Mazatlan: 12 Good Old Friends, and Homeopathic Remedies

---

来源：洪恩论坛 Canuck's Comments  日期：2007-3-6  作者：maryk

阅读：1667 次

Friday we stayed close to home. As usual, Ben went out early to shop.
He had discovered an open air restaurant nearby where he could obtain
take-out plates of freshly cut fruit for our breakfasts. It was too
chilly and windy to swim even for my intrepid Ben. I had a cold comingon. For me they easily lead to chest complications.

Last night I fell on uneven sidewalk pavement as we walked home to ourhotel Today there was a huge purple bruise and scrapes on my right armboth above and far below the elbow so the tube of herbal "Kyta Salve"
which Ben obtains from Germany was put to use there and on the centre
of my hand where a little blood vessel was broken, and on a bruised
leg. I was still proud of how I fell and rolled. That helped me to
avoid any more damage. Thank heaven for no broken bones!

Saturday the cold was worse. Ben went out till 11 am and brought
back cough candies with propolis in them. Propolis means "before thecity." Bees collect it in the springtime. It is the sticky sap that
coats the outsides of leaves just ready to open on poplar trees and
other similar species. It has a wonderful fragrance on the spring airwhen you are near such a tree and the fragrance remains in the homeopathicremedy. It is golden brown stuff. The bees place it at the entrances to their
hives where it helps to destroy potential bacterial invaders.

After lunch he went back out to try to locate a hand operated tortilla press
our children Tamara and Jerson who have a great little Central American food restaurant. Jerson makes all the tortillas by hand and they are delicious. That used to be the case in Mazatlan, too. But things are changing fast. Now there are cheap machined ones. If you give a poor person a peso it will providethem with tortillas for the day, though. Ben was sent here and there insearch of a manual press and he didn't find one that day.

For many years we have known a person known all over town as "TeacherGabino." As a boy he was the best English student in a school begun byan American couple. When it came time for them to retire they made itpossible for him to obtain the school. His father was a Mariachi bandplayer, so to become the owner of an English school was a great step
foreward for him. He and his wife Olga and eventually their three
daughters became rather famous. The girls had many advantages and twoare now married while the third is still teaching with her parents.
Ben found them all at the school and they hugged him like a long lostfriend. The last time we saw them was for the gorgeous cathedral
wedding of their eldest daughter.

We used to be invited to the school to have English conversation with
the classes. Mexicans are dear people. It was interestingto talk with the students about all kinds of things. I would love to do it
again some day. We used to be greeted afterwards by many students wemet in the classes. From somewhere across a street would come a calledgreeting of "Hi Ben and Mary!" I hope you can see from this what a
privilege many native English speakers find it to be able to conversewith you in China! :-)) It is an experience they will treasure and fromwhich they will get a good feeling for China and Chinese people. Don'tbe shy. Go ahead and do it. It will help both of you.

The great cathedral is the most important building in the city and quite historic. It is very tall, with a huge dome and sits atop steps that lead to the high
wooden open doors. Sometimes poor old ladies or others who are in need sit on the steps and hope the softened hearts of those who stopped by forprayer will bring them some largesse. Inside it is very high and airy.
There are many tall pillars and much decorative tile work. In RomanCatholic churches the Stations of the Cross are each represented in
different statuary or plaques around the perimeter of the church. Theseare the seven or eight stages and episodes leading to the death of
Jesus Christ. Catholics often say a prayer at each station of the Cross.

Olga and Gabino have a large white house on a mountainside right
above the ocean and some smaller islands just offshore. If you knowwhat you are looking for it is a landmark you can even see from the
Yate Fiesta. We have often been to their house where they have theusual little lettered plaque just inside the entrance which says
"Mi casa est su casa." It means "My house is your house" and is atraditional greeting. There are balconies and terraces and a pool,
and lots of pots of flowers. They live in a "Privada." The roadleading to that area has a watchman in a little house beside theroad and a barrier. Everyone must stop to report before being allowedto proceed.

You can imagine how this could be when you learn that Lourdes and Lidiahad the laundry stolen from the line in their small walled yard. Thievesare always a concern and many people keep dogs on their flat roofs. Thedogs are known as "roof-dogs" and aren't pets. They spend most of theirtime guarding the roof.

Any building standing empty may find itself inhabited by squatters who
settle in to live there. That happened a number of years ago just
before Gabino and Olga moved their school into new premises. They
almost lost the building they obtained to squatters and they had to
move in great haste and do their renovations while the school was
in operation. I remember their sudden, overnight, rushed move. I guess thereare a lot of people without housing. That is becoming a problem inevery city. Even here in my small city there a homeless people whocannot afford the rents any more.

Gabino and Olga wanted us all to get together but I became too ill.
However good, healthy food. Vitamins. SUN, homeopathic remedies,
and so on eventually helped me to get better without complications.
I was very happy about that. Delicate health is one of the reasonswe try to spend some time during cold winter weather when the fluis abroad, aboard ships or in sunny climates. The dark and confineddays of winter where we live are hard on my health.

Unless we had something planned we stayed inside in the evenings. Itisn't safe to walk on the beaches and you also take your chances on
the streets. It was very cosy just to cuddle down and watch a movieon television. The army was patrolling the highways around Mazatlan,
on the watch for drug dealers, and five were caught while we were
there. We are people of the light who love sunshine, and usually thenight in cities doesn't hold much of interest to us, anyway.

回复此文