The above photo is of me not getting the car in reverse when it is really important to do so. A Samurai-built Mexican lifted up on the car as I was gunning it in reverse and it plopped back over the curb. Nothing damaged but my pride. Had a nice Christmas dinner at the Sands hotel. Susan, I baked a traditional double crust apple pie using granny smith apples and it turned out to be fabulous. All the food was great...it always amazes me that the cruisers can put together such an array of tastes on their boats. It was a nice relaxing day off right in the middle of my school paint work. Speaking of which also turned out just right. It was so nice to greet the kids in the morning and wait for the Maestra to show up from her commute from Manzanillo. The kids were peering through the windows because I refused to let them in until the Maestra showed. We tricked out the school completely, including the tile floors and G I'ing the banos. We washed all the windows, fans and cleaned everything that wasn't painted. When I say 'we', it was with the great help of Jim on Murray Grey, Tom and Barbara on Hooligan, Rob and Stephanie on Red Witch, Steve on Magic, and a cruiser on L'Ange. It was nice to get all that help. I posted a lot of pictures in the gallery of the school and of the Christmas potluck. Tomorrow, Tom and Barbara and I will drive to Guadalajara to see the city and stop at Costco...I'm out of Jelly-Bellys. Then Saturday I will cruise on over to Tenacatita for a couple of days to clean the bottom of my boat and maybe Toms boat. Then later in the week I will head south to Zihuatanejo and maybe further south. I think this will end my era of volunteerism as it just costs too much in dinero and time. I'm getting too old and would like to be a full time cruiser for the few healthy years that I have left.

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Enriques house is finished and there are boats starting to fill up the parking lot here in the Barra lagoon. This morning I started to do my volunteer job at the elementary school. Jim on the boat Murray Grey came up to help and we got off to a good start......then....whack.....the back of my middle finger got sliced open. I was on the step ladder pulling tape and leftover decorations off the ceiling when I went after a piece of tape and didn't notice the ceiling fan was close. On top of that, the blades are rusty and dirty and sharp metal......not the composite ones we have at home. So I went up the hill to the local Salud (health clinic) and a sweet young doctor who was very pleasant on the eyes took me into her care. She did a fine job cleaning putting that iodine stuff in there. She put a butterfly patch on and told me I had to go to the Barra Salud to get a tetanus shot because she didn't have any there. I asked her how much I owed her and she told me to pay Claudia, the lady who runs the taco and lunch place next door. It's Claudias 3 month old baby, Mari-Ciel, that I play with quite often. So I went over and she said 20 pesos ($1.60US). Then I went to Barra and got a tetanus shot for 50 pesos ($3.90US). Everybody that I came in contact with were sincerely concerned and went out of their way to help.....of course in my home country I get the same inexpensive and helpful care.............NOT. This couldn't happen at a more disadvantagious time because this is the 2 week period that I have to finish all the school work. Of course it will get done one way or the other.

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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.

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