Fotos of the Digs

A couple other bloggers have been posting fotos of their houses and suggesting we do the same. Well why not. Don't know if it reveals much about that blogger unless it's how organized they are or if they cleaned up just for the fotos which I did not.   I took some fotos of the bedrooms and "living" but I need to figure out low light and this camera without a flash.

First is the kitchen which some may have seen on my house building blog Kitchen Cabinets.  I said those cabinets would keep things off the counter but it doesn't seem to work that way here. I plan to build shelves under the counters and hang colorful curtains in front but the logistics of  how to do it has escaped me.  I'm definitely not going to have custom cabinets built. Could also use a larger fridge - some day!

The other is the bodega which happens to be full of my Canadian neighbors stuff.   Their house was broken into while they are up north and neighbors and I filled a pickup and bought it over here after we found the broken door lock.   Also kiddie pool, lots of lumber, beach toys ... and all the stuff I've accumulated from construction and maintenance. Also a favorite hiding place for my dog when the fireworks are going off.

Fiesta ends with a bang

Monday night was the grand finale of Pinal Villa's annual fiesta - Nuesta Senora del Rosario Colonia Pinal Villa. It's been a fun and interesting 7 days with dancers, parades and fireworks (cojetes). Groups of dancers from local communities would converge on our little church almost every evening about 7PM to be blessed by the Padre.

Sunday had a lot of activity, food and fun for the kids ... but Monday was the big one. A Banda Band, lip-sinking drag queen doing Jenni Rivera and finally a very talented pre-teen boy with a great voice. Of course the finale was the Castillo. I left before the Toritos showed up and I hear they were pretty crazy. End of a great party.

The carnival 

Castillo

Finale

Rio o Mar

Yesterday was a water day so the idea was to try Arroyo Seco just past Aguacate. The arroyo is dry most of the year but we are still getting run off from recent rains. Hugo works on Playa de Cocos and said there were a lot of people enjoying the "river" on Friday. The turn off is on the Aguacate side of the bridge.

Very attractive setting and we were early enough to find a shade tree for the car. Problem is there is no shade down by the river. The water was clean and clear, shallow for the kids .... but it was warm and not refreshing. We had fun for about a half hour and decided we couldn't spend the day there so we headed for the beach.

Back to our usual beach destination of Sirenitas on the west end of Melaque. The ocean water was cooler than the river which is probably unusual. Broke out the ceviche of caracol, beers and Coke and had a great afternoon on the beach.

Looking up river

Bring or build your own shade

Mom and the kids

More refreshing on the beach

Higuerilla or Castor plant

Ever wonder what that large leaved, purple tinted and attractive weed is that grows along highways and waterways on many flatter areas in Mexico. Well, I didn't either until I ran into a video about the poisonous Castor plant growing wild near Puerto Vallarta.  We have lots growing around Melaque.

Roadside Higuerilla

While eating raw parts of the plant is dangerous and possible fatal to humans and range animals ... the processing of Castor or Higuerilla puts it in the almost miracle plant category. After all, where does Castor Oil come from.

In traditional Mexican medicine, the leaves are used in poultices placed on the chest for congestion, cough, or fever, or on the abdomen to treat an acute intestinal distress known as "empacho". The leaves are used on anything that "hurts", that is, swollen joints, bruises, boils, neuralgia, abscesses, as well as for colds and fever. The oil of the bean has been used medicinally and for lubrication for possibly 1000's of years. The stalks are used for paper making.

The latest in Mexico is the interest in Castor oil and the production of Bio-Fuels and Biodiesel. The video explains the characteristics of the castor, their advantages and yields for the production of biodiesel in Mexico, thanks to research conducted by INIFAP.

The Internet Withdrawals

Been a long time since I've had them and this was both a good and bad experience.    Good to get away and bad dealing with the frustration of trying to solve the problem.   My large external drive died a few months ago and I don't have a USB stick large enough to copy half my computer to.  Couldn't find a large USB stick in Melaque so I had to rely on some local computer techs.

Without the computer I didn't have the number of the local preferred tech so went to one that I'd gone to years ago thinking they could figure it out quickly.    First they said a virus and then a hard disk error.  Could have been a combination of both.   So for 5 days it was manana after manana with little progress.   5 days to do what I could have done in one.   I just had no way to back up files. It did require a reformat and install but that's not a real big deal.   Lost a few programs but can get most back .... and lost all this years photos.   These guys are in the Internet Cafe at the end of taco row and I suggest you stay away even if the other techs are harder to find.

So I'm back with hopefully no more problems, thinking of backup solutions and up to our necks in water.   Been a very wet summer.

I forgot to add that thanks to Google Chome as a browser ... all my lost "Favorites" and passwords were recovered.   Favorites are super simple to copy and these techs didn't bother.