Apr 27 2009
chanchito, puerco, cerdo, cochina, porcino
Filed under Mexico by Mamahops
We’re coming off almost a month of family visits and had such a lovely time with everyone. That said, February was the last time our family was together and we’re now enjoying being a family once again and letting the emotions out from the loss of Jamie’s mom. I must owe a gazillion to the therapy jar as a few days ago Sissy revealed she had no idea her grandmother had died. How she didn’t know but the other 3 did know, I have no idea. She also seems to have completely gotten over her intense need to be connected to Jamie since his absence and happily sleeps in the (previously) boys’ room and no longer needs to know where Jamie is at every moment of the day. He is both happy that she’s found independence but also worried that she’s masking anger or something for his leaving. So, more funds to the therapy jar.
Did someone mention something about sickness? We sure do have lots of ways to say “pig” in Mexico. We’re riding out the storm of flu worries and hoping for the best.
Pandemic Booklet put out by SF folks…
Flu Wiki with links to news articles
Idaho’s Pandemic page
WHO’s swine flu page
Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the ground in DF tweets
Biosurveilance blog
Cold and flu treatment
It was a weird Sunday yesterday. Normally this is the day that most Mexican families are out grocery shopping but many of the Chedraui shelves were weirdly empty (NO canned salsa to be found anywhere) and I ended up at WalMart for whole wheat flour. I’ve never been a big believer in the 3-month supply of food adage, as food spoils so incredibly easily down here, but we now have lots of rice, beans, pasta, pet food, canned salsas
, rajas, and tomato sauces. With 2 kids and Jamie down with headaches, sore throats, fever, tiredness and nausea I’m hoping for a weird virus or mild cases of something. Crossing fingers and hoping QRoo really does have more than 120 doses of Tamiflu. I’m guessing that the death toll in Mexico is exaggerated only in reference to the number of cases. Either the deaths are higher due to non-swine flu deaths or the actual number of cases are much much higher (I read somewhere something in the 100K range) and as such, the death toll relatively low. What we’re preparing for is not a deadly disease but if this flu becomes pandemic, I expect that supplies will be especially low here at the bottom of the country and there will be fewer people well enough to move supplies around. So we’re stocking up and crossing our fingers along with the rest of the world.
Diesel doesn’t count. Get up at dawn. Somehow manage to get back to sleep without tossing and turning and staring at white walls. Enjoy a lovely breakfast and cawfee. Get stuff together for trip. Wake sleepyheads. Drive 2 hours to Valladolid. Drive to Convent San Bernardino de Siena. Brush off the small children selling mamey and asking for money. Tour the convent with a very knowledgeable and relaxed guide who asks for $10MN per adult. Give him $100MN after spending a good 30-45 minutes touring the convent and listening to history. Pile in the car and head to the town center and settle in for a sumptious lunch of conchita pibil, puc choc w/refried beans and small salad, escabeche, 2 tortas (jamon con queso) with sides of refried beans and papas fritas, one order of beef steak with papas on the side, 3 salads, 3 pitchers of freshly made limonada and watermellon juice, and a coffee. Pay $760MN which includes a $100MN tip. Sit and enjoy a luxurious lunch while the kids swim in the restaurant pool. Head 3 blocks to cenote and swim in the cenote or get bit by red ants. Tough choice. Pay $85MN entrance fee for all 7. On the way home, get ice cream for 7 and have money left over. You still haven’t spent your $100USD. As a matter of fact, you have a LOT left over.
It has been eleventy-six kinds of crazy-craziness around here lately. Jamie gone, Jesse gone, homeschooling, studying, doing laundry by hand, cooking, cleaning, exercising, and the endless dentist appointments. But we love our dentist. So, pretty much just bullet points.
I am lucky enough to be saddled with a mate who not only appreciates but excels in black humour. The day he and Jesse left we were getting ready for our exercise walk and I, un-coffeed, was in a somewhat, well, shall we say, “less than chipper” mood, remarked that he would have to keep his mom going strong until April. It would just be too cold to go back now. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the cold there, so he was just going to have to keep her alive and kicking until it warmed up enough for a funeral we would be able to attend. He agreed, there was just no way I was going out now. Too Damn Cold.
So, I have surprisingly become an early-mroning person. Why, you ask yourself, would a perfectly sane person swap night-owl status for early-morning status? A good question, I would answer because early-morning is quite simply an absolutely INSANE time to be awake! All the sane people are still sleeping at o’dark-30 and only masochists get up before noon. Hey, I agree wholeheartedly. But for some strange reason, my kids seem to think that a whining puppy is cause for immediate action and cause emergent to wake everyone peacefully sleeping. So, I get up. What is this “puppy” that I speak of? A Canadian family here is raising hypoallergenic, non-allergic puppies for sale. This is apparently a cross between a Maltese and a Yorkshire Terrier. The result is a “Yorkie”. On Valentine’s Day, they decided to gift us a puppy and we’re still reeling from the shock. Everyone LOVES puppy-wuppy, but no surprise to anyone but me, he is a bit more work than a kid.