Dolphin Song

We have had a good week so far!  We spent Easter weekend in the Oceanside, California, area and enjoyed time with grandchildren Jacob and Holly, fish and chips at the marina with our son Greg, Cirque d' Soleil with Greg, Easter brunch with Greg and our friend Martin, and church on Sunday afternoon with Greg before we headed home to Mexico.  We were driving along the sea wall in Oceanside; I had my window down in back, and it was high tide. All of a sudden, a big wave hit and splashed all over the front of the car, but not through the window (luckily).  It cost Greg a car wash, but it was worth it. On either side of the border, I love the ocean!

On Monday, we went to the bank in Rosarito and cashed our insurance check. Yes, it was that simple in the end. We celebrated by going to Rosarito Beach. We and Sofie walked to one of the vendors and bought a coconut, a mango, and some pineapple. Don likes his fruit Mexican-style with chili powder. There was all sorts of activity going on around us, and I took some photos for you.

Don enjoying that first bite of coconut

That's a cheap toy parachute, but it looks cool, doesn't it?

Rosarito Beach is a long, white sandy beach. The water was really cold, though.

Love that coconut water!

There are horses for rent on the beach.

The kites are so cool.

The mango didn't last long enough to be photographed. The pineapple was delicious!

Yesterday, we went to the bank in Imperial Beach and deposited the insurance money. Then we went shopping! Well, actually, I did all of my shopping online. My replacement camera and accessories will be sent to son-in-law Mike. Ordering while in the U.S. and having the stuff shipped to family instead of our mail service avoided problems with using the phone in Mexico and waiting for our mail service to pick up, deliver, and add a delivery charge for our shipments. Don bought a replacement laptop, but when we got it home, he realized that it wasn't really the one he wanted, so we will be crossing again to return it. (Bleah! But what're ya gonna do?)  It feels so good to get this insurance business resolved and our burglary behind us.

Today was a beautiful day at Baja Malibu.  I caught a glimpse of something outside the window and hurried out to the balcony in time to see a dolphin jump!  It's been a while since the dolphins have frequented our place. The pelicans were doing some great dives today, so there must have been some good fishing for them, and maybe that brought the dolphins closer.  Dolphins are hard to photograph, but trust me, the one I saw was beautiful!

We leave in nine days to go and find our new home in Nevada.  Dang, we are going to miss this place! 

Will you be my breath

.... through the deep, deep water


Okay....so.... (not Oh, queso!)

Anyway, let's talk first about our renter's insurance odyssey. Faithful readers will recall that we were burgled on December 2nd, filed for restitution of our loss around December 14th, and began months of filling out forms, submitting and resubmitting explanations, pictures, etc.; and meeting or talking with various employees of the insurance company.  Only about a month ago did we finally get connected with an adjuster who speaks and writes English well enough to meet my Spanish more than half way.  She assured me that she was going to get this thing done!  She did, in fact, work hard. She texted me this past Monday and told me that our check was ready at the insurance office in downtown Tijuana. The intrepid Asays -- Don, me, and the dog -- headed downtown on Tuesday morning and, after a few minutes of doubt, were handed a check, made out to me in American dollars, and drawn on Banamex, an affiliate of Citibank. As soon as we were over the border, I deposited the check, using my phone and online account with Bank of America. By afternoon, I received a message that the phone deposit wasn't going to work with this check. We went to the Bank of America in Imperial Beach, and I politely asked them to deposit the check.  They expressed regret that they could not do that and suggested we go back to Mexico and get Banamex to cash it.  We have no account at Banamex and cannot get a bank account until our immigration status improves.  I asked if they could call Banamex or the insurance company and at least work the problem out for me because every person at their branch is fluent in Spanish, and this is new territory for me.

They said, "No can do."  I called Citibank and asked if I opened an account with them, would they let me deposit their sister bank's check.  The "personal banker" on the phone said she didn't see a problem, but we went to Citibank's "international banking center" in Chula Vista and they suggested we take the check to Banamex and try to cash it.  The manager was with B of A for 21 years, and  he said it didn't matter which of the two banks I used, the procedure was exactly the same. The solution of last resort is to have them put the check into "international collections" and wait for Banamex to clear it, which can take up to 90 days!  For that, they charge a fee.  Either bank is 15 minutes from the border, all of the employees are bilingual, and we live in a global economy in 2019, but we struck out with the banks.

Today, we drove to Rosarito, every possible supporting document and check in hand, and prepared to let God persuade them to give us the cash. However, the bank doors were locked. The banks in Mexico have a four-day Easter weekend (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the weekend).   God bless the faithful of Mexico, but their devout observance (or whatever they were doing for Spring Break) came at a bad time.  We will return on Monday, having prayed a lot over the weekend.

After that, we couldn't stand to go home, so we decided to drive 25 miles down the coast and pay a visit to our mail service office. We've never been there before because they pick up our mail in San Ysidro and deliver it to our  house, and vice versa.  It is a breathtaking drive, past miles of rocky coastline, beaches, Mediterranean-style homes and hotels, past the giant Christ statue that I shared a photo of in one of my first posts, and along flower-strewn hillsides. I didn't take this photo, but it gives you an idea:

I did take the second photo.  You can see the ocean in the background. Right next to where I took this one is the strangest house you can imagine. I should say "the  most bizarre house"!  A man with a lot of money had this house built and decorated with all kinds of statues. He has over a hundred chandeliers inside. People think the image at the top is the devil, but it's the god Pan, made to look like the owner of the home. He hires local sculptors and calls his place a gift to the people of Baja California. Don't look a gift-horse in the gargoyle, I guess.  We read about this place in The Gringo Gazette a month or two ago, and darned if we didn't happen on it as we were driving through La Mision. The owner, if he is home and people ask nicely, will give visitors an impromptu tour (no interest here, but guess that's nice of him).  Fortunately, there are places to pull over because there are shutterbugs besides me hanging about. It was quite the experience, though we stayed just a few minutes. You won't want to look at these photos right before bed! 

We went to our English class tonight. We are turning it over to the person who was my assistant (she is wonderful). When we got home, Sofie had injured her back and could hardly walk.  She is miserable, so it looks like we will be taking her to the vet before we head out of town for Easter weekend. I hope the vet isn't taking all of Good Friday off!  Sofie didn't even eat tonight. 

And so the adventures continue.  Leave a comment here or on FB, if you like.  I'd be interested to know your thoughts. 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Only the Ocean

When these sails go up, mountains fade away
Stars come out, I’m finally free
It’s only the ocean and me
Jack Johnson ~ “Only the Ocean”

Hello Again!

It's been a long time. Don was sick. I was sick. Don and I were sick. Don was sick again. And so it went. The purpose of this blog was never cataloguing trips to doctors and ERs, so it's taken a while, but maybe -- just maybe -- we're on the mend at last.

Where shall I begin?  Here is a photo that you might have to squint to see, but it was such an unusual sight that I had to share. I have never seen a black sail before.

Our cleaning lady says she saw many dolphins playing and jumping in the water the last time she was here. I haven't seen one in many weeks -- months, even -- and the whales have never shown either, although our friend Jerry says he saw whales one day.  Guess I'll have to be a tourist one of these days and take a whale-watching excursion.

Speaking of Jerry, his taco stand has a cool new sign:

Jerry's cooking is absolutely our favorite here, and now he is learning to cook Mediterranean cuisine, which is our favorite cuisine of all!  We love him and his wife and kids and would remain friends, even if he weren't a chef, but oh my, he is good! 

Speaking of food (another amazing segue), I took some photos at our favorite Mexican market, Soriana.  It's a huge store, but I zeroed in on the things that matter.

I've weaned myself off of diet drinks by limiting myself to one small bottle of Mexican Coke a day.  A must with tacos!

Mexican cakes are generally not as good, by our taste, as American cakes. They're not as sweet or greasy.

Soriana's muffins are very good!

Soriana is the best place we've found to buy pan dulce. Goes great with Mexican hot chocolate!

Not everything works, even in a successful bakery. I gave these cupcakes a pass.

As I've said, we do a lot of healthy shopping in Chula Vista or Mission Valley. That's where we get most of our salads. Not that we've been healthy for a few months, but the germs are as numerous on one side of the border as on the other. Tens of thousands of people a day commute, and the germs hitchhike.  My knee still hurts, and a horrible bout with a gastro bug gave me quite a scare with a drop in kidney function (dehydration), but I'm back!  Life is good. And I'll close this installment with a photo of a rare sunset.  Notice the bars of color on the sun.  My friend Rick (Ph.D. physics) explained the phenomenon:

The general explanation for colors in the sky you probably already know. The bluer (short) wavelengths are "scattered" away by the molecules of the various gases in the atmosphere to a greater degree than the other end (the redder long wavelengths) of the visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The latter come directly through when the Sun is low on the horizon at sunrise and sunset, so the sky appears more orange-red. Atmospheric weather conditions (clouds) and pollutants (providing additional color) in the atmosphere may contribute also to the display as witnessed here. When the Sun is higher in the sky during the rest of the day the scattering of the bluer wavelengths causes them to dominate the orange-red so the sky appears blue. Thanks for asking Janet Asay.