Repeat Boost Repeat

Mmmmm. Picture this.

A warm January night. The water so calm and flat, the moon lays down a strip of white across the sea’s surface. Stars hang from palm trees like remnants of Christmas decorations.

A woman lies in bed between hotel-soft white linens, the bedroom window is open.

There is music so clear, so close it could be coming from her own room. Musica Romantica. Songs about longing, gifts, tears, hearts, doves and beauty.

Suddenly the cd skips and a car tears out from the road leading to the beach.

Ah, Mexico. You make me smile.

I’ve been sick since New Years Day – sore throat, congestion, cough, all the usual suspects. The worst part, however, has been trying to maneuver through the days while suffering a Benadryl hangover, a NyQuil zombie state.

While waiting to go out on New Year’s Eve I did a little channel surfing and one scene caused me to stop. A man and a boy stood staring at a deer. The boy and the deer looked deep into each other’s eyes. It was a lovely scene. Then a shot rang out and the deer was killed, the bullet going through her to the boy.

I clicked on the guide button to see what I was watching. “The Walking Dead” on AMC, a New Year’s Eve marathon. I was so caught up in the program I could’ve cancelled my night out and as soon as I got home, hours later, I switched on the t.v. and caught the last few minutes of the season finale which had to be some of the best television I’ve ever seen. It was so emotionally tense and sad and moving. Yes, all that in a series about zombies.

Because I live in Mexico I can’t go to AMC and catch up on the series. I can’t watch them on Hulu. I’ve tried all kinds of “hide your IP address” sites but none of them work. Finally I found a site where I can watch all the Walking Deads I want but the wifi signal has been so slow here, it’s downright painful, all that buffering.

Just yesterday a couple from Canada pulled in and they have a wifi booster/repeater. A full five bars, baby! So it looks like I can catch up on The Walking Dead.

During my own zombie days I missed the departure of the woman whose husband died. I would’ve liked to have said good-bye to her. She seemed so calm and stoic in the aftermath of her husband’s death. I was truly impressed. She’s hoping to continue coming back, either in a smaller rig, one she can drive, or with her kids, or just drive down and stay in one of the casitas.

They (park consensus) agreed it would be better for her to return to the States after the holidays to avoid a long wait at the border, which at this time of year could be 5 to 7 hours. So she stayed here throughout the holidays, away from family, which must’ve been one of the worst things she’s endured. But what do I know. Maybe she’s suffered something more horrible like the death of a child. Like I said, that woman was stoic, serene. If she cried – and I’m sure she did – she did it in the privacy of her own home.

This is how things work in a trailer park, in an expat community. She’s never driven that 40-foot rig so a man here offered to drive her up to Tucson. Turns out, another guy was going up to pick up his wife so they timed it so that the rig driver could return with the guy picking up his wife.

In a way, it’s as though people who have lived in Mexico for a while have learned to live like Mexicans. Everything comes together if you don’t force the issue. Events fall into place. Someone moves into the park with a wifi repeater for five days and for five days you can catch up on zombie shows.