After the rain...........

I know some of you reading this may well be experiencing a different climate and in the UK it has been colder than normal but last night we had some rain..........about a thimble full.....maybe six drops and today the temperature has become crazy. We can usually keep the internal temperature to about 30 C with windows doors and curtains closed but it has just hot 34C which is 93.2F !!! It is unbearable and have had to put the aircon on...........I don't expect sympathy!!

Had an interesting week, fiesta is over..........it just proved to be busy, noisy and nothing very interesting. The Mexican people are lovely but they are not the worlds best singers!! Town is getting back to normal and parking is becoming possible again. 

We continue to make connections with people, Jose in the local garage who helped us get the aircon sorted. That was a mega trip to Tepic -found the air con place but finding the Ford dealer for the part was a whole other story....in the end got a taxi!! Each ride is 30 pesos ( £1.50p). But it wasn't a problem with the gas in the aircon system it was a valve on the water pump..........but now it works every time you switch it on. The part was £50  and the labour 200 pesos (£ 10 ) and it was done on the day with no booking!! When it got boiling hot in Tepic we went to Liverpool -the air conditioned shopping mall.

Before we left home I developed a problem with an infected gum and wanted it checking out...with X ray if necessary. The SAMAO dentists don't have it. Lulu our doctor gave us details of Carlos in Tepic 

 and we saw him on Thursday. Lovely man and he said everything looked fine and all I needed was a scale and polish. Chris needed his international root canal finishing and had lost some filling from his front tooth . ( The root canal started in Spain, then some treatment in England, then more in Spain and to be completed...........here in Mexico). Carlos said Chris needed two crowns to sort his front teeth and then the last bit of the root canal........8,000 pesos..........£400 . 

Probably about a quarter what it would cost at home. Luckily Carlos has a surgery in SAMAO so we went there this morning. I'm all sorted and Chris needs 4-5 visits. He was there 2 hours today having his front teeth filed.he had a massage first think it would have been better afterwards.

We've had 2 trips to the beach...see photos.........the one of the birds on the post is a group of pelicans. When some flew over the beach Chris said "wonder what you call a group of pelicans?" I answered a crossing!! The answer is a schlop.........huh not as funny!!

We have a 2 week holiday from our house sit and plan to go to the Nayarit coast to chill by a pool. No dogs, cats or gardening or housework.  On 13th May we went to the nearest beach , Chacala, which was okay for a day visit but not good to stay. Lovely white sand , quite strong waves lovely pallapas on the beach and we had fish..and finally I had tequila . Mango margueritas-they were lovely. 

It will be mango season soon and the trees are full everywhere...........I love them but maybe after 2-3 weeks I will get fed up?? 

Our second trip to the beach was to San Blas, small town with a crazy one way system, lovely beach and we had BBQ fresh fish to die for!!! There is a lovely old colonial hotel which looks good for the last 2-3 days of our holiday. We plan to go to Puerto Vallarta for one week..........its a big touristy resort ...aimed at the Americans...plenty of choice of hotels and it has scuba diving for Chris.We want a nice room or suite and a pool to laze beside.

Both of our trips to the beach were to avoid crazy days at the laguna.......at the weekend people come to stay from the cities but last 2 weekends has been crazy due to the motorcross and other fiesta events. We get used to the tranquillity in the week and resent Saturday night when it is full!!

We are also getting used to the fact that as soon as some Mexicans hear us speaking English they want to tell us about the time they spent in the USA. Its lovely and many of them say they enjoy speaking English........part of me doesn't have the heart to tell them it is English but not as we know it!! 

My sessions at kinder are going well, I think, I spend about 30 minutes doing an activity and getting them to practise English, and then spend time with Edith, the teacher, on whatever she is teaching them . This is great for my Spanish. We have even bought a Mexican SIM or CHIP as they call it......which is fine until you try and listen to your voice mail and there is a woman giving instructions speaking a hundred miles an hour. 

I met an American man on Sunday who wants to speak English with us and Chris is  hoping that he might do some Spanish tuition with him. There is a lovely couple Jorge and Julia who live directly across the lake and he would be good too but they are only here alternate months.they have a house in Mexico City.........I know where i would rather be.

On Sunday I try to go to mass in the local church and it is relatively okay but this week he didn't keep to the service order you get and the sermon was not one I understood but we had a band singing  .......I think i could join as I am no worse than they were-although people who know me might disagree!!

Chris is pottering in the kitchen he is making pork stir fry and noodles........we don't cook too often( too hot) so have lots of salad but tonight fancied something a bit different. There is a limited range of foods available so you just have to cook with whatever there is, but the market was on today and we had fresh mushrooms.

The upside of this weather is you can do a load of washing and it is dry in half an hour!! The rainy season is looming and the temperatures will go down a bit but then the humidity will go up as well.

Well that's about it for this week-best wishes wherever you are.

Norma xx