Month: March 2025

earlier this year I thoughted it was very dry here; I said so; this was wrong; I think. it’s not very dry. it’s normal? I had a lot of chills in january.

I remember in DC sometimes in mi casa I would feel cold and then I would remember I had left the heat off, I had turned it off earlier in the day, for some reason, maybe because I had doors and windows open for some project reason. and I would get a chill and look at the thermostat and see it was only 62 degrees. then I would turn the heat on and set it at 68, I think that was my normal.

here it is often about 60 degrees inside, and I’ve gotten used to it. I remember wondering, a couple months ago, if it was something I could get used to. well, I have. I never use the humidifier that at one point I was so sure was the key to my happiness.

I rarely even use the heating pad at this point.

a couple days ago I was sitting on the beach looking at a ship. and a boy was walking past. a man. I said hello, and as often happens in this town, or country, when you say hello to someone, they stop and talk to you for 30 minutes. I remember thinking he was substantially younger than me. but the next day, yesterday, I realized I didn’t know how old he is. he might be about 40, or 45. on the beach he asked for my number, which seems to be a thing latinos will do. they’re less defensive than americans — I’m ready to generalize based on scant data. we made plans to go see the bufadora the next day. it’s a rock formation on a the coast, a rare phenomenon, I suppose, where water hitting the coast shoots up in the air in an exaggerated geyser-like manner and then rains down on you. so of course, as often happens with these things, the street leading up to it fills with touristy shops.

he picked me up yesterday and then let me know he would first take me past a couple museums just so I could see where they were. this is also a thing an American wouldn’t do. he was like “we’re first going to backtrack into town so I can drive you past the museums but we’re just going to look at them from the car” and I said, ok. then we went to the tourist attraction which was a ways outside of town and took us through the south part of the municipality which is more rural. and there is a concentration of Americans who, I suppose, want to live in this town without actually living in the town. he pointed out the community where Americans live. we went to the geyser thing, spent a while there, then went back to town, having agreed to go to the museums we had driven past earlier. but they were closed, so we drove around for a while looking for a bathroom. then he drove me past his elementary school and his office, where he works as a lawyer, and then we went to a taquería, but it was closed, so we went to another taquería. then he drove me home.

I bought a table today at a nearby saldo shop. I now have all the tables I need. I might buy a couple more chairs, then I’ll be done with furniture. unless I buy a larger guest bed. the place came with a large couch, a full bed, a twin bed, a desk, a small table, and a lot of built-in drawers and cabinets.

in total I have purchased two chairs, two small tables and one dining table. and some lamps. and a bike. I have enjoyed getting set up here, the challenge of buying just enough but not too much.

Something you don’t know about me is that the internet content I’ve consumed the most this year are interviews with fentanyl addicts, heroin addicts and tricks.  Tricks are people who see prostitutes. All the tricks I’ve seen interviewed are men.  I’ve watched a lot of interviews this year.

Another thing you don’t know about me is that last year I looked up how far Ensenada is from the border, and it’s 70 miles. Then I immediately thought, that’s probably about as far as New Jersey is wide and I looked it up and sure enough, at its widest point New Jersey is 70 miles wide.  That’s a true story.

Sometimes 70 miles doesn’t seem sufficient, such as recently, and then I fantasize about Asunción and it helps.  I don’t think I would want to live there as the climate is not ideal but when I think about far away places in South America, Asunción is the farthest.  It’s farther than the southern tip of South America because it’s a large city, and it’s farther than Buenos Aires because it’s less famous. Its access to the ocean, via a river, also makes it very far away. Asunción has a harbor and beaches.  I should do a tour of the south, hitting Asunción, Montevideo and Buenos Aires.

I haven’t had a single interaction with a gringo here yet. I rarely see any. Today I had my closest encounter. I was behind one in line at the grocery store, so I watched a gringo speak Spanish for the first time this year. I had a feeling like I was watching and listening to myself. That’s called an out-of-body experience.

Last night I watched an interview with someone who claimed to be a porn addict but it became apparent that really he’s a religion addict and a disability (wheel chair) faker (“devotee”), and perhaps some other things.

I’ve watched a couple interviews with people who claimed to be marijuana addicts but it became apparent that they’re schizophrenic.  True story.

Most of the watch dogs are behind fences but a few have ventured into the street and a couple have bumped at my heels with their snouts as I walk down the street. When this happens I keep walking at the same pace and don’t look back, and a short while later they let me go without biting me.  A few dogs nearby that used to erupt when I’d pass no longer bark at all, no longer even get up off the patio/dirt when I pass.  This is a discursive post containing true stories.