THE THREE M'S MINUS ONE.

Life is so condensed and exciting. My friend Michal Houston still has a house in Murphys but lives in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She loves it there. She came to visit old friends for a whirlwind week. Michal, Madelaine Krska,  and I, Mary, Maddie and Michal once called ourselves the Three M's. Maddie is retired and living in Arizona. For lunch, we went to our favorite old haunt, Camps in Angels Camp, and toasted our missing friend. I expect someday, the three of us will find ourselves together once again.
Michal and I had a great time looking over pictures of a trip we took to China. It was such a refresher course to read over my old journal and remember fun things we did, and stuff we saw.


Michal and I with a Chinese woman in a roadside village. What would happen if a bus load of tourists pulled up to your house in Murphys and asked if the people could come in and talk to you and see inside your house, and ask you personal questions about your life and how you live?
She lives in the country and is allowed two children, instead of one. Her boys both graduated college. She lives in her family home where she and her husband grow cotton. They have a hog to butcher, and a pond filled with edible plants shared with neighbors. The tiny house had two rooms a large gas wok in the kitchen with a table;  one bedroom where the bed was in a corner with little room to walk around it.


Michal with the ladies of a small Naxi (Nah-shee) village, all dressed for town to meet with a government official. Everyone friendly and accommodating.


I looked for a picture I had of Michal watching a talented cryptographer showing how to paint Chinese script on a papyrus, but I couldn't find it. Here, in the lobby of one hotel, we are both fastened by an ancient, intricate, carving in jade.
We talked about the places on our bucket list, favorite or memorable experiences on the road. I love what famous travel host Rick Steves said about travel:  "You cannot be a bigot when you understand other cultures." He is so right.

THE SUN IS SHINING SOMEWHERE.

Despite a bad news day, we woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise and it behooves us to remind ourselves that the sun is always shining somewhere.


I told Jim I was hungry to see some green but we left early for Los Algodones for Jim’s eye appointment and I caught a group harvesting kale as we drove by. That isn’t enough green for me. I’m remembering when we stayed here for two months in 2008. I need to make up for our brown winter in Murphys.


We ran the gauntlet of hawkers trying to get you to use their eye doctors or their dentist. Every few minutes someone sticks a card in your face. Algodones was practically empty from what we saw two years ago. The town has five hundred dental offices with two to three dentists in each one. The biggest concentration, so we are told, in the world.


The streets and alleys are like one big bazaar, with goods hanging everywhere for sale, to bargain.


Much of it stuff you don’t need but talk about colorful and fun.  I did buy a scarf.


The economy in Algodones is affected by the drug cartel mess and less people making the trip. We were amazed at the five-minute wait to get back across the border instead of the 40 minutes it normally takes.  So people here are suffering for business as well. This courtyard at one time held a fountain and a lot of sales goods. Now it holds tables for strolling musicians and multiple restaurants in a circle to choose from.


We walked around town for a an hour or so waiting for Jim’s glasses to be finished and we visited my dentist to have a new mouth guard made. His prices went up from thirty dollars last time to eighty dollars this time. I probably won’t go back to him. San Luis is cheaper, about 25 miles down the road. There is the back part of town not so pretty. A lot of places closed and for sale.


This cute little dog was irresistible and not for sale, of course.


We always eat at the same place, Birrias, where they sell you a whole chicken or fish and shrimp tacos for lunch with a beer for seven dollars. I usually order the chicken but talked to an American woman who said the tacos were as good as the chicken. And, they were.


They give you gobs of condiments as well. Yum.


Birriras doesn’t have musicians but we listened to musicians at another restaurant. We had my Little Siamese clock fixed and and picked it up before we got back to the motor home. Jim found out he has cataracts, which is also fixable, but not in Algodones. Mexican border towns are not dangerous during the day time. It is at night you don’t want to cross over. We did border crossings in January of last year when a local cop told us, don’t worry about drug activity during the day. Go, enjoy your dinner, and we did. Algodones has not had any drug violence like other places, anyway. So if you are worried, don’t be.

THE LEGO GENERATION

My grandkids absolutely love legos to this day, even though they rarely play with them anymore. So did my kids. Check this out:

http://gas2.org/2014/01/03/video-life-sized-lego-car-air-powered-green-dream/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-gas2+%28Gas+2.0%29

This video comes from one of my favorite subscriptions, everything about cars. Gas2.0
They love green and electric cars as I do. Always great info here.

I'm working on my trip to Turkey, taking care of loose ends. Got into travel sites this morning. A lot of bargains out there in January and February. Cabo, Cancun, Puerto Valarta. Next year, I'm going to take advantage of one of them. Jim and I are hoping to go to Cuba next year. Reading travel sites really gets the juices stirring.

DAY OF THE DEAD IN MURPHYS.

The Day of the Dead, celebrated in Murphys, was a good opportunity to take some time from mundane chores and head for town. Jim got into a shirt he bought in Central America or Mexico, where he has seen a genuine Dia de los Muertes celebration and parade.

The first altar we came to was celebrating the life of Frenchman, Maurice Chevelier,  erected by a French couple who run the tasting room in Murphys "Mall". Another we encountered later celebrated Julia Child.

The Marisola Olive Oil tasting room had a more personal remembrance, perhaps each employee put up pictures of deceased loved ones.

I liked the "home-made" aspect of it. These are just cardboard boxes decorated with pictures. That is what the celebration is all about, once a year, remember our loved ones who have passed and celebrate life. In the deepest jungles of Brazil, where graves are close to home, the people celebrate with an altar on the grave. Typical food is empanadas.
The other element of the celebration is to place things on the altar that the deceased person cherished, often favorite foods.  Flowers and candles are typical. This one was a mystery to us, the pliers and acorns. I can only admire and speculate, the cuts in the paper, the crayons, perhaps an artist who used these tools? Made crafts from acorns?

Inside of an art gallery  is a huge picture frame altar where visitors were encouraged to pick a tag and write the name of a loved one you wish to celebrate and hang it from the tree. Very touristy, and I expect that is what most of this celebration is about here in the new, re-invented Murphys, that visitors love so well.

Speaking of re-inventing, suddenly, the Murphys Hotel has a ghost of "long-standing" with an elaborate story about her lost lover, and devoted employment at the hotel, her death and ghostly antics only witnessed by employees. Ghosts are very popular in the Motherlode.

I really enjoyed the day. We followed the mariachi band from place to place.

The costuming. There was a costume contest and parade. And participants like us who dressed up a bit. But, this costume was beautiful and very elaborate. I hope she won.
This girl was taking a picture of the mariachi band.

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Miss Northern California Teen attended with her father.

A second band entertained from a porch in the middle of town. They were a good listen.

My neighbor, Pam Chisholm, got into the spirit of the day.

Two places in town offered face painting.

This gentleman was in front of the Gene and Norman Tanner house that  is now a vacation rental. He had the place outfitted to the max.

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You could by a skull and decorate it.

He had very authentic Mexican candelabra and the typical cakes sold all over Mexico for this day.  He served candied pumpkin, another traditional food. Many of the 21 altars around town had traditional cakes.

He had set-ups where you could have your picture taken.

Even an altar to remember and celebrate your favorite pets.

What I liked most about this celebration was how uncrowded it was. Here, in front of the Peppermint Stick, is a scene right out of the fifties. I thoroughly enjoyed walking town, even if half the businesses have changed hands, several times, and I can't remember what they were. The Peppermint Stick and the Murphys Hotel have withstood the onslaught of too many wine tasting rooms. The celebration won't stay this way for very long.  At 6:00 p.m. there was a candlelight procession to the St. Patricks Church Cemetery. We opted to skip home for dinner and a movie. We watched Tootsie, which neither of us had ever seen before.  I swear, we are culturally deprived. LOL

AN UNPLEASANT WRINKLE

As usual, up before the sun. From the casino parking lot, we catch the gold. A day well planned we head for Algodones, Mexico to finish my dental work. Denny Salinas has a new office from our previous visit for major work, in December/Jan. 2008/09.

Dentists here (not all)   have shabby offices, as I understand it. And as many have studied and gotten their credentials in the U.S.  Salinas guarantees his work, and did just that. An hour and one half the first visit, 3 ex-rays, a diagnosis and solution- no charge. Then over two hours today, and I was on my way with a cost of 200 dollars for two special made mouth guards, some cosmetic work and a prescription. RVers we have talked to claim the dentists here are very honest and Jim and I found that to be true.

We stopped for lunch at Birrieria, basically the same menu as a couple days ago, in a different place.  Live musicians wander in with their tip cups,  the kitchen out front. Same economical price as well.

You see everything being made in front of the shop. Notice the ceiling to floor string of garlic on the right.

This bashful lady kind of ducked when I took the picture. But, she made flour tortillas so fast it made my head swim.  I saw her forming  perfect size dough balls by hand and  using a press to flatten them.  The end product counts. Ah,  fresh and delicious.

On the way home, the march of the insects appeared on the sidewalk, made of wrought iron and stones.

Clever  soldier ants with a couple of "dead soldiers", an American euphemism for an empty drink bottle or can.

Attractive chickens...

...and all the desert creatures like scorpions, turtles, lizards, snakes and road runners. It's a pleasure to check out the street wares even though we have no room in the motor home to bring stuff home.

Back in Yuma, on the way to get the vehicles washed and waxed, I got a ticket for running a stop sign. It isn't in my nature to plow through a stop sign in mid-day in full view of a policewoman. I've had four tickets in my life and I know it sounds ingenuous to blame my mishap on the intersection. The intersection was also an approach to a bridge and had two sets of double stop lines. It confused me. I started to stop, perceived the double lines an extra ten feet in front of me as the proper stop, and pulled forward. Realized my mistake instantly and stepped on the brakes-too late.  Oh, well. Payback for those U turns I made when I shouldn't have. I'm asking for a trial in absentia. I'll keep you posted.

GRITTY THINGS LIKE VALVES

We were hoping for another gorgeous sunrise, but the clouds wouldn’t cooperate. We packed up to leave the park by 11:00 and repaired to a nearby concrete slab that was once a gas station. The buildings have been torn down. The purpose was to change the black water and grey water valves. Jim had noticed a small leak and wanted to fix it where it was convenient to do so. But, the valves wouldn’t budge. We decided this was a job for a professional

Everyday I sketch something and worked on this statue in the park. It was too far away to be a credible drawing, so I’ll sketch from this picture during repair time.
A return to Mexico at 9:00 for my dentist appointment.  Then rush to another location for a wash and wax of  the motor home and Bronco. We should be ready to hit the road for Organ Pipe National Monument and Painted Rock Petroglyphs. Stay tuned.
Speaking of tunes, yesterday, we heard the song “I’ve Been Everywhere.”  That is Jim’s song. When we meet someone new, they ask, “Where ya from?” Jim always smiles at that question. He has a Murphys mailing address, his cell phone is from Connecticut, his license and registration from Washington State.  He can sing, “I’ve been everywhere, man, I’ve been everywhere…”

LUNCH IN ALGODONES, MEXICO

This is a sign you can understand in any language and not one we see much. Algodones, Mexico, about five miles West of Yuma  is reputed to have the highest density of dentists, pharmacies, doctors and opticians in a four block area,  than any similar four block area  in the world.

Hawkers reach out and offer to guide you to a dentist, doctor, etc.  every step of the way. Not that you need guidance, every other sign is for one or the other.  For most of them you don't need an appointment. We arrived at 9:00 a.m. to be first in the door to Denny Salinas' office, except, he was no longer at the same address as our last visit in 2009.  A young woman named Bettina walked us several blocks away to his fancy new digs. We learned you now need an appointment. But, as a former  customer,  he took a look at a problem I was having with an implant he did and fitted me in for ex-rays and a diagnosis.

We walked around town to look around. People, many recognizable "snowbirds", were sitting in a busy square sunning themselves and  listening to a very good musician play several types of flute. Hauntingly beautiful sounds I recognized from Peruvian culture.

His partner was selling  his very popular CD's. I could have stayed an listened for an hour.

The spray can artists were also working the square. They can do amazing things with spray paint and a piece of paper, rubbing the paint on then quickly drying it with a hair dryer. Jim cautioned this guy waving  a cigarette near the painters  but he laughed and defied the notion that a cigarette around all of those chemicals was in danger of exploding or starting a fire.  Popular pieces are the television dishes snowbirds have on their RV's. In fact, Algodones depends so much on Canadian and American tourists they have a closed-street block party in December welcoming snowbirds  back to Algodones.

In our motor home we don't have room to buy "stuff" but I like to look, anyway. People buy cheap drugs and liquor here as well. I got a bottle of vodka.

We like an open restaurant, hole-in-the wall type, that starts you off with three  kinds of salsa  a red, a green, both hot and home-made. Then avocado salsa,  sour cream, limes,  and chips.  A plate with tomatoes, onion, cilantro and shredded cabbage.  They cook their meats on a charcoal grill in front of their place. I tell you that because I haven't a clue what the name of the place is if you go.

The food is always good and cheap, $5 for a whole chicken with rice and beans. Jim took a small portion. I ordered four tacos forgetting that they fill them really full of meat. Our two meals with Tecates cost us $13.00. The Tecate is good with a squeeze of lime in it. I never have this much fun when I go to my dentist in Murphys, doncha know!

Jim likes to go early so we get back across the border before the crowds line up. We didn't make it. I didn't mind at all talking to other folks in line. It was about a twenty-minute wait before we went through the friendly immigration inspection.

Something new since our last visit, for $5 you can be driven over in the yellow cart  and skip the line. The drug sniffing dog sniffs the cart and all the cars, too.