I know some of you are wondering just what the heck we do every day here in Paradise.  Well, this week our week looked a lot like yours.  I still have a job which I do from a distance, and this is a really busy time of year, so most days I worked at my computer.  The main difference is I looked at palm trees while I did it.  And when I stopped for lunch, I sat in my little garden.

View from my desk

Our garden

My reading spot

                                                    The view from my desk and our little garden spot

Grant did “Grant stuff”.  He unpacked his tools, and fixed up the garage and went to Home Depot two or three times and tried to fix weird electrical problems in Azulita.  We spent most of a day paying bills and wrestling with Mexican bureaucrats about licensing our trailer. Of course we were missing one important piece of paper – maybe next week.  We spent a couple of afternoons tickling children at Manos de Amor and drove children home on Friday afternoon.  Grant is now the favorite with the children – they all want to be thrown around and wrestled and tickled.  Natalya always hangs on the tightest when we must leave.  Most evenings we went for a walk to find a new taco stand – some of our favorites are gone, new ones have sprung up on different corners.

But today is Saturday – and we decided Saturdays are for exploring.  I would have been happy to go sit on a beach – it is certainly hot here – but Mexico is much more than beaches.  It is mountains and fields and ranches and fruit trees and today was for touching new places.  So we jumped in the little blue convertible and headed cross country to San Juan de Abajo.  It’s just a tiny, quiet town and we have driven through it many times, but today we wandered up and down the streets looking at cool old buildings and peering in gated doors and talking to old men in cowboy hats.    Every town in Mexico has its plaza, and that is where we found all the men gathered – lazing back in wicker chairs and telling stories with great bravado and accompanying laughter. They were welcoming and friendly to us, even though we looked out of place.  We took photos – the big church, the fountain, the flags – the exact same stuff we see in every town plaza.  But we also recognize that each pueblo has its own personality, its own pace, its own people.  And exploring them all is going to take us a LOT of Saturdays.