I have been going deaf since I was around 12 years old when my brothers decided to both fire shotguns at the same time near my head and ruptured my eardrums. My hearing loss has been moderate/severe for years now. I have learned to adapt - watching people as they speak - asking them to repeat themselves over and over again - turning up the TV volume to max - and acting like I understood something - when really I didn't hear a word.
My daughter finally nagged me into trying hearing aids...which I got fitted for today. Okay...so maybe I didn't know my shoes squeaked when I walked, or my knees made a popping sound when I squat down; but other than that - good hear is highly overrated. I'm exhausted after wearing them all day; my brain is actually tired. All these noises that I can't normally hear are bombarding my brain and ears; I can hear money jingling in peoples pockets, my turn signal, the dog farting, my keyboard clicking, my gardener clipping the hedges, my gardener farting - STOP THE INSANITY!!
I took them out - I'll try again tomorrow.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Beautiful Sunday Drive
On the other side of the lake is a mountain range with a few scattered villages, about an hours drive from my house. One is quite large and famous for its 'Alpine' influence. A couple of friends and I decided to drive up and spend the afternoon.
The village, Mazamitla (which means "place to shoot deer with arrows") is absolutely beautiful. If you ever come to Central Mexico during the rainy season, add it to your itinerary. It is about 7,000 feet above sea level, in a beautiful green valley surrounded by towering mountains. It looks like they could have filmed The Sound of Music there.
We arrived around noon and spent the first hour shopping and wandering around the Plaza. The buildings are all made of wood - which is very unusual in Mexico, since they rely almost solely on stone for their construction, and the houses had bow windows - remarkable. The residents were very tall and very fair skinned; this place was not settled by Indians, it was most definitely European.
We decided to try and find the most famous attraction - a spectacular waterfall on the outskirts of the village. We drove around for about an hour until we finally found the the road. We kept noticing strings of horses going up and down the road - we figured they were for the tourists to rent. We came to a stop at the bottom of a ravine with a gate that said 'No Moto' - horses only. We decided we would try and walk down to the falls which we figured was at the bottom of the hill. A Mexican guide stopped us and said it was a '2 hour walk' - holy crap - I'm not that interested in seeing a waterfall. And no one was prepared to ride a horse down a steep ravine.
Since it was late in the afternoon and we definitely needed to get down the mountain before nightfall, we decided to find a place to eat lunch and head back down. There is a very popular restaurant a few miles outside the village. We sat down to order and suddenly these men came flying down on zip lines right next to our table. Scared the crap out of me. Looked like a lot of fun. I took a few pictures - but the day was overcast so they didn't turn out that good.
https://picasaweb.google.com/113488190525490792576/Mexico
The village, Mazamitla (which means "place to shoot deer with arrows") is absolutely beautiful. If you ever come to Central Mexico during the rainy season, add it to your itinerary. It is about 7,000 feet above sea level, in a beautiful green valley surrounded by towering mountains. It looks like they could have filmed The Sound of Music there.
We arrived around noon and spent the first hour shopping and wandering around the Plaza. The buildings are all made of wood - which is very unusual in Mexico, since they rely almost solely on stone for their construction, and the houses had bow windows - remarkable. The residents were very tall and very fair skinned; this place was not settled by Indians, it was most definitely European.
We decided to try and find the most famous attraction - a spectacular waterfall on the outskirts of the village. We drove around for about an hour until we finally found the the road. We kept noticing strings of horses going up and down the road - we figured they were for the tourists to rent. We came to a stop at the bottom of a ravine with a gate that said 'No Moto' - horses only. We decided we would try and walk down to the falls which we figured was at the bottom of the hill. A Mexican guide stopped us and said it was a '2 hour walk' - holy crap - I'm not that interested in seeing a waterfall. And no one was prepared to ride a horse down a steep ravine.
Since it was late in the afternoon and we definitely needed to get down the mountain before nightfall, we decided to find a place to eat lunch and head back down. There is a very popular restaurant a few miles outside the village. We sat down to order and suddenly these men came flying down on zip lines right next to our table. Scared the crap out of me. Looked like a lot of fun. I took a few pictures - but the day was overcast so they didn't turn out that good.
https://picasaweb.google.com/113488190525490792576/Mexico
Monday, August 29, 2011
On Being Sick
First, typhoid sucks - literally. You feel drained, no appetite, no energy, you just sit and wait for it to go away.
Second, if you develop vertigo at the same time, even sitting is a hassle.
Third, if you do get typhoid and vertigo - whatever you do - don't get a new dog. Bending over to pick up dog poop is not pleasant when you have vertigo.
But today was a new day. The vertigo has subsided, the typhoid symptoms are gone, I found the new dog a great new home, and I ate Chinese food for lunch. Life is good.
Second, if you develop vertigo at the same time, even sitting is a hassle.
Third, if you do get typhoid and vertigo - whatever you do - don't get a new dog. Bending over to pick up dog poop is not pleasant when you have vertigo.
But today was a new day. The vertigo has subsided, the typhoid symptoms are gone, I found the new dog a great new home, and I ate Chinese food for lunch. Life is good.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Dog Days
My little boston terrier (CK) has been acting very bored and lonely in the new house - the only other dog he has to play with is a great dane named Winston - not much of a playmate. Mexicans have a lot of dogs but rarely take care of them; not by US standards anyway. So many dogs wander the streets and die of starvation, poisoning, hit by cars, or just general neglect. They rarely neuter them so they just breed indiscriminately.
Sometimes people with dogs die or move back to the States and just abandon their pets. A friend rescued a dog from his neighbors back yard who had been tied to a tree for days without food or water and moved back to Canada. Who does that??
Lot's of Gringo's try to rescue these dogs but a lot of them have to be put down because they are too aggressive or too sick to save. There are several shelters that try to find them good homes and for a nominal fee you can adopt one.
Today I made the mistake of going into one of the shelters and found this sweet little 2 year old female - her kennel name was Buffy - I call her Chica. She was quite, housebroken, obviously someone's pet - she knows how to walk on a leash, sit on command and is sleeping beside by chair on the floor right now. I hope she works out - I have 2 weeks to return her if she doesn't
I know you can't save them all - but I hope this was Chica's lucky day.
Sometimes people with dogs die or move back to the States and just abandon their pets. A friend rescued a dog from his neighbors back yard who had been tied to a tree for days without food or water and moved back to Canada. Who does that??
Lot's of Gringo's try to rescue these dogs but a lot of them have to be put down because they are too aggressive or too sick to save. There are several shelters that try to find them good homes and for a nominal fee you can adopt one.
Today I made the mistake of going into one of the shelters and found this sweet little 2 year old female - her kennel name was Buffy - I call her Chica. She was quite, housebroken, obviously someone's pet - she knows how to walk on a leash, sit on command and is sleeping beside by chair on the floor right now. I hope she works out - I have 2 weeks to return her if she doesn't
I know you can't save them all - but I hope this was Chica's lucky day.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Good and the Awful
Got up early this morning (Sunday) and drove into Guadalajara to see the "Thieves Market", no idea why they call it that. It is a typical Mexican market except everything is a bit off.
First - it is located in a very bad part of Guad...dirt streets, run down houses, pathetic dogs roaming around, but the people were very nice and we never felt the least threatened. Here are some pictures https://picasaweb.google.com/113488190525490792576/Mexico.
We didn't buy much - but had a great time just wandering around through the crowds looking at all the crazy stuff there. On the drive back to the Lake (about 45 minutes), traffic came to a complete stop - we figured it was just another Federalie's roadblock.
Traffic crawled along until we passed a new pickup truck along side of the road - the drivers door had been completely torn off, but other than that - no damage at all. Then about 50 feet further down the road was a blue tarp with a body underneath. It was obviously a woman - she was lying on her back - her feet and hands were sticking out from under the tarp. She was wearing nice shoes, and you could see she had long, red polished nails.
All the rest of the way - we tried to figure out how in the world this accident could have happened. Did she pull off to the side of the highway and step out of the car and someone just slammed into her? Was she having car trouble? Did she run out of gas?
Life is so fragile. One minute you are driving down the road, going to church or going to meet a friend for lunch; the next you are lying spread eagle, under a blue tarp, dead...and you didn't even break a nail.
First - it is located in a very bad part of Guad...dirt streets, run down houses, pathetic dogs roaming around, but the people were very nice and we never felt the least threatened. Here are some pictures https://picasaweb.google.com/113488190525490792576/Mexico.
We didn't buy much - but had a great time just wandering around through the crowds looking at all the crazy stuff there. On the drive back to the Lake (about 45 minutes), traffic came to a complete stop - we figured it was just another Federalie's roadblock.
Traffic crawled along until we passed a new pickup truck along side of the road - the drivers door had been completely torn off, but other than that - no damage at all. Then about 50 feet further down the road was a blue tarp with a body underneath. It was obviously a woman - she was lying on her back - her feet and hands were sticking out from under the tarp. She was wearing nice shoes, and you could see she had long, red polished nails.
All the rest of the way - we tried to figure out how in the world this accident could have happened. Did she pull off to the side of the highway and step out of the car and someone just slammed into her? Was she having car trouble? Did she run out of gas?
Life is so fragile. One minute you are driving down the road, going to church or going to meet a friend for lunch; the next you are lying spread eagle, under a blue tarp, dead...and you didn't even break a nail.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Melting Pot - Almost
I've met lots of Anglos down here - many from the Mid-West, Canada, Nova Scotia, even France. There are all kinds of Latinos - from Spain, South and Central America - native Indians, and lots of Asians and middle eastern looking people; but there is not one black person in this entire area. What's up with that? This is a skinhead's paradise (except for the Mexicans - that could be a problem.) I've never lived in an all white/beige/brown place before.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Typhoid - Running Amok
Who knew people still get typhoid - it is running rampant among the Gringo community down here. Probably due to all the heavy rain and contamination of the water supply. I switched to only drinking bottled water (even brushing my teeth with it) a few weeks ago but it didn't help - I have Typhoid.
I can see why it was such a feared disease in the past - you get very, very sick - you can't keep anything down, you run a fever and generally just feel awful.
I was suppose to house sit last night for a friend who went into the hospital...but the best I could manage was just checking in on her dogs and feeding them. Otherwise, I just came home and crawled into bed. What miserable night. Today, I'm feeling somewhat better, I stocked up on all the recommended medication - there is a one-dose pill you can take which I picked up too.
The only thing you need a prescription for down here are antibiotics and class 3 narcotics, so there is a lot of self-medicating. If the one-dose doesn't work, I'll have to go into the clinic for blood work. Whine................
I can see why it was such a feared disease in the past - you get very, very sick - you can't keep anything down, you run a fever and generally just feel awful.
I was suppose to house sit last night for a friend who went into the hospital...but the best I could manage was just checking in on her dogs and feeding them. Otherwise, I just came home and crawled into bed. What miserable night. Today, I'm feeling somewhat better, I stocked up on all the recommended medication - there is a one-dose pill you can take which I picked up too.
The only thing you need a prescription for down here are antibiotics and class 3 narcotics, so there is a lot of self-medicating. If the one-dose doesn't work, I'll have to go into the clinic for blood work. Whine................
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