Ten – Car Wash, kayak, misc. – January 6. 2009

Wednesday was an in-town day to check email, send blogs, grocery shop, get laundry done, and so forth. We started with breakfast at Rosita’s, then stayed to use their free Wi-Fi. The TVs there were set to Arnold S. (governor of California) giving his State of the State address. I tried to ignore it as much as possible by paying more attention to a large table of American tourists dickering with a street vendor for several serapes with the insignia and colors of U.S football teams.

Instead of trying to reply to each email on the spot (a problem with using a web-based email program like gmail), this time I copied the blogs and emails I wanted to read/reply to in more depth so I could do it back at the campground. We’ll see how it works.

We had to hang around town until 2:00 for my laundry to be done. Wish I could do it myself but the lavanderias (laundromats) here aren’t set-up for self-service. So, we had a little time to kill. Several days before, David had made arrangements with someone to wash his car. So, after doing a little grocery shopping, we spent a fun hour with the man, his wife, and four-year-old daughter Carla, or Carlita as her mother calls her. Her father made a special effort to introduce her to us, saying she was his helper.

It was the most water-saving car wash I’d ever seen. David parked the car on a side street next to the mercado He’d splash a little water on part of the car, then wash that part using the soapy water, then rinse using the cup again, continuing all around the car (an old VW bus). WOW! The car was actually yellow! (market). I sat down on the curb to watch, along with the wife and daughter, while the dad filled a bucket with water at the hotel across the street. He added soap, then filled another smaller bucket with more water which he used to rinse, doing that with a small plastic cup.

In the meantime, I, with my limited espanol (Spanish) got acquainted with his wife and daughter, neither of whom spoke very much ingles (English). It’s amazing how much you can communicate if you try hard enough. We watched about eight federales (military) down the street and I asked her what she thought they were doing. Her reply: Coke - a cocaine bust nearby. We watched Carlita play with a tiny green bead, and she was having so much fun I decided to join her. So, we tossed the bead back and forth and she giggled each time it landed somewhere I couldn’t see it right away. She was so cute!

Much too soon the car was done and we had to say goodbye. But, I’m sure we’ll see them again.

I picked up my laundry, all neatly folded and bagged, and we drove back to the campground. It was such a beautiful afternoon, much too nice to stay inside as I’ve been doing with all the wind lately. I read for a while, and then noticed David was pumping up his kayak. Aha! After finally figuring out how to put the oar together, we took the kayak down to the beach where the tide was just beginning to come in, and he tried it out for the first time. The water felt wonderful, so when I went back for my camera, I decided to try out my little “surfboard,” also for the first time. No chance of drowning or anything since I would have had to walk out about a mile or so (at least it seemed like it) before the water would have been even up to my waist.

It was another very nice, relaxing day on the beach. Last night we talked about driving both vehicles up to Blythe, California for their bluegrass festival next week and staying at Mayflower County Park for the month. Then David will drive back here and I’ll go on to the Desert View Tower until I leave for Kanab, Utah the end of March. The bluegrass last year was fantastic – so many talented musicians.

P.S. No big love affair – just good friends.