I was wrong. I thought we would be leaving Mexico today, but Robin actually had Sunday in mind, because the traffic should be slower on Sunday – so I paid another day’s rent, and we will be driving out at dawn – or thereabouts – tomorrow.

Yesterday, Chantal, Joyce, Carleen and I went to Guaymas. We visited both fabric stores, and I dragged everybody back to the Mercado so I could say good-bye to my favourite vendor. I bought some avocados and garlic to make guacamole for last night, and told her I would be leaving on Sunday. She gave me a hug.

The traffic going into Guaymas was much heavier than usual, and walking around downtown was a chore. Everybody from miles around was there, it seemed, and we were all jostling for position on the sidewalks. Poor Chantal found the mosquito screen she had been looking for, but she found it right away, so she had to carry nine meters of the stuff all over Guaymas for at least two hours. It was in a huge plastic bag, and as the day got warmer, Chantal got more uncomfortable. I think she was truly glad to get back on the bus to San Carlos.

We had invited Russell and Alicia over for barbecue. They couldn’t come until just after seven o’clock, so we planned on a late dinner. Roger barbecued the steaks; Chantal fried potatoes and made green salad. I had bought totopos in town, to go with the guacamole. I also made pico de gallo and a dried chile salsa. The dinner was a great success, even though we ate outside in the dark, joking about not being at all sure what we were eating. After dinner there was singing and guitar playing, our last hurrah.

During the singing, I went inside to put Russell’s e-mail address into my computer’s address book. I tested it by sending an e-mail to him. I had heard him wrong, so the e-mail came back. I tried three more times before I got it right (I can’t hear in the dark, it seems), but apparently the try-before-last was somebody’s real e-mail address, just not Russell’s, so some complete stranger now has my e-mail address and the link to this site. Hello, whoever you are, and sorry about that.

This morning, Robin and I took the bus to Ley (still a slow trip due to traffic, even though the Ley plaza is on the outskirts of Guaymas). Robin had his hair cut, I bought a couple of things at Ley, and we both went to Keops for Americanos. Since then, the day has been full of packing and cleaning and all that not-so-happy stuff. I think we’re in pretty good shape to pull out tomorrow morning.

So there we are. Another winter in Mexico, gone. Just like that.