Mom's First Birthday in Mexico

Well, I had a birthday here too in June, and it was a big one, I turned 50. 

 

You'd think we would have done something for that.  Before the election I had wanted to go to the hotel inside the Mall of America and explore the shops and go to the indoor theme park.  It was the perfect low stress vacation idea where everything was guaranteed to be handicapped accessible for my mom.

BUT DID WE?  DID WE DO THIS?  DID WEEEEEEE?!

No!  Because assholes voted for Trump and our whole life got turned upside-down.  

So...think of it this way, for my 50th birthday I got to go to La Paz Mexico.  That's a trip, right?  Beach town.  Beautiful place.  Heck I even drove down the Malecon...

On the way to the fecking hospital to get my uterus cut out of my abdomen.  

Yeah.  That was my 50th birthday, y'all.  I had major surgery.  :sigh:

Oh well, now it was time for my mom's birthday in January.  So we invited our neighbors to go to Fumos with us.  Fumos is a super-fancy restaurant in La Paz.  We've been there several times.  We keep going back because I know they have parking.  

There's lots of other fancy restaurants in La Paz, but they're all on the beach.  And I don't know if they have parking.  I kind of think they don't.  Because everyone walks the malecon (boardwalk) and it's not really a car-centric area.  

And that's fine.  I could find a paid parking lot and then go to a fancy restaurant.  But how much walking is my mother going to do, y'know?  Will there be decent sidewalk the whole way for her walker?  Maybe, but maybe we have sand to cross to get to the front of the restaurant or something.  It's just better to go where we know.

And we invited our neighbors because I thought it would be a big treat for them.  Y'know, they make the average Mexican income.  I didn't think that they would have ever been to this expensive restaurant.

But that's my gringo brain.  Um...yeah.  They had just been there for their daughter's birthday a few months earlier.  -_-  It's like we get this idea that people are poor and we're so well off etc.  But, even poor people can save up for special occasions and order something not too expensive from the menu, so...GTFO.  Felt stupid.

The other thing:  I really wanted them to have a great dinner.  Enjoy themselves.  But the father DIDN'T WANT TO ORDER ANYTHING.  -_- He was like, Oh, my daughter's ordering a pizza I'll just have a slice of that.  I'm like, dude!  Get a steak!  Get the short ribs!  But no, he didn't want to cost me money.  

It's like this all the time.  You either get people like my cousins and aunt in Puerto Rico who are too proud to ask for money and when they really need it and you send them more than they asked for they get mad.  And it's like, why can't you let me enjoy helping you?  Why are you so proud!  I'm your niece, your cousin, I make a decent income.  WHY CAN'T I HELP YOU?  

They live in government housing on government assistance.  I bought my cousin Diana a car which really helped her and she's got her own house-cleaning business.  But her mom had her washing machine break and asked us for $150 to repair it.  We sent her $300.  Live a little.  Treat yourself.  She asked me to go through things step by step with her to explain how to send the extra back.  -_-

So Rudi my neighbor's husband doesn't want to order anything.  He won't order a mixed drink.  Won't order a beer.  I have to order a Jamaica water for him (very popular soft drink pronounced hi-may-ee-ka made from hibiscus flowers, tastes like a very light cranberry juice, and is super healthy for you, the tamarind water is also amazing and healthy).  

Then I just ordered him a skirt steak, because WTF.  And I felt like a bitch doing it because he just wanted to share his daughter's pizza and I'm forcing this expensive steak on him.  WHICH HE DIDN'T EVEN EAT!  Because it was medium rare and Mexicans like steaks well done.  

But his wife said, good, it's raw.  I can cook it and make tacos tomorrow.  -_- 

Yeah, they had a ton of leftovers.  But it was a bit tense also.  My neighbor's marriage isn't great and the two of them weren't talking.  Basically I had to invite the wife Elba separately from the husband Rudi.  They both showed up separately (I drove Elba and her daughters because she doesn't have a license plate on her car and they always crack down on that in the beginning of the year here.) 

Elba was okay with her husband coming.  She wanted him too.  She just didn't want to invite him because she wasn't talking to him.  So I did.  I have WhatsApp and a translator extension so it wasn't a problem.

Speaking of that, we were pulled over because we didn't have a license plate on the front of our car.  Just the USA plate in the back (which you're allowed to drive with here).  Very pleasant exchange.  Very friendly female cop.  No issues.  La Paz has a very low amount of police/National Guard corruption here.  We really lucked out. 

Part of me thinks of maybe exploring other areas of Mexico and seeing if there's somewhere else we want to settle, but La Paz is so nice.  We have everything we need here.  We have friends.  Our landlord asked us if we were going to stay in this apartment and we said yes, for at least another year if not more.  He said, great, because we're good tenants.  

The best part of the dinner was that they gave mom a free cake with a firecracker on it.  The second best thing were my neighbor's two daughters.  The youngest was dancing in her seat the whole time, so happy to get good food.  And the other one speaks English and does art for me.  Two great girls who are just great kids and have bright futures.

Anyway, we agreed that the dinner wasn't what we'd hoped for and next time it will just be me and mom together.  Oh well.