To Market to Market...

The following are a series of pictures I took at our San Jose Organic Market last Saturday. The market takes place every Saturday just outside of town during the months of December thru May. Harry and I had not been to the market for several weeks and we could not believe how large and even more interesting it had become. The Gringos were out in full force on Saturday along with Mexican locals.

Miss Nora, husband Francisco and daughter Renata

It never fails but each time we go to the market we run into my teacher team-mate and dear friend from last year, Nora. Nora is still teaching at Mission. She and her husband were both attorneys who moved to Cabo from Mexico City. We try to stay connected to them by having dinner together every few weeks. I have missed working with her so much. She kept me sane at Mission in my darkest hours. Well let me re-phrase that: as sane as I can possibly be. Nora always apologizes for her English and I always remind her that her English is great and that she should take note that I do not attempt to speak in Spanish to her. We have had many a fascinating and brutally honest conversation about Mexican and American culture with Francisco and Nora over the past year. They have taught us so much!

Doreen at the Market

This is my friend Dorreen who makes quilts to sell at the market from a wide variety of fabrics she finds at a wide variety of places. Doreen is amazing in many ways, one of which being the fact that she almost lost her eyesight a few years ago because of undiagnosed glaucoma. Even though her eyes are not very good she continues to sew beautiful quilts.

Harry at the Market

Harry's favorite thing at the market are the fresh vegetable stalls. The produce is fresh, organic and amazing. You see things you would never see at Byerly's. There are also chickens, eggs and a wide assortment of other tasty delights.

Sopes at the Market

I do not personally know this woman but she makes a most extrordinary dish at the market every week called sopes. She heats up a corn tortilla type thing on a grill and piles on refried beans, cheese, lettuce and crema (mexican sour cream). It is heaven on earth! There are always people waiting for her to make one up fresh off the grill. I have tried to make them at home myself and they never taste like hers.

Samantha at the Market

Samantha has a small business making jams and jellies etc. which are sold at the market and in other shops around town. I asked Samantha a few months back, when we attended a Mexican Train dinner party at her house, just where she made all her wonderful concoctions, thinking she had a small factory somewhere in town. She looked shocked and told me everything she sold she made in her kitchen right where we were standing!

Liz at the Saturday Market

This is Liz, who I depend upon for wisdom and sage advice here in Cabo when I need it. (and I need it often) Liz sells organic herbs, flowers and tomato plants at the market. She does all her planting and growing in her small condo. Her balcony, with it's view of the mountains, the estuary, and the ocean looks like a miniature greenhouse.

east side girl now

I just got word on face book from Lexi's friend Jana that she and Alexis are in the process of signing the papers for their new apartment on Manhattan's upper east side. Lex is working tonight so I have not spoken to her as yet. I am so happy for her! (George Jefferson would be happy for her too!) Harry is threatening to go and visit again soon since their building has an elevator. It was tough for us old fogey types to climb those five flights to her apartment in Queens. The new apartment is just east of Central Park way up top on 110th street between 1st and 2nd avenues, bordering east Harlem.

I took this photo when Alexis was here last month. Looks like she was hoping for some good news to drop from the sky. Guess she got lucky, just like George Jefferson. I am happy she got her new apartment in the sky and finally perhaps a piece of the pie! Did I mention there is even a doorman?

At the dock

Eva did not like the glass bottom boat trip to Los Arcos at first, but when our boat driver started to feed the fish and birds tortillas she forgot her fear and really enjoyed seeing the all sights including the sea lions.

Los Arcos/Finisterra

I took this photo today on our boat trip. I never get tired at looking at these rocks, so if you are coming down to visit us seeing these rocks could definately be part of your itinerary!

A Wrinkle in Time

A group of 7th graders, fluent flyers as I call them, chose their new English novel today. The book they chose turned out to be the book my friend, Merrie Jean sent to us for our English lab. (she sent us a set of 13) Merrie Jean is the friend I have had longest in my life and this story, A Wrinkle in Time, was one of her childhood favorites. Our families moved next door to each other on Buchanan Street in northeast Minneapolis when we were both about two or three years old. Our friendship has never wavered or faltered, although sometimes a few years would go by without our staying in touch. Our families shared a phone line on Buchanan Street, called a party line in those days. One night my father was making a call to Santa Claus and Merrie's mom picked up the phone and overheard just how the girls in our household were measuring up. Merrie Jean moved away when she was eight or nine to the suburbs, but we continued to maintain our friendship. I fondly remember my overnights at her house in Minnetonka. "Stop giggling girls and go to sleep," her mom, Marilyn, would tell us. I, of course, lover of sleep, went to sleep but Merrie Jean pulled out her trusty flashlight and read into the wee hours. Merrie Jean introduced me to my ex-husband. She had been dating Jerry and one evening, when they had a date scheduled, she had fallen ill and she told him to call me and ask me to go to the concert at Northrup Auditorium. (The rest is history, but I forgave her years ago since I have the most wonderful daughter in the world because of that relationship) At the time, I remember being so glad just to have a date. We were both in each other's weddings back in 1971 and she and Carter will celebrate their 4oth wedding anniversary next year. I will never forget the comfort I felt when Merrie Jean walked in the door to my mother's wake, over ten years ago now. The year I left for Cabo, she invited me to her father's 90th birthday. I had not seen Will in a couple decades and I was sure he would not remember me. I approached Will and a smile lit up his face, "Jeannie" he cried and then I cried.

Merrie Jean also sent us a computer program for our bank of 5 computers which had no software. Patty is going to install the program Merrie Jean sent us tomorrow. Patty does not do school work of any kind at home, but she did take home the software Merrie Jean sent us and she was all a glow today telling me how wonderful the new software was. The miracles just keep a comin' here.

Harry finds a new student....

Harry tried to sneak in another student today at Arroyo Academy. but the puppy's mother showed up and took him home.

Arroyo Academy Week #3

Our Laguna Vista neighbors, Dallas and Steve, joined in this week to teach at Arroyo Academy. They are both former teachers from Idaho. Dallas bought us a set of tubs which she left on my doorstep this morning to organize the curriculum we have started to collect and she also bought some other great materials that we used today. The regular group of kids showed up in force and it seems as though we have a nice routine started. I think part of our popularity is that there is probably not much else to do in the arroyo on a Saturday morning, but none the less the kids do seem to enjoy the lessons. We are going to continue to try and recruit others here at Laguna Vista to teach with us as we continue to collect curriculum materials from wherever we can. The stuff I bought at the teacher store Bill took me to in Florida worked well today. I also bought a few books at the Barnes and Noble in Fort Myers that the Mirsky's found for me and my friend Linda from the states will bring or send us down some more books soon. As we were leaving for the school, a Laguna Vista resident stopped me in the parking lot and handed me a bag with some nice used clothing and shoes for the kids. She had heard about the school. Another nice surprise occurred at the end of the lessons today when one of the students stepped up to show us her completed homework we had given out in early December. Of course, I had a little prize ready for just such an occurrence should it occur. The little prize may mean more completed homework next week. All in all the day was full of wonderful surprises complete with a puppy!

back to our little town....

We got home yesterday with nary a hitch nor a bump. It is much warmer here than it was in Florida but at school today everyone was dressed in their winter woollies! I told the Caboites they did not know cold, as they told me to put on another layer. I explained I had spent two weeks in Florida so I knew what cold really was! Linda had sent me off from freezing Florida wearing her beautiful shawl and a zip up sweatshirt. It was great until I got off the plane. In other words, weather like everything else in life, is relative.

The view is from where we had dinner last night, our favorite Baja Brewery. We had our usual fish and chips with a pint of beer brewed on the spot. I never thought I would say this, but I really like a small town. In Florida we put on a lot of miles to get places and it is rather nice just to be able to walk into town or get to the grocery store in 4 minutes by car. I had missed the beautiful grocery and department stores in the states and enjoyed them so much in Florida. It was very fun to be back in my shopping comfort zone. Yes, once again, still ambivalent about much so in my life. Like Oprah always says, you can have everything in life that you want, just not all at the same time. DAMN!!!

the estuary fire

Liz had told me via email about the estuary fire while we were in Florida, but when I came home and saw for myself the burnt up view from our balcony, I was shocked. I took this picture tonight. Liz said the flames were shooting up over 30 feet for hours. The damage is so close to us I would have been terrified to watch it burn. My team mate Patty at Libertad said that many in the Mexican community here believe the fire was purposely set so that the new San Jose port development area can be expanded into the estuary. Today in the local newspaper I was reading about the damage the cruise ships are doing to the port area in Los Cabos. This place will be like many other areas of the world where irreparable damage is done to a very fragile eco-system. There will be no going back.

cold in Florida

This dog was wearing the right coat as the temps in Fort Myers were in the 50's. This dog was too big I guess to be in a stroller or a small car.

To shop or not to shop, that is the question....

A typical photo of Harry on a shopping trip anywhere in the world. This was a shopping trip we attempted in Fort Myers. It became clear to Marv and Linda that Harry is not good company on such a trip. I, of course, learned this years ago and always go shopping on my own. Nice try though, Marv and Linda.

Dogs rule in Florida...continued

Linda and Marv's Condo in Cape Coral