downstairs to tell someone to be quiet ... or because he had heard something.    all i know is - he was exhausted when he woke up at 6.....and guess what...the clocks were set back and it was really 5 !!!!  but we had the coffee already set and the smell was delicious.  we started getting breakfast prepared...Yesterday - as soon as i realized we were to have mexicans - breakfast menu changed to their style - i had les uby tortillas and i made a huge pot of pinto beans and les was to make the eggs.  well, there werent really enough eggs for all, but i added cereal as another option, and all left the table sated.  Les was not smiling, not his usual self....i was thrilled that we had so many guests and that he was making a killing moneywise. we still have so much to build and on Friday, he said he was out of cash ... today he said he had a full pocket !!!

so, my conclusion is that he does not do well with Mexicans and i can work on giving them a list of what is acceptable and what is not - ie. revving a motor at midnight is a NO, the wife of one of the guys walked out in her pj's thismorning, which all the women do here iu La Bocana but ..... i don't think i can deal with that one in my house !!!  and also, les did not handle the full table deal - my family has always seemed HUGE to me - between all the brothers and sisters and their kids and mom and uncles and aunts - any occasion was quite a big todo.  I am not phased at all. matter of fact, i thrive off it ...

but doing the laundry was another ordeal - i did 5 loads today - sheets and towels for what seemed like  zillions of beds. and while those sheets were washing, making up the zillions of beds.  I have to keep everything divided - some beds are single, some are double and some are queen. and of course, it goes without saying that ours is a king.  So each one requires searching for the tag. so fun guys, i can't tell you how fun it is ....

and then. to top off this wonderful morning.  at about noon, i decide to put on my new UNA BOCANA LIMPIA hat, grab the bos of huge costco garbage bags that were donated and go d own to hand them out, so people have somewhere to put their trash. i was hoping against hopes that the village hseriff (who is responsible for cleaningup the village) had thought to put some gargbage cans out.  ha ha ha. joke was on me. the party had started at 9 this morning. people were already smashed when i got there.   there was trash everywhere. i cant tell you how many cans and huge soda pop bottles and styrofoam plates. well ... i started out handing out the bags and some people were thankful and immediately started collecting trash.  others ignored me, so i started to pick up trash next to their vehicle and some ignored me. I did meet some women who asked if i was getting paid for picking up trash and i told them i was doing it because i loved seeing la bocana clean. well - they do the same think in punta abreojos, the village about 3 miles south of us !!  that was very rewarding.  they go out together once a week. la bocana needs more than that and we do have different froups that go out on different days....at any rate, i think i spent almost 5 hours cleaning. i think in the end we cleaned up 75% of what was around. but Les just came back from looking to see where our family of mom dad baby might be and guess what - the party is still going on full blast. and i guarantee those cans of beer are right on the ground.

i must be too tired - as i was coming home, i actually thought of just throwing in the towel.....we live in a paradise and the Mexicans just don't get it - whatever trash stays there WILL be blown in to the ocean.

maybe tomorrow i will feel better about all this ...let's hope so !!

I did take pics - the race was incredible and the cars come far too close to the spectators.