Learning Spanish: Words I Don't Plan to Use

I recently came across a website that you shouldn't go to if it will gross you out. The alternative dictionaries site has two pages of coarse Spanish slang and usually indicates which country or countries the slang is used in.

The link takes you to the page where all the words are listed. I was dismayed to see quite a few words I thought were innocuous on the list, but happily when I read their definitions, few of the ones I checked were used in coarse ways in Mexico.

Here is a sample entry, which I might actually use:

mala semana (adj., fem) (noun, fem.) menstruation note Literally, means "bad week". It is pronounced "MA-la say-MAH-na".

Don't say I didn't warn you.

For actually learning usable Spanish, I continue to be a big fan of Rocket Spanish... the link takes you to their sales page.

A Watercolor by Lake Chapala

When our friends Janet Woodman and Kizzen Laki were here from Colorado back in January, Janet did this watercolor from the malecon in the city of Chapala, looking west along Lake Chapala.

I was going to put it up on the blog then, but somehow it slipped by me. I just now noticed it on my hard drive and said, "Aha!" So here it is.

I sometimes wish I could draw or paint; Janet says she gets a lot of pleasure from it. (She did add that she had people watching her work over her shoulder much of the time in Chapala.) I've even wondered about taking a very interesting intensive art class, given mainly in the winters by local resident Karl Barnhardt, teaching you to draw no matter what you know to start. In just a week! But then I thought, I don't have time for all the writing I want to do, better stick to what I already do. At least for now.

Living in Mexico: I Did an Online Interview

Recently I did an online interview about living in Mexico. I just wrote answers to a variety of questions. Here is the link:

http://mexicorealestateinvestment.org/2008/06/16/interview-with-rosana-hart-author-of-mexico-with-heart/

It's a website about real estate investing in Mexico, done with a lot more thought than you typically see in that field, it seemed to me. You might want to look around a little while you are there!

At a Mexican Baby Shower

Yesterday I  had the opportunity to go to a baby shower for a young Mexican woman I know. The printed invitations requested punctuality, so I turned up at 4:15 for a 4 PM event and was still the first guest to arrive. The pregnant woman wasn't there yet, as it was a surprise for her, though when she and her husband arrived, she didn't seem astonished. Maybe a hint had leaked out.

I wonder if all Mexican baby showers are so much fun... I think that the sister-in-law who organized this one has quite a talent for it. Maybe some of the things we did are commonly done; I have no idea!

When we arrived, a name tag sort of thing was pinned on our clothing and it was explained that if you saw someone crossing her arms or legs, you could take the tag off and pin it on yourself. There would be a prize at the end for whoever had the most. I was pretty diligent but habits are habits, and soon I lost my tag. A few minutes later, one of the young Mexican women caught my eye and significantly nodded toward the woman sitting on the other side of me. Sure enough, her arms were crossed, so I gained a tag back -- only to lose it an hour later in an unguarded moment. Two women were very good at spotting people and soon were festooned with tags all over their blouses.

Before the mother-to-be arrived, some 20 or 25 other women did (along with a bunch of babies and small children), and we were issued blown-up balloons and instructed to put them under our clothing to simulate pregnancy. We wore these for the entire party, in solidarity I suppose. The party was outside under a large canopy, at the home of the grandparents-to-be. A few drops of rain didn't bother anyone, and all the brightly wrapped gifts were on a table set up safely away from rain. 

Once the guest of honor arrived and had been greeted warmly, we played another game. I was chosen to be one of three women sitting in chairs, in a row. Three other women were blindfolded, brought over, and handed unopened jars of baby food and spoons. Getting the drift, I said to the blindfolded woman standing in front of me, "Eres tu mi mama?" That gave her a chance to hone in on where I, her baby, was. At a signal, they opened their jars and started feeding their "babies." She and I won that game hands down. She could sure spoon it out of the jar fast and skillfully. Only a little went up my nose or onto my blouse, and I gobbled up the rest fast. If I had been the mother, no way would we have won! We each got a kitchen spoon as prize.

After a rousing game of musical chairs won by another gringa to her surprise, rolls of toilet paper made their way around the tables. We were each to take the length that we guessed would go around the pregnant belly of the mother-to-be. Almost all of us guessed too long, but two women tied for the prize of some plastic glasses, so it was divided between them.

There were more games, all of this accompanied by lots of jolly conversation and laughter. I really enjoyed being there, being included. I knew few of the women, but it didn't matter. I joked and chatted with the ones near me, but when a group of Mexican women get into rapid, joking repartee, I only understand a word now and then! I had the chance to chat quite a lot with a sweet young woman with a baby and a four-year-old, as she was the second guest to arrive. Her husband is working in Canada, on a program organized in Chapala, and she is hoping to join him with the children.

There had been snacks on the table all along, and then food was brought out -- plates of tortillas with pasta and sausage in a mayonnaise sauce piled on them. I had a little, and as it was approaching 7 PM by now, I decided to get out before the presents began being opened, which seemed likely to be a lengthy affair, as it was to involve guessing what the things were... we had already provided written clues. There was also something on the wall that looked liked a version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" was in the works. So I said my goodbyes and thanks, removed the balloon from under my blouse, and was given the little memento you see.

As I walked home, I thought about all the different women who had gathered together. Young, middle-aged, and beyond. Slender, medium, and large. Quiet and lively. Mexican and American. Mothers and not. There's a saying here, "Cada cabeza un mundo," or "Every head a world." I had really felt that, and also the sense of connection that was palpable at times, from the fact of being women together, celebrating a woman's event.

Home Exchange Program Offers Glimpses Into Expat Life in Mexico

A while back, I got an email from the folks at Mexico Hospitality, a new service starting up all over Mexico.

It sounds like a great way for people anywhere to exchange homes. I poked around the Lake Chapala section of the site, where homeowners have signed up. I knew several of the people. You can sign up to offer hospitality to people when you are still at home, to exchange homes, or both. Very little money changes hands, just a suggested donation to homeowners.

Interesting Even If You Wouldn't Do It

We won't sign up for a couple of reasons. We don't have much of a guest space... I doubt that our vintage Toyota motorhome, guest quarters for family and close friends, can compare with the charming spaces you'll see on the site. And I'm not keen on the idea of people I don't know swapping with us, where the various quirks of our dogs and cats might not get the level of attention I give them! Letting strangers into the house while we go to theirs wouldn't bother me at all, though... it's just the pets! The site explains how it all works in a most reassuring way, and it's up to you to communicate with the other people before deciding anything.

But apart from all that, I think the site is really very interesting if you are thinking of living in Mexico, or specifically retiring to Mexico, because you get a real "slice of life" feeling from what the various expats write. Most have pets. Most are busy. Most have lovely homes, you can tell from the photos. And who knows? There might just be a perfect exchange that would turn up! If that happens, please come back and post a comment.

Some Bad Luck Brings Out The Characteristic Kindness in Mexicans

Recently my friend Suzanne Forrest, who lives in Ajijic, had quite an adventure when she went to the charming mountain town of Tapalpa. Here it is in her words, with her permission:

Do you remember the old rhyme that starts "for want of a nail, the shoe was lost?'"  Well, the last time I had my car serviced the mechanic put in the wrong size oil filter and that was the cause of all that happened next..

Last week I drove several friends from my Mexican Train group to Tapalpa for a little outing. We stayed in a lovely brand new cabana built to rent to vacationers from Guadalajara, Colima etc. The second day of our visit while we were touring around the area my car hit a rock in the road and began losing oil. It turned out that the oil filter had been knocked off.

We were in the middle of nowhere and none of us had a cell phone!  Well--don't let that happen to you. It is the first lesson I learned from this experience. But we were amazingly lucky that a police car just happened to come down the road. The policeman radioed for a mechanic but the only one in Tapalpa said he couldn't help us for a number of hours. So the policeman, and later his commandante, who he radioed for help, figured out the problem and took one of my friends into town to buy a replacement oil filter and oil to refill the tank. Then the police replaced the filter and accompanied us back to town to see that we were all right.

The next day, however, when we went out in the car, the new oil filter fell off and again we lost our oil! This time the owner of the cabana came to our aid with some of his friends and they discovered that a large bolt that attached the oil filter to the motor was broken. Later the mechanic told us that it was because the oil filter that the mechanic in Ajijic had put on was too big that it broke when I hit the rock.

Anyway, Carlos Barba, the owner of the vacation cabanas, spent hours trying to find a replacement for this part. Since we knew it would be days before  the car would be fixed, three of our group made arrangements for a driver to come down to Tapalpa to pick them up. One friend and I stayed behind.  The next day when Carlos arrived to tell us the status of my car, I was so eager to greet him that I fell over the rockers of a rocking chair and broke my shoulder.

So then this poor guy had to get an ambulance for me. I must report that the little village of Tapalpa not only had an ambulance, but paramedics who stabilized my arm, got me onto a stretcher, and drove my friend and me to the hospital in Guadalajara--and didn't charge us a peso!  So if that isn't a testimony to the kindness and wonderful care one can find in Mexico I don't know what is. And I know some beautiful vacation cabanas with a very obliging owner if anyone is interested. They are Cabañas del Pastor in Tapalpa, Mexico. The proprietor is Carlos Barba. His cel phone is 333-189-2675.

Walls and Birds in Riberas Del Pilar

Riberas del Pilar is in between San Antonio Tlayacapan and Chapala, and between Lake Chapala and the two-lane lakeside highway or carretera. It's a rather suburban type area, in that it has no central plaza, nor is it densely built up. The homes there are often on larger pieces of land than you'll find elsewhere. I know quite a few people who live there, and the church I go to -- St. Andrew's Anglican -- is located there. So we get over that way quite often.

One Sunday recently, we were there together and Kelly went for a walk while I was at church. First, here are a couple of walls he photographed. He was attracted to the texture of the red one. It had been plastered over something, rocks maybe, but he wasn't sure what. Notice the mural on the second one.

 

He wandered down by the lake and got these photos. Herons or egrets? Kelly thinks egrets but isn't sure. If you know, please comment. Whatever they are, these two photos below  are now up in our kitchen rotating art gallery.

Above and Below San Juan Cosala

A longtime professional photography and videographer, Kelly loves to roam around with his camera, a Canon S5IS Powershot. Here are pictures from two different walks he took from our home in San Juan Cosala.

Last September, the mountains above the town were hit by a huge amount of water in the form of incredibly heavy rain, a waterspout or tromba of water from nearby Lake Chapala. Here, our friend Jack picks his way through a much changed landscape in one of the arroyos in the mountains.

Another day, Kelly caught this action along the lake shore.