Colin and I stayed far away from the crowds and watched the parade on TV. This is the Cuba float, pretty cool with the vintage car. Not bad for a TV shot.
We love the parade and have seen it live three times. The problem is that you really need to be somewhere that there is a toilet. Some people that I know were in place by noon but the parade was delayed and about 3/4 of the way through it was getting close to 11:30PM. There are thousands and thousands of folks wanting to see it. I will only do it again as long as I have a nearby toilet. My best ever scenario is a balcony overlooking the route and having a friend invite us to join them which did happen a few years ago 😛
Once again I am using social media as those photos are much better than ours off the TV. The beginning of the parade commenced during daylight.
Always so much detail on the costumes.
This is the Queen of Canaval’s float.
Each country had their own float. This was one of those from South America.
Another shot of the Cuba float. So much color and life.
Another shot of the Queen’s float but later in the evening. I saw a mini video clip of the Queen hobbling along the street once off her float barefoot and all bent over at the end of the parade. She could barely walk. A parade like this takes a huge toll on a person.
Mexico’s float. As you can see crowds of people on both sides of the street.
Between each float were street performers related to the country. All very well done.
The Lady here is riding a float from the Galapagos Islands. Cute turtle.
So many more floats can be found here….. some great shots of the parade. Seriously you need to be here to see it in person 😎
This past Saturday, the 22nd, I arranged for a catamaran to take about 50 of us from the Isla out to see the fireworks. I found about 150 beads at a garage sale back home this past summer and bought them to share with everyone on the boat. I wore a neon crown and necklace so that everyone knew where I was.
I t was a slightly smaller boat than we had last last year as that one apparently had engine problems. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
Our crew. The captain in the back kept us pointed directly towards the fireworks despite the swells.
The show started with a phenomenal drone show.
Here they are moving to form the Mexican flag. Some of my photos are from social media as are the last two.
It was a just over thirty minute spectacle. The barges firing off the fireworks are just behind those shrimp boats. As you can see we were right there as close as we could possibly be. The wind was blowing towards shore which made it more difficult for the crowd to see the show.
Quite the crowd. We have been in it in past years. So very happy I now have our special cruise connection. This was yet another social media photo. Thousands and thousands of people.
Fortunately the smoke cleared for us rather quickly.
There were other RVers at the top of the Freeman Hotel which is behind the smoke and they said that they missed most of the fireworks because of it. Colin took the last two shots.
Social media shot showing the smoke at ground level.
This shot was taken by Alan.
It was a wonderful show and it appears that we will be doing it again in 2021. Everyone wants to go see it yet again as each year is a different display. Much better than fighting the crowds. One couple who was at the top of the Freeman could not fight the crowd to go in the direction they wanted to post show and ended up being pushed to the Plazuela ( that happened to us once, which is frightening ) which was even crazier and finally were able to get home by 3:15AM. They had to walk all the way to the Embarcadero. We were picked up directly behind the RV park and driven to the boat in a wagon and returned back home at about 12:30PM. Perfect 🙂
I am so very much enjoying my short walks on the beach.
Not sure if she is selling rides on the bike as well as the horse.
The weather is finally warming up and we are seeing more and more visitors on the beach. Plus Carnaval officially started Thursday, the day these photos were taken.
A better view of our site.
We are used to hearing banda music from the restaurant to our left but on this particular Thursday afternoon we were hearing it on our right as well. Someone built a large palapa last year and now we often have a variety of people stop there for the afternoon and even spend the night in a tent. The two girls on the right in yellow and black were picnicking and the band stopped to play for them. If you want to hear what banda sounds like click on the video, It is only 30 seconds long – long enough 😎
Later in the afternoon Colin was invited to play for the guests of our neighbours. I was home doing my exercises.
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset that evening.
Friday morning brought me another new bloom. I love the colour.
This could be a cormorant, I am not certain. We were concerned for a while as it just sat there for the longest time with its tail feathers open. It had a hooked beak. Finally an ATV going past very quickly and loudly frightened it off and it did fly away.
Fortunately Tuesday was my physiotherapy day. I feared the worst as Octavio checked me out. He found that the twisting motion caused by my massage lady had inflamed a cross ligament behind my right knee. He immediately applied TENS and later did an ultrasound treatment. His orders were to sit with my leg extended for two full days using ice only and to do no exercises.
Because the tide was low he did walk down to the beach with us to check it out and approved that I can walk on the hard packed sand. A total of 15 minutes, so 7 minutes in one direction and back, twice per day.
I did not walk again until Wednesday morning. You can’t imagine my joy at being able to get out on the sand, listen to the surf and see so many things. Lots of hammocks here at Cordons.
Just waiting for the tourists to show up. Directly above the red boogie board is the roof of our palapa and our yard.
I figured that I had mostly rested Monday, all day Tuesday and until sunset Wednesday. We were off to Mazatlan as the sun set. Taken from the launcha.
We were once again taking in music at La Bohemia Wednesday evening. Low light and shaky photo.
While Colin paid the cover charge and sorted out our seats I walked four laps around the square in order to get my second 15 minute walk of the day in.
A very tiny and very young puppy.
I ordered the shrimp fettuccini for dinner and Colin ordered a veggie pizza with pineapple. The waiter kept saying”no tiene”/”we don’t have it”. Suddenly Colin pulled out a can of pineapple from our bag! I can’t believe he did that but he did get pineapple on his pizza. Talk about pre planning.
It was the final night that Mitch was playing there. He had one more performance at Diego’s Beach House Friday and was having town today ( Saturday ). We certainly enjoyed the performance.
During my weekly massage on Monday morning, Sofia somehow grabbed and twisted my right knee too quickly as she was repositioning my leg. I jumped two inches, screamed in pain and heard a very large crack and pop. Immediately I figured that I would be in for an MRI to check my knee the next day. She forgot that it was my operated knee and accidentally moved it rapidly at an angle. I finished my massage, showered and did my hair but by then I was in a good bit of pain. Ibuprofen to the rescue. Yes my knee was inflamed again.
Monday also happened to be the fourth time that we were hosting the musician relaxation event. Mostly I sat with ice packs on my knee and let everyone else sort things out. It was tough for me to have others checking out my kitchen drawers and cabinets looking for stuff but I just sat there and took it all in.
Mitchell Woods and Benito, the Santana guy.
We three and our spouses were the only RVers attending. The rest were all mostly musicians.
Delicious huge shrimp.
Lots of focus on the BBQ. Thank you so much for all your help Darwin.
Tom, Rob Lamonica and Mitch Woods.
We were 24 on Monday.
It was a relaxing time with two going out in kayaks, three went swimming and one walked the beach and two others lay in the sun on the beach. Nice to see them all chatting about music and enjoying the beauty of the Isla. I just sat and relaxed with my ice packs which really did help. Most were gone by 6PM but four stayed until dark and we enjoyed conversation over a fire. Some were disappointed that no music was played but it is more about relaxation then performing.
In real time I am now doing alright so don’t worry. Also that was the last event that we are hosting this season. I really need some time off before we head home.
