Hey Ron!!!

That's what Ron heard when he sat down to have a drink at a bar in Barra De Navidad. It was our friend Concetta from Victoria! What a small world to unexpectedly bump into someone you know here in Mexico.



Ron, Concetta and a couple of her friends ended up going to the rooftop bar of Hotel Alondra, where our friend Rocky works. They had a good time, so much of a good time that I was a little worried when Ron wasn't home by sunset, we had no way of calling each other. I had visions of the scooter breaking down and him being left pennyless on a dirt road somewhere. But I didn't need to worry, it's pretty safe around here and the people are very helpful, they'd probably fix his scooter, give him more Tequila and send him on his way. :)

Yesterday I wasn't feeling too hot, so I stayed in bed and read a book all day. I finished my Nora Roberts book Red Lily. It was a little creepy, it's the first Nora Roberts book I've read that has a ghost in it. I enjoyed it though, it kept my mind off my aching tummy.

I was feeling much better today, so Concetta invited us over to her daughter's house in Barra for a swim in the pool. I am determined after 40 years to learn how to swim. Ron was shocked when I jumped right in.





After our swim at Concetta's we went to Salamandera's in Melaque, we had a little dinner with our big happy hour drinks. Now it's time for bed, drinking gigantic Daiquiris are exhausting. Tomorrow it's Market day again, I'll be on the lookout for finding cheap Nike shoes for my son Austin, I'd better rest up.




Buenas noches.

Adina

Ok on to happier things now...

The other day we rode our bikes over to Barra De Navidad. Barra is a nice little town, I like it there because everything is so central. I have a terrible sense of direction, I keep getting lost in Melaque when I'm out riding my bike on my own. But I always seem to find my way home, as long as I can find the ocean I can make it back to the RV park. :)



I've been enjoying watching the surfers playing in the huge waves in Barra and the skim boarders on the shore here in Melaque. Last March there was a big skim board competition held on the beach in front of the Laguna Del Tule where we're staying. I have to find out if they're doing it again here this year. That would be cool to watch. I hear people come from all over to watch and participate, they blast loud music, drink, eat, it's a 3 day beach party. Sounds good to me.



Yesterday I went to a fundraising event benefiting the clean up of the lagoon. I had a good time, they had dancers, singers, a mariachi band and a buffet. No wonder I couldn't find a goat in Melaque, they keep putting all of them in their stew! In spite of the floating goat's head in the pot, I was brave and ate the stew. I passed on the brains though, I do have my limits.



Its another beautiful sunny day in Melaque, time to go lounge by the pool...hey check out the dude in the Speedo...omg.



Adina

My puppy Maya died today :(

I'm heartbroken.

Adina

Never try to milk a male goat in Mexico

We've met so many people from Vancouver Island here in Melaque, one of them is Shaer from Comox. When I took our new Chihuahua puppy to the vet he told me she was too young to be away from her mother, at the most she was only 5 weeks old. So for the past few days Shaer and I have been riding our bikes around Melaque on a quest to find goat's milk for the puppy.

The first day went around to the grocery stores asking for 'cabra de leche', every time we said it the locals would laugh, finally someone who spoke English said we were saying "Do you have any goat of the milk?", that is funny. The stores only sold goats milk cheese, so no luck with the goat of the milk.

The next day we decided we'd head out of town into the more rural areas to see if any of the farmers had goats milk. We thought there had to be goats around here somewhere, it's Mexico! We headed down the 200 highway and turned off into a little neighborhood. Most of the roads weren't paved, we rode our bikes down dirt roads with lots of potholes, it was a fun bumpy ride. On our journey we saw two little boys around 10 years old who were busy running down the street swinging machetes, and chopping up tall grass as they ran. We're definitely not in Kansas anymore. One of the boys smiled, winked, said "hayyy" then made an a-ok hand gesture to me as he ran by. I've heard some interesting catcalls around here lately but that one really made me laugh.

Ok back to the goat story...we got lucky and finally found a goat tied up in someones yard. We rode up to the house, which was humble and not much more than a shack, an older man came out, this time we said "Hola, leche de cabra?" to which he laughed and basically said in Spanish that his goat was male and it wouldn't be a good idea to try and milk him. No kidding, ouch those horns looked like they'd really do some damage. So off we went to look for a safe milkable goat. We reached a road made of really jagged rocks, I thought it may not be a good idea to ride over it, but Cher said something like ah we have mountain bikes we should be ok...nope she was wrong, a few minutes later she had a flat tire. We were in the middle of no where, a few miles outside of Melaque. Who carries a tire patch kit? not me.

The next thing we know the police are driving down the dirt road toward us, the scary police that everyone fears running into. They spoke little English but it was easy to see we needed help. They put our bikes in the back of their truck, we squeezed in on the passenger side, the big guy with the big automatic weapon got in the back with the bikes. I don't think I'll ever forget it, I thought it was so cool. They were great, they drove us to the gas station to fill up the tire, but it wouldn't hold air. Then they drove us to two different bike repair shops, both were closed. The Mexicans were sure wondering what the heck two gringo women were doing in a police truck, they were pointing and laughing as we drove around town.

When we arrived back at the RV park, we told Ron we'd been arrested by the Mexican police because we tried to milk a male goat, omg Ron's face was priceless!

So there you have it, the police weren't that scary after all, Miguel and Alfonzo saved the day. As long as you aren't carrying weapons or dealing drugs the police aren't going to bother you. In this case they we're very helpful and friendly.

We never did find any goats milk, I guess we'll keep trying, and we'll try to stay off sharp jagged rocks. :)

Adina

Made it to Melaque

We decided to make a right rather than a left and here we are in Melaque. I think this is the furthest south we're going, decided against going to Zihuatanejo. We're enjoying Melaque. It's a quaint village with cobble stone streets, dirt roads and friendly people. They have everything we need here, beaches, shops, restaurants, nothing big, no Walmart and no McDonalds thank god. The beaches are shallow with lots of sand and big waves. We're staying at Laguna del Tule, they have RV spaces and bungalows to rent. They have a pool, swim up bar and restaurant over looking the beach. We have a prime location in the park, right on the the beach. We have some fun partying neighbors, under 50 thankfully. Most days I've been drinking, swimming, playing Bocce ball in the day and drinking by the bonfire on the beach at night. Man this is a tough life.

As you can see from this picture, I'm looking more and more less like a gringo every day. The locals all think I'm Mexican and the gringos are shocked when they say hola to me in the morning and I reply with a hey how's it going. I hope they let me across the border going home.



We went out last night to Barra de Navidad, the town next to us. We went to a blues bar and grill called Piper Lover. It was full of Canadians. I drank a gallon there and then we moved on to a local nightclub called Jarro, pronounced Harro with a rolled Rrrrr. We had fun at Jarro's dancing and drinking with the locals. We grabbed a taxi back for a reasonable 50 pesos and arrived at the RV homestead at 3:30am. A good time was had by all, and now I need some Tylenol and a nap on the beach.

We're hoping to stay here for 2 weeks if we can keep our spot, we're here for a week for sure. If they can't find another spot for us we'll sick our new guard dog on them!

Ron

On the road again...

Hmmm Guadalajara or Tequila?

We've left Mazatlan and we're in Guadalajara now. On our way here we boon docked at an RV park in Teacapan. Boon docking is when you park right on the beach for the night. We had no power or air conditioning but we opened all the windows and it was quite comfortable. There's nothing like falling asleep to the sound of the ocean.

After visiting this 'ladies room' in Teacapan I don't think I'll ever complain about another Canadian restroom again, talk about a lack of privacy! Gotta love Senor Mustachio's commentary lol








Today we met our new Mexican friend Myrna and her adorable 2 year old son Ashton. If anyone's traveling to the Guadalajara area and needs a tour guide I can pass her information along. Myrna is a flight attendant and speaks great English.

Myrna took us on a tour of the historical area downtown (Centro Histórico) and to the Guadalajara Cathedral. The cathedral was built in the 1560's and took almost 50 years to build. The interior was gorgeous, I was in awe, it actually brought tears to my eyes. I didn't expect to be so emotional, it was just so beautiful and peaceful. The stained glass windows and murals were incredible. Everything was covered in gold, I've never seen anything like it.

A creepy part of our cathedral tour was visiting the coffins of the dead priests they have hiding in the basement. Equally as creepy was seeing the remains of a martyred little girl called Santa Inocencia (Saint Inocencia). I'm not sure why she was made a saint, Myrna tried explaining it to me but I couldn't pay attention because I was too freaked out. Her face isn't real but her hands and urn of blood are. Remind me to avoid this section next time.











Ok onto happier and less creepy things now...today we went shopping at a huge silver and gold mall downtown. Here they have high quality silver and gold, unlike the fake stuff we bought on the beach in Mazatlan. Ron bought a nice silver chain and a gold charm for his 'I Am' necklace. I bought a white gold chain and two charms, a Jewish star of David and a cross. Yes that's an odd mix, but hey so am I. :)

Adina

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's Flying Ronaldo!

Hola! from Ron

Today I was busy relaxing amongst the palm trees on the beach beside my wonderful 1987 motor home. She's working great, no problemo's.

Here's a lesson on buying silver in Mexico. Today we found out that when you spend only 300 pesos (about $27 US) on two sterling silver bracelets, they're probably not really silver even if they are stamped with 925. Our very convincing Mexican beach salesman with the big smile, said "Senor 925 is the best silver you can buy, see the stamp? I give you best price." So we bought. Then Adina was trying to take off a link to make the bracelet smaller and one of the links broke in half in her hands. She's gotta stop eating so many Wheaties or maybe we need to be more cautious with our beach purchases. After the fact, we found a webpage explaining what real silver in Mexico should look like, it's suppose to have the 925 stamped on it and it also has to have Mexico stamped on it, fake ones don't have the word Mexico on them. Live and learn.




For the last couple of days we rented a scooter to zip around with, sure beats walking. Yesterday after finding a beautiful deserted point overlooking Mazatlan we managed to get lost, ended up somehow on Highway 15 going south. When the traffic became unbearable I finally had to stop at a gas station and ask for directions. Getting directions was an experience in itself, we had 4 guys and a map and only one of us could speak English. And the solution was - go back! After making 2 lefts and a right we found our way back. Not blaming Adina cause she packed the translator and it helped with the street signs, but somebody should have brought along the GPS, maybe me? I'm not admitting anything. All in all we still had fun.



As it turns out, the guy from Manitoba who's parked next to us here at the RV park has a scooter for sale, and we've decided to buy it. So we're staying here in Mazatlan a little longer until he's ready to give it up. We'll be heading out of here on Monday morning, into the south and on to a hotter humid climate. My tan is going well, Adina is still pretty much white with a slight brown tinge. I've decided the rooftop of the motor home is a great place to tan. God I love the sun!

Oh and by the way does anyone have any Raid??



I just took this sunset photo from the roof of the motor home. Who needs expensive hotels with a view like this!

Ron

Bad Santa!

Well I've found out what Santa does during his off season...it seems he roams the streets of Mazatlan by night. I caught him with his pants down outside a bar downtown. I of course had to snap a quick pic as he was changing into his Santa suite, I cut off the top his head because I had no time to focus the camera oopsy. Santa was busy smoking and drinking beer with two 'ladies of the evening'. He'd hired them to walk around Mazatlan dressed as his helpers. The ladies didn't speak any English but they seemed to be good sports about it all...what a naughty Santa!

Adina

We're having a blast in Mazatlan!

We're at the Mar Rosa RV park in the middle of the hotel zone, right on the beach, it doesn't get much better than this. Its about 80 degrees during the day and a comfortable 70 at night. The sunsets are incredible. The sunset photo I've posted isn't edited, its like the sky is on fire, its amazing. Everything here is within walking distance or just a short Pulmonia ride to the markets and the nightclub zone. Pulmonia's are open air golf carts, like taxis, except they drive really fast, weave in and out of traffic and they blast loud music while their driving. Its quite the adventure. Our driver Saturday night played Michael Jackson for us on our way to the 'Disco' (as they call them here). Ron took video of our ride, in the video you'll hear him say we're in Manila, now that would be long drive! Its now a running joke with us, he never remembers where we are, where are we again?? ;)

We went to a really cool bar the other night called Sumbawa, its a funky beachfront club with a pool. Nightlife here doesn't start until 11pm, so if you show up early around 10pm there's no cover. Drinks are cheap too, 2 for 1 Corona's for only 4 bucks. I of course had my usual Kahlua, which they were making more like doubles or triples. I had so much fun.

Yesterday we went into Old Mazatlan for the afternoon. We visited the cathedral, checked out some abandoned buildings and had a delicious authentic Mexican lunch at an outdoor restaurant. We walked around for a few hours trying to find the flea market area, we finally found it but most of the shops were closed because it was Sunday. We'll have to go back again during the week. I think we're here for another 3 days. I'd love to stay longer. :)

Adina

Happy New Year from Mexico!

Yes we've made it. We crossed the border in Nogales with no problems, no searches or loss of any fruit. When we crossed the border into the US they did an hour long search, made a mess of our stuff only to apprehend a bag of grapes and one potatoe. (I'm not sure where they found the potatoe) This time we got to keep our grapes woo hoo lol.

Aside from hearing what we thought were gunshots all night, we had a quiet New Years eve in Hermosillo, Mexico. (not sure what was going on with the gunshots, hmmmm fireworks maybe??)

Now we're off to sunny Mazatlan!

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year.

Here's one of my favorite New Years quotes:

Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. A majority of people revert back to how they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you to a new resolution. I challenge you to just be yourself. - Aisha Elderwynv


Have a wonderful 2010.

Adina