Mother's Day in La Bocana is TODAY

and look what my wonderful fantastic super husband got me ................

Dedicated to Juanchy's art

MOTHER'S DAY

I had a really nice day today ...we woke up at 7, turned the coffee on, I got pancake batter together and

Mom called on skype !!!  It is mothers day and it was so nice to talk to her .... wasnt too long of a conversation since at 7:30 on the dot, Edith and Valentin showed up. We ate and got on the road.  Destination: mountains nearby where there are fossilized seashells and shark teeth !!!!

A little less than an hour later, there we were. Right away Valentin found one !  I hunted and hunted and nada ... just some partials of caracols.  Valentin and Edith  found about 9 really nice shark teeth and even Les found a good one. It was great fun and incredible to imagine that what is now a mountain was a coral reef once ... bits and pieces of shells everywhere and all around it desert

Came home and started doing homework on the Copper Canyon !! We are going next week !!! Baja Nomads have been fantastic about giving very good advice

I am very very excited. It sounds like another TRIP OF A LIFETIME :))))))))))))))))))))))

also spent some time chatting with Lynn about her daughter coming in July. sounds like the best plan is to have her come on a private small jet. i do hope she brings a friend or 3. It will make all the difference inthe world. and the more people to help clean, the better !!!! My plan is to clean the road between punta abreojos and us again ... looks like this road littering will always be an issue .... it is filthy and such a shame, really, as it is the entrance to our village :(

I also got notes on FB from Marc and Rafa ... why they dont call is beyond me .... as if I were on another planet !!!!!!!!!!!!!

We also got ONE more uniform donation - Kari Nina :)  So, this one will go to Israel.  The uniforms have been ordered - we got enough for sending half the money and the order has already gone out  YAHOOOOOOOOOO

Now, think it can arrive early ??? In time for the race on the 23rd ???? doubt it but wouldnt that be so cool !!

this last one is the view from the mountain looking back ... not one shell - just a lot of dirt - we were lucky today - it was an unusually cool day and the sun was not scorching ... it was hot but not HOT HOT

May 8, 2010 Saturday

for pics today, you will be seeing some pretty houses, plants, yards in Bocana - random houses

baked a lot at the last minute yesterday - 3 cakes for Israel so that he can earn some money for the bike team uniform. Made him some pnut butter cookies too  - he made 150 pesos, this is a good start !  I made some lime mousse for us and started a banana tarte (didnt finish)

Yolie and I went around gathering supporters to finance the boys' team uniforms since we have to send the money off Tuesday ...  I managed to get almost 13 donated !!!  Which really leaves only 2 or 3 to go !!

first on the list was Cristian.  He stopped by to thank me today and actually shook my hand. the deal is that he has to stay at his uncle's house ... he cannot be rambling about la bocana like a lost soul. his uncle has been awesome about taking him on. amazing guy.  and it is his wife who is the blood relation to him - his wife and Cristians dad are brother and sister. i think.

so the first 2 unniforms were donated by Allen at UCSD. who was so kind and wrote to more people to see if they wanted to join the effort.

second to get a uniform was Nacho. i mean if carlos nacho andres and yolisbeth all belong to the team that makes 4 uniforms from one family!!  no one can do that much ...

then i got 2 uniforms from the coop for argenis and memo.  one from elias for his grandson. one from jose for ezekiel. one from joaquin/us/chuey for Leo, one from pablo for his son pablito, one from the segunda guy along with yolie and fredy for Yolisbeth, one from Dr romero for Nacho, whew.............hard work !!

Peter Vitek wrote and he is traveling the world - China, Spain, Turkey - with the company that makes all the commercials for formula 1.  He has met Massa and Shumaker and all the bigwigs. they are the same as he, he says, only MUCH richer.  no kidding !!  So, I asked him to ask Massa if he wants to help the kids in Bocana and I sent the link to our bike club and surf club web sites. you never know. i will not leave one stone unturned !!

May 7, 2010 TGIF

what a day yesterday ....after collecting all the trash from in front of where Nelo is building the 4 hotel rooms, his son told me that it was Andres's guys who made the mess. I will have a talk with Andres and maybe one day I will kidnap him and his family to come cleaning with me. You do it once in the intense desert sun ...and you will never litter again !!  it is very hard work.  And the desert is so incredibly beautiful without rash. what amazes me is that the plants, with a touch of water, flower immediately and most often the flowers are bright shocking red.  i guess this is nature getting the birds to come and spead the seeds. you cannot miss the bright red.

When i got home, i started the blog and soon Antonio came by (water truck driver). he told me he was having aproblem with the neighbor, her trash was not getting picked up because she hadn't paid and the toilet paper was flying into his yard.  so, i called the garbage money collecting lady who confirmed that Estela, whom i have not met, had not paid and owed 70 pesos. i told Gloria that i would pay, i would drop off the trash i had collected at the fron of la bocana there as well, and to please have the trash guys stop by in a while.

no one was home at estelas but the garbage boys tell me that she told them her paycheck is not enough. she hasnt paid for water either but she had some nice big plants in the front and they had been watered. no one answered and no one came home.  i am considering asking for a plant in exhcnge for paying the trash. waht do you think?  fair deal in my opinion !!  i will visit her today and see what we can do about an exchange

i did visit the vivero near our house and added 5 plants to my collection. one is called cat's paws. such a cute little plant.  project number 5,000 is to start a cactus/flower garden, where all the plants are catalogued and maybe charge $1 for people to see it. just another way to add to our kitty for town projects. the plants are quite varied and a lot of them are from deserts in brazil, south africa, argentina

my goal today is to manage to get 14 people to sponsor the kids uniforms !!!  I have written to many folks, $50 each and they will be so proud !!!  Allen at UCSD committed to 2 - he is really a good sport. Like I tell everyone, good good very good karma.

I almost forgot to mention ...yesterday,I also got called into the delegado's office - i guess he is upset - one of the trash guys had borrowed 200  pesos from me and never paid it back, i talked to his partner about it who mentioned it to the delegado. well, when the kid got demoted to sweeping sand off the streets, i think  this was the motive...then he asked to go to la paz for a couple days and the delegado got pissed off. so, i am pretty sure Gordo got fired yesterday. the delgado says he was taking drugs...i dont doubt it but what a shame ...really a shame ... BUT I got advised to never ever EVER gove any of the trash guys any money ... too bad, their loss, we had a good system going.  but the bottom line is, the main trash has already been collected. what we get now is bottles and plastic bags - abandoned stoves and sinks and fridges are pretty much a thing of the past.

so now La Bocana needs a sand sweeper, if anyone needs a job !!

May 6, 2010 Thurs

went out this morning to clean la bocana. looked for antonieta and linda but couldnt find them, so i went to the beginning of town to clean the huge lot in front of Nelos construction.

 this is what we started the other day - the bike club and I but there was a lot left to do. well, at 9 am it was boiling hot. nelos son, Beibe, came and helped. it is now spotless !!

5 de mayo

Bruce is leaving tomorrow and we are throwing a going away party today - lots of preparations ...deviled eggs, curry, chips with mango salsa n nacho cheese, cucumber salad and more !!!

see you at the end of 2010 !!!!!  for more sunsets on the porch :)))))))))))))))