Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Around Chacala: Plants, a Parade, and Kids.

Well, I organized up the last of my give-away plants first thing this morning. The verande looks pretty empty. And the town water came on, so I could hose off the veranda. The solar 6V system that runs the water pump for this house has been out since I came back from San Miguel de Allende. It's not likely to get fixed before the owner returns, so I am making do with buckets of town water for the toilet and sink and my showers. And I water the plants and hose things down when the town water runs. And do my laundry. Works okay.Dona Lupe showed up with a wheelbarrow first thing this morning. A heavy, old steel wheel that she wheeled from the other end of the beach road. I told her I would get someone with a truck to bring the plants down, but here she was, at 9:00am. It turned out she had another agenda.
"Borrowing" 100 peso for her electric bill. Borrowing seems to have a different meaning in Chacla. As in "gift". And now I understand why she insisted on cleaning the porch and veranda yesterday. It seemed a little strange, but I thought maybe it was in return for the plants.

Anyway, we loaded up the wheelbarrow with her plants and the ones for Socorro, and headed out. On the way home I delibrately took a look at all the plants I have given to people around town since I moved here. It made me feel like all of Chacala is part of my garden, since plants that were once mine are in alot of yards. I love it. It makes me feel more part of things.
One person I am giving plants to this week is Gracia. Actually for the first time. I looked at her yard as I walked by, and noticed, really for the first time, what a nice job she had done with a couple of the small, shady corners at her home.I also stopped at the fish market, where I don't have any plants. It's one of the kind of the guys' hangouts in Chacala. The other being the steps of Jorge's Deposito/Beer/Ice cream/telephone store. This is Alonzo or Alvaro's brother. Can't remember which, chunking up some fish.Today was Day 2 of 9 on the countdown to San Rafael's Day. The walk, the Perenigricione, began in was is now called the Barrio Maria Islas. At least by its residents. It's the area around the street that runs from the Primaria schoolyard to where it ends at the paved road. This is something new in Chacala, as far as I know. Having a neighborhood with a name, I mean.I have thought it might be a reaction to there now being four gringo houses at the far end of the road, plus the entrance to the gated community. That might just my weird thinking though. Nobody said anything like that.The group was much larger tonight, maybe 75 people, and more energy. No band, but lots of strong singing.The Padre won't be back til next Tuesday, I think. For the Missa. It was very fun and high energy. And much cooler in the evening shade. The fireworks were very loud, and led the way.Then three of the men, Gabi, Cundo, and....maybe Reuben (?) carried the San Rafael banner. Yesterday the women carried it. I don't know if there is any significance to who carries the Banner. or if they ever have co-ed teams doing the carrying. Or kids maybe.

2 comments:

LostRoses said...

Andee, I think you're the Johnny Appleseed of Chacala, only of plants, not apple trees! Imagine seeing "your" plants in so many spots around the area, I think that's a great idea.

Oh, gosh I see in another post you said you were out of fiction books, how do you remedy that? Is there a place you can go locally to get more English fiction? Or do you have to go to Puerto Vallarta?

Andee said...

Hi, I really like sharing plants and visiting them later (hoping they are being taken care of).

This town, Chacala, has a exchange/sell books in English area upstairs at the Bibliotecha, where the computer lab is. I hardly ever use it because the new books only come in, via tourists, from mid-December thru early March.
There are bookstores that exchange and sell used English books in Puerto Vallarta (Pages in the Sun) in Old town, and in Brucerias and now Sayulita. And people bring down and leave me books sometimes. Having reduced access to reading material has been good for me. I have always escaped into the book world, and it's harder to do that now, and it's probably a better life for me.