Water Worries

You’ve no idea how much you take certain things for granted. Take water for instance. You turn the tap on, and out gushes a plentiful supply of clean water. Except for here in Mexico City, where it is prone to go off at any moment and you really never have any idea as to when it will return. We are currently on Day 4 of one of the worst water shortages I’ve experienced. We woke up on Monday to find there was no water. It tends to come on at about 8am and again at 11pm for between half an hour to an hour. But that isn’t 100% certain.

To describe it as a pain in the neck is an understatement of grand proportions. You can’t shower, brush your teeth, wash dishes, wash your hands, use the toilet, water the plants or clean the turtles out. Ok, not everyone has turtles, but still. We do have bottled drinking water, but there is only so much you can do with that. Because quite a lot of people are affected it, the bottled stuff sells out in the local corner shops pretty quick, so you have to conserve.

On Monday some of the residents went out and blocked the road to protest but that fizzled out pretty quick. It wasn’t going to change anything. The irony is that this week the government announced that they are going to spend billions on the countries water supply problems. It’s a bit of a conspiracy theory to suggest they then cut our water off so that they could be assured approval for their huge spending plans, but the general public can be a suspicious lot sometimes!

The Ring

It’s taken me a while to get around to getting a photo of Paola’s engagement ring. It is a real diamond, even if it isn’t the size of a lump of coal. Hey, give me Brad Pitt’s salary and I’ll give her Angelina’s finger rock! But it’s a very nice ring and Paola loves it, which is the important thing!

Florasita

Itchy and Scratchy have been back to visit and are currently enjoying a break in the sun in our yard with Angel and Mr Patel. We now have two pools in the yard since our giant turt Angus mistook the silvery scab on Mr Patel’s neck for a fish and tried to eat him. Angus has a pretty powerful bite and had hold of Patel by the neck for a few seconds before I could rescue him - he tore off the scab and drew blood. Poor Mr Patel. Angus just gets overly excited sometimes. So they are in seperate pools till Mr Patel recovers, and Angel and any visitors keep him company.

But the main news is about two extra visitors. Our neighbour, Itchy and Scratchy’s owner, has really taken to her turtles. So when she went round to her uncles and found he had two little ones in a tiny plastic tray with no heating, no sun and no UV light - both looking very poorly - she rescued them and brought them home! Well….to my home….

Not that I’m keeping them forever. Just until they’ve got their strength back and are healthy again. We’ve named them Florasita (Little Flower) and Petal. Petal is already fine, munching on dried shrimp and learning about the fine turtle art of sunbathing. Florasita on the other hand is very poorly indeed. Hardly moving and not interested in food. Hopefully some anti biotic drops and a little sunshine will help her recover. It’s difficult to get the drops into her mouth though because she is so tiny. Fingers crossed.

Florasita

Mexico City Cycle Race

On Sunday we went up to the Anthropolgical museum to see the new Egyptian Exhibition which has come back to town. Entry is free on Sundays, which I guess is why the queue stretched about half a mile through the park. So we didn’t go. Another day, and to be honest I’d rather pay the 48 pesos and not have to queue.

Still, we did get to see the Museo Rufin Tamayo. Having been very disappointed with the Robert Motherwell exhibition at the Dolores Olmedo last week, I was hoping for something a little better this weekend. It was a little better I guess, but the temporary exhibition consisted mostly of some very amateurisg photography and more abstract nonsense. Such is life.

I did get to play with my camera though, as there was a big cycling event going on. I’m seriously thinking that my next camera should perhaps be a DSLR and not a Point and Shoot. I really do like playing around with the settings. I don’t always get a worthwhile result (perhaps ‘don’t often’ is more accurate than ‘don’t always’!) but when I do it makes photography all worthwhile. Sadly the below photo is one that wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. Still a few filters added in the post processing stage in Photoshop produced something semi interesting…

Paris…Las Vegas

It’s all booked and my final decision is truly final! We have booked a multi stop flight from Mexico City to Chicago, on to Las Vegas and then back home to Mexico City. And we’ve booked our Las Vegas hotel. In the end I plumped for the Paris. Right price, good reviews, looks great in the photos, it’s opposite the Bellagio with its cool fountain display and of course it’s on the strip! Las Vegas, here we come! In about four months….tick tock, tick tock….

Hospitality Inn Milwaukee

Plans continue for the biggest little wedding I’ll ever go to. I have some family making their way across the pond, so I’ve had to find a place for them to stay. There’s only one choice really, and it’s a good one. The Hospitality Inn, just a few minutes drive from Paola’s mum’s. You gotta love that falling dollar - it costs just £15 a night! I’ve even looked it up on Google Maps and I’ve only just released how good the maps are.

View Larger Map

Playa Ventura Turtles

Last weekend Paola went off to Playa Ventura on the southern Pacific coast of Mexico, a few hours from Acapulco for some sun, sea, sand and…well, hopefully that was it. I didn’t go. I had to work, sadly. And to tell the truth, the seven hour drive there and another seven hours back for just a couple of days by the sea? Us Brits just aren’t accustomed to that amount of driving.

But, I must confess, I rather wish I had gone now. They found a turtle sanctuary and just in time to help release hundreds of little baby turtles back into the ocean. Apparently it was a bit of a haphazard event, but seeing as they all made it safely to the water, then that’s alright. I didn’t get to take any photos, but I have gotten the ones they took onto my PC…

A bucket full of black baby turts…

Paola selects her favourite turtley twosome…

And off they go in a gentle sea to freedom…

Museo Dolores Olmedo

I first went to this museum in Xochimilco just a few months ago, and it is a real gem. We’d seen loads of ads for a Robert Motherwell exhibition entitled ‘I Love NY’ - except it was a splash of blood instead of a heart for the ‘love’ part. I’m lacking the necessary symbols to write it out properly here! Can’t say we’d ever heard of Robert Motherwell, but it was as good excuse to drop by as any, and seeing as we have this week off….

Anyway, it turned out that Robert Motherwell has produced some of the most crap abstract art of all time, and really wasn’t worth seeing! But the rest of the museum was, as ever, excellent. It’s not the cheapest place to get into at 45 pesos each, but it is one of the most peaceful spots in the city. I did manage to get quite a few really good shots of a couple of peacocks that roam the gardens. Plus, of course a few snaps of other random stuff…

Click here to see the photos on Flickr

A Date with Destiny

The date, time and location have been set in stone. Today I phoned up the Milwaukee County Courthouse and booked our wedding in their registry office. It was actually surprisingly easy. No deposit required, our names have simply been put down and we were given instructions on what to do.

Which I will record here, so that I don’t forget. Or rather, to have a record to look up when I do forget in a couple of days time! The time and date are 3pm on the 8th August. It all sounds very easy. We go to Room 105 to do the paperwork, present our marriage license and pay the $100 fee. Then on up to Room 400 for the ceremony. In, say I do, sign on the dotted line and then out again! Cool! And then off to party. Where? That hasn’t been decided yet. In fact that’s the next task on the ‘To Do List’ Really, it’s the last thing on the list.

Another view of the Milwaukee County Courthouse

The Vegas Shortlist

I have now narrowed the decision down to three hotels, based on price, reviews and location - it’s gotta be on the Strip! I had had the Luxor at the top of the list, but there were so many negative reviews from people who’ve stayed there that it’s off the menu. I can always walk over to it for a few photos anyway!

So which ones? The Paris, New York New York and Monte Carlo hotels are the lucky three. My personal favourite is the New York, but the tight swines want a $300 deposit up front! All of them can be had for about $800, give or take, for a 6 night stay. That’s just for the room, because I’ll book a multi trip flight from Mexico to Chicago, to Las Vegas and then back to Mexico City without haveing to return to Chicago. I only save about $50 doing it all seperately, but we’ll save half a day extra flying and a whole load of aggravation!