Thursday

House cleaning is now afoot. I broke down about forty cardboard boxes earlier, which yet again reminded me of the job I used to hold. Our ex-housekeeper, Rosy, has agreed to come back in for a couple of nights after her regular job to assist in the final dust-off, something that I suspect reminds her of her old job as well. Lemon juice does an excellent job of taking rust stains out of the carpet, by the way. Over the last several days, I finished loading all of the wedding photos in my possession to the album collecting similar photos from everyone else. There are still many more photos to go up here, some of which have to be scanned first. I also permanently linked that album below this column with the other photo albums, so check back every day! Also also, I loaded some new pictures here if anyone really wants to see what moving looks like. Last night we went out to eat at the excellent Señor Tanaka in San Pedro and it was, well, excellent. The baby scallops in flying fish roe were a standout. Oaxaca has fallen from the latest Mexican headlines in favor of stories from Calderón's first major anti-narco offensive in Michoacán (where we were in November). On Monday, he sent sixty-five hundred military and federal police troopers to lock down areas known as narco smuggling routes or for drug production, going so far as to implement a naval blockade of the state's Pacific coastal access.* By today there had already been one large gun battle between government forces and hill-ensconced cartel enforcers, with several deaths ensuing.* There are also rumors of arrests and drug lab burnings that might just be wishful thinking, since I cannot seem to corroborate any of them. [Cavin]