Our Mexican Family

Chuyita works for us throughout the year and even though we have a little trouble communicating with her, we have developed a close bond with her and her family.

When we drove her home on Tuesday, we had a good visit with the family.  Paula, the youngest daughter, demonstrated her violin skills.  Pretty good considering she has only been playing six months.

Joel, the only son, speaks English so we were able to learn more about their family through him.  Nice people!

Beached Whale

We learned this evening that there was plenty of excitement on the beach down the street...a baby whale was beached and was not going to survive if it didn't get help.

The people who found her started yelling and the condos at Pilar emptied quickly to help this young whale.  The huge group pushed and pulled and eventually were able to get her into the water.

Rumour has it that when the whale got into deeper water she saluted her rescuers by slapping her tail on the water - who knows!

Two Out of Three....

Two sick and one to go!  With Fred and Maggie both under the weather, we have a pretty quiet household.

Fred appears to be having a problem with his pinched nerve again so he is not very mobile.  I was sent on a mission to Totanaka RV Park to borrow a neck brace from friends.  He has been wearing that and using Dr. Ho to relieve the pain.  Keep your fingers crossed!

On the Maggie front, we don't know the problem yet.  She is having trouble walking and the Vet suspected she had Valley Fever.  Valley Fever is common in Arizona and parts of Mexico.  It is a virus in the soil that attacks the lungs of a dog and if left too long it will move into the joints.

All tests came back negative, but the Vet wanted to send her X Rays to Obregon to have a specialist check her for bone cancer.  That, too, came back negative!

He now suspects she fell and sprained a tendon....it takes a long time to heal so Maggie is no longer allowed to walk very far. And, she is to walk on the beach as the vet says the desert grass stems are too hard on her paws unless she wears booties...can you imagine a 90 pound Golden Retriever wearing booties?

What is next on the sickness agenda?

Beach Party

San Carlos never sleeps...or at least we never seem to get much rest! There is something going on everyday and we never seem to be able to say no.

Yesterday there was a birthday party on the beach and we were willing participants.

The setting was perfect, the food was good and the music was a lively country blend.  No more dancing in the sand - they built a wooden floor.

Obviously, the musical group in the picture is not the country band....they appeared to be a school group practising in front of crowds.

Reunion

Some friends from Lo de Marcos stopped at San Carlos on their way home to BC.  We spent a few days with them, showing them various sites around town.

Yesterday we spent an awesome day at Soggy Peso and today we spent time at JJ's listening to a Mexican band.

Beer and tacos...what can be better?

Friends

Nacho does all kinds of odd jobs for us and today he was replacing a few broken tiles.  Maggie loves this man and she would not leave him alone.

How can we get any work done when Maggie interferes with the job?

Big Islands of the World

Instead of eating at a regular restaurant tonight, we decided to try something different and take part in a cooking show and wine pairing.

The menu consisted of five courses and each was paired with a glass of wine chosen by the sommelier.

The first course was eggplant in a phyllo dough package.  Excellent example from Sicily.

A shrimp salad from Hawaii came next and it was probably my favourite.  The slaw was made with green papayas - very unique.

Japan and Jamaica were represented in the next two servings, miso fish and pulled jerk pork.  The last island was Iceland and the chef served ice cream with pannacotta.

Very interesting!

Baileys and Coffee

We spent the day in a cabana that we happened to find empty early in the morning.  It was a great way to wile away the hours.

The sun was too hot to be out in very long so the cabana was excellent.  Usually if you don't claim one of these spots by 7:00 am you don't get to enjoy the pleasures.

On the walk back we decided that we should have a Baileys and coffee and this is what we got!!!

Touring Around

Mo and I spent the morning at Akumal and then moved on to Playa Del Carmen later in the day.  We cabbed it all the way as the buses took too much time.

In Akumal, we walked to see our old condo and were looking at it from the beach when a young couple asked why we were interested in # 8.  After they heard our story they told us to go on up as they were checking out and it was wide open.  We spent about 10 minutes looking the place over trying to decide if Fred and I should consider reserving this for next year. 

Mo felt right at home, saying it brought back good memories. 

It has changed somewhat but is still in good shape with a gorgeous ocean view.  The biggest change was the beach...it has been washed away and is now quite narrow and steep.

The palapa was a good reminder of why we loved it here.  Mo is the one in black, not the thong!!

After spending time in Akumal, we moved on to see Playa Del Carmen and enjoyed that adventure also.  It has grown a lot and is busy, busy.  Not like Cancun, but still rocking.

First Day

Today was a day of many firsts.  First, I had to go meet with the service reps at 8:00 am because the Internet wouldn't work, even though I had paid for a week's worth of service. Their solution was to add a day on to the package...even though we will have left for home already.

Then we had to find the transfer company and try to get $120 USD back that Mo paid for her ride to the resort.  The transfer company was a no-show last night and she had to use a cab...at the hotel's suggestion.  The company is not too receptive to repaying the money so we still don't know what will happen.

The rest of the day was spent touring half of the large resort.  We walked for hours and now have a very clear idea of where every restaurant, bar and pool is located.

The biggest problem of the day was choosing what to eat and what to drink.  Mo had a dilemma on her hands.

Rest, sushi and a Mexican folkloric show comes later today.

Finally Settled

I arrived in Cancun around 3:00 yesterday afternoon, much earlier than expected because I had Aeromexico put me on an earlier flight.  Thank goodness for carry-ons.

Around 4:00 I received an E Mail from Sarah telling me her mom was still in Toronto and wouldn't get to Cancun until later.  I decided to head to the resort on my own and was greeted with champagne upon my arrival.  I am now known as Ms. Nunweiler.

I rested in the room until Mo arrived at 11:15 and we promptly hit the martini bar until 2:00 am.  Contrary to what I had always thought, there wasn't a single restaurant open that late so we had to settle for room service.  Very poor and definitely not gourmet!