Last Sunday Concert of the season- The Cambell Camerata Chamber Players " La Trucha" by Franz Schubert

                 Coming in the door this years performances were all listed and now we are at the very end.

The foyer was all decorated with white gauzey curtains and chandeliers.  I would guess this was not specifically for today’s performances as Carnival is coming and there will likely be things happening in the theater.

Wow…looks like someone is getting married!

We are all seated, the lights are dimmed and the stage is empty. 

A trio of musicians arrive and they ….

….start to play with no introduction!

Here’s Gordon.  He gave us his usual informative introduction of the music that was to be played today.  He said that in Schubert"s very short 31 year life he left behind a vast body of works.  600 vocal works, seven symphonies, operas, incidental music and a large body of piano and chamber music.  Gordon said that Schubert"s method of working was to start at 6am in the morning and work until 1pm when he went off to drink with his friends and get “ blasted!”  During the evening he and his friends would sing whatever he had written during the day.  “ La Trucha” or the The Trout was one of those songs.  

Today’s surprise that Gordon promised us last week was that he was going to sing….La Trucha.  He translated it from German and sung it for us in English.  He also said that the last time he’d sung in public was when he was 12 years old!  Pretty gutsy I’d say. 

It was just a fun little song that he performed very well and got huge applause for. 

The rest of the concert was played by the five chamber players.  Eric and I both enjoyed the concert but found the music pieces all very similar.  The musicians worked very hard and we could see that they were enjoying themselves immensely.  Lots of mopping of brows between pieces.  Gordon told us that next year would be the 10th anniversary of Camerata Campell and that he was already working on the program. 

A standing ovation and happy faces on all the performers.  We’ll be back next year. 

Lovely flower arrangement in the lobby.

So here we are back at Marisco’s Chon for our final Sunday lunch of the season.  We had been invited to Ian/Linda and Craig/Judy’s condo in El Cid for dinner so a light lunch was in order. 

While we waited we could hear some chopping going on in the kitchen.  Fresh oysters being whacked on the edge with a heavy knife so that they could be pried open. Eric went to have a look and was surprised to see the large oyster inside.  We’ve seen them opened before and they were tiny.  Fresh clams as well.  

Tacos gobernador, Eric’s with marlin and mine with shrimp and both with cheese which makes them “ tacos gobernador!”  

Very tasty with fresh pico de gallo or fresh salsa and of course a Pacifico. 

This couple was sitting on the other side and when I spotted the big plate of oysters coming out I asked if I could take a photo….sure no problem.  The man said something to me in Spanish that I didn’t catch but then in halting English he explained that the seafood here was always fresh caught the same day and very good.  Nice to know!

Not my cup of tea as I like my oysters cooked but the wife was happy to eat almost all of them by herself.

Well look who turned up.  Eric’s brother Ian and wife Linda had been down in the Plazuela after the concert and tried to find us there.  In the end they knew where we’d be as they’d been here with us to this restaurant last Sunday.  Behind Ian over his right shoulder you can see the older Mexican gentleman that we’ve met every week when we’ve eaten here.  He is very friendly and gracious and raves about the food of which he eats huge portions! 

A chat and  beer before we head back to catch the bus back to their place for more beet and and dinner! 

You’d thing we’d be full but by this time it is getting close to 7pm and we are all hungry.  They’d ordered ribs and fries in and Judy had made a lovely salad.  Bon appetit! 

Looks good!   By 8pm we were visited out and it was time to catch the bus home.  Very long day and….late for the Tycho’s to be out and about.   A very enjoyable day!

Ladies Lunch at Chayito

Friday, Feb. 22nd. 
Today's lunch venue was Chayito's a nice Mexican style restaurant just north of the Golden Zone.  We ate here last year and....it was very good.  

Waiting for the bus!

Chayito

 Sue, Sandi and Robyn intently listening to....?

    Hmmm.....what shall Maureen and Eddie order for lunch?

  Ruth does love to laugh and something has tickled her funny bone here!   That is my mango         margarita....I just about always order a pina colada but today I decided to try something different.  It was delicious.

Lil, another Ruth and Connie have a chat while we wait for food.

This is a tostada and they came in beef, chicken or shrimp.

Lunch at our end of the table came with a bowl of roasted peppers.  These are Chili Caribe and although they are spicy they aren't killer hot.

We were a large group today and they had a full slate of waiters to serve us.  The fellow on the right is the " main man" and he is dry and funny!

Sue ordered the pork pozole soup and it is something I looked at and couldn't decide if I'd like it.  She said it was one of the best she'd ever eaten.  Next time!

They do their tortilla soup a bit different here.  You get a bowl of tortilla slices and a plate with peppers, avocado and cheese and then...

....you get a pitcher of spicy broth to pour over the tortilla strips.   Then...you can add whatever you want.  Delicious!

I ordered the tortilla soup and a shrimp tostada.  I really only needed the soup and the tostada was good except for the shrimp which were a bit over cooked and salty.  No matter, I just ate the salad!

That is one big burger that Ruth (Lil's friend) ordered and no....she couldn't finish it.

Lil ordered some sort of taco with meat in it and here she's adding the fixings.

Everyone happily munching a wide array of dishes.

I missed the plate of nachos at our end of the table and by the time I noticed and took a picture they were almost gone!  Ruth at our end had a tosdada and ordered tortilla soup as well.  In the end she couldn't eat the soup and had them box it up for her.  I told her she couldn't have any dessert but she didn't listen and got a piece of guava pie!  The head waiter brought out the dessert cart and then just plunked different pies down all over the table and the ladies started eating.  Sorry I forgot to take more photos.  I shared a piece of chocolate cake topped with flan with Robyn.  Good but not great.  The guava pie was yummy!

Another successful lunch and everyone left with full tummies!  A good place for lunch any day of the week.   Next week "Lucky B's" in the Golden Zone. 

This and that

Over the last couple of weeks I haven’t had much to say.  It has become painful to post due to Blogger blocking my draft programs (Open Live Writer) ability to post pictures.  Text uploads fine but photos…no.  I have finally managed to figure out how to do it but it is time consuming.  Briefly…I load my photos onto my computer and put them in a dated and titled file as usual.  I then upload those photos to Google photos and put them in an album.  Next I do my offline blog on Live Writer including the pictures.  Now instead of posting I copy the post and paste it into blogger so I can remove the squares with no photos in them (Google won’t bring them along) and add the photos one by one that were previously uploaded to Google photos.  Did that bore you….well it bores me too!  Why don’t I just do my post on blogger and skip Open Live Writer well….it takes too much data and I only have cell data. 

On another note.   We thought our truck had been repaired but it turns out it was not.  Two weeks ago Eric and I went off to Wal Mart to shop.  The first thing that happened was that the A/C was not working and it had just been fixed.  Rats!   That means another trip back to the A/C shop.  We stopped at Wal Mart, I shopped and came out and after we’d loaded the groceries into the truck Eric turned the key and….the truck with it’s new part wouldn’t start….no way….no how.  Now what?  Well, Eric called Manny because he didn’t have the mechanic’s (Armondo) phone number.  Oddly enough Manny was at the shop and he said he’d come take me and the groceries home and Armondo would try to start the truck.  Meanwhile….our neighbour Fred and his wife Brenda came out of Wal Mart and I asked for a lift home as they were going my way.  I left Eric with the truck and off we went.  Eric called me a little later to say that Armondo couldn’t start the truck and that a tow truck was coming.  The truck was hauled to Armondo’s shop for 450 pesos (about $30 Canadian) and a 50 peso tip.  Manny gave Eric a ride home.  Plus…our 5 gallon water bottles were in the truck as that was to be our next stop.  At least I’d loaded up on beer at Wal Mart!!!

So….over the last two weeks it was decided that the trucks main computer is caput after testing by a technician with the software to diagnose the problem.  These days everything is electronic and you can’t fix anything unless it’s simple.  So now we are waiting for part to come from Guadalahara to the tune of 7000 pesos and that’s cheap. 

Beyond that life goes on.  We have been busy with other matters which I haven’t discussed on the blog but will in the next week or so.  A surprise and hopefully a new direction for our winter life in Mexico. 

Stay tuned. 

Sunday Concert at the Angela Peralta...Gordon's String Favorites

February 17, 2019
We didn’t attend the last two Sunday performances as one was a soprano which didn’t interest us and the second because I just didn’t get us tickets!  Right before we left Eric called his brother Ian who is here with his wife Linda in a condo in El Cid.  They are in El Cid for a month with Linda’s brother and sister in law and then Ian and Linda move to the Cerritos resort and Judy and Craig go home.  I haven’t seen their place so we thought we’d drop over after the concert.   It turned out that when Eric called Ian and Linda they’d bought tickets for the performance as well! 
Eric and I  boarded the bus just before 11am and it was already getting full.  Funny enough Ian and Linda boarded the same bus and ended up sitting at the back.  By the time we got to the malecon it was standing room only and you couldn’t hardly get another person on .  A far cry from a few years ago when the buses were always half empty.

Ian and Eric chatting while we wait in the square.

Linda taking a picture of me….taking a picture of her!

Today’s program.

This was another well attended concert.

Olga has tuned up the orchestra and we are ready to start after….a nice introduction of the program by Gordon Campbell.  Gordon said they would play happy music and that the musicians would really enjoy themselves! 
I took a couple of pictures of Ian and Linda but they weren’t very good.  They started out sitting down below us at the back of the main section.  For the second part of the performance they came up and sat behind us in the raised row which was mostly empty.  Up where we are seated there is no one to block your view and they said that if they come again they will sit in the first balcony the same as us. 

Listo!   Ready to start and as soon as they started to play I could feel my face beginning to smile all on it’s own.

There were a total of twelve numbers played and I could see that the musicians were really enjoying themselves…as were we!

Olga Khudoblyak the lead violinist has just performed a rousing lead number and the audience is very appreciative of her talents.

What an attractive young woman.

The concert is finished and there is a standing ovation which did not result in an encore even though we really tried!  They played twelve numbers in total so we were all satisfied.    A thoroughly enjoyable concert and everyone left happy.

Time for lunch and we wandered off down Carnival St. to Eric’s favorite restaurant “ Mariscos Chon.”   Saw this truck along the way and it is in great condition…almost looks all stock.
Somehow once we all had a beer, ordered food and ate I realized I’d forgotten to take any pictures.  Eric had his usual marlin burritos, Linda had tacos gobernador (cheese inside with shrimp), Ian had fish and chips and I decided to try the fish soup.  It contained a spicy broth with octopus, scallops, shrimp, clams and pieces of fish….delicious!  They only serve seafood here and they do it very well.  There is an old Mexican gentleman that we meet every time we come here on a Sunday and he speaks some English.  He says he just loves the food here and boy can he ever pack it away!  Two tostados heaped with ceviche, a large bowl of soup, a plate with grouper fish &rice and a bunch of tortillas.   That was one big meal.

Lunch was finished and we wandered off down the street to head back to the rear of the mercado to catch the bus home.

Elaborate decor.

They all thought they were funny when I got too far ahead and they hid around the corner where I couldn’t see them.  Haha!

Here we’re on the bus and this little baby was cute as a bug.  She was laughing and kissing her mother and making googoo eyes at all the people around her!
In the end we decided to get off at El Cid and walk into Ian and Linda’s  condo so I could have a look.  By this time I was full and tired and once again….I didn’t take any pictures.  It’s a bit of a walk in and if I was staying for the winter I’d want a vehicle.  Ian and Linda will be here on their own for March and are staying in the Cerritos resort out by us.  Much more convenient as the bus runs right along the street and the resort is on the beach so they can both walk.  Very convenient and as they stayed there (in a different condo) last year it’s like coming home! 
The condo they are renting in El Cid is on the top floor of a house and although it’s very nice the floor plan is very odd.  It may have been a multi family dwelling at one point so that may explain it.  It looks out over the golf course so they have a bit of a view. 
We had a short visit and then it was time to walk down to the main street and catch the bus home.   I still had laundry on the line and I needed to get it in before the dew fell. 

A really nice day and we were both tired at the end of it all.