Dec. 26, Friday

had a wonderful day

went to ana's first and exchanged little gifts. talked. had coffee and bagels. my first starbucks since i arrived. i was craving their latte

went to mom's later on in the morning and gave them the rest of the bagels. les went to see his kids for the day.  i think they need one on one with dad. and they got it !

today is a day for sales. we will face the crowds.

Marek got me 3 boards for the FIRST EVER LA BOCANA SURFING CONTEST.  one has a ding on the tip and the other 2 need fins. so we went to OB surf shop and the owner wasnt there, but a very nice salesman named Adam was and he said he may be able to donate a board as well. very amazing. the shop is huge and full of clothes and leashes and boards and nicknacks.

from there, we went and picked up mom, bruna was going to go out and visit a friend since she had mom's car. we dropped the table we used for xmas at maureens. went to north park to have chicken pot pies. went shopping for plants and found a pepper tree !!!!  we have been looking for a while. i also got some orchid food. who knew they needed food ???  not me. Monica - a house guest - taught me about orchid food and now i have some, some of the plants are thriving and others are not. hope the food works ....

talked to linda today and all is well. rex has started eating. he hated the fireworks set off at xmas and they put him in the garage....we really miss our buddy.

tomorrow we move to ana's house.  love it here at frand and deb's house, but i want to visit with ana too !!!

Dec 25, 09 Friday

Mom's beautiful table as seen from the top

the house beyond beautiful, missing Marc

I asked Les to spend xmas day with his kids

Sarah, Zsasha, dad and Juliet

a little or big memento from London

Rafael MOM and me

One of the prettiest trees ever - our European gifts to the whole Portella gang at left of photo

RAFAEL put the whole ordeuvres table together - from start to finish, such a talented kid !!

this table was absolutely exquisite

dec 24

xmas eve !!!

saw Rafa for the first time in ages. he looks big. he looks happy. he is so family oriented now. nice to see that he enjoys everyone and understands their shortcomings

we went to maureens house to get a table and it was crazy. kyla hugging and kissing and maureen feeding dogs and talking on the phone and les never found a minute to say hi and i was told i never said hello....told her i was taking lessons from bruna, but she never stopped to acknowledge our presence either ...

mom did such a nice job on the house and all the cooking is being done as we speak or as i write .... should be one of those unforgettable meals !!!!    very traditional Brazilian: pork roast, applesauce, rice, potato salad, tossed salad, veggie soufflet and for dessert: flan, mousse, pies and decadent chocolate cake

to the left is a sculture at shiley - i am hoping to have one made in la bocana that would be similar - but would have a mobile fish on the left and cactus in the middle and  a fisherman on the right !!

Dec 23, 09 Wednesday

spent all day at UCSD to get a 30 min procedure done for Les

first of all, no one had scheduled the appt like they told us they would. we have the paperwork to prove it.

then after 4 hours of sitting, they call Les and his heart is racing too fast. of course, he didnt take any meds since it was type of xray

so we wait another 3 hours. do you think we could have chosen another agenda for the day ????  he wanted UCSD, he got UCSD but we also got all the mixups that go with it. i already wrote a serious complaint letter about one of the schedulers there...she got tired of rescheduling us !!!  ahahaha !!  she obviously never thought i would write. but i wrote a scathing letter. she refused to answer emails and i had to call on friends and family to help while we were in europe.  i had better stop now before my heart starts racing too fast !!!  arhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgggggggggg

so then we came to frank and debbies with a stop at CVS for our dollar xmas secret santa present and we got gooooooooooooood stuff

then i saw a salon and decided to do my toenails ....never asked the price and got fleeced at $21 !!! 

got a leg wax that was heaven and reasonably priced

Les came hunting for me. home and bathed and relaxed, it is now time to get into a warm bed cause san diego is freezingggggggggggggggggggggggg

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. 21, Monday

went tot he dentist in TJ and Sammy moved. Louis is still with him and the office is beautiful. teeth are cleaned. les has a lot more work to be done on his. we can do it after his operation.

i call eduardo from Tj and he has someone who is coming today to san diego.we will go to mom's, get the 8 bags, 3 suitcases, 2 planter pots and TV and then rush to meet this guy at Costco in chula vista. well, we arrive at 1:30 and he doesn't get there til 2:30. But all the stuff went !!!!!!!!  La Bocana now has goods to sell !!!!!!!!!!

Sammy and Les

saw mom for a little. she is waiting for bruna to come in by plane at 5.

we are here at debbie and franks and she left us a tray full of cooooooooooookies and chocolate and sooooooooo many goooooooooooodies !!!

we are now here. we are fed. happy. showered. happy. tired. happy. good night !


Luis at his computer reading about La Bocana. He and some friends built a new building for orphans last weekend. He has been busy too !

Dec. 20, Sunday

on the road

we had a safe trip

visited Rebeca and her husband Edgardo on the way south

he is a webmaster and his family owns Mario's restaurant and whale watching tours. the palapa restaurant is one of the most beautiful edifices I have ever seen !!!!  and the food was gooooood too.

Rebeca has left the biosphere and will now be a consultant. she charges a fee which is art of the package she puts together which the gvt will cover.  all i can say is,after months of hitting one brick wall after another, is:  I think I hit paydirt. she is my ticket to getting this project from mind to reality. yessssssss !!!!!

after an hour of talk we come up with the following ideas:

i should approach the miramar landfill about donating a liner for our new landfill

i should start the centro de acopio or recycling center right away

we should have a compost pile

part of her project will be to have the guerrero negro man who makes bricks out of cardboard come to                       bocana and train someone in his trade and maybe mauro from BOLA to teach about the glass pieces into sinks business

she wants to work with caring for dogs and i afterwards realized that  she can come to the la bocana environmental day and giver her spiel

she wants me to approach caterpillar and ask for a donation of a non-working tractor or bulldozer or ??? and she can have it fixed at the salt plant

we leave and i feel elated

the drive was uneventful
once in ensenada we go stright to the more expensive hotel since it is where we will eat dinner and we are so tired i beg to pay more and just be where dinner with enrique and eduardo will be.  and the good part ???? the rooms $30 LESS than what we paid last time. why ????  we are later informed that all the hotels have dropped their prices in ensenada...so wonderful...

i tried eduardo and enrique over and over since we were to meet at 7 at this hotel's restaurant....no answer no answer no answer. we go and order. eventually i ask for a phone and the waiter lends me his. no answer but a little while later the waiter comes with HIS phone and tells me the call is for me !!!  HAHAHA !!!  so the gang comes late. we eat and i talk talk talk.  it is all good. i could have shut up a little but i only have this one chance to tell them about everything .......... and there is a lot to tell .,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, but i think next time - i will write is short and sweet and let them talk ...........

we sleep like angels altho i feel like a truck has run over me.  i spent Sunday night wrapping gifts on my bed and the position was stupid and wrong and made my back ache ..