Second Time Around

Many, many years ago [sounds like the start of a fairy tale] I lost my wedding ring to the Pacific Ocean on our first trip to Mexico. The tide knocked me over and took off my ring and grabbed my partial plate...vanity took over and I saved my teeth...the ring was gone!

On Christmas Day, the beach of San Carlos took the only other ring I have chosen to wear over the years....my Bachelor of Education ring that we received at my University Graduation [many, many years ago]!

This one broke my heart. I have looked everywhere for this ring, including going through our garbage bags early in the morning before the garbage was collected! I did this even though I am almost 100% certain that I lost the ring at the Soggy Peso while enjoying that darn Christmas beer.

Beautiful Morning

A little late, but this is how we spent our Christmas morning....I know, beer on Christmas morning!!!!!

There was free Irish coffee for the coffee drinkers of the crowd while the rest of us had to suffer with the alternative. No such thing as Mimosas at this beach restaurant.

The Fakes Have Gone

Years ago we decided that we were tired of returning in the fall and finding nothing but weeds and dead plants. Our solution was to buy fake bamboo in Canada and put them in the pots as if real.

This worked like a charm for about six years...but this year they look fake! In fact, they were so bad that we had to remove them and plant some real ones to get us through the winter.

Excuse the photography...we got an upgraded camera from Jerry and we are still trying to figure how the heck he operated it!

The plants are called "Mother-in Law's Tongue" in English and some word I can't begin to pronounce in Spanish.  

Maybe these will survive for at least three or four months...we aren't very good with live things in pots!

Always up Hill?

Is it true that both ways on a bike ride are uphill? It seems that way to me...especially yesterday when we rode to the marina to pick up some fresh corn from the local farmer who brings it in.

My legs were burning both ways, but we did have success!

It is a pretty nice view when picking up supper.

It wasn't the easiest of days for us. When we got home we couldn't find our house keys, but fortunately Chuyita was there cleaning and we just assumed we misplaced them in my backpack. That was until we received an E Mail from someone telling us they found our keys at the corn truck [we put our E Mail address on all our personal items]. So...back we go to get them.

Later in the afternoon we decided to ride to a beach restaurant for happy hour and when we were getting ready to pay we realized that I left my wallet at home. So...back Fred goes to get money.

Nothing worked smoothly today...maybe we should have stayed home and hid inside the house. 

Work Starts

We are back in San Carlos after a two week stay in Saskatoon visiting with family. The weather in Canada was warm and comfortable, much different than it has been on previous visits.

While we were gone we had a worker repair the top edge of our stairwell and upper patio...it had been improperly installed five years ago and has been giving Fred grief every since.

The worker did the tiling but not the repainting so that was put on the agenda today....we did some sanding before the painting started. I am not allowed to do the fine work as he thinks I am a little erratic with my paint brush! Make a mess once and get chastised...make a mess twice and get banned from painting!!! Yahoo!

It will probably take him three days to finish up properly and I will use that time to repaint the cupboards...that is done with a roller and causes very few problems!

All is Well

It looks like many of the migrants have headed to the California crossings as California  is a sanctuary state and they hope for an easier entry. So, we are driving to Tucson tomorrow and Phoenix on Friday...we have a bit of shopping to complete so will take our time once in the States. IKEA here we come.

Maybe you have noticed that my pictures are lacking this year....someone took the memory card out of my camera and never bothered to tell me or replace it before we headed south. He was just "borrowing it" for a short while! And, so I hear, memory cards are very expensive to buy in Guaymas!

Publishing pictures to warmerwinters from my phone is a challenge that I don't want to face everyday so things have been pretty slow with the blog.

North Bound

We have been watching the migration of the caravan closely for the last few days to see how it affects our border crossing on November 30th.

It looks as if there will be some problems heading to Phoenix...the US army is at Nogales installing razor wire and preparing for the influx. We are debating whether to leave a day early and expect a minimum of two or three hour delay [if we are lucky and don't get caught in the truck backup which could mean 10 hours or more] or take the longer route to Lukeville and backtrack to Tucson/Phoenix.

Rumour has it that the border patrol is stopping every car on the US side and the line ups are getting pretty lengthy.

Even the southbound traffic is starting to have serious delays so that may create a problem when we return December 17th.

The only other solution we have is to fly from Hermosillo to Phoenix, overnight there and fly out as planned on the 1st.

We have our fingers crossed, hoping that this weekend's problems are mostly due to American Thanksgiving traffic, but it doesn't sound good for a smooth border crossing. We will keep monitoring the situation and see what is best for us.

Visitor

We had a visitor last week and he was not someone I want to see again. We have been repeatedly warned not to leave our shoes/sandals outside and to turn them upside down when stored in the house.

I follow these rules quite faithfully, but Fred has never seen the need for them....until last weekend when he was putting on his sandals after a night of outdoors. This scorpion showed up and he was a slippery little thing to catch!

Not a Particularly Great Arrival

We made excellent time from Green Valley and were in San Carlos by noon. At 2:15 we were finished unloading the car...not everything was in its place but at least it was out of the car.

Around 4:00 we went to a neighbour's house to gain access to their Internet so we could E Mail family about our arrival. We weren't gone long, but it was long enough for a thief to enter the house and grab my wallet which had both ATMs and both drivers licenses. I had a small amount of cash in my wallet so that was gone, but the big haul for him was from our safe where he found 15, 000 P [about 1200 Cdn].

Because we were not more than 60 feet from out front door we didn't lock up so the theft is partially on our shoulders. Our neighbours say that this is only the second time they have heard of a theft in Tecalai in 15 years...damn, it had to be us!

The thief left our passports, tourist visas and all of our credit cards. He only had eyes for pesos...he left behind Canadian money and a fair amount of US cash.

We assumed that he would dispose of my wallet as soon as possible so we, along with neighbours, started a search and just by luck we found a wallet at the bottom of a bag of leaves. Not my wallet, but the wallet of our 97 year old back door neighbour....he wasn't stopping at just one house!

The police became involved and now we have to spend precious time in the police station. Darn again!

A few years ago, I applied for a third ATM through the Prairie Centre Credit Union just in case something like this happened...today we used it just to make sure it worked. So, we will be fine as long as the PCCU doesn't shut that one down too on Monday.

We are going to try to replace our ATMs, health cards and drivers licences through the Internet and phone system, but just in case we can't....Adelle, be ready for a phone call!

Even if they do, neighbours and friends have offered to get us cash and with E Transferring it will be easy to repay.

On a pleasant note, it took Telmex less than 24 hours to get our Internet up and running compared to their usual 8 days. No phone yet, but we are hoping!

You Know When...

You know when you have stayed at one particular hotel too often when the internet sign up recognizes you and says "welcome back"! No password sign up for us!!

Here we are again in Layton, Utah resting up for the drive through Salt Lake City tomorrow morning. We might try the bypass instead of venturing through the city and its Monday morning traffic.

The weather has been perfect for driving and we have been making pretty steady time....two short days and one longer one so far.

Tomorrow we land in Vegas to accomplish two things...buy new runners at the Nike Outlet and visit Diane. We will overnight on the Strip and then in the morning meet Diane for lunch [brunch] before driving to Laughlin where we will buy our Mexico food supplies.

Moving Alone

We had planned to leave for Mexico on Saturday, October 27th but when things started to fall in place we decided to head out a day early.

We didn't get past Havre, Montana but at least we were on our way. I had an appointment in Kindersley at 10:00 am and then we had a quick visit with Auntie Inga along with Uncle Doug snd Aunt Doreen.

We arrived in Havre just in time for a quick bite and the third game of the World Series. Both of us are fairly tired and enjoying the quiet evening.

Tomorrow we will stop at Helena after doing a bit of shopping in Great Falls.

I Want to Go Back

We arrived home yesterday around noon and by 1:00 we knew we were in for a long episode with our water. The sump pump had quit working [must have just happened before we walked in the door] and there was water rushing into the pit, just as if someone had opened a garden hose.

Fred replaced the sump pump immediately hoping it was just a high water table, but when that didn't work we had to call the town crew in at 9:30 at night.

They tried to turn off the outside water at the street, but the valve sheered off so we were stuck with this running water all night. Luckily the sump pump was able to keep it at bay, even if it meant running every 60 seconds.

This morning the town brought in a huge hydro vac truck to dig out the shut off valve to keep the water out of our house. Success! The town had to pay for that work, but now our part starts at $280/hour.

Fred and I had to remove part of our front deck so the hydro vac would fit and they could start trenching.

We have the crew digging under the deck right now trying to locate the water line, but so far no luck! Will keep you posted!

Travelling Quickly

We are in Havre, Montana with the intention of getting home tomorrow afternoon. This is approximately two weeks earlier than usual so we are seeing a lot more white stuff than we would like.

The drive has been relatively easy with no delays or slow downs. The weather was extremely hot until after Laughlin, Nevada and it has kept going down each and every day. Today it was +6C when we left Helena at 8:30. Shorts and sandals no more!

We stopped briefly in Las Vegas on Sunday to have brunch with Diane....muffins and mimosas!!

The Prius has held out just fine this winter...maybe a few more nicks and dents than when we started out in October, but great gas mileage. We did have to put new tires on in Laughlin and get a wheel alignment....maybe tope damage and maybe not!

Not as Many

This year the crowds at Semana Santa seem to be down a bit so the traffic is manageable. Even so, we went for a long walk today to check out the partying and to see what was happening on the only road into San Carlos.

We ended up at one of the few bars that stayed open and had a really great time with the Mexicans and even a few Americans. We really do more than go to the beach! The band was pretty good, but I'm not so sure about their equipment.

The police were manning the turn arounds...usually they are barricaded, but not this year!

Dennis and Fred found a friend...even if she didn't want to talk to them.

We did have fun but were home by 4:30, just to make sure we weren't out and about when the real partying starts! Walking amongst 100,000 to 150,000 partiers doesn't appeal to anyone of us!

More and More

For some reason Gloria and I just can't stop making our candied Jalapeños...we did it again yesterday! This time we bought 14 kilos of peppers, the most ever! I ended up with 24 jars, Gloria kept 12 jars and we gave away 10 large jars.

I think I might need an intervention!

My expression tells how we really felt about this process after two hours of cutting. We still had the processing ahead of us and we were contemplating throwing the darn things in the garbage!

Anyone want jars and jars of candied peppers? They will be in Eatonia on April 12th!

A Little Scare

Garbage collection in San Carlos has always been an issue and this year it is even more so. The city of Guaymas, in all its wisdom, has decided that because Tecalai [our park] is a horizontal condominium we will no longer be receiving city collection. And, yes, we are wondering where our taxes are going!

We are to hire our own private collectors and we are willing to do so if we could find a reliable company....Sonoran garbage collection is not really a refined system.

Enough of my rant and on to today's scare for Fred. We had to drive into Guaymas to pay our trust this morning and decided to take one small bag of garbage to leave in one of the city dumpsters.

Fred was just approaching the dumpster and was throwing the bag into it when a homeless man popped up. He was right in the dumpster collecting food scraps and was startled when Fred approached....no more so than Fred when the guy suddenly appeared! I thoroughly enjoyed the scene from the safety of the car!!

Back Home

We arrived in San Carlos on Friday and haven't had a chance to catch our breath yet. This is one busy little town.

Last night our backyard neighbour picked me up to go to play bingo...she drives a golf cart and wanted to give me a ride. She is so proud of the vehicle and her ability to drive it around Tecalai!

And she should be proud...she is 96 years young and still going strong!!

She is celebrating with other neighbours after her victory in bingo.

Saskatoon residents...do you recognize the gentleman in the picture?

From Coast to Coast

We are settled into Morelia tonight and are enjoying the fact that the busiest part of the drive is over. The drive from Villahermosa to Tula is the toughest by far...lots of trucks carrying oil from Veracruz to various parts of Mexico.

While driving we usually have a system that works for both of us. I do the look out part and Fred does the driving, but today wasn't one of those days. Fred decided that the GPS system was completely out to lunch and went into Morelia on his own. Needless to say, I disagreed and I won't bother you with what transpired between us!! We did make it without incident and we are still talking, so that is good!

Tomorrow we have a short four drive to the town of Tequila. We plan on doing a tour of the Jose Cuervo distillery, which is strange since neither of us like tequila. Maybe we will learn tomorrow.

Safety First

Our friend went to Cozumel on Wednesday while Fred and I were golfing. Thankfully Mo left on an early ferry as this is what happened to one of the later ferries....explosion with 25 injured.

Speculation has ranged from payback to propane explosion to cartel....the real answer may never be released. Today when we went to Playa Del Carmen the pier was mostly closed and people were being transported by bicycles to an alternative pier.

While some people worried about this event, many Mexicans just continued on with their lives and took a break whenever possible.

Just Watching

We went to see the manatees the other day and it just happened to be feeding time so we were able to watch the workers giving them lettuce and mingling with them.

One of the manatees is expected to give birth any day now...how exciting would that be!

Working

Puerto Aventuras is growing and the work never seems to stop. These guys are working on the building next to our condo....swarms of them!

Our Condo

This is our condo...we are on the top floor with the blue/white towels visible.

The last photo is a view from our balcony.

A Few Too Many

We were trying to decide what we were doing today and which glasses we would need! This getting old sucks!!

Chili and More Chili

We went to the local Chili Cookoff to sample some of the contestant's Mexican versions. We tried pork, beef and who knows what other kind of chili.

There were ten samples and none of us could eat much of any of it...very poor, but the money went to a good cause!

Guests

We went to watch the Super Bowl [in English] at "The Pub" and part way through the game we had a visitor. If the game didn't keep people entertained this monkey sure did.

Long Time on the Road

We left San Carlos on November 27th and arrived at our final destination of Puerto Aventuras yesterday, February 3rd.

We travelled 3400 kms across Mexico with 43 toll booth stops at a cost of $285 Cdn, not including payment at a blockade allowing us to pass through. Would do it again in a heartbeat!

Our condo is very comfortable, but we are still settling in so don't have everything the way we want it yet.

We will take a video of the unit next week and try to post it here.

A Little Pulling

Today's agenda consisted of hiring a car and driver to see the cenotes at Cozuma [Cooze a maw]. It was an hour's drive north of Merida and well worth it, even if I did feel a little sorry for the horse!

The only way to get to all three cenotes is by horse drawn cart on old narrow gauge henequin train tracks.

The first of the cenotes was a little scary....it was located in a cave that we had crawl down old rickety  ladders to reach. Very nice when we did get there.

The last cenote had the most appealing water and was easily accessible with very little climbing.

The horses only make one run per day so I hope that means they are well fed and treated okay. The driver system must be run on a cooperative idea because after our driver and horse were finished another horse and driver moved in to take the next group.

A Little Touring

Today we hired a car and driver to take us to Uxmal to see the ruins and it was everything we remembered from our previous visits.

This is a pretty special place and I would visit every year if possible. The vendors are kept outside the gates allowing people to roam the ruins at their leisure and not be pestered constantly.

The weather was perfect for walking and climbing.

A Few More Pictures

I have a few pictures of our drive from San Pancho on the west coast to Merida. The scenery changes as do the people. We left San Pancho and drove through jungle and hills to get to the flat plains around Mexico City. We drove [accidentally, of course] through some mountains by Orizaba and finally we reached the flatland of the Yucatan.

At nearly every tope and red light there are vendors selling food stuff of some sort...it may be a truck load of tomatoes or it may be pineapple juice on the side of the road.

The methods of transportation vary from walking with your herd in the mountains to a tuk tuk in the cities.

And as usual in the State of Yucatan the military presence is very noticeable. For the first time in many years we were asked to produce our tourist passes and identification.