Helene has a birthday and we celebrate at Ladies Lunch!

 Yesterday was ladies lunch at El Parmar which is located right outside the gate of the Las Jaibas RV park where many of us spent numerous happy winters together.  

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On Monday it was our good friend Helene's birthday.  This is a photo I picked off her birthday post...

" The Lady in Red!" 

Ruth is our " party planner" and she was prepared with a special birthday hat for Helene.  It didn't want to stay on her head so she put a pointy one underneath but she still had to balance it on her head.  I think she looks like Queen Nefertiti!

Lots of us are readers and Helene had a favorite book with her..."Braiding Sweetgrass".  Pretty soon we were all sharing favorite reads.  Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese was my favorite this season.

Our happy birthday girl.  We don't get to see as much of Helene as we used to when she and Hal were in the RV park.   They now rent down in centro for the winter.  She loves it there but...she misses us too!

We are down to 6 as so many of the ladies have left for home.  Pat, Ruth, Marion, Helene and Mar.  

The waitress thought I should be in the picture too.  It was quiet in the restaurant as it was lunch time so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  It is a favorite as the sushi is very good here.  

Now that's a Nefertiti pose!  Hal and Helene are heading back to their home which is a Yurt in New Mexico.  Helene and I both chatted about how we missed our gardens and that it was time to get planting.  Marion joined in and we started discussing vegetables.

One of the vegetables I suggested was New Zealand spinach.  Not really a spinach but lovely, tasty green leaved plant and the it produces from spring until fall and .....it doesn't bolt in the hot weather!!  Marion was interested because her garden is in Saskatchewan and it gets hot there in the summer.   

Ruth and I shared three different kinds of rolls.  As she ordered two of them the leftovers went home with her.  They were all a combination of seafood...salmon, tuna, eel etc.  

Marion opted for a mixed teriyaki stir fry and it had lovely fresh vegetables that smelled delicious. 

Pat had a sushi roll too!

Mixed Teriakyi for Mar.

My salmon roll. 

My plate with all three rolls.  The one on the left is wrapped in tuna and I liked it the best. 

Ruth's tuna roll..😋 delicious!

Artfully presented.

Helene ordered the chicken teriyaki and it was very good.  

Me and the " birthday girl" trying to hold her hat on!

When the restaurant staff figured out it was Helene's birthday they presented her with a shot of Tequila and a chocolate dessert with her name on it and....they played happy birthday on their music system.  Helene was very touched by the whole birthday lunch and said it was the best birthday she'd ever had.  Isn't that nice!!

The birthday candle was lit and Helene made a wish and ....no she didn't tell us.😁  She is a very spiritual person so I'm sure it was something close to her heart.

Isn't that sweet!  Helene said it was very tasty but she was so full from lunch she had to take it home with her. She also took her special party hat with her too.  We all spent our time together discussing all sorts of things and reminisced about our happy times in the RV park together.  We all agreed that we were all very lucky to have met so many nice people and that we have  remained friends over the years. Only Pat is still in the RV park now but we all remain in the Mazatlan area and stay close through our weekly lunches, cards and bingo over the winter season.  

A really lovely lunch experience with good friends and really good food!

Thanks to Ruth for planning the birthday with party hats and especially the home made on for Helene.  😊

 

Eric rides to Celestino while i go to ladies lunch!

Last Tuesday while we ladies went for lunch Eric took a ride up to Celestino Gazca.  He went north on the free road and then came across to Estacion Dimas, got onto the toll road going through an army check point which is not normally there but with all the cartel nonsense the army was sandbacked in with troop carriers.  Makes you feel really safe! North on the toll road took the Celestino exit over top of the toll road and into the village.  He road down to an area by the water and parked the bike.  He took a walk to look at the beach and see if he could find a restaurant.  When he got back to bike and was getting ready to leave a car pulled up at high speed and four guys jumped out.  Turns out they were young guys and they started walked really fast towards him...first thought oh, oh what's this about.  When they got closer one guy started saying photos, photos.  It turned out that they wanted photos of the bike.  Eric said " no espanjol"  but one on the young guys spoke perfect English and said they'd like some pictures of the motorcycle.  He had grown up in California and was sent to live with his grandmother in La Cruz when he was young.  

It turned out they had just finished their graduation with the robes etc. in La Cruz and were heading to the beach.  The guy second from the left spoke perfect English.  Eric showed them how everything worked and it was really interesting to them as the Tiger is run by a computer screen.  There are lots of small bikes in Mexico but most of them aren't sophisticated.  They wanted to get pictures of themselves on the bike so Eric said " sure, go ahead."  They also wanted to know what it would cost.  Eric said the way it sits about Triumph Tiger 900 is about $20,000. US with all the boxes etc.

They're all checking their phones to make sure the photos of themselves are good.  The little guy on the right was too short to touch the ground on the bike.  They wanted to know if Eric knew any Spanish and he said " comida" which means lunch and they all had a good laugh.  They wanted to know where he was from and he said 🇨🇦  Canada.  They likely don't see many Canadians and certainly not this year.

Eric had shrimp tacos here with great big shrimp inside.  Lunch was a bit slow as they had a wood fire to boil the shrimp.  It was pretty well the only place that was open. 

You just never know who you'll meet when you're out on the motorcycle.  Just a real nice group of young guys who like motorcycles.  They were surprised that Eric was out riding by himself.  

He went back the free road and came back through Marmol to the toll road wind so he didn't have to pay the toll.  Always a new adventure.  

 

La Marea for ladies lunch and we had fun!

 Yesterday we had our last " large group" ladies lunch of the season.  By next week we'll be down to five and many of our lunches had 12 to 13 ladies this season.  Yesterday we were seven and we were going to La Marea which is located at the south end of Mazatlan perched up high on a hill next to the Observatory.  It has almost a 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape and is a lovely place to have lunch.  Lots of people are driven up just to take pictures. Ruth didn't come but she was kind enough to order us an Ariga or red truck to take us to the restaurant.  In the earlier years we used to travel by red truck a lot but in the last few years not so much.  The weather was lovely yesterday until....the sea fog rolled in!

Susie, Me, Marion and Mary.  I took a picture of Marilyn, Mar and Cathy but it wasn't flatteering so ....I left it out!

Coming onto the malecon and it's socked in.  

Looking forward and there are lots of people enjoying the day. 

The landscape is changing and there are more and more towers along the beach.  Hope it doesn't end up looking like Miami!

Here we're heading up the hill. 

The road winds around through houses and ends up behind the Observatory.  I could hear the caged birds screeching when we arrived.  

Looking northwest and I thought the photo was better in black and white. 

We're out of the auriga and heading up to the top viewing area and the restaurant. 

A good area to sit.

Looking south east down to the harbor. 

The street is below and there are a huge amount of steps to get there.  You can the stairs on the left.  Up ahead the causeway goes out to the lighthouse which people climb up to see how fit they are!  New this year is a zip line the goes across the water from the Observatory to the top of the lighthouse.  That's not on my " bucket list!"

We started out on the top level of the restaurant but in the end it was just too cold, windy and uncomfortable so we came down to the second level and it was just lovely.  We were pretty much the only people in the restaurant.  

That's Marilyn and in behind you can see the Mazatlan marina where the cruise ships, ferries and cargo ships dock.  

We ordered drinks first and then lunch and in no time we were served.  Marion ordered fish and chips.  Good with a very light breading but...no tartar sauce. 

Fish and chips for Mary too. 

Marilyn said that since she was leaving on Sunday she was having coconut shrimp.  I told her to smile and so....

.....she did!

Very good and nice light coating on the shrimp. 

Mar ordered and Asian bowl...it had a name but...I don't remember. 😁

Looks appetizing. 

Cathy and I each ordered a different sushi roll.  Crunch roll for me and the La Marea roll for her.  Filled with different seafood, vegetables and wrapped in rice.  We enjoyed every bite. 

Crunch roll. 

Me carefully getting half of mine onto Cathy's plate. 

Everyone happily eating. 

Nagiri for Susie.  With eel and tuna I think. 

Susie's not a big eater so that was just the right lunch. 

No one down the other end of the restaurant but that will change over the day.  It isn't a restaurant you can just walk into so you need a car or transport of some kind.  

As not everyone was prepared to walk down the 150 or more stairs we had asked the auriga to come back for us at 2pm.  That gave us lots of time to eat, drink and be merry!  All in all it was a very relaxing afternoon and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  Lovely view and venue, good service, good food and lots of time to relax and chat.  

Cargo ship coming in to dock. 

Back up the stairs to the top and there is lots to see.  

Marilyn and Marion coming up from the lower level. 

Lots of pleasure boats moored here.

The commercial docks.  You can catch a ferry to La Paz here. 

I'm guessing that's all new cars waiting to move to a dealership somewhere. 

The auriga driver was waiting to take us home and Susie said he was asleep so maybe he just waited for us. We were very generous with our tip so with the fare both ways that was probably a good days wages.  The tourists are thinning out right now so there isn't as much work for them right now.  By mid April it will be Semana Santa or Easter and things will be hopping again.  Above is one of the many beautiful statues along the malecon.  We enjoyed our ride home and everyone had a really nice afternoon.  Next week we'll have a teeny tiny ladies lunch!