Feliz Ano Nuevo

NOTE: After posting this blog I had a gracious reader correct my use of the word Ano without the tilde over the n...it seems I was wishing everybody a Happy New Anus. I wanted to respond that it was exactly what I meant, but I knew I couldn't get away with it. So until I figure out how to change my keyboard to the Spanish keyboard....You just have to realize Happy New Anus! means Happy New Year!....thank you J. for pointing this out to me.

2013 is going to be such a great year...at least the first few hours have started out better than 2012 ended.

Remember the continuing saga with the gas tanques? We just don't seem to get along well with propane. Our propane tank ran out Sunday evening in the middle of preparing dinner. No worries - we finished grilling (oh! that's another story) and moved the potatoes to finish cooking in the electric skillet. Anyway, we couldn't get a propane delivery on NYE and for sure won't get one today --- it is as quiet as a churchmouse in Centro this morning! Cold showers again. But really? What are the odds that we would run out of propane on a Sunday, the day before NYE? Damn the bad luck. Guess I will just have to let you know how this one turns out because it isn't over and done with yet.

As far as the grilling goes - let's just say the charcoal here is different than what we are used to. It doesn't light! And, using vodka for starter fluid is a bad idea, damp leaves don't make good kindling, and pages ripped from an old Yucatan Today DON'T burn...at all. Four hours later we were eating hamburgers that were partially grilled and partially cooked in the electric skillet. To end this on a positive note - beef down here must be grass-fed real stuff. This country girl LOVEs IT and I don't know if I can ever eat ground meat from HEB again. Dad and Gary - can you put a good sized calf out to pasture for us now? Don't give it any grain, please.

Another exciting thing happened. We heard a whistle then a guy on a motorcycle sped off from in front of the house. It was the mailman! He left us not one but two pieces of mail. Christmas cards from Hermana Joanne and Bernice from Victoria! They had been mailed in the early part of December. These were our first two pieces of official mail....besides the water bill. Muchas gracias to both of you!


Yesterday we went to the Chedraui and bought champagne, came home and regrouped...then waited until about 3 to head to the Mercado for bombitos. I guess we waited to make sure the mercado would be at it's height of busy-ness and utter craziness. I love that place! We knew that bombitos were a big part of NYE but had not a clue as to where to find them. We didn't see anybody selling them anywhere, so we started asking younger males each time we saw one thinking that they would be the most likely to be in the know. Finding stuff is kinda like going on a treasure hunt where you are "cold" then get "warm" and then finally "hot". We were told to go to the mercado. When we got to the mercado on Calle 62 we asked again. We were told to go to the big mercado. There we asked again. We were told to go to the esquina entonces a la derecha. Sure enough! All along one of the streets were storefronts filled with pinatas and bombitos...and throngs of people. Now I have to come clean....all I really wanted were Sparklers. We loaded up on them, came home and sat on the patio --- listened to not one, but three masses held in the botanical gardens next to the church. Sitting on the patio we could clearly hear the priest, the singing, and the parishioners during all three masses. We turned our music off and listened to mass....3 times....7, 8 and 9pm. It is probably good it ended at 10...otherwise, we would've fallen asleep before midnight. But, we used up our supply of sparklers  and brought out the champagne. Both bottles were empty before midnight.

At the stroke of 2013, we went up on the mirador that we will have completed someday and watched and listened. The fireworks were so plentiful throughout Centro they created a dense smoke that looked like fog rolling through Centro. One of our neighbors had a dummy all dressed up and filled with firecrackers that he set afire in the middle of the street...the busy intersection that goes around La Ermita Parque no less. It is a symbol of destroying all that is bad and put behind...I think, or something like that.

And now....it is 2013!