Cookies, milk, and housepainting
01 December 2011 | Colimilla/Barra de Navidad
Gabriellas G-Pa
Now that the car is here in the Barra area I unloaded the school paint and then unloaded Enriques' paint and my sprayer. My car is now sitting properly and not hugging the ground. Painting the exterior of Enriques' house is one of my more dangerous endeavors. It's 2 stories and the ground around it is dirt, gravel, and uneven concrete. It sits on a hill so steep that I still drag the bottom of my car(empty) when turning into his street. Painting his house was a real study into the color preferences of different cultures. I provided the premium paint from the US and picked the colors. If they had their way it would look like any other Tienda or school in Mexico, but now looks like a classy gringo dwelling....mind you, there are expensive homes in the neighborhood that have nice colors and that are owned by gringos. Bottom line, they really love the paint job and now for some reason, I'm helping him paint the interior....just lining in the ceiling and difficult line work....he's doing all the rolling....and of course, I didn't pick the colors, sooooo.
There's a couple of interesting looking (menus) restaurants that just opened in the Barra area and I will have to wait until after payday to experience them...looking forward to that. Raised anchor and motored over to Melaque to clean the bottom of the boat in clear water and spend the night. Well the water was a little clearer and quite disappointing and the swells were coming around the corner into the anchorage. So after a refreshing swim/cleaning the bottom, I motored back to the Barra lagoon and anchored in the familiar brown and flat water. Maria and Enrique (Yoanas' mom and dad) hosted the first video chat between the school in Colimilla and my Gabriellas school in Rancho Cordova. It's not easy finding reliable internet where the kids can conveniently march to from their schoolgrounds. I got up early and baked 2 batches of toolhouse cookies(a little alteration in the recipe) and loaded up the laptop and speakers and marched UP the hill to Enriques' house. The kids really cut it short on time getting there but it turned out OK because Gabriellas class was a few minutes late coming online. It was another enjoyable experience that everyone(and I think Mr. Joyce a little more) enjoyed. There was this one boy in the school here that asked me to give his mom a cookie. His mom owns a local lunch type restaurant/taco place that I frequent. She just had a baby(3months ago) that I get to play with and get my baby fix. Anyway, I took the leftover cookies for her and a few others to enjoy.....they did not believe me when I said that I baked them. The pic is in front of Enriques house....Maria and Enrique is Yoanas mom and dad....Yoana has been my interpreter for the last four years.