5C's Que Pasa

I am now up to walking 30 minutes twice per day.  However I think that I am at the stage where I can go further if I want to and as long as my body is happy.  My new and final program per Octavio is that I will need to do my exercises twice per day with three sets of reps.   For the rest of my life 🙄 He says that that will keep me in good shape, not just my knee.  I have been fortunate having him here to help me.

Just a few days ago we headed south down the beach.  This is zoomed in but for the first time in a year I was able to see the horses coming along the beach.

I was actually right there. Honestly both of us thought that I might never walk the beach again.

I am feeing much better emotionally and mentally.  I now see a future for myself.

I am so looking forward to next November when we arrive and that I can walk the beach as much as I want to.

As we walked this black dog came up behind me and surprised me by licking my hand. It wanted attention and lots of love which was more than obvious.  It kept pace with us and only walked so far ahead before stopping and turning to make sure that we were coming.  When we turned back it turned around as well.

We know not to make eye contact nor to get too involved unless we want to become responsible for this lovely dog.  As you all know we have been there and done that as the saying goes.  Finally the dog became side-tracked with another walker who had a dog on a leash.  A few days later we saw him sitting between two guys who were feeding it and giving it lot of pets and love. Not to mention a zillion selfies. They were all so very happy.  However I do wonder where ” Blackie ” spent the night and so on.  So many dogs on the beach 🙁 I haven’t seen him for two days now.  Hope that all is well.

The time has come for us to start getting ready to head north and back to Canada.  It has not been an easy winter for me this year.  However I have to say that I am doing much better than I was in December and even better after my January surgery.  However I feel like I have missed so much of the Isla and Mazatlan.  Yes we have been out a good deal but mostly to musical events but I miss walking around and seeing different things and trying new places to eat.  We were supposed to have had a few adventures and do some driving to a variety of places this winter but that was not to be.  However I can’t think of a better place to have this happen to me and to have such a wonderful place to recover in.  We are blessed to be here with so many vistas and a constant parade of people and nature.

And so it begins.  Colin is in charge and has total control of our packing up.  That means that he won’t let me do too much.  With Alan’s help they came up with the perfect set up to power wash our carpets, large and small.

“Nice Dirt”!  It did eventually get washed.

Colin had already waxed the RV but still needed to do the Jeep. He cleared a path….

…so that he could drive the car under the palapa to wax it.  Much easier to do in the shade.  Those tables cloths will be off to the lavenderia tomorrow.

Six non stop hours of labour, it was done. Inside as well as out!

A reward at the end of the day.

So many little things to do to get ready to leave.  We have been advised by friends back in Canada to be sure to bring toilet paper, rice and other essentials back with us as the stores in our area as well as Victoria, the capital of BC, are sold out.  Hopefully they don’t run out of wine before we get back.

What a novel idea.  Just think how much wine one could bring down to Mexico in a bed like this.

Last Monday we were surprised when Carol and Gary walked into our site.  We have known them for all the years we have lived here on the Isla.  After living just down the road from the RV park for over seven years, about four or so years ago they moved back to Maine.  However they have pretty much come visit the Isla every year since and we have been fortunate to spend some time with them.  They are very special and unique individuals who over their lifetime have given to many in so very many ways.  We are honoured to be their friends.  We are so happy to have them now living here in Mexico full-time, however Cuernavaca is a bit of trip from here.  First by airplane to Mexico City and then a 90 minute bus ride to Cuernavaca.  We now have friends waiting for us to visit in Merida, Oaxaca and Cuernavaca as well as Lake Chapala area, Bucerias and of course Monterrey. So many places and so little time.

We spent a few hours visiting but they and us had to move on. Sadly we were too busy conversing and no photos  were taken.  It was decided that we would meet for a late lunch/early dinner on Wednesday.  So just a few days ago we met them at Victors restaurant here on the Isla.  They both said that in their opinion that Victors had the best food on the Isla.

Colin, myself, Carol, Gary and Pierre ( who has been coming every year to the Isla for 42 seasons to date ).

I have mentioned Carol & Gary over the years in my blog as well as Pierre.  He is the one who goes up and down the beach twice per day to collect garbage. Admirable to say the least.

We had a lovely visit, close to four hours of chatting and it was not enough time. Life seems to pass by in a nanosecond when we are with these folks.  Our conversation goes from one end of the spectrum to the other.

All of our meals were perfect, served at the same time and were all hot, which for Mexico is a great thing.  We all had either coconut shrimp or garlic shrimp and they are large and very tasty.  So much food and so very yummy.

One of the resident felines looking for a snack.  On the bottom right I have small bowl in my bag.  One of my purchases from a local vendor.

Colin wanted me to take a photo of he and his pals.

Then they wanted a photo with him 🙂

It was a wonderful visit but sadly they flew away the next day.  So glad that we took the time to enjoy our moments with Carol and Gary to the fullest.

The following photo has a very special meaning.  It was taken on the first night that Carol and Gary were here and were visiting at Pierre’s apartment.  Even more significant was that while they watching the sunset they were all on the phone speaking with Peter B from Dover-Foxcroft, Maine.  Peter has been coming to the Isla since 1973 or so ( ?46 years ).  Peter from Maine surprised me with a visit back in 2011.  I think he might be one of my longest blog readers.  Here is link to that visit. Carol and Gary are also mentioned in that blog. Interesting how way back then I had two blog readers from Maine who lived very close to each to other ( and knew each other ) but did not know that the other was reading my blog.  The Isla has a way of bringing its devotees/lovers together 😎

We all miss you Peter. Photo by Carol.

Memories are wonderful things.

We had the most spectacular sky this past Tuesday.

We were on our way into Mazatlan and I had hoped to catch more of the sky while on the lancha.  However the colors very quickly disappeared but we saw some interesting clouds.

Once again we found ourselves at La Bohemia to catch a new show. Here is Sarah Marie Young.  She is an award winning singer, songwriter and musician.  Marie and her husband have just returned from playing in Brazil the past month.

She played the first set and her husband, Guy King played the second set. He is an Israeli born blues and jazz guitarist and singer who now lives in Chicago, Illinois, United States.  They each have different styles.

In between sets we could not help but notice the fellow next to our table.  It actually was worse than this most of the time.  Colin was going to tell the young man, even show him how much was showing but in the end we decided to do nothing.

Sarah and Guy have a young daughter who will be turning three sometime in April. When one is on the stage the other is holding her and vice versa.  Sarah came back onstage holding their sleeping daughter for the final number, a duet that Guy had written.  The child was wearing baby ear protection noise cancelling headphones.  A lovely way to end the evening.

However as always we were happy to be heading back to tranquility.  The port certainly was busy with freighters that night.

Colin was supposed to leave Wednesday morning to attend the last half of the Culiacan International Guitar Festival.  However for a number of reasons, primarily because of me and my physio he stayed here.  There was also the matter of one of the main performers who is from Italy and was in one of the towns under quarantine so they sent another musician from Italy.  Colin had missed the key players on Monday and Tuesday ( he stayed back for this show at La Bohemia ) and decided that despite missing the music and seeing all his friends that it was wiser to stay here on the Isla this year.  Plus he really has been exposed to a great deal of other music this winter.

After all the Isla is a very special place as you can see from the following photo.  I can’t remember where I saw this but there really is a Benji’s Pizza here on the Isla 😎