Nov 10, 09

i thought things would settle down - hahaha !

local osprey

still running around moving and shaking things up

met with director of high school - they want me to sub for an English teacher who is out

met with director of elementary school

met with secretaries at the sheriffs office

put up pictures on the blog

sent pictures to all the people who participated in the fishing tournament

started a new class for those high school kids who live in the next town -tues and thurs

ignored my house

ignored my husband (who says he would like to set up an appt with me to talk ...tadinho...

wrote a letter to thank the coop bigwigs who met with me and promised to do stuff

wrote a letter to the people of la bocana to tell them we made over 4000 pesos (300 dollars or more) for the project with the garage sale of fishing stuff

read my emails

looked at facebook for a minute - pics below are cows crosssing on the day we went to Santa Rosalia for immigration paperwork and making photos for the huge billboard on the clean up project that Caroline and I put together and doing our banking

now need to write on blog and shower and watch the novela and sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

i am working double hard since we want to leave earlier for the states, i have to spend a day in bahia de los angeles meeting with a guy who is the recycling expert and works with carlos slim and bill gates. so i am busier than usual in order to leave everything handled here in La Bocana....

new taco stand everyone loves

Nov 9, 09 guests leave, early trash pick up, Glicerio Mercado, Nov. 9

well, all the guests left this morning with full stomachs. some had cereal, all had coffee, some had les's famous scrambled eggs. All were happy happy. The governor's rep Glicerio, grandson Poncho, girlfriend Barbara and the pilot left with Nacho.  Clark woke up and walked to his car and left - he had a long way to drive. Never saw him.  Then the Bahia de Los Angeles gang left - Larry, Bill and Tom.

I am planning to meet up with them in Bay of LA before the 15th.  Larry is a sanitation expert - retired.  He knows an Italian named Mauro who is working with Carlos Slim and Bill Gates on cleaning up bay of la and they are now completely recycling everything - plastic - metal - glass.  And creating mini industries for the locals to work at.  And they have a dump that will recycle itself  completely within 100 years.

And - and this is fundamentally vital - Mauro got a $250,000.00 grant to do this project.  So, yours truly is going to pick his brain and get the same grant. First I will do La Bocana and then i would love to give courses to others around Baja to be able to do the same thing.  Can you imagine a clean Baja????

The fishing tournament was amazing and Juanchys was still soooooooooooooo happy he won. Joaquin was an angel and opened his restaurant especially for the Mexican guys who were here. We had to donate the fish, lobster and meat, but I went off my diet and had dinner - yah00000000. it was delicious.

This morning Les and I went to the beach and altho I cleaned all day yesterday - we filled 3 huge black bags with junk left over. the good thing is that the coop picked up the bags that morning and took them to the dump. Two ladies offerred to clean the pathway to the beach. People walk back to town with water, soda or beer and guess where the bottle or can goes ....right there on the way. it is incredibly frustrating.

today Enrique - Pancho's son, went to the Biosphere to see if he can get La Bocana a permit to build a dump.  I can't wait to hear if he got it.  Hard call for them but I see no alternative. Either we dig up nature and creat a clean environment or we pollute the whole peninsula and the ocean and the lagoon.  So much trash....

I taught 3 classes today but not too many students showed. Day after a huge party that ended at 4. Right....  the music was loud and the wind was   coming towards us. I was so tired I never heard it, but Nacho and Linda said they were up at 1 int he morning. too loud and unable to sleep. The party should be inside the salon social. or there  should be a  venue further out of town..... or a time limit to quiet down.....

I did 3 loads of laundry today !!!  Sheets and pillowcases and towels for 8 people and 8 beds !!  With the heat, laundry dries in about 20 minutes. Easy easy.

Well, time for my Brazilian novela. 

Remember to check the site:

http://sites.google.com/site/cleaningupbaja

We made over $300 at the end of the day with the fishing etc garage sale. So, I want to do one every weekend. That way, I have money to get some helpers sometimes !!!  I get depressed cleaning and cleaning by myself.  Tomorrow I join a group of ladies......

I also start a new class with the kids from Punta Abreojos at 1:30 tomorrow.

I also got a call from the director of the high school  asking if I could help out teaching while the regular teacher is out with a sick child. I explained that I was not allowed to teach in a regular school - only thru my company school and said that they could pay me in someone else's name or ?????  Did not get a call back, but I am not about to get myself into trouble.  We shall see ... I would love to do it .....

Nov 8, Sunday. Fishing Tournament

what a day !!!  Clark, who is our guest and almost went home yesterday since on Friday, the ocean had been rough and he was bored yesterday not fishing, went out and WON first prize !!!  Yahooooooo

We have as guests some very interesting and wonderful people - three totally different groups, but they are getting along fabulously and they are all incredibly intersting.

Four of the guys are the governor's representatives at these fishing competitions.  One man checks the fish - thier size - and time of entry, his grandson and girlfriend log all the information and at the end all the bigwigs present get together and hand out the money. The governor is the one who sends the cash and promotes all the sportfishing.  And they have a pilot who takes them around Baja Sur.

There is Clark - a mormon from Wyoming. Quiet. Intelligent.  Lost over 65 pounds on a new diet which he says is the rage in the states now.  A female pregnancy hormone where you lose  1 lb a day. You lose the first 35 pounds and then you have to wait 6  weeks ausing a modified diet and no hormone. Then you can go back for the 2nd 35  pounds. 

There are 3 guys from the bay of los angeles. bill, tom and larry.  larry is the expert on sanitation.  bill fishes. and tom i haven't had a chance to talk tooo much to, but he is such an easy going guy.

today we talked about places all over  the states canada and mexico where fish are wiped out.
we talked about the president and how he owes so many favors to big companies that he is selling our his own country by allowing the huge fishing boats that take   tons of fish and are clearing our complete areas where very few species are surviving.

i cleaned all during the tournament.  filled aboout 10 huge bags of trash. people throw their trash on the floor. there were bags, which i handed out. there were trash cans, but not enough. still, they trash the sand and iwas devastated. it is very frustrating. they think it is OK to clean up or pay someone to clean up. they dont see that they can avoid the littering. i will have to visit every single little kids class, I have decided. it is the ONLY way.  a lot of them helped me. they are so cute. some i bribed with chocolate and they cleaned up their streets. others i gave 50 cents to for more trashy street areas.  but at the end of the tournament, I asked the sherrif when the boys were coming to get the trash bags.  he says, ohhhhhhhh, the truck is broken down. So, get someone else was my response.  i will talk to you later. the man should not be in his job. he is useless and today took the cake for me.  my only salvation is that we picked up 90% of the trash and there is NO wind. I will have to go out tomorrow morning and check it out.


the girls who sold the used items were sooooooooooooooo good that i was shocked. they sold tons of stuff and they negotiated for the best prices and got them !!  I am so tired, I havent even counted the moola yet. but iknow it was alot and i know i will pay them a good salary tomorrow. i want to do this every month. I already have mom on a garage sale hunt for used fishing items. if any of you have tackle/rods/reels/lures  to share - i will happily cover the cost. we can send it cheaply.

I also got to make a speach at the tournament where i thanked all the [people who helped me all year long. it was important to do that. the speach was long and most people were already smashed after drinking beer for hours, but none the less, a lot of people thanked me. and one guy Pablo said  if i ever needed help, all i had to do was visit his house and ask.  very cool.  See me in white with blue cap?

the governor did not come but his rep who is here at the house said he would personally talk about the project. i put together a wonderful package - it is pretty impressive.  pictures, a letter and the petition with over 1,000 signatures.


the pictures tell the whole nightmare. need a bulldozer. need to recycle. need a proper garbage dump. and now i need some sleep.

Sat., Nov 7

Pancho brought over a deputado or senator from San Ignacio.

So, what did I do? 

I asked for a new garbage truck.

Ask and you shall be given.

Fishing tournament and trip to Santa Rosalia

the town is buzzing as preparations are under way for the weekend

many people cleaned the square downtown of sand - and it was so windy .. hard job

today we went to Santa Rosalia - a long and productive day - hit immigration. the new bigwig there knows Carlos Slim. I asked him to give him a call in a week after I had contacted him about helping me in la Bocana. We got all the immigration paperwork filled out and paid for and we went to the bank and paid the house fideicomiso- which can only be paid in dollars. weird. got photographs made of some of the trash project pictures. they are more powerful than the printer copies.  tomorrow will put a board together - two of them -one in English and one in Spanish. At  10 Linda and I got o the plant to see the coop offices here in town. At 11 Julio will help me make a beautiful table for Sunday. Continuing with santa rosalia:   Les got his blood test done. we ate at our famous chicken restaurant.  I got the name of a guy in the electric company who the immigration guy said could get me 55 barrel drums. Done deal - all we have to do is get the delegado to send a letter. as soon as we got to a phone, i called the delegado and asked him to email it immediately so we can pick them up next Friday.  came home thinking of trash and recycling.....

when we got home - 3 new guests !!  and the best part is:  one of them is a sanitation expert. He is the guy who for 50 years has worked on recycling and trash reduction.  He is willing to give me the whole scoop on what and how and when to do recycling for plastic and glass.  small companies -the plastic goes to gueerero negro and some guy is reusing it. the glass is being made into sinks.

the other guy staying with us lives in bay of la and is working for carlos slim. helloooooooooooo. just the guy i want to meet. and carlos is making some 5 star hotels over there but the main thing is he hired a guy to clean up the town and this guy got a grant for 250,000.00 dollars. so . this is my new plan as well. get the grant and make the whole town clean. pay people. create jobs. I am sooooooooooooooo ready.

there is a new guy, but he hasnt had a chance to open his mouth. we have been too busy discussing trash - hahaha.

Rex got stuck under the car today - poor thing. he is confused and follows some of our friends or guests in their cars so we had to tie him up. we were gone and he went under the car for cooling down and got the leash stuck. thank goodness  our guest Clark saved him today !! 

well, we have the garage rooms available and they are ready ....  we got two last calls for Mexicans to stay - lets see if they show up.

Nov 5, Thurs

Wow ... what a day ....

woke up at 5 and we got up at 5:30. Les made eggs and ham (not green) for the 5 guests we have and I set the table. They ate drank and left for fishing. One caught some dorado (Les then made ceviche) and the others some tuna, nothing big. slow day.  Four of the guests left for home...

One of the guests gave me the fishing donations for Sunday as well as books.  I have 3 boxes of nice clothes to sell. Scott will donate some fishing stuff, ALL of this is for raising money for la bocana.

dave also mentioned that his community in punta chiivato has a homeowners association and they support causes in Baja.  well, i just became a cause. I am very excited about the association. we have some very real needs here and they might be our salvation.

this morning i washed all the sheets of the leaving guests at 6. hung them up at 6:45. emails for a minute after that.  cleaned up the bathrooms. at a little before 8, went tothe beach to arrive before the high schoolers who were going to help out. A woman I have never met before showed up to help too.  Ariana.  The only other adult besides Valentine and I.  There were 36 kids and they helped tremendously.  but i still cleaned up after they left for a good 3 hours. there is a lot of trash ......

sent a card and candle as a gift to Diana, the director, for letting the kids out for the hour and a half.  And for letting me print in color.

\stopped by the sherrifs office to get him to give me a letter detailing the expenses of 700 pesos he requested from me.  He was busy, so i left a message. never got the email. 

this afternoon, i went and cleaned more, i went and found the electricity guys and got a connection in santa rosalia where they have the cans and can maybe get us some garbage cans. i want to give them away.   i want them on the beach.  we need trash cans !! then i took pictures of the women cleaning. it is windy and they are cleaning the san off the street and the wind is putting it right back. they also planted some trees. which will die since no one will water them. fake for the tournament. not my style. didn't really like that part. Then i went to Juaquins house and talked to them for a minute and Scott showerd up.  He missed out meeting and lunch the other day. too bad, i really wanted his input.   But he is going to bring some stuff by for me to sell on Sunday. Wahooooooo ! 

Les showed up. Art showed up. Joaquin is full of customers !!  Now we only have Clark and he is such a cool guy.  Quiet and ever so slowly opening up and telling us about himself. I think he really likes la bocana. it is sooooo growing on him !!  les and i came home.

we had some of my lasagna and it is GOOD. i took another shower. and then waited for the coop bigwigs to show up.

at 8 they came. four guys, one i met the other day. one is enrique whom i think is just a super great human. and the other 2 i had never met.

well. i had 3 pages of requests and they were amazingly supportive.

i got:

1. one new trash guy - paid by them  - we are bigger and need another guy.
2. a bathroom for the library
3. a router for the library and a technician who will check the computers every month when he comes to the coop.
4. they will have someone deliver the petition to the governor for us.  all the townpeople have signed it - some of them donot understand the power of the people speaking out.  However - it turns out that we cannot make a proper garbbage dump anywhere since we are part of the biosphere.  so the trash goes straight into the ocean. i do not get it. at all.  but they are going to talk to the environmental group for me.

PETITION SIGNATURES

5. if i can get a firetruck donated, they will bring it across the border. the bulldozer too, if the governor does not donate. but he will. i am sure of it.

PICTURE OF PETITION SIGNATURES  

6. they will talk to the delegado about finances. i cannot do it. i dont get it. they know what is acceptable and what is NOT.  he seems to be giving me the runaround.

Ladies and gents.  I did good. I did very good.  I am proud and I am hoping for BIG things in la bocana. this is only the beginning !

I went to the beach at 7 am to get these guys to sign !!

Nov 4, wahoo in town

someone caught wahoo weighing over 50 pounds today ..... yesterday a smaller one got the whole American group out fishing today. Yellowtail up to 40 pounds...people are happy

I was at the beach at 6:30 this morning getting my Mexican La Bocana fishermen to sign the petition ... they were so cooperative but in a real hurry. The sunrise was gorgeous .... the pelicans sitting on the boats are fun to see but I sure wouldn't want to own those boats theywere on.

One high school class - 36 kids - will help clean the beach tomorrow.  This is the beach where the governor is supposed to come to and which will be the location of a 3 day party - FRiday Saturday and Sunday. I cancelled Friday classes - just too much going on.

I got color copies of the web site both in English and in Spanish. This was a feat since our color printer doesn't work and no one couuld open the site except me.  Valentin saved the day.  Diana saved the day by allowing him to use the color printer for my project. 

Now I have to put the pictures up  somehow so they can be seen at the tournament. I want the town to see how much we have done together.  I am proud of them - I am never satisfied that enough was done, but that is my personality. I have such high expectations.

Linda helped me clean some this morning - it really is much more fun with a helper to chat with.   The work also goes much faster.

I have asked the sheriff to give me a breakdown of what the 700 pesos will be used for - a type of contract. Needs to be specified ... it only dawned on me that I shoudl do that thismorning. I am using coop donated money and for sure I donot want to see one penny misappropriated.

Lou is here with a bunch of guys and he was good as his word and brought down a ton of fishing stuff for the Sunday donation sale !!!  I am thrilled. What a blessing.  I have also hired a girl - Juanchys daughter - to work the day ... she has signs of epilepsy and they won't let her go to school any more...this way, she can earn a little money and hopefully have fun at the same time. She hasn't been studying English with me long enough to practice - next year she will though !!

The house is full = 5 fishermen !!  They are all nice.  It is fun to have interesting people here.