December 16, 2008

December 16, 2008
A Mexican circus and us the only gringos and Shirley’s ride on the elephant…..then an art opening….just like the Candy Stick Gallery only more low key….water colors, handmade embroidery and handbags, and refreshments in a wonderful home on the street of well-to-do Northerners from the states and Canada….more from Canada than anywhere. The home was beautiful with a tiled dome and pool and open spaces. I am helping with the Barbie project still and signed up to go on a shopping day in February and to help paint a mural on the walls of a young children’s school…like kindergarten thru 3rd grade. Andy is out right now on the quads with the guys….they do some rough riding together but see lots of territory. We had dinner together under the stars and Christmas lights in the park and enjoyed the company last night….tacos, would you believe?

December 14, 2008

I am getting behind on this journal….so much to have fun doing…..I’m tired!!

Some of our kids are arriving for Christmas week. We can walk to and from the place that they are staying in, Hacienda on the Beach. The park-mexico translater has a van arranged for pick up when they arrive on Dec. 24. After they get here, the bunch of them will be in walking distance of good restaurants…..that is what we do mostly…..is eat out. It is a shame sometimes though because we have the best fresh fruit and veges you have ever seen and fresh shrimp delivered to our RV park for purchase for a few small pesos. There is a bread lady that delivers twice a week, Pizza by the pool, Hamburger Sunday, and Taco Tuesday here in the park. The kids will be up here by our pool as much as by theirs, maybe. The Hacienda where they stay has a good kitchen to cook in, too. I hear that our park is crowded with Mexicans for that week……none here now. Shirley says the little kids will love playing in the pool with all of the kids that will be here at the park……there are none here now, so I don’t know. This morning we hiked to the hacienda to see how far it really is. It is about a 15 minute walk and the kids cannot do it without an adult, but we can walk back and forth. The owners of the hacienda told us that we could come back by the sea if we aren’t afraid of heights and climbing rocks. Shirley told us that we cannot go that way and it was steep and rocky. We did, I’ll show her……One or two adults should do it before they try it with the kids, but walking the road way is easier even with a hill to climb. Some hiking involved.


The pool at the Hacienda on the beach…..

Yesterday, we went to Puerto Vallarta for the first time and it was a whole day spent. We went to a wonderful Mexican restaurant, “Si Senor” for lunch and a hike around old Puerto Vallarta. We had been there probably 20 years ago and nothing looked familiar. It was a hotel vacation at the time and all you see is the beach side mostly. The rest of the day was spent at the Wal-Mart, Costco, Sam’s Club and Home Depot…..it is all in Puerto Vallarta. Friends are working on the new house they just purchased, so had a few things to buy. We bought some toys for kids and some supplies that are not easy to get , like protein powder for our fruit juice drinks. Our wonderful friends take us along everywhere and Andy and I love going with them. John Webber is official driver....good one!


Have you ever been to a Mexican circus? We went last night because they set up right across the highway from us. We were the only gringos attending and we did play it up big. Bob went across the ring to see if we could sit on the elephant for pictures and before I knew it, we were all in the ring under the circus tent, chatting in English to the carnies that only speak Mexican. 3 little boys were delighted with the balloons I had in my pocket and blew up for them. We fed the lamas and took pictures of Shirley on the elephant. She was a bit hysterical and grabbed the man that was trying to help her on. Later she said he had really curly hair….yah, Shirley. The circus was small but had some animals, including the elephant and two camels, a couple of monkeys, and even a tiger that was trained and worked in the open ring. We were sitting right up front, and had paid for the most expensive tickets for the best seats – 50 pesos each, less than $4.00. It was an exciting evening and unexpected!!

Last night was grand opening for the Los Potros Restaurant with the Perez brothers that can sing……wow can they sing……we danced a lot….good party and food to die for…homemade perogies….fillet Rellano-Dorado with shrimp, onion, green pepper, cheese and garlic butter…mmmm. Today was the big market and swim exercise in the pool….no time for the beach!

December 9, 2008
Today was taco Tuesday with free Margaritas…..but, more important was our meeting with Donna and George at the Hacienda on the Beach where Patty and Joseph and Mandy and Mike families will stay….it is a beauty.
Even more important was releasing the turtles to the sea. The baby turtles were put on the sand to make their way to the sea, to someday come back to this beach. It is a vulnerable time for them and they may not live to make it back to this beach. We got to do our share by helping them, releasing them by hand, and watching them go into the water on the beach. It was pretty emotional at sunset time and we wished them good luck

December 16, 2008

December 08

I am lazy to copy a bit of Andy’s email to make a blog, but wow does it save time….so here is a bit from Andy….

I am sitting in our bus at La Peñita catching up on our e-mail while JoAn is at a Barbie-Doll meeting. Our friends who we came down with are parked next door, and Shirley--the wife--is on a committee to gather up used Barbie-Dolls, fix them up, make clothes for them and give them to an orphanage. I think JoAn has knitted some 60 outfits. They were able to buy some complete outfits with accessories very reasonably also. I think those people on the committee really deserve kudos.

The weather is plenty warm here. I would not want it any warmer. It sometimes cools down to maybe 73 degrees Fahrenheit early in the morning when it is still dark. There is both a nice swimming pool and a beach that we can cool off in.

We have been on three quad rides so far. Two rides with our wives on board and one with just the boys. We are invited on another ride with the boys tomorrow. There are endless trails through the trees, almost like a jungle, and some are pretty rough. The best part is that there is lots to see. It is even a challenge for the "tough" boys.

A comment from me:

The quad ride through small towns was truly adventure personified!!

Good hamburger night last night with a really enjoyable dance band and three singers that could really sing…….We danced waltzes and two steps and had a literal ball…. and I bid on and became owner of a bird house and a visor that says “Le Penita RV Resort”

December 6, 2008
Our bus feels pretty tropical with all of the screened windows open and the cool breeze drifting through as you can see from PaPa’s picture ….. “relaxed is his name” and he has not had any heart irregularities since being here……the blood sugar count is a bit up and we are trying to keep an eye on that……the food is especially good part of our vacation mode….for me, not cooking very much is good, and for both of us, the delightful assortment of fresh food and fresh fish…..Today, being Saturday, we have a huge vegetable market coming into the park, the shrimp man is coming, and the bread lady, too, ……She makes the best ever bread. Bread is not something the Mexicans eat a lot, but for us, it is a delicacy from home and fresh as can be…..hard to pass up.
There was the first annual golf tournament yesterday. We sort of accidently-on-purpose forgot about it until Shirley came by and announced that she has to go to a meeting but has us already signed up and provided us with her homemade golf club. The rules were that we make our own golf club and ball and wear costumes. You must have a player and a caddy. We had five minutes to get up there and Papa Andy used his fisherman’s hat from home and a scarf made from a dish towel for his costume and we made a ball of wadded paper wrapped with electrical tape. The ball was just big enough to get stuck in the hole on the green. I didn’t know to wear a costume, so I caddied armed with our laundry bag for a golf bag. The thing was pretty hilarious. Many people spend a long time on costumes and the balls were much more golf ball size than ours. Our club with a leaf for the club part lasted about a minute and when the leaf was gone, Andy said it worked much better (more like a baseball bat). I believe with the fines for me not taking the flag out of the hole on the green in time, we also had the highest score! Good thing this was a money-maker for charity and no bets were made on the side (although you were allowed to bribe the officials). Another day is beginning and what adventure is next? We had a wonderful moonlight dinner on Webber’s new house patio last night. They barely had time to sweep up the paint chips from the pressure spraying they are doing and to wind strings of Christmas lights around the balcony rails….it was very tropically romantic….if six people can be called romantic.

December 04

Happiest birthday to Joseph and Andy....we are so busy doing excercises in the pool, four mile hikes through town in the morning, market on Thursday, vegetable man and bread day in the park, hamburger and free marguerita night and Taco Tuesday that we haven't had time to add to this blog...we are truely enjoying everything. Our excuse for not traveling more yet is that it takes at least a week to settle in. We toured through John and Barb's house they have bought and are furnishing, and have eaten at all of the best restaurants (including breakfast by the pool in our park). Today was market day in our little town and was fastinating....it one of the biggest markets and for this small town, it covers almost anything you want to buy. The Mexican families buy essentials at Thursday market and we buy all kinds of handmade wonderful plates, carpets, baskets, and painted figurines. I am going to include a letter from Andy about his quad ride that he really did enjoy.........

Hi guys.

Our dear neighbors that brought us across the border and down through Mexico to La Peñita RV Park are parked next to us. We are parked in the two choicest spots of the park because the park manager is a good friend of theirs. They have two 400 cc. quads and graciously offered one to us to use. We had a wonderful ride together with another couple that came down through Mexico to La Peñita with us down a six mile beach and stopped on the way back to play in the waves and try a little body-surfing. I actually felt very much at home on their quad.

A Mexican named Abel that brings vegetables to the park for guests to buy, invited our two friends, Bob and John, to go for a quad ride yesterday. So Bob invited me to go as well. Now Bob claims he is not very experienced on quads, but I know better after the ride on the beach. So I timidly accepted being leery of what to expect. I was afraid of how wild this ride might be, and I know I am not very confident on a quad. I would feel more at home on a motorcycle, especially in rough terrain.

So Bob, John and I all rode on 400 cc. quads from the RV park down town to meet Abel and another fellow named Allan. Well, Allan was a big Mexican--with a pot-belly--dressed up in a fancy bright orange flight suit, a full--bright yellow--very fancy crash helmet complete with filters for dust, shoulder pads with breast plate, and a quad like I have never seen before! It was 700 cc's, had 4-wheel drive, independent suspension, and a winch. It was very complete and fancy. As we drove up Allan looked us over skeptically and advised us in a condescending manner that this ride would be rough and obviously we were not properly equipped or prepared. We were in shorts and tennis shoes. I was wearing an old dweeby looking bicycle helmet. Soon, Abel showed up with his three-year old son on board his normal 450 cc quad. Abel was going to lead us and Allan was going to follow to pick up the pieces of we presumably inept inexperienced green-horns. However, we felt a little more at ease since Abel would probably have to go a mite slower with his little son aboard.

Away we go through the town and end up on a road (trail) that was for the most part used by very brave four-wheel drive vehicles and occasionally some quads. I would have liked to go a little slower, but it was fun, nevertheless. The trail was full of wash-outs and ditches, which made the handling of the quads a real challenge. Then we headed up a hill that was complete with even more challenges. John, who was maybe the least experienced had his front end come off the ground so he let off on the throttle and ended up coasting a few feet back and ended up with his rear wheel in a ditch. I stopped because I could not go around him and wanted to see if John needed any help. John got under way and we proceeded up the steep hill. When we caught up with Bob and Abel, we stopped and waited, but Allan did not show up. Abel and Bob rode back to find Allan. After quite a while all three arrived where John and I were waiting and having a nice visit. I thought John was doing very well for one who supposedly had very little experience.

Allan admonished us for stopping on the steep hill like that right in front of him. It caused him to lose control and and he flipped over because of all the power his machine had. Hmm? Abel and Bob had quite a time getting Allan back on the road in an upright position. So lesson number one was do not get in Allan's way. Anyway, Allan had two more mishaps when John and I were not close enough to blame. Allan finally concluded it was simply his quad's fault because it was too heavy for even a man of his size and ability to handle. It occurred to me, how do you say "bool sheet" in Spanish.

In addition to the entertainment provided by Allan we had a really great ride. Abel's little son, Abel, Jr., was a real trooper. His dad was a very good and smooth rider. It was all we could do to keep up with them, and they looked like they were on a Sunday drive. Of course, Abel knew all the trails very well, and knew what to expect before he got there. We came back home with dust and mud all over us and the quads. We wore bandanas over our faces to help keep the dust out of our lungs, but the quads bore the evidence. It was much more fun than riding in the hills at home where cow-trails provide a formidable challenge and speed is not an option.

Hopefully, we will get to go on another ride next Monday.

Andy