Hola Amigos,
Welcome to 2014!! I managed to get the correct year on my title with only one try! That's pretty amazing. We had a very quiet New Year's Eve...went to bed early. I woke up when I heard our clock bong 12, and immediately after that, several very loud fireworks went off. Zoey spent the rest of that night under the bed! Poor girl...she really hates loud noise...and the dark...and anything different. Anyhow, we're already a week into 2014. Things are different this year in Baja. The government has changed a bunch of regulations, and value added tax went up 5%. Some things, which weren't taxed before because they were classified as food items, are now NOT classified as food, so they get the full 16% tax charged. That includes dog food, so I told my dogs they were in trouble when the current bag is gone!
We spent New Year's Day at a "Taste" (Tas-tay) in Santiago. A Taste is a horse race; two at a time, down a long straight-away about 600 meters, or 1/3 of a mile. We got there early to grab a good spot at the finish line, and spent our time visiting with friends, snacking, and playing games, and watching the water truck go back and forth up and down the track. After an hour or so, the horses started showing up.
Then they exercised the horses, walking and trotting up and down the track for another 1/2 hour or so.
In the meantime, we continued to visit, eat, and play games! We also people watched. This is very popular social event, and lots and lots of folks show up to see and be seen. The gal in the blue blouse turned quite a few heads! Notice her 5" heels on her boots (at a horse race???)
Lots of Gringos attended, too, including this fellow. I loved his shirt, and pointed it out to Ben. Since Ben was wearing his John Deere hat, he had to go compliment this guy on his shirt! (He said he found it at a thrift store in the US somewhere to wear down here! Love the little burro!!)
Eventually, the race was run, (with plenty of betting going on) and the horse I chose won (didn't put any money on him...too bad!) Lots of excitement for about 15 seconds!
Then you wait for the next two race horses to show up! We were just about ready to give up and go home when the final two horses were prepped for the race and ready to go. That race was run when the sun had gone down! While waiting for that race, we were entertained by a little boy. He would dance around and then jump on his empty plastic pop bottle to smash it. He really had the moves!
I don't think his mother appreciated him getting his pretty jeans dirty rolling in the dirt doing his flash dancing, but he was having a great time!
We had a visitor to our garden last week. Very pretty, but the doves didn't like him/her one bit! This pretty little Sharp Shinned Hawk was helping control the White Wing dove population. We put out seed to attract the birds, and there are a LOT of them. Makes for quite a bit of excitement when a hawk swoops in and helps itself to a nice fat, freshly fed dove! I love this hawk's one-footed stance!
Our agave plant continues to grow and bloom. It is a traffic hazard in our courtyard now, and a bit difficult to avoid as we walk by! It just keeps growing and drooping further and further!
I have started a January 2014 photo album.
Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos en Baja
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey
Welcome to 2014!! I managed to get the correct year on my title with only one try! That's pretty amazing. We had a very quiet New Year's Eve...went to bed early. I woke up when I heard our clock bong 12, and immediately after that, several very loud fireworks went off. Zoey spent the rest of that night under the bed! Poor girl...she really hates loud noise...and the dark...and anything different. Anyhow, we're already a week into 2014. Things are different this year in Baja. The government has changed a bunch of regulations, and value added tax went up 5%. Some things, which weren't taxed before because they were classified as food items, are now NOT classified as food, so they get the full 16% tax charged. That includes dog food, so I told my dogs they were in trouble when the current bag is gone!
We spent New Year's Day at a "Taste" (Tas-tay) in Santiago. A Taste is a horse race; two at a time, down a long straight-away about 600 meters, or 1/3 of a mile. We got there early to grab a good spot at the finish line, and spent our time visiting with friends, snacking, and playing games, and watching the water truck go back and forth up and down the track. After an hour or so, the horses started showing up.
Then they exercised the horses, walking and trotting up and down the track for another 1/2 hour or so.
In the meantime, we continued to visit, eat, and play games! We also people watched. This is very popular social event, and lots and lots of folks show up to see and be seen. The gal in the blue blouse turned quite a few heads! Notice her 5" heels on her boots (at a horse race???)
Lots of Gringos attended, too, including this fellow. I loved his shirt, and pointed it out to Ben. Since Ben was wearing his John Deere hat, he had to go compliment this guy on his shirt! (He said he found it at a thrift store in the US somewhere to wear down here! Love the little burro!!)
Eventually, the race was run, (with plenty of betting going on) and the horse I chose won (didn't put any money on him...too bad!) Lots of excitement for about 15 seconds!
Then you wait for the next two race horses to show up! We were just about ready to give up and go home when the final two horses were prepped for the race and ready to go. That race was run when the sun had gone down! While waiting for that race, we were entertained by a little boy. He would dance around and then jump on his empty plastic pop bottle to smash it. He really had the moves!
I don't think his mother appreciated him getting his pretty jeans dirty rolling in the dirt doing his flash dancing, but he was having a great time!
We had a visitor to our garden last week. Very pretty, but the doves didn't like him/her one bit! This pretty little Sharp Shinned Hawk was helping control the White Wing dove population. We put out seed to attract the birds, and there are a LOT of them. Makes for quite a bit of excitement when a hawk swoops in and helps itself to a nice fat, freshly fed dove! I love this hawk's one-footed stance!
Our agave plant continues to grow and bloom. It is a traffic hazard in our courtyard now, and a bit difficult to avoid as we walk by! It just keeps growing and drooping further and further!
I have started a January 2014 photo album.
Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos en Baja
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey
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