Happy birthday honey

Today, August 30th., my husband, and best friend, Ivan, turned 66 years old. We (11 of us) had 2” rib eyes, grilled outside, (with only the slightest hint of rain), mashed potatoes, tossed salad, and Stella Artois!! For dessert, we had Gelatina Mosaico, ice cream, and coffee. Amazing!

Starting out the day we had to take the BMW to have it “certified”, and registered with the government. Because it is in such excellent condition, we were given the certification of “zero”, which allows us to drive it every day of the week. Down here, if you are given a number from 1-7, that is the day of the week you have to leave your car at home, potentially cutting down on the amount of pollution emitted into the air. As there are many, very affordable, alternate means of transportation available, it is really no big deal. For example, we took the Metro, the train, about 50 minutes, from the house here, to downtown and it cost us 10 pesos each, about $.50. We also took a taxi from the house to downtown, different day, same purpose, and that cost us $5.00 each direction. Gas is a bit more expensive here compared to up North, but to calculate how much you need, and how much it will cost is a bit taxing to my feeble brain. And when you see on the pump that you have filled the car with 66 liters of 92 octane, and it is going to cost you $1956.70, it takes you back a bit. Then you convert all of that from pesos to dollars, and, yes, it is expensive, but it probably will not happen like that again. Since we have been unable to drive the BMW until today, after it got certified, the tank was almost empty. We plan to keep it always above half a tank. The fill up cost us almost $100!! Live and learn.

We had a wonderful surprise this morning as well. We stopped by the apartment to see what progress has been made, and, as soon as we walked in, everything was so bright, and white!! The dark brown tile that was on the wall as you come in is all gone; the “stage” is gone, except for the actual webbing that made up the base. But, the surprise is under the wooden base- beautiful white tile, with a very pretty gold and brown patterned tile, inset in a pattern we cannot quite make out yet, but it is going to save us tons of money not having to purchase the tile we thought we had to buy!!! The closets are gone in our bedroom, and by the third bathroom; soon the entire kitchen will be gone too. It is really starting to come into shape, and they have only been working 2 or 3 days. I will keep you posted.