Santa Maria - oh where are you

Felize Ano Nuevo por todo!

The last week has been interesting and a bit precarious for both the dog and myself.

I'll begin with Maddie, the poor dog has had a bit of a hard week. It began with a tooth problem. One day at the beach, in Mazatlan, I was talking to a man whom I befriended over the last couple of days. He and his wife are from Oregon and he is an electrical engineer, so interesting enough for me to talk with. While talking, his wife seeing me throw rocks for the dog, decided to take over. The only problem was she threw them at her and one hit her in one of the canine teeth. Over the next couple of days the tooth turned a little pink as though there is blood inside but it still seems to be attached and she stills seems to eat with it, so I am assuming that it will stay in. I hear that dental is cheap here in Mexico, I just didn't expect to be doing any of it for the dog. To boot, Madison also seemed to get a bladder infection or something, probably from the salt water. So she constantly had to go to the bathroom and by the end of the day there would be a little blood in her urine. You have to be careful of the saltwater, particularly if they drink any of it, because it can be bad for the kidneys. So now I keep a watchful eye on her and make sure she has plenty of drinking water nearby. And then after arriving in La laguna de Santa Maria and meeting some of the neighborhood dogs, they decided they didn't like her so every morning as we went for a walk, they would come out and bite her. I finally began carrying a stick and would scare them off. She is getting acclimated to the fact that some dogs like her and some don't - those that don't will bite!

As for my arrival into santa maria, it is a beautiful lake in the middle of a very old inactive volcano. The water is warm, and clean, and in the past ten years or so the land has been purchased by wealthy mexicans who build vacation homes there. There were many ski boats, ski-nautics and such and every morning there would be a plentitude of wake boarders out on the lake. It seemed like I was in anywhere USA not Mexico. I ended up staying there for 6 days, a little long and out of my plan but unfortunately I was told on the 29th that my housing fell through in Guadalajara so that put me in a bind being the holidays and all. So, I stayed. The place was ok enough, very loud, and people don't seem to have any respect to your privacy but that is something I'm coming to realize about Mexico. Your space is their space. So people singing until 5 am was not uncommon.

I ask that no mother figure - my mom, my tias, and Mary R read further because you will have a heart attack but a story worth telling. Someone check on my mom and make sure she doesn't have cardiac problems...

So after my third night I had to stay in my tent for a couple of nights due to the fact that the place was all booked up. It wasn't a problem for me, in fact camping would have saved me a ton of money and was just as comfortable and I was doing all my cooking on my stove anyways. So I set my tent out near a couple of other tenters, who ended up leaving that same day. No worries I thought there was a family of 30 about 100 feet away from me. So, being that it got pretty cold at night, 40's, I set into sleep about 9.30 the first night. Around 1.30am I was snug as a bug and dreaming about someone saying hola every so quietly...and then I heard the dog let out a low little growl bark and I realized it was no dream. And again I heard it hola... hola... hola. And I yelled out, GET OUT OF HERE. Then proceeded to let the dog out and said, go find him. And she did, hiding in the bushes next to the bathroom. I told him, the dog bites men, and he ran. I told her to follow him, my heart pounding. I then ran and grabbed my camera and the ever thankful mace John gave me. And every time the barracho, drunk, came back I would try and take a picture of him and send the dog to find him. This went on for some time, but the hunted became the hunter. I was furious that this guy thought he could do this to me, or anyone. So I played his game, but much better. Since he was so drunk and I wasn't I would hide, waiting for him and then jump out to take a picture. I wanted proof as to who he was. And he didn't want his picture taken by any means. And the dog could find him in an instant when told to. Finally he stumbled into a trailer and didn't come back to bother me. I had made my point to him, loud and clear. In fact the next morning I stalked him waiting for him to come out of the trailer so I could grab him and turn him in. He ran every time he saw me. Now, I know some of you would say why did I chase him. I had to. I had no-one to help me at night and he kept coming back to the tent so I had to make him fearful of me...and I did. Plus, remember, guns are illegal in Mexico, and drunks are just that drunks. This guy was not a threat to me. And being in the tent was 10 times worse.

I left shortly after that. It confirms that I need to rent houses where Maddie can bark at whoever comes in the door, and me not worry about her offending anyone or annoying anyone as I usually tell her quiet so she becomes a bit immune to it all.

Thank god she can find men hiding in the bushes....