If someone would have told us that
we were not able to leave our home, wear a face mask when out in public, stay
six feet apart and that most stores would be closed, we would have thought it
was an April fool's joke. It wasn't, so here we are sequestered in our home
in Mexico along the foothills overlooking Lake Chapala.
Among our daily rituals, is a walk at sunrise and one at sunset, totaling
2-1/4 miles. Living in the heart of the Mexican Rocky Mountains, the
sunset views can take our breath away. Click to enjoy the sights and sounds
from our roof top patio.
The pool, hot tub and gym are
closed due to lock down, so we had our head maintenance man open the gym so many
of the active gym users could borrow some equipment that can be used in our
homes. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are set aside for Tai Chi (at home of
course). Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday we set time a side for some
exercise with balls, bands, belts and dumb bells.
To stay occupied, we spent time helping the Mexican community, by
distributing food to needy families. Some food banks, like this one
gets donated food (some good and some past expiration) and they set one-day
a week for families to pick through the food. Unfortunately they do
this with little or no regard to getting or spreading the coronavirus.
So we helped start FoodBank Lakeside
with the goal of helping families who lost their jobs due to COVID-19. We
work with small groceries stores to buy non-perishable food in bulk, repackage
it to feed a family of four for a week and schedule specific times for families
to pick up their food. We work behind the scenes helping organize things like
fundraising and marketing via ZOOM.
Mexico's president did little to prepare the country for COVID-19. But
Jalisco's governor worked with scientists from the University of Guadalajara
and local leaders to implement one of the best plans in Mexico. With 8.2
million people, Jalisco has one of the lowest number of cases per 100,000
people in the country.
The
plan called for a stay-at-home policy beginning in mid-March, closure of
non-essential businesses, a requirement for all people in public to wear face
masks. Unfortunately, these measures had some casualties like our nearby
grocery store that was unable to get American made products which force them to
close business.
Glorine worked with Mario, the man in the blue shirt, to come to El Parque
each Friday afternoon so we and other residents here could buy fresh fruit
and vegetables at our doorstep.
Our first trip to Mario's pick up
stand was on the light side. This cost a total of $3.80 USD. Between
our early Sunday morning grocery shopping and Mario, we have more than enough to
eat.
After grocery shopping, we set up a staging area in our driveway, where we
take stuff out of the bag, spray the cans and bottles with a mixture of
water and bleach, dry it off, then take it into the house.
With our gardeners on home stay for
the entire month of April, we were stuck doing our own yard work without the
proper equipment. We eventually got a rake so Glorine didn't have to sweep
the lawn.
We took in an on-line concert featuring five-time Grammy award winning bass
guitarist, Victor Wooten. It was a charity event to help a near-by village
with the world's highest rates of kidney disease.
One of the things we enjoy most
about our daily walks is the beauty mother nature has given us that we often
take for granite. No more, we now take it all in with gratitude and
appreciation.
Eating all three meals at home means lots of cooking. Glorine has tried
dozens of new recipes along with some of our favorite ones, including ground
beef and sauerkraut wrapped in bread dough ready for the oven.
Glorine's cooking is Muy Bueno.
We are fortunate to be retired and
not worrying about work or taking care of kids. We are definitely
roaming less but enjoying life more. One lesson we learned is to accept
the world as it is rather than the way you wish it were. Stay safe and
healthy.
