What's your sign?

In 2010 I volunteered as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language in Mexico. It was the first experience of teaching in a foreign country for both myself and my American teaching partner, Javan. Javan enjoyed photography, and particularly liked taking photos of signs in Spanglish (mixed up Spanish and English), or where the translation into English was just not quite right :)

Here's one I particularly like from our travels together. We were in Cuernavaca when this photo was taken, which I think is the reference to "Kuerna" you'll see below.

Listening to live music and eating gringas

Sunday we volunteered at the 3rd Annual Taste of Lo de Marcos. It was a kermes, which is a neighbourhood party to raise funds. A portion of the sales was divided between two organizations, both of which work on projects in the town and help the local people. There were various food and drink vendors, with all purchases done using Monopoly money. I was on cash, selling the funny money, and Greg was Señor Basura ... Mr. Garbage! He was also very social, making sure to chat with lots of people.

This certainly is not a one-horse town!

When I write a blog post, I usually decide on the title after I've written the content. Sometimes it's an easy choice, but other times I have to turn to Greg for help, and he's usually quite creative. Today I didn't need his help; the title came to me immediately. Lo de Marcos is certainly not a one-horse town. When checking on the term, I learned at one time it was often used in Wales, my native country. Amazing what I sometimes learn from doing this blog!

We have a few well-known horsemen - I'm not sure if they'd be called cowboys - living in this town. They do tours for tourists, but we also see them leisurely riding around town. Also, when we go to one of the popular bars here, we often see a horse patiently waiting outside, but not tied up at all. Well trained, I'd say.

Sights we just don't see in Canada

One of the joys of visiting another country is experiencing the difference in culture from our regular lifestyle back in Canada. I'll start with the one that shocked me the most.

Go ahead, take a closer look

Almost every day we spend time walking the streets of Lo de Marcos. Sometimes our progress is slow as we stop and chat to so many people we've come to know in just three weeks. One of the joys of small-town life in Mexico.

Today, however, I'll cover some things where we've stopped, not to chat with people, but to take a closer look. I'll start with our friend, Spot.

Chicks and kids that mooo-ve me!

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Albert Einstein 

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I told you about the butter and fresh pasteurized milk we buy at El Paraiso, which is just across the street from us. That store is operated by Lisa. Today our weekly farm tour took us to Granja El Paraiso (translates to Paradise Farm), which is operated by her husband, Mark.

This is for Greg, who misses raising chickens

Chilling out at the ocean

Today was both Valentine's Day and my birthday, so I decided I'd like us to go to a particular restaurant on the beach for lunch. I knew what I wanted to eat too, as they serve coconut shrimp. The fresh fish and seafood in this town is just delicious.

Treadless tracks on the beach

For my last few years of working, my job related to vehicle safety inspections for the provincial government in Canada. Perhaps that's why I often point out vehicles that would not pass a safety inspection. I must admit, I think the requirements here may be more lax than I'm used to. Take, for example, this vehicle we saw yesterday.

The many uses of sand, salt, ice ... and beet juice?

Inevitably when we travel south in search of a warmer climate, we can't help but watch the weather back home in Niagara Falls, Canada. Until a short while ago, it has been unseasonably warm there, but today was not the case. One of the newspaper headlines reports ...

Whiteouts are particularly dangerous because of the low visibility. A major highway was closed for a while in Niagara today to clear multiple crashes. I won't comment on some people's driving skills in such wintery conditions. 

Reflections on life in small-town Mexico

We've now lived in Lo de Marcos for a little over two weeks, and will be staying another month. On our journey from the airport, I asked our friend if there was much poverty here. It led to a discussion of the various viewpoints of what is poverty, and we discussed life in general here. It certainly wasn't a question she could answer with a simple "yes" or "no". I understand that more now, after living here for just two weeks. When I told this story to another friend, who had lived in Mexico in the past, she said "There is a richness in the Latino culture that our culture has lost." The "our" here refers to Canadians, and I couldn't have said it better myself. A wise observation.

Update: This sheep is carried everywhere with her -
and is no longer quite as clean - but is well-loved!

Where do you go in Mexico for drugs? Walmart, of course!

To my surprise, my husband Greg specifically asked me to write this post. He said it’s important that we tell this story so others can learn from it.

As we all know, when travelling it’s important to do a final check for the essentials: passport, money, medications. Greg always says if we’ve forgotten anything else, we can just buy it when we get there. Yesterday, as Greg went to fill his drug dispenser, he discovered he hadn’t packed his blood pressure pills. We hunted everywhere but they weren’t to be found.

Last night's view at supper at a beach restaurant. I just had to share it.

It's back to high school in Mexico for us!

I’ve previously mentioned the group, Friends of Lo de Marcos. This group consists of temporary residents, primarily from the USA and Canada, who spend all or part of the winter and spring here. They put time and effort into giving back to this community.

A small group of these volunteers go to the local high school twice a week, for one-hour sessions, helping the teachers with English pronunciation. The teachers teach English, but have no formal training. Oftentimes, some of their students are more advanced in English and actually help the teachers. Pronunciation is a challenge when you don’t have anyone to mirror. That’s where the native English speakers step in and work through the standardized textbooks with the teachers.

Greg and I met one of the volunteers, and as I am an English as a Second/Foreign language teacher, I was encouraged to join their sessions. Greg and I met with the principal, and he encouraged BOTH of us to participate. Greg now has three hours of teaching under his belt, and has done a great job!

A busy Sunday, Mexican style

My brother loved to travel - and travelled frequently - but unfortunately died too young. Greg and I have developed a tradition of lighting a candle in a church in any new place we visit, to somehow allow him to travel with us. Until recently, he shared that candle with my father, but in the past year we've added my mother and my brother's wife to that candle. It's a heavy load for one candle, but we like to keep them together. Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a church open outside of service hours, and also to find ones where you are able to light a candle.

This is the Catholic church in Lo de Marcos. Today I decided to go with our friend, for my first experience of a mass totally in Spanish. Of course, I also hoped to light a candle. Unfortunately I wasn't able to light a candle, but nevertheless I thought of them while I was there.

They shouldn't leave the bell rope out, as that really tempts Greg!

Death by coconut ~ the urban legend

Why did Honolulu put up this sign, you may wonder.

Our version of an old nursery rhyme

Thinking of the nursery rhyme "Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub; there was the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. In this story, the laundry lady takes the place of the candlestick maker. So, in that order ...

The butcher:

In this town, visitors are for the most part very friendly, and are happy to strike up a conversation. The usual "where are you from?" and "how long are you here?" is commonplace, and other discussions develop from there. Yesterday, in one such conversation, we were told we have to try the butcher on the main street, especially his bacon - which we were assured doesn't even shrink when you cook it - and also that the ground beef is amazing. Apparently this butcher still grinds your meat to order, with a hand grinder. That takes me back to my childhood days.

I'll have a tub of milk and a bag of eggs please!

The Mexicans living in Lo de Marcos are extremely warm and friendly to visitors here. Undoubtedly, the visitors help their economy, as the town is apparently very quiet once the winter residents leave at the end of the spring. Almost every person, no matter the age, greets us with a "buenos días" when we pass, and oftentimes are happy to try and talk with us.

Today we had the pleasure of getting to know two locals a little better. Nearby where we live, you'll find this storefront (near the corner of Luis Echeveria and Allende, for anyone living here).

From farm to table, Mexican style

Generally, our days here are unscheduled. After all, we’re retired and on vacation! However, today was an exception. We were scheduled to join the weekly farm walk, and to volunteer elsewhere in the afternoon. More about the volunteering in a later post.

The small town of Lo de Marcos arranges a variety of weekly walks and hikes for anyone who cares to show up, at no cost. Today was a walk to a local farm. It’s as much a social event as it is an exercise activity. It’s only our second walk, but it was good to see people we’d chatted with on our first walk.

This Ford will outlast any GM, but it won't get too far!

When we booked this trip we were well aware we would be staying in modest accommodations. What did surprise me, however, is the intricacy of the tiling in the bathroom. We daily shower with ...

a large mermaid (Greg loves that!)

a half-moon

and an Orca whale.

Most days we also pass a public display of similar tile work. It is typical for Mexican towns to have a central park, “El Centro”, where local people gather for events and activities. In a previous post, I showed the entranceway to this park, with the gazebo behind. There’s also a bandstand.

What puzzles me is why there is also a ceramic-tiled car.

Today we took a closer look at it.

Does it look like Greg's having fun? I think so!

Many of you know Greg is a General Motors retiree. The last thing he wants is to be caught driving a car made by a competitor auto company. Check out the plates.

Yep, he's driving a Ford! I'm sure his GM buddies would have some jokes about the fact the car isn't drivable though.

He wanted me to join him inside, with his other passengers, but I declined. I agreed to pose outside though.

He also had me take close-up photos of various parts, as he was so taken by the whole thing. I deleted those photos though, as it was a bit too much car stuff for me.

I’ll close with my usual - a display of local flowers.

We passed a group of lily ponds outside a hotel/RV complex at the beach. The lillies had such vibrant colours, and were just beautiful. Being a pond owner, Greg pointed out the snails too, but I passed on taking photos of those!

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Location: Lo de Marcos, Nayarit, Mexico
Weather: High of 73ºF (23ºC), low of 68ºF (20ºC)

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The Mexican version of "The 100-Mile Diet"

You may remember I said I would go on a local group walk on Monday morning. As it turned out, Greg also came along, and was teased a little as it started at 8 am, not Greg's favourite time of day. Our friend, Sharon, explains the walk well in her blog post today. You may find me in some of her photos - pink t-shirt and pink hat - and Greg is fairly easy to spot in some of them. It was nice to walk at a cooler temperature than usual for us, although it only drops about 10ºF (5ºC) here overnight.

As Sharon says, many of the walkers gather for coffee afterwards. She and I opted for freshly-squeezed orange juice from the adjoining cafe - El Café Mejor - The Best Coffee. Three of us ordered juice, so this lady had to squeeze a lot of those oranges. A large glass is 20 pesos, about $1 U.S. The cost of living here is way below that of the USA or Canada, which is a great bonus.

Let's take a walk at the beach

My brother and I were born and raised in a seaside town in Wales. Needing to be near the ocean and smell the sea air has always been a part of our makeup. My brother, when he was away from the coast for any length of time, would return to it saying he "needed to get some ozone". Greg always quotes him, when we're near the ocean. While Greg and I are here in Lo de Marcos, I'll enjoy a daily walk at the nearby beach. I love both the sights and the sound of the ocean; looking out at the various shades of blue and green, and hearing the crashing of the waves. So yesterday, I took in the usual sights and sounds.