Dengue Watch

Even though we have not been doing very much the last few days it has been fun meeting people when I take my overweight Chihuahua for a walk each day.  While we are living on a large property that is fenced in, it seems my dog is like a little inmate always wanting to escape to see what is going on in the neighborhood.  Most of the dogs runs pretty much freely here so he kind of looks out of place on a leash.

A couple of days ago I met a neighbor who had lost his beloved parrot, Paquita.  He said she had flown away the day before and was wondering if we had heard or seen a tame parrot.  I don't know if he ever found he, but it does seem that there are a number of escapee parrots.

I find the differences in packaging of products from the USA and here quite interesting.  Whereas packaging is very important in the US, it seems that simplicity rules here.  Like in Mexico, you might often purchase a frozen popsicle in a plastic bag....no stick or Ziplock type bag, just a plain Jane plastic bag.  Ketchup, mayonnaise, tomato sauce are typically sold in bags as well.  Essentially, much less glass and boxes here for product packaging.  Even our oatmeal comes in a bag.  I think that this type of packaging seems to result in less trash as well, which is a good thing!  

Mornings are a favorite time of day as you get to hear all the different birds, interspersed with a loud motorcycle roar here and there!  I still cannot believe how loud some of these motorcycles are--could wake the dead!

Today we had an employee from the local clinic stop by to conduct a "Dengue" inspection.  Apparently, there have been a few cases of the Dengue fever reported in the area.  The inspector walked around looking for standing water and made a couple of suggestions of preventative measures such as not allowing any water to stand below the potted plants and also provided a list of symptoms to watch for to diagnose the Dengue. 

We had a repairman from San Jose drive to our home in Atenas to check out a drainage problem with the washer.  He seemed almost apologetic for charging us $30 for a service call, which we thought was dirt cheap since he had to drive over 30 minutes to get to our home.  He replaced a water pump, but did not ask to be paid immediately so I contacted him to see about paying the bill.  We were pleasantly surprised when he said we should wait a few days to see if the repair worked before paying him...what?  Really?  So, five days later I contacted him and told him all was well and he gave us instructions and a reasonable amount to pay him electronically.  We will be keeping his number for future reference.