Living In A Telenovela (Mexican Soap Opera)

13 Oct

You might have noticed SILENCE from the Tortas since our trip to Alaska in August. Life took such an unexpected turn at the end of our trip that I cannot even begin to explain in one blog. It started in the Vancouver Airport with a moment of inattentiveness. We were catching a red-eye to return to Mexico after disembarking at 8 am. It had been a long day. I didn’t know at the time that I had Covid doing its tap dance in my lungs. I wish that were an excuse. Anyway, someone snatched my cell phone and iPad while I tied up my shoes not three steps away after coming through security.

Home Sweet Home

Not wanting to miss my flight, I returned to Bacalar getting sicker and sicker while some very poor choices on my part became evident. Online security and rampant identity theft have Apple, Google, and Samsung making it harder and harder to get into locked accounts. Google will not even talk to you. No live person to plead your case to. There are “procedures” and I made all the mistakes one can possibly make.

I allowed my iPad to store my secure passwords without writing them down. My two-step verification was to my phone and vice versa. I had NO passwords, No access to any of my accounts. No FB, Instagram, Apple ID, Google, banking accounts. Need I say more?

Then I ended up in the hospital with complications from Covid. And believe it or not, this is only half of the story.

DOS TORTAS

Forgive the stripped down blog. I’m still not back 100%.



If You Want To See Eagles You Have To Look Up

18 Aug

We left Vancouver by ferry for the Sunshine Coast, a favorite Canadian summer haunt. We dropped Alice with a friend from Bacalar to catch up and give Lisa and me a little va-ca.

Lana and my MIL Alice

The Sunshine Coast is more of what I wanted in a vacation to Canada, tall pines and oaks, fiddle ferns and moss, the cathedral of the great outdoors. We watched the tide going in and out from our room on Porpoise Bay, Seychelt, BC. and walked a marsh full of birds (crows, siskin, blue herons, hummers, mallards, geese). I looked up to spot an eagle overhead. At least I think it was an eagle. Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Big ass jelly fish.
A little afternoon snack.
One way to get back to Vancouver
Forest bathing at its finest.
Beauty that brought me to tears.

By the time this posts we’ll be on our Alaska cruise with no WiFi. Then on our way home. Stay tuned.

DOS TORTAS

Vancouver

11 Aug
Great Architecture
A Vibrant Noisy City
Gay Town
Lunch
Chinatown
Steam Clock
High Fashion
Curious Sam Kee Building
Christ Church Cathedral
Old Lamps and Stained Glass
View From Here

We have been blessed with perfect weather. Wednesday we leave for Alaska.

DOS TORTAS

I Wish I Liked Wine

4 Aug

While visiting Sonoma County, California aka wine country USA, it is obligatory, (or so I’ve been told) to imbibe. Almost harvest, the vineyards are buzzing with activity and the vines are weighed down with their fruit.

White, then red, then champagne.
Vineyards everywhere.

We sat outdoors in a beautiful garden and I learned more than I ever wanted to know about what it takes to produce world class wine. I went along for the ride, sipping and sampling. A few weren’t bad.

Almost everyone works in the industry. My daughter’s best friend is of the Kendall-Jackson persuasion. The weather was perfect. Yesterday we went to the coast. Gotta love California.

DOS TORTAS

Greetings to all.

Rainbows And Mermaids

28 Jul

Our granddaughters’ sixth birthday party was one of the most fun events I’ve been to in a long time. My daughter was in her element. I swear she should create parties for a living.

Nana’s calligraphy.

Covid caused a postponement from the original date, but for a “thrown together” shindig it was amazing.

Under the sea.
Rainbow celebration.
Party organizer kicks back.
How the adults get by.
Taken by one of the guests.
A yard made for a party.

Gone are the days of homemade cakes and a small gathering of a few besties. The weather was perfect and a good time was had by all.

DOS TORTAS

Lost In Mexico City

21 Jul

Flying during a worldwide tech glitch, causing one of the worst travel days in history, after 9/11, of course, left much of the world with cancelled flights, ruined plans and much confusion. I must say, Mexico City was pretty chill if you’re going to be stranded with a cancelled flight to San Francisco. I never heard anyone raise their voice, cause a scene or mention a Biden conspiracy. The counter attendants were fabulous. Kudos to United Airline. Their folks worked tirelessly to make lemons into lemonade, all with a smile.

There are some nice restaurants in the airport. I ate well.

After two days of roaming the airport, I remembered it was blog day! No, there was no partying in the City. While I love Mexico City, the uncertainty of my flying future kept me mostly chill-laxing in my hotel room.

Not bad digs for an airport hotel. Compliments of United Airlines.

I finally got a confirmed flight, to Cancun then on to San Francisco. Fingers crossed all goes well. I will be glad to unpack and love on my grandchildren.

DOS TORTAS

Time To Pack Again!

14 Jul

While “unpacking” from Hurricane Beryl we’ve simultaneously been packing for a jaunt to the US and Canada.

This year we celebrated the milestones of Lisa’s sixtieth and her mother’s eightieth birthdays. We have been trying for months to plan a trip that would get us out of the tropical heat and not break the bank.

Alice’s 80th birthday party.

Our house sitter arrives Monday to watch the dogs and manage the house. Lisa and Alice are off to Southern California for a mini family reunion while I head North to visit daughter and family. We meet up in Vancouver for a quick tour before catching a cruise to Alaska.

The twins turned six this week!

When traveling with a frail eighty year old, a moving hotel sounds doable. Escaping the steamy jungle of Southern Mexico for the land of glaciers and whale watching sounds divine.

I may be offline for a while. Remember to stay out of the heat, hydrate and be kind.

DOS TORTAS

Hurricanes Are Exhausting

7 Jul

By the end of the week Lisa and I were spent. Preparing for a hurricane is a lot of damn work, both physical and emotional. We had help from our two workers who dug drainage ditches and filled sandbags. Driving through Bacalar, stores were closed, doorways boarded up and a long line of boats were waiting to be hauled out of the Laguna. Everyone was taking Beryl’s threat very seriously.

“X” marks the spot. Beryl turned North.

In August of 2007 Hurricane Dean made landfall near Bacalar as a category five. Many locals lived through and remember well the damage and months of cleanup. Lisa and I moved to Bacalar in 2013, six years post Dean. The devastation was still a frequent topic of conversation round the ol tequila bottle.

Dean over Bacalar

In 2007 people did not have the predictive technology that we have today. The downside of monitoring the hourly progress of a monster is the tension and stress it brings. Beryl ended up making landfall hours north of us. We got cooler temperatures (yeah) and almost no other storm results.

I’m glad we were as prepared as we could be, but no distraction provided peace of mind while we waited. The day after the “storm” found both of us prostrate with fatigue. We didn’t expect that!

DOS TORTAS

The Storm Before The Storm

1 Jul

Dos Tortas usually makes its appearance early Sunday, but not this week. I had the blog ready to post when I accidentally deleted it. Argh. Today is the first day we’ve had electricity since the weekend and if you haven’t seen the news, we have hurricane Beryl barreling down on us. Too much stress and my mood is less than stellar. So here is a bit of our week in pictures.

Looks scarier than it is. Critters coming in out of the rain.
The storm before the BIG storm.
A waterfall outside the back door.

Needless to say I’m not in the best frame of mind. We will be fine, our house is a concrete bunker and we’ll see you next week. Send good thoughts.

DOS TORTAS

Mexican Driver’s License – Take Two

23 Jun

At the post vacation bus heist in April, Lisa and I got our US driver’s licenses stolen. I told the humorous tale of acquiring my shiny new Mexican license in the May 5 blog. https://theadventuresofdostortas.com/?s=Mexican+driver’s&submit=Search

This week we went to Bacalar to repeat the process for Lisa, only to find a sign posted on the door of the license office. Whenever we assume that we’ve got something, anything figured out in Mexico, we receive the expat slap upside the head. This was no exception.

The license issuance process is in Chetumal until further notice. Note, no location is provided.

Dang, now we had to drive to Chetumal, an hour away, for her to acquire said license. It’s been a stormy few days with flooding in low parts of Chetumal. We took advantage of a lull in the tropical storm to venture out. Prayers were said.

We went to two different government offices before being directed to the right location. With our list of required documents in hand we went to breakfast. After all this was going to be an all day adventure! Girls need pancakes!

Not our favorite place to eat but ok in a pinch.

The documents were the same as what had been required of me in Bacalar. However Lisa had to watch a video and take a written test IN SPANISH with no assistance from me.

Thank god for Google Translate.

Her language skills are not great, but with the help of Goggle Translate she managed to get through the video and written test. The only problem was, she failed the test, oops. Back to watch the video again.

With a smile and a good attitude, much can be accomplished.

Lisa has such a way of charming people. After the second go round the official didn’t even look at her test. With a wink and a hand shake, she passed and we were on to the driving test.

Park between the cones and don’t forgot to put on your directional.

When you’ve been driving for over forty years, it’s hard to have beginners mind. Also we had my car which Lisa had only driven twice before.

Smiling through failure.

Needless to say, she did not pass the driving test either! Truth be told, it was designed to trip her up. I couldn’t have done any better. This time the official wagged a finger at her before signing the form and sending us on our way back across town to pay the fee and print the license.

The face of exhaustion.

We were extremely grateful that the weather held, everyone was so nice and the mission was accomplished. We love Mexico but it is always a head scratch and a test of patience.

DOS TORTAS

Want to learn patience? Move to Mexico.
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