My Life in Pictures - Hurricane Odile

I'm not sure if my blog is still on anyone's reading list, it's been so long since I've posted anything. Blame it on Hurricane Odile, which roared (truly!) through our town on September 15th and knocked out all the services, including internet. Everything else was back up and running within a week EXCEPT for the internet connection to parts of the town (including our house), which was finally restored two days ago - a mere month and a half later!

So here are some photos of Todos Santos in the aftermath of Hurricane Odile.

The only real damage to our house was the loss of the palapa over the patio upstairs:

We also had some flooding, particularly to the upstairs bedroom (!). Part of our fence was blown over and most of our gates took it on the chin and had to be replaced. However, that was nothing compared to the damage to many of our neighbors' houses.

This is the house across the road from us, one of many that lost their roofs.

Some of the family's clothes and bedding are draped over the wall to dry.

These were typical scenes around town. The amount of biomass to be cleaned up was overwhelming!


The Mexican government sent in their version of the National Guards to clean up and it was a HUGE help - our town would still look like a mess if they hadn't come.

Here's what the fire department looked like.

Some of the firemen (all volunteers) stayed at the firehouse during the hurricane to be available to help with injuries (they also are trained in basic medical care). I heard of one man who had to be taken down to the firehouse in the middle of the hurricane (which happened at night) due to injuries.

Here's the electric company building. We had been waiting for them to come out and set up a new electric service for our vacation rental house, and they were scheduled to do that...on September 15th, the day that the hurricane came to town. Of course all their records were lost (computers & everything, gone) so we're still without the new electrical service at the rental house.

They are now operating out of a trailer set up at a small plaza in town.

The roof of the largest grocery store in town blew off and the entire front collapsed. There was no looting, however. People guarded the store and workers were brought in quickly to repair it.



This is the school at the end of our street. All the walls surrounding it fell down (as did many in town).

A "soup kitchen" was set up in the school after the hurricane for residents who were without food and it operated until the school was reopened 2 weeks later. There is still a lot of damage to the school campus that has yet to be dealt with.

There are still many homes without roofs and much damage to be cleaned up. A couple of the local charitable organizations have stepped up and are providing a means for Americans to donate money for materials etc. There are teams of volunteers working on getting homes liveable again. Here are a couple of links if you want to donate:
http://www.gofundme.com/eskrns
http://www.todostortugueros.org/hurricane_odile_disaster_relief_todos_santos.html

bendiciones a todos!

I'm baaack...I think

Well, I must say that I have enjoyed my hiatus from regular blogging. Life has been so full that when I have some time to chill out my first thought is NOT, "hey, I want to put my mind back into gear and write a blog post!"

Since my last post I did a 10-day retreat using the Ignatian Exercises, which required me to meet with our priest (my spiritual director) every day. I've known about the Ignatian Exercises for about 15 years (since I went through the training to become a spiritual director myself) but I haven't had the opportunity to make an Ignatian retreat since a spiritual director is required AND you should be completely disconnected from your regular life for the entire period. That means NOT with your family, NOT while you've got a job you must attend to, NOT when there are other requirements to distract you from giving all your focus to God.

I realized that since the Pirate was away in Mendo for a month this would probably be my best opportunity but I didn't expect that I would be able to fulfill the part of meeting with a spiritual director every day. However, Padre graciously made time for me and I am SO thankful! This was the most intense 10 days I can remember having, and it's essential to have a guide to help you lay hold of what God is working in you during the retreat. It truly is a transformational experience. At the end of the time I told Padre (only half jokingly) that I think my new calling is crying! I am perceiving everything on a much deeper level after the Exercises, and all that sharp sweetness leads to a lot of tears.

So after being separated for a month and a half - longer than we have ever been apart since we first met 47 years ago - the Pirate returned at the end of July. It took us both awhile to resettle into being together again. I don't know how married folks do it when one or both of them has to be gone for long periods of time. Military personnel, oil rig crews, mariners, families of astronauts on the ISS - it's a whole different rhythm to life when you and your spouse are separated for large blocks of time.


About a week after he got home we had a hurricane, but it was a soft, well-mannered hurricane. One day we had a nice drizzle all day long without any wind. The next morning the wind came without any rain, but it wasn't too strong. We kept our front door open all day (as folks usually do down here) just to feel the lovely wind coming through the screen. The following day it was still windy and cool, but the wind was even softer. A wonderful few days!

We're still working on getting the vacation rental house fully furnished. The Pirate has several large pieces of furniture to make. I've finished the quilt for one bed and will start on the next one later this week. Our friend the forjador (ironsmith) will be making various items to go into the house as well. We're planning to make it a showcase of locally made crafts, and also have crafts avaiable for visitors to buy, since there's nowhere in town where you can buy traditional crafts. Sorry I don't have any photos - I must take some time this week to go over there with the camera so I can show you our great project in my next post.

Children's Day

In the US we have Mother's Day and Father's Day. In Mexico we also have Children's Day: El Dia de los Ninos, which was last Wednesday, April 30th.

Our priest wanted to do something special for the children in Meliton Albanez, the small agrgicultural community served by our parish, so we had a Children's Day party for them on Friday. My friend Teresita coordinated the making of 250 chicken salad sandwiches, and other people in our parish brought jello and several large sheet cakes.

Padre conducted the mass with songs that included lots of clapping, and his homily was focused on how much God loves us. He led the children in a time of naming all the things we're thankful to God for (we're healthy! we can read! we have enough food! we have mothers and fathers!).

The party was held right after mass, in the area surrounding the church (a dirt lot).


There were enough pinatas that all the kids could participate:

and get plenty of candy:

and balloons:

All the food was eaten - there was none left!



Then we showed a movie in the church (Rango - in spanish, of course).

While the movie was being shown I picked up the remaining garbage. A lot had already been done by several adults, but there was a lot more! Several of the girls left the movie and asked if they could help, which of course I gratefully accepted:


As a grand finale, Padre brought HUGE boxes full of new shoes so everyone (maybe 150-200 kids) could have a pair. I don't know where he got them, but it was definitely a highlight for the kids to each get a new pair of shoes.



Here's the way we made the chicken salad sandwiches:
1 very large bowl of cooked boneless chicken breasts, put through a Cuisinart
1 very large bowl of chopped celery, ribs removed
1 very large bowl of skinned & chopped potatoes
1 very large bowl of skinned & chopped chayotes
1 very large bowl of chopped carrots
1 large bowl of roasted and skinned poblanos, chopped fine

After taking the chicken out of the HUGE pot it was cooked in, put the celery (in batches) in a strainer and submerge in the chicken broth for a couple of minutes to soften it. Do the same with the potatoes, chayotes and carrots. Then re-chop all of them very fine. Mix thoroughly along with the poblanos in the most humongous pot that you can find.

In another giant bowl, mix a huge amount of crema (or mayonnaise if you have no crema) and prepared mustard to make about 2 gallons. Mix this into the chicken/vegetable mixture.

Cut 250 bolillos (mexican rolls, soft and sweet) in half. Spread the chicken salad on half of each bolillo, top with the other half & wrap in a paper napkin. Repeat 250 times.

The proportions are unimportant. The result is REALLY tasty because the poblanos put some zing into it (and of course the bolillos are heavenly!). It took us 4 hours to cook and chop everything and 1 1/2 hours to assemble the tortitas (little sandwiches). I didn't take any pictures of the process because I was too busy chopping and assembling!

Here's a photo of Teresita (on the right) and another friend, Blanca, who I helped in putting together the food:

Give us priests after Your own heart...

Last Friday we went to an ordination mass where 3 seminarians were ordained to the diaconate. One of the three, Martin, is currently serving in our parish, so quite a number of us drove the hour to get to La Paz where the ordination was taking place in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The reason that ordination masses aren't held in the cathedral is that the cathedral is no larger than the church in our town of 4500 souls - clearly not big enough to contain all the people for an important event.

This is the cathedral. It was built in the second half of the nineteenth century when so few people lived here that they couldn't even imagine needing something that would accomodate more than 150 people!

Some decades ago, in response to this logistical dilemma, the diocese undertook the project of building a cathedral-sized church. It has been complete enough to hold masses there for about 5 years: the roof (with a huge dome) has been completed and basics of the interior are in place. Since the last time we were there (a year ago, for ordinations to the priesthood) the wall behind the altar has been completed and the crucifix and image of Our Lady of Guadalupe have been installed.

There are still no windows and none of the interior walls and columns have had their facings put on. But it is an inspiring testament to the desire of the faithful in this diocese that so much has been accomplished in so little time. Every time we go there - about once a year - something significant has been completed compared with the hundreds of years that it sometimes has taken to build large churches. The work on the sanctuary in our diocese can only proceed as fast as it receives donations from the people of the diocese for that particular purpose. Happily, there is a lot of enthusiasm for this project.

At every mass in every parish in our diocese, just before the final prayer, the congregation recites a prayer that I believe our bishop wrote. It goes like this (but in spanish):

"O Jesus, who taught us to ask the Lord of the harvest
that He would send workers to the fields,
we ask that You give to Your church
in this diocese of La Paz and throughout the world
many holy priests and consecrated men and women
who, in conformity with your holy will,
dedicate their talents, strength, and zeal
to the glory of the Father and the salvation of mankind.
Oh Lord, call a member of our family as a priest, monk, or nun,
and may it be that all those who have been baptized
live with a commitment to our calling to serve,
in the heart of the church and in the entire world.
Lord, give us priests after Your own heart."

Martin, our seminarian who was ordained on Friday, had given the Pirate and me a printed invitation to the ceremony, and on the front was engraved (in spanish): "Lord, give us priests after Your own heart." This young man is so humble and enthusiastic, and clearly has won the hearts of the young people in our parish, a large contingent of whom came to his ordination and cheered him at the end. What grace the Lord pours out on his faithful!

Week Ending 21 diciembre

This was a VERY FULL weekend - a big shopping trip to La Paz, a posada, pastorelas, and more.

On Friday we went to La Paz, primarily for the Pirate to see the doctor. He thought that he would need to have surgery for a hernia that he has developed but the doctor said NO, so he was one very happy camper coming out of the doctor's office! But since we had to be in the city anyway, we stocked up on a number of goodies and bought ourselves a joint Christmas present - a new combination cd/mp3/record player (our old Bose finally gave up the ghost). And - even dearer to the Pirate's heart - we bought fireworks! Mexicans love to shoot off firecrackers at Christmas (same as the English), so we stopped at a large fireworks stand and loaded up.


Amazingly, it rained while we were in La Paz. The wet season here is generally the summer, when we get hurricanes or the tail ends of them. But there was enough rain that day in La Paz to create large puddles.

At mass that night I was able to get photos of some of the decorations on each side of the altar. On the left is the creche, of course missing the baby Jesus (he'll be there tomorrow night) and on the right are two "Christmas trees". Here in the desert we don't have easy access to evergreens (no Christmas tree farms), so traditionally the folks here have used tree branches or (even more commonly) the flowering stalks of agaves (century plants) as their "Christmas trees".

It's too bad that the lights on the "trees" don't show - the effect is really beautiful.

On Saturday I finished knitting the first of several washcloths I'm making for the guest bathroom.

Then Saturday evening it was back to the main church for mass and a posada to our barrio (neighborhood). When we got to the church it was all decked out, and we discovered that the mass would include a wedding (this happens a lot here - weddings are simply part of the regular mass).

After the mass the folks from our barrio gathered for the peregrinacion and posada. We were led by Padre who walked next to the truck that had a statue of Joseph and Mary going to Bethlehem. We walked about a mile - praying and singing Christmas songs - before reaching the first house of the posada, since we had to cross the huerta (the agricultural fields separating the center of town from some of the residential areas).

Posadas are a major part of the Christmas season in Mexico. A posada is a loose re-enactment of the story of Joseph and Mary looking for a place to stay in Bethlehem. There is a traditional song that is sung in parts - one part by the group of people with "Joseph" and "Mary" (often children dressed to play the roles) and one part by the people at various houses where the two are seeking shelter. Several houses turn the couple away until they get to the last house, which welcomes them in and where food and drink and a piñata are part of the festivities awaiting the whole group. Here we are singing at the first house where we were turned away.

There were 40-50 people in the group once we got to the last house (people would join as we passed their houses), with about half of them children. Padre presented us with the new chalices that he had bought for our chapel (each barrio has its own chapel).

Here's Padre with two of the sisters who serve in our parish.

Here's the piñata before…

and after it was broken and the mad scramble to grab candy was on!

Another piñata was put up after this so all the kids had a chance at hitting it (and of course they all got candy).
As we walked home after the fiesta we passed this small casita all aglow with Christmas lights - so pretty!

The "tree" is a a quiote - the flowering stalk of an agave plant.

Onward to the grand weekend finale on Sunday night (actually not the weekend, since it's the FIRST day of the week, not the last). After the evening mass we had an event in the plaza in which each of the main groups of the parish presented a pastorela. These are small playlets telling the story of the birth of Jesus, the meaning of Christmas, or the vanquishing of evil by His coming.

The first pastorela was put on by the catechism teachers and described various symbols associated with Christmas and what they mean. I found out that pinatas represent the seven deadly sins (those are the horns sticking out) which is why we want to beat them until they break. And "Santa Claus" explained that he was really St. Nicolas, a bishop in what is now Turkey, who paid for the dowries of 2 poor girls who otherwise couldn't afford to get married.

Another pastorela told the story of two Roman soldiers converted when they heard about Jesus' birth from the shepherds (I'm not sure why they both had sports bags).

The last pastorela was a story about a family whose younger son was a drug addict, and his conversion when he was arrested and his father came and got him on Christmas eve.

In the middle ages pastorelas were a common means of teaching the stories of the faith, and from the coming of the first missionaries to Mexico they were used for the same purpose here.

The ladies of the parish served champurrado (a sort of hot chocolate with cornmeal) and bunuelos (a traditional Christmas puffed pastry). And to make the event extra special the church had prepared a whole lot of gifts to give away. People were given tickets with numbers on them and throughout the evening there would be drawings of the numbers. I think that there were something like a hundred gifts that were given away.

As you can imagine, a great time was had by all!

Week Ending 9 de noviembre

It's time for another episode of Week Ending, brought to you by the lovely Wanda at Reinventing Mother!


Friday morning I was watering around the house and I heard some noise on the other side of the fence. I looked through, and here's what I found:

This was part of a larger group which roams around our neighborhood. These are not wild horses, but around here animals have freedom to roam in their search for food. It's the same thing with cattle and goats. Since stock owners don't have the means to put up fences or buy food for them, the animals have traditionally been allowed to go where they will; it's simply an accepted part of life in rural Baja Sur.

Here's the whole gang, wandering down toward the corner of our road.

Saturday is the day when I do food prep for the week. In my case, that means cooking up a large pot of rice, another large pot of beans, a chicken, and anything else that takes my fancy. Then, during the week, I have the fixings ready for any number of tasty meals.

This is part of the result from this Saturday's cook-a-thon: chicken, rice, and a small amount of nopalitos (cactus pads).

I do my Saturday cooking outside on the wood stove. It's much more convenient to cook multiple pots of things on the wood stove than on a gas or electric stove.

I used about half of the beans I had been soaking to make a pot of Frijoles Borrachos (drunken beans). This is a very simple recipe and could easily be done in a slow cooker. The following amounts serve 3.

DRUNKEN BEANS
* Meats: I used ham bits, half a kosher hot dog, and a handful of pork rinds (a great addition, BTW!) However, any meat will do.
* A chopped onion
* 2 large cloves of garlic, diced
* 2 roma tomatoes, chopped
* 2 jalapeño chiles, seeds removed & diced
* 1 bottle of beer
* 1/2 lb of soaked dried beans (any kind is fine), or 2-3 cans of beans
* water as needed
* if you want the beans to have a smoky flavor, you can add some Liquid Smoke
* I added nopalitos to this pot (those long green things)
If you are using bacon or other meat with fat in it, put that in the pot first & cook until the fat has been rendered. Add the rest of the meat and cook until its flavor is starting to intensify, maybe 5 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, tomatoes and chiles and cook for another 5 minutes until softened. Add the beans and the beer; cover and put on a SLOW simmer. The amount of time for cooking depends on the kind of beans you're using, so if you're not sure how long it should take, check after 45 minutes, although it could take up to twice as long. Add a bit of water when necessary - not too much, because this isn't soup! Of course, with canned beans, the total cooking time will be much shorter. Once the beans are soft (but not mushy), if the pot has too much liquid, leave the lid off and turn the heat up a bit until the liquid is almost all gone (if you can push the contents to the side and see the bottom of the pot, you're there). This is a very tasty version of beans, and even better the next day.

Other than that, the only notable thing that I did this weekend was work on my crocheted top. I didn't finish it, as I had hoped, because when I'm reading and crocheting at the same time I slow WAYYY down. But I should be done by today to tomorrow.