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?
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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?

2 dumb gringos blow up their car

OK, this will be short and sweet because I'm wiped out- what a day! We packed up for our trip to Phoenix and were on the road at 7:30. At about 8:15 the car stalled, we pulled over and there was steam pouring from under the hood.

When the steam cleared, the rad was empty. Carl spotted a broken hose and we hoped that was the problem. Still, it wasn't looking good for getting to the book sale on time. We tried to flag someone down, and finally after a while a Koppel truck driver stopped. He told us there were no Green Angels on this road. By the way, all the conversations related here were almost totally in Spanish, no one spoke English. Which is fair enough, since it IS Mexico.

We decided that I'd go with Javier the truck driver and try to get a tow truck in Sonoita. We were about halfway there. Carl would stay with the car. Which works out well, because I like these kinds of adventures and if I stayed with the car, my head would explode. Whereas Carl was able to have a little nap.

Javier's truck was full, so the fastest he could go was 60 kmh. But we got there. We even chatted a bit. He grabbed something to eat for his breakfast, (he was headed for Mexicali), and then we went to a mechanic. That person couldn't help. So Javier took me to a taxi stand and explained what I needed.

Soon Manuel came over, and he said he was a mechanic and could give us a tow. There's a new word- remolque. I was glad I had my English/Spanish dictionary. Manuel took me in his taxi, and first we went to his place to get the keys, then to the school to get the truck from his son, then to his brother's place to pick up a trailer, some water and tools, and his brother. And we were off. Got back to the car about 9ish. In conversation I learned (I asked) that Manuel has 6 children. He grinned and thumped his chest. Virile!!

I was able to tell him in Spanish that it was a red car, in a rest area on the left, just after a curve, as we approached the area. So we loaded it up and went back to the brother's place. I got to ride in the car on the trailer, that was fun. I had a plan that if the trailer broke free I would start the car so that when I hit the airbag would deploy.

Manuel and his brother took it apart and we took the radiator to a...guess what? a radiator place. Where they basically flushed it and rebuilt it. Completely. Took about an hour and a half. And cost $1565 pesos. Then Manuel took us to a bank at my request, and then we bought a thermostat and a tube of some goo and a bottle of coolant. $265 pesos, are you keeping track?

Back at the shop, which was outdoors, we watched the buzzards hover overhead( no, really!), and tried to talk to another really nice man who had two of his 8!! kids with him. These kids were beautiful. Yes, one thing I know how to ask, ¿cuántos hijos tiene?

Now it's about 2:30 Carl and I are saying, ok, we'll skip the book sale and just go visit Peter and Betty, that will still be fun, and we can have a hot tub, stay tomorrow, we can still do a little shopping, it'll be great.

About 3:30 the car's all back together. They ask me to start it, but there's still a lot of steam. Shut down, work some more, start again, the gauge is going up towards hot awfully quickly. Now I have three guys all talking to me in rapidfire Spanish. They see the deer in the headlights look and then just one guy speaks, slowly and with a few English words thrown in. Seems the cabeza (head gasket) is blown. The motor basically needs to be rebuilt.

It would take 2 or 3 days there. Can we drive it back to Puerto Peñasco? They don't think it would be wise. Maybe if we stopped every 2 or 3 kilometers and filled it with water, but water is coming out of the exhaust, they don't think we'd make it.

OK. OK.... how much would you charge to tow us back to Puerto Peñasco? At this point I'm just grabbing words at andom out of the dictionary, I'm tired. Carl is too, but we've both kept our cool. The have a chat, and for the work they've done, plus the towing they've already done, plus the tow back to PP, they say $3000 pesos. I say, ok, bueno!

So we get the car back up on the trailer, and we climb out the windows, get into the truck and we're home. We'll see a mechanic (Oswaldo's trustworthy guy) on Monday. Now we have to cab over to get Shadow, then we'll walk him home to work out the day's kinks.

Oh, the total? 4830 pesos, about $389 USD.