We have been here at Chimulco Trailer Park for about 3 weeks now. We did the obligatory Coscto thing in Guad, thats what the locals call Guadalajara. Guad is about 40 miles from here. The Costco seemed a bit high priced and full of middle class Mexicans, go figure. We went to Tonola, (toe.no.lah), a suburb of Guad where you can get anything that is made in Mexico. It is kind of like a huge flea market and one of the most traveled to places in this part of Mexico. It was cool, there was a guy and his wife selling a knife like deal that cut your potato, or zucchini, or carrot into the shape of a slinkie, and then you could put it on a stick and deep fry it. The sales pitch was just like watching an AS SEEN ON TV commercial, only in Mexican, a form of Spanish, with a bunch of Mexicans standing around. I got into it and bought one in the heat of the moment, and then he thru in a FREE gizmo that you could use to slice precisely other stuff like potato, zucchini, or carrots. Just like AS SEEN ON TV, only in Mexican. Great fun.

On Thursday Mercy & I went to the dentist in Estapac, that is a town about 20 miles from here. We went last week, but the whole town’s power was out, so we had to go back. The dentist is a she, and she is reportedly pretty good. George, a Canadian character who is everyone’s interpreter and concierge and tour guide, and who sells accordions, fiddles, bicycles. blenders and who knows what all else, went with us. He needed a temporary cap or something. The cleaning was a bit of a trip, since her vacuum sucker thing wasn’t working all that well and I choked a couple of times on the liquid buildup in my mouth, but she and her assistant got it going again and all was well. I think they needed a hose clamp or something. The water she used with the cleaning device was right out of a bottle of typical drinking water, when it ran out she had to replace it with another one. The dentist was chewing gum all the while she worked, a bit strange. The assistant just talked and talked, of course it was in Mexican, a form of Spanish, and she had a hard time keeping my mouth sucked out, But at the end of the day, it was worth it. The dentist got all of my teeth cleaned with a high pressure washer thing and she only charged us about $25.00 USD each. Not bad, considering at home it would be about $90, and I would have had to sit there and listen to how deep the snow is.

On Friday we went to the town of Topalpa, (toe.pall.pah) which is a Pueblo Magico, south of here about 1.5 hours. A Pueblo Magico is something like an All American City, and there are 30 of them in Mexico. To be a Pueblo Magico it has to have some special character and architectural features to get the designation. Topalpa is at about 7500 feet elevation and the whole town has a view of the active volcano Colima, which is another 30-50 miles further south. There are pine and oak trees, and the houses roofs are pitched, instead of flat. The church is really nice, see the pictures.