Five years ago last February we picked up our friends Jim and Mindy in front of the Mercado in Coatepec. We had never met prior to that meeting. They had never been to this area. We had been emailing with them for  several years by that time having ‘met’ on the Internet from a like interest in alternative building. Prior to our meeting in person in  Coatepec they had shown a lot of interest in our lives in Mexico.

About 6 to 8 months before we met them in Coatepec they decided to move to Mexico. They sold their place in Arizona, bought a truck and an Air Stream trailer – packed it up with all their worldly possessions and headed out here.

Jim is disabled so he and Mindy flew to Veracruz and then bused it to Xalapa and a cab to Coatepec. Their truck and the Air Stream stuffed with all their possessions was driven out from Arizona by a couple hired hands.

Jim in Amelco (Photo by Mindy)

Without any further description you might imagine the effort it took to make all that happen. The kicker to all this as I mentioned above is Jim and Mindy had never laid eyes on this area.

Wind forward five years. Jim and Mindy visited us Sunday. We hadn’t seen them for about three years. They lived for a while not far from us in Teocelo, but there the winters were too cold for Jim, so they moved to lower ground closer to the coast – specifically to Chahuapan – a very small town not too far from Cardel. They lived there for three years until a new cement plant was built that creates so much dust they had to leave.

Five months ago they moved to Amelco.  A small village perhaps 10 miles as the crow flies from Chahuapan; however it requires about 40 minutes to drive through winding roads to get from their old place to the new one.

We wondered how they were fairing having taken the bull by the horns selling out and moving to a new country and home sight unseen. The report is: very well thank you.

The first thing noticed is they have lost quite a bit of weight. They look much healthier than when they arrived here 5 ½ years ago. A good thing.

When asked how they are doing after five years in a new country, their reply includes how happy they are.  “It is not perfect here; but so much better than in the U.S.” Of course we agree. They have not returned to the United States since the move here.

We have watched their story unfold with some trepidation. I mean – two people packed up and moved to a rather obscure part of Mexico mostly based on what they had read in emails with us and this Blog. Had we created a monster situation? Should we feel responsible for actions that were highly discouraged by any foreigner that had moved to Mexico before them – including our insistence that they should come and visit the area BEFORE making a move?

Please understand we remain steadfast in our strong recommendation to NOT just sell out, pack-up and head here without at least a visit. But, in this case it worked out very well.

Mexico is mysterious, an adventure, not to be taken lightly by the casual dreamer. But, for the true adventurer it has a lot to offer.

Mindy Works on the Satellite Internet Dish (Photo by Jim)

Jim and Mindy made the visit yesterday in part to get a part that we had purchased for them for their satellite Internet system. They have been off the Internet other than the occasional visit to an Internet café for about 5 months. We hope the part will resolve their problem; that they will be back on the ‘air’ to tell the rest of their story themselves. Stay Tuned!

Over the counter antibiotics are illegal in Mexico. But as with many legal requirements in Mexico, enforcement is lax and the rule usually ignored. In the news this morning it was announce no more Mr. Nice Guy drug providers. There will be a crackdown on all the self-prescribed, self-medicating antibiotic pill popping. Under rules that take effect today, pharmacies will face tighter oversight and stricter disclosure requirements to make sure they sell antibiotics only to patients with prescriptions. Violators face fines of up to $15,000 U.S. and possible closure.

Many of these pronouncements out of Mexico City often do not make it to our more rural area. Time will tell whether this will be enforced locally.

Last year during the pig flu epidemic (H1N1 virus) many people infected with the flu virus first treated themselves with antibiotics, and then went to the doctor only after it was too late. The claim is some of the 1000 plus deaths occurred from these delays.

Sadly the poor that are unable to afford to go to a doctor, the many that have learned to prescribe and perhaps use with care will be penalized. Surely more deaths will occur because of this. But the logic tends to fall more to the side of reducing the access. The answer is less cost to visit doctors and less cost for medication – of course that isn’t going to happen. The problem in the U.S. is over -prescribing antibiotics – the drug remains controversial even with the super powers.

Whatever the truth is with all this, the fact is people are totally over medicated with antibiotics, self-prescribed and obtained over the counter or prescribed by doctors. The Calypso household has not ingested antibiotics since the Carter administration (remember Jimmy Carter?).

Our suspicious libertarian mind thinks this is more about Mexican doctors getting more visits and making more dough than it is about trying to reduce antibiotic use. But the argument remains valid regardless of why it is being promoted.

In other news a local Veracruz boy makes good. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ baseball team announced its agreement to purchase the rights of 16-year-old Luis Heredia from the Veracruz Red Eagles team here in Mexico. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, though the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the signing bonus is worth $2.6 million. That is a whole lot of money around these parts.

The Pirates had plenty of competition in the Heredia sweepstakes. The Blue Jays and Yankees were among the other teams reportedly interested, and it was ultimately up to the Veracruz team to decide where Heredia, who Baseball America ranked as the top international pitching prospect heading into 2010, would go.

We will be watching for Heredia’s future success.

We have sun this morning. Life is Good. Stay Tuned!

No Surprise here. Mexico sports some of the most beautiful women in the world. Jimena Navarrete Rosete from Jalisco was crowned Miss Universe last night. In that this is Mexico’s Bi-Centennial year the victory is still sweeter.

We are not big fans of beauty contests and lots of eye makeup, but it is nice to see this success for Mexico. Mexico is a proud nation. The newly crowned 22-year-old has been quoted promoting Mexico and sharing her victory with her country. Nice to see in more ways than one. Stay Tuned!

One of the very charming qualities of Mexico is the ingenuity and industriousness of the people. Not too far back herein I mentioned the retail sales force here in Mexico lacks certain polish that is standard procedure in the U.S. and Canada. But, when it comes to street sales and immediacy Mexico has the others beat.

Mid-morning today (Saturday) we scooted into Xico and beyond. We were hoping ultimately to go as far as Coatepec to buy bread and cheese.  But alas this was not to be.

Shortly out of Xico on the road between there and Coatepec we encountered a lot of traffic. It seems in some municipal manager’s infinite wisdom that Saturday would be a good day to repair the one-lane in each direction highway. My less educated sense for things relating to road construction would have thought a less busy day of the week might be better time to virtually totally disrupt the flow of traffic – I mean rather than when everyone off work that wants to go out to the store and whatever was on the roadway.

In any case the road was packed, backed up and pretty much rendered immovable. We scooted to the front of the line but were not allowed to go beyond. Then the rain started and continued. We limped into the Pemex gas station near the entrance to Coatepec to wait out the rain.

During the wait I noticed several fellows arrived on the scene with carpet bagger type satchels. Each was full of windshield wipers. Obviously these hombres woke up this morning or were already packed up for just such an event. When the rain comes out there will be many in need of windshield wipers.

Of course this makes perfect business sense. Top peso can be obtained when you can provide for a need like wipers during a persistent rain. If these hombres were selling rain ponchos we would have been in the market right then as well.

We thought it was very industrious and typical of the framework of marketing Mexican style. Providing basic needs on the spot makes terrific marketing sense.

Then we got to thinking, how would this work in the U.S.? If you attempted to sell in the street you would certainly need a permit. You would likely be run off competing with the more established businesses. If you were under 18 in states like California you would be forbidden from working at all without possessing a high school diploma – something I am pretty sure these hombres lacked.

To obtain a license and subsequent permission to sell you would most likely be required to carry some liability and casualty insurance. Hypothetically if a wiper you installed failed in some manner you would be sued – perhaps even your entire family.

If you offered any warranty you would have to post a bond and back it up in writing. Here in Mexico – they will tell you if there is any problem I am here on this corner often.

The U.S. is a complex quagmire in many ways. This direct Mexican marketing has not only charm but good sense attached to it. Stay Tuned!

It is looking like it is not safe to be a spectator these days. Last weekend the terrible accident in Southern California with the off-road racing vehicle that plowed into the crowd – eight people were killed. Now this morning on Azteca News they showed (many times) a bull that leaped into the crowd in Spain. Various reports of between 20 and 40 people were injured including a ten year old boy that is in intensive care. (See a Video Clip of the Bull in the stands here)

Of course bull fights are very controversial even when the bulls remain in the ring. This incident will add to the controversy. When 1,100 pounds of mean muscle could possibly end up in your lap, the cheap seats start to look mighty attractive. Better yet futbol becomes a more appealing spectator sport.

Soccer may be a bit slow at times – however I can live with the risk of a player spilling into the stands.

Go Cruz Azul! Stay Tuned!

One of the things we really like about our area is the diverse quality of city/country living; a 25 mile circle covering many spheres of interest. This situation is very special, close to unique I would imagine.

Saturday night the guapa Senora Calypso and I bused into Xalapa. We took a cab from the main bus drop off to the Palacacio area in the central district. In this central area just a block or so up from the huge and magnificent  Palacio is Juarez Park  (Parque Juárez). The park is also magnificent being European like, cosmopolitan and old world all rolled up into one.

Mexican parks are lived in. They truly are a reflection the fabric of the society.

First about the bus. We opted to bus into Xalapa and take cabs to avoid driving at night in one of the wildest cities in the world to take on the challenge of driving. It is about $3 U.S. to get from Xico to Xalapa. Then we hired a cab to drive us to the Palacio in the central district. BEFORE you get in the cab ask the price – make your deal prior to entering the cab, period. In this case the fee was $1.60 U.S. (20 pesos).  This is typical for running around the city. We walked to a number of entertainment points from the Palacio. We returned home from near the Palacio to our door in Xico for 130 pesos + 20 peso tip – so 150 pesos (about $12. U.S.) to get home by cab. It is about 15 miles one way; we left home about 8:30 PM and returned at 3:30 AM – seven full filled hours.

While walking near the Juarez Park we heard some PA checks blaring out. “Uno, dos, si, si – Uno, dos, si, si.”  The sounds were emanating from down below the park near the Cultural Center building. We arrived there just as the setup was completed. Soon a local dance company put on a terrific show that included modern dance, flamenco and some traditional Mexican dance. This in celebration of the 31 year anniversary of the Cultural facility. It was excellent and an unexpected  treat.

Continuing  the walk in the area of Zona Centro, we found Callejón Gonzalez Aparicio. This is an entertainment and culinary delight filled area that is a bit hard to find. Essentially it is a two block alley that has small tables set up along one side. It is much like a street of small European drink and dinner places; some spots have upstairs balconies where people can people watch at second story level.

The atmosphere is hip, eclectic, and clean. We sat down at a compact establishment called ‘Cubanias’.  We had a beer and a glass of wine and watched people, until we got our second wind to hit more dance spots.

We continued walking along stopping to listen to some fusion music at the end of Callejón Gonzalez Aparicio near the “Irish Pub.” This is an interesting area not to be missed.

Our final club of the night was jammed packed with partiers. Apparently there are no body count restrictions for these public places. We stayed near the entrance to get some fresher air and have an early route of escape if a stampede occurred.

Being the usual shoulder and head higher than everyone else, looking the entire room over I saw nothing but head after head covering the entire perimeter. I can honestly report that if your hands were at their sides you would not have enough room to raise them to wave your arm to the blasting sounds of “The Black Eyed Peas.”I Gotta Feeling” This IS worth a look and listen – turn your system to 10 and ROCK! Think a mass of partiers jumping and singing to this.

I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night
that tonight’s gonna be a good night
that tonight’s gonna be a good good night.

Tonight’s the night night
Let’s live it up
I got my money
Let’s spend it up

Go out and smash it
like Oh My God
Jump off that sofa
Let’s get get OFF

I know that we’ll have a ball
if we get down
and go out
and just loose it all

I feel stressed out
I wanna let it go
Lets go way out spaced out
and loosing all control

Fill up my cup
Mazal tov
Look at her dancing
just take it off

Lets paint the town
We’ll shut it down
Let’s burn the roof
and then we’ll do it again

Lets Do it, Lets Do it, Lets Do
and live it up

Here we come
here we go
we gotta rock

Easy come
easy go
now we on top

Feel the shot
body rock
Rock it don’t stop

Round and round
up and down
around the clock

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
Friday, Saturday, Saturday and Sunday

we keep keep keep keep on going
we know what we say
party everyday
party everyday

got a feeling
that tonight’s gonna be a good night

The fascinating thing is nearly everyone in the joint knew all the lyrics and sang them out – that is a lot of English. I have no idea if they knew what all these words meant – but the pronunciation around our area was amazingly accurate.

Now we are sure there are those of you regular readers out there wondering what an old guy like me is doing dancing the night away – well wriggling in the crowd is more accurate. A little aerobic exercise until three in the morning might be said. I have no answer or excuse.

Round and round, up and down, around the clock we painted the town. What can I say? Saturday night was a good night – a good night! And Sunday was a day of rest for this ol’ hombre.  Stay Tuned!

There are at least as many varieties of weather in Mexico as there are in the much larger United States. In the last 10 months we have been doing a lot of belly aching about the weather. But getting real about it all – the weather here in Xalapa-Coatepec-Xico is pretty darn good. It is easy to say today because the weather has been wonderful.

The extremes are anything but. The extreme low would be 42 F (5.5 C). The extreme high might be 92 F (33.3 C), no higher. A little heat system and a fan will provide complete comfort. Really 45F (7 C) to 88F (31C) are the common extremes if that makes sense.

We have had more than our share of rain and our share is quite ample (about 60” average a year). Most of the rain is monsoon type – so it comes in the mid to late afternoon. Monsoon rain is quick. A little disruption. But, we have had some serious rainy days in the last two months.

No weather is perfect. But it is darn close when it NEVER gets below freezing and is seldom reaching 90 F (32.25 C).

We caught these low clouds hanging just to the west of us. Good coffee growing weather. Do not worry about the humidity. It is here. We venture to say your skin will appreciate it. Like the rest of the weather it is moderate and of little consequence.

Looking West from our north facing porch. Cofre de Perote mountain looms in the background.

So if good weather is on your short list of desired conditions for a place to live – mark us down.

Last Saturday night Anita and I headed to Xalapa to catch a movie. We never got there. It was raining when we left around 8 PM. At the bus stop the rain got torrential for a time. We made it on the bus. A bus ahead of us had an accident between here and Coatepec blocking the road for several hours. We hiked back to San Marcos de Leon and took a cab home from there. We will try again tonight.

Life is truly an adventure around here. Stay Tuned.

Are you just plain tired of high pressure sales? Do you find yourself desperately wanting to cut to the chase when getting a sales pitch? If you answered yes to either of these questions you NEED to come to Mexico.

Honestly most sales personnel here in Mexico must be shaken to be sure they are breathing. You have questions – forget about it. You best know what you want. If you want to know if they have something you better just look around the store. Chances are the salesperson has no idea whether the store has the item – no idea.

If you want a sale pitch you will have to wait for a street vendor to come by – there you can definitely get a pitch – but not in a retail outlet here in Mexico.

We have this cloud over our head with vehicles and parts to keep them running here in Mexico. Recall a while back the five month sage (that is months – not a typo) trying to get a part for our Ford Truck – we are not talking a Maserati or Jaguar here – a Ford truck!

We ended up buying a car in order to drive back to the U.S. to finally find the part. Part in hand it took 15 minutes to get the truck running.

Now our Chinese scooter is in need of a starter. Before you roll your eyes – we bought the scooter here in Mexico; and they are seen everywhere here in Mexico.

It is possible the starters are very reliable – but I doubt it. Yet no one seems to have the part. The prices quoted when and if they can get the starter are all over the map by a factor of at least 3. Of course the shop that quoted the best price (about 30% higher than the best price in the U.S.) would have to order the part and it would take about 20 days.

OK if you were wondering or accusing, we are unhappy and frustrated; and most of all missing Cruise Azul riding. We actually drove to Coatepec in the Jetta yesterday looking for the part and shopping.

The last two vehicles we have purchased were purchased in Mexico in order to have a better shot at local maintenance and parts availability.

We started working on cars early in life. Before we were old enough to legally drive we were under hoods and greasy. Early on I commented to my father, rest his soul, “One day I am going to know enough about cars to be able to fix everything about them myself.” My father’s reply and here I thought a good piece of wisdom, “Son, I hope one day you make enough money to pay to have someone else fix your cars.” I never forgot that and even passed the sage wisdom to my son.

A few times in my life I actually have had enough money to have someone else repair my vehicles. Enter the computer age. Cars got so complicated with computer chips and modules and a lot of engineering dedicated to keeping the weekend tinkerer out from under the hood. Do not even get me started about the special tools designed for one task.

Here in Mexico car maintenance is far more affordable than in the U.S. by a factor of 10 or so I would guess. But all good news usually comes with a caveat. In this case it is the aforementioned parts situation.

But there is more. Getting back to little Cruise Azul the Chinese scooter. The little scoot has no computer and I have tools. It is little more than fixing a lawnmower to keep it going when you can get the parts. All still the aforementioned rate of savings on vehicle labor caused us to attach ourselves to a moto mechanic here in Xico – Pepe.

Pepe started out very inexpensive. But as he got to know this gringo his fees seem to escalate. There was one constant charge that was beneficial or so we thought. An oil change for 100 pesos. That is about $8 U.S. including a liter of mixed synthetic oil – quite a bargain; so good that in spite of our having tools and knowledge to perform an oil change in 15 minutes, it still made sense to have the work done by Pepe. When you deduct the cost of oil, we are talking maybe $3.00 U.S. Why would we get our hands greasy or have to deal with a liter of used oil to dispose of?

The other day before the starter died we ran Cruise Azul across town to Pepe’s garage for an oil change. For the first time we decided to wait for the work to be done rather than leave the scooter and return later.

We watched as Pepe went about his work. Without getting too technical and losing most of our female readers the oil was changed incorrectly. It was drained from the wrong orifice thereby eliminating the cleaning of the oil filter. I watched in subdued horror realizing my little jewel was not receiving proper treatment. The 100 peso oil change suddenly was no bargain.

So now I have to tell my son new found wisdom. Be smart enough to work on your vehicles because no one will care about your ride as much as you do; and buy some tools and spare parts – you will need them.

I have a very smart younger Cousin who has aspirations of designing a car that meets two amazing criteria. The vehicle must get 100 miles to the gallon and be able to go 100 mile per hour. I hope this vision includes having 100% available spare parts and that 100 out of 100 people with tools will be able to repair the thing. It is Friday the Thirteenth. We had to get this off our chest. Stay Tuned!

For some unknown reason garbage removal always seems to have some kind of underworld or criminal element attached to it – why is this? It can be called a dirty business.

Here in Xico, Veracruz, Mexico and from what we can gather other areas of Mexico, trash pick-up is very political. Currently we have a lame duck president of the municipal of Xico. The president of a Mexican municipal can be likened to a mayor of a city in the U.S.

The current president has been voted out. A new leader will be in place in December.  Here in Mexico foreigners by law are not to be involved in anything political. It is so stated in the Mexican Constitution.

OK this is fine with us. We are retired and past wanting to get in the mud of politics here or in the U.S. – anywhere really. But, no matter how much we strive to be away from politics, of course political issues  affect many aspects of our lives; some more visible than others. In this case highly visible garbage often builds up after the local elections.

Without getting involved, my understanding is the elections for the positions of Governor of the State of Veracruz and the president of the municipal of Xico were held on July 4^th of this year. The newly elected will officially take their positions December 1st. This is a five month gap between election and taking office if you are newly elected, not re-elected. That seems like a long delay – but then I am not getting into that.

Without  having a clear idea as to how all the politics works I can report on one of the results of a change in office at the mayoral level; or in this case here in Mexico, the president of the municipal. Each time this change occurs the garbage collection becomes trashy.

For example we have had one garbage pickup since we have returned from the U.S. We have been here for a little more than a month; so one pickup in a month. The people begin to burn trash including plastic soda bottles a couple weeks into no garbage pickup. The air often gets quite toxic if you happen to be in the smoke path of someone’s burning.

Apparently the garbage company and/or its employees are selected by the president of the municipal. Also it is apparent that this works to the financial benefit of said presidents. We hear unsubstantiated rumors that already the current trash removal personnel are losing their jobs.

Mean while the trash is building up in our neighborhoods. People in our barrio have been going to the local government complaining about the lack of garbage collection.

The fee when they do come and take garbage away is extremely reasonable – one peso per bag regardless of its size; that is 8 US cents folks, quite the bargain. We fill one very large black plastic bag. The bags are a bit spendy as trash bags go; not commonly seen here in the Hood. You can almost assume it is a gringo’s garbage if the refuse is enclosed in a big shiny black bag.

The collection of the few pesos is very sketchy. An hombre comes around very quickly looking for pesos (he is riding with the truck). We have watched the process; my guess is a small percentage of the small fee is actually collected. This means the government has to be subsidizing the cost; and therein lays the open door to corruption – a government funded process with little organization and less accountability; a golden calf for small government officials.

If you have been following the impoverished City of Bell, California’s governmental fiasco you may already know that the City Manager was making $800,000 US a year with a total benefit package that amounted to 1.5 million dollars – yikes. The base salary was twice that of the President of the United States! It seemed like quite a few others were on the take as well. HOW does something like this go on?

The backlash appears to include yet more laws. Stay with us here because this is where it gets real crazy: Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (Democrat – South Gate, CA.), author of a proposed measure titled AB 1955; “the California Measure would raise income tax to 50% for overpaid council members….”

So if we understand this right – the new measure would continue to allow such ridiculous income, but then the State of California would excessively tax the income in order for the state to get their cut! The world has truly gone mad.

To be fair the Measure also calls for open public sessions where the salaries would be exposed. You know those council meetings no one ever attends. The ones where when something hits the fan the pat answer is the public had an opportunity to attend the meetings. So we should all feel guilty for not having kept an eye on things. This while the proletariat is a two working family with maybe a third job to get by, who in their spare time should be attending these council meetings in order to reduce corruption.

This is not the kind of law that is going to stop the madness. When you have to create laws that essentially say DO NOT STEAL from the public coffers and create costly watchdog systems to keep elected and otherwise officials from stealing beyond comprehension – what does that say about mankind.

We are going to pull the covers over our head and go back to sleep now. Stay Tuned we will wake up eventually.

We have birds a plenty here in Xico, Veracruz. You can imagine how wonderful the mornings are with the birds singing a variety of songs – all the different melodies seeming to be in total harmony. It is humbling coming from a music background – none of these little bird brains went to Julliard; and yet they are never out of tune or off key. The simple complexity of Mother Nature.

The bad news is these marvelous creatures relieve themselves approximately every 20 minutes. We are in a mostly country setting here at the Calypso rental. Much of the bird droppings go unnoticed other than the occasional splattering on our burgundy VW or the blue Cruise Azul Chinese scooter. The BIG white truck seldom shows any of these problems. With the vast amount of rain these problems very often cure themselves. (Note: Sunday we didn’t have rain at all – first day since our early July return from the U.S.).

The birds lead a charmed life here. It never gets to freezing; there are plenty of water, flowers, lots of bugs and blossoming berries. I mean to have a birds life here is nearly idyllic.

The aforementioned droppings are a small price to pay for the joy we receive from our shared space with the song birds. But, there is an additional situation or rather there was. The Calypso Casa presents a very safe area for the birds. We have no cats or dogs or any other predators to them. So they hangout.

The fly space includes right over our clothes lines where we sun-dry our washed clothes. You probably have already guessed what that problem is. We were re-washing a lot of clothes. A catch-22 situation wherein we do not want to discourage natures concert entertainment and yet….

We found a solution. We gathered up some spent compact disks; old obsolete software, errant recording attempts, scratched or otherwise unplayable media and remember all those free AOL disks? We then hung them on the line so they were free to spin catching sunlight, producing mirrored reflections that splattered about a yard.

Miracle of miracles we have had no more problems; the music remains. Nature’s musical pleasure no longer has an unhappy coda attached.

You might not be able to get away with such tom foolery as hanging spinning disks in your yard state side – but then you might not even be allowed to hang your wet clothing in the sun. Here it is no problemo.

This solution did come with one small problem. Our neighbors were keeping a watchful eye and opening our casa to allow some air to flow through while we were in the U.S. for 5 weeks. One night during a full moon our neighbor was alarmed when he noticed some lights flashing at our place. He came charging over only to find the moonlight was spinning off our laundry line solutions.

Last night which brought me to write about all this, there was another situation. I was out at the cars and noticed something running in the field. It stopped me in my tracks. I stood still and silent. The figure continued to dart back and forth amongst the tall grass.

I was almost decided to go and get a flashlight. Then I noticed the darting ‘animal’ was syncopated with a spinning CD hanging from the clothes line. It wasn’t a full moon so the reflected light was quite subdued – fooled by my own doing

So a good tip is to let your neighbors know what you are up to; and to not forget yourself. But the better tip is to not only recycle those otherwise useless little silver platters by using their energy to keep from having to re-wash your clothes. Win-win I would say. Another energy tip for you from those environmental crazies the Calypsos. Stay Tuned!