Whats been going on well....chilies, anniversary dinner and the eclipse.

 We are now well into April and there aren't many of us left here.  Ladies lunch and bingo are done for the season but a few of us.. me, Ruth, Eddie and Bev are still playing cards.  Last week Eric and I took a ride and it was my choice as to where we should go.  I picked El Tigre which is south and west to the beach.  We've been many times but this time we decided to go and come back the same way.  Usually we come back through El Rosario and the free road but it's really not that much fun.  As it turned out it was still pretty busy as the children were still on Easter holidays and many families were here enjoying the city and the beach.  

Here we are coming through Villa Union heading to El Walamo and then the beach. 

Spring has sprung and the beautiful big trees are starting to leaf out. 

In many areas here they create a canopy over the road. 

The mango trees are putting on new growth and underneath tiny fruits are ggrowing.You will also notice the garbage...or basura.

As we rode along we could smell roasting chilies and it became apparent why.  It's chili harvest season!  We don't usually come this way this late in the season so we never see the harvest.  There are likely two or maybe even more crops during the year. 

Here the plants are beautiful and green. 

At first I thought I'd missed my chance to get a picture of the chilies drying in the field but boy was I wrong!  Get ready....there are a lot of drying chilies on this trip!

There are drying in the sun and then they are roasted over grates that are on top of concrete frames.  

Some areas looked like they were just one small farm and some looked more commercial.

Here the plants are growing under the palm trees.  

The closer we got to the beach the sandier the soil became.

And of course...they need to be picked....by hand which is back breaking work. 

They are drying on some sort of fabric and here and there workers are flipping them over. 

You can see the concrete frames with the chilies roasting on top.  The scent is delicious!

That field is ready to be planted again. 

The blue bags are full of chilies that are ready to be loaded onto trucks. 

And then there are the tractors with flat decks to load them onto.  I wonder if some of the buildings we saw would be for bagging them commercially or if they are canned somewhere else.   The great chili mystery!!

The ocean is in the distance.

Well....are you tired of chili pictures yet?  

Here they are bagging them up and flipping them.  Dried and canned chilies are a big deal here in Mexico. 

Up ahead....a truck full of fresh green poblano peppers.  Maybe they will ship them to Canada so I can buy some when I get home. 😋 We don't eat green bell peppers....only Poblano or anaheim etc.  I can get them in our local SaveOn store at home but they are pricey.

The other business out this way is farmed shrimp.  Lots of sea water and these operations are everywhere out here and the same on the way to Teacapan. 

The Camianero beach is long, open and wild.  No coves here. 

That's a lot of peppers. 

Up ahead on the right El Tigre where we had lunch. 

It was quite busy as ....it was still Easter week.  It can be really cold and windy out this way and unfortunately this was one of those times.  Not the best day for a ride out this way.  I didn't take any pictures of lunch as it wasn't anything to take pictures of.  I ordered fish and got shrimp which put the waitress into a big tirade about the cook messing up my order.  I said never mind, shrimp will be fine.  Well they were tough and greasy so not a great lunch and besides that I was freezing cold!  It has been very cool with a very cold wind lately so it wasn't much fun.  Maybe next time!

Onward.  Last Friday was our 56th wedding anniversary and....how the heck did that happen!!  I decided not cook and ordered sushi from a little place just out our gate called Xipada.  I knew it was there and just hadn't bothered before.  I should have as it turned out to be very, very good.  Unfortunately when I called no one spoke English so I had to walk over and order.  I'd looked up the menu on line so I was prepared.  It took about half an hour as there was only one cook but it was worth the wait.  You can see the three items on the plate and one is a bundle with tuna wrapped around ,also very tasty.  The sauces were delicious as well and I'll order there again next year and...practice my Spanish ordering skills.  😁

This roll is all seafood wrapped in cucumber. 

This one is seafood in rice wrapped in tuna.

The last thing was the eclipse this past Monday and it was a big deal here. Thousands of people drove and flew in for the big event.  The malecon and beaches were packed as Mazatlan was in the direct path of the solar eclipse.  We experienced over 4 minutes of totality.  Eric wasn't interested at all.  He was out on his bicycle just before and came back laughing.  He said people were in a frenzy trying to park, horns were honking and it was pandemonium.  I took a few quick looks with my "solar eclipse" glasses.  

The above pictures were taken by a fellow blogger's husband Colin.