The wierd things some Mexicans eat. . .

I have been having conversations lately(my curiosity gets the best of me) asking what kind of exotic meats people have eaten around here and other parts of Mexico. You best not read this blog if you get quisy easily. Here is a list of some of the things that I have been told that are pretty good. Iguana, turtle eggs, snake, cat, dog, armadillo, various birds, rabbit and octopus.
One gentleman, a recent acquantance from Mexico City just moved here, said after his morning jog he likes to eat 2 eggs(raw) mixed in with a beer and a little hot sauce. YUCK!! He said he used to eat turtle eggs that way but they are too hard to get anymore. (And illegal I might add-from what I´ve read)
OK that is all from the wierd files of the edible things here. I am off to eat some cooked flank of cow braised in salsa and wrapped in a flour tortilla, covered with cheese. (Maybe that sounds just as gross to some people. )

Anything for money!!

Here it is amazing what people will do for money. I have seen people just begging on the street for it.(Not so amazing) People shine your shoes at the corners, children sell gum here as young as 3 years old, Mexicans of Indian decent(almost all of them) sell trnikets with beads and handmade things in parking lots of stores, and people sell papers and wash your windows in traffic intersections. Lately though there has been a ration of people that have a baton type stick and they light both ends on fire and juggle it in the intersection while the light is red and then go around to the cars afterwards and collect money for doing it. It is cool to see, especially at night, but annoying as I hate people asking me for money. (when I want to give to charity or for a worthy cause I like to chose who I give to) Even so I have to give them kudos as juggling a lit stick in the middle of a hot asphalt street with 40 gas tanks around you is quite a ballsy thing to do.(or stupid thing depending on how you look at it. LOL!) I wonder what dangerous and eye pleasing thing they will come up with next to make a few pesos?? This world will Never stop amazing me. ;)

A dreary day. . .

As I sit here writing this and drinking my cafesito(thanks to Michael Dickson´s blog for this word) and watching the rain fall down I think I know how it feels to live in the Northwest. It has been cloudy and raining for the past 4 days. It is about 68 degrees here at 6:30am and all the locals are whining about the cold and have on their winter coats. (What babies - I am in short sleeves and shorts as are most of the other Gringos) It is a good day for watching movies and eating popcorn or reading a good book. As I watch the shivering Mexicans lining up for our coffee I am reminded of my snowy days in Colorado. I will enjoy this time though as I know the heat will return soon and I will be enjoying the beach again, Corona in hand. It is a nice change though. . . .

BIG NEWS!!!

Well we have some exciting news for you all. Leti is three months pregnant. We wanted to wait until the 3 month point to tell everyone because they say once you are past that point the danger of a miscarriage is a lot lower. She is due sometime around July and we do NOT plan to learn what the sex of the baby is ahead of time. We are VERY excited! I have to check on this but I have been told that the baby will have dual citizenship when it is born due to the fact that it has parents from 2 different countries.
Anyway that is all for today!! Talk to you soon!!

Nothing makes sense but it is headed in the right direction!!!

Some things about Mexico do not make sense to me. People here still burn thier trash. The other day I say a tire company burning tires and no one said a thing. They burn trash in big piles and sometimes very close to cars. This amazes me. It is a wonder more explosions don´t happen.
Another thing that amazes me is in a part of the country so beautiful that people just throw their trash out the window where ever they may be. They want to have a beautiful country but do not take the easiest step to fix it.
I´ve seen potholes here that could swallow a small car.
Also up until a few years ago(I understand) that most of Mexico to get a drivers licence all you had to do was show up at their equivelant of the DMV and pay your money. No written test and no driving test. But you would understand if you have ever been to Mexico and witnessed some of the driving. There are laws but you would not know it by watching a lot of the drivers here. They are horrible and act like they are on fire to get where they are going. Appearently a red light, to a lot of drivers here, means nothing. I´ve seen a LOT of people go right through them.
But on a good note. Mexico is headed the right direction. They have clean up programs for the trash. They have implemented testing for driving licences. They are trying to get their streets in better shape with better infastructure. Slowly but surely it is turning around. A lot of the people are resistant but that comes with the territory.

Insects in Mexico

I have seen some amazing things here in Mexico but one thing that still amazes me is the bugs. They have big bugs and small bugs here. Poisonous bugs and bugs that just hurt when they bite you. I have seen spiders as big as your fist(and killed a lot of them too) and ants that are barely visible(tens of thousands of them usually) If you leave any dish or glass out unwashed you will have literally hundreds of ants all over it within a couple of hours. It is a little creepy. I guess that is the way nature does it´s thing though. Waste not, want not. The scorpions and tarantulas make my skin crawl though. Luckily I have not seen too many of them. One good thing about the insects here are the butterflies. I have seen some of the most beautiful butterflies here. There are thousands of them too. Some as big as dollar bills. The colors on them are amazing. Brilliant yellows and deep blues. Ahhh God is good to give us so many beautiful creatures to look at. Now all I need is a hammock so I can watch the butterflies on my bouganvellia(sp?) while drinking my Corona in the shade.

Phone service

Today I went to TelMex the only Mexican phone company. (Ma Bell would be proud) I singed us up for a phone line. They say it will take 2 weeks for a tech to come out and install the line. I am a little more pesimistic having lived in Mexico now for a while. I think it will be more like a month or 2 but we will see. So to anyone who reads this and wants to call me soon you can at my own house!! No more waiting for calls at Letis Dads house.
Oh and we had the best time in Platinitos this weekend with Richard and Lindsey. They took us to a private beach and we swam in big waves and body surfed. We ate shrimp on the beach and drank rum and fresca.( trust me it is good!) We saw the whales shooting up thier puffs of water when they surface on the water. It was neat!!! Oh and we ate Kalua cheesecake for dessert both nights. YUM!!!!!(Not quite as good as anything Anna R. from DTV would have made but close.)

Not much new. Off to Platinitos again!!!

Not much new here. This week I hung about 400 blue Christmas lights on our back porch and a 2 1-2 foot paper machete toucan is now hanging there too. It is feeling pretty homey now in casa. We also bought some of the mexican glasses that you always see with the blue borders made of the thick glass and hand blown.
Oh and the whales are back in Bahia de Banderas now. We plan to take a boat out one day and get close to them near Guayabitos. You can get within 50 yards I am told. You can see them jumping in the bay if your timing is right they say. So far I have not seen that yet. We have been to the beach 3 times this week too. I{ll keep watching!
Well we are off this weekend for some well needed R&R in Platinitos with our friends Richard and Lindsey. Cheesecake, shrimp, beer and swimming. What a combo!!! Have a great weekend kiddies!!!

CIRCUS is in town!!!

Last night we went to the circus. It was a LOT of fun. I think I have not been to the circus in about 15 years or so. Cotton candy, popcorn, clowns and elephants. Every grown up should have this much fun daily!!! Although I did find the camels a bit scary. They were pretty wirey and almost out of control at times. The elephants and tigers were Oscars favorites. Oh and the chimpanzees!!

Happy New Years everyone!!!

Happy New Years. May 2007 be a prosperous one for you! Our New years celebration was a lot of fun. We spent the time with Leti´s family and ate til we were bursting our seams in our clothes. We watched the fireworks that were on the beach(every big hotel on the beach shot them off of thier roofs) We could see about 8 different displays from our vantage point. We arrived home around 4:30am. OUCH!!
Also for the New Year my neighbor gave me a 10 foot banana tree. Once my Key Lime tree arrives I can make Key Lime Pie with Banana smoothies for all of you!! Come on down.
Well, here is to a happy, prosperous new year to all my friends, family and dedicated readers of this blog!! Salud and Cheers!!!