The park has a visitor.

 

Thursday, December 30, 2010

I saw people running to the back of the park this morning with their cameras and so I grabbed mine and ran too!

I wasn’t aware that we had boa constrictors here but apparently we do.  This snake was about six feet long and was just inside the fence.  Sam picked it up and he is still alive to tell about it!  I’ll bet it would make short work of a small dog and I certainly wouldn't want to be sleeping outside in a tent as it would probably want to cuddle up!

On the other side of the fence!

Pizza night, Fred’s treat for Marian’s birthday.

Just in case you think that the only thing the people in this park do is eat, well, you are right!
Fred invited the whole park for pizza last night.  How nice was that.  All we had to do was bring a chair and a drink and dinner was served.  Wonderful. 
Just as I was walking down to the party the pizza delivery guys (Mexican style) showed up.  They use small motorcycles for everything here and pizza delivery is no exception to the rule.  20 pizza boxes on two motorcycles, no problemo!  Usually they can get the whole fam damily on one so this was easy. 

Pizza delivery Mexican style.
 

All set up.
The pizza was unloaded and set up between John & Ida and Fred and Marian’s rigs.  Lots of room with big tables set up.
John and Ida with poodles Joey and Molly are here for a short stay before heading south.  The are from Sooke, on Vancouver Island, B.C.  and have stayed next to us before.  Really good neighbors.


Time to eat!
The pizza was delicious- from Domino’s and was followed by birthday cake.

Pat and Connie.

Sandy asked Marian how many happy birthday’s she’d had and Marian replied “ Well, most of them were happy!”  Pretty cagey Marian. 

Cutting the cake.

So, as usual a good time was had by all and we were all full and home burping by 6pm. 
What a life!

Christmas 2010 at Las Jaibas

Once we were done with the Salvation Army performances it was time to turn our attention to Christmas.  I had decided to make a beet salad and an orange cake.  I started the cake on Thursday as it was to be drowned in orange juice and rum so it could age for a few days.  The beet salad was prepared on Friday and that left Saturday, Christmas day to set up. 

The tables were set up in the palapa and it all looked very festive.  There were four turkeys being cooked (donated by the park owner – Felipe) and the rest of us were making assorted dishes for the pot luck.  Once again Pat had stepped in and kept the food list organized.  What a nice lady. 

We set up a head table for Felipe and his family as well as Pepe(our manager) and his family.  Dennis the gardener/garbage man etc. also joined in.

Pepe’s wife, Pepe, Dennis and their son on left. Felipe’s wife and family on the right.

That’s Felipe on the right.

We started off with a game that Pat had prepared for us where we all wore a question or answer name tag that had something to do with Christmas.

See Eric, this is all you have to do.  Eric looks skeptical!

Who’s got the question and what is the answer.

We were all supposed to find the person with our question or answer to win.   Eric hates these types of  things but Pat pinned a tag on him anyway.  Pat is so nice Eric couldn’t say no to her!  Now wouldn’t you just know it when Pat drew the first question it was Eric’s and he knew that Fred had the answer to his question  and they won before anyone else got a chance to play.  Too funny.  It really cracked Pat up! 

Eric and Fred get a prize.

We all ate and drank until we could eat no more.  It was all really delicious and we were back at the rig by 6pm with stuffed full tummies.  A really yummy dinner. 

Romanian family from Alberta.  I wonder if they usually eat turkey at Christmas!

Hal.

Blake (from Vernon) and Pepe.

So, a good time was had by all.

Salvation Army Orphans Sing and Dance for us.

Thursday December 23, 2010

As Christmas approaches the Salvation Army prepares their children for the hard job of earning money for their home.  The children sing and dance at RV parks, grocery stores and many other venues.  I’m sue it must be their biggest fund raising time of the year.  They are always a delight and their enthusiasm and gratitude for all that we give them is overwhelming.   Once again we always get more than we give!!!

The vans carrying the children  arrived around 1:30 on the Thursday that they were to perform.  Here they are lined up and ready to start.

Getting ready to perform.

Last year the children only sang for us but this year we were treated to many of the many ethnic dances from the different states of Mexico and it was wonderful.   We were informed that they are very tired by this time of the year and that  they would still have to give an evening performance on this day as well.  Even so they gave  us  a full performance with as much energy and enthusiasm as they had.  Truly wonderful and our faces were sore from smiling so much.  

 

Sweeties singing.

The older children are somewhat overshadowed by the cuteness of the little ones but some of that is because there are so many lonely grandparents in the crowd.   The older children up to 17 and 18 help with the little ones and the little ones are always watching and copying the dances while they wait. 

How sweet is she!

Many of the older girls are just beautiful with large winning smiles and it is so nice to see them performing  the dances of their country. 

This little guy was just a hoot!

The mouse dance!

Guess who the girls want to dance with.

Huggable?  You bet!

                     This young lady was a real beauty!

The wind was a problem at times.

The penguin dance.

Just beautiful.

We heard the story of this young man who is one of the oldest in the home and it really makes you realize what a wonderful job the Salvation Army does.  This fellow came to the home as a young boy having been abused in many ways and defended himself any way he knew how.  It was a long road for the people who run the home  to win his trust and turn him into the role model that he is now.   He is polite, shy and a very hard worker.  There is always hope!

A success story.

At the end of the dances the older dancers pulled some of  us from the audience and we had the pleasure of dancing with them.  This same young man pulled me to my feet and I felt quite out of my element as he is a very accomplished dancer.   Eric had already bolted for the sidelines when he heard this was coming up.  He said he was cold and needed to stand in the sun!  No one bought that excuse even if it was true.

As the performances ended we were treated to hugs from all  of the children.  It really brings tears to your eyes to feel their genuine  love, warmth and gratitude.  Smarmy perhaps but you’d feel that way too when those little arms wrapped around you!

Hugs and kisses.

                           Sandi snuggles up to Jesus.

It was now time for the children to receive the gifts we’d bought.  At the same time two of the smaller cutest children brought  baskets around for donations  and I hope we contributed lots of dinero because they really earned it.  There were lots of nice gifts and even though we were one short because of an extra little boy it all worked out.  Since we had lost one boy on our list I had an extra gift for a little boy and so no one was left out. 

Politely waiting for gifts.

What did I get?

Pat and Jack Mozley had organized this and great thanks to them for that.  Good job Pat!

Pat and Jack and the children with the donation baskets.

Following gift giving the  children were instructed to line up politely for cookies and pop which they did.   It was fun to see them just being kids even though they were so tired. 

Snuggled in our chair having a snack.

I  took lots of pictures (DID YOU NOTICE!)  and I even managed to get a little video on the camera I haven’t learned how to run yet.  Imagine how good I’ll be when I do!  Just talk. 

All in all a great time was had by all. 

Eric, Betty, Connie, Ramona, Manny & Dick.