As March flew by, we kept making notes as reminders of events that could fit into our monthly narrative. Well, looking back at those notes we could easily wind up with a short story entitled “that was March 2024”. So here is our top selection of recent events that will help to provide a glimpse of our life in Mexico.
We also have (drum roll please)..an in house Auto Repair Shop!
On the way back home from a recent Saturday morning trip to town we were scraped by (we hit) a rather large truck which very much destroyed the driver and rear doors of our rickety 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid.
The actual scene of the event, if filmed, would have you rolling in your seats! Susan pulled the car to the side of the road, and then ran into traffic with her phone and started taking pictures of the truck while screaming “He is not going stop!” Meanwhile, Victor looking at all the plastic trim hanging off the car realized that he had to take the plastic off to make the car drivable, so he started kicking the pieces and shoving them into the car. Finally, the truck stopped, the driver made a call, approached Victor, and demanded payment for the damage. Victor told the driver to call the cops (there were several officers not three hundred feet in front and rear of us and who never even made a move to investigate). Well nothing happened to the truck and it was difficult to determine who was at fault. Common sense took over. We went home with a badly bruised car and a shaken ego.
It was mid-day, while we were both safe and not injured, we still needed some ‘calming’ aid” so we poured ourselves two tequila sunrises made with our home-grown mandarin juice and tried to forget the whole thing.
Finally, Monday morning arrived, and we asked Juan, (Transito’s son) who is responsible for coordinating car repairs, to see what could be done. His solution was simple, “just get two doors”. He drove to the junk yard and found two doors matching the exact color of our car. We gave him 6,000 pesos (about 350 dollars) to purchase the doors and by the end of the day the car was fixed, keeping the original interior panels, working electric windows and locks!
While the quick repair seems amazing, what is more amazing is to look behind the scene. We have a fully equipped shop with an experienced staff (father, son, two grandsons) that handle car repairs, plumbing and electrical issues, irrigation, and agricultural needs. In the last month they have dealt with all these as well as rebuilding two water pumps, tuning up a car, replacing the built-in lighting on a shelving unit, replacing pressure switches on the water system of both houses, repairing a leak on the solar pool heater, replacing the front suspension on one of the cars and much more. We can't' even imagine if we lived in the U.S. and had to contend with the costs of all these services in just one month. Never a dull moment!
Another brief highlight
We keep telling our guests our products work. Here is proof.
A note from a March visitor.
“Hello, we were at your farm a few weeks ago. We purchased some ‘locion facial corporal natural’ cream from you and it has cleared my spouse’s psoriasis within a week. We would love to know if it were possible to have this cream shipped to Canada to our home.”
Our answer, we are investigating shipping to Canada.
You can buy at our farm, The Opal Mine in SMA or online for the US excluding Alaska and Hawaii.
Looking ahead to April.
Cooking Classes
In April we plan to further improve our cooking classes in a couple of ways. First, each person will cook their own main dish, and second each class will allow (where possible) for vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, and dietary needs of each person. For example, one our classes is called “Chinese Sweet and Sour” where a person can select, pork, chicken, tofu as the main ingredient. Another class is “Indian Tikka Masala”, in this class you can choose chicken, lamb or vegetarian.
This approach will also be applied to all our Mexican cuisine classes. In April we are adding chimichangas and pibil classes.
Return of the “cook along”
In the summer of 2021, we surprised 10 guests (five couples) who were expecting to attend an evening cooking class with a whole new experience. We did not know what to call it so we just named it “a cook along”. Upon arrival, the couples were randomly mixed, were provided with a cooking station completely equipped with recipes, ingredients, and tools to cook one different tapa which when finished would be part of a buffet that all would enjoy. It was great fun for everyone. We are doing it again! Please join us for this exclusive evening event on Friday April 12.
Toby
This story is saved for last as it is so difficult to write when one’s eyes are welled with tears. Our dear Toby departed on March 7. We consider all our dogs very special as was Toby. He was rescued by Transito as a nearly one year old street dog. At that time he was somewhat gray in color but turned to be pure white when cleaned up. He lived a great life to almost 15 years! He started as an outside guard and farm dog. He could round up chickens and help in the exercise of horses. In his old age he was blind with cataracts, loosing his teeth but did not give up. He still greeted visitors and was privileged to be included as part of our reception team together with Lobo. He taught us never to give up as you age, even as your eyesight fails, your teeth and body fail just keep on trying, which he did. Following is a link to his page.
Wishing you a great Spring
Susan and Victor