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

Is there enough?

Or will we have to give some away?

You seasoned “snowbirds” will know what I’m talking about.

Stuff,,,, flour, peanut-butter, sugar, and anything that won’t keep for six months.

I was just making my regular “energy sandwich” for lunch, peanut-butter and honey, and thought, “this is something that most people only do once or twice in a lifetime, and we do it twice a year”. I’m not complaining, mind you, because it’s just another price we pay to get away from the chitty cold weather.

In the last month or so, we are here, we try to buy stuff in smaller quantities, so we don’t have too much to unload. This isn’t a problem with perishables, as we have the fresh produce and grocery store across the street.

Lynda, my daughter, stopped by this morning to drop off some stuff, as they left for the north. She and Roger are driving back and we wished them a good, safe trip with hugs and kisses.

When we leave, we give our stuff to any NOB friends who are still staying, (not many), but most goes to our Mexican neighbours.

We hosted another Saturday night poker party last night, not as much food this time, I think people are watching their weight so they can still fit in an aircraft seat. LOL.

Ann & Liz made a tortilla chocolate cake, very different and definitely Mexican, but yummy. Betty broke even in the poker, as second place, and I didn’t.

Even the losers seem happy.

As we approach the end of March, more and more people are leaving, and our social calendar will be getting thinner,,, but his week we are booked almost every evening, tonight it’s smoked lamb at Debby and Jerry’s. I’ll give a review later.

Dan.

OK,,, wah-did I miss????

How about a trip to La Manzanilla????

First, I have to point out there is quite a difference between Manzanillo (the big port city) and La Manzanilla the pretty little “artsy” town with the beautiful beach on Tenecatita Bay.

No comment required.

This time Betty & I piled into John & Mary’s truck for the 16 KM. 30 minute drive north on Hwy 200 over the mountain and turn off just before Bocca De Iguana.  We’re going to meet friends of theirs, Rene & Don who are living in La Manz., but moving to Melaque. We are to meet them at a bar in La Manz. and as we travel up the main (one-way) street we discover the outlet is blocked for construction, and after we find the folks it is about a 4 block trip in reverse before John can get a big enough space to turn around, fun, fun, fun. As John’s pick-up truck has a 5 passenger cab, we all pile in and head to a restaurant at the other end of the beach, that we have only heard about. This place was originally located in Tenecatita before the upheaval with the ownership of the land and all the places were bulldozed, and owners driven off their land. This dispute is still ongoing, but these people have picked up what the could and opened their establishment in La Manz. The view on the beach was beautiful (as it always is on this bay), the sun and water warm, the beer cold and the food, spectacular.

Enjoying lunch.

They have also set up a booth to display and sell a special Tequila that is made in the century’s old tradition, just outside the disputed area at Tenecatita. Because the beach there is essentially closed, there isn’t enough traffic to support the display at the distillery.   We’ve added a visit to this distillery to our things to do list.

The narrator wasn't too bad either.

We were forced, hahaha, to sample this drink and found it very tasty, different and a kick like a mule. A little more expensive than the commercial stuff, but we bought two bottles, one to sample here (almost gone now) and one to bring back north.

I think it’s time for another sample and get back to this later.

Dan

KABOOM

It seems that the 16th is more of a party than St Paddy’s day here. We watched the eleven o’clock news at nine, (we don’t change to DST till the first of April) then headed to the square and boy oh boy was it packed with Mexicans, you could hardly move, let alone walk around.

There must have been five Mariachi bands and three (I don’t know what you call them) BOOM bands. They consist of a huge bass drum and cymbals, a tuba, a snare drum, a trumpet or two and maybe a couple of clarinets or sax. Here is a link from the festivities.  http://youtu.be/ROYjapAg9qo . I cannot lay claim to this video.  With my hearing, all I can hear is the drums and tuba, NOT my favourite combo. With all these bands playing at once, and probably 2000 people all yelling to be heard, the word deafening comes to mind.

Betty and I work our way towards the church where the castillo is set up, wow this one is bigger than the ones we have had previously and has contraptions strung across the street, so we can expect something pretty special.

Hard to get a good picture of something this big at 11;30 at night.

And special,,, it was.

Just a few of the folks in the square, notice the rockets heading towards us, on the left.

After the castillo finished there were fireworks set off from the roof of the church and then several 500mm shells sent from mortars in a roped off area no bigger than 20 square feet, in the middle of the crowd. When I was doing the fireworks, we had to set up at least 200 feet from the audience and anybody inside that area had to be authorized and wear special clothing and hearing protection, I gotta remember “this ain’t Amway, it’s Mexway,”,, LOL.

One of the "Toros" heading our way.

Of course the evening wouldn’t be complete without a “Toro” or two, (remember the ones with the rockets on them?),,, well how about eight of them running through the crowd. We are chicken, so we run across the street and still the Boop gets hit in the neck, fortunately it was just a spent cardboard cartridge. I just can’t figure how come somebody has never been seriously hurt with these things, but the most I ever heard of, is a singed shirt or pant leg.

It all adds to the experience we love so much about living the Mexican way.

Home about midnight,,, but,,, the rodeo is on, and the speakers are aimed at our bedroom again and sleep doesn’t come till about 2 AM.

And now we only have three more weeks of fiesta,,, LOL.

Dan

Everybody’s leavin’ town.

As the season winds down and the weather gets hotter and more humid, a lot of the “snowbirds” are heading back “NOB”, (north of the border). The crowd in the square at night is more and more Mexican every night, but I was surprised at how many NOB’s there were at the market on Wednesday, but somebody reminded me that it is now March break in some places and there are quite a few people who are here for just a week or so.

Jean & Eddy and a few others leave on Friday the 17th and Mary & John head out on Monday and by the end of March we will definitely be in the minority.

Spring is really setting in, and it’s not cooling off a night like in the winter here and the humidity is getting higher, so we may be turning on the AC soon.

That may not be a bad idea, as starting next week, there will be a rodeo in the bullring down town, and they usually go on till 2 or 3 in the morning with music blaring from HUGE speakers that project over the buildings and into our bedroom. The only way to get a decent sleep is to close all the windows and turn on the AC. After the rodeo we head into Samana Santra (the two weeks of celebration for Easter) and the rockets and fireworks begin again. This is another reason that a lot of visitors head out by the middle of March. We have now made our plane reservations and will be leaving here on April 18th and be back in Cornwall on the 20th.

I was just sorting some photos and came upon some of the parade that was held the first day of lent. As far as I know most places have their carnival on ash Wednesday, but evidently, not around here. This parade had a pirate theme and started in Barra de Navadad and followed the road around the bay to Melaque, the trip was a couple of hours and took about 45 minutes to pass any one location, there were no marchers, just floats, trucks and cars with lots of loud music. Here’s a few shots, this was at about 7:00 PM.

The nicest bunch of pirates I've ever seen.

This one's for the girls.

Who doesn't believe in mermaids?

And now we know, they have children.

Now I’m groovin’, gotta keep it up,,, LOL.

Dan

The behinder I gets.

The saying is, “the faster I goes, the behinder I gets”.

Well,,, in my case it’s just “the behinder I gets, the behinder I gets”. I just haven’t had the inclination to sit here and be creative for quite a while, and the more things I think of that I should write about, the more frustrated I get about not doing it, and that makes me more frustrated,,, Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Now, that I have that off my chest, here are a few of the things I’ve missed, St. Patrick’s Days celebrations, A day at La Manzanilla with Tequila, Boogie boarding at Bocca de Iguana, Poker parties, Dinners out and in, Everybody’s leavin’ town, and the list goes on.

Here we go,,, let’s start with “Boogie boarding at Bocca”. On Tuesday a whole passel of us loads into 3 cars and headed over to Bocca de Iguana, this is the best beach along this coast with the right type of surf for Boogie boarding. It’s only about 15 Km trip, but it takes almost half an hour because it is through the mountains. It is along the same huge bay of Tenecatita as La Manzanillla, The Blue Bay resort, Bocca and Tenecatita. We got there about 11:00AM and carried all our gear, (folding chairs, umbrellas, coolers, boogie boards, towels and stuff), the fairly long trek along the unprotected lagoona past the crocodiles, they all seemed to be well away from us up the lagoon, in the shade. We have to bring all this stuff, because there isn’t much public development here, there is a trailer park with a few rigs parked and access to a condo development with a small restobar just up the beach, and an entrepreneurial Mexican family have set a few umbrellas, chairs and tables out on the beach which can be rented for 50 pesos a day, so we rented two, but no way to bring the cars close to the beach.

All set up.

That's Betty and Leigh catching a wave.

Anyway, we get organized and a few head into the waves to check out the conditions, the water is nice and warm and the surf is up a little, not too bad for boarding. I got hooked last season and bought my own board, but Betty had always been a little shy to try. I’m not sure who talked her into trying, but now she’s hooked too, and wants to buy her own board,,, LOL. It sure is a rush being that close to the sand and water moving so fast, it seems like you’re flying.

We had some dinner guests,,,, these are vultures,, LOL

We broke for our lunch and some got out their books or Ebook readers and relaxed in the shade of the umbrellas, others went back into the surf, and others just baked in the sun, and got a little scorched.

Relaxing and sunning.

By 4:30 we’re whupped and a little over sunned, so we pack our stuff back into the cars and head home, a light supper and flop into bed early and exhausted. I don’t even remember hearing the fireworks go off at eleven PM or at five AM on Wednesday.

Not sure what I will tackle next, but I’ll try and not take so long;

Dan

Mexican plumbing 101

Well, I think we have done as much as we will do on our rooftop terrazzo, for this season at least.

Our rooftop hide-a-way.

We got the roof installed a couple of weeks ago, and as we were getting tired of carrying water in a bucket up the spiral staircase, we had a tap installed so we could connect our new hose.

First, you have to try and understand the system they use for water pressure here. The town water comes from the street into an underground chamber from where it is pumped up to a “tenaco”, a large usually black plastic tank on the roof. From there it flows through a maze of pipes to the various outlets in the house. The water here is heated by a propane water heater and an auxiliary solar heater, or “sunshine boiler” as our landlord Conrado calls it.

Our water system.

We get Conrado to contact his “amigo” Lupe to come and install out tap. All is well getting the tap cut into the copper 3/4 inch pipe on the roof and within an hour we have water in our hose and throughout the apartments.

Well we have cold water anyway,,, no hot water at all, not even cold in the hot taps. We contact Conrado and he says the problem is an air-lock and “I’ll get hold of Lupe”, this is at noon and by 8:00 PM we are all getting a little “negi-negi” and would like a shower. The answer from Conrado is the same. Our neighbour Donna in the front unit gets up about 6:00 AM every morning, so when we get up the next day, she says that the hot water is back on, all is well and we all get our showers. When I ask Conrado about the overnight repairs, he laughs and says “I told you it was an air-lock and they work it out themselves through those tall pipes on the roof”. Now, I have done quite a bit of plumbing in my day, but, I still can’t figure this one out.

Our garden.

Anyhow the universe is unfolding as it should and we are counting the days,,, well weeks,,, till our departure from our winter home on April the 19th and return to whatever weather the Canadian spring should provide. We are enjoying the quiet here, for the time being, as the St. Patrick’s days celebrations will begin this Friday and we can expect the loud music and skyrockets to begin, and disturb our sleep.

Adios;

Dan

We are back from Colima (part 4,) the end.

We awoke to another bright day with a few wispy clouds, (the weather forecast had warned of thunderstorms, ha) breakfast in the hotel again and pack the car, now the trunk is full with all our purchases.

We want to spend some time in the main square area in the daylight, so we head into town with two maps and the GPS,,,, sure, we’re not lost,,, we just can’t find the parking garage we’re looking for. After a couple of tries, lo and behold, it’s right in front of us,,, yeaaaa! The garage is attached to a shopping complex, and we have to walk through it to get to the street. Ya,, right through the women’s clothes, we made it out, but I know we have to go back through to get back to the car. In the downtown old section there are the cultural buildings, museums, cathedral, government offices, art galleries many, many stores of local art and “leveright”. We spent about an hour walking around the “Government palace”, built in 1877, which is now mostly a museum and houses the history of the Mexican fight for independence, among other displays.

The Cathedral

After a walk around the square and the street of the artisans, “Constitution Alley” we decide on lunch on the sidewalk in front of the Hotel Ceballos which was built in 1771. Wonderful food and people watching and back through the shopping centre to the car.

Betty, one of the fountains in the park and the Hotel Ceballos in the background.

A fairly uneventful trip home, unpack the car, a light supper, some TV and into bed exhausted again, by 10:30 and that wonderful sleep in your own bed,  we didn’t wake up till almost 9 AM.

All in all, another wonderful adventure in Mexico. What’s next????

Dan

We are back from Colima (part 3)

Another bright sunny day wakes us for more adventures. Breakfast in the hotel dining room and we pack some water in the cooler and head to the archeological digs a few miles from the hotel. Betty and I first visited these ruins in 1995 and they were just starting to realize just what they had uncovered while excavating for a Wall-Mart store. They have now expropriated 137 acres around the area and have unearthed a huge city, and that’s only about a tenth of the area. When we asked an attendant if there was any excavation going on, he said they do most of it during the rainy season, when mud can be easily washed off.

They still don't know how far they go.

 

How's that for a contrast in culture,,, the cell phone tower is actually about a half mile away.

After an hour or more in the hot sun we jump back into the car for the trip to Comala. In ’95 when Betty and I had been here on a tour, we had been taken to a little village of Nogueros, that has a fantastic museum of artifacts from excavations in the area. The people in the village still use utensils that are the same as the ones used in this area 2000 years ago. Pedro, one of the bellhops at the hotel told us he was from there and how to find it. Well we took a turn at a sign indicating Nogueros, but, it was a back road and it seemed as though it hadn’t been used much since the hurricane Jova. After dodging potholes you could lose the car in and boulders and tree roots that threatened to come through the floorboards, we came to a hill that looked about one hundred feet almost straight down to an almost dry river bed. I had to swallow my pride and turn around and bounce the two, or so, miles back to the main road. We did find the proper road into the town, but the girls vetoed the idea on trying it. We continued the short distance to Comala and parked the car in a bit of shade and walked to the square which is famous for it’s botaneros. A botanero is a variation of a canteena, where the workers would go and drink, relax and find female companionship and the propriators would supply the food “botanas” which are small portions of fried tacos, enchiladas, crevice tostadas, cheeses, and salads, for free. Now the botaneros are mostly storefront establishments, and they each try and outdo the others with their offering of botanas. The one we stopped at gave us three varieties on the first tray, then another three on the second and then a plate of fresh fruit, all for 400 pesos and 2 or 3 beers each for the four of us. All this while sitting in the shade, looking out at the beautiful town square, with its fountains and trees and flowers.

While John stayed and had more food, Betty, Mary and I went off to find the coffee processor place, a couple of blocks away. We lucked out again, and got there just as a group from a cruise ship, that was docked in Manzanillo were starting a tour. We were able to join them and the owner of the place explained how the beans were dried on his roof in the sun, then shovelled down into the husker, then roasted. He offered us fresh unroasted beans to smell, (no smell at all) and then to taste the beans mild, roasted 30 minutes and the strong, roasted 50 minutes. As he explained, the flavour and aroma comes out in the roasting. Of course we bought a pound of each and now we have to find a coffee grinder here, but that’s another story.

Mary & Betty with the owner,,, that's the husker in the background.

We headed back to the hotel for a nap and woke up about 5:30, had a shower and Betty and I took a cab back to the mall and had supper at “Applebees” for American style food for a change. Mary and John decided to stay at the hotel and have supper in the restaurant. After supper, the Boop and I took an extensive walk around the mall, found a food court with McDonald’s, Subway, Pizza just like up north. We had to step out of the way of a small train that caries youngsters around the upper level of the mall, whistle blowing and all. Back to the hotel about 9:30, chat and nightcaps and into bed about 10:30 exhausted again.

And there is more to come,,,

Dan