As a dear friend was pointing out just yesterday, life would be no fun without uncertainty. Yesterday, after we decided against the boat trip, I went to Maria's class, and there I met a lady named Sharon. Sharon had gone to Guaymas on a search for the mercado, but hadn't been able to find it. She's due to leave for home in just a few days. I told her I would go into town with her on the bus and show her how to find the mercado. We arranged to meet at 10:30 this morning.

When we woke up this morning, the sun was shining and there was no wind. Robin went over to the beach and came back to report that the sea was flat calm. Well, poop. Not that a calm sea isn't a good thing, but here we had backed out of the boat trip for nothing.

I ventured outside eventually, and at 10:30 I stood outside Sharon's door. I could see cockroaches on the ground under her rv - all dead, and yes, they were pretty well two inches long. The word around the park is that they've all been coming up out of the sewer and dying. We figure somebody put some poison in there. I guess it worked. I hope the birds don't eat them.

So Sharon and I went to Guaymas and had a great time at the mercado. She bought three - or was it four? cazuelas as gifts, and I bought one little terra cotta cup to hold garlic. I think it cost five pesos (about fifty cents). We had cafe con leche at the little lunch counter, bought chiles and bananas from my favourite lady and tortillas from the tortilleria, and hit the pharmacy for some aspirin. By the time we got home, the wind was picking up. A few minutes ago, I had to abandon the computer and go back to the rv to help Robin roll the awning up, as the wind was starting to bend the braces. I guess the prediction of nine-foot waves was right on. I'm glad we aren't out on the water.

It was strange to walk around the market with Sharon, because for once I was with somebody whose Spanish is better than mine. Don't get me wrong. My Spanish is not great - but everybody else I know down here (except Maria, of course) speaks no Spanish at all - or virtually none. I automatically started acting as translator (which is laughable, actually), then discovered that she could manage just fine on her own, thank you. I really must get serious about taking some Spanish courses while I'm in Canada, so that I don't have to start from scratch every year.