30March chilaquiles – Green & Rosse
This was another friend recommendation – and very good! It is located on A. Obregon and looks out over the Malecón. The location is both amazing and expen$ive. The chilaquiles, while delicious were about 50% more expensive than any of the other places I’ve tried. That said, the chips were crispy and cut to be bite-sized! Very helpful with a saucy dish like this. The sauce was a mildly spicy chipotle salsa, and it was served with 2 POACHED eggs,…
23March chilaquiles – Ocean Café & a surprise
On the recommendation of a friend, I went to Ocean Café on Agustin Arriola this morning for the “Chilaquiles Quest”. I was a little later than usual leaving today, but it turned out to be for the best. The classic car club had a first day of spring parade along the Malecón today. The one that got me to stop and pay attention was the Mystery Machine. All the owners/drivers were so happy to have people taking pictures of their…
Sunday – not-so-funday
Since the Basha died, Sundays are really hard for me. It had been our 15+ year tradition that Sundays were for jazz, mimosas, and brunch. Sometimes we went out (more when we were back in the States), but over the last 4 years, he made bacon, and I made GF, sourdough, blueberry pancakes. YUM!! Since his death, the habits of Sundays have disappeared. The day becomes chaotic and sad. My answer for this dilemma (for now) is that Sunday is…
Registro Civil and a Catch-22
It took 3 weeks for me to gather all the needed documents for the Registro Civil (equivalent to the County Clerk’s office). On 11Feb (23 days since the Basha’s death) with the documents (birth certificates and marriage license) and the CERTIFIED translations of all of them. They reviewed the documents and told me that all of the documents had to apostilled (certified as legitimate in the US) before they could be accepted. This is a problem. A good friend talked…
Death in a Foreign Language – Day 2
The Basha died on a Sunday. So the following day, Monday, my friends and I met Eva from the funeral home at the government buildings to wade through the paperwork. I was numb, and had forgotten virtually all the Spanish I’d ever learned, so having friends to guide me, and translate for me, was necessary and amazing. We went to the first office, and were told by the receptionist to leave our documents (birth certificates, marriage license) and go to…
Death in a foreign language – Day 1
A.K.A. Bureaucracy BLOWS Government paperwork is horrible, no matter how you look at it. In another language, the paperwork, processes, and expectations take on GARGANTUAN proportions. Unlike any deaths that I have been touched by in the United States, the Mexican process *could* be considered swift and organized. However as the person who has just lost the love of their life, and can barely speak English through the grief, it was a nightmare-ish vortex. Thank goodness for the friends, community,…
Sticky Nights & Birthdays
It is not what you think! It gets VERY hot and sweaty here in the summertime. The “snowbirds” go back north, and in the height of the heat, even Mexican nationals do not come in large numbers. So to draw a crowd, and to keep the “summer survivors” happy the municipality hosts monthly FREE open air concerts at the Kiosco on the Malecon. These evenings are called “Noches Pegajosas” or “Sticky Nights”. We have had some amazing Mexican and American…
Living in Paradise
People frequently tell me how lucky I am to live in Paradise. And I agree – don’t get me wrong. Yet every paradise has a bit of purgatory in it. It is an unavoidable fact. Not EVERYTHING is perfect ALL the time. It is early September and we are in “second summer” (my term). First summer is May to mid-July and is much like the summers that I experienced when I lived in the US. Sunny, breezy, temps in the…
Summer in the (near) tropics
Living in the sunny climes of BCS is a dream – most of the time. The occasional hurricane – Hillary was our latest, and she didn’t produce much – and the monsoon-type rains and 100+ degree temps are the “dark side” to living here. We are mostly protected, and don’t get the brunt of most storms, but we still get our fair share, and the infrastructure isn’t built for large quantities of rain. WHY? – you ask. Don’t these sorts…
With a vengeance!
Summer has arrived – in FORCE!! The temperatures are up in the “warning” levels, the humidity is already here, and the first TWO named Pacific hurricanes are headed this way. Welcome to a climate change, el Niño, living in a desert summer! Seeing is believing! We won’t see any evening temps below the mid-seventies for the foreseeable future. The thunderstorms are the potential remnants of Hurricane Adrian. The next one, Beatriz, seems to be losing steam and may not give…