Into the New year

Christmas Day was lots of fun, but Cheryl has already blogged about it, and she has pictures!
http://cheryl-dan-mexicanmadness.blogspot.com/

We built a gingerbread house from a kit given to us by Tanya's mom. I've never done that before, it was fun! The artist at work...such concentration....




The weather is mild but pretty cool at nights- it's 62 F when we get up. But we have heat, so we take the chill of and open blinds and drapes and let the sun warm the house. During the day it's really nice.



Thinking of Alicia- How are you, sweetie?? And how about you, Larry?

Christmas in Mexico is pretty noisy, but it seemed louder last year, I think we've just tuned a lot of it out. Lots of fireworks and especially firecrackers. Last year on Christmas Eve Shadow was trembling, but this year when there was a particularly loud one he'd just lift his head and look at us. As long as we weren't worried, he wasn't either.

We went out for dinner Christmas Eve to a certain restaurant. It was OK, but not great. My food was cold, it took forever to get a waitress and the bill was messed up, but still fun was had by all. All in all I'd rather go to the Parrot on half price day.

People in the market are buying these little fruits up like crazy! Bags of them!


What are they? I don't know! But they have no taste, so it must be for a recipe of some kind.


At Dan's place, some guys came by asking for work and when there was none, they backed up quickly- right into my door! And then took off. We were all down at the beach, this was reported by Dan's workers. Oh well, what are you gonna do? Right?



New Year's Eve is going to be quiet, I don't see us going out anywhere. What's everyone else doing?

Feliz Navidid part two

We arrived at the event at Shrimp Plaza last Saturday three hours before it was supposed to end. And it was pretty much over. Oh well, they got lots of toys and blankets.



Cheryl met Sebastian, Oswaldo and Mary Sol's son. Last time she saw him he was a tiny infant.


A few Christmas lights around town. I didn't try to take any more, it's no use without a tripod and some talent.



The boys next door have finally become friendly towards me. The other day we saw them marching around with boxes on their heads, so I popped out to take a picture. They're awfully cute. Last year all we ever got was a scowl from them, but now they wave and smile.


On Saturday, Carl came inside wide-eyed and said, "Well, you don't see that every day!". It seems that there was a brown horse with a blond mane just racing, riderless, down the street next to our house.

Later that same day, some of the local teenagers were playing soccer outside. And let me just interject, I love how the people here are so flexible. They play soccer and baseball on the sand streets, but when a street gets paved, next thing you see is a basketball net mounted on a street pole. But I digress. A ball bounced into our yard, and they politely asked Carl if they could get it. He let one of them in, and Shadow was going crazy in the house, so Carl let him out. If someone is invited in, Shadow will go and say hi like the guy is his best friend. Usually. This time apparently he went for the guy's ass. Only got cloth, but the guy was over the fence pretty fast.

Carl apologized, and the guy said it was no problem, laughing. Then he went off and returned with five beautiful grapefruit from the tree in his back yard, I guess to show that everything was fine. Carl doesn't like grapefruit, but I love it!

The Thirsty Parrot is having a half-price on everything sale this week.




The four of us went for dinner there last Friday and got out with a bill of $42, so we tipped pretty big.

On Friday we're going over to Cheryl and Dan's, where I will be "celebrity cook". I like their kitchen much more than ours, and as Dan said, they consider toast or microwave popcorn to be cooking. Here's the tentative menu:

Vietnamese Salad rolls (the only non-Mexican dish)
Crisp Chicken Flautas with homemade salsa and sour cream
Queso Fundido (Kind of a Mexican fondue)(serve with tortillas and pieces of anaheim peppers)
Tacos de Guisado- seafood stewed in tomato sauce on a tortilla
Ancho chiles stuffed with tuna and potato salad
Slices of filet mignon with rajas con crema

Thanks, Pattie, for the cookbook!

That's it till after the New Year, we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Feliz Navidad!

Publish Post

Feliz Navidid part one

Well, everyone, it's still been a slow week, this flu is hanging on like a... like a... nope, I can't come up with anything that's not rude.

It's getting cooler here, Carl even had to haul out the gloves one day!



The town's starting to be decorated up, here are some shots of city hall. I love the fake snow on the trees.






Cheryl and Dan and I are going to a little fiesta today for a toy drive. Cheryl and I went out and bought some toys yesterday, that was fun.

Here they are winding up for the event- it goes until 7 PM tonight, so we're going around three, but it's certainly started!




It's great to have Cheryl and Dan here again, and if you want to see some shots of around town, check out Cheryl's blog- she's camera crazy!!

http://cheryl-dan-mexicanmadness.blogspot.com/

We all went out to Game Planet the other day, and here are some of her pictures that I stole:

This game was hilarious, you had rubber balls shooting out of an airgun, and were trying to shoot them through some holes. Sometimes it hit so hard that the balls bounced back at you! Other times they barely left the barrel.. bloop.









Merry Christmas, everyone!

Gringos got wheels and the flu

Hi, Everyone, we've been out with the flu all week, and the Nov 26 weekend we spent celebrating American Thanksgiving up in Phoenix. Even this will be a short blog, since there hasn't been much going on but a lot of coughing.

We are so happy to report that we have our car back, with a mostly rebuilt engine. Facebook followers will already know that. 5000 pesos($400) for pretty much a rebuilt engine. And it took us to Phoenix and back. We should really buy a little four-wheeler runaround for Mexico and keep the car for trips. But first, tax season! oh yay.

We are thrilled that Dan arrived with Taz and the van, and it's nice to see the van parked where it should be.


Cheryl isn't having as smooth a transition, as she finished work Friday with plans to fly down here early Saturday, and was promptly snowed in. I sent her this picture of our backyard to let her know once she gets down here it will all be better:


She has managed to get on a plane today, we think. If she got on the flight she was planning on, she should be in Phoenix within the hour.

We felt up to going for a beach walk on Friday:

Beach walk? Let's go!


The friends together again. Taz is staying at our place while Dan's picking Cheryl up. Taz will sit and let Shadow lick her face, and they like to have paws touching.


A girl in her element.

After a beach walk, the $3 beer. Nice location, don't you think?

That's a whale rib bone below.


It's a big beer for 3 bucks.


And dogs are allowed- what could be better?
i

For our golfing friends:


Did I say a short blog? That's pretty much it, folks, we're alive (we think), and hopefully will feel up to doing a bit more this week, although Friday was a cautionary tale, we did too much and had joint relapses yesterday. I've discovered an herbal tea here that loosens up the old chest though, so there's hope yet.

Last minute addition- a friend sent us some photos of the old neighborhood. So here you go:

Our house in Calgary today:


Our House in Mexico today:

What a day!

Yesterday we were invited out on the Pancho Villa. It was sunny and calm as we cruised out of the harbor, and by the time we anchored at the first fishing spot, jackets and sweatshirts were off. We got to talk to Ray, the captain this time. He was telling us about the overnight trips they take, and the whale watching tours.

He said he does one trip every year with just a bunch of locals. They overnight to the Golden Reef off the Baja, and everyone just sleeps wherever they can, bringing air mattresses and everything. He implied there was a lot of boozing, so I suppose everyone just sleeps wherever they pass out. Then they fish for 2 days, and steam back Sunday night. He wants to get us out on the whale-watching trip and later maybe some overnight fishing. He also dives, and here's a picture of him catching a lift on a whale shark.


On the way out Ray spotted some dolphins and they turned the boat that way. We got to watch them play and jump, and some of them followed the boat- they are FAST!!


I'm hoping one of the guys who had a camera will send me some of his shots. Unfortunately when you have a handful of fishing rod, it's hard to take pictures. Maybe next time I'll devise a way to wear it around my neck on a lanyard. Here's their main salon on the boat. The stern is behind those windows.



There were no chairs this time, and I decided to sit on a corner of the upper deck (basically on the roof of the salon) and fish from there. It was very comfortable, and also happened to be the most incredible place to catch fish!

For about an hour I was pulling in a fish and sometimes two every time I dropped the line! I lost count, but I think I caught about 30. I know my arms finally got so tired I had to stop. Chris on the other side was catching them equally fast. Both of us caught double triggers, which meant we were pulling up about ten to 15 pounds of fighting fish. Today my arms are actually a little sore, but I dreamed of fishing last night! It was just a great time.



While you're fishing, pelicans are floating near your line, eying you and your possible catch. One of them actually came over and grabbed one of my rock bass as I was pulling it out of the water! I didn't know what to do, and the crew shouted, pull it out!! So I did.

These guys and brown pelicans all around the boat.

A little later we saw a sea lion. Usually when you see a sea lion, suddenly the fishing dries up. Happened this time as well.


Ray told us of a superstition that doesn't allow bananas on a boat. If a captain sees that someone has brought a banana on board, he will likely cancel the trip.

Our friend Dan and Shadow's friend Taz arrive today!! In a knockout session of driving, Dan made it to Phoenix in 2 days. He's on his way here now, so we'd better get ready! What can I put in his house.... balloons? I know for Cheryl we could fill the place up with lime chips...we'll think of something.

Fishing Trip

We had Peter and Betty down last week from Apache Junction, and that was great! Peter has a new smoker and we reaped the benefits as he brought down a bunch of smoked ribs along with his special barbecue sauce. Man that was good! Come back soon!

Our car is still on the fritz, Oswaldo thinks he has a line on a new motor. We're going over there today for a visit to their new home, I might learn more then. Meanwhile, Tina was kind enough to loan us her Samurai- it makes me feel tough!!







In case anyone missed it in that last shot, Shadow in mid-ear flap.


It's bike rally week here, and we have been out to a bit of it. The Cellphone Cowboys were playing at JC's on Friday, and we sat on the patio and watched the action below. Tons of chromed-out bikes, and jeeps loaded with pretty girls, some of whom for some reason wanted us to see their breasts. We stayed out late for us, like 10:30!! Then yesterday we spent a bit of time at the Sandbar, where Tina was spanking people at their request. Why? Cause it's bike week!

Friday before we went to JC's, we went out on the Pancho Villa for a fishing trip. We left at 8 AM and got back at about 2:30. She's a 57-foot Californian. Annette, one of the owners, is working on getting advertising for the RPNO and while she's out, she talks up my website biz. I've just finished a website for Ramon's, www.lacocinaderamon.com.





Carl caught one before I did. This one went into the bait bucket.



We both caught rock bass, and I caught a triggerfish. The biggest fish caught was a triggerfish about 15" long, and about ten pounds. That one wasn't caught by us. There were 14 people on the boat besides crew. On the way home, they filleted and skinned the fillets, then bagged them up. We got about 3 pounds, and ate a pound that night for supper. The trigerfish was meaty and firm, and the rock bass was softer but a little bony. Tasty, though!







There was a really nice sunset on Friday, too, which we caught from our back yard.







Here's our newest addition, a little fireplace for the back yard. We tried him out last night. I think we need a name for him- anyone?