The terrible 4 letter word.

Well, we arrived home last Friday evening, after being picked up by our best friends,
Loraine & Harry.
We enjoyed a great meal in Ottawa then a pleasant drive to Cornwall. 
Our trip from Melaque was mostly uneventful, with the bus ride to P. V., 
overnight at the Holiday Inn Resort (really nice).

A view from our room.

Yup,,, that's Betty waving from our room.

Our West-Jet flight to Calgary was fine, but when we got there, Ohhhh Boy, welcome 
to Canada and COLD. 
We had booked at the 8 Days Inn Airport, and the place is nice, but out in the 
boonies, so we walked the quarter mile or so to "Earls" Steak House for our first 
taste of Alberta beef. The place was very nice (a tad expensive) but the steak was 
"just" fine.(We had another on the BBQ here on Wednesday, and it was spectacular.) 
As it was now almost eleven o'clock, the walk back to the hotel was 
bone chilling and it took a while to stop shivering.
Our flight to Ottawa left at 11AM and we were entertained by a flight steward who 
was as funny as most stand-up comics I've seen in a long while.

Funny guy.

On most flights, nobody pays attention to the safety message, well everybody was 
watching this guy and laughing their heads off. We were sitting in the front seats, 
so we were entertained the whole trip.
Saturday was spent unpacking sorting, answering phone calls and shopping for 
groceries, another shock to the system,,, the produce just isn't the same and the 
prices,,, Arrrrrg. 
Loraine  & Harry had us over to their place for supper and a game of "Tock" and 
we came home early, exhausted.
Sunday was spent at Diane & Paul's celebrating the "Raisin river canoe race" 
(no we didn't participate),,, Lol  just had brunch, conversation, burgers on the 
BBQ and a little Texas hold-em poker. 

Now the BAD part,,,,,,,Monday morning we woke up to six inches of 
(the dreaded 4 letter word) snow, which lasted till Wednesday,,, for sure, 
this fall we're heading south latter and returning after all the snow has gone.
I’ll try and get a few more minutes together soon, to fill in all the blanks that 
I missed.
Dan

Odds and Ends.

Well it’s getting down to the wire, as we have started packing and storing in earnest.

With just four more full days till we leave, we are in the process of figuring how much food we can use up, give away or throw out. Anything that is prone to rust has to be packed in sealed containers and stored in our storage area as the humidity in the summer here is extreme. Clothes and linens, likewise are packed into large plastic totes and sealed.

Today we went around prepaying the rent, phone and electricity.

There aren’t too many folks left here as a lot of them rent till the end of March and have to leave, by the end of April we only know of four who will still be here.

Leigh, Barry, Liz, Ann, and the Boop and I had a poker night last Wednesday and plan the last one of the season for Monday without Ann, as she left yesterday this will be at our house and will be a “clean-out the fridge” pot luck.

Went to the Isla Navadad Golf club for supper last night with Tere & Ray, we used to go several times a year in the past, when there weren’t so many good places to eat here, they used to have fantastic steaks, but they just, didn’t seem up to par last night.

Looking at Barra de Navadad from the lagoona.

Ray drove us to Barra and we took the water taxi over to the island and back, these “Pangas” are amazingly seaworthy craft, they are double hulled, fiberglass and the Mexicans take them 30  or more miles out to sea.

Betty (as usual) was able to find a critter to cuddle.

All in all another wonderful evening, but I’m still looking forward to the “Alberta” beef on Thursday in Calgary. Tonight we are having Debby & Jerry over for BBQ pork chops and Cora & Eric Sunday for left-over seafood linguine, and that should use up most of the perishables.

The other night we made our usual trek to the town square to people watch (and get a soft ice-cream) and this mime was performing for change, he sure had the locals and many tourists enthralled. When someone dropped a coin into the pail he would mechanically move about and hand you a slip of paper with your fortune on it.

Betty and the mime.

Oh ya, we had another “shake, rattle & roll” (earthquake) the other day, I think it was a 6.7 or thereabout, but it was a couple of hundred miles from here and about 18 miles deep. I was sitting here at the computer, and the room and the table started shaking back and forth about an inch, or so and it felt like I was on a swing, it lasted for about ten seconds but the ceiling fan was swaying back and forth for quite a while afterwards, of course all the neighbours ran out onto the street. Believe it or not we’re actually, (kinda) getting used to them.

For those who didn’t get the Email, we leave here on Wednesday, overnight in Puerto Vallarta. On Thursday it’s off to Calgary, where we have our Alberta steak with Rene & Don then on to Ottawa, Friday in time for supper with Loraine and Harry. So this will probably be the last update from Melaque this season.

We’re looking forward to seeing all our NOB friends in the next few weeks.

Happy trails to all;

Dan

 

 

 

Weather, Boots and goat.

I missed a few.

While sorting photos for other posts, I discovered some things I was planning to write about.

The weather,,, was about the unusual Chinook in Ontario last month, it was the same temperature there as here, which is a little strange, to say the least. This is a screen shot of my weather channel for La Barra de Navadad on March 21st.

It has been a bit strange winter here too, with rain in February and unusually cool air and sea, now. The place is full of Mexicans from inland, and they are here to enjoy the sun and sea. Unfortunately there has been more than our share of cloudy days with the temp in the mid twenties and only in the high teens at night, and I’ve been told the water temp is only 20 when it’s normally about 30, this time of year. We all know what it’s like to travel to the shore for some R. & R. and get bad weather, bummer!

These boots ain't made for walkin'!!!

These boots are on sale on the street here, anybody want a pair????

And goat.

The mother in law, Conrado's wife, Conrado and us.

We took our landlord, his wife and mother-in-law out for dinner recently to a very Mexican restaurant in Cihuatlan in appreciation for all the extra things he does for us. This eatery opens at eleven each morning (except Fridays) and closes when the food is gone, usually about two, and all they serve is goat. The stew, cheese and milk is all produced from goats. This is a Mexican specialty, as those who have tried it will agree, it’s great, and those who haven’t, have a treat in store.

Less than two weeks left, and the packing begins,,,, Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Dan

Betty has a birthday.

March 31st, is the day we celebrate the wonderful occasion.

This year Betty indicated, she would like to go to the “Grand Bay” for supper, “and that was decided upon”. Now we knew it was going to be expensive, but very special. Only Cora, Eric and Ray agreed to fork out the funds to attend. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the “Grand Bay” it’s on Isla Navidad on the south east end of the Bay of Navidad. Its a 5+ star hotel condominium complex, with private golf course that caters to the rich and famous. The place is spectacular, with huge palm trees, all kinds of flowering bushes and plants, well groomed lawns, winding stone pathways and all with breathtaking views of the ocean or mountains.

This photo was copied from their website.

We drove over to Barra De Navidad and took the water taxi to the island, 20 pesos per person, return. We had reserved a table for 6 and thought it was for 6:30 PM, but discovered that the restaurants don’t open till seven, so we spent some time in the Tequila bar, which wasn’t quite open either, but made acquaintances with some of the staff and another customer and had a couple of samples of tequila, wine and beer.

Over 200 types of Tequila and one cost $2000.00 a bottle. We didn't try it!

There are two restaurants open to the public, “Antonio’s Fine Dining” and “La Tarraza”  We chose La Tarraza because Antonio’s has a dress code, no shorts, sandals, jeans or t-shirts, a larger menu choice but higher prices. Neither Ray or Eric have long pants (other than jeans), here and we all wear sandals. The Tarraza has a “Thai” menu and as the name indicates, is outdoors and it has been unusually cool in the evenings the last few days. At seven, we are beckoned out of the bar, to the La Terraza by the most courteous matre-de (a very pretty lady) and several waiters.

La Terraza (also from the Website).

As we get seated, (with our chairs pulled out for us and napkins placed on our laps), the ladies are offered blankets to wrap around their shoulders to fend off the cool breeze that we expected to stop soon, (it only dropped slightly over the course of the evening). We’re presented with the menus (which should be attached to a pacemaker) and say (to ourselves) “we only get to come this way once” and just order without looking at the prices. Betty had the steak, Cora, her usual salad, Eric, shrimp and Ray and I ordered the Duck. The presentation was spectacular and the tastes just out of this world, worth the price? I guess if you take in the setting, ambiance, taste and service, it probably would have cost twice what we paid, somewhere NOB, if you could find it. While we were waiting for our meals we were served home-made bread-sticks and plain or garlic rolls and butter, (yum). As we were enjoying our food, most of the lights went out,,, it was “Earth hour” and all the decorative lighting on the whole resort were turned off. So with dim lighting and candles, we finished our meal. Oh, I forgot to mention that there was a musician playing quiet music for dining, but when the lights went out, so did the power for his instruments. As we finished our dinners, the staff all came over with a covered tray, the musician with guitar and presented Betty with birthday cake and the Mexican then English Happy Birthday songs.

Happy, or what?

Delicious white cake with decadent chocolate and fresh berry's.

To say the least, Betty was thrilled and the happiest kid on the block. As the cake was big enough for 12 people, we shared it with the staff which included 4 or 5 waiters, two chefs and the Matre-de.

Another one from their Website.

I had been speaking with Selena & Kieth in Chilliwack BC. earlier, about friends of theirs that were playing in the Lobby Bar at the resort last year, and informed that they were there again this year, so we decided to wander around and look at the place and find them. Kris, on piano and Gordon, on guitar, harmonica and percussion, were playing in the Posh, (did I say Posh? I mean POSH) lobby bar with overstuffed chairs and couches and a spectacular view of the resort marina and the lights of Barra de Navada across the bay. We enjoyed the drinks, music, danced a couple, and met more people from around the USA and Canada. Totally sated, we made our way back to the dock and our return by water taxi to Barra and the drive home, about 11:30, but it’s the end of DST. here, and we have to put the clocks ahead an hour, so now we’re just one hour behind you guys in Ontario, but it’s late. If I used “spectacular” too many times, you gotta see it to believe it.

There was a mass exodus of NOB’s this weekend and there probably won’t be too many adventures to relate in the coming weeks, but it’s the start of “Samanna Santra” Easter holidays, which officially get underway on Wednesday, when the place fills with Mexicans for about ten days, but the “Kabooms” have started already. at 4 AM. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Then we start the preparations for heading back north.

Dan