New friends, and other news!

Last week when we were in Valle de Bravo doing some shopping, we overheard someone speaking English. And as they walked past, I mentioned to them that's not a language we hear very often in this area.

That started a five minute conversation, and by the end of it, we were invited for lunch!

On Thursday, we stayed here at the marina. I found a way to connect my old laptop to the monitor screen that they use for security cameras here, and managed to get all of the pertinent information transferred from the old laptop to the new one. Everything is now working the way it should.

And, I did some relaxing as well!

Coincidentally, the people we met in the grocery store live really close to the marina. Yesie (pronounced Jessie) is originally from this area, but met her husband Fernando in Chicago. Aminah is their five year old daughter.

Yesie made us tamales for lunch!

Aminah is a little princess.

Kevin, Yesie, Fernando, Aminah, and Ruth.

With the view of the lake in the background from the top floor of their house.

Really interesting family, because Fernando converted from Catholicism to Muslim in his early 20's, then he met Yesie, who also converted. They had a son who is now 22 and living in the states, and then Aminah came along as an afterthought when they were in their early forties! Fernando was a truck driver for eight years in the U.S., and has taught himself classical Arabic and now works online as a translator. What an interesting story!

And lots of great conversation. I'm sure we'll see them again during our time here, especially since they live so close by.

In other news, I have been noticing that during full sunshine, our solar panels are not putting out as much power as they should be. I tested the output of each panel separately, and under identical conditions they are each reading exactly 26.8 volts Open-Circuit Voltage. However, one is reading 4.12 Amps Short-Circuit Current, and the other one is reading 3.27 Amps. The company has agreed to replace one unit, however the problem is... how do we get it down here? Still working on that with them, so we'll see what happens.

And, I was still looking for a portable suitcase style solar panel so that we can augment the power coming from the rooftop panels, and also be able to place a portable panel in the sun at times where we might be parked in the shade. I finally found one that is suitable, on sale, and will ship to Mexico. So I've ordered it, and it's supposed to be delivered by the 15th. Again, we'll see what happens!

Today is market day in the town of Colorines, about 15 kms (9 miles) from here, so just for a change we're thinking of going there to buy our weekly supply of fruits and veggies.

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