Lunch at the American Legion in Chapala

I hadn't seen my friend Emily for many months. We finally got together at the Legion.

I was very disappointed with their Veracruz Fish. I made a special trip to Chapala just for that but they changed the recipe. Emily and I both pushed aside most of the sauce. I won't go back again for that special. 

Photos of Saturday afternoon in the Ajijic Plaza

It was a very peaceful day in the plaza. Chico and I sat there for an hour or so, enjoying watching everyone.

Morning Thoughts

I am going again to the spa to swim. I was sure that yesterday would have been quiet but it wasn't. The Easter crowds are still around and it was difficult to do laps. I will go earlier today and see if that makes a difference. It is getting very hot in the afternoons too. Swimming in hot water on a hot day isn't great fun. Okay, no more complaining.

Last night my friend called me and said she didn't have any water. She said it had been a day and a half and she was upset. That brought back memories of my first place here in Lower La Floresta. The pump was always going out and sometimes it was days before we had water again. I remember going out to our little water fountain in the yard and scooping up water so I could flush my toilet. That water was green and awful looking. But I was desperate.  So far, no water problems in my new home. We will see when the rainy season comes around. That won't be long from now. 

I have been spending most of my afternoons at home next to my fan. It is too hot to be walking around town. I watch a lot of Netflix and read a lot of books. Sometimes my life is boring but the good times overshadow the boring ones. I have no idea of when the next holiday will arrive but I am guessing it is just around the corner. There aren't many days between them. 

Chico knows how to spend these hot afternoons. 

Sunday Morning with Chico in the Ajijic Plaza

I love this photo. The man on the right was my neighbor on Galeana when I lived there.

This is a bilingual champion dog. Spanish is his first language and he responds to it quicker than English.

This is a photo exhibit that has been up in the plaza for awhile. 

This street dog wouldn't leave us alone.  Chico hid from him under the bench. But he captured my heart. I think he would have jumped on my lap if I had let him. (Now that it is a few hours after taking these photos, I feel very sad for that dog. I wish I could have helped him but Chico was afraid of him. I didn't notice the dog's desperation until now, looking at these photos.)

Morning Thoughts --- My IMSS experiences

I went to the IMSS clinic in Chapala yesterday to see my doctor. She couldn't read my chest X Ray because she said it was blurry so I have to redo that. She wants me to have an EKG on my heart because I am having breathing problems. She said I have to lose weight. (So what else is new?) And she can't see me again for another month. I might be dead by then. 

I refuse to return to that IMSS hospital for the X Ray or the EKG. I will have to find someone in town to do these things. From now on, the IMSS is only for emergencies. Trying to use it for anything else is futile. If you want to know specifically--- think of any nightmare you have had where you were trying to do something and things always happened to stop you from doing it. You were sent to different experts, down long hallways with crowds of sick people and into different directions and you had to redo everything but the end never came. People were talking to you but you couldn't understand anything they said and your interpreter was on his cell phone punching out a text message instead of listening to the doctor....  

That is IMSS in a nutshell!  Go to get a blood test? There is a line of maybe fifty people in front of you. (And each time I have to pay someone to drive me there, interpret, and drive me home. That isn't cheap.)  On and on.....   From now on it is to private doctors. If  a truck runs over me and I am bleeding to death, okay, send me to the IMSS hospital.  But otherwise, NO! Knowing now how the system works, or doesn't work, I would most likely bleed to death anyway before finally getting to see a doctor. 

It is much quieter in town now but I still can't use the spa until next week. It is getting hotter in the afternoons. We are getting into the hot season. It is dry too. The hills are brown. But the Jacaranda trees are in full bloom. Beautiful. 

 

I am glad that Easter vacation is almost over. Next week, all the Easter visitors will be gone and most of the part time expats too. It will be very quiet in town. And maybe I will be able to cross the carretera again without fear of getting run over. I don't want to find myself on a stretcher in the IMSS hospital, bleeding to death. 

Jacaranda trees in bloom.