Laughs

Alex recently went to the birthday party of one of her good friends from school.  It was an "all girl" event (with one little brother) and it was just perfect.  A trip on Nuevo Vallarta for a kids movie followed by some ice cream...on a school night.  Simple, fun and memorable...the way it should be.

It takes a village

(Written on May 18)

I just got off the bus at the airport.  This last week and yesterday especially I was ready to go to the US to work, not because I wanted to go to the US and work I just wanted  life to be a little easier and convenient for a minute. 

I wanted a dishwasher
I wanted the power to work and not trip over extension cords that we rigged up.
I wanted to car to be fixed and I wanted to know when it would be fixed
I wanted to call an exterminator to spray around the outside of our house to kill the ticks
I wanted cell phones to work
I wanted to not have maggots
I wanted air conditioning but could not because of the power problem
I wanted Ozzy to find a shop

Then I realized that it is not Mexico that I wanted to get away from, it is the fact that this is life and sometimes when it rains, it pours and it felt like it was hailing, with no car, power, air, communication and lots of creepy craw lies including a scorpion. And there was no time to surf because we had so much going on.

So enough about what I want and am missing and what brings me to the reason for this post. This country of Mexico and its people.  As I was sitting on the bus able to do nothing but watch and think of all the help we received this last week from local Mexicans.

1) Our neighbor Juan Paul came over on his own to help Ozzy try to figure out why we had no power.  He called his friend who suggested we turn off power to the whole house until our electrician, Armondo could come take a look.  When Ozzy called Armondo he was next door working on a neighbors house and said that he would be right over. He came, found the problem, went to town to buy a part came back fixed it and done.  All of this in the time of less than an hour. No calling the electric company, waiting for someone to come take a look at the problem anywhere from 10-4 sometime in the next two days.

2) The car... We took the car to our awesome mechanic, Abel.  He called around to look for a part.  Land Rover in Guadalahaura could not get the part for a month and it was going to cost 12,000 pesos.  So Abel found a part for 6,000 pesos and we would have in in a day or two.  When the part arrived, it was the wrong part so Abel had a part custom made.  It took all day and many trips back and forth to his welder to make this part work and fit perfectly.  We had the car back when he said we would, he guarantees the part and he said that he owed us 1000 pesos.  We told him to keep it.

3) Many locals have offered to help Ozzy find a shop.  If they don't know of something then they know someone to ask. 

4) I had a horrible ear infection and needed to see Dr.  Richard.  In order to see Dr. Richard all you need to do is go to his office and if you do not see him or his wife then knock on the door to their house and you will be seen. No appointments, no paperwork to fill out, usually no waiting, no 1st, 2nd, or 3rd nurses before you have to wait to see the doctor.  And he has most of the medication right there.  So I had Dr.  Richard look at my ears,  he gave my three different medicines and it cost $50 us.

5) We finally got the car back.  The kids were at a birthday party where there was no cell service so I didn't know when to pick them up.  The parents said around 8:30 and when they got into town they would call.  It gets to be nine and I haven't heard from them so I go to get in the car and it is dead. Shit.  I have to walk to town and look for them.  I am down there for about an hour.  I sit in the plaza, go to Virginia's, no kids,  (she and her two boys were at the party also and I asked her to make sure my kids were okay) go back to the plaza, nothing!!  Finally I see Ozzy walk up.  A different parent called Ozzy to let him know they were back and at Virginia's.  When Ozzy went to call me to tell me, all of his minutes were gone (he butt dialed someone and it used all of the minutes he bought the day before) and Virginia got cut off from phone service due to a discrepancy with her bill. No one could call me so Ozzy had to walk down also to tell me where they were.   So we got the kids and took a cab home. This morning Ozzy asked Julio, the house gardner, to jump us and he happily did, just in time to get me to the bus stop to get to the airport.

So, to get to my point.  The local Mexicans here are always happy to help, it is what they do, and many times without being asked,  they see that someone is in need and they step up.  They are never too busy or put out.  They do not have attitudes or look down at you. It appears to me that they never feel like anyone is better than anyone else. It is so refreshing especially coming from Park City. Life is slower paced, they live for today and the now. For the most part they seem happy, not stressed or burned out.  They seem to always be with family, whether it is working, playing or chilling at home.

After that bus ride I realized once again why I love it here. Living here can definitely be a love hate relationship but what I have experienced in the last week and being on the bus with 3 generations of a happy Mexican family watching people work together, watching the Mexican way of life roll by I thought, why would I want to leave? It is so much more my speed in so many ways.

Once you get used to it you realize that life here is easier.  Some stuff you have to wait for but some stuff happens now and you never really know which one you are going to get and because it takes a village and this place is definitely a village.  We see it, live it, experience it, contribute to it.  I don't know how we ever lived without it.

I have to say that I know that no matter where you live it takes a village and I have witnessed many villages.  I just especially like mine.