NIGHT VISITOR

Trash collection is one of the most disgusting aspects of living in Puerto Vallarta.  There are very few trash receptacles (no Dempsey Dumpers) .  Every block has one designated corner where trash is left.  Most people are good about leaving the trash in plastic bags, but not always sealed.  Some people just drop trash and garbage at the corner.  Luckily my designated corner is at the other end of the block.  It really stinks, probably because of the fish restaurant below me.  To make matter worse scavengers (human and otherwise) dig through the trash to see what they can find of value, leaving an even greater mess.

One night before going to bed, I had carefully tied up a plastic bag of trash and left it at the top of the stairs intending to carry it down in the morning.  I had eaten "take out" ribs from my favorite bar and that morning had finished off the bacon with my breakfast.  The next morning I noticed little pieces of plastic scattered about the floor.   Then I noticed a hole had been torn in the bag.  RATS ! I thought.  The night had been very hot so I had left the window in the guest bedroom open in order to catch any breath of fresh air we had that night (I do not like to leave the A/C on all night long).  I was hoping that the critter had entered through the window and had not been living here all the time.  I have never found any little "droppings" indicating the presence of rodents, nor had I ever seen one (dead or alive) since I moved here two years ago.  This had puzzled me because of the trash at every cornier and the fact that we live in the middle of a dense jungle.

I headed for Guadalajara Pharmacy as they carry a little of everything. They did not have the  poison pellets I was looking for.  They had the old fashioned spring traps, but I have always been afraid of them.  What if the trap caught the rat, but did not kill him?  The other choice was a pan of glue that presumably the rat would walk over and get stuck.  But he would still be alive!  I could not handle that.  I was told that I could buy the poison I wanted at Walmart.  I had already started a Walmart list (I can't do anything without a list). and decided to make that trip the following day.

That night I got up in the middle of the night (old people do this a lot) and as I headed toward the kitchen for a milk and some cookies. Suddenly a black beast leaped off the counter.  First the critter ran up the stairs to the deck door and finding it locked, headed down two flights to the front door.  It too was closed (obviously he had been here before and knew the layout of the house).  .  By this time I realized it was a large black cat.  About the same instant he must have recovered his wits and remembered that he entered through the bedroom window and leaped out.

I was happy to learn that my "night visitor" was feline instead of some rodent.  I was also happy that I was did not purchase any kind of rat trap.  Can you imagine the caterwauling if he had gotten his paw caught in one?  He also would not have been able to get through the bars in the window with the trap attached to his paw.  It would have been awful.  This may also explain the lack of rodents here.  Too many hungry felines roaming about.  I went back to Guadalajara Pharmacy but this time to buy cat food (yes I am a sucker for stray pets).  That night I put the food under the open window.

It was still there the following morning.  Perhaps I scared him more than he sacred me.  Or, perhaps he prefers garbage to processed cat food.  I decided to put  some on the roof.  If he was clever enough to get in the window, he should be able to figure out how to get on the roof.  It too remained uneaten.  Of course if it had been gone, I would have never known what might that eaten it.  Will I ever see "kitty" again?  Stay tuned!  Obviously, there is no photo of kitty.

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MORNING INTERRUPTED, BAD NEW FOR P.V.

It was a lovely cool morning.  I was up early and having my first coffee and cigarette on my balcony.  I was thinking how quiet and peaceful it was here.  No buses, no bus drivers shouting at each other, no drunks, and very few cars at that hour.  I was very happy and at peace and suddenly there was a huge boom.  It sounded like a cannon blast.  Which is quite possible here as every church has a cannon for special occasions (more noise!).  Then huge billows of very black smoke started coming up just a half block away.  More smaller explosions, and it looked like it was coming from the Pharmacy Guadalajara.  The black smoke went on for at least half an hour and I could see flames shooting up that were burning the cables and wires (another reason they should be underground).

I took a few photos, but did not go down to actually photograph the blaze, thinking it was just a store on fire. Little explosions followed like fire crackers.  Then the federalis arrived.  They blocked off the street from cars and pedestrians (probably to prevent anyone from taking pictures).   You may be able to see that one of them is wearing a black terrorist mask.  Some wear those so not to be identified by the "bad guys"  (Mexico is a strange place).   I was going to make my breakfast when I discovered that there were no eggs.  Had the explosion happened an hour later I would have been at the Pharmacy Guadalajara buying milk and eggs.  I decided to go to my favorite coffee shop and have breakfast there.  You can always get the latest news and gossip there (lots of gossip here).

It was then that I found out that V. Carranza was also closed to traffic.  It is the street that comes out from the tunnel and Insurgentes (where the "accident" happened) was also closed which is the end of Highway 200.  This caused an enormous traffic jam with a lot of buses and traffic going down my street.  On the way I passed Clarisse (who helped me with the last of the move).     She had been a half block away and was a witness to the whole event.

She heard the explosion and saw the buring SUV run into a taxi in front of the pharmacy.  She ran over to help (Yes, she is the kind of person who runs toward an explosion, not away from it)  She found a man lying in the parking lot.  He was the taxi driver who happened to have stepped out of his taxi.  He was okay, but very shaken.  She took him inside.  Then all the ammunition in the SUV started exploding.  She then decided the place was not save and dragged the taxi driver out, just as his taxi blew up.  Gasoline was burning all over the street.  They say a car was following the SUV through the tunnel and when they caught up with it threw two grenades at it, and sped off.

The local papers will never tell us what really happened (if they even know).    Rumors are rampant.  The next day the papers said that the driver of the SUV was the Commissioner of Security (obviously not very good at it).  Two bystanders who were across the street were injured by flying shrapnel and of course the driver was killed (not nearly as bad as Colorado a few months ago).  They found the car that threw the grenade within a few blocks from here, but will never know who drove the car or exactly why he killed the commissioner. 

Yes, yes, I know exactly what you are thinking.  Bad things do happen here.  But I still say that the most dangerous thing I will ever do is to drive on the L.A. freeways.  Besides where can you get this kind of excitement?   How many of you have lived a half block from and exploding SUV full of ammunition??  Also included is a photo of what the sunrise looks like from my deck so you can see what a lovely peaceful morning it started out to be and why I still love it here.

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WORK WORK WORK

You could not tell from the previous photos just how much work had to be done to make it liveable (well, for me).  It was my idea to replace the tile, sink and faucet.  It was also my idea to add the roof to the deck and paint.  What I did not know is that the bathroom fan did not work, the lighting was woefully inadequate in the kitchen.  I knew the water pressure was not good, but since there was no shower head, I did not know that the shower was only a trickle.  On the deck there is almost no pressure.  I was told by Saul (the maintenance man who has done most of the work for me)  that the pressure valve was stolen three years ago and everyone complains, but the owner would not pay for it.  The gas tank was empty, when I had it filled we discovered that the gas pipes for the dryer, stove, and hot water not only had no turn offs, but no caps.  The gas had to be shut off.  Oh, and the toilet did not properly flush.

For over a month I worked here from 9:00 until 6:00 every single day.  I stopped my Spanish lessons and have not been to the gym in a month.  I do still play bridge every Thursday afternoon (no way to get out of the tournament).  I did find a very good helper and actually let him do some of the painting.  He is almost as careful as I am.  He is a very hard worker (no lifting or floors) but he started arriving late and leaving early.    I told him I would switch to paying him for half a day and that corrected that flaw.  Painting also requires patching all the holes left in the walls and smoothing out where they run wiring.  They just chisel out a trench in the concrete wall for wiring.  There was also no lighting when you got to the deck.  I had him add two lights with a switch at the top of the stairs.  It all looks very professional until you peak around the wall and discover that it is really just lamp cord running around the building.  It is the way things are done here.

I used the same tile man who does a good job and at a very fair in price.  Did I tell you that the hand made tiles cost 43 cents a piece?  The tile man underestimated the number and I was two boxes short.  They had to make them, so that delayed the finish for a week.  Also he discovered that there was a fake plaster board wall above the stove (who knows why).  It had to be ripped out and a concrete wall was added.  When they slap the mud at the wall it spatters all over the room.  Of course I had already finished painting.  I made sure that I bought a double sink the same size as the single sink that was there  When the old sink was pulled out we discovered that under the flat part of the sink was four inches of concrete and re-bar.  It all had to be chiseled out.  I  bought some special tiles of fruit in green yellow and orange (my colors again).  He installed the row too high so when I added the shelving it partially hides the tiles.  No kitchen has over counter cabinets so you have to improvise.  I bought a Mexican chest for the bedroom but decided to place in the kitchen under the staircase.  It works perfectly and even had 4 drawers.  There is not one drawer in the kitchen.

The biggest shocker came when the washer and dryer arrived.  I knew the front door was narrow, so I was sure not to buy anything that would not go through it.  Well, actually the bed frame had to be hoisted up to the first floor.  Then we discovered that the door to the deck did not open enough for either appliance.  It is blocked by a brick overhang on the balcony railing.  Both had to be hoisted up two floors.  My balcony hangs over the sidewalk so that meant they would be raised above the street and any cars on it. (you can see the cars under the hoisted dryer in the photo).

The day the two guys arrived to hoist the appliances up, there were two cars parked directly under where they were going to pull them up.  I asked everyone on the street who owned the cars, but no one knew or cared.  I watched from across the street and knew that if one fell, I would have to leave Mexico.  I can not even imagine the damage that would occur.  But of course it went off without a hitch.  When my equipauli (pig skin) table arrived, it too would not go up the staircase.  Having seen two guy raise a heavy dryer up, I knew the table would be a piece of cake so the maintenance man and myself did it.  Apparently this is quite a common occurrence in Mexico.

The new place is much smaller so trying to place everything was a problem too.  Every little Mexican treasure I bought was for a specific place.  Now, many will wind up on the roof top garden (that is what I call it now).  All this has taken me a month to complete and I have spent a fortune.  The rent is much less than what I was paying so, if I can stay there for several years, it will balance out.  I think I will like it, especially the roof top garden (I must buy more pots and plants).  Did I mention that the church bell tower is across the street?  Having lived a block away, I knew about the ringing of the bells (22 to 26 times) but had no idea what a difference being just a few yards away would make.  The noise is truly deafening, but it is mainly just on Sunday, and special occasions (which Mexico has a lot of)  and I do get up early.

I think I have mentioned before how often the Mexicans try to rip off foreigners and this move was no exception.  Prices automatically go up, when they see white skin, so I thought it was important to tell you a good story.   I had priced mattresses in several stores and found they ran from 5,000 to 7,000 pesos.  I was told about a sort of mattress outlet store.  After trying out several I settled on one for 3,500 pesos and thought I got it for a good price (especially since delivery the same day was included).  When I went to pay for it the girl said,  "Oh, cash!  you get a 500 pesos discount"  I would never have known, so there are some nice honest Mexicans here.

Now I am actually living in the new apartment.  It will take a while to get everything in order and put away and I still have to buy living room furniture.  I would like a royal blue sofa on one wall and two chairs and a lamp table on the other.  I also hope to buy a bedroom chest at an estate sale next week.  All this will take a while to complete, but at the moment I need rest.  Even after 8 or 9 hours sleep I awake exhausted.  I really think I am now too old to every move again.  Let's hope I like it here and the landlady lets me stay.  I was telling my cousin how difficult this move was for me and she said that when she moved from her home to a retirement home: she hired a company that came in looked how she had everything, packed it up, moved and when she arrived that night everything had been put away exactly the same.  I told her that "if" such a company existed in Mexico they would STEAL everything. 


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