the scorched earth policy

This lot is on the south of side of house. It gets completely overgrown during the year, so by the time we get down in December it is covered with shrubs, cactus, debris, trash, and other items both natural and man-made. Now this might be ok IF the Easter visitors did not take advantage of the sheltered parts of the lot to use as an outdoor latrine. About a week after they all depart the perfume and the flies are enough to make you pack up and head for the border. A few years ago we decided we'd had enough of this back-to-nature stuff and got Fernando to burn off the lot. It did discourage it's use, so we did it again this year. It was pretty overgrown, so first he had to hack everything down and let it dry out. Then we had a big burn and it indeed looks like a war zone. This is the time of year when it gets very damp during the night so in the morning the air smells like there has been a forest fire. We can only hope that no cover and a bad smell will do the trick.

The disco fired up last night at 6 PM ~ a lovely accompaniment to the evening's Margarita hour ~ but quit aat 7. Then from the small hotel across the street came the funky music of a pick-up band. Brass, drums and a clarinet.

Loud but playing good old Mexican music, a mix of Mariachi band tunes and classic Ranchero-style. I walked over to get a better look. A great bunch of old guys, except for the two drummers who looked about 15, having a fine time together.

I went back home and they continued to fill the evening air with really great music, ever so much better then the black fog that pollutes the town from the disco. Around 9 PM they took a break and strolled down to the malecon to play there. I went back to the hotel to see if they would be returning. Yes, at about 10 o'clock. I wanted to give them a propina as thanks. Well, they never came back. Maybe they made a bundle at the beach and didn't bother. At 9:30 the disco started, blew out the town's electricity for (unfortunately) only 5 minutes, and then were back at it. I put on my trusty Bose noise-canceling ear phones and went to sleep. Things will crank up loud and long starting tonight so this is probably the last night I will sleep at home for a few days. I am hosting dominoes so really have to be here to clean up when it's over.

Telmex finally showed up to fix the phone lines. Now if I could just figure out what's amiss with our internet connection . We have to sit up on the 3rd floor (en plein aire as the Patient calls it) to get any reception. I think perhaps our aerial has become so salt- and dust-encrusted that it just doesn't work anymore. But we're now, suddenly short-timers so I'm not going to buy new equipment until next year. Four weeks from today we head home. Much too soon.