February 2015 - This and That

A small house across from the temple added to the side of their house and opened up for business selling roasted chicken.  

Newly painted sign for Plancha Lux.  They wash and iron shirts.

We go to Ofelia's shop to get our hair cut.  She has a great laugh and answers our many questions about recipes or customs or traveling or whatever else comes to mind.

This car is curiously and dangerously jacked up and parked on a slope.

We go Home Teaching to the Guiterrez Family who live in this apartment building.

February update on our banana tree. 

Iliana made us a delicious "sandwichon."  

She said it was very easy to make so we asked for the recipe.  

The instructions that she sent us filled two full typed pages!  

Not quite our idea of "simple."

A Tampico Hardware Store

Folks wait in line for service at this hardware store.

It has a great but dusty selection of items. 

We were after clothes line wire since one of our 5 wires broke.

We brought a piece of the broken wire to match it with the other lines.

She asked why we would want to use that particular kind of expensive wire 

when another kind of wire would work equally well.

We took her advice and got the cheaper wire to restring all 5 cables. 

We can see why people wait in line for the service available here.

No Hard Hats Here!

We walked by the clinic construction site again and they had received another shipment of styrofoam blocks and Paul asked why they used them.

We were invited to walk inside the building under construction to see for ourselves.  They slice the styrofoam and use wire nets to keep them in place in the ceiling overhead where the stryrofoam and cement made a distinct pattern.  The workmen said the ceiling isn’t so heavy when stryrofoam replaces the cement.  True.  They think it is still sturdy without so much cement.

 We didn't need to wear hard hats and no one seemed to care that we were wandering around the construction zone

Laguna de Champayán - Alta Mira

We rode the local bus for about 40 minutes to Alta Mira and asked directions on how to get to the laguna.  The traffic was so tight in the streets that walking made more sense than taking a taxi though we didn't know where we were going.  When a girl assured us it was only 3 or 4 blocks away, we made our way to the laguna.  Some workmen were developing an area to have nice paths and plants.

We walked around to the head of the laguna and there was a park with playground equipment and several people enjoying the sunshine or the shade.

We walked by a concession stand with boats in the water in front. We discovered an aviary and it was well kept and had some fancy birds inside including peacocks, a parrot and several white birds with fancy head dresses.

As I was trying to take a photo between the wires of a tight screen, a man working close by noticed us and opened the door so I could get a better shot of the parrot and the baby crocodile that was about 18 inches long. He said this little critter would grow to be about 10 feet long.  I asked where the crocodile came from and he said “la laguna.” He said the laguna was full of crocodiles.

Paul asked about the boats and this guy said to ask and they might take us out in one of them.  We went back and paid our 30 pesos each to ride in the boat

We thought we would have the boat to ourselves until 4 young adults arrived. They were happy and fun.. The driver jumped in and away we went on about a 30 minute ride around the islands in the laguna. The boat driver said there weren't many crocodiles in the laguna, the water was about 2 meters deep and it goes like for about 5 to 10 miles.  We loved slowly moving along and seeing the water and wildlife and feeling the wind in our hair.

The Clinic is Up to Two Floors

 January 8, 2015
We have no idea how or why they would use so many styrofoam blocks.
This photo shows only a small fraction of the blocks piled and ready to use.

January 16, 2015
The cement truck came with its big boom to pour the layer
that will be the floor of the second story.

January 16, 2015
The many workers while the cement was being poured. 

January 19, 2015
Beginning the second story walls.

January 20, 2015
This guy walks up and down the ramp all day long
to deliver the blocks to those building the walls.

January 23, 2015
They are continually getting massive deliveries of cinder blocks.

February 2, 2015
The man is still packing his cinder blocks.

February 2, 2015
The walls for the second floor are in place.