It’s a bit after 6 AM here in La Paz, and the sun is not yet up, but I’m dressed and ready for coffee. The kind with caffeine. The kind my parents no longer drink, but do actually possess. Thank God.

They left so many nice touches throughout their house and the casita where we’re staying though. They made sure there was scary orange soda for Fuzzy, bought 10 non-strawberry yogurts for me, and a box of Oregon chai, as well as box of Tazo chai teabags. Ira even tasted the mayo for me yesterday when I said it smelled weird.

Yes, my stepfather was willing to risk food poisoning on my behalf.
(The mayo was rancid.)

That’s pretty sweet.

But then there are the things they didn’t have because they just don’t use them – like milk. I’d asked for non-fat but all they could find was 2%. Or the fact that the 3/4 cups of sugar I needed to make snickerdoodles for them last night (Ira admits to eating three but I made four dozen and there are less than two dozen left and there are only four of us) wiped out the supply from the big house and the casita, so Ira went into town to buy more, and (complained about trans fats) but bought a small jar of peanut butter for Fuzzy and me anyway.

Yesterday, I had a manicure, pedicure, and brow wax in my mother’s house. Her stylist, Tere’, is married to one of Ira’s co-workers at CIB and she comes to her clients. Total cost in MXP $360. Total cost in USD $36. Actually less because the exchange rate right now is almost 11 pesos to the dollar, though informally, among friends you generally just do 10. It would have cost easily $120 for all that at Aveda…probably more.

For a while yesterday, I sat in my mother’s 1950’s retro plastic lounge chair on the sun-warmed deck and watched a snowy egret in the surf. I went inside to get my camera, but something spooked it. Sunrise brings fleets of pelicans. They’re so graceful when flying, it’s hard to believe they’re almost as tall as me.

Last night we decorated my mother’s 10-foot tree, and discovered that she is in serious need of more shiny ornaments, so today we’re trekking into town to buy more. If the wind relaxes, there will be a bonfire on the beach tonight. If not, we’ll just light the gas firepit on the deck and drink port while we watch the sun set.

It really is gorgeous here, very peaceful. Internet’s a bit wiggy, but I can live with that.