Week Two at Eureka
On Sunday I met my next door neighbours at a Happy Hour held on their patio. They had just arrived from Canada a few hours before and their friends arranged this as a welcome – talk about getting off to a quick start! Nine of us gathered to meet and greet them.
Of the eight (other than myself), I learned that four read my blog! Wow. How many more people read it that I don’t know about.
Lunch with Sandi Hunter on Monday, after a six-month period of not seeing her, was delightful, like we'd never been apart. Sandi is moving to Colorado to live with her daughter as soon as the sale of her casa is finalized. She is one of my dearest friends in Manzanillo and I’ll miss her during my winter stays here. If I go to visit Amanda and her brood, Sandi is only an hour’s drive away. This trip is in my bucket list for the summer.
The leg wound I got from the swimming pool ladder became quite nasty looking. Wounds can become infected quickly in the tropics so I should have had my dermatologist friend, Gustavo, attend to it from the beginning a week ago. He put me on oral anti-biotic plus ibuprofen and an antibiotic cream. Eight more days without swimming! Eight days without wine or margaritas! All of the above I need in the very hot, humid weather of November – something to look forward to eagerly.
This weekend is another Mexican long weekend holiday - this one in honour of Revolution Day. Goyo warned me that it’s going to be very noisy in Eureka because of the large family groups with lots of kids that will be staying at Eureka for three days. They come from inland cities such as Guadalajara and Colima to visit the huge beaches of Manzanillo. I told him I’ll simply remove my hearing aids if the noise is bothersome :). For the most part, the families are on the beach all day, returning to Eureka late afternoon to eat and spend many more hours in the pool having a lot of fun until bedtime.
From January to Holy Week (the week before Easter) every unit here is rented by retired adults. Kids are then a rarity, except if visiting grandparents here.
Keith, Yvonne and I were going to do a day trip to Melaque this weekend but are delaying it until midweek sometime because of the influx of people and cars.
Azucena, my dentist, good friend and Gustavo’s wife, cleaned my teeth on Saturday, which is a half-day for them, so I was booked for 1:30 to be her last patient for the day. Then the three of us went for lunch to a new restaurant, Boca Del Real. It is great – ambience, food, service and prices! It’s going to be fun to introduce it to my friends that are here now and as more arrive in January.
Azucena and Gustavo want to arrange a fund-raiser at Valentine’s Day for a small orphanage that has very little money. It would be held at the beautiful Hacienda Jualapan that they own at the edge of town. They rent it out for weddings, quinceaneras and other large events and can accomodate a fundraising event like this.
Note: A quinceanera is the celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday marking the transition from childhood to young womanhood – it’s an event comparable to a debutante ball.
Neither Azucena nor Gustavo have experience with fundraisers, which I have had, so I immediately volunteered to help them. It feels so good to be able to contribute back to the community I love and I’m excited. It is going to be a lot of work but it will be fun too!