Welcome to Baja- A lesson in Patience Continued

  Well they say new experiences help to keep young. I guess I became pretty youthful this week. In fact it sometimes had very humbling moments. Not true that it is bi-lingual around here.  My friend has had to do all the talking in Spanish, and I feel like a little kid just being there not knowing what is being said. The hardest being the phone company and ordering the WIFI all info in Spanish and written instruction all in Spanish….a challenge even for my friend, but between us we muddled through and got a sign to place on the house for the service person to find us. There are no house numbers on the houses even though we do have a house number to our address.

 Our other big challenges in life are the money, and the weights and measures. At least the car has kilometers marked on the speedometer and surprisingly enough I find I naturally want to go with the correct speed for the road conditions. They will take our US dollars, but everything is in Pesos, so you have to figure out what you are spending. Then there is the matter of kilos for weight of meat and produce. Yes, there is a Walmart to shop at, but everything is done for the local culture and language.  It didn’t take long to feel totally overwhelmed at trying to shop in Walmart Grocery with the overhead speaker blaring nonstop Spanish words that I didn’t have a clue what was being said.  We are going to check out other places to food shop. There does seem to be a local supermarket chain that we are going try when we recover from our Walmart experience.  Good news we have found a wonderful local bakery right run down the road from our house. The bakery has trays full of fresh baked goodies for you to pick yourself and place on a tray to bring to the counter. The baker does say she wants pesos and for only a few pesos you get lots of yummy pastries.

Much to our surprise when we drove up to the house it had been painted red. It looked so different from the photos we had seen, but the inside of the house is just what we thought, very pleasant and livable.  There are no lawns to mow or garden to care for…it is a desert landscape around  here, which certainly a big change from the south and our hillside dense with kudzu. We kind of miss all the green, our neighbors have bright colored flowers, bougainvillea with orange or bright crimson blossoms dripping over their stone walls and palm trees. We have dirt and goats in our backyard….that is another story.

Photos are in Walmart with all the signs are in pasos and weights in kilos. Notice the open tables of meat and fish. You take buy just like you do veggies. Also, so many US companies have their products here with Spanish labels. This morning I was going to make pancakes with the pancake mix we bought. Then I looked at the directions and have no idea what to do...so had my corn flakes instead. I'll save the pancake directions for another.

today we have what is called in Southern Calif. the Santa Anna's, which are very strong winds blowing heat off the desert. Some people really don't like them but I have always enjoyed the warm winds. So, we are having the east winds blowing strong off the desert warming up the day and adding rooster tails to the waves....it is very bright and clear....just an awesome view. Everyday we have pleasant mild temps around here even with the fog. Light jackets needed only at dawn in the fog, otherwise it is short sleeves.

So, that's my comments for today about living in Baja. One thing I do know that our days here well continue to be filled with surprises, things will become more familiar with time and perhaps a little less confusing. . …lots more to explore around here and many more
stories to tell.