SolMate Santiago Logs
Log #73, October 2008
Posted Monday, 27 October, 2008
RanaQuemada Helpful Phrases
Es ejercicio.
(...and stretch, and twist, and stretch....)
No es ejercicio.
Esta es magia encajonada.
Son amigos inseperables.
No son amigos muy buenos.
Posted Tuesday, 21 October, 2008
It's Raining Cocos
The rains know it's the end of the season, but temps don't. The past week has been dry, but only in the measurable precipitation sense. Humidity was at drenching levels and temps above melting.
When the sun's not around, though, the sizzle-factor dropped. We've been waking to downright bearable mornings, and can just glimpse perfect winter weather on the horizon.
Hot or not, work continued at the SolCasa de RanaQuemada (updates on the REMODEL pages). Ramon and Veronica spent a couple of days with us, finishing door frames - and cutting down cocos!
Ramon and Veronica lashing the ladder and climbing to the top
After a futile attempt at two-years-worth of cocos on the tree, Ramon gave up; his 25-foot ladder didn't quite reach. Wielding a machete while hanging on for dear life proved a bit too much (thankfully, Stan didn't even try). An expert was summoned.
The coco cutting expert at the top
In half an hour, the pro free climbed the tree, clambered around the top, hacked at branches and bunches of cocos, and rappeled back down to the ground to enjoy a cold brew. His price for a half-hour's work? $2 USD. And the cocos.
His work at the top was one-handed, attaching a rope to one coco bunch at a time, then hacking off the stem and letting the whole shebang slide to the ground. Branches crashed to the ground, unimpeded. Himself, he let down gently, rappeling with a wrap of rope around a thigh.
Lowering a bunch of cocos, then himself
Then it was time to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Ramon explained about the ages of the cocos, and chose the slightly more ripe, but still green ones. He chopped off one end with a machete, we all slurped down the sweet agua, then spooned out the still-gooey meat.
Veronica, Stan, our expert tree climber and Ramon hacking at a coco
Stan and Veronica
Later, Stan hacked a couple of the older cocos in half and I dug out the meat, the hard stuff one grates for macaroons. It took an hour to clean out two cocos. No wonder the coco man didn't want any of the old, brown cocos.
And the final result, besides a refreshing treat, we can now walk around the coco palm without worrying about a bonk on the head!
Posted Sunday, 12 October, 2008
Odile Whimpered while Norbert Growled
Odile spent a quiet night at our house, gently raining. Only an inch and a half in the trusty rain gauge this morning, and he's already checked out and moved on. We experienced no wind, whatsoever.
Not so for Norbert. We're still waiting to hear reports from friends on the Baja and mainland....
Posted Fiday, 10 October, 2008
Closest Yet - Two to Watch, Odile and Norbert
Odile is predicted to pass closer to Manzanillo than any storm we've experienced in our short career as manzanillenses. At least that's the prediction. Our hope is that the storm's strength will bleed off as it brushes the land.
Stan's been busy publishing updated Norbert info for cruisers in the Sea as the storm bears down on the Baja. Every six hours the hurricane center updates their reports, then Stan updates his and sends out text messages to the fleet.
Our friendly weatherguy also added more graphics to his hurricane page, but the cruisers, who are hunkered down in their hurricane holes without web access, only receive his text reports via their single side band radios. One more data point to help them plan, and stay safe.
Heckuva way to end hurricane season ... it's supposed to be winding down. Coulda fooled us!
One of our boys, resting in the deluge during Sunday's game
Our stadium is covered with a tin roof. Noisy when buckets of rain are dumped on it.
SolMate Santiago contact: mj(at)solmatesantiago(dot)com
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