Mexican Madness

Good Times, Bad Times (with apologies to Led Zep)

2012-01-20T22:37:00.001-07:00

This is what we call the fancy path to the beach. This view never gets old!

Beach art

Carl's sisters came down for a quick one-week visit with Carl & Melody. (Hi Shirleen and Alicia!) They really wanted to do a beach day, but it was a bit too breezy so we had to make do with "balcony beach" instead. Our upstairs terrace is quite a sun trap and sheltered from the wind. Just add sunscreen and a few beverages and a little imagination and you're almost at the beach.

Here's Melody looking quite relaxed.

And Shirleen (from Nova Scotia)

And Alicia (from Massachusetts)

Shadow looking very macho in the spikey collar that Cari-Ann won when she was here.

We're throwing it out now, okay C-A?

While Shirleen & Alicia were here, they stopped in at the radio station to say hello to Rosie and to sing a song for their mom who lives in Nova Scotia and is a faithful listener of Rosie's radio show. The Scott Family Trio did a great rendition of "Farewell to Nova Scotia". Made me tear up a little bit.

On their last day here, we all went to the Mayan Palace for lunch. The Mayan Palace is a fancy hotel about 20 minutes out of town. Rosie, who doesn't do anything by half measures, had arranged the lunch for us, so we were met in the lobby and escorted to the dining room by Neftali, the executive chef. He also joined us for lunch and offered us champagne & orange juice and desserts on the house. After lunch he took us on a personal tour of the property and gave us cards entitling us to a discount on our next visit.

The outside of the Mayan Palace

The lobby

Around the grounds

The pool bar

The private beach

This is Neftali. Isn't he adorable?!

Poor Rosie (in the red) was kept busy interpreting for us as Neftali was shy to use his English skills and we were equally shy to use our pathetic Spanish.

Half of Rosie and Alicia

Shirleen looking a little overwhelmed at the plethora of beverage choices.

Carl with his sisters

Melody, Neftali, Carl, Shirleen, Rosie

Dan and Alicia

Melody & Alicia

Rosie

On our walk through the desert to get to the beach, we've noticed that things are starting to bloom.

Just another day at the beach for Barky Boots.

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One morning last week, Hombre showed up for breakfast looking like he'd been in a scrap overnight. He was limping more than usual and he was covered in blood. He had a lot of cuts and punctures on his legs, back and neck, but the worst part was his ear. The inside was torn and bleeding quite a bit. We cleaned him up as best we could, and treated his wounds with an antiseptic.

The next day, his ear was worse. It was enormous! At least 3 times thicker than normal and still bloody and oozing pus. We started him on antibiotics and cleaned it a few times a day for a couple of days.

Dan getting the patient to the operating table.

Intensive care

Visiting hours.

BeeGee stopping by to see her old pal

Even though his ear was much better, he wasn't eating much. We bought him tinned food, but he wasn't very interested. We bought him hot dogs, but he didn't want them. Dan even tried spoon feeding him peanut butter, with no luck. However, our friends John & Jimmi stopped by with a big bag of steak scraps and he had no problem wolfing them down!!

We took him to the vet and he was put on an intravenous and was kept overnight.

Sadly, he died at the clinic. He was just too old and too weak to fight anymore.

Our street isn't the same without him. I think of him every time I hear a train whistle. (And believe me, that's often!) All of the dogs around here howl at the trains, but he howled longer and louder and more plaintively than all the others. He was the choirmaster.
Descanse en paz, sweet boy.

Photo soup

2012-01-05T20:54:00.001-07:00

Not much happening around here, but I wanted to post something just to let you know that we're still alive and well. This is just a mish-mash of miscellaneous photos in no particular order.

This is the Fiesta Cruiser.

It was a party boat that took people out on sunset cruises. Yes, past tense - it's now a beach ornament and it's captain is in jail. A few months ago he took out a boatload of people at a low tide in high winds. He hit a sandbar, lost his rudder and was at the mercy of the weather. His passengers had to jump off and make their own way to shore. One woman didn't make it. The boat is still beached down at Playa Hermosa. They have made a couple of attempts to re-float it, but haven't succeeded yet.

We were on our way home one night when Dan spotted a churro wagon. It's hard to drive past any churro wagon, but this one even had his name on it. Brakes were applied, a u-turn was executed and Dan went home a happy man.

Several months ago, Melody ran into an artist selling his colourful wooden carvings on the beach. She was just out for a walk, so she didn't have any cash with her, but when she got home, she mentioned to Carl that she really liked the whale that he had. That started Carl on a quest to find the guy. It's no easy task to find a beach vendor with just one name (Igor) even when the beaches are busy, but impossible when they're not. The last few months have been deadly quiet in Puerto Peñasco. If there are no tourists on the beaches, there are no vendors either. After several trips to the beach and after asking every vendor in sight if they knew Igor, Dan & Carl finally found out that he had a brother-in-law that had a shop on Calle Trece. (13th Ave) Unfortunately, the shop was closed the first 3 times that we tried it. Finally, on the 4th visit, we found Jose, who phoned Igor and told him to come to the store because there were people looking for him. The bad news was that Igor no longer had the whale, but the good news was that he'd be happy to make another one - overnight! We followed him back to his house to make sure we knew where to find him, and Carl arranged to have a whale custom made. Did I mention that he made it overnight??

While business was being conducted from the trunk of Igor's car, I got my eye on this fish that I had to have.

When we went back to pick up Melody's whale (the VERY next day!), I also bought a couple of small armadillos. Melody was happy, I was happy, and Igor was beyond happy!

Hey Taz, doesn't that tail tickle your nose?

A nice walk along Playa Hermosa or Sandy Beach, or whatever the heck it's called. (Nobody seems to know for sure)

Beach art. It's like one of those pictures that if you stare at it long enough, you see a secret message.

January is property tax time. We stood in line at city hall to pay our taxes. There was a huge increase this year - a whopping 17%!! Our total came to 449 pesos - that's almost $36.00!! Yes, that's per year.

It's not easy to crochet with a dog on your lap.

This is our neighbour Louie - learning to Skype.

Taz pouting because she had to wear a bandage on her injured paw. (It's okay now)

Doggie biscuits aren't a popular item here. We have managed to find a few tiny bags that would last a Pekingese maybe a day, and they're really expensive! In past years we brought our own giant sized buckets of Milk Bones, but that's no longer allowed - they're confiscated at the border and offenders are fined. With Taz and 4 street dogs, the tiny bags just aren't gonna cut it, so I decided to try making my own. There are hundreds of recipes for home-made dog treats out there, but I chose one that seemed a) easy and b) used ingredients that I knew I could purchase locally. I added a couple of things that I thought the dogs might enjoy, like Machaca, (a kind of dried meat product with the consistency of fiberglass insulation) and Parmesan cheese. They were a hit with Taz and Shadow, but the street dogs weren't crazy about them. Barky Boots turned his nose up at his, so Stupid Brown Dog got two. When Barky Boots hesitated, he swooped in and scooped up his too, which leads me to believe that he may actually have a functioning brain cell after all. Melody gave me a bone-shaped cookie cutter, so the next batch is gonna be fancier.

More beach art.

Bazillions of birds.

Feliz Navidad

2011-12-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

First, some holiday silliness for those of you that haven't already seen this video. This is Dan & me and our friends, Carl & Melody, performing Jose Feliciano's FELIZ NAVIDAD for you. (Just press "open" when asked if you want to open or save, then press the arrow to start) It takes a long time to load, so you have to be patient.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did! We decorated the tree on Christmas Eve

with the special ornaments starring our little girl

Yeah, right. Well, we would've if we'd had a tree, (and special ornaments) but we settled for decorating the fake house plant in the living room with the dollar store balls instead.
The Taz ornaments were done using an i-Phone app called PhotoFunia.

Christmas Day started with freshly squeezed orange juice and a BIG breakfast.

Followed by a walk on the beach.

Some food prep at home, then over to Carl & Melody's place to hang out for the afternoon while waiting for dinner to cook.

C & M's living room looking all warm and festive.

Dan & Taz waiting for dinner. (It smelled SO good)

Carl & Melody recently had a window put in their kitchen - it's still a novelty to be able to see outside (and IN!) Melody was outside tending to the salmon on the BBQ

Turtle brownies for dessert!

Wait - is that a toenail in it?? EW!!

Nah, we use shells that we've collected from the beach for Rummoli chips and this mis-shapen one got dubbed "the toenail" (Who was in charge of quality control?)

We have no big plans for New Year's Eve. The only thing on the agenda is to listen to Carl doing his 2nd radio show with Rosie in the afternoon. You can listen in too between noon & 2pm MST on Saturday, 31 December. Rocky Point Ramblings.

Farmer's market and art show

2011-12-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

The parking lot right behind our house is usually empty (except for stray dogs) because the building is not completed. I think the original plan was for a hotel and spa, but like so many projects in this town, it ground to a halt when the bottom dropped out of the economy. The owner sold it along with the attached restaurant and supposedly lost his shorts on the deal. The current owner has changed the name of the restaurant to Don Julio's and the menu and food are now much improved (in my humble opinion). He is also rumoured to have a casino in mind for the building that is now only partially finished. (groan!) We'll believe it when we see it. In the meantime he's decided to put the parking lot to use and yesterday was the first Farmer's Market and Art Show.
It was advertised as starting at 10 am, but because this is Mexico, the majority of the vendors didn't show up to start setting up their booths until well past that. We, of course, had a perfect view from our bedroom window which overlooks the parking lot.

So, you buy your blanket at this table,

and drop it off at this table.

This organization collects blankets, toys and donations for the less fortunate.

An artist sets up his stall.

There was actually only one stall that had produce for sale, and at the prices that he was charging, even if he sold out his entire stock he probably wouldn't make any profit after paying for his space.

Dan doing his part to support the friendly Alonso. Two cucumbers, ½ a dozen tomatoes, ½ a dozen bananas, and a bunch of brocolli = 15 pesos About $1.10!

Yeah, not gonna happen!

I've got my eye on this type of table and chairs for our upstairs terrace.

Carl & Melody found the sweets

(that's our complex in the background)

Hand-made jewellery

These bags are very popular. I've seen a few of them around town.

Mr. Way-too-much-hair-gel tries to sell Melody a painting.

Assorted treasures from the same lady that makes the bags. Her company is called Sea Debris.

This guy had some nice matted photos.

It wasn't packed by any means, but there seemed to be a steady stream of visitors all afternoon. All in all, I think it was a successful event. I hope the vendors made enough money to make it worth their while so they come back to the next one.

Of course we couldn't go to the market until after the big show. Between noon & 2 o'clock Melody, Dan & I were on our terrace glued to the radio.

Why, you ask? Well I'll tell you. Melody's friend Rosie Glover (well, everybody's friend, really) has a mostly English speaking radio program on Saturday afternoons called Rocky Point Ramblings. She usually has Russ as a co-host, but Russ was busy on Saturday helping out his wife Naomi at the market. (She's the Sea Debris lady). Anyway, Rosie asked Carl to be her co-host on Saturday. Carl has done a couple of radio ads that run during the show, but this was his real debut in broadcasting. And he did a great job! You'd never have known it was his first time on the air, he was very cool and relaxed. Fair warning Carl - next time you do the show, (and of course there'll be a next time!) the paparazzi could show up to take photos of you in the studio.

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Oh, good thing the market/art show was yesterday because this is what the parking lot looked like this morning. We had a short, but very intense thunderstorm that would've really put a damper on things.

This afternoon was nice enough for a walk on Sandy Beach though.

Our photo group's theme this week is "All you need is love"

Daily life

2011-12-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

Not much happening lately. We're getting into the rhythm of life in Mexico. A walk to the beach in the morning with the entire pack. Lunch. A beach walk in the afternoon with Carl & Melody. Dinner. Read until sleepy. Repeat.
Walking through the desert on our way to the beach in the mornings, when we look behind us, this is what we see - the whole pack of street dogs following us.

Dan, the dog-whisperer

BeeGee and Barky Boots

The 3 amigos are never far from each other. SBD is usually off by himself chasing birds, but these three stick together.

Taz was worried about the pack at first, but now she realizes that none of them are interested in her ball. Even if it lands right in front of one of them, they don't bother with it. If it's not edible, they don't want it.

It's my job to sort the shells on the beach. This is the purple section (for you, CJ)

I never come home from the beach empty-handed. I always have a pocket full of treasures. This was a good day. Unusual coloured sea glass and sand dollars!

We had a few days of stormy weather. I love the sea on those days!

Latitude 31 is one of our lunch stops.

Apparently, it isn't anybody else's - we've never seen another customer.

WooHoo!! Victor (our next door neighbour) is home! Cookies and belly rubs for everybody! The street dogs and Victor love each other. He's especially fond of Stupid Brown Dog (please don't tell him we call him that) who he calls Chocolate. Of course with the Spanish pronounciation it's Chock o lattay. A few months ago he took him to the vet and spent a fortune getting his broken leg casted.

We usually head out to the Las Conchas area for our afternoon walks because the beach there is nice and "sidewalk-y". Lots of nice homes in that neighbourhood.

I'm guessing this one was built some time in the 60's and was probably ultra-modern and "out there" at the time. It has a space age-y Jestson's look don't you think?

Taz asking that her treat ball be filled, por favor.

2011-12-07T08:43:00.001-07:00

Drove out towards Tessoro with Carl & Melody because the beach out there is nice and flat and easy to walk on. There's never a soul out there so the dogs can run free. On the way back though - uh oh...

We stopped at the Las Conchas gate to use the air hose there, but this tire was beyond that kind of help. No jack in the car, so Dan took a taxi to our place and picked up our truck and the necessary tools.

Taz waiting patiently while the tire is changed.

Most mornings we walk down to "our" beach. It's about a 15-20 minute walk through the desert to get there, and the street gang usually comes with us. We're quite a sight as we arrive at the beach with our five dogs!

SBD and BarkyBoots like to plodge in and get their feet wet, but Hombre & BeeGee are happy just to roll around in the sand.

Came across this giant jellyfish, one day. Very cool eh?

I've never seen one this big! Luckily, Dan spotted it before the dogs did.

We started new Spanish classes last night with Laurie, a woman that Carl & Melody know. We meet once a week at C&M's house, which is much better than the echo-y classroom that we tried last year. There are only 6 students so we can pretty much tailor-make the lessons as we go along, and spend as much time as necessary going over things that we get stuck on.

¡Ahora, tenemos que practicar! (Now we have to practice)

Beach walking, pizza and presents

2011-12-02T20:29:00.001-07:00

It was a tad breezy today, but still nice enough for a long walk along Mirador Beach.

Taz & Shadow don't play together as much as they used to, but they both enjoy the beach in their own ways.

Sorry, Melody. This picture didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Can you tell what it is?

Selling horse rides on the beach. This guy actually got some business today! (Not from us)

I think they filled at least 3 of these horses.

The dogs were leashed due to horses, not because the beach was crowded.

Awww...

After the beach walk, we arrived home to find the pack in their usual spot in front of our gate. (SBD was further down)

Driving around town, we came upon this little guy. Aarrrgghhh! Don't you just want to shave him and give him a bath? Full hazmat gear required!

Had dinner tonight at our favourite pizza place. Brothers Pizza was packed to the gills as usual.

Mmmmediterranean pizza with artichokes, spinach and feta cheese!

We met Eduardo the first year we were here. When he's not doing work for Dan, he spends his days combing the beach with a metal detector and he gives most of his treasures to us. After dinner, we arrived home to find these on our door-knob. It could only have been Eduardo that left them.

And speaking of gifts. Remember the turtle shell? Um, it's a LOT bigger than I thought it was!

2011-12-01T15:01:00.002-07:00

So, my flight to Phoenix was uneventful. I even got a boarding pass ahead of time, so I didn't have to sit in the boarding lounge and chew on my stomach lining wondering if I was going or not. Thanks to the wonder of texting, Dan was able to find me standing on the curb at Phoenix airport. It's always nice to see a familiar vehicle approaching when you're in a strange city.

Because it was already dark by the time I got there, we stayed overnight in Phoenix. Well Goodyear, actually, at the (bad) Quality Inn. We did a shopping trip and headed to Puerto Peñasco in the late morning on Tuesday. I don't know what this plant is, but it was all over Phoenix. Nicely pruned bushes covered in purple flowers. If it grows there, it'll grow in Mexico, so I'm on a mission to find out what it is. Any ideas?

The cotton fields around Buckeye, AZ.

I'd never seen a cotton plant close up.

My favourite signpost. It's always nice when the country that you're aiming for makes an appearance on the road signs.

One of the U.S. border control stops. Of course they aren't checking us when we're headed South.

Arriving in Puerto Peñasco. This is Blvd. Benito Juarez, the main street in town.

Same street, but closer to home.

Follow the sign to Las Conchas (The fancy neighbourhood past ours) and turn left on to Blvd. Fremont.

Only a couple of blocks to home.

Of course our little gang of street dogs was waiting

outside the house for us.

The one that is not-so-affectionately known as "Stupid Brown Dog" joined the pack late last year and he's still hanging around. I know, you're thinking that sounds mean, but if you knew him, you'd understand.

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼

Project #1 when I arrived was to buy a new washing machine. The old one is kaput! There's now an extra challenge to doing the laundry. The controls (and instructions) are in Spanish. No problema - we've got it sussed.

Another project was hanging curtains in the upstairs bedroom.

Then a little down-time in the evening.
(No dogs on the furniture isn't a hard & fast rule in Mexico)

Uh oh

2011-11-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

Arrived safely in Mexico, but experiencing technical difficulties. Hope to be back up and running soon.

Windy windy day!

2011-11-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

Holy crap! That was some wicked wind storm! There's some minor damage around the neighbourhood, but nothing too serious. The sign at the Petro Canada station blew out...

...as did the sign at the 7-11

This guy is trying to sell his house - I'm guessing he's not a happy man.

Our new gate was bowing a lot, but it's still standing. (Phew!)

It's still breezy out there, but nothing like it was this afternoon. That was wild!

The only thing left is this stupid ear worm...

♫♪♫♪ Who's peekin' out from under a stairway, calling a name that's lighter than air?♪♫♪♫

Sorry, now you have it too, don't you? Altogether now -

♫♪♫...everyone knows it's Windy..♫♪♫

Getting in the groove

2011-11-26T20:17:00.001-07:00

Went out for a delicious Mexican meal with Lesley & Dave to acclimatize my taste buds.

Only 2 more sleeps!

I feel like I'm straddling two worlds with a foot in each.

Counting down

2011-11-25T20:06:00.004-07:00

It was my last day at work today, so now the countdown feels real. I won't be seeing this view for months. This is directly in front of me when I look up from my desk.

Gotta tilt my head a few degrees to catch this view.

Beats the heck out of a downtown office any day!

Had a nice leisurely lunch with the whole department, then called it an early day and got home just in time for internet Happy Hour with Lesley.

Sharing a Skype moment.

Yes, the pictures are crap, that's not the point. The point is, I can sit on my couch, whether I'm in Calgary or Mexico and enjoy a laugh with my sister! Or with my friends from work now that Connie's on the program! Or with Dan & Taz when they're thousands of miles away. I love Skype!

This week's critter count: 5 cockroaches & 2 mice in the house, 4 ticks on the dog and a nasty surprise in the front yard. Is it too late to change my mind? Maybe I could learn to like winter...

I bought this funky little table & chairs at a neighbour's garage sale last year. It was covered with some ugly, broken tiles which I spent hours removing.

My plan was to recover the top this year with some fresh, bright tiles. Seems the blistering summer sun caused the small crack on the top to become a huge crack, and Dan informs me that that crack is now home to several thousand unidentified insect eggs! Ew, Ew, EWWW!

That thing had better be in the dumpster by now!

Ew!

2011-11-21T17:13:00.001-07:00

Dan & Taz have only been in Mexico for 3 days and Dan has already had to pick 2 ticks out of Taz's face. GROSS!
Her Revolution treatment (for fleas & ticks) starts immediately and there's a shave in her very near future too!

Dan in Mexico

2011-11-19T19:36:00.001-07:00

Okay, this just isn't fair. Some members of this family are bundled up in heavy sweaters and T- necks...

While others are lounging on a beach in Mexico!

That's just wrong! :(

And Dan got to meet the newest member of the Diaz family before me too.

This is proud papa Osvaldo with little Alonso.

Of course, Pedro (our neighbour across the street) was happy to see DANEEEE again. In spite of his & Nancy's recent loss (she was carrying twins and suffered a miscarriage last week) he's already been over offering gifts to his best buddy, Dan. I'm not really sure what to think about this one, but he said he had 2 of them and wanted to share the bounty...

Yes, it's a tortuga (tortoise) shell. Umm, gracias?

Day 3 Kingman, Arizona to Puerto Peñasco, Mexico

2011-11-18T15:18:00.003-07:00

I can't get the stupid Google map to work, but suffice to say that Dan & Taz have arrived safely in Mexico and are on their way to the beach with Carl, Melody & Shadow.

Day 2 Dillon, Montana to Kingman, Arizona

2011-11-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Holy crap! Dan is already south of Kingman, Arizona! See map. He says he's packed his parka away!

Day 1 Calgary to Dillon, Montana

2011-11-16T21:02:00.001-07:00

Dan & Taz are in Dillon, Montana - approximately 932 kms. See map.
Dan reports that Taz is happier riding shotgun.

Packed and ready to go

2011-11-15T21:43:00.004-07:00

Okay, so the van won the coin toss as the vehicle that goes to Mexico. Taz gets to ride shotgun, on the assumption that sitting and panting for 8+ hours has to be easier than standing and panting. She's not sure why she isn't being yelled at for being in the front seat.

So, this is really okay, boss?

Alrighty then, let's go!

Estimated departure time is crack of dawn tomorrow morning, or whenever...

Estimated arrival time is whenever plus however long it takes.

Welcome back

2011-11-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the 2011/2012 edition of Mexican Madness.

We're off to a bit of a disorganized start this year. Dan is finished work with the City of Calgary Parks Department for the season, but I'll still be at Alta until the 25th of November. The plan is for Dan & Taz to drive down, and I'll fly down to join them on the 28th.

Dan had wanted to be on his way by now, but due to a series of last minute "stuff" happening, he's been delayed. The weather gods are planning on sending a blast of winter this way by the end of the week though, and he'd really like to be out of Utah and off the high plains before the storm gets there, so he's aiming for a Wednesday morning departure.

There has been some discussion as to which vehicle to take, and even now, it's not completely decided. We don't have as much stuff to take with us this year, so maybe it would be better to take the more fuel-efficient Golf. But on the other hand, if he wants to pull off at a rest stop and crash for a couple of hours, then the van is the better option. I'm betting that the van will win in the end, and that's okay with me. If I have to live through a couple of weeks of winter by myself, I'd rather do it with the vehicle that has the heated seats! ☺

The long drive home

2011-03-30T21:01:00.001-06:00

Day 1. Puerto Peñasco to Kingman, Arizona

The drive was uneventful (yay!), but we woke up the next morning to the sounds of breaking glass and death threats coming from a room above us. Nice. The police arrived and hauled the guy away in handcuffs, but even so, we couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Day 2 Kingman, Arizona to Ogden, Utah

This is the big hill up to Mesquite

Somewhere near Ogden

Day 3 Ogden, Utah to Great Falls, Montana

As we were leaving Ogden, the sky looked nasty. We figured we were in for some lousy driving conditions.

There was snow and fog, but only for about 10 minutes, then it cleared up again.

The snow made for a really pretty drive, but fortunately, the roads were bare and dry.

This is somewhere in Utah, can't remember where.

Debbie, we found your fixer-upper just outside of Humphrey.

Now, what are the odds that someone else would be taking a photo of it at the same time that I was?

And because we were thinking of Debbie, we took a side-trip to Peru to visit

Dan thought these hills in Montana looked like the frosting on a cinnamon bun

Lethbridge (Canada!!) finally makes an appearance on the sign posts.

We're back in Canada, eh?

There was snow on our lawn when we got home, but not everybody was unhappy about that.

Sluuuurrp!

So, that's it for this winter. We'll see you next November.

Puppies

2011-03-25T19:34:00.003-06:00

Meet Niña.

This sweet little street dog just had a litter of pups a few weeks ago. She lives in the unfinished building across the street from us, but dines at our house a couple of times a day. Our neighbour, Pedro, knows the security guard that looks after the building and he arranged for us to be able to see the puppies.

Of course they're adorable!

Nancy & Pedro have found a home for one of them already, but there are still 7 left. Any takers??

We had a good-bye lunch at ~~Friendly Dolphin~~ El Capitan with Cari-Ann, Carl & Melody.

We've noticed that any time you point a camera at a Latino, they strike a pose. Hand on hip, chest out, big smile - I think we're getting the hang of it

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So, the van is packed and there's just one sleep left before we start the long drive home...

Adios, México - ha sido divertido.

Winding down

2011-03-20T20:46:00.000-06:00

Oh no! We're less than a week away from leaving Mexico already. The time has flown by this year! We're starting to gather things together to take home with us and making lists of things to bring down next year.

This is just some odds & ends from the last coupla weeks.

The candy vendor was doing a brisk business during the final parade of Mardi Gras. His day got even better when he stopped in front of us.

All 3 of us wanted something different. Smarties for Cari-Ann, spicy nuts for Dan and gummy bears for me.

Laguna Shores is a housing development just out of town. We'd heard a lot about it, but had never been there so, Dan & I headed out there one day to check it out. It's a pretty cool place. Lots of nice looking homes right on the Sea of Cortez, but the project, like so many others, seems to have stalled. It's practically a ghost town. Dan & I were the only people there other than a couple of workers.

The grounds are gorgeous!

A swim up palapa bar and an infinity pool

There's a nice little restaurant there so we decided to have a bite of lunch

Dan's first burger in months!

A beautiful beach and not a soul on it...

This is how we spend most evenings. New rules this year - double points for Spanish words!

Cari-Ann and I did a nice long beach walk one day. All the way from Tessoro to our place - about 6 miles. C-A stopped for a dip along the way. Still a tad chilly for me though.

I bought a couple of decorative gekkos to climb around the palm tree in the back yard. I was a little bit worried about damaging the tree by sticking nails in it, but...

...then we came across this at a little deli down the street. We figured that if they can carve a hole and put in an electrical outlet, then our tree would survive a couple of nails.

We went to a restaurant on Sandy Beach to watch the sunset one night. It's Spring Break now, so the beach was busy enough to bring the vendors out in full force.

The ice cream guy has a tough job pushing that cart along the sand

You can buy all kinds of trinkets

and jewellery

and the occasional rude, drinking monkey - although I'm not sure why you'd want one.

They must be popular with the college kids because we saw quite a few of them.

A balloon vendor supplied the kids at the restaurant with swords and they were having a blast playing on the beach with them.

Cari-Ann stole one of the swords...

...and had some fun with the kids.

There were lots of people on the beach enjoying the sunset that night.

We live about a hundred yards from a convenience store/donut shop.

This sometimes passes for breakfast. A skewer of Timbits!

Thrifty's Ice Cream Shop in the old port is a popular spot.

Entertainment at one of our favourite lunch stops (Mary's)

with tuba, of course!

This burrito stand is just down the road from us so we pass it at least a dozen times a week.

We've heard lots of good things about it from the locals, but were hesitant to try it because, well, because it's just a bit too "street". A few weeks ago when we went on the kayak trip, the burrito lunch provided came from here and it was delicious. It has since become our new favourite burrito place (better than Reggie's!)

The tortilla maker was very cooperative about being photographed in action.

Look at the size of these!!

Cari-Ann's creation adds a dash of colour to the front yard

Finally, the 3rd annual bike race from El Golfo to Puerto Peñasco was held today. The finish line was at the end of our street, so we wandered down to watch the cyclists coming in.

This guy and his bike-with-a-flat-tire crossed the finish line in style in the back of a police truck!

Only a few days left :(

Carnaval

2011-03-06T20:53:00.002-07:00

It's that time again!

It kicked off on Friday night with the crowning of the Carnaval Queen and the Ugly King

We strolled around the grounds for a couple of hours. Last year the midway was really hokey, just a few kiddie rides, but this year it's much better.

Lots of junk food, of course

Still plenty of kiddie rides. This little dimpled sweetheart was having a blast!

These folks had just won a "work of art" playing the pop-the-balloons-with-darts game and they were SO excited. They chose a print of "The Last Supper". I would've been hard pressed to choose between Mona Lisa and Bob Marley.

The churro stand is like a magnet for Dan

These guys were running one of the food stands and they REALLY wanted to have thier picture taken.

Cari-Ann & I wore flip-flops. Obviously, we're not Latinas! We were quite fascinated by what was considered appropriate footwear for tromping around a midway.

Carnaval means parades. Lots of parades. Or at least the same parade lots of times.

The vendors were out in full force and doing a brisk business.

The Carnaval Queen and the Ugly King led the parade

There are marching bands...

...with tubas! Mexicans love tubas!

This pirate boat came with a motlely crew of litle pirates - all with balloon swords. They were adorable!

Little brother watching from the sidelines. Maybe next year, bro.

Dunno what it is about the stilt people, but they give me the creeps.

Feathered head-dresses featured prominently

The Zumba group was giving it everything they had. Of course, we were at the beginning of the parade route, they may not have been as enthusiastic at the end.

No shortage of pretty girls in this town.

I remember this lady from last year. She really knows how to work a crowd!

More cute kids in great costumes.

Okay, I'll be in your stupid parade, but I'm taking my cell phone with me because I don't want to miss any important calls.

After the parade we headed down to the Old Port to have a sunset beverage. Tania is our favourite waiter/bartender. You always get a warm welcome hug from her.

The Iguana Banana has a roof-top terrace with a shell floor. It's like being at the beach.

A stroll along the Malecon to the main plaza to catch the last of the sunset.

Ahhhh!!

Kayaking, finally

2011-03-03T16:20:00.002-07:00

We've been trying to do a kayaking tour of the estuary for a couple of weeks now, but the weather and the tides weren't cooperating. We finally got a really nice day when the tide lined up with the right time of day, so off we went.

Maria is the student intern at CEDO and she was our driver and our guide for the day.

Toting the kayaks down to the water,

The place that we put in is an oyster farm run by an all mujeres (women) cooperative. These are the crates of oysters in various stages of readiness for harvest. They also run a restaurant on the site that specializes in, well, oysters of course.

Cari-Ann is ready to paddle.

Taking a close up look at the oysters.

Dan & I had a tandem kayak. Pretty cool!

The guy with the red bill is an American Oyster Catcher, the other one is a Marbled Godwit.

We stopped for a delicious burrito lunch...

...but while we were eating, Dan had to rush to rescue our sandals which were floating downstream quite rapidly.

Had to rescue the cooler too.

After lunch we explored some little channels. This one ended up being a dead-end and we had to turn our kayaks around to get out again. Luckily there are no photos of us up to our knees in mud trying to get our tandem kayak facing the right direction.

Another shot of the oyster lease.

And finally, loading up the kayaks at the end of a fun trip!

Pinacate

2011-02-28T17:05:00.003-07:00

Took a day trip to Pinacate yesterday. This volcanic region is only about an hour or so from here but we've never been there. Cari-Ann went there the last time she was here and convinced us that it was worth seeing.

We got a kick out of the different animal crossing signs in the area.

Coyote crossing:

Sonoran pronghorn crossing:

(Yeah, we thought it was an antelope too)

And the favourite:

Gila monster crossing!

No, we didn't see any, but this is what they look like.

This is the palo verde (green stick) tree. So named because even though it usually loses its leaves in the hot summer months, it still looks green because the trunk and stems are green. Apparently it has beautiful yellow flowers, but I've never seen one in bloom.

It's quite a scenic area - very desert-y.

Took a little walk along the interpretive trails to learn about the lava flows.

We were walking on the lava.

This little critter was interesting. Bright red, no bigger than my pinkie finger nail and in a big hurry to get to wherever he was going.

There is about a 75km loop drive with information signs along the way...

...but stay on the trails! If you don't, this nasty specimen, the cholla cactus,

will attack you!

This crater, El Elegante, is the main attraction. 1.6 km in diameter and 244 meters deep.

This is Cari-Ann perched on the edge. (Relax, Bill, it's not as precarious as it looks)

Carl contemplating Carl stuff.

Nice of this ocotillo plant to position itself directly in the middle.

This is the Old Man cactus. So called because they develop white beards.

Took a side-trip to Australia to see Ayer's Rock.

Nah, this is the back-side of the other main crater, Cerro Colorado.

Definitely the "B" crater. The runner-up. The "Also ran...". The "Also in attendance..."

I mean, still an impressive crater, but only ½ the diameter and depth of El Elegante.

Reading the stats.

Cari-Ann on the edge of the world. (You're not falling for that again are you, Bill?)

A cactus forest.

Okay, so I'm working backwards now. A few days ago we walked down to Mirador beach and the street dogs came with us. Well, 2 of 'em anyway. BeeGee seems to be afraid of the ball chucker that Dan carries so she stayed behind.

Hombre & Barky Boots enjoyed their day at the seaside.

Carl attempted to bury Taz in the sand. She didn't even notice because she was focused on the ball that Dan was hiding under his foot.

Different day, different beach. This is in the Cholla Bay area. We had been told that the flats at low tide were a good place to find sand dollars. (We didn't find any)

Cari-Ann, our new friend Mary-Etta and Dan enjoying a beverage on the patio at JJ's Cantina -a bar on the beach at Cholla Bay.

This truck pulled up, and 10 guys jumped out and headed down the beach - oblivious to the incoming tide. We sat and watched for about an hour, speculating on whether or not it would be completely submerged by the time they returned. Free entertainment!

They did manage to get back in the nick of time, much to our disappointment.

Took a drive around the community of Cholla Bay. This area was mostly summer cottages back in the '60's. Kinda like what Chestermere Lake used to be like. Most of the original homes have been torn down and huge mansions built in their place...

..but the occasional old relic still remains.

A few nights ago, Mary-Etta invited us over for dinner.

We sat on the balcony and watched an amazing sunset.

It was one of those sunsets that just kept getting better!

It's Cari-Ann's fault

2011-02-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

Why isn't she blogging? Kidnapped by drug lords? Blogger burn-out? Not much happening? Nah, let's blame it on Cari-Ann. She's visiting us from Canmore. I wouldn't say we've been busy exactly, but y'know, there are beaches to be walked on and beverages to be consumed, shops to be perused - all very time- consuming activities.

Here she is in the kitchen. She loves to cook, we love to eat. Win/win!

Very exciting day on Saturday. It was the annual garage sales in the Las Conchas neighbourhood. I didn't go to last years, so I was all atwitter at the prospect of multiple garage sales in the ritzy 'hood. (Did I mention that there are very few entertainment opportunities in this town?) Well, talk about a crushing disappointment!! A pathetic few houses had anything on display, and what they had was complete & utter crap! Really, if I want a frayed and dirty sweatshirt, I can find one in my laundy hamper, thank you very much! There was a smattering of tables at the park in the middle of the neighbourhood with even crappier crap!

The fact that it was a windy and chilly day didn't help.

Dan did manage to find a few books, and Taz got 2 stuffed toys. (To replace the ratty old bear that is now living on Baja somewhere)

Yesterday's plan was to take a kayaking tour of the estuary with CEDO (A centre for the studies of desert and oceans), but it had to be postponed because it was too windy to be pleasant.

This is a whale skeleton on the CEDO grounds.

In other news. Carl & Melody had a new patio laid.

So we had to check it out. It looks great!

Our tres perros de calle (3 street dogs) follow us on our morning walks almost every day now.

A man and his donkey out for a walk on "Shacks 5th Avenue". Also known as "Rodéo Drive", this street is the place to go shopping for souvenirs and trinkets.

As you can see, it's a slow news week.

I just wanted to post something to let you know we're still alive & well.

Almost home

2011-02-12T04:50:00.003-07:00

We backtracked to La Paz to take the ferry over to Topolabampo.

This was a nice lounge, but very LOUD!!

There was a meal included with the ticket. Very elegantly presented (ha ha!) by this somewhat fuzzy gentleman. A piece of salty, overcooked-yet-still-somehow-soggy, piece of fish for me, and some mystery meat for Dan. Both came with rice and a giant ladle full of gloopy beans. Mmm mmm.

It was a 6 hour crossing and we had planned on leaving Taz in the van with the windows open. We figured at least she'd be in familiar surroundings and reasonably comfortable. We'd been assured that this would be okay. When we got on board though, we were advised that the car deck gets very hot and there would be a lot of diesel fumes, so we decided to put her in one of the kennels provided on an outside deck instead. We couldn't sit with her, because she was on the truck deck, but if we requested an escort we were able to visit and take her water. Poor Taz was a pretty good sport about the whole thing, but she wasn't very happy about being in a kennel. Oh well, at least she was still alive at the end of the trip! We gave her a tranq and when we went to visit her it appeared that she'd been sleeping, but she had to sit there while all of the trucks rumbled past her getting off the ferry, so she was very much awake and petrified when I went to collect her at the end of the crossing. Getting her off the boat and meeting up with Dan later was terrifying for both of us.

I was hoping for one of those spectacular Baja sunsets from the back of the boat, but it was just a regular, ho-hum variety.

The ferry arrived in Topolabampo at 9 o'clock at night. There's only one crossing a day, so we had no choice in the timing. We had tried all day to contact the campground in Los Mochis (about 20 minutes away from Topo), to let them know that we'd be arriving late, as most campgrounds close their gates in the evening. The phone number that was in our guidebook didn't belong to the campground though, it was just a private residence. After driving around La Paz looking for a Tel-Cel "customer service" office, fighting with pay phones, and struggling with non-comprehension of the directory assistance operators, we gave up and just hoped that we'd be able to get into the campground when we arrived late at night. Thanks to GPS coordinates we were able to find the campground, but it was completely empty and abandoned. They are no longer in business. Well, that explains why we couldn't contact them, but now what? They were the only game in town. By now it's after 10:30 pm and we don't have a place to stay. We were heading towards a 24-hour Pemex gas station to ask if we could sleep in their parking lot when we spied what looked like a storage facility. The sign said it was a motel, but it sure didn't look like any motel I've ever seen. We figured we were running out of options at that point, so we might as well stop to ask if we could borrow their parking lot. The nice lady made a phone call and offered us (and Taz) a room instead. She quoted us a rate of 230 pesos for 6 hours! Um, can we stay all night? Yes, for an extra 70 pesos we could stay until morning. So, what kind of motel has hourly rates? And garages in which you can discreetly park your vehicle? Yes, we'd found the Los Mochis "Looove Motel".

The secured garage idea is pretty cool, actually, but these photos were taken in daylight - it looked a lot different in the pitch black. (The door to our room is inside the garage)

Our little love nest.

And yes, if you must know, the walls are thin and our neighbours didn't stay the full 6 hours.

On the road again this morning. Dan spied a Dairy Queen!

We are SO over camping in Mexico! We had already abandoned the plan to head to Puerto Vallarta a couple of days ago, and now we're just pushing for home. We blew right past a couple of places that we'd intended to stay at - maybe we'll check them out next year. Right now, we just don't care. We're sick of crappy roads, and zillions of topes in the middle of the highways (giant speed bumps) and sleeping in parking lots and grubby bathrooms. Especially topes! Every curve in the road is preceded by 20-25 topes followed by some rumble strips. (There are nothing but twisty, windy roads on the Baja). Every tiny town along the way has 20-25 little topes on the way into town, followed by a gigantic cement tope, then of course the reverse on the outgoing part of town. Quite often it takes longer to negotiate the incoming and outgoing topes than it does to drive through the town.

We're in Hermosillo now. Huge city, but I like it. It's clean and it's modern, but it also has some lovely historical buildings. This is the cathedral.

Hermosillo has a nice central square (zocalo)

With lots of activity around it.

This building is the Palacio. It houses the seat of government in the state of Sonora.

This is the interior.

We are now comfortably ensconced in a very nice, pet friendly hotel. Well, comfortable except for the concrete beds that is, which is why I'm blogging at 4am.

Home tomorrow! Yaaay!

The end of the line

2011-02-11T21:00:00.002-07:00

No, we didn't take a side-trip to Disneyland. This is a private home in La Paz. This guy took "A man's home is his castle" quite literally.

Todos Santos is an artsy little town. We stopped for a while to wander around some of the shops.

Like this one.

The requisite church...

...and the interior.

I'm guessing that these 3 are siblings. I don't know where they were headed, but they were sure in a hurry to get there. I just thought they were sweet.

This is it! Or is it? Don Henley claims that none of The Eagles have any connection with this hotel. Seems some real estate agent thought that the town needed a boost so he started the rumour that this was THE Hotel California. The rumour grew into a legend and people come from all over to stay here (and of course take photographs of it). We watched some guy leaving the hotel and packing his stuff into his car. That's right - he checked out and left! According to the lyrics, that's not allowed! The gift shop that is attached to the hotel is doing its best to perpetuate the myth. I was in it for 5 minutes and I heard no less than 3 versions of the song. Can you imagine working there? I'd go insane! The Gypsy Kings actually do a decent version of it, but I still don't like it.

Arriving in Cabo San Lucas. Way bigger than we were expecting!

Fun place though. It's alive! There were 3 different cruise ships anchored off shore while we were there and the beaches and restaurants were hoppin'!

Bigger than a whale! (and you know how much trouble I had fitting them into a frame.)

Lots of pleasure boats in harbour too.

Including this little tug boat with the matching helicopter!

We did a glass-bottom boat tour on a boat just like this one.

With Raul, our skipper/guide.

Beautiful scenery!

The famous Arches

And of course, the obligatory "we were there" shot.

We saw lots of kayakers...

...and divers...

...and snorkelers.

Also one pretty yellow fish and a hundred million or so of those tiny little silverfish. So if we'd been going only to see the fish, we'd have been disappointed, but we thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride (and Raul) anyway.

This is the end of the line. The very last piece of rock at the end of the Baja peninsula.

I'm not sure I understand this. A giant plastic bubble on a VERY HOT day. How do you breathe in there?

Busy beach!

Lots of watering holes along the way.

Just add people.

Managed to find a quieter beach, but the surf was wicked. Taz wasn't allowed to swim because there was a serious undertow.

She didn't care. She was happy just to get her feet wet.

Found an even quieter beach the next day. I think it's called Santa Maria.

We had the place to ourselves - just like we're used to.

Next stop was San Jose del Cabo. This little restaurant had tables out on the sidewalk, so we stopped for a bite to eat. Cute place. Unfortunately, the sewage treatment plant is right across the street, so there was an unpleasant ~~aroma~~ stink (!) when the wind was from that direction. I'm guessing they don't get a lot of repeat business.

We really liked San Jose del Cabo! Jim & Sharon have a condo there. We went to check out their complex (Nice!) I can't believe I didn't take any pictures though. What's wrong with me? Here are some pictures of the cute shopping district instead.

We crossed the Tropic of Cancer. We'd read that there was a globe there to mark the spot, so we were expecting maybe a golden globe on a stand with a plaque explaining what it was. Nope, there's a white, grafitti-covered cement ball with a toothpick fence around it. No explanation, no nothing!

La Paz

2011-02-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

Arrived in La Paz yesterday. We knew it was a big city, but for some reason, it's not quite what we expected. The population is somewhere around 300,000 and it appears to be quite a prosperous city. I'm basing this solely on the number of high-end clothing boutiques that I've seen. That and the fact that almost every restaurant patio appears to be busy. So it's big and it's remarkably clean and it's very modern looking.

We found the older part of town and it had some nice looking buildings...

...and a nice zocalo in the centre.

This was a private home. Nice eh?

You're probably getting a skewed vision of La Paz by these photos, but I didn't take any pictures of the Walmart and the Home Depot.

There's a beautiful walkway that stretches for miles along the waterfront

and a marina full of yachts.

Today is election day here in Baja Sur. They take their politics very seriously here! There must've been billions and billions of pesos spent on posters. They're everywhere - by the hundreds!!

It was a chill-axin kind of day today. The weather was great! Hot even - and no wind!!

Our big adventure was to go in search of a water store and a propane station. Woohoo!

This is Dan with his 2 lap-tops.

It cracks me up when Taz sits like this.

On the road again in the morning.

We cross over the Tropic of Cancer tomorrow, so we'll be in the tropics!

Loreto Bay and whale watching

2011-02-05T21:26:00.001-07:00

Tracked down the street water vendor when we left the campground in Loreto and topped up our tank. I'm pretty sure this guy has never had to deliver water this way before.

We wanted to do a tour of the Loreto Bay complex that we saw on our last trip to the Baja to see how it's progressing. Nice palm-lined boulevards. The last time we were here this street was completely under water.

I love the concept of Loreto Bay. Living fully while treading lightly. A sustainable community. It has great houses and it was supposed to have shops and restaurants too, but five years later and there's still no sign of them yet. Like so many projects in Mexico, it stalled due to lack of funding. Looks like they may be back on track though. This street looks good, but most of the roads in the complex have been torn up and are under construction. I'm taking that as a good sign. There may be hope yet.

Cute place eh?

This yellow one was having an open house, so naturally I had to poke my nose in.

I won't bore you with all the interior shots, but I had to post this roof-top terrace photo for Lesley. How cool is this?!

And this is the view from it!

This is looking back at Loreto Bay from the highway heading out of town.

View from the highway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We arrived in Lopez Mateos about 2:30 yesterday afternoon. We decided to head to the embarcadero to ask some questions about whale watching tours, thinking that we'd have to book ahead, find somewhere to camp and come back to take the tour the next day. Nope. There were a half a dozen booths all selling nothing but boat rides. No line ups, no waiting. Grab a blanket to keep you warm on the boat and c'mon down. We signed up for the 2-hour tour. (Why does the theme song from Gilligan's Island run through my head when I say that?) Well except that theirs was a 3-hour tour.

There were just the two of us in our panga.

No, we don't know any of these people, it's just to show you what a panga looks like.

Dan clutching our new Mexican blanket. I'm glad we took it with us. It wasn't too bad heading out, but coming back we were powering into the wind and it was cold!

Our skipper was Ullyses.

Well, who knew that grey whales would be so difficult to photograph?? They're freakin' huge!

This is a momma and baby.

A face only a mother could love.

This is just to give you an idea of how close we got to them. Pretty close!

Took a little side trip on the way back to the marina - to Saudi Arabia!

Aren't these great dunes?

After the whale watching we headed to Ciudad Constitución for the night. Nice surprise when we got there - another Eurovan exactly like ours was in the campground. We hadn't even finished parking when Gregory came over to introduce himself. There's such an instant cameraderie amongst VW campers, I guess because the big RVers just don't get us. (To be fair, we don't get them either!) We spent a very pleasant evening getting to know Gregory & Trudy from Oregon.

This campground was nicer than most. They even had plants between the sites instead of white painted rocks, or yellow painted lines.

They had a great pool too. Unfortunately, it was too cold to use it.

Hey Jim, this one is for you.

Hunkerin' down in Loreto

2011-02-03T09:46:00.004-07:00

After driving through miles and miles of desert, we came upon San Ignacio. Wow! An actual oasis! Date palms as far as the eye could see. We were aiming for a place called the Rice & Beans Oasis. At the time it seemed unfortunate that we got there just after a caravan had rolled in. (A group of about 12 or so RV's all travelling together) In retrospect, it's probably a good thing that we weren't already happily parked there, I think I would've been ticked to have our quiet space invaded by a couple of dozen loud people.

Dan waiting around the office while everybody was busy trying to get all of the giant rigs parked. It took a team of 3 people to squeeze each of those mammoth beasts into the small spaces. Quite a production.

We opted to try another place just down the road, but Dan rejected it because what if he needed to make a phone call?

I rejected it too, but for a different reason.

We were hoping to take a whale watching tour while we were in San Ignacio, so we started to head up to the lagoon to dry camp there, but our trusty guidebook assures us that there will be an even better opportunity for whale watching further south, so we hit the highway and continued on.

And a cool piece of highway it was. The sign said something like "Descent to Hell"

We went through a place called Santa Rosalia. Unlike any other Mexican town on the Baja. Most of the buildings are made of wood. Yes, wood, not cinderblocks. Kind of had a New Orleans French Quarter meets the wild west vibe to it. Busy, busy place, but cute.

We bought some world famous bread at this bakery.

It was pretty good, but I'm not sure it deserves to be world famous.

In Mulege the signs to our destination headed down this road. Uh oh, where've we seen this before?

It was worth it! Ray & Favi's place was wonderful!! They have a beautiful piece of land surrounded by orange trees. It was green and clean and tidy - we almost forgot we're in Mexico. We were camped on actual grass. Y'know, that green stuff? Haven't seen any of that in a long time! We were the only guests so it was peaceful and wonderfully quiet.

We were told to help ourselves to oranges for breakfast, so we did.

Stopped along the way to tour "The Orchards". A development of bungalows in Mulege that was buried under water and mud the last time we were here.

A couple of them are for sale if you're interested - 69,000.00 USD

They're all a little bit different, but all are equally cute. Most have 2 (loft) bedrooms and 2 baths.

There have been 3 hurricanes blow through here in the last 5 years. This guy may have the best idea. When the weather gets bad he tows his house to safer ground, then he just has to muck out the outdoor eating area in the porch when he gets back.

The last time we were down this way, we saw people camped along this beach on Bahia Concepción and thought it looked idyllic. We hadn't planned on staying in the area another night, but when we drove by, we couldn't resist. We wanted to camp there too!

We pulled up to a palapa hut and started to make ourselves at home. It was too breezy to put the tent up, but we laid it out hoping the wind would die down soon. Then we sat back to soak up the view.

It is SO beautiful there, but there was trouble in paradise...

It was blowing a gale!!!

We threw the tent back into the van (plus about 40lbs of sand) and moved a bit further down the beach, hoping that the cliff would offer some protection from the wind. We pulled out our chairs and tried to pretend it was a wonderful day. That lasted about 5 minutes and we were forced to retreat back into the van. We moved even further down the beach to a spot surrounded by mangroves - surely this would be sheltered enough. Pulled out the chairs, opened a beverage and sat back to enjoy our new spot... Nope, we were still getting sandblasted. After an hour of sitting in the van we figured if we have to sit in the van anyway, we might as well move on to a place that has wi-fi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Parts of the drive to Loreto were gorgeous.

Kinda weird seeing cactus and sea in the same place.

Then we ran into a HUGE sandstorm!

It blotted out most of the scenery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So now we're in Loreto in yet another RV park. Man, I'm getting sick of parking lots - not our normal style of camping at all, but not much else to choose from here. At least this one has wi-fi and laundry facilities. We're gonna stay a couple of nights and hopefully the wind will die down and we can get to Lopez Mateo to do some whale watching.

Loreto is the place that we came down specifically to see in 2006 after attending an interesting sales talk put on by some developers. That was the year that we ran into hurricane John. The development that we were thinking of buying into was mostly under water and the town of Loreto itself looked sad and beaten.

Today, the town appears to be thriving! There's a beautiful new walkway all along the sea front where even the garbage is cute.

There are lots of wonderful old historic buildings in the old town. This is the most important. The original "Mission of Our Lady Loreto" which dates back to about 1697.

The interior.

This is a hotel.

And the city hall

There's a beautiful walkway with trees arched over it.

And lots of funky shops and restaurants along the way that all seem to be doing well.

We haven't been out to check out the Loreto Bay development yet. I'm looking forward to seeing how it's progressed.

Day trip

2011-02-01T07:25:00.001-07:00

Tried to do a day trip to Mision de San Francisco de Borja today. Tried being the operative word here.

We backtracked about 80km to Rosarito to the turn-off.

Our trusty guidebook told us to expect a rough road but everybody that we spoke to said that we'd have no problem doing it in our vehicle.

The road starts in a cow pasture.

We stopped to say hello to Flossie and her little one.

There were lots of ruts and loose rocks.

Only 35km to go...

Bumpity, bumpity...

...bumpity, bumpity...

...bump, bump bump!!!

Only 25 km to go!

Now, I'm no math whiz, but I know that if the train leaves the station at 1pm and travels at a rate of 8km/hr, and point B is 30km away, it's gonna be dark before it arrives back at point A.

We stopped a guy going in the opposite direction to ask if the road was like this the whole way to the mission. He assured us that it was, if anything, worse ahead. He figured it'd take another hour to get there. I should mention that he was driving a Jeep and cruising along like he was on 2 lane blacktop!! Hmmm.

I'm not saying that it can't be done in a VW with a low hanging propane tank (and a neurotic dog that flinches at every wheel turn), it would just take longer than we had. We turned around.

You can read about somebody else's successful trip to the mision here and here.

Baja trip

2011-01-31T10:55:00.001-07:00

We knew we weren't going far on day 1 so we got off to a rather leisurely, late start. We took the new highway from Puerto Peñasco to Golfo de Santa Clara. It's a beautiful, wide, paved road.

I think these huts were intended to be a motel type place, but they've long since fallen into disrepair. Cool idea though. I hope someone resurrects them.

Somebody went to a lot of expense and trouble to put up a fence on both sides almost the entire length of the highway.

...but some of the posts are buried in drifted sand...

...and the rest of them have been blown over.

Cool sand dune. If you look closely, you can see the faint outline of the mountains on the Baja - just on the other side of the Sea of Cortez.

This is downtown Mexicali. We were quite pleasantly surprised by it. We were expecting a seedy border town, but it's quite clean and modern. (By Mexican standards)

Took a little side-trip to the 1980's.

Okay, everybody sing along. What? That's not quite right???

Somewhere past Mexicali, we ran into a construction detour.

This is still 2-way traffic along this stretch. Nice!

As if that didn't slow traffic down enough, some bus going the other way was having engine trouble and was soliciting all passers-by for agua. Things really got backed up when we pulled over to help out. Actually, almost everybody stopped to help. You could easily spot the experienced Mexi-drivers here. They just handed a jug of water out the window without even stopping. We, of course, had to stop and pump it from our back tap.

Okay, detour's over and it's back to smooth sailing.

Most of the landscape was flat, flat, flat!

There was one section though that looked like the Badlands around Drumheller.

Approaching El Golfo we passed some desperate living situations.

Some of them were quite literally made of cardboard.

You think being handicapped is a problem in North America? How the heck do you manouver a wheelchair around this terrain?

We found an okay place to park in El Golfo. Steps to the beach - Taz was happy about that! There was one skinny American lady that lived there permanently and the manager that lived on site - and us.

Went for a walk along the (deserted) beach and picked up this pretty shell to check to see if the inside was that pretty pearly pink colour. Surprise! There was somebody still living in it!

Happy girl!

Stopped at this little place along the beach. That's Doug (Pulpo) behind the bar and the only other patron in front.

Taz doesn't get invited in to too many bars...

In full camping mode! A cup of tea and a snuggle with Taz in the morning.

This is where she usually sleeps. We turn the two front seats around to face eachother and it makes a perfect bed for her.

Next stop was San Felipe. A cute little seaside town in the North East of the Baja peninsula.

Lots of funky shops and restaurants. And there were actually people in them!

As camping spots go, it doesn't get much better than this!

Friendly neighbours, too!

Dan conducting commerce on the beach

Just at dawn from our window.

We stayed in San Felipe for a couple of days because we really liked it there.

The road South from San Felipe is only paved for about the first 20km, then it's just a dirt road from then on. We opted to backtrack to Ensenada to get on Mex1, the trans-peninsula highway that goes right down to Cabo San Lucas.

Made an over-night stop just outside of San Quintin. Not a great place, but okay. Just us and one other rig from Vancouver here. Just enough stray dogs barking all night to make us feel at home.

The highway goes through quite a few dusty, dirty indistinguishable-from-the-next towns. All laid out in a straight line down one main street.

Took another little side-trip - to the 1960's this time.

Our Spanish is improving, but we still can't read the street signs.

Right around Cataviña, the landscape becomes really interesting.

Lots of cool vegetation along the way.

A Cirios tree (boojum) and a Joshua tree.

And lots of other-worldly boulders!!

This is some kind of yucca. Related to the one that's in our backyard in PP.

Very pretty when the sun hits them.

I swear, it wasn't us that covered this sign is VW stickers!

We're at Guerrero Negro now. We're at the same "campground" that we stayed at a couple of years ago when we came this way. Of course back then we were pretty much winging it and we thought it was pretty funny camping int the parking lot of a hotel/restaurant. Now we're travelling with an up-to-date guidebook that advises that this is the primo RV park in the area. Who knew?

I think we're even in the exact same spot as last time.

This sign is posted outside the office. It's information on the grey whale watching tours that they offer. I love the line: "The sand dunes of Don Miguelito are the grey desert where silence can be listened"

Cute restaurant attached to our parking lot

My broiled fish was delicious...

...as were Dan's tacos.

If you're following us on Spot you may be surprised by today's turn of events...

Vacation

2011-01-25T20:25:00.005-07:00

Getting ready for our vacation-within-a-vacation. The plan is to leave sometime tomorrow and head North, but only as far as San Luis del Rio Colorado. From there we'll be heading over to the Baja peninsula. We want to spend a couple of days in San Felipe and from there it depends on whether or not the highway heading South from there has been completed or not. We may have to head back up to Ensenada to get on the highway that'll take us right down to Cabo San Lucas. From Cabo we have to backtrack up to La Paz to catch a ferry that will take us over to Los Mochis on the mainland, then we'll dipsy-doodle back up to Puerto Peñasco. We figure it'll take us 2½-3 weeks.

We drove part way down the Baja a few years ago, but didn't make right to the bottom because hurricane ~~Paul.~~ John blew in and forced us to turn around at Loreto Bay. Looking forward to seeing all of it this time.
We have a couple of guidebooks on board and it looks like there are lots of places to camp along the way. Hopefully the campsites listed are still in business by the time we get to them.

Dan has this handy-dandy aviation tracking device called Spot that we're hoping to use. Jim & Sharon used one when they were here a few weeks ago and it's pretty slick. It tracks our progress by dropping a "crumb" every 10 minutes and posts a marker on the map so you can follow along with us. If we get really proficient at using it, we can add photos to the map along the way too. Don't hold your breath on that one though... I'll let you know the URL address as soon as we get it up & running.

Not sure what our internet access will be like while we're on the road, but if we have it, you'll be hearing from us. If we don't blog for a couple of weeks, don't think we've forgotten, we'll catch up when we can.

Later:
Okay, here's the link to Spot. Bear with us while we learn how to use it.

This and that

2011-01-24T04:33:00.003-07:00

Our neighbours Richard & Lucy were back in town last week and they replenished our citrus supply.

The water here in Puerto Peñasco is okay to drink, but has a slightly briny taste. We use it for washing dishes and brushing our teeth, but for drinking and food prep we use bottled water. There are dozens of water shops all over town - this one is just a couple of blocks from us.

We have 2 giant water jugs. One is kept on a water cooler on our kitchen counter and the other one is kept on the floor with a pump in it for easy pot filling. Seems they always run out about the same time, which is lucky 'cos we only have to make one trip to the store. Cost to fill? 20 pesos, or about $1.75!

The guys at this store are very friendly and helpful. On this trip we didn't have any change or small bills and they couldn't change a 100 peso bill, so they said to just pay next time. And they still toted the jugs for us!

The guys on the back of this truck are perreros. (Dog catchers)

You can't see in this photo, but they're holding giant butterfly nets.

You may remember this story from last year when the dog catchers came around and rounded up a bunch of strays from our neighbourhood and we were helpless to do anything about it. Well, they came around again a couple of weeks ago, but this time I was able to yell at them (en español) that there are 4 dogs that live here and don't you bother them! They left. It was a proud moment for me! They almost got Hombre, but when I ran out the door yelling at them, they got distracted and he got away and high-tailed it down the street. Pedro was busy fixing the concrete on the curb at the side of our house at the time and he said that they hadn't gotten any of "our" dogs, so I wasn't too worried when I didn't see them all day. Sure enough, Hombre, Barky Boots and BeeGee showed up at dinner time! No sign of Scarface though. Pedro thought he had bitten one of the perreros, so I figured they probably went looking for him. When he was missing for over a week I thought he was a goner. Guess who showed up again yesterday? Dunno where he's been, but he's back and looking none the worst for wear.

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Mail delivery here is a hit & miss affair. Mostly miss on accounta we don't really have street addresses. Carl uses this company to collect his mail at his P.O. box in Lukeville, Arizona and then he picks it up at their office here in town. We've been cheating and piggy-backing on his account. I had ordered a couple of books on camping in Mexico, so we went to "Burrito Man" to pick up Carl's mail.

After picking up the mail we decided to try Lolita's for lunch. We've wanted to try this new place since we arrived, but they're hardly ever open. Sure, the sign on the door says "Abierto", but the chairs are usually on the tables and the lights are off... Surprise, they were open! Nice place and good food - we'll definitely go back. Well, we'll try to anyway.

Dan had a good-looking quesadilla...

...and my shrimp enchiladas were delicious!

This is how I amuse myself at 3am. Playing word games on Facebook.

But hey - look who's in 1st place!

The Mexican roads have been beating the crap out of Vincent and it causes Dan a lot of stress. Vincent isn't just our car, he's also our accommodation when we're on the road, and because he's a VW, he's pricey to repair. So we bought this '91 Isuzu Rodeo from Osvaldo's Dad to drive down here.

Then came the bureaucratic nightmare of trying to get it registered. It was registered in Arizona when Señor Diaz owned it. In order to register it in Mexico we would have to import it, which would cost more than the car is worth. We couldn't register it in Canada, because that would require us to physically take it there. The Arizona Department of Motor Vehicle's website scared us. Sounded like there was no way we could do it. Too many roadblocks, but thanks to Señor Diaz, who just happened to have the business card of a very helpful lady at a registry office in Gila Bend, Arizona, we managed to slide around all of them. Muchas gracias to Maria Romero!

1. The sale must be witnessed by a notary. Nope, not necessarily. Some guy (not a notary) that Maria knows that lives in Puerto Peñasco came over to our house and checked the paperwork, the serial number and verified Sr. Diaz's legal status card and his signature and phoned in his okay to her.
2. You must have a physical address in Arizona. Or Maria could just use the address of the border crossing in Lukeville.
3. You must have an Arizona P.O. Box. Or not.
4. The vehicle must pass emissions testing if registered in Maricopa county. Unless you say that you won't drive it there.
5. You must have Arizona insurance. No, no, Mexican insurance is just fine.

And voila! We now have an Arizona licence plate. Seems kinda wierd. We're Canadian citizens, driving a vehicle in Mexico that's registered in Arizona. Go figure eh?. Just had to drive to Gila Bend (about 2 hours away) to do it. No problem. We've always wanted to try the Space Age Restaurant in Gila Bend anyway, but we're usually racing against darkness on the way through there, so it was kind of a treat to be able to stop. Probably won't bother next time, it was just so-so.

We stopped in Ajo to do a bit of shopping on the way back. Where's Ajo? Well, according to this sign, it's just a few miles beyond the end of the world, but it has a great IGA and one of those old-fashioned kind of hardware stores that has everything you could ever possibly want.

We stumbled upon this very pink trailer park. A coupla dozen OLD trailers all painted flamingo pink. Dan wondered who, besides Barbie, would want to live there?!

Ajo used to be a copper mining town, but the mine was closed when the price of copper dropped below what it cost to extract it. The pit is about a mile and a half across!

This guy (80 years old, so he says) worked at the mine for 34 years and now volunteers at the look-out point answering questions. He was great! Not much about copper mining in general and this mine in particular that he doesn't know!

Not a great picture, because the sign is faded. I just like the name "Ajo in the Wall Grill"

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Back home and a walk on the beach at low tide. The tide pools are an endless source of fascination, but I always get that song stuck in my brain when I see them. Everybody sing along...

♫ I'd like to be, under the sea...♫

♫ ...in an octopus's garden, in the shade. ♫

See? Now it's stuck in your brain too!!

It was Pedro's birthday today. He's 29. We made him cookies and bought him a cake. They invited us over to their place and I'm such a voyeur, I was delighted to finally see the inside of their house. It's surprisingly cozy and homey. It's amazing that such an ugly shell of a house can be such a warm and inviting home. Just slide that piece of plywood over and come on in!

This is Faith Marie. She's 2½. Pretty chubby for a preemie that weighed in at 1.5 lbs when she was born! She was a complete surprise to them. Nancy didn't know she was pregnant! When she started having stomach pains she went to the hospital. The doctor asked if there was any chance that she was pregnant and she assured him that she wasn't! A few hours later Faith Marie arrived!

And this is Nancy. She's about 15 years older than Pedro and fortunately, speaks perfect English.

Pedro is the smiliest man I've ever met!

They had some relatives drop over to visit while we were there and they ran out of chairs. No problema - Pedro just pulled up a couple of empty 5gal paint buckets....and I worry if my cutlery doesn't match! (Gulp!)

A slow week

2011-01-16T06:17:00.004-07:00

There's not much happening around here lately. Shadow is staying with us while Carl & Melody are on vacation. We get to the beaches twice a day, so he's a happy boy.

Usually we are the only people on the beach, but today there was a huge crowd of people gathered around the Pitaya Beach Club. We wandered down to see what was happening and there was a chili cook-off going on. (A charity event) Of course, I didn't have a camera with me, but it was a beach vendor's dream. Actually, I think there were more beach vendors there than patrons, but it was still nice to see that many people all in one place. We were beginning to think that everyone had packed up and left town because it's been so quiet here lately. We met a nice couple from Phoenix and stood on the beach and chatted with them for over an hour. They were both born in Mexico City but have lived in the U.S. for many years. This is their first ever vacation without their children. Not a vacation really, just a couple of days tagged on to the end of a business trip to Tuscon, but they were enjoying it! He had the greatest accent - it was like talking to Ricky Ricardo. "You must to veeseet Acapoooolco, you going fell in love. I promeese you thees"

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼

Cool patterns on the sand.

Some more murals on the beachfront houses on Mirador Beach. Two-story palm trees.

I love this one! It's a tile mosaic.

This is the other side of the same patio. Also done in tiles.

~~This is the same house.~~ No it isn't, you idiot. Anyway, lots of houses have outdoor showers for washing off sand and salt, most of them have some funky tile work.

Fries and Thai eh? Seems like an unusual combination.

This "restaurant" is only a block from our place. It's just in a garage. Well, 2 garages really; kitchen in one and dining area in the other. (Although "kitchen" and "dining area" may be overstating things a bit.) We pass it almost every day and the garage doors are always closed. A guy on a bicycle came around delivering menus about a month or so ago and did a real sales pitch on the place. "Yeah, it's just a hokey little place in some guy's garage" Well, who can resist a rave review like that? We were on our way home from the beach with the dogs a couple of days ago and the doors were open so we wandered by to check it out. The owner offered to make us some of his signature home-made potato chips on the house. Sure, why not?

So, we bought a couple of sodas and made ourselves comfortable.

~~Bob~~(?) Glen brought a bowl of water in and I thought, oh, that's nice, he's going to give the dogs a drink... Nope, he also had a couple of potatos with him and he sat and chatted while he peeled and sliced. Strange little man. I'm guessing mid-60-ish, ex-U.S. military, and geeky as all get out. Pretty sure his eyeglasses were purchased during the Nixon administration. Interesting though. He's lived in China and he owned a restaurant in Thailand for 3 years. Although, keep in mind that his idea of a restaurant is a deep fryer on a stool, a wok on a hot plate and a picnic table... The potato chips were pretty good though. He says he's doing a special Hot Pot promotion, but he needs a days notice to arrange it for a minimum of 6 people. He provides a burner (he pointed out the burner on the floor), a soup stock and a platter of vegetables and meats and I guess you stand around in the garage and have a Thai fondue. (Bring your own alcoholic beverages) We're thinking we might have to try it sometime just for kicks.

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼

Our neighbour Pedro, on the other hand, seems to be a wannabe chef. We offered to take him out for lunch today, but he had just bought a couple of fish from a roving fishmonger and was going to cook them up. A little while later he delivered a still-hot plate to us. Complete with tomatoes, onions and tortillas! This man has no job, no income and can barely feed his family and now he's cooking food for us??!

I think there's a lesson here!

Mostly dogs

2011-01-10T21:33:00.004-07:00

Yum! Double-chocolate-chip muffins!

These veggies are soon to be salsa.

We had the salsa with some nacho chips for lunch, then it made another appearance at dinner time as a baked potato topping.

So, here's the doggie update.

You've already met the pack. Hombre, Barky Boots and BeeGee.

Thier leader, Hombre (Señor H, Big Guy, Dude) is starting to show his age. One eye is clouded with cataracts and he just seems to be generally slowing down. A couple of weeks ago he started running with a different pack of mostly younger dogs, so we figured he was looking to retire from pack leadership and was trying to fit in with a younger crowd to help him out. His new friends started showing up at our house. Every day the pack grew and grew. When it got up to 13 (Yes, 13!!!), we threw up our hands and gave up. Nobody got fed for about a week and we even stopped filling the water bucket to encourage them to live elsewhere. I love dogs, but even I don't want 13 of them hanging around my front gate! BeeGee and Barky Boots joined with the new pack occasionally, but for the most part, the two of them hung back by themselves. (I snuck food & water to them when the others weren't around) It was interesting to observe the dynamics of a pack that large, but scary too. LOTS of fights as they all jockeyed for position. Well, I guess not getting any food at our place registered on them because for the most part, they've disappeared and we're back to just the regulars.

Barky Boots (Boots, Mr. Happy Pants, Propeller Head) has to be the sweetest dog in the world. He's SO submissive that he was really taking a beating when the other dogs were around. Quite literally. We broke up a few fights that had this guy pinned to the ground by the neck and squealing like a little pig.

Quite often it was BeeGee that was beating the crap out of him. Strange relationship these two have. When she isn't trying to kill him, she's usually snuggled up with him. Also odd that Miss BeeGee only has one name.

Hombre is back as the leader of his faithful little pack now.

Here he is getting a bit of personal attention from Dan.

So, the rest of the gigantic gang seems to have moved on, but this guy stuck around.

Meet Scarface.(Capone, Pacino, Scabby Boy) Looks kinda mean doesn't he?

Nah! He's another sweet boy. When we first met him we didn't think he was going to make it. His face was all cut up and swollen and his eye was bloody and well, just nasty. (Word on the street is that it was a human that did this to him, not a dog fight) We couldn't get him in to a vet because it was Christmas, so all we could do was give him extra food and treats to try to build up his strength and hope he survived. Well by the time the holidays were over he was looking a lot better. His cuts have healed and even his eye has pretty much healed.

The rest of the gang don't bother following us on our morning walks through the desert to the beach anymore, but this guy's just a puppy and has lots of energy so he usually tags along.

Carl & Melody's dog Shadow sometimes takes exception to the gang hanging around our house when he comes for a visit. There have been a couple of dust-ups and it's quite a procedure to get him from the car to the house without an altercation. Well he's here for a couple of weeks while C & M are off on vacation so he's having to learn to get along with them. He's still not allowed off the leash while they're here, but he no longer strains to get to them. He seems to be quite content to sit and watch them. Yaay!

The street dogs around here have it pretty cushy compared to most. Everybody in the neighbourhood looks out for them, but it's still not as good as being an indoor dog is it Taz?

Just a couple of extra pics. This is Dan enjoying a latte at Max's Bistro.

And finally, if it still runs, it's still a car. Who needs doors and windows?

A walk to the beach

2011-01-05T06:58:00.001-07:00

While Dan was playing plumber guy over at Carl & Melody's house Taz & I went for a walk down to the beach. It takes about 15 minutes to walk the route. This is our beach access between a couple of houses.

I was kicking myself for not having my other camera with me, but glad I'd at least tucked the little point & shoot in my pocket. The dolphins were playing in the water closer to the shore than I've ever seen them before.

This mural is on the front porch of one of the beachfront houses.

I like the way the palm leaves go up over the ceiling.

We took the road that backs on to the desert to get home. This house has no back door so the people that live there probably don't even know that their back wall is covered in graffiti.

I have no idea what this plant is,

but it's a nice splash of colour in an otherwise desolate landscape.

Then there's this strange thing. I think it's a banana plant. Yes, the photo is right side up.

This is apropos of nothing.

I just like the bright colours and the fact that the blanket looks brighter than it actually is.

It's a close up of the blanket and the pots that hang on a ladder at the top of our stairs.

P.S. I went back to take another look at the weird plant, and yes, it's a banana plant. I didn't see the little bananas the last time. They're kinda shriveled though I don't think they'll ever be real bananas.

New Years Day Visiting

2011-01-02T11:03:00.003-07:00

In spite of the fact that Dan & I both have lousy colds, 2011 is off to a good start.

The new end table - a success.

Pedro and Nancy are our neighbours. They live directly across the street from us in a shell of a house that has no running water and no heat. Their door is a piece of plywood that they slide over the opening to keep the precious fireplace warmth in the house. If they want a shower, or if they want to wash dishes or clothing it's a long process. First they first have to go, on foot with a borrowed 2 wheeled dolly, to the area about a kilometre away where locals dump construction debris, to scavenge for some firewood. Then they have to build a fire and boil some water from the outdoor hose...We, on the other hand, just go upstairs and turn on the tap. Dan has taken Pedro in the van for a couple of the firewood trips and has been right there alongside him rummaging through the trash looking for usable wood. Dan says it's not only a good physical workout, but it's also a free Spanish lesson because Pedro doesn't speak English. He is, however, a born teacher. He has endless patience with our stumbling attempts to communicate and repeats and rephrases everything until he's sure that we understand him. He's also the only person we've met who speaks at a pace that we can comprehend. He starts out at his regular breakneck speed, but when we say "habla mas despacio por favor" (please speak more slowly) he actually does! (Most people just speak louder!)

Best of all, he never, ever stops smiling!! He's gotta be the happiest guy ever!

Anyway, Pedro came over to give us this wall hanging of shells and sand dollars.

Really! These people have NOTHING and they're giving us gifts! We don't care if he did pull it out of a dumpster, it means the world to us!

Melody dropped over on New Years Day to eat the cake that we didn't get to the night before and to get beaten at Scrabble! (by moi!) Then Eduardo, a local guy that we met last year (he sanded & painted our fence) dropped over for a beer.
It was a busy day at our house as Osvaldo, Marisol and little Sebastien dropped over for a visit too. Osvaldo is the guy that did all the work on our terrace and garage/bedroom a couple of weeks ago. He also pays our bills when we're not here and generally looks after the place for us.

Marisol is SO beautiful! She's expecting their 2nd child in May. (another boy) She is the major motivation for us to practise our Spanish as she speaks no English and our conversations are painfully fractured. Osvaldo is completely fluent in both languages and can translate for us, but we'd love to be able to talk to Marisol.

We are thoroughly enjoying our Skype calls with everybody back home (or in Mexico and Peru!). Hi Lesley & Dave, Lorne & Leonora, Bill & Vi, Jim & Sharon, Shirley and Debbie. It's such a hoot to be able to see everybody. It's like you're here visiting too!

Feliz Año Neuvo

2011-01-01T10:06:00.000-07:00