On the Edge of a Cyclone and Almost Legal

The gardener calls it a cyclone, but I think it's still classified as a tropical storm.  Looks like it went right over Matzalan last night, and we were just on the outskirts.  We got a nice rain last night and the wind really did kick up. There are always about four or five sailboats near the entrance to the harbor that just stay anchored there rather than pay for a berth in the marina..  Normally they have very calm water; last night we watched those masts sway like crazy.  Must have been a long night for those sailors.

No damage here in La Cruz, just a bunch of leaves in the pool.  The pool guy was here early today to clean it up.  And the clouds over the mountains made for a beautiful sunrise.

Sunrise from our Patio

I also walked down to the marina and took this picture.  It's quiet in the morning, although the pescaderas are there getting their stands ready for business once the fish start coming in.

When we crossed the border we only had a thirty day visa as we had started the process to become temporary Mexican residents while in Kansas City.  We started working on the remaining steps of the process about a week after we crossed the border.  So far this has gone very smoothly.  We submitted our paperwork and had a call last week to go to immigration to be fingerprinted.  Today, Matt got a call that his temporado card was ready to be picked up.  Mine didn't make it yet - hopefully tomorrow.  Being a temporary resident means we no longer need to leave Mexico every six months, and our car can stay in Mexico for up to four years without having to nationalize it.  So trips home will all be by air for the foreseeable future.  Plus when we fly into Mexico we can skip the long lines in immigration for aliens (which is where all the vacationing gringos go); we can go to the much shorter line for Mexican residents.

Saturday we tried once again to go to Puerta Vallarta.  Well, not much luck.  We can never find a place to park!  The first trip in to PV we did find a parking garage but we we passed it by looking for street parking  This time we decided we'd definitely park at the garage; but on this trip we couldn't find it  We decided next time we'll park at Costco and grab a cab into the city.  Should make for a much more relaxed visit.

Sunday was the first market day in La Cruz for this season.  Incredible!  200 merchants selling beautiful jewelry, leatherwork, pottery, glass works, baskets, breads, desserts and main courses to take home to enjoy later, and lots of food to nosh on while you shopped.  Plus our favorite restaurant had set up a bloody mary bar!   This will definitely be a regular Sunday event for us!

La Cruz Mercado

And we had our first run in this morning with law enforcement.  Matt has become just a bit too comfortable with driving between La Cruz and Nuevo Vallarta.  The speed limit is 60 kilometers, which I believe is about 40 miles per hour  Several times I've told him I thought he was driving too fast, but he'll just point out all the other drivers going faster than he is.  Well, that argument didn't fly with the policia who stopped us this morning.  He immediately asked Matt if he spoke Spanish, and probably was a good thing Matt can't.  He asked for Matt's license, and I believe he was telling us Matt was getting a citation and that he was going to keep Matt's license to ensure he appeared in court.  Matt kept pointing out all the other cars speeding by.  This didn't impress the officer at all; he kept repeating that the speed limit is "seisenta".  I tried to translate as best I could, but what I heard most was the officer telling Matt "no esta enojado conmigo!" which is "don't be made at me".  Somehow we got Matt's license back, no ticket and we didn't offer to pay a mordida or "the bite" which is a street side bribe to get out of a ticket.  And Matt's going to slow it down a bit

Now, the best thing that happened to me this week happened back in Chapala.  While I worked at the dog rescue last summer, a lot of those dogs worked there way into my heart.  But my favorite was Blackie.  Can't say he was the best looking dog there, he has this long black hair that seriously needed a good brushing.  I started taking him out of his pen so I could try and do something with that coat, after two days of brushing he looked much better - and that's when I discovered that "he" was a "she".  What kind of name is Blackie for a gal?  Turns out that wasn't really her name.  There had been another black dog in her run that moved on.  The dogs names are on their run and no one bothered to change it.  She had been in a good home and her name had been Pearl, but her owner died and she ended up at the ranch about two years ago.  I started a campaign to rename her, and I thought Lola was much more fitting than pitiful Pearl.  I decided that I was adopting Lola next April when we return to Chapala.  I just couldn't do it now while we're moving around so much;  When I was back in Chapala in October, Lola was in bad shape.  She'd had some sort of cyst that erupted and caused a huge open wound.  This was actually the second time she'd been through this.  Gudrun took Blackie to the best vet in Guadalajara and he operated and removed all the bad tissue.  Lola had a 14" scar.  If it came back again, the decision was she'd need to be put down.  I was at dinner with some of our Chapala friends and I was telling my friend Jan about Lola.  She and her husband Ron immediately offered to foster her if the wound healed.  They are an incredible, kind ane generous couple.  They have already adopted five or six dogs, two horses and I think a burro.  All were underfed and needed a good home; and now Lola is lucky enough to be with these sweethearts until I get back in April.  Here she is making herself at home on her first day!

Lola (on the right)