It's Labor Day in the US, but work here goes on as usual. I operate in Mexico time, which means there are fews days off. I think Mexican Independence Day is coming up soon. Lots of red, white and green flags around. But I doubt we'll get time off. SF Productions operates on its own sweatshop schedule...
Yesterday, Israel and I went to Mislamoya Beach, the famous beach where Eva Gardner filmed a steamy scene with two Mexican beach boys in "Night of the Iguana." It's a gorgeous beach, but you wouldn't recognize it from its movie heyday. There's a big hotel and some beach restaurants and condo highrises. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful beach and the water is clean and deep blue. The wave action is pretty dramatic and you get thrown around a lot if you try to sit at the water's edge. We took Bo, and set up our folding chairs under the palapas on a terrace above the crashing waves. Very few people around. Bo had a good time romping in the waves and running up and down the beach until some security guy with nothing else to do told us that the dog was keeping people away from the beach. Yeah. Right. Swine Flu is what's keeping people away from the beach. Hotels right now are at 10 percent occupancy...
We ate chicken that we brought with us, and snacked on bananas and pineapple juice. We jumped in the water a couple of times to cool down. At one point, I was trying to make my way out of the water, but couldn't get my footing. The violent waves kept knocking me down and spinning me around. Waves would go over my head and push me down and I'd bob back up unable to stand, even though I wasn't more than three feet from the sand. Israel was picking up sea glass and couldn't hear me calling to him. But Bo knew something was wrong. He finally barked to get Israel's attention. My little doggie knew I was in distress. As we made our way back to the car, Bo stopped directly in front of that security guard and peed on a pile of rope. What a dog! Even the security guard laughed...
I've been a tad depressed. I missed an opportunity to get together with some American acquaintances simply because of the confusing phone situation in Mexico. You never know what prefixes to use and half the time you get recordings in Spanish...anyway, I missed a sailboating opportunity and a much needed social connection with my own countrymen...I woke up this morning near tears. I may go to Sayulita this coming weekend. It's a little town about an hour away that's mostly American...I hear it's very pretty, too. Maybe I can make a friend or two.
Tonight I took Bo for his evening constitutional to the neighborhood beach just minutes from my house. The Beast bumped over the potholes and topes through the neighborhood. We always move at a crawl to avoid all the kids and families filling the dusty streets. There were dads carrying babies and balancing children on bicycle handle bars. My neighbor roasted corn for his brood on a makeshift fire by his front door. Mexicans sure do love their kids. The street is basically just an extension of people's homes. Kids now wave at me from windows and balconies. We made it to the beach as the sun was setting and noted a couple of fat mama crabs about to lay eggs or micro-crabs or whatever it is they give birth to...Bo knows to keep his distance.
Speaking of Israel, he has a hard time pronouncing the name "Bo." It tends to come out "Bawb." When he calls him, it's a hilarious Ricky Ricardo-sounding "Bawb! Beh! Bing!" or "Beb! Bawb! Bub!" or some combination thereof...
A funny thing happened on Friday night. Normally, I don't feel any fear in this neighborhood, day or night. But on Friday night, the sky was inky black and the air was just thick with bad ju-ju. As Israel and I walked Bo, that mean Rottweiler on the corner attacked him. Bo wasn't hurt, but we made a beeline in the opposite direction. There were surly looking teenagers, the smell of beer in the air and dogs lurking in the shadows...we were trying to find our favorite little Mexican kitchen, but we got confused in the narrow alleys and just couldn't find it. We went home hungry, relieved to be back at Edificio Brando...
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