Two Weeks In.....

Well, the last boxes are unpacked and the paintings are hung by the chimney with care.... Somehow, it does feel more like home when you look around and see the familiar drawings and photos.  This morning we went out for a walk and thought we could take you through the streets that we're walking and try to let you glimpse what our new reality is like.  It takes FOREVER for these photos to load so I limited the number.  We'll try to include some more with each post.  The large gates are the entrance to our house.   For those of you concerned with our safety (that is approximate 98.2% of you) you will be reassured by the fact that they are: 1) at least 12 feet high; 2) totally constructed of steel; 3)on the inside there is a 1 and 1/2 inch thick monkey bar you slide across the gates, a three bolt lock and a separate two pronged lock as well as two rods that sink into the driveway pavement about 4 inches.  They are not getting in that way unless we are stupid enough to open it up for them.

After the five minutes it takes us to unlock the gates, we emerge and are facing our favorite Tapas Bar which is a mere twenty five steps from the gate.  We went over there Thursday night to hear a recently made acquaintance (well aren't they all really?) play his uke and sing.  He actually is Hawaiian and clearly doesn't mind indulging in stereotypes.  He was pretty good.  I stupidly mentioned how I had liked The Descendants and he huffed that it was pretty representational but that the missionaries hadn't left them enough land to worry about.  Ah... the same politically insensitive Deirdre.

The next photo (I think) is walking down our street in the direction of the Plaza and The Lake Chapala Society.  No, no I had to chop that one -- you would have liked it.  Very pretty.  The next one IS the Lake Chapala Society main entrance.  I can't remember who knows what, so here is the short form.  For $35 a year you are a member of this ex pat society.  You get free health screenings -- Michael just had four pre cancerous skin things frozen off and now looks sort of leperous but they assure us he will be beautiful again soon --, blood pressure checks, eye checks etc.  They also offer Spanish lessons, and a billion other things like an English language library (quite good), video library, cafe etc.  Excellent place to meet people casually.  The second photo of the society shows the gardens which are about one and a half acres with places to sit, classrooms etc.  They were holding an Open Circle Meeting (cracked me up -- all you Schofield Mom's remember Open Circle to teach our little ones not to bully) which appears to be significantly to the left of the UUs if that is possible.

From the LCS we walked down the street until we hit the Lake.  At the lake is a pier and elevated (and we hope secured) upon the pilings is our favorite place to go on Sunday afternoons before dinner.  It is a bar (no, we are not ALWAYS in bars) but the clientele is very diverse which is unusual here.  The tendency is gringo place or mexican place but not so mixed.  Part of this is economic and part of it is just difference in taste.  But this place gets lots of Mexicans from Guadalajara who come down on the weekend.  They tend to be well heeled and are at ease with the gringos.  So, it is fun to go down and mingle for an hour or two.  We were also pleased to discover that it is 2 for 1 margaritas on Sunday afternoons.

This restaurant sits right where the Malecon begins.  The Malecon is new and runs for about a mile an a half along the lake (I'm guessing).  Michael and I walk there because it is one of the very few places that is not paved with cobblestones.  Cobblestones are unspeakable rustic and evocative but are killers when you are walking fast.  So, that's pretty much it for the little photo journey.

It seems like we have been here a lot longer than two weeks.  This is the quietest time of the year and we never seem to lack for stuff to do.  In the last post, I mentioned that we were invited to go to dinner on Monday night and it is kind of representative of how you meet people here.  There were about 8 other people at the table-- only one of whom we knew.  The one we knew taught in the Middle East for 20 years.  Met a gay couple who had both been married and each had several kids.  The one guy was a building contractor and the other an ex Marine drill instructor at Paris Island.  Another couple, I forget what the guy did but she had learned sensory integration therapy and instituted a program for native people in far north Alberta or Manitoba.  The others were also very interesting and diverse.  During dinner, Wes and Ron (gay guys) said they played a casual game of bridge at LCS and did we want to come.  After not playing for 30 years we went and it was fun.  Met more people at the Tapas Bar and Michael ended up joining one of them at the hiking club.  He was gone for over 3 hours and said it was "quite demanding" straight up the mountains in back of the lake.  The hike was led by a woman our age or older who had just returned from hiking Kilimanjaro.  Not everybody is wildly interesting but there seem to be a lot of people with interesting back stories here.

Alex and Justin are fine.  Alex has posted some new photos on Facebook and entries in his journal at White Blaze.  He is doing well and feeling great.  Just booked some tickets for Justin to come see us for a long weekend in mid-May.  Looking forward to that since we haven't seen him since Christmas.  Hope all is well with all of you.  Please try to post a comment or let me know if you have problems.  We reset it so hopefully you can comment easily now.