Slowly Passing Through The Canicula

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

The canicula is the 40 day period of extreme heat, little to no rain, and clear skies.  It has been worse this year as we have already had temperatures of 44C as far back as April and May.  The last few weeks since being home from San Miguel de Allende, we have been over 100F over 50% of the time.  From posts on Facebook and blogs, the heat this year is just about everywhere.  Croft, who lives on Vancouver Island has seen some pretty hot ones this summer that I guess are not normal for British Colombia. 

Thursday we took a drive up to Laguna de Sanchez to check the highway (actually a very narrow road and in one part less than a normal lane between craggy rock) hoping to take the trailer up there.  The road is too steep in most parts and some tighter than hairpin curves.  We've taken visitors up to the top before and the road is pretty much improved in terms of pavement.  Too risky not to mention coming back down.  It was a nice drive and we had a very late breakfast on the way back down.

A big difference in temperature when you get up this high.

Speaking of breakfasts, we have been eating outside in the early mornings to take advantage of the cool morning air.  

By 10:30 a.m. we are already closing up the house with two box fans running.  Then after my nap around 4 p.m., the A/C goes on in the bedroom.  I'm truly impressed how low our last bill was even with being out of town for a few weeks.  It was 668 pesos (33 USD) for two months.  The mini-splits or high walls are very efficient.  We moved the mini-split in the living room to a more convenient spot and it cools the front of the house much better.  We've only used it a couple of days this year, it's a two-ton unit so the usage is much higher plus it's a 20-year-old unit.  😎

Yesterday was the second-highest number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic.  Notice the number of deaths;  confirmed deaths are 247,000 and "associated deaths" are 260,000. That's over 500.000 total.   The government finally had to admit that their original numbers were fudged and they had to count all those that died at home or had their death certificates altered.  

Two more Mexican nephews (ages 20 and 26) have come down with Covid.  One is at home on oxygen so we don't know if he will be hospitalized.  It has taken a turn for the worst here and yet tourism is the thing.  British Airways announced the cancellation of all flights to Cancun until further notice and the border remains closed to Mexicans heading north.  But, you can still head into Mexico via land with no restrictions, tests or questions asked.  Go figure.

We signed the contract on the house in San Miguel de Allende and we will be heading there again in a few weeks.  It's getting exciting and the closer the time comes the closer we are to wanting to sell the quinta.  It's hard to give up because it is so peaceful here but the maintenance and lack of workers to do repairs have become a problem.  I got tired of waiting for the gardener the other day.  He called in with some pissy excuse.  He hadn't come in five days (he comes twice a week) so I did the front yard.  That's how you find out what isn't being done.  It seems like these days people have become very unreliable.  The agent who was supposed to put together an analysis of our home petered out as well.  The palm tree trimmer never showed and won't answer his phone.  Neighbors are complaining as well of the same issues.  I guess everyone is rich now that their kids in school get free government money, education, and transportation and everyone over 65 get a check every two months as well. 

We're now looking at beds and all that goes with it.  The bedrooms in the SMA house are pretty small so I guess I won't be having a king-size which is my favorite.   Sheets are not expensive and we order ours online from a Mexican manufacturer.  Excellent quality cotton sheets that hold up extremely well.  The pillowcases are great and make any pillow comfortable.  Twin beds I guess to start in one room so we need box bases and mattresses.  We have a lot of "stuff" from home we can use, duplicates of things.  All will be done, little by little.  

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