More Cold Fronts - But Spring Is Here!

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

The weather this winter has been a really doozie!  It's up and down.  Today the high was 23C and tomorrow it will be 30C.   Don't get excited and a warning to Bill and Bonnie who will be coming this way soon, check the weather.  It will hit 0C here at the ranch on Thursday night and stay that way for a few days.  Trees are all in bloom but I'm sure they will be fine.  We cover up our plants and flowers that are on the well in the front of the house when the fronts come through.

I spoke with Contessa today.  Colin is at an international guitar fest in Culiacan and ran into some care problems.   He wanted me to help translate but I got to them too  late.   However, I had a nice chat with Contessa and we got caught up on what is going on here and there.

Still lookin' good!

The SUV hit 300,000 kms this week and also it's ten year anniversary.   Hmm, leave well enough alone?   I'm still going to look around but I think we will stick with the Durango for awhile as it has been nothing but trouble free except for one issue a year ago November.  We towed thousands of miles with it and when it starts to act funny I think it sends a message to hook up and take the rv for ride.

Yesterday morning at the gym, I saw a kid (he's 24 now) who used to work out with me a few years ago.  When I first met him he was a stick and had little to no inkling of what his future held for him.  I encouraged him to continue to work out and he always felt that being skinny was his enemy.  I told him just the opposite.   

So when he showed up yesterday I didn't recognize him.   I went to take a sip of my coffee and he was sitting nearby and said, "Usted no quiere hablar conmigo?" jokingly of course.   Then it dawned on me who he was.   Get this.  This kid didn't have a pot to piss in, his dad sells tacos and his mother is a housewife.   He didn't think he would make it through the university.   He told me he is now in his 10th and final semester of mechanical engineering, looking for a job and finishing his 12 level of English at an institute in Monterrey.  For four years now he takes the bus to the state university that offers him a 50% scholarship, studies all day, comes home and works.  Because it is his last semester it is reverse, he works mornings and studies afternoons until 9 p.m. and takes the bus back.  We're talking over an hour on the bus.  

The next time you hear a Mexican say there are no opportunities, remind them that it's about desire and perseverance.  He's done now, will get a good job and in five years he'll be making $4000 dollars a month, easily.   Hard work, conviction, desire and perseverance.   Remember Juan's story, anybody can do it.  It's not about where you come from, the odds against you, but wanting to make a change.  I wish him well and told him to send me his resume as I have many contacts in companies and am more than willing to pass it on to those I know in HR.