Hola Amigos!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! We do celebrate here in Mexico; it is obviously not a Mexican holiday (they have plenty of their own!) but there are enough Gringos here that the stores have turkeys for sale, and we can even find cranberries! Apple pie? Pumpkin pie? Sure, why not? We've got the goods, so we can have it. I think I'll make a lemon meringue pie to have with our dinner. There will be 8 of us here to try to make a dent in our 20 lb Butterball turkey that Ben has brining right now. He plans on smoking it Thanksgiving day. Yum!
Last Sunday was November 20, which is a very popular Mexican holiday, dia de Revolucion. Los Barriles always has a parade, and the day of the week makes no difference. Ben drove the 1929 Model A Ford pickup, since the queen usually rides in it. We didn't take the 1928 Woody, because Ryan and I were in church running the sound and playing the piano the same time the parade was happening. Ben did take the camera and got some good pictures, though!
It is a very colorful occasion! Dances, concerts, bike races, horse races, baseball game, soccer.... something for everyone (there are most likely cock fights somewhere, too).
We had a nice clear view of the Super Moon here in Baja Sur when it appeared.
This next weekend is the first car show of the season in La Paz. Ben will take his '29 pickup for the parade on Saturday afternoon, and the car show on Sunday. I'll join him after church by taking the bus up. The bus station is right across the street from the car show, so it is a very convenient way to get there to join him.
You may have heard that the peso is not doing too well against the US dollar. Right now it is at about $20 pesos to $1. We get our cash by using ATMs, and it works well for us (and everyone else!) Now that the peso is so low, it is very difficult to get out our $500 US limit with one transaction. We have to ask for $7000 pesos or more, and some ATMs refuse to give that much (the error messages don't help either to figure out why you can't get your money out!) Our little town has had various ATMs, some OK, some notoriously bad. The one bank in Los Barriles did some remodeling this summer and vastly improved their ATM area with a wide expance of glass to brighten the ATM lobby and added machines. However, when people started using the ATMs this fall (who didn't have an account at the bank), they could only get a maximum of $2000 pesos at a time (with an ATM transaction fee of over $80 pesos). Bah, humbug! I think this person may have reached the limit of their patience with the bank's lack of helpfulness! The manager kept saying it was a glitch, and would be fixed "soon" (same as manaña!) We get all our pesos on our trips to La Paz or San Jose. We can find banks with low transaction fees, and high limits. (Not my picture, but we saw it right after it happened).
I found this moth on our veranda a few days ago... loved the patterns on him.
Weather is moderating, finally. We have very pleasant 80+ degree days, and a few windy days interspersed with the calm ones. We usually have clouds building up in the afternoons, and often here thunder and see lightening, but haven't had any rain for a while.
I've got a few more pictures in our November 2016 Google album. Enjoy!
Sending our Thanksgiving greetings from Beautiful Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! We do celebrate here in Mexico; it is obviously not a Mexican holiday (they have plenty of their own!) but there are enough Gringos here that the stores have turkeys for sale, and we can even find cranberries! Apple pie? Pumpkin pie? Sure, why not? We've got the goods, so we can have it. I think I'll make a lemon meringue pie to have with our dinner. There will be 8 of us here to try to make a dent in our 20 lb Butterball turkey that Ben has brining right now. He plans on smoking it Thanksgiving day. Yum!
Last Sunday was November 20, which is a very popular Mexican holiday, dia de Revolucion. Los Barriles always has a parade, and the day of the week makes no difference. Ben drove the 1929 Model A Ford pickup, since the queen usually rides in it. We didn't take the 1928 Woody, because Ryan and I were in church running the sound and playing the piano the same time the parade was happening. Ben did take the camera and got some good pictures, though!
It is a very colorful occasion! Dances, concerts, bike races, horse races, baseball game, soccer.... something for everyone (there are most likely cock fights somewhere, too).
We had a nice clear view of the Super Moon here in Baja Sur when it appeared.
This next weekend is the first car show of the season in La Paz. Ben will take his '29 pickup for the parade on Saturday afternoon, and the car show on Sunday. I'll join him after church by taking the bus up. The bus station is right across the street from the car show, so it is a very convenient way to get there to join him.
You may have heard that the peso is not doing too well against the US dollar. Right now it is at about $20 pesos to $1. We get our cash by using ATMs, and it works well for us (and everyone else!) Now that the peso is so low, it is very difficult to get out our $500 US limit with one transaction. We have to ask for $7000 pesos or more, and some ATMs refuse to give that much (the error messages don't help either to figure out why you can't get your money out!) Our little town has had various ATMs, some OK, some notoriously bad. The one bank in Los Barriles did some remodeling this summer and vastly improved their ATM area with a wide expance of glass to brighten the ATM lobby and added machines. However, when people started using the ATMs this fall (who didn't have an account at the bank), they could only get a maximum of $2000 pesos at a time (with an ATM transaction fee of over $80 pesos). Bah, humbug! I think this person may have reached the limit of their patience with the bank's lack of helpfulness! The manager kept saying it was a glitch, and would be fixed "soon" (same as manaña!) We get all our pesos on our trips to La Paz or San Jose. We can find banks with low transaction fees, and high limits. (Not my picture, but we saw it right after it happened).
I found this moth on our veranda a few days ago... loved the patterns on him.
Weather is moderating, finally. We have very pleasant 80+ degree days, and a few windy days interspersed with the calm ones. We usually have clouds building up in the afternoons, and often here thunder and see lightening, but haven't had any rain for a while.
I've got a few more pictures in our November 2016 Google album. Enjoy!
Sending our Thanksgiving greetings from Beautiful Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey
