A day in Mexico with life, death and the sounds of music

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - The dichotomies in Mexico, at least where Admiral Fox and I hang our respective Tilley hats, are striking. Some people have Internet and drive nice new trucks,  others live in huts with dirt floors and ride burros for transportation. Some folk are very educated, others have very little schooling.

But perhaps the greatest dichotomy is the ability of the Mexican people to struggle with serious problems, dust themselves off and move on - often smiling as they do so...

Case in point:

Admiral Fox, CEO Laura and I went to Tenacatita Beach Thursday for lunch. Adm. Fox and Laura bicycled (into a strong south wind it turned out) while I drove the support vehicle with the boogie boards and snorkel gear.

And, as always, it was fabulous there, with great food and the water temperature quite nice. (CAPTAIN'S NOTE: Thursday, a bus runs from Melaque to Tenacatita so be ready for lots of gringo company...)


Oscar the vet and Julien with a sick dog

But at 2 p.m., we returned to meet with Oscar the veterinarian from Miguel Hildago. He was there to give distemper vaccinations - and most likely to put down a dog that clearly had distemper. The street-side passion play over whether to put the dog down went on for nearly an hour. The owners weren't sure, other residents (especially those with pooches who had been in contact with the sick dog) were very sure. And after a long conversation with a half-dozen adults and many more children, the vet went into a secluded yard and gave the dog a single shot, while I stood by.

The dog was gone in probably 30 seconds and was buried on the beach by our amigo French surfer-dude Julien, who helped calm the dog while the injection was given.

That would have been quite enough for me, except that another family brought over their sick puppy for Oscar to take a look at, a puppy who seemed to be having serious coordination problems and who had stopped eating.

Yup, distemper, too, the vet said.

And so within another half-hour - and much more talking - veterinarian Oscar took the puppy into the yard (away from the owners' eyes) and gave it an injection to end its suffering. And it was suffering, clearly, I could see.


Puppy with distemper

At that point, with Julien headed to the beach to bury the first dog, I scooped up the now-passed puppy and headed to the beach myself on our quad, shovel in hand to bury the pooch, all wrapped up ingloriously in a black trash bag.

After my experience last year - having to put down our dog Lucky - it was extremely hard to witness the first dog's injection and death, even harder to witness and then take charge of the deceased puppy. But it was obvious that the puppy had to be taken away quickly so the family (including a two-year-old, who obviously loved the animal) wouldn't have the body as a reminder.


Puppy grave on the beach
 
All of this would have sent me to the wine bottle early, except we had scheduled a night of music for the children in the village. Many of the children are taking English classes from Laura. And all of their much younger siblings were interested in the notion of gringo music.

And so, two hours after working with a shovel on the beach, I was setting up cameras and helping Myranda O'Byrne, Michael Hearn and Adm. Fox get ready for the 50 children (and a handful of adults) who came flooding in the Pink Flamingo gates at the appointed hour for concert and music lesson.

Some of the children (and adults) were the same ones who had been involved in the decisions earlier about the dogs.

But you would never have known it. They listened to the music with pure joy.


Music night audience


Myranda with the children

So what are the lessons here?

Well, for one, dogs need to be vaccinated for distemper. That doesn't happen often here, though with Adm. Fox on the case, things are likely to change in this hamlet.

But the second lesson is that death and life are sooooo close to the surface. There is no sterile vet's office where a dog is put down behind a closed door by white-coat-clad medical staff.

And at the same time, the joy of life is so close to the surface, too.

I have never heard such enthusiasm from children singing 'Bingo' or 'Five Little Ducks.'

Even I was singing Quack Quack Quack by the time it was over last night.

And yes, it made me feel a lot better.

Quack!

Forget H1,N1 virus, how about a dog with 'ehrlichia'?

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - While the H1N1 virus was all the rage, (the malady-formerly-known-as-swine-flu), we were battling our own disease issues with El Capitan, the dog the Admiral and I have been trying to nurse back to health for several weeks.

Sunday, as the world was coming to the conclusion that just maybe it had gotten a little carried away with the potential danges of H1N1, Capitan was projectile-sneezing bloody clots across the palapa and causing a cleanliness crisis.

But three shots from Rocio the vet later, plus other medicines and, of course, a little dinero for various treatments, and we thought El Capitan had a chance to beat a very bad disease called ehrlichia.

We're not so sure today.


A very tired Capitan

Yesterday afternoon, the nosebleeds started again, and with the assistance of Chon, we were able to get an anti-bleeding shot into the Capitan. He wasn't very happy about the shot (Capitan, not Chon), and the various antibiotics don't seem to agree with him as much as other medicines have.

Then last night and all day today, Capitan made a kind of a gurgling sound and seemed to have some problems swallowing.

And then the top of his head erupted with its own bleeding patch - without even being touched.


Capitan's cut, up close


Capitan's bloody nose

The bleeding on El Capitan's head is from a wound that suddenly appeared while the Admiral had Capitan out for a stroll. It has already started to heal, but the spontaneous 'bleeding out' has us worried that El Capitan is going into a serious relapse. He was near to bleeding out when we first treated him three weeks ago. His entire body was covered with barely healing scabs.

Serious relapse of not, El Capitan trotted off the property earlier this evening in the company of his owner who had come by with some fruit for us as a present. He seemed happy to go home with her, despite the good food and drink we provide him here at the Pink Flamingo.

If he comes back here tonight to sleep right outside our bedroom door - which he might - we will be ready for another evening of listening for his gurgling sounds.

And, I suppose, waking up with a sense of dread if the gurgling suddenly stops.

Music, fog, and unusual visitors all arrive in Arroyo Seco

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - When Sanders and Pat Lamont arrived a few days ago, one of our biggest concerns was that the heat might be a shock to their Northern California constitutions. Their life in Camp Connell since November has been largely in cold, often snowy conditions with skiing as a major form of exercise. Evenings have often been spent huddled around their woodstove keeping warm.

We didn't really need to worry. Since they arrived, we have had nights down below 60 degrees and came within an inch of lighting a campfire last night.

A campfire, no kidding.

And then this morning, in the hours preceding our second animal clinic in a week with Rocio (the vet from La Manzanilla), the hills were shrouded with fog and everything was soaked with dew.


Fog over Arroyo Seco hills

The clinic was a success again, with Rocio treating four dogs, including the rapidly improving Capitan. Several young neighbor girls, including Brianda from across the street, came to observe Rocio at work. And Brianda jumped in to help with the last dog, handing Rocio the various instruments, hypodermics, and medicines as needed. The girls also went along when Rocio hopped on the quad to make two house calls away from the Pink Flamingo.

They seemed a little in awe of this professional woman who has her own successful medical practice in La Manzanilla (and Arroyo Seco, obviously). She received a gift of two baby ducks from Brianda as she left.


Anna holds a neighbor's rabbit at one vet stop



A puppy's first time on real grass

The Lamont's - as the Admiral and I had hoped - helped spark us to play some music, an activity we never seem to have time for after days of projects. After realizing that all three restaurants in Arroyo Seco were closed last night, we opted for reheated leftovers and getting out the musical instruments.

Sanders and the Admiral played a half-dozen instrumental tunes while Pat and I - and neighbor Juliett - provided enthusiastic drumming, and the occasional dance step.

Perhaps tonight I might drag out my ukulele and see if the group can stand a reprise of The Letter by The Boxtops and maybe even a chorus or two of Rodney Carrington's Dancing With A Man. That's a tough song to translate, but perhaps best left untranslated, now that I think about it.


Juliette and Pat handle percussion duties

Ironically, perhaps, we have barely made it to the beach, other than a quick foray two days ago to Tenacatita for lunch and to check out the new electrical connection at our Tenacatita beach lot. With the cooler weather, it hasn't seemed quite right to break out the boogie boards and snorkel gear, though both are standing at ready. I'm also not sure how warm the ocean water is at this moment.

But Sanders and Pat have been getting some serious quad time in, zooming around the village and last night to Playa Chica to check out the sunset. The sunset was shrouded in marine-layer clouds, though even at that, the colors were dramatic.


Heading for the beach to see the sunset


Sanders, Pat and the Admiral on the quad

But of all the adventures and strange sights of the past few days, this morning's visitors to the village were a first in a winter and spring of firsts.

The front gate was wide open - an invititation for villagers to come in and bring their various animals for our vet friend Rocio to examine and treat. And while there wasn't exactly a steady stream of people, quite a few folks did stick their heads in, in some cases just to check out the place and get a quick look at the now very-green grass in the center of the property.

But one group late in the morning looked a little odd - dressed waaaaay too well for people interested in getting dragging in their pooch for a vaccination or a flea treatment. The men were dressed in pressed white shirts. The women wore longish skirts. And they were all carrying a lot of pamphlets in their hands.

No way...

Yes way...

They were part of a truckload of about 15 Jehovah's Witnesses who had descended on the village making the rounds to give out The Watchtower.

Larry, an amigo from La Manzanilla who had accompanied Rocio to Arroyo Seco (and who is a big booster of Cisco Amigo's) quickly told the Witnesses that the clinic was very busy at that moment and we really did not have time to placticar (to chat...).

And that, in fact, was quite true.


Witnesses canvass Arroyo Seco

A dog named 'Lucky' joins our family in Arroyo Seco

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - On the last day of the year, we adopted a La Manzanilla street dog and have moved him to what has become the Arroyo Seco Doggy Spa, at least until he recovers from a short life of abuse and neglect.

Our amigo in La Manzanilla, Julie, who with her husband Rusty runs a huge save-the-animals project called Cisco's Amigos, found the pooch for us, provided us with the medicines he would need and eventually hooked us up with the Mexican family that had adopted 'Lucky' temporarily, at least until some family like us took him in.

Lucky?

That was the name the vet gave him: Lucky to have been adopted.


Lucky while getting a bath

Lucky, our friend Julia told us, is a labrador retriever for the most part. But even a casual glance at the shape of the head tells you that while Lucky might have a pint or two of lab in him, this boy probably has strong ties to the Rottweiler family.

Grrrrrrr.....

Still, as we want Lucky to be a watchdog for the property, that's fine, provided he doesn't eat our amigos Chena and Chon's tiny dogs.

Or any of the neighbors' kids.

Grrrrrrr.....


Lucky getting his bath at the veternarians




In addition to getting a pooch, we came back to the property today and were pleasantly surprised by activity on three fronts: The ramada was being moved over the new trailer, the bathrooms are being plumbed and the tile guy showed up late in the day and will start first thing tomorrow to lay out the tile.

First thing?

I am not getting up early to make sure everything is set for him. I did that already today and he didn't show until 4 p.m.

It was amazing today to watch the guys working entirely by hand, lifting and toting and digging and eventually hauling big guayabito wood posts around and setting them into the ground.

The rumor on the property - which we have now dubbed The Pink Flamingo - is that the ramada project will be finished in a couple of days.

Another Arroyo Seco milagro - if it happens.

A lakeside benefit gets the dancers out on the floor

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - Saturdays are always pretty wild around Watkins in the summer. Yesterday, in addition to the usual boating madness, a benefit for a local youth - who is recovering from multiple organ failure - had several hundred people tapping their toes to music, munching down barbecued chicken and, of course, drinking draft beer.

A lot of draft beer.

The benefit was held outside at the Village Marina, owned by the Schamel family, who in addition to running their usual restaurant crowd through the place, also handled the barbecue - and there were a lot of chickens who sacrificed their lives.

We arrived at the benefit in style - via Cousin Roger's ski boat which got us down the lake much faster than the Spirit of Louise would have.

At one point early in the benefit, one of the organizers told me that they had already taken in more than $700 - just on the raffle. And given that the draft beers were $3, with $1 of that going to the family, well, the benefit took in a lot of money. Cousin Roger and I contributed quite heavily to all components.

Roger's son Brett Beardslee was front and center, playing his own set of songs and also jamming with other local musicians. Dancing started, early, too and went on well into the night.

And the weather? Perfect end of August temperatures.


Even the canines enjoyed the music


Enjoying the sun and afternoon


Roger, Nancy and nephew Nate