Monthly Archives: September 2016

This year, when I woke on my 32nd birthday, I found that my husband had left me.  The good news was that I found him again in the living room.  He had woken up early and snuck out to buy me fresh flowers.  The flowers were beautiful, but he looked a little tired.  Apparently it’s hard to buy fresh flowers this time of the year at such an early hour and he’d had to walk clear across town to buy them.  How spoiled am I?

So he’d already earned brownie points, big time, but he took me out for breakfast never-the-less to my favorite breakfast joint.  The Waffle House has a huge selection of excellent waffles and pancakes, as well as many other more local items.  My day was already going great, but it got even better as I filled my belly with a mango smoothie and a heaping stack of chocolate pancakes (with fresh strawberries)!

Still, things were about to get even better.  Our landlords went out of town and asked us to house-sit for them.  They live in a huge house with a pool and have a six-month old Great Dane Puppy!  Not only did we upgrade, but I got a week’s worth of play dates out of the deal to boot, and it wasn’t even noon.

 

My good fortune continued into the afternoon when, for the first time since we moved to Ajijic, Ryan accompanied me to bingo.  He’s not a big fan, but he’s a great sport!   I got two free bingo packages out of the deal–1) because I brought a guest, and 2) because it was my birthday!

This year I had two birthday dinner celebrations.  The first had taken place the previous weekend.  My friend Jane’s birthday is the day before mine (on September 26th) and we got a group together and met at La Mision to celebrate.  They served excellent sangrias and surprised us with a birthday treat.  Then Jane and Frank and Andrea surprised me with gifts.  They spoiled me rotten!

My second birthday dinner took place after bingo on my birthday.  Ryan took me to eat at my favorite seafood restaurant in Chapala.  Cozumel has endless margaritas and excellent coconut shrimp.  After dinner, we wandered along the Chapala malecon and checked out the carnival rides.  This was the way we had had our first date (more than six years ago) and it brought back wonderful memories, as well as making new ones.  Thank you Ryan.  You are the best!

For me, there has never been anything quite as attractive as a sleek-coated, long-legged steed.  Aside from guys with Australian accents, horses are definitely my biggest weakness.  Going to a jumping show is like taking me to a candy store.  My friend Cheryl is the same way, although I can’t speak for her interest in Australians.

The day I jumped in the car with Cheryl and her husband Billy was an absolutely beautiful day and I enjoyed talking to them on the drive into Guadalajara.  My car had been broken for a while which really put a damper in my weekly riding plans with Cheryl and Jane.  We had a lot to catch up on.

When we arrived at the event, the facility blew my mind.  It was huge!  There were at least three large outdoor show arenas and two separate covered areas.  The stables were enormous.  There was a restaurant and a store.  Vendors were lined up and selling high quality riding gear.  The scene took my breath away.

But that was nothing compared to the horses.  Can I just say, “Wow!”  They were tall and debonair with braided manes, slick saddles, and wraps that wound around their long legs.  When they weren’t competing, they strutted around with their necks flexed and their tails swishing.  They had names like Papillon, Chintano, and Al Cett.

When they were jumping, I couldn’t take my eyes off their rippling muscles and their trailing tails.  They flew over those jumps like they were weightless.  There was nothing but one beautiful horse after another.  It was like I’d died and gone to heaven.

At the end of the day–after hours of ogling on my part–the winners were announced.  The horses were happy to get their goodies and they looked so pretty in their ribbons!  What a fun day.  Thank you Cheryl and Billy for letting me tag along!!!

Every September Ajijic celebrates the Globo Regatta to launch their week-long Independence Day festivities.  Ryan and I were told (by many people) that this was one event we did not want to miss.  Luckily we took their advice.  The regatta was a great event and as we had expected, it was well attended.  Both locals and ex-pats gathered in the “football” stadium on a beautiful Saturday afternoon with high hopes of having a good time.

As I understand it, many businesses sponsored a globo.  They were (usually) made out of tissue paper by someone who knew what they were doing.  While the event was scheduled to begin at 3 pm, it didn’t really get going until hours later.  I think one of the reasons for this delay may have been that a lot of the globos were made on sight.  While some of the globo sponsors were easy to identify, others remained more of a mystery.

Over the course of many hours, we all watched as these colorful globos were made (in some cases), filled, and then FINALLY launched.  Most of them flew, but many (especially the larger ones) burned up in mid-flight.  It was very exciting and we always had to be on the look-out for bits of burning paper to come crashing down on our heads.  The remaining burning particles of one unfortunate globo almost hit a power line!  Another landed in a tree.  All the while, young local boys were having a great time acting as “bomberitos.”  They would locate a crashed globo and make sure it wasn’t a fire hazard.  Between them and the strategically timed rainy season, everything seemed to remain under control.

Ryan and I left before dark but I’m sure that if we had stayed, things would have really taken off.  That seems to be the way things work.  Call us party poopers, but we were hot and tired and we’d been there since three.  All in all, it was a fun event that certainly kept us on our toes.