Stuck in the Rain!

We arrived back last week to an unusual weather pattern: rain.  Normally, this area receives little to no rain between October and June.  Everything is dry and dusty during this period.  But something's up this year because we've been having rain, at least a little rain, each day since we returned over a week ago.  And it's quite cool, in the 50's.  Today seems like a complete washout.  


Normally the rain does not present much of a problem.  For us, this week, it's a little different.  We brought our car to have a thorough check-up before our 3200 mile trip back to Maine.  After our mechanic finished checking it, he brought it next door to the body shop where we're having numerous dings and scratches fixed.  So we've been without our car for the last 4 days and we're hoping they can finish it today in spite of the rain! Body work is extremely cheap here.  We're having the entire rear end of our RAV4 fixed and repainted for about $300US.  Needless to say, we won't be getting much body work done when we move north!


We've been extremely busy socially the last week or so.  Many of our friends want to spend some time with us since we won't be here again until January.  So we've been busy almost every night!  One of our writer friends, Jim Tipton, threw himself a birthday party and invited many in the writing community here.  Jim is married to a Mexican woman who, with a couple of her friends, created an amazing Mexican buffet.  Here are some photos of the party at Jim's house in Chapala:

Here Jim (left) sits with Kahlid:

 Lise and Ken Clarke from Quebec.  Ken was a merchant marine for many years and has written extensively about his seafaring adventures:

 Mel Goldberg is the poet who shared the book signing event with me in January:  

 Jim shares a dance with poet, Margaret Van Every:

A couple of days ago, we went to Tlaquepaque (te-lak-a-PA-ke) in Guadalajara with our friends George and Kenya Cardis and his daughter, Celia, to dine at a wonderful restaurant and celebrate George's birthday.  It was a wonderful day, and I enjoyed, of all things, a cucumber margarita.  It was good.

Last night we went with some other friends to have dinner and dance to a local band, The Tall Boys.  All the expats here love the Tall Boys, because they play songs by the bands we all remember: Stones, Beatles, Creedence, Grateful Dead, Alabama, etc.  

 Gloria and David...

 Carol and Jacques, from Maine...

 Patricia, from our writing group, and her friend Kat...

 So, as our time here in Mexico, for this year, is winding down, we are busy sorting, packing, and giving away stuff.  I am giving the presentation at our Unitarian Fellowship arguing that rationality will be more likely to improve our life here than faith.  (I think I'm always singing the same song!) And we're enjoying spending time with all our expat friends.  


We will be leaving on March 6 and taking about six weeks visiting and driving before we arrive back in Maine sometime in mid-April, we estimate.