House work, washed Blue and played cards!

Monday, Feb. 21, 2011

Nothing big happening here right now.  Eric washed Blue after he recovered from our trip down south and he says she has never looked so pretty!  So, today he rode across the street and I took some pictures.  Eric  has promised Edgar in the RV park in Santa Ana that we would bring him a print of Blue.  She is a beauty and we will do that.

  P.S. don’t tell Blue that Eric is looking for a younger more comfortable replacement for her.   Gee….I hope I’m not next on the list! 

I spent the day cleaning up the rig.  Washed windows, screens, patio, chairs etc. etc. etc.  Everything here gets just black with pollution, dust, beach salt  or whatever . so…. it all must be washed. 

Around 3pm I was thinking I needed to go for a walk on the beach but was really tired.  As luck would have it Sandi showed up and asked if I would be a fourth for a hand and foot game of cards with her Connie and  Sharen .  Okay….I’m in. 

George, Sharen and Greta(their old Schnauzer) arrived yesterday and they are good friends of Connie and Manny’s from Oregon.  Last winter they were parked close to us but this year they parked up close to Connie and Manny.  Nice to see them again.  We started playing around 3pm and didn’t finish until 6pm…a bit slow but a really good game.  Sandi and I had Connie and Sharen beat after the third hand but they beat us good  in the fourth hand.  Oh well, it was all good fun.

Tomorrow a ride to San Ignacio with Sam and Rita.  Seems like it is a long time since we we’ve been out on the road with them.  It should be a good day. 

Just a quick hello!

Saturday Feb. 19, 2011

I haven’t had much to say this week….not like me at all, right!  It has been a quiet week with not too much going on.  Eric was so exhausted when we got back that he didn’t leave the rig for almost three days.  Everyone thought I had him in quarantine!  He finally emerged and then got busy washing Blue as she was really filthy after her big journey.  Eric would really like to have a new, more comfortable Harley but I wonder if he’ll be able to sell her.  She’s just so darn “purty.”  She looks great now and I’ll take a picture. 

Yesterday Sandi, Frank and I went down to Gabi’s for haircuts and pedicures.  We tried to talk Frank into a pedicure but he wouldn’t bite!  We told him he could have every other toe painted a different colour but still no go. 

I really must get some washing done, keep working on the blog and pray for sunshine.  The fog is still here and it is cold to boot.  No sympathy from all of you I’ll bet!

I also have to confess I spent a couple of days on the net looking for tattoos so that slowed me down a bit.  Rita and I will likely go down to the tattoo shop next week and show him what we have for patterns and then we will make an appointment.  Some people I talk to think it is a neat idea but most of them look at me like I’m crazy!  I ride on a Harley….I can have a tattoo if I want and at least at my age it shouldn’t get too much wrinklier where I put it. 

I will keep bringing the blog up to date but I have a lot of pictures to go through so it will take a little time. 

Eric is now all enthused about going farther south next year so we’ll see what happens.  New warmer places are in his plan.  All in all it has been much easier this year and we don’t feel like quite the newbie's we were last year.  Always something new to experience and learn and you don’t have to do it all at once.  Right!

The ladies all play Hand and Foot on Thursdays, a form of canasta and here we are up front in the Quonset getting ready to play.

Pat Mozley has always kept us organized and now that she has gone home with Jack we are in chaos!

We are finally organized and playing.  We play four hands and it usually takes about two hours.  Fun!

Safely back in Mazatlan!

Monday Feb. 14, 2011

I’ll bet everyone has been wondering where we are.  Well, I see that I didn’t finish the post that would have explained that before we left.  Sorry about that.  We were on a road trip.  We  left Mazatlan on Sunday Jan. 31st and just arrived home last night.  We travelled as far south as La Manzanilla exploring new areas and since all our gear was on the motorcycle we couldn’t take the lap top.  We travelled with Frank and Sandi who were in their jeep and in the end I rode there and back with them.  The roads were too twisty, the trip too long, the bike not a cruising machine and me too old to ride all that way!   I will update the blog over the next week as I kept a diary and took pictures.  As you all know it will likely be quite wordy and have lots of pictures but it is my diary too so bare with me! 

It is really good to be back in the rig!

A Polo Match in Mexico

Saturday February 5, 2011

Today was our last day in Punta Perula and Jack in the park had told Frank about a polo match up the way as well as the Careyes resort that we should visit.  I might have mentioned that you can Google Careyes to see what it has to offer.  In the end the whole day was a huge success!

I started the day with a really early  big walk up the beach which took an hour and a half.  Off for breakfast, picked up the laundry and back to the unit.  

I checked emails on Frank’s lap top and sent an email to my sister Joy assuring her we were still alive and well.  I had mucked up and not sent my last post before leaving Mazatlan and no one knew where we were except our daughters because I had phoned them.  Sorry!

We set off after a late breakfast for the polo match.  In the end it turned out we were too early so we turned around and headed back to look at Careyes. 

Coming into the resort.

Walking through the entry to the lobby.  Pretty grand eh!

The lobby.

Frank and Sandi as we wandered through looking around.

 

Frank took this picture for Eric, can you tell why!

The private beach.

The pool, in case you don’t want to swim in the ocean. 

It is a very beautiful place and apparently a world holiday destination.  I can see why.

So, time to head to the polo match which is part of the Careyes resort. 

We turned off the highway heading south and were uncertain what we would find.  We drove down a long winding gravel track through the trees and expected to find a little dinky field with a few horses ridden by Mexicans.  Not so!  Imagine our surprise when we hit this large expanse of grass. 

 

This is the first field we hit that is being irrigated but not the one where the matches were being held.  

As we drove up to the next fields this is what we saw.  A pretty impressive string of horse flesh and we were quite taken aback by the whole experience.

Polo ponies coming in to be tacked up.

Some tacked up and some waiting.

 

The playing field.  Way far off on the left are the bleachers where we will watch the match.

As we wandered around we were greeted by a lady who was the organizer and she was from Washington.  She was a wealth of information and so very gracious and happy to have us visit.  By the way, the whole experience was free!

This is Sandi with Joe Meyer who is originally from Iowa.  He like other team members were happy to chat to us and Frank and Sandi had a good visit with him before he played. 

It turns out the players on the teams are from Mexico, Canada, U.S.A., Ecuador, Switzerland etc.  Above are the two teams of four with the two refs in the middle.  There was a lady named Jill…. from Calgary Alberta playing who was the only women riding. 

We were advised that player capability would be from a –2 to a plus 10 and that most of these players would be a 1 or 2 seed. 

This is Joe’s team mate Sergio Gussman on  the U.S. team and it’s a great shot except for the part where I cut his head off!  Oh well, the horse is beautiful.

 

 

 

At (half time?) we were all invited out to stomp the divots left by the horses and the mallets.  That’s Frank, Eric and Sandi to the right.

At half time the teams were mounted on fresh ponies as they could only ride them for half the game.  There were about sixty ponies (thoroughbred /Mexican local horses crossed) that were owned by two people and supplied to the riders.  This would mean they did not have any experience on the horses they were riding.  Well trained beautiful horses.  The riders flew in from all different countries so someone has lots of money.  Super fast energetic play.

The crowd on the bleachers.  There were lots of young glitzy, rich women in the crowd talking about absolutely nothing !  Note the man with his arm in a sling.  A casualty from a previous match (possibly one of the owners.)   Apparently a very good player!

The winner’s cup.

? , Sergio and Joe after the match.  The winning team.

We only watched one match as it would have been dark by the time we got back to Punta Perula but we really enjoyed what we saw.  It was really amazing to find this well run, professional event out in the middle of no where in Mexico.  A real treat.

Home for happy hour on the beach and a dinner downtown.  Off to Los de Marcos tomorrow for us and Nuevo Vallarta for Frank and Sandi. 

Another good day.

A day trip from Punta Perula to La Manzanilla.

Friday February 4, 2011

Up early again to today as Margaret was humming and singing and crashing around.  Not quite as early as we thought since we are on central time and it’s 1hour later.  Anyway we were up so we headed off for breakfast early.  When we were done we walked our laundry over to the Lavaderia and left it with the nice Mexican lady to be picked up tomorrow.  My bag will cost 30 pesos ($2.55) so it is a bargain to have someone do your laundry.

We all piled into the jeep with Eric and I in the back and Frank and Sandi in the front.  First stop was San Mateo just a short way south from Punta Perula.  We headed east off the highway and came to a church with a rather unusual design.  Beautiful but different.  We were to find out later it is built in the “Careyes design,” more about Careyes later. 

Church in San Mateo in the “Careyes” design.

Mosaic and tile work at the entryway to the church.

There were also beautiful flowers outside the church and I took some pictures.  What are they, I don’t know.

Sandi and I in front of the flower bush.

The square below the church.

After a good look at the church and lots of pictures we headed on south. 

Next stop…Bocca de Iguana.  We’d heard about this place from one of the Canadian couples we talked to when we did our walk about around Punta Perula yesterday.  These were the couple that were staying there and who also knew people from our hometown of Terrace, B.C.  and they proceeded to  tell us that Bocca was a wonderful beautiful place to spend a winter.   We drove in the paved road to Bocca and it dead ended at the beach where there was an RV park and a building that had maybe a small amount of groceries and next to it were some accommodations of some sort .   We wandered through the RV park and were not impressed by the huge amount of sand as there was no doubt in any of our minds that the rigs would be really deep it it.

Walking through the park ….in the sand!

There were also lots of small screen tents which would tell us there were bugs.   This would probably be due to the fact that there is a laguna right at the entrance to the beach and you have to cross it to get to the salt water.  And, never mind that there are also crocodiles, or at least there are warnings.  Great!   There were a modest amount of rigs parked there and there was also areas were you could camp, with a tent which tells us it could be a Mexican party area.  Not a good thing for us old fuddy, duddys! 

Beach at Bocca de Iguana….see any crocodiles!  me neither.

 

Palapas on the front of the Bocca RV park.

We wandered down to the beach and had a look and although it was nice we wondered what you would do here all winter as well as noting it would be a long drive for groceries.  Into Melaque I guess.  Not our cup of tea so onward.  I should also mention that we didn’t spend a huge amount of time in any of the places we visited so it is only a first impression. 

These pictures are at the front entry way to the park and show prices.

On to La Manzanilla. 

This is an area that Claire and Mark had told us about because they  have friends here that own a restaurant.  Mark and Claire are the motorcycle travelers from Great Britain that stayed in Las Jaibas for a week or so before continuing on their journey south.  (See my earlier posts about Claire and Mark)   They had met their Dutch friends,  Jolanda and Jorge in Nepal about 9yrs. ago on another motorcycle journey and were anxious to reconnect with them in La Manzanilla.  Jolanda’s restaurant is a favorite stop (Google it as it is well know and a great place to eat)  but it was a busy day in La Manzanilla (some sort of a festival going on) and we were unable to find it.  Claire and Mark stayed with them over Christmas in their off beach accommodation and enjoyed good food and hospitality.  Sorry we couldn’t stop in.  Again maybe next time.

We wandered the beautiful beach and had a look around before heading on south.  Sorry Claire, it just didn’t work out.  Too busy a day in La Manzanilla.  

We went on towards Melaque but decided not to go in and continued on to Barra de Navidad.  We drove into town and stopped and parked in the down town area.   Frank’s Garmin GPS helped us to find our way around and we finally stopped, parked the jeep and got out for a walk about.  Up and down a few streets, a picture on the beach and back for a quick drink before we headed out of town. 

A beautiful beach on a windy day.

Street in Barra de Navidad.

The down town area was quaint and old and there were quite a few Anglos wandering the streets.  It was also not as busy as one might expect, especially in the height of the tourist season.  Again, we didn’t spend much time and it warranted a longer look.  Maybe next year. 

Marina on the south side of town. 

As we were on our way out of town we noticed an RV park quite a long way off the beach.  We drove in, had a look and again there were less than 6 rigs parked.  Too far off the beach, rustic and unfinished.  Nope!

The drive back to Punta Perula was busy and windy and Frank is tired.  Thanks for driving Frank! 

As we drove through a small town on the way back this tree was in full bloom.  Beautiful!

Back to the unit and all is quiet.  Everyone out so Sandi decided to have a lie down and Frank, Eric and I walked up town for beer.  Not a bad price for a 24 (190 pesos – 180 in Mazatlan) and home for happy hour on the beach.  Cool tonight in Punta Perula but not as cool as Mazatlan, supposed to go down to 39C….that’s close to freezing. 

Up town for dinner and chicken tacos 85 pesos for two people with 1 beer each and when you add a tip 100 pesos and then on up the street for Helado (ice cream.)  Now that cost 20 pesos each which is half as much as dinner.  Am I complaining,  not…not…..not!  Happy and full!  

Home to bed.  Tomorrow there is a polo match that Jack in the park told us about.  It is part of the Careyes development so maybe we’ll have a look. 

Night night!

Hanging out in Punta Perula

Thursday Feb. 3, 2011

We were up at 8am today.  You just have to love the Mexican concrete and marble for noise transfer.  Margaret and her husband were up early crashing around, singing humming and yakking etc.  so……everyone else is up too. The only quiet one in that family is their big Bassett hound Lucy!   As I mentioned the kitchen area and common area are surrounded by the bedrooms so it is just like a hostel.  Oh well, we’ll survive. 

This is Henry the manager of the park with his little sidekick Karen!  She is 2 almost 3 and follows him everywhere while her mother does the park laundry and cleaning.  What a little sweetie!

Today we walked up the street and had breakfast at the restaurant where we had dinner last night.  Real “Americano” coffee not instant and fresh”jugo de naranja” orange juice and the usual eggs of some sort.  Good thing my doctor isn’t reading this or he’d make me take a cholesterol test.  Oh well, the beer keeps my blood thin….right!

 

After breakfast we wandered around town and found the Canadian camp a couple of streets back.  We had a nice chat with them and it turns out the couple that are staying in Bocca de Iguana knew Terrace and people that we knew.  Small world.  We continued on to the beach and had a look at another hotel for 700 pesos per night but in the end we decided to just stay where we are. 

The rest of the day was spent wandering the beach and Eric even had a little swim.  As the day progressed the surf really kicked up and I got some great pictures while we had happy hour. 

Even the laundry is pretty in Mexico!

 

That little person coming out of the water is Eric.  Too cold and waves too big!

Happy hour started early today.  It’s only 3pm but it turns out it’s an hour later here so …..what the heck.  We have to get out for dinner before everyone closes.

How pleasant is this!

 

Surf’s starting to kick up.  What a pretty ketch sail boat.

 

The surf slows down and the sun starts to set……soon time for dinner.

 

Time to head down to another restaurant for dinner.

The deep fryer is going and the “cebolla’s” onions are cooking.  Yum Yum.

Frank and Sandi.

Eric and I both had two meat and cheese quesadillas, deep fried onions and 2 beer each for 100 peso’s (including a tip.)  Good and you can’t beat the price.  Now it was time to wander down the street in search of dessert.  I haven’t eaten ice cream bars in years but here it just seems like the right thing to do!  A delicious chocolate covered ice cream bar for 20 pesos each and boy was it delicious. 

Home to bed.  No one around.  Perfect.

Night Night!

Tomorrow we are off on a daytime road trip in the jeep to look at other towns.  Should be fun.