High tides on Playa Chica and fresh concrete walls in town

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - The great 'smoothing-the-walls' project continued this morning, with the three-man crew planning a half-day of work. They hope to have the wall next to the palapa finished by mid-day so that this afternoon's cooking class with maestra Chena will have a more attractive backdrop than the tarps we have hanging up to protect the appliances.

It was also payday for the workers, who now have big smiles on their faces after getting paid - in cash of course - by our vecino and straw boss, Chon. I'm still smiling because I paid a fraction of what I would have paid in the U.S. And that included having an electrician completely rewire one side of the property with proper sized wires and receptacles.

It also included having the same electrician go inside of Laura's condominio (Grey Goose Express I) to check out a power problem. After going over the entire house-on-wheels, I went into the bathroom and realized the safety breaker by the sink had flipped.

Carumba!

We also had some great news yesterday. Our amigo Francisco got his immigration status cleared and is back home in the U.S. We wrote a letter to the INS (or whatever it is called) on his behalf.

Admiral Fox detailed out the situation in her blog:

Admiral's Log

In the meantime, the Admiral and I took a walk to Playa Chica early so that I could try to shake my head cold loose. Somehow in the the past few days I caught a real frozen-north beauty of a cold which has given me a case of laryngitis and headache.

The ocean air cleared up both - at least for the present.

Here's a brief video of the waves, which show how high the tides are running this week.