March 31, 2010 Wednesday

semana santa is almost here and the town is already quiet. many have left for ranchos near and far. it is a mexican passtime to go camping. anywhere. some like lagoon. some like beach. some like the ranchos way far up mountainsides. i have never seen a culture that enjoys the proximity to nature like mexicans. it is one of their most incredible traits, in my opinion.

Homar is here from G Negro and is already fixing the boys' bikes ... we are lucky to have such a nice guy in charge of the ike races. he is going out of his way to make our little clubito get ahead.  this morning when i went to the seguro to teach the docs and nurses English, i noticed that the stationery store on the cancha has 5 bikes for sale outside !!!!  they are not mountain bikes but they are bikes and they will get kids riding...and eventually they will join our club. and that is fantastic. now i met a lady whose kid has asthma and she would not let him ride bikes....is it possible that it is bad ????  i find it hard to believe and if i have a chance to investigate, i will. i remember that my sister, who also has asthma, was told to swim. would stand to reason that swimming and biking are not that far apart .....

here are the pics of the rock art across form Burro Beach in Mulege:

 

March 30, 2010 Tuesday

today is a day of rest and relaxation.  Homar and family should arrive soon, i will call them to confirm in a minute

couple we picked up in santa rosalia

april is the month to click on pepsi for liz's teen emancipation non profit.  i had no idea that is what she did .... it must be brutal to see kids needing to be freed from crazy parent(s). facebook has all the details if you are interested. it is free and it is a great cause.

happy in Mulege

art from boody decks called last night and he put a special tag on my "thread" so that it stays at the top. so far, not much response from bloody deckers. i guess they are a suspicous crowd ????? what a shame that we live in a world where people are suspicous of those who are doing good. i get nothing out of any of these projects except happiness that I am able to make an iota of difference in this world. those kids winning first place on Sunday, and getting major attention for that "5 min of fame" was precious.  i guarantee you, they will never ever ever forget that moment for the rest of their lives.

huge cactus could not get all of it in ...Burro Beach - cave art

now baja nomads have come thru like i never ever ever envisioned as possible. jose wrote and he has 6 more bikes for us. can you imagine that !!   perfect stranger has become the angel of the whole operation. now there is an enlightened individual ...

March 29, 2010 A Monday in Mulege

very interesting day we had - quite a bit different today. left early for santa rosalia. as we got into town, we stopped tog e gas. I noticed a very couple standing on the corner and it looked like the guy hadd a British patch on the back of his backpack, and I asked Les to take a look at it. He couldnt see it, so I got int he car. We inched toward the exit and the guy came over to us. Can I ask whre you are going ?  Mulege, I answered. Well, the buses have been canceled and we would like to go there, is there any way we could catch a ride. Of course, hop in.

main square in Mulege

Well, she is from TJ, model like thin and pretty with fluent British accent
He is British from south of London, blond, sof spoken and very polite
Both are studying in Guadalajara. He business, She just changed from architecture to management - she wants to do event planning

Les and Toners

We ran a bunch of errands in Santa Rosalia - got bread from the bakery, banked at Bancomer, went to a ferreteria for tape (Copa Cabana building project), got Les meds from the pharmacy, went to the accountant (who is never there) and requested our money be returned. It has been 4 months and he hasnt done th e La Paz paperwork we wanted. We will hire someone else and have to revisit him to get the cash. Or we could have gotten it today perhaps, but we also would have had to arrive before 3 - not going to happen...so

Lindsay, us,Toners

we drove south.  we had scheduled meeting up with Lyndsay and Tony between noon and 12:30. We arrived at noon and waited til 12 :25 and both showed up at the same moment.  Went to lunch at Los Candiles (???) . Owned by an American and his mom and so delicious.   Specialty seems to be hamburgers of every type imaginable.  Lyndsay seems to be fine and already in relaxed Baja mode after 2 days. Tony looks younger and younger each time I see him. Life seems to be suiting him well and I find that he is not as anxious about things like he used to be. He has taken the THIRD casita hurricane disaster in stride.  He is looking to seel that house and is open after that.  Where did I recommend ???? LA BOCANA, OF COURSE.

first margarita for me in a loooong time

I am exhausted after yesterday's bike marathon. I am certainly not used to being on my feet from 8 to 5 !!! My legs ache  and my heart sings. How is this possible ????

we drove to concepcion

                                                                             the day was really hot and the water pretty cold

I am supposed to get a massage on Wednesday. I so need one.  Originally, it was to be tomorrow BUT Adriana requested to come on Wednesday, so Wednesday it is.

March 28, 2010

ANDRES

weeks of planning and the day is here ... it was bike race day !!  Yesterday in the late afternoon, Homar and all his club kids and family memebers showed up !!  I offered the Copa Cabana since they were planning on camping. They had air matteresses and blankets and were good to go !!  They liked it so much that they want to come back and spend 2 days vacationing - Tues and Wed :))

CHIPPY

SIX la bocana kids won first place including Armando's kid. Armando was worried about letting him go but in the end he did ... Armando said he prayed and talked to God about it during mass.  And God said, let him be a kid and race even tho he had open heart surgery 2 months ago. Well, he won !!!  But he forgot to call his dad so he could be there when he got his reconocimento and bag of candy. 

NACHO

I cleaned as the day went on and I must say, at the end of the day - there was not ONE piece of  trash ont he ground...to be honest...the cancha or  town swaure was dirtier when we got there than when we left.

arriving one day early

Int he end - everyone everyone everyone had a wonderful time. For the kids, it is a huge honor to win. They runt hat race as if their life depended on it. too bad we lose that "ganas" as we grow older. If we faced our marriages and work with the same ganas ... I personally think we would all be much happier and the world would be a much better place.

jumping off - is there any other way to get off?

Their were about 3 people who had serious leg muscle cramps .... scary to see...the biker goes straight down onto the ground and writhes in agony. Horrible to watch.  We have to concentrate on warming up - I think I have to become more educated on sports preparation.

now there's a good daddy

Our team did well. Chuey came and presented the diplomas and candy. Delegado was 2nd and Yolie gave 3rd place awards. All good :)

Sheriff Martin. Les. Pancho.

tomorrow we head for Mulege to see Lindsay and Toners.  On the way, we stop in Santa Rosalia to see the crooked accountant who took our money and never did the paperwork for our business. Les had a gut feeling from the getgo. Don't even remember how we got this person's name, but I certainly wish we had never met him or given him our money !!!

CRISTIAN

THANKS NOMADS. THANKS COOP. THANKS ARMANDO. THANKS KARININA. THANKS BLACK MOUNTAIN   BICYCLES. THANKS LES. THANKS COOP IN PUNTA ABREOJOS. THANKS DOUG  AND KAREN IN LA JOLLA. THANKS MOM, CHRIS AND MAUREEN ... THIS TIME MY WHOLE FAMILY DID A LITTLE TO HELP MAKE THIS DAY HAPPEN.

police and ambulance drivers - nite b4 raceboys giving our first FIRST PLACE win a HIGH 5

March 27, 2010

well, I couldnt sleep last night - just a lot on my mind ... the brain goes on overload trying to make sure I haven't forgotten anything

people are rolling into town - a whole group from Guerrero Negro just arrived and they are doing the circuit now

Yolie is busy making food to sell

I am busy making 50 bags to give as gifts along with the reconocimiento ... there is nothing to say it was first place or second or third...just couldnt make it happen


CLUB DE CICLISMO DE BOCANA

March 26, 2010

great day

worked on the English version of the website for hours

this was the inauguration of the educcion inical

I helped them get the windows - when they found someone who wanted to get them windows for 8000 pesos, I said nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

so they sold my cakes and brownies and garage sale stuff

they saved 1500 pesos and i bought 2 huge windows for 500

and I got a guy to resize them for 1000

and they found someone to put them in for free :)

and this was the big party. it was fun and I got to crown the princess (Rosita) and they also mentioned how thankful they were that I helped out

it was an honor to be there.  really, i gave them the power to be strong and now they ask others to help them and guess what .... they have managed to get someone to commit to giving them a working bathroom

and I am going to work on toys and educational material for them

IT'S ALL GOOD, AS MY NIECE BRUNA ALWAYS SAYS

March 25, 2010 Thurs

Dynamic Duo :)

Jose and Jose are here with the families !!!   They have fit into La Bocana and I wish they were staying here til the very lastm inute but....theya re heading over to Asuncion. I didnt realize they had never been int hese arroyos before !!

Right now Joaquin is outside and they are meeting the "guapo" chef !  Next time they will be able to eat dinner with us there

Nacho has also arrived + everyone is talking over bikes :)

big spaghetti lunch

the weather is absolutely fantastic - no wind - not too hot and not too cold. perfect.