Rainy Season is upon us! [with Pix!]

I know you've been wondering "Where's the weather report" so here it is!

May (and sometimes April and June, too) is our rainy season here in San Miguel.  And it hasn't disappointed this year.  At first we really knew it was here because we got the dregs of Hurricane Christina from off the western coast of Mexico.  Lots of thunder and lightning - it sounded as if Peter Stuyvesant's crew was at nine pins again.  Rolling thunder and appropriate flashes of lightning, some rather close judging from the CRASHES we both heard and saw simultaneously!

After a few days the rain cleared out, sunshine in abundance was again present, and we could sleep through the night - except for the heat.  Out came the fan!  Gotta say that for the altitude:  when it's sunny you know it.  Walking into town we almost always head for the shady side of the street, unless it's already crowded with other folks walking.  If it's too crowded we put up with a bit of sun.

Never noticed a place where there was so much difference between sun and shade.  It may be quite hot in the sun, but you walk into a shady patch and it's instantly cooler.  Guess the sun doesn't heat up the atmosphere easily, just what it falls upon.  [Note to self - Think about shade for the roof-top terrace, especially over the master bedroom....]

But it was obvious the rainy season was really upon us when it began to rain again.  This time it was daily and mostly later afternoon and evening.  There were a few days when it really poured for most of each day but it's now settled into the more traditional pattern.

Michael mentioned that the city workers were out in force a couple of days ago after a particularly long rain, scooping up the mud that had flowed down the libramiento and settled in the glorieta, making traffic rather dicey.

The house is holding up to the onslaught pretty well.  What should you expect from a concrete house?  Only leaks wherever there's an opening!  If the winds blow from the west there is a certain amount of water that's blown under the threshold of the roof-top door that drips down the stairs.  We have one of those cute stuffed fabric snakes to cure that, but there's sometimes a bit of leakage from around the windows surrounding the door.  Guess it's time to get a new tube of silicone from Mega and attack those panes.  At least we don't have the leaking skylights like our first house (which we stopped leaking into our computer room with said tube of silicone).

One of the members of our Wednesday morning koffee klatch is looking after a house and renting it out for a friend.  Since he's an American he's tackling the leaking skylight/windows problems himself.  If you landlord were Mexican, the renter would be fixing it himself; it's as if you owned the house.  The only time we called a landlord was with the house before this one (it was recently built) and we let the landlord know when the water heater leaked into the walls.  Otherwise, we fix things ourselves or call a maintenance guy.   Julian is our friend!

Our first house has recently come up on the market at a reasonable price.  I would have tried to work out something with the owner if it only had a garden for the dogs.  Heck, we would have stayed there if it had the garden.  That was the primary reason we moved away - and the band next door who practiced and practiced and practiced!  Maybe they're better by now - or moved away.

The more usual pattern of rainfall does make it easy to fall asleep to the gentle patter of raindrops - though I do miss some of the thunder and lightning.  The dogs do not agree....

Addendum --  Yesterday (June 30th) we had a storm that was pretty strong where we live, but even more rain was dumped in Centro.  Here are some pictures that were published on Facebook.  The first is of rainwater cascading down the steps at one corner of the Jardin (the central garden stop in Centro, opposite the Parrochia church);  the Jardin is level at the Parrochia side but, like most things in San Miguel, is built on a hill; the second picture is of the corner opposite those steps where the local (and only) Starbucks is located. We frequently are seated in the window to the left of the waders.

Next time - our new estufa de piso -- that's 'range' to you!

The Path Between the Seas

I guess I forgot to write a trip report on our Panama Canal cruise; oops!   Well, we went on a Panama Canal cruise with Disney (who else?).  Started with an overnight stay at the Courtyard by Marriott which is attached to the Mexico City airport (Benito Juarez).  There's nothing like getting a good night's rest before an early morning check-in.  There's an elevated walkway between the hotel and the terminals; all quite civilized.

A fairly uneventful flight to Miami - if you don't count the jocks who decided to sit in our exit row (without paying the extra fee, thank you).  After arrival in Miami and going through the Immigration and Customs formalities, we made our way out to the curb and flagged down the hotel's shuttle.  Checked in at the Crowne Plaza, ate dinner there (they were at least trying...), and crashed.  We had faxed the hotel about an early shuttle to the Port of Miami, but the concierge person went missing, so we went outside and took a taxi.  Actually, two taxis were fighting over who would take us to the Port.  Not sure the right one won, but we got there pretty quickly and were dropped off somewhat near the proper place.

The cruise itself was just fine.  We met up with some folks from the cruise's Facebook page and chatter away while waiting for the terminal to open - then full speed ahead to check-in.  Missed the chance to upgrade from the depths of the ship to something with a balcony by about 5 people in line.  However, it turns out our cabin was fine: same size, still had two small portholes for daylight, and the first floor was close to the entrance/exit for shore excursions!

Speaking of shore excursions we got off in Key West and went hunting for a particular sandal shop. Found the shop, got the sandals (we wear them around the house a lot), and then decided to walk to the point furthest south in the United States.  Did I mention that it was hot and humid?  Well, we finally reached the place, took some pix, and walked back into downtown and to the ship to cool off.

The other shore excursion we enjoyed was in Cartegena, Columbia.  We'd gone on Segway excursions before at WDW, DLR, and in Nassau, but I had grown too old for the ones provided by the cruise line.  One of our fellow cruisers had found a place in downtown Cartegena that had no age limit, so we booked a tour with them.  It was a gas!  Not only did we zip around to all the interesting points in downtown, surprising a few pedestrians on the way, but we zipped around on top of the old city walls!  Once on top of the walls it was a simple matter to navigate, but getting up on top of the walls was a challenge.  The ramps were short and quite steep.  To get the Segways up the ramp, we had to increase our speed by leaning forward -- to the point that I felt like I was going to skin my nose!  I'll skip ramps in the future!!!

The Canal itself was interesting.  Disney had brought a former pilot on board to talk about the history and working the Canal each day leading up to the transit.  Thought it might be boring, but no way!  Great fun.

Before we reached San Diego the ship stopped in Puerto Vallarta and Cabos San Lucas.  Visited our favorite beach in PV; our resort in Cabo.

Then it was time to disembark in San Diego.  We were going to walk to the Amtrak station, but decided to take a taxi instead (time was short).  Rode the train to Anaheim and taxied to our hotel.  Zipped over to Disneyland and met up with our first group of friends (we hadn't seen one of them in four years since we left SoCal).  Then met up with some Club members at 1901 (one of the Platinum members walked us into the lounge), re-met our earlier friends for dinner and finally went back to the hotel.  The next day we met another friend for dinner at Carthay Circle; it was yummy.  Then we headed back to the hotel to pack and be ready for the ride to LAX for our flight to Mexico City.  We didn't go to the Club because it's being extensively renovated to enlarge the kitchen and add an additional lounge in Disneyland.  Slated to open July 18th - six months after it closed (we were expected to pay the entire year's dues, of course).

Once we made it home (flight to Mexico City, bus to San Miguel) we said hello to the dogs and fell into bed.  A successful trip, if a bit harried at times.  Our airline back home had called before we left San Miguel to tell us that they had cancelled the flight for our return.  They suggested that we take their flight the next day but weren't willing to foot the bill for an additional night's stay at the hotel, so we cancelled with them and booked another flight on a competing airline.  Unfortunately, no one else was flying on the day that we wanted to return, so our 3-day vacation turned into a day-and-a-half!

But it was still good!