Friday 31 December 2021

Happy New Year!!

WHERE ARE WE? La Penita, Mexico

Well 2021 has come and gone with a lot of fanfare.  I won't even go where my thoughts could take me about the events of the past 12 months other than to say that I feel truly blessed to have spent the last 3 months away from the drama and restrictions of Canada.  Don't get me wrong, Canada is my home and I am proud to be Canadian, but they have fallen so short of providing good leadership in the recent past.  While I was checking the -34C temps back there, I also felt blessed as I stepped in the pool to cool myself from the +27C sunshine here. 


Archie and I headed down the beach for a little walk for him.  He is still very interested in all the things along the way that he has never seen before.  One of them is the little puffer fish that wash up on shore.  They are like an aquatic porcupine except their quills don't come off, they just poke and are very sharp.  Archie actually found a way to pick this one up and very gingerly carried it for a little bit before giving up and dropping it.



There is a little site swap happening today in the park.  Our neighbour next door is moving up a couple sites for the next month.  I think they are sort of relieved that they won't have Archie near them.  Archie has not been the best neighbour to them and they have been wary of him since the beginning.  They have a dog that is the exact opposite of Archie disposition wise, so his aggressive spirit can be overwhelming to them 



I had to dash up town to get some last minute provisions to get us through tomorrow.  We are getting like the Mexicans in that we kinda just get what we need to eat for tonight's' supper and up to tomorrows supper.  Today was a loaf of bread and a pineapple and a bone for Archie from the Carneceria.  If I walk to town on the streets, I have to go over a walking bridge across the estuary, and sometimes there are some neat things to see.  Today I saw an alligator (about 6ft long), an iguana, and a squirrel.  I watched a lot of fish jumping right in front of the alligator, but he didn't seem interested.




After I got back from the town we spent some time at the palapa watching all the action on the beach.  There are actually quite a few people on the beach and a bit of boat traffic as well.  



Every time I take a picture through our security fence I can hear Johnny Cash singing Folsom Prison.  Pictures make it look like we are in a lockdown, when actually the fence is not that bad and it keeps the people on the beach from wandering in and out of the park.  You don't really see it as much just sitting there, but a picture really brings it out.  As soon as you step back, you can see that it is tastefully done.


I must admit that I like to find weird things around me that make me chuckle and they stir up the story teller (Sue calls it BSer) in me!!  I wonder if this oddity was done on purpose because of something in the wall that prevented the pipe from being centered, or if it was just one of those, "its close enough" sort of things. When they tried it first and it splashed all over the counter, I can hear the guy say "hold my cervaza" and grab it and give it a twist!  There!!  Does it work?  It works perfectly well but it would drive an OCD person crazy.  The Mexicans are true craftsmen with wood and cement and stone, but obviously plumbing is just a means to transport water!!!  Our friends Todd and Tyler Gill of Gill's Plumbing back home, would have a fit if their guys did this!! LOL



We had a little bit of excitement tonight when Pat and Harolds dog Murphy started to vomit and couldn't walk and was almost non responsive.  He is just a tiny Yorkie.  Very scary.  Jeff and Suzanne here in the park got some hydrogen peroxide into him fairly quickly to clean out his stomach.  Then we took him to Pats friend Heather and she had a charcoal concoction for him.  All of their quick thinking obviously was great if this was a poison or something he had ingested.  A big part of the problem was two things.  Number 1- it is new years eve so finding a vet would be hard even if there was no language barrier and Number 2 - the language barrier.  Between Pats friend Heather and Kenia, they came up with a vet clinic that would look at him.  A young vet gave him IV and did some tests and said she thinks he will now be ok.  Whew, that is good news.  He looked a lot better when we got him home.  My theory is that he picked up a butt of a marihuana joint and ate it.  Like I say, only my opinion. Whatever the cause, the little guy is up and running so we are thankful for all the people who chipped in to help.


When we got home they had started a fire down at the palapa. We were going to ring in the new year down there.  As it turned out everyone went their separate ways shortly before midnight.  We all brought in the new year with the people we love.  



Happy New Year everyone.  Hope you experience everything you need in the coming year.



Thursday 30 December 2021

We Finally saw a Whale Show

WHERE ARE WE? La Penita, Mexico

It was market day today and we headed downtown about 9 to find a few things.  We like to buy some bread and cheese there and a few other odds and ends always pop up.  It is the same junk every week but we can always find lots that we didn't see last week.  It is good exercise as well for us old folks.


There was a guy there who was doing the ball under the 3 lids scam.  It is a good magic trick but he is trying to get people sucked into putting a few pesos down for him to take.  I watched numerous times and he made it obvious which lid the ball was under, but if he had someone on the hook, it wouldn't be there.  It was only under the obvious one if just his planted players were betting.  Lots of money would change hands, but it was obvious that they were in on it.  Check the lady in yellow and the guys with the black and white hats.  I watched an old Mexican lose about 2000 peso's which I'm sure he couldn't afford.  A guy told me that they prey on the elderly, kinda like the phone scams at home.


When we got done at the market we stopped for something to eat.  Guess where?  Yup Kenia's little place.  She has some good things on the menu.


Oscar was helping out by being the runner for her.  


When we got home we lazed for a while and then went out to the palapa.  I saw some boats going by quite fast along with the big party boat from Rincon de Guayabitos.  That only means one thing..... whales.  And I was right.  We got a good show from a couple of them breaching way up and then splashing down.  Of course no one had a phone to get a picture of the good show.  I saw that the boats were following them back toward us so I went and got my phone for a few shots.  There is nothing more breath taking than seeing these beautiful creatures.




If you look close just by the small boat you will see the tail of a whale that breached and then in the next photo you see the big splash.  They got a good show didn't they?



Our local fisherman was not so lucky today.  He only caught 2 fish in his great big net.  I have no idea what they were, but he wasn't very excited about them.



And that was pretty well what kept us entertained today.  Of course the sunset, I take back my promise not to show the sunset.  If you don't like sunset pictures then there is a little scroll slide on the side for you to move past them.  Tonight was special.


The sunsets are romantic and this awesome couple danced while the last light of day slipped away.



On my way back to the Ponderosa I noticed again that Site 3 is still empty after our friends Dan, Jackie and Maina have moved on to Los de Marcos.  We hope they have a great time in their travels and hope to see them again some time.


Yesterday I went and purchased some shrimp so tonight we cooked them up.  Susan made up a garlic butter sauce and along with some rice, they made a great supper.  De-veining is not her favorite job.


After supper I walked downtown to get some exercise.  It is not very far, but at least it works off a bit of the supper.   I saw this delivery truck at the local store and thought of our supplier for CJ's.  At home, Tim does all of the offloading by himself and this truck had at least 8 kids doing the work.  Drew, you need to rethink how you load your trucks.  This one had to be loaded a full 15 feet to the top and I am going to bet it was over weight as well.




Archie all played out from a big game of tug and settled in to chew on his bone.  It's been a good day again today, and tomorrow will bring another year to a close.  Hope your day was great too!!


This may make you smile!!





Wednesday 29 December 2021

A Swim in the Ocean

WHERE ARE WE? La Penita, Mexico

We lazed about for the first part of the day today.  I went and got some propane, had a visit with Sergio, and then another visit with Kenia before heading home for a nap.  Kenia told me that her and Oscar might be coming over later to swim in the ocean.  That will make for an interesting afternoon.  About 2:30 they showed up.  Kenia brought her friend Alejandra too.  We grabbed out chairs and the boogie board and headed out to the beach in front of our resort. 


Oscar and I headed out into the ocean for a swim.  It was a nice easy day in the water because there were no breakers to fight, just a nice little swell to float up and down on.


We have a guy that flies an ultralight parachute past almost every day.  Today we were fortunate enough to be in the water and we waved at him and he swooped right down within about 6 feet of our heads.  He looks like he has so much fun.  I'm sure we will see lots more of him this winter.




We got all dried off and decided to go for a walk up to the back gate of the big RV Park on the hill to see what may have changed.  Got a quick snap of the sunset on the way out.  


We got to the old gate and saw what has been going on since we were here 2 years ago.  There was a lot of cement work happening at that time, but it looked pretty primitive.  Well there is nothing primitive about what is there now.  Wow!!!  There is a really posh looking resort there now. 



I took a picture through the front door.  There is even a waterfall up in the back.


I will have to go back another day to investigate this more.  I don't think they are quite finished yet because the lower level still needs a lot of work.  We walked back down our streets and although the resort is fancy, there is not a feel of Mexico like there is in the back streets.   This is the culture we come looking for, not the bright shiny stuff.



I love some of the flowers that just grow because they can.  They are on bushes and weeds and just everywhere.  This particular one has wee tiny white flowers on the inside of it.



Our park is beginning to get crowded. We have some families here just for the holidays and they will be leaving soon but right now it is busy.  They need to be busy to make up for last year when there were not many people here.


We decided to head down to Kenia's El Cafecito for supper.  She is making Pina Pollo  (Pinapple Chicken Wings) again tonight so that's what Sue and I had.  Pat and Harold had the BBQ chicken wings and cheesecake.  Its was all quite tasty.


Kenia has a very small area to cook but she does a great job of turning out the tasty food.  She is a natural with a bit of abuela's training.  She hopes to get a bigger place when she builds her business up more.


 She has a very interesting painting hanging on her wall that a friend did for her.  It is about 6 ft by 4 ft and has a lot of interesting colours. 


Well that was the end to our day.  We went home to play with Archie for a while.  Archie still needs a lot of work to make him into the perfect travelling dog.  But he sure has a cute face!!!  Goodnight.