Our 9 days without phone or internet.

So,,,,, it’s only been a little over two months since my last entry!

Sometimes I just can’t seem to get the words out, or maybe the word “lazy” comes to mind????

Although it’s old news, now, we sure had an experience getting hooked up this year.

In the spring, when we leave, we have to return the modem to Manzanillo to stop the internet while we are up north. In the fall, when we return, we have to go back to Manzanillo to pick up a new one,,, Why???? no one knows!

Anyhow we made the trip, applied for the reconnection, and also reported, that our phone wasn’t working. “All will be fixed in 48 hours” they said. After 3 days and no service, we called again and “manana” they said. This continued for 3 more days, by this time we’re getting a little upset, as we were going up the street to our neighbours anytime we wanted to call or email. On the ninth day I was in no mood to talk to anybody, so Betty (my hero) walks uptown to the telephone central office and knocks on the door and a repairman invites her in. She explains the situation and shows him our work order and he says he will be here in ten minutes,,, well Betty had stopped a repairman on the street the day before and he had said the same thing,,, so up goes her back, and she NO, the repairman does a double take and says OK get into the truck and we will go right now. Now, we realize there are five, 26 Pedro Moreno addresses in the area, and this guy drives right past our street, Betty corrects him and about a half hour later, we get our phone and internet working. Something we can look forward to again next season.

It’s not that nothing has happened in the last two months, we’ve been out to dinner quite a few times, enjoyed many evenings with friends, visits to the central square, trips to Manzanillo for shopping and “extended visitor” paperwork.

A wedding,

This is how they “tie the knot” in a Mexican wedding.

Ofilia, our cleaning lady and her husband had been married in a civil ceremony while he was in the army. They decided to have a church wedding and we were honoured to be invited.

With the happy couple, she isn’t that much taller, just high heels.

A couple of birthday parties, Christmas dinner,

Enjoying the view, weather and friends before Christmas dinner in Barra de Navadad, “Christmas Bay”.

New Years eve celebration,

Here we are sending a Chinese lantern afloat from Lee & Barry’s roof on New Years Eve.

and there it goes, off into the night sky.

and we, hosted our first Mexican New Years Levy.

Most of the folks at the Levy, couldn’t get everybody in.

But we still haven’t spent a whole day at the beach.

Now we are in the process of arranging a Mexican-Canadian birthday party for my 80th. Hopefully I’ll report on that soon.

Here I sit.

Well, here I sit waxing philosophically at the sun setting behind the clouds.

A view from the roof.

Within my view is the modern technology of cell phone towers, the rolling hills toward the Oriental Madras mountains, the sliver of a moon, I can hear the music of Mexico past and the new sounds of the modern age. Within a two hour drive we can visit the remains of a civilization three thousand years old, 300 year old theaters and buildings that have seen revolutions and wars. And closer than that, we have a brand new “Sam’s Club”.

Within a four block area, we can spend hours on the beach or take in a transvestite show, enjoy so many different types of cuisine, it makes your mouth water or just sit in the town square and watch the parade of humanity go by.

Some, wonder why we choose to spend our winters here in Mexico, what can I say, we love the country, the people and the life-style.

We live among the Mexicans here in Melaque, they have taken us into their community and become our friends. No, we haven’t forgotten our Canadian friends, both here and back in Canada, not by a long shot, but we couldn’t be happier anywhere else in the world.

This morning, Betty went to an exercise class while I caught up on some of the mundane loose ends of closing up our Cornwall apartment for six months, like putting the internet on seasonal disconnect and reducing the insurance on the car and having our neighbour do some checking in the apartment.

We walked up town and bought some fresh sarangola (fish), for supper, and had to wait as the vendor (who is a son-in-law of our landlord) filleted it for us (yup it’s fresh), Betty had to also buy some huge shrimp, to be used later.

As usual, on the way back we stop here and there to say hi to so many of the local shopkeepers, who are all so friendly, and we try to communicate in our pitiful Spanish and they try their English, but they never look down on us when we use the wrong words or phrases, they just try to help. It sure makes you feel welcome.

After a lunch of “casadias” that Betty makes so good, we have a little rest and jump in the car and head to Cihuatlan, the county seat about 20 minutes south on Hwy 200 (the coastal highway). Here we can find some of the things we can’t get here in our little fishing village.

A stop at “Coppell” a Mexican department store, to get me a couple of new summer shirts and then to the “Bodega” a mini Wall-Mart, where we pick up some flower fertilizer, wine and a few other odds and sods, we find hard to get here.

On the way home we stopped at a local nursery, to pick up some potting soil and a rosebush.

And now, after our wonderful supper of fresh fish with rice, boiled with chopped carrots and pepper, I’ve come up to our rooftop get-a-way and relax.

Later it’s some TV and to bed for the most relaxing sleep. Sure it’s hot and muggy, but we splurged two years ago and have A/C in the bedroom, you can’t give up all the modern conveniences.

Next, “our 9 days without phone or internet”.

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

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