Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Heading Home

Since I have been doing all the long distant driving lately, it came as somewhat of a surprise when Fred became sore from the drive to Las Vegas.  His surgery site was very tender and he hurt all over.

We decided to take it easy and spend another day resting before leaving Vegas for home. He slept from 4:00 in the afternoon until 7:00 the next morning and said he felt much better for that.

We are now in Layton, Utah having just come back from eating one of the poorest meals we have been served in a long time. To add insult to the poor meal, we had been told there was a manager's special tonight in the hotel and we were welcome to partake. We stopped at the little party on the way back from supper and were handed a glass of wine along with salads, nachos and fired chicken. Too bad we didn't ask a few more questions before going out to eat a poor meal.

Tomorrow we will hopefully get to Helena, Montana...sharing the driving as we did today.


Monday, April 11, 2016

Some Things Never Change

Well, okay....maybe things do change a little!  Years ago the guy would have been sleeping, today he is texting during his siesta.


All homes in Parque Tecalai are getting a new sewer system installed and these guys are working right across the street from our house so we get a good view of their work habits....which, by the way, are  pretty good!

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Last of Many

One of the most consistent activities around our park in April....farewell dinners! The month is filled with dinner parties, usually hosted by the people who are leaving. Not the main reason for hosting, but a pretty good reason on its own.....everyone is trying to get rid of food they brought from home.

The menus are varied and sometimes a little eclectic, but food is being pulled from freezers everywhere. Even the Humeny casa hosted a little get together trying to rid our fridge of its inhabitants.


A much easier way to say goodbye is to go to JJ's for tacos, quesadillas and beer! We invited a group to join us on Friday to listen to a friend and his band perform. Lots of fun and no clean up!



We have watched this young lad grow up....he began selling jewellery at a very young age. Quite the little salesman! I bought my usual supply of trinkets that will get thrown into my "stupid purchase" drawer and then next year, off to the garage sale.


The black eye comes from a game of pickle ball....her first game and in the first five minutes of learning! Shannon is trying to deny all responsibility!


We hope to leave on Thursday and every evening until then is filled with some sort of party....we will be one tired couple come Thursday evening. 

We are not sure which border crossing we will take because there are rotating trucker strikes at the Nogales Crossing. The truckers are protesting the long delays when trying to get into the United States. They are stopped about 200 Km south of the border by Mexican authorities and then again at the border. These checks can sometimes take 24 hours and some truckers have been known to dump their produce on the side of the road because of the spoilage from the heat.

Friends of friends who left San Carlos a while ago got caught in the blockade and they spent four hours sitting in the sun trying to get to the border. I think they were eventually rerouted through the city of Nogales. If we find out that the roads are blocked we will head to the crossing south of Yuma and enter the States that way. 

Either way, I am not looking forward to this. It is sometimes difficult convincing the American Border Patrol that we are innocent and are not carrying anything illegal. A few times we have forgotten to take off our sunglasses and have lived to regret that decision.  No smiles around this border crossing!




Slow Day

Semana Santa and the International Volleyball tournament brought lots of visitors to San Carlos. Now that those events are over and with many Canadians heading home for the summer, our little town is getting back to normal.

The best indicator of the economic slow down....just go to Walmart! The baggers obviously are in need of a few more people.


Sunday, April 3, 2016

Volleyball on the Beach

Our little town of San Carlos is hosting the 2016 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Tournament this weekend. This is a qualifying event for other international competitions, including the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

We were unable to attend yesterday, but made a point of getting to the beach this morning. We watched Canada vs Mexico in the women's division. It couldn't get any better than that....our home country playing against our adopted country.








The next game saw the Mexican men taking on Cuba. Excellent game! The smaller player on the Mexican team is a local boy from Guaymas. That fact alone drew a large crowd to the beach.






Saturday, April 2, 2016

Doing it Again!

Every year, sometimes twice a year, the eight of us get together to make candied jalapeños and Tequila jelly. Done today.

Fred and I picked up 10 kilos of jalapeños yesterday [at a cost of 280 pesos or 21.74 Cdn]....pretty reasonable considering what we pay at home.  Our favourite place to buy vegetables!


We made 50 jars of candied jalapeños and 56 jars of Tequila jelly. The jelly is not very hot, but Adelle, be prepared for the hottest candied jalapeños we have made so far.


Kia was only a by-stander today as she has a broken toe and is in a cast for 6 weeks. Poor dog.


The story behind the thimbles is pretty simple....Gloria keeps cutting her fingers while using the mandolin when preparing the peppers. I gave her five thimbles for Christmas in the hopes that I wouldn't have to see any more blood. But, in true San Carlos fashion, we lost one of the thimbles in the peppers. A good deal of time was spent going through the garbages and the cut peppers. It was found in the bowl just before they went into the brine!