March 27, 2008

Gridlock in La Manzanilla - and another retirement party

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - I don't drive all that fast (ok, not any faster than my Mexican amigos around here) but I was moving pretty fast a couple of days ago, headed up the mountain to meet someone, when I rounded a gravel-road corner and found this fellow standing in the middle of the road.

Gridlock on La Manzanilla road
Who has the right of way here?

I tooted my horn to get him to move, but he didn't budge. In fact, he came up and rested his head on the hood of the car briefly. Even when I got out of the car, he didn't move, until I gave him a loud cowboy yell (Yee-haw!). Then he ambled off, leading me slowly for about a quarter mile before wandering off into a ravine. I'll have to brush up on my Spanish for Horses.

The next day, on my way out to Tenacatita, to check on the beach lots (and Mario & Sharon's casa) I rounded another corner a little too fast, only to be greeted by several horses, blithely wandering across Highway 200, the major north-south artery for this entire coastal area.

I don't want to think about what would happen if I had a Trooper-Palomino collision.

Horses in the road
Highway horses

But things haven't been all horse stories.

Wednesday night we had the official Jane Gorby retirement party at Palapa Joe's, with Jane's former employer, Joan Santana as hostess. Joan sprang for the whole party - drinks, more pizzas than a hungry crowd could eat, and a beautiful cake that everyone managed to chomp on, despite being full of pizza.

The retirement cake
The retirement cake

There were no long speechs (whew!) just a few toasts and one rendition on the ukulele of "Jane Gorby has finally retired." The three Cuba Libres I had didn't help much with hitting the right chords, but because most everyone else had sloshed pretty good, too, I got away with it.

Jane & Jesse
Jane & Jesse

Official retirement party
The party table at Palapa Joe's

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