A Holiday Time

It’s Christmas Eve. Here, like in many countries, it is the special time for Christmas celebration. Families go to an early evening Mass and then retreat to their homes for a feast and for the giving of presents, or, first the feast and presents and then  midnight Mass. This is a very Catholic country, with a pious population, as the celebrations from December 1-12 for the Virgin of Guadalupe reveal every year. For me the Christmas period will be very simple, with mostly quiet days. Actually most of our days here are fairly quiet: walking on the malecon, swimming, reading, eating, more walking and reading and eating, with maybe a nap thrown is as needed. Several times every day I am struck by my good fortune in being able to spend the winter in this beautiful place. 

I recently got busy consolidating and then getting rid of a tonne of “stuff” left in our condo by the previous owner. These condos generally sell as does a cottage in Ontario – contents included. The walls as well as most surfaces were covered with a hodge-podge of pictures, masks, and other assorted objets. Drawers in the dining area cabinet contained candles, paper napkins, old books and papers, pieces of material, place mats, and etc.  In the second bedroom drawers held sheets and towels never used as housekeeping supplies these as needed. I pulled everything down and/or out, putting them on the cabinet and the dining room table. Our gal who comes six days a week to spruce up the apartment, picked out things that she would like to take home, and went off with four garbage bags full. Two of the fellows from the front desk came up and took away the rest in bags and in a large box. They planned to give the things out to the other staff as well. In the centre of the living space was a large dark wooden table with six uncomfortable straight-back chairs and the aforementioned cabinet with drawers. We had a couple of the lads come up and help us to shift it all around: the cabinet against the back of the kitchen bar – to be used to hold papers and work materials; the table up against one wall, and, the chairs distributed about the edges of the room – at least for now. When we find better chairs, these will go to Mercedes, a woman who is our interpreter with the lawyer who has organized the sale of the condo from Suzanne to us. Mercedes recovered the cushions on our balcony chairs for us; I’ve put the remaining material over the newly side-lined table. All of this has given us a more streamlined and open space. Lots more will have to happen – probably a kitchen revamp but that will have to wait to next year. If you want a refresher on what the condo looked like when we took it over, go to the third post on my blog www.puertovallartaphotos.blogspot.com

The people who work here are so genuinely nice. One of them is a handsome 23 year old who lives with his girl friend and their two children: his 3 year old “princess” and his 11 month old “champion.” He has been working here on security and the front desk for several years as he has put himself through university. He will graduate in April with a business degree. He is taking an English course now as well. A year ago he had hardly any English but has gained quite a bit since we last saw him. He says that his greatest difficulty is  understanding what is said to him during a conversation and then finding the words quickly enough to respond. I asked him if he would like me to point things out when we spoke; he would. It’s little things, like saying he would look for another work, instead of job, or, his daughter has (rather than is) 3 years old. He entirely shines when he speaks of his kids. Our “maid,” Ilea speaks little English but doesn’t let that stop her. She chats away to us until we get the idea – all with lots of laughs and tries at the words in Spanish and/or English.

Tomorrow Catherine and her housemate, best buddy, and sister-in-law, Emily Smith will host an elegant brunch for Emma, Theo, Gregory (their cousin), and Catherine’s dad, Maurice, at their home in Jackson’s Point. I will call and chat with them over Skype -- always a lot of fun. Elizabeth and Billie are in Vancouver but are coming here to visit for eight days in early February. We all look forward to their being here.

I’ve been reading a lot of books since we arrived; usually I’m looking at several at once. Martin Amis’ recent The Zone of Interest, set in Auschwitz, I found harder to read than some of the straight narratives of survivors. He manages to portray through literature some of the utter moral decay of people like Hoess who viewed themselves as simply doing a difficult job well. I also re-read The Last Just Man by Andre Schwarz-Bart, written in 1959, truly an amazing achievement – a book that pulls no punches about the Holocaust but is at the same time poetically written, ironic, and even wryly humorous. I have with me and have read also Maus I and Maus II, the graphic novels of Artie Spiegelman, who transcribed his conversations and difficult encounters with his Holocaust-survivor father. The AGO has just launched an exhibit of Spiegelman’s original drawings made for the books, for which he won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize. And there are other books as well that I am making my way through. This past few days I have been reading newspapers: 

We got a Saturday Globe and a Sunday New York Times. Roberto had Monday’s NYT and today’s for us as well. Lots to chew on there. In the weekend book section of the NYT, Dick Cavet said in an interview that he thought we ought to read half as many books, but to read them twice. There’s a lot to that. Certainly my second reading of The Last Just Man had vastly different resonance for me than when I read it thirty or forty years ago.

I hope all have a peaceful and happy holiday season. All my best wishes to all of you.