Feb. 23, 2010 Tuesday

our kitchen window - combo bottles and plants

so, we have 4 really interesting guests. Yahira we have met before, 3 weeks ago, when she came to introduce the international team from Asia that was coming to buy abalone etc.  This time a guy from up north also came, Edgardo, a fisherman whom Les recognized ... he had fished with him long time ago.  Then we have Urs who is Swiss German from Zurich who has lived in HK for the last 35 years. He has an abalone fish farm and his company is South China Sea Farm.

URSROY

Very interesting guy who explained how difficult Chinese is for him because of the tones.So I suggested voice lessons. They train your ear and you would not believe how someone who cannot sing, can actually learn to "hear" and there fore sing well. It is incredible and possible and surely worth it.  We also have Roy Gordon who is from San Francisco (lives north of the city proper). His company is FISHTECH and he also works mainly with abalone = the techonology, marketing, processig and preservation. The key word for me was PRESERVATION. 

Urs drying off his abalone

I have been chatting with him on how to preserve the fish here. All the other parts of Baja - literally ALL of them have been fished out. We hear that La Bocana is the last spot which is why we are so busy during our season.  It is not the sportsfishing that is killing the fish off, it is the netting. It is the shrimp boats. It is the overfishing by the commercial fishermen. 

Roy and Rex

 Roy suggested I contact Scripps directly, and I will certainly do that. Very exciting times my friends - to think I might well make a difference in the real world is exciting to me.

first time this plant has flowered

Another day in La Bocana. 

And this afternoon we will be getting together at 4:30 to organize the first and only FUNDACION LA BOCANA.  Can you imagine ??????  So many doors will now be open because of this. 

rare cactus from the mountain region of Baja

Feb 21, 2010 Sun

Deborah Wayne was like me, she preferred to move the mountains herself and not depend on anyone else ... she is, unfortunately, gone from this world ... but I think I was sent to carry on her mission ... look out Baja - here we come :)

great day - we hear that the fishermen are catching all sorts of fish - it is not the season yet, interesting .....

so fun to talk to Wayne and Randy, they are from the States and are very laid back ...

empty building
full of many dreams
and notice that I am wearing my Prague shirt ... can't help but dream of traveling whenever I wear any of my wonderful European t-shirts ...............
yesterday we went to san ignacio .. i enjoyed meeting maria de los angeles. we saw the clinic and it was a huge disppointment - a gorgeous building and completely abandoned or better: unused

Dr Romero who set the mtg up and Maria

this is the bedroom for visiting docs
there is a kitchen and full bath
fridge
it is a bit remote but the land was donated (beggers cannot choose) and since it is up above the town - the view is outstanding

Feb. 9, 2010 Tuesday

gray ugly cloudy skies and cold weather...needless to say, I slept in this morning til 9:30 ... what a treat

street that leads out of Abreojos and

Derek got me an inside track to someone who runs a bike store in San Diego - time to start getting prepared for the mountain bike race this March 27. It would be so wonderful to get a nice bike to give as a prize !!!

this is what you see as you head towards Bocana

Canadian Bruce is on his way to Mulege to catch some sort of salmon ????  Hopefully I get to see him before he leaves so he can visit Ed Epifani (well - turns out Ed lives in Punta Chivato and not Mulege)

local police station

Took a picture of the coop store - I want to have a little booklet made up with the various locations around la bocana for beer, groceries, nails and hair salon etc.

Bocana's COSTCO, near stadium

The coop has printed up a new little booket on their products - it is not as professional as it could be, in my opinion. At any rate - I want to translate it so that it can be sent abroad

Jan 12, Tuesday

it is an absolutely gorgeous day at 70 degrees in the shade and much warmer in the sun

started a new English class for doctors this morning and they are good

also cleaned up around Connie's house for 2 hours. very sad that they have not kept up the first cleanup from a  month ago.  really frustrating. it was filthy.

met the garbage guys and they picked up prieto's trash, all the tires formthe salitral AND did a mass cleanup at someone's house down Erizo street. and I only asked them this morning. very cool. they got paid and they are happy and so am I.

the Canadians left saying they may still return.  they knocked down a telephone pole near Connies yesterday. i guessed they were undone by the whole ordeal.  like i told them.  la bocana is a place to de-stress and certainly not to let stress get to you !!!

now I am off to teach another English class tot he Punta Abreojan students at the school
then I am off for the rest of the day

BUT  I now have to drum up more prizes. Carlos just realized that women are in a separate category in the surf competition !!!  OM gosh !!!  This is the hardest thing I have ever done !!  It is non ending and I need sponsors.  Wrote to Derek at Kaplan. who knows. there are miracles.  the good part is that there is someone who can bring the stuff down to Ensenada this week. maybe.  that will save all of us from a lot of hassle, since Dave was going to have to bring the boogie boards that we lost .... would be soooooooooooooooo  nice to have it come down earlier via the coop !!!!!!

--------------------------------------------- later on -------------------------

so, the students got out early and there was no class. that being the case, I went around looking for trash to clean. there are some locations where there are still abandoned fridges for the guys to pick up. i  spent about an hour cleaning up in front of the coop - so many plastic bags. and started to think that we could have 2 days this month dedicated to cleanups. one for the road between la bocana and abreojos (and they could participate starting from their end). and another in front of the fisherman's beach. so filthy.

Aida wrote from Wild Coast and said that she knows a group that was giving garbage cans away. Let me tell u, I would be beyond happy if I could reach my goal of 320 now .... heck ... even one more can would be a start ...

Carlos is a mover and a shaker. I did reiterate to him today that he has to finish high school and then get himself a college education. He has family in TJ. Needs to get out from under his dad's house and create his own life. But the kid is so talented. I would like to have him as promoter of any event on the face of the earth, he is amazing. really creative and does manage to reach his objective.
So, we have Aida who will coordinate san diego to ensenada drop off !!!  yahoo !!

and we have prizes from Ben et al at WildCoast. Life is looking better and better by the moment.

The waves are so big that the fishermen did not go out today. which is good - I met Juanchys and he will help me paint the new recycling center this Sunday. actually - he and julio said they will start on Saturday. I have the carwash with the surfers .. makes for a long day ....

I also wrote to Celerino of the Vizcaino Bisphere - it would be great to have him as speaker at the Environmental Day Jan 30th. I heard it takes glass  4,000 years to disappear. No wonder the pottery from the Egyptians is still around .... good for archeologists but bad for Mother Earth.

Dec 22, tuesday

the morning started off at shiley eye center in la jolla where i got a little piece of flabby tissue removed from my eye

miramar landfill

learned sooooooooooo much and as luck would have it:

there was a guy from union tribune and another from the radio station !!!!  and they got my one great copy of the project from Allen at UCSD which I happened to pickup this morning !!!!!!!!!!!!!  Thanks allen. i am sure you never guessed how pivotal you would be to the project !!!  Yesterday all the donations went south:

and this is a day in the life of trash in san diego. thanks to the guys who showed us everything !!

lots of trash, even with  a fence

guys and their tonka toys

basura basura and more basura

UNA BOCANA LIMPIA en san diegoLes, as always my supporter


In January = meet with Maile "ALOHA"

hopefully get some medical equipment donated form Dr Eric White, ophthamologist

and we are sooooooooo lucky !!!!  marshall madruga came thru as promised and donated a BUNCH of gorgeous t-shirts he had !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boy oh boy ~  thanks Marshall !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dec 19, Saturday 2

and les was really busy today too

he went and checked out Yickie's house for me - the one I will buy:

and he also managed to finagle a truck to come and move dirt thru Juanchys

Dec. 16, Wed.

Did a garage sale this morning - tomorrow is the last day of school and therefore the last sale...2 weeks of 7:30 to 8:45 is enough...today I actually got up at 5 a.m.  I just had to start the day by organizing who will do what on the 30th and the 31st. We need teens as setter uppers and taker downers and a DJ and mike and kids doing a play and adults cooking. Friday we will have a meeting and I will make breakfast......

Actually, this morning I wrote to Sherry in Asuncion and invited her to come to the  surfing competition !  Her daughter is a surfer and that would just be fantastic !

I stilll need to figure out sponsors before I leave. San Diego is always a lot of running around. Plus Les will get his operation. Plus we have a ton of shopping. Plus family and Christmas and cooking. Plus my eyelid has a growth on it and I will have it removed. But back to today:

did the garage sale and sold a little.  but it is so fun to see all the kids. now eveywhere I go, someone is waving and calling out my name !!  what an experience.  ran home - unloaded and went to do the beach ceanup. i guess a group did some work yesterday. Linda showed up and we worked for an hour and a half til it got too hot. we went home. Les and I had chili for lunch and then I got a call that the garbage guys were ready for me to meet them. Sent them to put diesel in the truck and meet me in front of the boat shop. There are 2 abandoned boats that had been sitting there for years. We removed them !! 

first boat and mess

second boat - to the dump !

where is the second boat ????

first boat gone gone gone

the first took about an hour to break up. the second i actually convinced Chuy Espinoza to take dragging to the dump since we had other stuff to clean  up. Very nice of him. then we went to  pick up the bags Linda and I made this morning. then i went to DIF to see if i cold find antonietta. she is in santa rosalia. i forgot. so i saw a reuseable bag finished !!  so perfect - I am the VERY FIRST  PERSON TO BUY ONE and I documented it !! then i came home. did emails. made some phonecalls. no Maile .... strange to call and not get an answer. i called 2 times. will try once more tomorrow and then give it up. not meant to be but i could so use her expertise. no idea why she wouldn't pick up a cell phone. why have one then ??????  Taught my class and I have 2 new students. The best one is thelittle boy who cant be more than 6 years old.  he loves that he can spit out the answer while the older ones are still thinking about the question !!  he is cute cute cute. after class, showered and emails and called Enrique whom will meet us for dinner on Sunday. Panchito sent the meds for Les so i extended a thank you too.

well, I told them white was a terrile color - dark blue or green or black would be better ....

Juanchys dropped by and gave us these pics

Dec 13. Sunday - car wash #2

well

my car wash boys have outc\done themselves !!  they all showed up, except Leo, for an early morning meeting at my hosue where i told them

1. you are on your own now - decide what you want to do with your money and pay your own way

2. remember to leave the locale cleaner than when you found it (thank you girl scouts)

3. conserve water and make the time shorter (everage was an hour a car yesterday ( jeez louise !! )

4. spread out the frebbee requests and return favors - chose one person a week to get a free carwash - yesterday, it was the police. today it was the water company guy (my suggestions since he gave free water to them 2 days in a row !!)

Today, they were just as busy as yesterday - I wasn't sure they would be, but they were !!  and they will be doing the wash every weekend.  Very cool. Very lucrative. Inspirational.

Today I interviewed them - just some questions so as to have some information to put on the webpage .

Pancho stopped by. Nacho stopped by.  We donated 3 sets of lights to the main square for decorations.

The delegado woke up and asked me how to generate cash for their office. Which is what i thought about last night ... and we dicided to have a la bocana cookout - on the beach - every Saturday. One time the money for his office; another time, the cash for the social services office where his wife works and lastly - to be decided. I will bake cakes. Linda and Antonieta will cook.  Volleyball will be played. should be huge and should be a good cash generator.

truck tire got fixed Friday - and that is a huge story in and of itself...........

Dec. 12, 09 Saturday

hoje vou escrever em portugues - time for some portuguese !! 

Juanchys being the 1st to support the cause ...

and selling for La Bocana was cool !!

hoje foi um dia lindo e espetacular - pela manha o Juanchys passou aqui em casa primeiro e tomou um cafe conosco. Disse que seria o primeriro a entrar no carwash. Todos os mexicanos adoram lavar o carro e o fazem TODOS os dias praticamente ...mas como ia ser o primeiro carwash ever .... estavamos todos meio preocupados

Car #2 was Domingo - as promised too...

chegamos ao parque central e nao tinham entregue agua, como prometido ontem e tem mais !!  O motorista do carro pipa tinha saido de La Bocana. ... como se vai lavar carros sem agua ?????  Fiquei chateadissima. No final, deu tudo certo, mas q estresse desnecesario. 

O bom eh q o dono nos deu toda a agua de graca - eh baratissimo anyways mas tudo dque eh graca, ateh injecao, eh melhor. Soh sei q eu montei minhas coisas vapt vupt (ja sou crack nestas alturas e levo no maximo 15 minutos pra montar tudo).  Os rapazes comecaram a chegar um por um e os carros nao pararam de chegar o dia inteiro !  Eles ficaram tao mas tao felizes - soh neste fim de semana ja conseguiram pagar o ropao que querem comprar...e olha o q eh demais de lindo:  eles querem fazer este campeonato como homenagem ao amigo deles q era surfista e morreu num acidente de carro ha um ano e pouco.

 Me emocionei.....lindo eh apelido.

NO final das contas, meus passarinhos voaram e fizeram bonito. Amanha resolveram repetir a dose outra vez, e alem disso, vao faze-lo TODO fim de semana. Os boxeadores nao apareceram.  A minha sugestao foi deles apoiarem os  boxeadores anyways - mas qdo perguntei ao Les, ele achou q nao. Ele acha q os meninos merecem ter todo o thunder para eles.  E topei.  Q os outros achem outra atividade pra conseguir grana.

Os meninos querem promover uma festa com banda e bebida e danca e comida . That's the spirit !!  Eu me lembro tanto da Chris falando para Marcos Rafa e Bruna fazerem a mesma coisa ... nunca se animaram ....a idea eh punk !!! eh show !!!! eh 10 ao quadrado !!

My boys 1

My boys 2

My boys 3

Hawaiian peace sign

They are all holding their hard earned cash

great day - great job by all

-------------------------------------------------

other news - we got the journals sent by Corey and Tina and they are beautiful !!!  Tina suggested leaving books for guests to write about their experiences and sent 3 for us to put in the rooms !!!  Thanks Tina !!