elisabeth

As a person with hearing loss, I am glad I read this. If you've followed the comments here, you know that many people can't afford the kind of hearing aids that will really help them, and the cheap ones just amplify sound and won't help at all while having lunch out, since the background noises will increase also and your voice won't be more distinct. Even expensive ones (like mine) don't help that much in these situations. I think it would be helpful to your friends to ask them what you can do to help them hear you better. - if you are willing to be part of the solution. I have told my husband many times that he needs to speak more distinctly, a little more slowly, and a little louder. For some reason it's hard for him to do this. He also persists in speaking to me when he's facing away and over loud background noises, without raising his voice. Five years after he first pointed out my hearing loss, he has finally realized that he uses an extra soft voice when talking to me, when he needs to use the same voice and way of speaking that he would use in a group or when making a presentation - because I can hear him fine if he does that. It can be hard to raise your voice without sounding like you're shouting, but it can be done with some practice. Your comments (and you're hardly alone or atypical) made me think about our expectations of people with different abilities. I don't expect friends in wheelchairs to meet me in places with lots of stairs - we choose places that are accessible. That's an adaptation I make to have them as friends. But with the hearing impaired, there seems to be lot of anger on both sides It's hard to talk about, but it can be done.

Thanks everyone!

Prefer better roads to twisting through the mountains with crazy drivers - advice? We live in Chapala. This question has been asked before but would.like.advice based on recent experience. Thanks.

Yes, Manix is advertising a buffet. We went at TG, fantastic!

It seems to depend on your carrier. With many cell phones, the lists of substitute area codes works, but not for us. Have put $ into a Skype account though haven't used it yet.

Oh dear, I was going to look into Too Corp because they have the only uninsured motorist coverage I know about.

Wow I haven't seen the fare on the direct Atlanta flight that liwsunce the spring. We've had to pay closer to $800. Or we could make an 18 hour trek using Frontier, which I am not willing to do. Wondering why Atlanta fare rise so much - others have gone up, but not like that!

However if you have to cancel a purchase for any reason ( like in my case an uncommunicative seller who didn't sendd didn't respond), you only get your money returned if you have a Mexican bank account. Otherwise they just apply it was credit to your net purchase.

I heard it. I think, more cohetes, earlier than usual because this is last day of the fiesta.

Tai Chi in Cristiania Park starts next Tuesday, October 10, at 1:00 in Cristiania Park. Cost is 100 pesos, payable to the teacher. The park also charges admission which I am told is under 10 pesos. Please come early and have small change for admission - we want to avoid everyone showing up at once needing change. I just set this up because I didn't want to go to Ajijic for Tai Chi. I can answer questions but will be in the US for a funeral over the weekend, and not monitoring constantly.

Thank you for clarifying Spencer. I have heard all kinds of irresponsible speculation on Facebook all day, but this actually makes sense. And could we drop the issue of the information posted about the attack several years ago? It was confusing but well meant. I would be grateful if y'all could let it go; any further discussion of that is just confusing the present issue.

Thanks everyone. We are talking a rental car in this case. A few credit cards insure for liability, most do not.

Now that we don't have homeowner's or renter's insurance, I'd like to know what people do about liability insurance when renting a car in the US. It appears to me that you can buy supplemental or extended liability insurance without buying the collision damage waiver. I know I can get much cheaper insurance for damage to the vehicle if I buy third party - I just want to be sure that I won't have to buy collision damage from the rental company in order to buy their supplemental liability insurance. Any experience with this? TIA.

Ayocotes it is! Thanks so much. I really didn't want to just go randomly making chili with different kinds of beans.

Yes I've been to Walmart, Soriana, the supermarket on Madero in Chapala. If I even know what they are called I can ask about them. Someone on Facebook proudly showed me a photo of a can from Walmart and informed me they are " frijoles.". Duh.