Still Here

This was the final game of the New Years Bean Bag Tourney. Mercy and Wes came in second, There were 26 teams. We are planning on building a bean bag game when we get home. Its fun and easy.
This is one of the pools that they fill with fresh water everyday. This pool is about 3 ft deep, and the water is about 99 degrees, This pic was taken on a Saturday, so there are alot of Mexicans in the pool. During the week, there are usually only a few. Wwe ususally spend about 1 hour in the pool every morning.
This is called the Splash Factory. It has water coming out all over the place, and the big buckets fill up with water and then spill out all over the people. A loud air horn blows right before it spills. The kids love it.
This is the field where you can lose your head ! Of course taht was about 4000 years ago.



Here we are Jan 19th, still at Chimulco RV / Water Park. We have really settled in, so settled, that Mercy went ahead and paid for another month. I guess we will stay here a while longer, especially since we are getting reports of foul weather in Patsquaro and San Miguel De Allende. We have had 2 days with a bit of sprinkles here and that is it. Still in the low 80’s/high 50’s/low at nite.
Last week three couples of us hired a driver and a van to take us to the town of Tequilla. On the way we stopped at a ruin of a village that was active about 3000 years ago. There was a play field where they played a ball game where the winner got his head chopped off! That was considered a real honor. There is some really odd history down here. The town of Tequilla was interesting. We went to the Jose Quervo distillery and sampled some. They make 30,000 liters per day there. The agave plant takes 11 to 18 years before harvest. It is no wonder there is a pending shortage of Tequilla.
On Thursdays, there is a group of Mexicans, mostly older women and a few retired men, that gets together to do exercises in the pool at about 10:AM. They workout for about 2 hours. Last week, they invited Mercy & I to a Fiesta for a woman who was going to have a baby. A shower. Mercy joined right in and had a blast. Ask her when you see her about the circle thing that they did. It was very funny. George, (Hor-Hey) and I drank tequila while the women played games. George was the past President’e of Coculah. He speaks zero English, so our conversation was very animated. It was a blast. We all ate weird food, laughed at each others poor Spanish/English. The music was provided by the Bee Gees on CD. Loud of course! So, this Thursday, they have invited us to another Fiesta after exercise, for a couple who are celebrating their 50th Anniversary. The Mariachi will be live, so it will be fun. The Mexicans are very willing to have a party, willing to visit, and happy to play their music really loud.
Last nite we went a couple of towns S to the Mariachi and dinner. This town, Coculah, says it is the birthplace of Mariachi, and the bands and singers are quite good. The MC of the show was a trip, if you give a Mexican a microphone they go off, talking just as fast as they can, maybe even faster than they can. What a trip, sounds like a trilling bird, rolling the r’s and throwing in a ton of L’s. Some folks here in Villa Corona left on foot and caught a bus and they beat us to the Mariachi, and then they beat us back!!
A few days ago we went down to Sayulah, a town where they make knives. I met the 5th generation owner of the knife factory. Beautiful stuff. We made it just in time, for it was 1:30 and siesta begins at 2: We then went back North to a town where they make those pig skin chairs/tables/stools. These people are very resourceful. They can make do with very little. Most people don’t own cars, so the bus system is really good and cheap.
This morning was sort of typical. We woke up at about 8:30, had coffee, then went to the warm pool for a soak and a visit for about an hour, then came back and had a breakfast at about 11. This morning we had a couple of Tamales that Mercy got in town last nite, and salad followed by a Pacifico. Delicious. Lunch was at about 4 and then on to Bean Bags during happy hour. Maybe we will go to town tonite to see whats up, maybe get some good Mexican ice cream. There are some others here who play guitar, mandolin, bass, and so we will get together and play for a couple of hours.
Today, a caravan of 7 small RV’s pulled into the park. All women. Watching them all hook up reminded us of watching the boat launch at the lake. Really funny.
I will post some pictures soon. Posting pictures is a bit of a technology challenge!!