Jocotepec Delights

Going to town is not a bit like a trip to Stavanger Drive.  We had a car for a Sunday courtesy of our grand friend Jack, native son of Fortune, Newfoundland, now retired at Roca Azul after a career that took him right across Canada.  Having a set of wheels meant we could cover more ground than usual.  And what did we see?

While sipping cappuccino at the gringo coffee shop on the plaza, we noticed a major event involving hundreds of local citizens lined up to cast ballots.  If my later search of the internet did not lead me astray, this may have been a primary-style vote to choose the presidential candidate for the ruling PAN party.  President Felipe Calderon completes his 6-year term this year.  The party's chosen nominee is a Josefina Vazquez Mota. 

It wasn't market day, when a long street in the heart of town is taken over by vendors, but we still found goods of all sorts on offer. 

Jocotepec has a fabulous malecon on its shoreline.  The walkway and park bordering the lake draw local families and visitors for recreation, boat tours, picnics and just to enjoy the splendid scenery.

We chatted with a man taking advantage of the outdoor gym equipment.  He told us he used to live in the US and played in a rock and roll band and that he LOVED Credence Clearwater Revival.  He broke into song and soon the three of us were singing as we peddled our machines.

Cotton Fields

When I was a little bitty baby My mama would rock me in the cradle, In them old cotton fields back home. It was down in Louisiana, Just about a mile from Texarkana, In them old cotton fields back home. Oh, when them cotton bolls get rotten You can’t pick very much cotton, In them old cotton fields back home.

Music Weaves Magic

Saturday night Happy Hour at the Roca Azul lighthouse.  Beautiful night.  The almost full moon was ducking in and out of the clouds.  Rick, ex-Brit and enthusiastic fan of wartime morale-boosting songs as well as the worst of Johnny Cash, has thoughtfully brought his sound system for our entertainment.  Then several members of the BC trio of couples step forward to sing songs more familiar to many of us.  Confusion reigned as we did the Canadian version of This Land is Your Land, followed by Four Strong Winds, but we soon found common ground with our American friends with many of the songs we've all sung at campfires -- CCR, John Denver, Beatles tunes.  Not necessarily in tune but done with gusto.

Suzy and Gary joined us late as one of them has been to the dentist. (At $30 a time, it's wonder any of us has a tooth that has not been examined locally by the end of the winter.) Suzy, who speaks with a lovely accent from the Deep South, asked tentatively if she might sing for us.  When she opened her mouth we first recoiled in embarrassment at the contrast between her astonishingly beautiful voice and our lusty wailings.  Then we listened in rapt appreciation. She told us she learned this old Mills Brothers song to sing for her son who was being deployed to Iraq.  (Okay, you try reading the lyrics with dry eyes.)  Thank you, Suzy.

'Till Then

Till then, my darling, please wait for me 
Till then, no matter when it will be 
One day I know I'll be back again 
Please wait till then 

Our dreams will live though we are apart 
Our love, I know we'll keep in our hearts 
Till then, when all the world will be free 
Please wait for me 

Although there are oceans we must cross and mountains that we must climb 
I know every gain must have a loss, so pray that our loss is nothing but time 

Till then, let's dream of what there will be 
Till then, we'll call on each memory 
Till then, when I will hold you again 
Please wait till then.


Although there are oceans we must cross and mountains that we must climb 
I know every gain must have a loss, so pray that our loss is nothing but time 

Till then, let's dream of what there will be 
Till then, we'll call on each memory 
Till then, when I will hold you again 
Please wait till then.




P.S.  Michael Buble has now recorded this song.