January 24, 2009

You’d love to see the mural we are painting on the little school in the village. The school has about 20 students, is concrete about as big as our bus, and we are doing a mural on 3 sides and maybe the name of the school on the road approach side. Today was mostly background, but tomorrow will be the fun, putting fish, peligans, turtles,and crabs in with Nemo and the little Mermaid in the sea that we painted in today! PaPa Andy had the choice this morning of going to help us paint or going on a quad ride to the hot springs again. You can guess where he is……not painting! Maybe he will come help tomorrow….he said he wanted to…..as long as the choices aren’t too delectable to resist! The little Mexican girls gave us loads of the biggest avocados that I have ever seen to bring home with us…..they look like small watermelons…….and I have paint in my hair!

January 23, 2009

Where do I start with our journey from La Peñita to Lake Chapala, Ajijic, Guadalajara, and Tlaquepaque……at the beginning? Carole and Grant needed to go shopping for a pool cover, and a coffee maker for Ada’s new coffee shop. Guadalajara may be the place to find it, so we were pleased that they could come with us, and we took two cars.

Carole guided us to the picturesque town of Ajijic that is hard to pronounce and is full of more Canadians and US people than Mexicans. Bea, Carole’s mother, tells me, later, that 30 years ago many retired military people settled on Lake Chapala, paying only $10,000 for property and getting a maid and gardener for 250 pesos a month. They could retire there on their military retirement pay and live well. We hired a guide to take us touring. He took us to a house with everything you’d ever want that was for sale, by owner. They were a nice couple from Canada that has to sell for health reasons. The house was a beauty and they wanted $339,000 for it. It seemed a bargain for what you can get in the states, but it makes me wonder if it is the same property that 30 years ago sold for $10,000.

First we had all checked into the hotel La Nueva Posada in Ajijic, right on the lake. It was very old Spanish with wonderful outside-inside dining areas and old paintings, fixtures, plants, and rock construction. The hotel was Carole’s find of a previous trip and she is the true discoverer of adventure……. finding a wonderful bead shop, at the same time, across the street with the colorful hand-beaded figures we had seen before….only these were (some of them) two and three foot long beaded leopards and parrots. Our Mexican guide with his van drove us around Ajijic and Jocotepec, touring through the gated communities and the Hot Springs spa and giving us two 20 minute stops to explore. The architecture and art continue to fascinate me. The combinations of old brick, rock, towers and balconies in downtown are an example set for artistic builders and even for amateurs like us.

The three couples then drove north to Guadalajara. We stayed in an old hotel in the middle of the city. It was the original hotel of the matadors. Many famous matadors and officials have stayed there. The Hotel Morales started as a rooming house at the end of the 19th century and became known for several decades as the bullfighters’ hotel. Again, it was built of rock and tile, but in an elegant businessman’s way with a big fountain in the lobby. The waiters that served in the restaurant were all well schooled and the food good. The entire staff was very professional. One nice thing was that our room was very quiet.

It was fun exploring the suppliers with Carole and Grant as they found the pool cover they needed and the coffee making equipment. The coffee supplier gave us espresso to taste and recommended different supplies for Carole to look at. With their half English-half Spanish dialects and hand signals, we all learned a lot about coffee machines and different mixes and brands to use.

We took a double-decker bus tour of downtown Guadalajara and another to Tlaquepaque, the village that retails the wares made in Tonala and around the world. My favorite town so far is Tlaquepaque with it’s cave-like stores of wonderful treasures like glass, tile, wood, and leather. We bought some glasses although they say we can get them for less at the factory stores in Tonala next week on our ladies shopping-spree trip.

Guadalajara is at 5,214 ft elevation and cooler than the coastal areas where we have been living. It is the capital of Jalisco and has a population of over 3 million, so we only scratched the surface of places to see. The monuments, markets, murals, shrines, and grand plazas gave us an ever changing view of old Mexico. The market must be the biggest in the world and we have seen many, even Barcelona’s and Brazil’s are in competition. A double steeple of yellow tiles tops the Cathedral de Guadalajara. The cathedral sits on one side of the Plaza Tapatia with its great open spaces, decorated by grand fountains spewing gallons of water. On the opposite side is the Teatro Degoliado, a classic theater, opening in 1866 with its columned façade and marble frieze depicting Apollo and nine muses. We could only peek inside of it and get a fleeting view of the gilded and muraled stage set. I especially enjoyed the story of the Monumento a los Niño’s Heroes and the Plaza de los Mariachis. We hiked through the plazas and market later on our own and came home yesterday. It is not a long ride back to La Peñita on the coast again, but we were all happily tired. What a country!

January 17, 2009

If you know Lee Ann, she has in her office a motto that ends in “Wowee, what a ride!” Day before yesterday, with an overnight, we did the “Wowee, what a ride”. 137 miles on 10 quads, through rivers that were our roads, over mountains, through fields of corn, agave plants, mango orchards, us adventurers ended up at nearly 5000 feet high in the picturesque village of San Sebastian in what looked like the Bavarian Alps. We climbed over rocks, through ditches, and under canopies of trees, some blooming in profusions of yellow or pink flowers. There were multiple Bromeliads in the tall trees, scores of Bos Indicus (Brahma type) cattle, Mexican cowboys with lines of saddles lined up on a railing, small villages of tile-roofed houses and tiny stores and people gathering places. Our first adventure stop was going through a deep river with big boulders with the quads and one of us not making it. We were mainly audience while our hero, Allan, with his winch (adaptly connected) pulled him out. A few more heroes helped. It was one of our Kodak moments. Abel and Allen, the Mexican riders, have been our greatest assets with their speaking Spanish to ask directions and being considerate in taking care of us. They both have extensive quad experience. The next great adventure that we were not prepared for was a torrent of rain. We first spotted the black clouds ahead with optimistic attitudes and then the rain hit us with a half an hour yet to our hotel destination. No one stopped, even as the rain felt a bit like hail once in awhile. We sped into San Sabastian drenched to the skin and looking like drowned rats. Carole and our Mexican quad riders made arrangements with the hotel and we all hit the showers as quickly as we could make the water hot. I didn’t really get warm until we went to bed on the huge king sized accommodations that night. First we explored our picture perfect destination and had dinner at an Italian restaurant “you could die for”. Andy was sure that he gave a clerk 500 pesos for a 20 peso scarf but we will never know for sure and we didn’t worry over it long. The courtyard of our hotel El Pabellon was a garden of tropical plants including a triple (or Cinco) Poinsetta. They had a narrow door behind the hotel that each of our quads jumped through to park in a nifty parking area just for us. It looked itself like a old Spanish courtyard of the 16th century. Our rooms all faced each other and had green wooden shutter doors and windows. The town square (that our hotel sat on) had a typical gazebo in the center and little canvas covered stores around the edges. On the other side was the big church with a huge bell tower. We will all remember the bells as they were rung about every hour during the daylight hours and started up again at 4:00 am (an hour later in this time zone). The bells were accompanied by shotgun firecrackers in celebration of an all saints day…..shocking many times!!!

In the morning, dressed in warm dry clothes and the sun shining high in the sky, we were ready for new adventures. It is an adventure alone when 10 quads try to do anything, like getting gasoline from 5 gallon containers with syphon hoses. All of us snaked up and down the little streets on our quads exploring the town before we took off down the mountain, bound back towards the sea. Coming the day before, we had worked our quads through tiny villages on rutty dirt roads and we all wore some sort of dust mask. Going home, we took a different route that included quite a few miles on the highways going top speed for us….exillarating to say the least….. viewing beautiful scenery. There were two note-worthy adventures to report. Carole had arranged for us to find the road to a newly developed hot springs. When we arrived, we were among their first costumers. The Mexican man that had developed the spring was there with his son and little grandson. He made sure we enjoyed the six concrete and rock pools that he had worked so hard on, each with a different temperature of water, ranging from about 85 degrees to over 106 degrees. He had even built dressing rooms and places to sit and enjoy our lunch. We all got in the pools, some with just their feet….but, all enjoyed every inch. We left a good sized tip as he had not yet figured out how much to charge for his wonderful hot springs pools.

There is a piece of the dirt road about ten miles from home that is so bad that the five of us passengers dismount and then watch as our spouse drivers see if they can make it over the huge crack in the middle of the path that cannot be avoided. Bob had Shirley still on the back and they didn’t make it. We all screamed as they went over into the crack, seeming to pin their left legs beneath the quad and the quad didn’t quit running. Bob has skid burns on his arm and leg, but neither of them were hurt bad. Everyone helped them get up and took Kodak moment photos. There were five double riders on this two day excursion, Jo and Andy McBride, Shirley and Bob Lewis, Mike and Susie Bray, Ken and Linda, Barry and Kim and five single riders; gutsy Carole Thacker , Abel, Allan, Pete, and Darryl. Wowee, What a ride!!

One more to top that, last night we went for dinner with Carole, Grant, Bob and Shirley at a really great local place called Rocky’s. After enjoying food, drink, and company, and then walking out the door, a voice said (at a table by the door), “Can we go anywhere without seeing the McBrides?” I said, “What” and ran over to hug, none less than Jenny Oakes, from Ferndale. When her husband, Lowell Daniels, came out of the Baña, we were posing with Jenny for him with big grins on our faces. We cannot believe it is such a small world. Jenny and Lowell were with two other couples and their kids, and, of all people, Rosalee of Los Amigos B & B next door to the La Penita RV park. We had never met Rosalee, but had emailed her and heard all about her from Donna and George and Bob and Shirley. We went home in shock, just having met the second couple from home as they are about to leave La Penita. How wonderful to see them. They fly home today!

I think that I did not publish the post before last so now that I have received some pix from Shirley who happened to have a camera, I will publish the January 10 blog....so it belongs before the last one :-)

Andys' version of the polo game:

“We just got back from watching two consecutive polo games. I have never seen a legitimate polo match first hand before. That takes some well-trained horses and some highly skilled players with plenty of strategy savvy. Occasionally a horse gets popped with a ball, but they seem to be used to it. I would think they would have more collisions. It is not as rough as hockey for sure. What is confusing is they change goal ends after each point is made. I think they call each half-time a choker(?). They play 7 ½ minutes per choker and then get fresh horses. The horses were beautiful, kind of like a thoroughbred—quarter horse cross. It is obviously a rich man’s sport. We had drinks while watching the games and then had a good dinner. At dinner they asked for four volunteers to try out on the field. Two people from our table—Joe and Carole—went out but did not do as well as the other two. Bob Lewis snuck out with two balls and would throw them to the goal when Joe swung the mallet. It was hilarious! Then he brought the two balls home with him and kept asking the women if they would like to see his balls. More hilarity.

“Bob thinks we should make our own game of “pollo” using quads instead of horses. He said here in Mexico they misspelled pollo because they used only one ell, which is how they came up with polo. In Mexico pollo means chicken. So he proposes we get everybody on quads with some kind of mallets—maybe even tennis rackets—and chase chickens around and swat them with the “mallets”. He has not worked out the scoring yet—maybe who kills the most chickens? More details will have to be worked out at the next cocktail hour. I would suppose this event would be followed with a big chicken feed if the players are successful. Hmm . . . would they be serving “battered” chicken?

January 10, 2009
It was a different Spanish lesson this week. I was the least knowledgable one there as far as Spanish goes. Grant was impressed as well that Andy and Gail have a pretty good handle on the Spanish (compared anyway). With only five of us including the teacher, Maria, we dropped the heavy study and had a good discussion about Gail and Maria’s two new house renovations and the troubles they are having, Gail with her Spanish and Maria with water problems. We learned several practical Spanish words like un instead of uno, aljiber(reservoir), pozu de agua (well), and a funny one that is the name of Flatmo’s new house! Indalecio (goes by Inda to gringos) is the name of an accomplished architect that many gringos are using for their new homes or renovations. He is the architect that worked on Flatmo’s beautiful new home. It is very funny to talk to Maria and find that she buys coffee at the Walmart in PV and we brag on what a wonderful coffee we can get here in La Pineta from the grower.

January 13, 2009
Sharon, our neighbor to the southwest, landed an 85 pound Marlin, on her husband, Ken’s, fishing boat. The Marlin’s beak, the texture of a cow’s horn, is hanging on our shared clothesline to dry so she can take it home to Canada with her. She is drying and pickling the meat…..so exciting.

Andy did a men’s quad ride day today and drove with eight quads to the little town of La Cucuracha and did some exploring to find the back road route for us to take on Thursday when we do a couples ride and an overnight. He was so dirty that we had to brush and prewash his clothes before sending them to the laundry. We will all be like that on Thursday and Friday, but a motel to bathe and relax together in the middle of the trip…..should be so fun. Andy went 68 miles today!

I have finally dipped into the paint pot and did a water color and an acrylic painting today and yesterday. A swim and lunch at the pool with Shirley broke up the day and a drive into La Penita to pick up two pants outfits that I had made by Lucy’s dress shop. Shirley put an order in for a dress and I may go back for a dress unless I pick one up at the women’s fashion show the beginning of next month. Lucy speaks English and has made dresses and blouses and pants for the people in the park for quite a few years. She is very nice and has us try on things just behind a shelf….no dressing room. She hand painted one pair of pants to match a top and embroidered geckos and frogs on another. Andy was tired from his long trip so we stayed home for dinner, to eat leftovers from our feast last night. Our feast last night was chicken, potatoes, tortillas, salad, and Flan from downtown that we served on our patio to Carol, Grant, Shirley and Bob with homemade Margaritas.

Two of the top park worker boys delivered some promised concrete from a site job they are putting in up the hill. With shear talent, our neighborhood rocks have been piled (by us) so they resemble steps. The boys poured cement on them for us and cemented in a little sidewalk to the steps. It will be safer and improves the looks of our little bit of landscaping. Shirley and I decorated the inbetween places with little stones that we picked up around. Shirley even tried to make something looking like a dog print in the mud and the hope is that no real dog gets in it before it dries! It is Mexican!

January 09, 2009
We found Duane and Mikki Flatmo, would you believe, as they were getting into a taxi for the airport to go back home to Eureka. They jumped out of their cab, told the cab driver to wait for them, and took us on a quick tour of the new house they had just partnered on and a sculpture Duane had made out of old stuff he found at the beach and on the road. We talked like old friends (and of old friends), hugged and then they left in their cab. It was an exciting meet-up that took only a few minutes. We couldn’t believe we had actually found them as they were leaving. They are not going to be back here until April. Duane got a kick out of Andy’s “Outbreak” tee shirt with “Ferndale World Preimer” on the back and the fact that he was Bill McBride’s brother. It is a small world.

Andy and I rode in the van with Lewis’ to take John and Barb Webber to their flight departing Puerto Vallarta and stopped to play on the way, having breakfast in the cutest little coastal town of Sayulita at an unusual restaurant called Rollie’s. There we were served by Rollie, himself, and his wife, Jeanne. He even entertained us and told us about how he had come to open this restaurant, moving from Salinas, CA and from a career as a school principal. His son plays saxophone, and makes a living doing it, on the streets of Hollywood CA. He wouldn’t take “no” for an answer to trying one of his famous delicious pancakes. He made a show of telling us to take a small pie shape out of one side, put a dab of syrup with a float of honey in the middle and then take a delectable bite! There were some special remembered shops we checked out next. The beach at Sayulita is active and a crowd drawer, speckled with colorful umbrellas, boats, and bikinis.

January 07, 2009
Ricardo’s, I believe is the name of the Pizza Lasagna place just near John and Barb’s new home and we had dinner there together last night after getting our free Margaritas from taco Tuesday at our patio palapa. It was a quiet evening and cooler…..has been cloudy today. There were breakers in the ocean all day, but that didn’t stop us from one of our favorite things to do, climb the rocks to go to the beach by the Hacienda B&B. No one else ever goes that way, but we really enjoy doing it and it is cleaner than the dusty road. Our plan was to go find Duane Flatmo’s house in Le Pineta, afterwards, but we stopped to return a book and give a CD of pictures to Donna and George Steensma and ended up stayed awhile instead, having a beer and talking. They are nice people. It seemed really quiet too at their place after all of our kids left. Their adopted duck still cames quacking at the front gate for something to eat and Donna wanted to put him in the swimming pool for a swim. They had a small pool for him before, but took it away. It may have developed a leak! We may try to find Flatmo’s again today. There is also a Spanish lesson and we are supposed to know the alphabet! Lewis’ have gone on a eight quad ride to La Cucuracha with others riders in our park for the day. Webbers may try a hand of Mexican train when they come for Spanish lesson!
Tomorrow we will all go to take Webbers to the airport for their flight home. They are vacationing in the states at Death valley Scotties castle in their second bus…a Prevo. Since they have a house here (and even Lewis’ who stay for 4 months) say this La Pineta living is a life style, not a vacation. I guess we still think of it as a vacation, away from any of the obligations at home. We will stop at a cute little resort town tomorrow that we have not seen before as we drive towards PV for breakfast together before they get on their airplane and then we will probably shop for stuff at CostCo and WalMart. It is always a fun day with Lewis’ and Webbers.