Santa In the Plaza

Mi amigo, Sean Galloway, who does great photo work took this photo of Santa in the Plaza yesterday. The entire album can be seen on his FB page.

Feliz Navidad!!

Santa Arrives...On A Surfboard?

Santa was spotted checking out the surf recently. Sounds like he might be grabbing a couple quick waves as he passes through here in a few days. I kind of figured him for a longboarder though.

Lice!

Ozzy has two jobs to finish ... Check
Dillon has not been out in a while and has some kind of infection ... Check
We are out of gas in the house and it is Sunday so Sonigas is not working today ... Check
We have no cash and the ATM machines are either broken or sketchy ... Check
We have no food ... Check
Mommy's new paddleboard is totally thrashed and cracked and dad thinks he did it ... Check
Mommy is gone and will not be home for at least 20 days ... Check
Daddy has to make Cauliflower Cerviche for Traces's class of 24 kids along with other things ... Check
Kids have lice ... Check ... And cannot go to school ... Check ... And Ozzy has two jobs to finish ... Check ... And mommy is GONE ... Check Check Check

That was what was going on with Ozzy

Mommy just spent four wonderful days in Mexico City with girlfriends ... Check
Mommy is in SLC running errands, picking up mail, just hanging out because mommy just does not want to go to work ... Check
Ozzy emails mommy to let her know the kids have lice, cannot go to school, and he is doing all the necessary measures to kill the lice ... Check
Mommy is sitting back thinking, I am so glad I am not there, while my friend Carrie reminds me once again that my husband is a saint as I agree ... Check

That is what is going on with Mommy

Until Mommy comes home.......
I am not satisfied that the lice is gone so we do a preventative lice shampoo to kind of see where we are with the "buggies". Plus, I don't want to get them! Alex checks out good, maybe one or two dead buggies. On the other hand Traceman is full of them. I start to friek, not in an irate way but in a way of being motivated that this will be the end of lice for us. Ozzy starts to do research as I am throwing questions at him about these buggies.
So, the shampoo kills the lice but the eggs are another deal...?
You kill the lice, but have they already laid eggs?
What kills the eggs?
How many eggs will one lice lay per day?
How long do the lice live in the hair before they lay eggs?
How many eggs do they lay?
What is the incubation period before these eggs hatch?

Too many questions, too many theories on how to get rid of them, where do you start?

We googled everything.
I bought natural oils that can be mixed together to keep the bugs away in the first place...
That is great info but a little too late.
We bought the buggie shampoo and as I said it killed the buggies but when we were combing through the kids hair with the provided comb I started noticing little white things all over Alex's head about 1/4 inch from the scalp. Alex informed me that these were eggs. Alma showed them to her when she was going through her head one day. They look like circles with a tail. I started pulling them out of Alex's hair by the dozens and finally had to quit because Alex was loosing it. I had already done Trace, to a point. It was not just me, Ozzy and I were both going to town in their hair. So they go to school the next day with the oil spray on their hair to keep any newbies from wanting to join the party. That day I am talking to a friend whose kids are at the same school about the eggs situation from the night before and she mentions a vinegar and olive oil solution. After more Google time we learn that the vinegar allows the eggs to detach from the hair but does not kill them, and the olive oil smothers any live buggies. This is the all natural way to kill them. So we say screw the olive oil, we need a full chemical death here. We do the vinegar treatment to release, not kill, the eggs and use a "special comb" borrowed from a friend and OMG we couldn't believe how many eggs came out. Our research showed that this was really the only way to get the eggs out of the hair. Remember, they are not dead, just released. I honestly don't think anything kills them except boiling water and bleach but I am not going to submit my kids heads to either so they are not an option.
So they go to school today and get the usual Friday lice check and Alma passes Alex. From what I understand Alma is a professional in this department so if you pass her test you are good. Trace passes as well. Wahoo! They can go to school on Monday but I am still not satisfied that the buggie eggs are all gone so we do another vinegar treatment tonight for the eggs and a shampoo treatment in the am for the living lice. There are still kids at school who did not pass Alma's test. Are they in Alex or Traces's class? Did the kids get close enough so a buggie could get in our kids hair and start the process all over? When you have a school full of kids with lice it is virtually impossible to get rid of the cycle. We will continue these treatments for as long as we live here, we will use a special comb, we will use a special conditioner that is supposed to prevent the eggs from attaching and we will use the oil treatment to hopefully prevent the buggies from ever coming in the first place. The buggies are not gross, they are not a sign of social status or income level, cleanliness or dirtiness they are just a time consuming pain in the ass.

Since I have been home buggies have taken 3 to 4 hours of my day each and every day. Think about it. I have to wash all of the bed linens every day because a buggie could be on it. I have to go through two kids hair either with vinegar or lice shampoo an then comb the hair with a special comb which takes about one hour per kid. And I have to do this with all of my linens and hair because I cannot not cuddle and love my kids.

Since I first wrote this I have learned that both of the schools, Primaria and the private school Costa Verde, are both infested with lice as well. I have become a professional at this lice thing and have pretty much gotten our lice problem under control which is good because

We have guests and the water pump is not working so we have not had water for two days...Check

I guess it is a good thing that I destroyed my board by getting stuck on the inside and completely pummeled by huge, close together, powerful waves and thrown into the rocks at La Lancha the day before I went to Mexico City, but after I caught one of my most amazing waves ever, because I cannot surf anyway right now because I am instead getting pummeled by Itsy, bitty little buggies and I am trying to stay afloat. Give me the ocean any day because these lice are taking me for a totally different ride.

Who wants to come visit?;) We will send you home with a departing gift!

Girls Trip!!!

At the beginning of November three of my friends from Sayulita and I went on a girls trip to Mexico City to the Distrito Federal, aka, the D.F. I really thought that those words together in the same sentence would ever come out of my mouth. I am so grateful that I am now able to say them.

Kirsten, Gretchen and Lina on our first night in Mexico City

I want to start by saying that I know that not all of Mexico City is as wonderful as the areas that we visited. But here are a few thoughts about what I saw and experienced:
Mexico City is ginormous, (that would be slang for absolutely huge and then some), clean, cultural, artistic, wealthy, well educated, classy, friendly, architecturally beautiful.

The Metro is fast, easy, clean and safe. Establishments place fresh water and food out on the curb for dogs that are being walked by owners, the owners keep the pets on leash and clean up after them. I know that doesn't sound very spectacular but after living in Sayulita for a year it is. The people were well dressed, well groomed, happy, social, alive.

In all actuality Mexico City is just like all of the other large cities that I have visited. I will admit that I too fell under the spell of the American media and believed all of the bad press about Mexico City. I even believed flight attendants who said that is was dangerous and that you shouldn't leave your hotel. I hope they continue to believe that because I want those layovers.

For three days we walked a ton, covered what we thought was a lot of the city but hardly even touched it. We visited the Centro Histórico which focuses on the Zocalo, or main plaza, which is the second largest in the world behind Moscow's Red Square. Here we visited Mexico City's Cathedral, museums and took a ride to the top of the Torre Latinoamericana to get a view of the city.

View of the city, a very small slice of it, with Centro Histórico in background

Palacio de Bellas Artes

Beautiful mosaic building near the Centro Historico.

We spent another day in San Ángel. This area was beautiful. Old colorful buildings, cobblestone streets, and incredible street markets. We planned on going on the Frieda walking tour but after the few bottles of wine with yet another amazing meal and lots of shopping we ran out of time.

One of the many beautiful and large estate entrances in San Angel.

Which takes me to another part that I loved which was the restaurants. We never knew what we wanted or were really looking for but we always stumbled into a quaint restaurant that had the most delicious food and wine selections. We went all out for lunch and dinner for three days.

Gretchen, being a vegetarian, was not too impressed by these pigs legs

The group of girls were a perfect traveling match. We are all super mellow, so we made decisions quickly and easily as a group and everyone was happy. We were all on the same page. We even fell into the pattern of one person picking up the tab for lunch or dinner and taking turns that way, instead of nit picking the bill to see how much each person owed.

At our hotel, The Brick, in the Zona Rosa.

I cannot wait to go back and take another small bite of Mexico City. If you ever get the chance it would be well worth your time.

These adventures keep getting better and better. Wonder what will be next?

Concrete Projects

Yes, Ozzy has been doing more than surfing this fall in addition to the trip back to Park City. Two different projects bumped up together and have made for a relentless concrete schedule. One job was for a new brew pub in Puerto Vallarta called Los Muertos Brewing Company. Our blog visitors from Park City may know Conner Watts and wife Stephanie who are in Vallarta full time and have done "crazy amazing" things to get this brewery up and running. The other job was for a family here in Sayulita who are part owner of a very popular eatery called Don Pedros. Both clients were great to work with and we think the new spaces they have created are fantastic.

Respect

The Delta Gods were with me on Friday, October 26. Due to swaps, 24 in 7, legalities, availability, pay protection, one drunk passenger that wasn't even on my plane and the only non stop on Saturday (I know, you don't understand any of this lingo unless you are an airline person or married to one) I was able to come back to my beloved Mexico and family five days early and before Sandy relentlessly destroyed much of the Northeast. I was happy to be home as always and especially glad I could take all of the family burden off of Ozzy since he has two big jobs that he is trying to finish, and it is very difficult with two children and a dog. So on Sunday morning after breakfast the kids, Dillon and myself go for a walk on the beach. Poor Dillon hasn't been out since I left so he is super psyched. So we are walking along and there is trash on the beach, not a ton, but stuff here and there. A lot of it washed up with the waves. "Damn, I forgot my bag, again, to pick it up", I think to myself, I'll go to my friends house who live on the beach and get a bag from them and pick it up on the way back. I start seeing lots of trash, where people hung out on the beach the night before with pizza boxes and beer bottles and just left it when they were done. I thought okay drunk tourists, then the one that really set me off was the remains of a wedding. Yep, a couple thought so highly of Sayulita that they wanted to devote themselves to a lifetime of love and commitment on the beautiful beach here in Sayulita, but they didn't think highly enough of Sayulita or its beaches, environment, residents, visitors, wildlife on the beach or in the ocean when they decided to leave programs from the wedding, beer bottles, plastic water bottles and the cross altar they put up on the beach. Really?

I live here, I know that Mexico is not the cleanest country in the world but for a visitor to come here, enjoy what Mexico and Sayulita has to offer, and feel like it is okay to leave all of their shit behind for someone else to clean up just pisses me off. That someone else is a wonderful group called Sayulimpia. These people are given housing in Sayulita but are volunteering their time so they only get paid from donations of random people walking by as they are working on our streets to make Sayulita cleaner. That someone else is also locals like me and my children that do not want to walk our dogs and enjoy our beaches waking through other peoples crap. Also amongst all of the programs, beer and plastic bottles we found at least ten sticks with the firework holders attached. So once again this same wedding party lit off at least ten different rounds of fireworks and left the remains on the beach with all of their other shit.

Yes, we all love fireworks, unless we worked at DisneyWorld, and then we are kind of over them. They are bright fun, loud, colorful and dangerous to the environment. Fireworks get their flamboyance from a variety of chemicals, many of which are toxic to humans. From the gunpowder that fuels their flight to the metallic compounds that color their explosions, fireworks often contain carcinogenic or hormone-disrupting substances that can seep into soil and water, not to mention the lung-clogging smoke they release and plastic debris they scatter.

So this wedding party just did a double dose on Sayulita and the environment. Thanks a bunch! Please don't come back for your anniversary!

Luckily we returned home after visiting friends just as the fireworks were going off. Our dog Dillon, as well as many animals,is deathly afraid of fireworks, thunder, etc and has already ruined screens, doors, urinated inside and run away from pure fear of the loud bangs. As Sayulita is coming into wedding season you can imagine how excited we are about this as there are probably at least two firework shows a night from Thursday to Saturday nights due to weddings.

There is an alternative to fireworks though. Sky or Wish Lanterns. These flying lanterns are made out of rice paper with a bamboo frame, which contain a fuel cell or small candle. When the fuel cell is lit the flame heats the air inside the lantern causing the lantern to rise. Once airborne the sky lantern will rise until the fuel cell or candle stays alight, when the candle burns out the sky lantern floats back to ground. The lasting visual effects will enjoy far outweighs that of a firework. Also, Sky Lanterns are silent so much more sociably acceptable and, as they can float for up to 15 miles. Many people put wishes in these lanterns.

I know that these are not perfect for the environment but they are a much better alternative to fireworks.

With all this said, and it had to be said for the sake of readers understanding my point, please respect our town. People live here, people raise children here, people grow food here, people fish here,people surf here, people release baby turtles here. This is not just a place that people can come and enjoy and destroy and think that someone else is going to take care of it. And it is not only Sayulita, I am talking about the entire planet. Please, people, have some respect.

Dia de los Muertos

El Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), a Mexican celebration, is a day to celebrate, remember and prepare special foods in honor of those who have departed. On this day in Mexico, the streets near the cemeteries are filled with decorations of papel picado , flowers, candy calaveras (skeletons and skulls), and parades.
It is believed that the spirit of the dead visit their families on October 31 and leave on November 2.

In order to celebrate, the families make altars and place ofrendas (offerings) of food such as pan de muertos baked in shapes of skulls and figures, candles, incense, yellow marigolds known as cempazuchitl (also spelled zempasuchil) and most importantly a photo of the departed soul is placed on the altar.

It might sound somewhat morbid, but the Mexicans react to death with mourning along with happiness and joy. They look at death with the same fear as any other culture, but there is a difference. They reflect their fear by mocking and living alongside death.

Living alongside death means that Mexicans have to learned to accept it within their lives. Death is apparent in everyday life. It is in art and even in children's toys. It is not respected as it is in other cultures. Children play "funeral" with toys that are made to represent coffins and undertakers.

Death is laughed at in its face. Many euphemisms are used for death, La calaca (the skeleton), la pelona ("baldy"), la flaca ("skinny"), and la huesada ("bony"). There are refranes, sayings, and poems that are popular with day of the dead. These sayings are cliches and lose meaning when translated. For example "La muerte es flaca y no puede conmigo" means "Death is skinny/weak and she can't carry me." Calaveras (skulls) are decorated with bright colors with the name of the departed inscribed on the head. Children carrying yellow marigolds enjoy the processions to the cemetery. At the cemetery, music is played and dances are made to honor the spirits.

Even the schools have celebrations for Dia de los Muertos. Escuela Del Mundo, Alex and Trace's school had festivities today where each of the children were involved with a skit and explaining what each piece at the altar represents.

After the celebration tostadas and desserts, that the parents brought to help raise money for the school, were served while the children all ran around and had a crazy good time.

The celebrations continue Thursday and Friday at the plaza where there will be many more altars live music and festivities.

Alex and Trace wanted to make an altar at our house to remember our dog who passed, Sammie Sue, so we have a sugar skull and marigolds. Maybe Sammie will come and hang out with Dillon for the evening. He would be psyched.

Turtle release

Living by the ocean brings on a whole new world of learning and awareness of Marine life. Here in Sayulita, the neighboring town of San Pancho and all around the world groups of volunteers come together to try to bring the five different species of Sea Turtles back to being populous in our oceans. All five of the species are almost extinct.

Alex, Trace and myself had the opportunity to visit a nursery that literally saves the Sea Turtles from extinction. We learned all about the life of a turtle starting with the egg.
The group in San Poncho consists of about 8 people from all over the world who live in sort of a compound together and take care of the nursery. These people are volunteers and this is a non profit outfit.

Here is a brief history of Turtles
So... as I said, it all starts with the egg. The turtles come up onto the beach and lay their eggs. This group of volunteers wait on the beach, sometimes in nasty weather conditions and all night long to rescue the eggs from poachers. They take them back to the nursery pack them into coolers with sand, heat the nursery and log all of the important information so they know when the eggs will hatch. On hatching day the coolers are taken out opened and the waiting begins. When the turtles hatch and make their way up through the sand they come by twos, hugging each other, each one using a flipper, like they are one to come to the top.

They are then placed in a basket while they come to life. They need the air to help them come alive, it takes about an hour and then they gradually become very active little creatures. The waiting begins for the release. You want them to be released very soon after they hatch, within hours, but you really need to wait until sunset or else birds will see them and eat them. You want them released soon after hatching because for the first five days of a turtles life they do nothing but swim, no eating or sleeping. So you do not want them to waste their energy while waiting to be released. It is estimated that the baby turtles will swim about 14 miles a day in the first five days of life. When you release the turtles you put them on the beach a little ways from the water. This is done on purpose because turtles always come back to the exact same beach that they first entered the water to lay their own eggs.

So they have to walk from the beach into the water to lay their scent or whatever it is they put out there to know where to come back to. They could literally swim to Hawaii to hang with some friends but when it is time to lay their eggs they will come right back to the beach in San Poncho where we released them to lay their eggs.

Okay, here comes the sad part...we released about 1000 turtles and after 15 years when a mature female turtle is ready to lay eggs, approximately 2 of those 1000 turtles will have lived long enough to come back to lay their eggs. But in the 21 years that this group has been in San Poncho the number of eggs has grown ten fold which means that more turtles are surviving and coming back to lay their eggs.

So that is the history in brief of the Sea Turtle. I have had the opportunity to swim with turtles in Maui. Actually I was just snorkeling and there they were, When surfing in Chacala, here in Mexico there was a turtle there with us enjoying the waves as well and I actually saw one today while paddle boarding in Sayulita. Turtles are a very peaceful, slow, large creatures. I was so glad that I could teach my children about life and the importance of protecting ocean species and let them participate in this release of life.

They also found the dune buggy ride on the beach under the full moon to be pretty cool as well.

Our amigo "Sergio" surfing here in Sayulita on Halloween.

Evolution

Perspective From The "Other Side"

Yesterday I went to do some template work at a job where I'll be putting in new kitchen concrete countertops and a new master vanity with sink. The architect hopes the job will be complete in the next few weeks so there is tons of activity going on at the moment. Carpenters, painters, exterior concrete finishers, railing fabricators etc are all trying to create some space to get their job done.

Having been a construction project manager in the States I understand too well the controlled chaos that is sometimes required to get a job to the finish line. As I looked around me I noticed, not surprisingly, that I was the only white guy on the job. Actually, this is no different from times on the job up North where there were multiple subs on a job and they would be made up totally of hispanic labor. On large projects, some of these guys, (carpenters, roofers, masons etc) were on the job for months and overtime I became quite friendly with them. I would join them occasionally for lunch, pick up some Spanish and even managed to score some home cooked Mexican food that was offered. For the most part, I liked these guys and though they didn't talk about it, most of them had a story to tell about how they got there and what they may have left behind to find work in the US.

So, here I am at this job and it occurs to me that I'm the one that is on the job site with a story to tell. I'm the one who came across the border, to the "other side", looking for a new start and life just like many of these guys I met over the years. Certainly a low risk, uneventful story compared to some others. I find it just a bit sad and laughable that there was so much thought and stress involved in the decision to come to Mexico over a year ago and in the end I arrived in a Land Rover, during the daylight, had a place to live and money in my pocket. No border crossings that some may have endured and the possibility that Immigration may arrive on the job site that day to check papers and documents.

Now I am in Mexico full time legally and have a license to to what I do...all legit and I feel good about that. I couldn't tell if I was really all that welcome at the site but I did my job, stayed out of people's way, answered a few questions about what I was up to and even got a few nods and the occasional smile. No problems. Just another subcontractor. Somewhat familiar? Yes. Just a little bit different perspective.

Our day at Sea

These are some family photos of our day on the Ally Cat. (More on the Ally Cat in another post). What an incredible day it was. Trace was a bit nervous before hand worried that the boat would turn over and therefore sink. Once we got to the boat and he was able to see how large it was he calmed down a little. It also helped that a handful of his friends and other kids were there. After he was shown all of the controls of the boat and what to look for on the computer he would often go down and make sure that we were going the "right way". I am not at all surprised that he was into the mechanics of the boat. He enjoyed the sailing lifestyle, which doesn't surprise me either. Having someone make his lunch and bring him drinks, chilling on bean bags sailing on the open water. He even snorkeled and swam quite a ways to a cave. Alex on the other hand, or I should call her mermaid, didn't care anything about the boat except that it took her out to the open sea so she could swim and swim and swim some more, oh and then swim, and jump and dive and jump and swim, you get my drift. She could have cared less about snorkeling, even though it involved swimming. Alex and Trace are a perfect pair, he will be the entrepreneur that will own a grand boat of some type and he will sail his princess mermaid sister around the world to hot surf spots.