feliz prospero año

From us down here in the tropical warmth of the Mexican riviera ~ well, the "lower" riviera ~ to all of you, wherever you are and no matter how cold you are, we wish you a Happy New Year. The above photograph is of the last sunset of 2008. For my part, I truly hope the new year will be a good one for all. As I have noted before, we have no TV, no newspapers, no magazines. We get all our news from either the internet (national, international) or the grapevine (local). It's frequently difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, but as far as I can tell, on the home front not much has changed. Same old scandals, same disastrous news from the finacial world, earthquakes in Yellowstone, freezing weather everywhere, same old vitriolic rant from the right, same old flowery rhetoric from the left. Internationally, wars in the Middle East ~ not only "ours" but others' as well. It seems like that has been going on my entire life. Fire in Bangkok nightclub ~ we have friends traveling there and can only hope they were not in the affected nightclub. But here, it's like being in a bell jar; it's all so far away . . .

Tonight there will be celebrations all over town, up at the hotels and on the beach front and in the streets at random. There are quite a few people here, not just day-trippers. So it should be lively and LOUD. As usual, we will stay home, have a late dinner, listen to some music and turn in early. I have made albondigas, the delicious Mexican meat balls. We have a nice bottle of Bordeaux we found up in Colima. It will be a nice way to both "go out" and "stay in."

Tomorrow afternoon we will go to an egg nog party at friends' down in the colonia. They have built a beautiful big house on the ocean side and this will be my first chance to get in and snoop around. Full report later. With pictures.

Until then, I have pretty much recovered from my bout with the Cuyutlán catarrah. I am feeling much better although still subject to coughing fits. Whatever this is has spread through the entire town and has laid many low. Even the Patient has been flirting with it but I think he's going to escape the full blast. I have about 25 more pages in "The Nine." Good read. Next: either "Dreams from my Father" or "The 19th Wife." These are about the most pressing decisions I have to make these days.

21 days until 1/20/2009: End of an Error