Not tourists that were kidnapped.

Friday, January 9, 2010

I spent a couple of hours yesterday morning on the net trying to ferret out the real story about the kidnappings.  It was well hidden but I found it in a periodico called El Sol.  It turns out it was three Mexican men and three Mexican woman who were apparently abducted and their three new vehicles stolen.  They said the thieves were wearing bullet proof vests and carrying machine guns.  Part of the drug trade?  Who knows what the real story is, but it was not tourists.   The rest of this day is a blur but I do know that we went swimming and it was great, warm and not too big of a swell.  Oh yeah and  Eric got stung by a jelly fish.

Monday, January 11, 2010

I can't believe I haven't put anything on this blog since Friday.  It is a lot of work and of course we are really busy!  Not!  Oh well I will keep up as best I can.

Saturday was our day to go out with a bunch of 15 from the park to Hacienda Las Moras for lunch and we all left at 11:30 a:m.  Eric and I rode with Dennis and Marilyn and we all followed Frank in a convoy.  Hacienda Las Moras is a restored Tequila plantation that has been turned into a restaurant and has casitas to stay over night.  It seems to be quite a way out of town as you turn off onto a dirt road on the way to La Noria and the travel is slow and dusty.

Arriving for lunch.

View down the front porch.

When we arrived we were greeted with the sight of brightly painted buildings set in a lovely country setting.  The buildings are quite charming and after we had lunch we wandered the grounds taking pictures and looking at the buildings themselves. 

Peacocks on the lawn.

Peeping peacock!

Peacocks and a rooster wander the grounds and make for some good pictures as well.  

The gang at lunch.

Lunch was very good and it was nice to eat in such a relaxing setting.  Eric didn't order enough for lunch as he thought the soup he ordered would be the size that he had in El Caliete and have all the extras as well.  I'm a good wife so I shared my shrimp fajitas with him because he looked so hungry!  Eric had a good look at all the buildings and wonders how some of them are still standing as the termites have done a good job.  The roofs are held up by poles and willow thatch covered with concrete and clay roof tiles and most of them are sagging.  

A nice place to relax after lunch.

Hal and Helene from the "Magic Bus" beside us.

Really nice people, he's from New York and she's from Quebec and now they live in New Mexico.

The chapel that overlooks Hacienda Las Moras.

Connie, Mannie & Ramona at the Chapel.

When we arrived back at the park one of the hotels was setting up a mariachi band, margaritas and appy food.  I had one drink and then back to the RV.  Too tired and we could hear the music just fine from the RV!   Maurice dropped by late in the day to say that they had been getting a busy signal at Jean's home in Edmonton and they hoped it meant that Marla was home.  He is going to move Jean's large motorhome up front tomorrow and Eric will help him park it.

Sunday January 10, 2010

Maurice had a look at the site up front where he has to store the rigs, boat and car trailor and Eric will help him later this morning.  As I hadn't met Anne, Maurice's wife I went to the back of the park to say hello.  They have been under such strain with the accident I didn't want to intrude until they had received good news from home.  They tell me this morning that Jean is in intensive care in Edmonton and is in stable condition.  He still has internal bleeding and a collapsed lung but now he won't have to be moved again.  A big relief for them and although they didn't have much to say and I'm sure they are still very worried.  We had a good chat and they seem to be relaxing and smiling a bit more.  Maurice is still gung ho to see everything he can and I think Anne just wants to rest.  Tomorrow they will drive to San Blas and back in one day and that will be one long day.  Eric said we have no guts and lots of maps and Anne said" We have lots of guts, but no maps!  Funny.  So, we gave them Map Point and Jack's Mexican maps to download.  Now they can have guts and maps!

Late today Maurice and Anne dropped by with some smoked Marlin which they say is really delicious.  They had a drink and we had a good chat and they are quite funny people.  They are about ten years younger than us and are French and originally from New Brunswick although they have been living in Edmonton for thirty years now.  They have two grown daughters in their mid to late twenties and no grand children yet.  I think they are probably a bit lonely since their friends Jean and Marla are not here now.  Eric says they came over because I went to see Anne and he is probably right.  So hopefully things will continue to improve for them.

P.S. The weather is sunny, the temperature is about 83F. every day and the water
        is warm.  No complaints!

Also, now that I am using the new editor in Blogger to upload photos there is no spell check available so if there are errors.  Sorry!

A boat trip.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Maurice dropped by late yesterday to inform us that John's trip back to Edmonton did not go well.  His breathing deteriorated en route and the plane had to put down in Montana to get oxygen for him.  We thought this was a fully equiped Medivac plane so it is uncertain why they didn't have what they needed.  At present he is still there and we are waiting to see what happens next.

Maurice also said he spent the whole afternoon chipping hardened pelican crap out of his boat.  I don't think Pelicans are his favorite bird!  The 20 foot  boat is an old 80's fibreglass one that he has been restoring over the years.  You know, a work in progress. 

Eric and Maurice heading to the dock.

Eric & Maurice on the boat.

The "Crap" cuprit.

We set off this morning about 7:30 a:m after getting up a 6:00 a.m. and poor Eric hasn't been up at this time since he was still working  for Telus!  When we arrived at the dock it was apparent that the Pelicans had returned over night.   Another big pile of stinky Pelican crap all over the boat.  I thought Maurice was going to woof.   So, another clean-up of crap and then over to the fuel dock before we set off.  The boat is really small and has a large engine and I could tell Maurice really wanted to open it up but he took pity on me and didn't as he said  he didn't want to scare me.  He does admit to being a speed freak.  So, it was a pretty rough ride out and then we stopped to troll.  It was really hot and the boat was pitching pretty good and that along with engine smell and you guessed it........Kathy pukes!   Maurice looked a little green himself and Eric just said he was hungry!   That's just not fair.  So a short troll, no fish, a little engine trouble and back to the dock.

A view of the harbour.

While we were at the dock these iguanas were sunning themselves on the rocks.  The little ones were quite skittish but the big orange one had no fear.  I think he was posing for the picture!

                                                  Big Daddy!

A couple of the little iguanas.

|A look up the beach from the marina.

Frank dropped by this afternoon to discuss mapping on the computer and informed us there was a rumour that six tourists had been kidnapped just up the road and their vehicles stolen.  I'll have to try and verify that on the net. 

Later that day Maurice stopped by and he and Eric headed out to bring the boat home while I went for a late walk on the beach.

My walk on the beach included one of the older well dressed Mexican salesman making his pitch with wide open arms.   "Hello sweetheart I love you and you'll never have to work again!"   Me: " I don't work now!"  Him: "Good, I love you anyway and .......etc. into salespitch"  What was he selling, who knows, probably condos.  He is in shoes and I am in bare feet so I can move into the water where he won't follow.  Excellent plan.   No Gracias!!!!  People in chairs laughing and me shaking my head. 

So, home for supper and bed after a long day and I'm still a little queasy.  The weather right now is very warm as the wind has stopped and the humidity is quite high.  So far, it's warm enough for us.

We had a little Tequilla  tasting happy hour the other day over at Connie and Manny's and I got talked into cooking chile at the end of the month in a little cook-off.   Connie loves to keep something on the go and this is her latest plan.  We'll also go for lunch in a convoy on Saturday to some Hacienda out of town.  I think the others thought it would be a small party for lunch but the Tequilla had Connie inviting everyone!

The end of the day!

They finally retrieve the Harley from Rosario

Wednesday  Jan. 6, 2010

Yesterday the trip to Rosario to pick up the damaged Harley started around 11am.  Eric and Maurice headed out with the trailor while Marla, John's wife and Ann, Maurice's wife waited at the hospital for the lawyer to show up.  While they waited in Rosario Eric and Maurice tried to explain to El Commandante what they were doing there but since no one spoke English  they had to wait for everyone else to show up.  However, El Commandante did want to know where Sam was and Eric had to tell him Sam had gone to Guadalahara.  I guess he missed Sam's good natured Spanglish!   Eric and Maurice cruised the impound yard and could not help but notice a couple of pick-up trucks that were riddled by bullet holes, one on the passenger side and one on the driver's side.  The lawyer a young, pretty, high heeled Mexican was about and hour late and when she and the wives finally arrived in Rosario the problems continued as the lawyer couldn't speak English either.  So now the police had to send for the only guy in town who spoke English, the local shoe shine guy who used to live in Phoenix!  At this point all legal problems evaporated as there was now a lawyer present and no registration or insurance papers were needed and the bike was released, fines paid, loaded up and they all arrived back in the park about 4pm.   Success!

Unfortunately for Marla, John's wife she was harrassed by cell phone while she was there by their insurance company from home while she was trying to get the motorcyle released.  She tried to explain that she was not at the hospital but they kept insisting she get John released and shipped back to Edmonton.    How much stress does one woman need.

Today Maurice informed us that John was sent out on a medivac plane back to Edmonton at 3:30 am this morning.  His wife Marla went with him.   Their medical plan had insisted that he be transported home or they would have to pay the continuing costs themselves.   Tough stuff as John wanted to stay until he felt better but had no choice.  We hope it will all go well for him. 
Maurice dropped by this afternoon and asked if we would like to go for a boat ride tomorrow before he takes his boat out of the water.  A short morning run out about 15 miles and then a little fishing.  I think he was trying to say thanks to Eric for his help with hauling the bike trailor.  I'll go too as  Ann doesn't like the boat and will stay home and go shopping.  I'll probably get seasick, but oh well, I'll give it a try. 

Maurice says he'll have to go down and give the boat a scrub as a couple of pelicans have been using it for a roost and it is full of pelican crap.  Nice!

A good day in Mazatlan.

Monday, January 4, 2010

The day started pretty slow with me doing my walk and Eric downloading some mapping software from Pat & Jim from Carson City, Nevada. Jim has all the maps from the Mexican government on a disc. Eric downloaded them and they look very detailed and as you know we all need as much information as we can get.

Rita and I ready to go.

After lunch Sam showed up to see if Eric and I wanted to go out on  the Harley's. Rita was up for a ride if I went and she thought that after the accident it might be good to get back on the horse so to speak. Sam and Rita (from Winnipeg Manitoba) are good for us as they have been staying in Mazatlan for five years and are familiar with the area. Unlike Eric, Sam is a very social guy, much like Eric's brother Brian and is really good at mingling with the Mexican people so he and Rita are a good fit for us. Really nice people. We left just after 2:30 and headed out to El Quelite which is northeast of here on the Libra road. Sam and Rita had been there before so they led the way.

When we rode into this little colonial town through the large arch we were greeted by cobblestone streets and charming painted houses. Everything was spotless (no garbage anywhere) and since this is popular tourist destination the people are used to the gringos that arrive on a daily basis.

Kathy enjoys a cerveza.

In front of the fountain inside the restaurant.

Sam and Rita

Sam and Rita chose a restaurant and we stopped for cervezas and a bowl of tortilla soup. This was proceeded by tortilla chips and an assortment of guacamole, soft cheeses and salsa all included in the meal. Shortly a small mexican tortilla pizza arrived followed by the soup which was excellant. The end of the meal brought a small sweet bowl of a rice/tapioca pudding, again part of the meal. With 5 cervezas, four soup and the starters etc. the bill for four was 269 pesos which with a tip was about $27.00 Canadian for four, pretty good for a really nice restaurant. We took a few pictures and the owner saw that Eric was interested in the many woods such as ebony and many other woods used in the restaurant and he was happy to point them out.  Eric and I would like to go back another time and walk around through the village.

The Tycho's aboard Blue in front of the bronze hip ball statue.

Sam and Rita in front of the statue.

On the way out of town we stopped at the bronze statue of the man playing Ulama which is a form of Aztec hip ball still played in that town today. See http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-ball-game.html for the history of this game. Eric knew all about it as he has always been very interested in history, especially Mayan and Aztec. The mentor of the town a local doctor Dr. Marcos Osuna Tiradowho who was born there has made it a major tourist destination and even so it is still basically a quiet farming town. I finally felt like I was in real Mexico and we will go back. We left through the big arch that welcomes you to town and were home by 5:30 after a really nice day.

The end of an era.

Sunday, January 3, 2009



Yesterday we received an email from our friend Don McRobb informing us of the passing of his father Gordon. Throughout our years in Terrace we became good friends with Gordon a.k.a. "The Godfather" and shared many a Thursday night beer with him. He shared many stories of the old days and also tales of the antics of the twins, Don and Ron. After he and wife Evelyn moved back to Whitehorse we saw him whenever he returned to Terrace for a visit. He told Eric on his trip to Terrace in the summer of 2008 that he'd had a good ride and his life held no regrets. A good legacy. A self made man who worked hard, made sound business decisions and raised a family of four boys he left good memories for anyone who knew him. The McRobb family was saddened by the untimely death of the youngest McRobb son, Bruce this fall and we hope that 2010 is better year for the family.



We'll miss you Gordon.

Not a good New Year's Day in Mazatlan

Saturday, January 2, 2010
Friday night went late for the Harley's to return to the park. I expected everyone back by 5:00 at the latest as that's when it starts to get dark and Eric never rides in the dark. By 6pm I was getting worried and thought that someone must have broken down and although that would have been a good thing, it was not the case. The trip didn't end very well for one of the Albertan Harley riders, John. He was third in line and missed a curve, left the road with his wife aboard, rode the bike down a ten foot embankment and then they both flew off. Eric was last in line and they were right ahead of him and he watched the whole thing happen. He quickly stopped to flag traffic and the other riders returned as they could see what was happening behind them. John's wife was up and okay but John was unconscious. The Mexicans true to form stopped and helped out doing whatever they could, calling on cell phones for a doctor and the police, helping to load the damaged bike into a police truck and just being as helpful as possible. Maurice's wife checked John over and they didn't move him but when he finally regained consciousness he was in great pain. The doctor had him loaded on a back board and he was transported to the Sharp hospital here in Mazatlan. At this point there was nothing Eric and Sam could do so they just headed home in the dark with Maurice and his wife not far behind. Unfortunately for John he was the only rider in the group not wearing a helmet. The law here states one person on the bike must wear a helmet and I bet he wishes now he was one of those people. They all returned shortly after 6pm and I was very relieved.


The word this morning is that John has 11 broken ribs, a broken shoulder, a collapsed lung and internal bleeding apparently from a ruptured spleen that may have to be removed. His holiday is over and he'll take a long time to recover.


I went out with some of the people we've met in the park to a pig barbecue restaurant for lunch and Eric stayed home to take John's motorcycle trailer to pick up the damaged Harley in Rosaraio which is 70km away. Since the Albertans were pulling the heavy car trailer with their motor home they had no way to get out to pick up the motorcycle so Eric offered our truck. When I got back at 3pm they were gone and it is now 6pm and they have just returned without the motorcycle. Apparently they did not have the correct paperwork and the police would not release it so that was a wasted trip through really heavy holiday traffic. Some legwork will have to be done first and they will try again. As the police have no English Maurice had them write down what he needed and will have to get someone to help with that. Since John's wife's name is not on the motorcycle registration she would need her marriage certificate to prove she was his wife to retrieve the bike. We will carry a copy of our marriage certificate on our next trip to Mexico as that could be an issue if both names are not on every vehicle registration.
Statistics show that most motorcycle accidents are single vehicle ones related to speed and usually happen in a curve that has been entered too fast. Moral, slow down going into a curve especially if you have never ridden the road before. A hard lesson learned for Jean.  An easy thing to happen. 



Other than that all is well here, weather is good and we could use a little less excitement.

New Years Day in Mazatlan

Friday, January 1, 2010



Well it's quiet here in the park today. I think there might be a few thick heads around. Yesterday was beautiful and sunny and I finally got the laundry done. Connie followed me up to the office and suggested she could take me to the laundry. Since I had already loaded it I said maybe next time. I've never had anyone do our laundry but maybe I'll try next time.



We had some new neighbors pull in at about 6:30 on Wednesday night and Eric got to chatting with the man (Gord) yesterday morning. They are heading down to Melaque south of Puerto Vallarta and he was a wealth of information so I asked if he and his wife Donna did a blog. He said no, but his friend Croft did. Croft Randle I said, you're kidding he said as they were parked next to Croft and Norma last winter for a while in Melaque. Small world. Nice people and they left this morning to go half way some where around Rincon. They had driven 12 hours on Wednesday and then went out to eat and shop yesterday and then he came home and washed the rig. Pretty perky, puts us to shame.



We had a nice lunch at Arnoldo's (restaurant on the property) yesterday but Arnoldo wasn't there. Under the weather (who knows what kind!) I tried ordering in Spanish and didn't do too bad (only one correction) from the waitress and we did get fed. Down to the beach with our full tummy's and Eric had a swim while I just watched. Again, quite a tow down the beach and too much wind wave to make it fun. Home for some cervezas and a light supper after that big lunch and then bed.



Midnight brought fireworks which we could see through the bedroom window and the usual Happy New Years cries around us. Things were quiet until about 3:30 and then the drum machine down the street at the bar started up. No music just pounding beat until 7 in the morning. So, no walk and I admit to being cranky today. Two nights of broken sleep in one week and now we still have Friday and Saturday night. We definitely won't be here for the fiesta in February. I know it's their country and they like to party but it does get tiresome. I guess I'll have to break out the earplugs.



Eric is out on the Harley for a ride with Sam and a couple of Albertans from the back of the park. Their wives went but Rita (Sam's wife) and I stayed home. Too long of a ride for me and without air shocks Eric is worried about the topes in the small towns.