5C's Que Pasa

A few years ago we arrived to find some neat seeds on one of our palm trees.  They were red and the birds ate them.  This is the first time we saw how it started.  A small protrusion from the tree trunk which within a week opened like this.

The new seed pod on the left and the old one on the right.

It burst open just a few days later.  Now those buds will get larger and eventually become larger seeds.

The plant is called a desert rose and I have grown this one from a very small plant over the past ten years.  Aka “Adenium obesum is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, that is native to the Sahel regions, south of the Sahara, and tropical and subtropical eastern and southern Africa and Arabia. Common names include Sabi star, kudu, mock azalea, impala lily and desert rose. Wikipedia”

So many hibiscus blooming at the same time.

The end of November I started three small pots of portulacas from seeds that I  brought from my plants back home.

Can you spot the oriole just above the red flowers?

Our resident hummingbird.  This is the one that sits next to Colin when he plays outside.  We kn0w that it is the same bird as he has certain places he sits at over and over.  I think that we have been aware of him for at least three years.

We call him Mr Cinnamon. He is considered a medium size hummer, quite a bit larger than most.  “The cinnamon hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found from northwestern Mexico to Costa Rica. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest. Wikipedia”

Missing my girls tonight.  Carmeh looking very relaxed.

Caeli is out for the night.  Photos taken back in 2017.

It rained off and on Sunday night and we awoke to a caldron of an ocean.  So hard to capture the waves with a camera.

The waves were non stop and rather high at times.  The entire beach was pounded over and over and the flat sand became sculpted.  I can’t go check but it appears that there are mini dunes here and there.

We had moved many of our things under the palapa for safety from the rain.  However the winds were very strong, you can see my tablecloths being blown sideways.  The sand was flying everywhere.

Other than this brave soul walking the beach it was deserted all day. Rather sad as this was the Monday of a long weekend here in Mexico. The port was closed to small vessels and pangas. My massage was cancelled as Sophia was too frightened to come across – that is if the lanchas were even working.  I think that the Playa Sur Embarcadero may have been closed but according to Ismael the main one was operating. Fortunately there were no cruise ships scheduled on Monday.

RV2 lost some outdoor tent gazebos and here in RV1 two RV awnings had to be taken down before they ripped. Fortunately there were many hands to help battle the wind to get the job done.

We did not get as much rain as forecast which was a blessing but still enough to make puddles and a mess of things.  In Mazatlan the rain filled the streets very quickly to the point that some vehicles could not drive through.  That is a heron flying past.

Later in the afternoon a young woman showed up with her entourage.  She spoke to one of the RVers and said that she was one of the Carnaval Queens.  Not sure which one but she was too young to be the main Queen.

Interesting sunset thanks to the clouds.

Some of our palm fronds fell out because of the wind. We will have to get Lupe back.

You can see where we are missing our palmas.

Sunday was  dreary but we woke up to a busy beach.  I had noticed an ATV pulling a trailer with this large red container earlier.  Later we saw them stop out front and haul in an incredible catch.  Their net was full and they kept picking fish out of it for close to thirty minutes.  Pelicans in the water and frigates in the air.  If I could have I would have been right down by the water getting some close ups.

We had tickets for the first play reading of the season at El Recreo.  We both enjoyed ‘On a First Name Basis’ by Norm Foster.  A very fun play and I would go see it again in a full theatre production.

We came outside about 2 1/2 hours later to the start of the rain. This is the view from where we stopped for an early dinner at 5:30PM.

Our first visit to El Fish Market this winter.  We usually sit outside but due to the cold and wet we sat inside where we discovered that the Super Bowl was on.  We could have watched it back at the RV but it was fun glimpsing it on the large screen.  I asked if they still served those great margaritas and the waiter suggested I order a Cadillac margarita.  It was just acceptable but not worth 95 pesos when you could get a Pina colada or a lovely glass of wine for 55 pesos.  I haven’t given up yet on margaritas but I am getting close.

Lots of different burger choices here.

We had our usual shrimp fettuccine which was as delicious as ever and we have been having it for many years. Sadly the margarita as in most other places has gone downhill. The last two I had here that were perfect was with Suzanne a few years back after a Sunday symphony concert in January 2017.  I can still taste them.

In anticipation of a future event we stopped next door to check out the newly renovated Shrimp Bucket.  The words on the neon sign say ” Sorry We Are Open”.  A fun busy place.

There were many pieces missing to the point that we could see the plastic underneath and it was in bad shape.

The plastic had become very brittle from being exposed to the sun.  You need to protect your bottom layer or the entire palapa will have to be redone.  Even more money.

Lupe explained that we did not need a touch up repair but a major repair as in $$$ but it needed to be redone to save what we already have.

Once the wooden structure is built palmas are layered and that is what the lighter coloured fronds are.  Over that first layer plastic is put in place and then another layer of palmas added which are knotted into place. The fellows here are standing on that old top layer which they are still removing.

They threw them and the old plastic over the fence into the lane and later cleaned it all up.

Once the old decaying branches were gone they added a new layer of plastic.

There was a storm approaching and the day was dreary.

It was a big job and then they also redid the small palapa from scratch.  First some new wood had to be added due to deterioration.

Lots of fronds were added.  The purpose of this palapa is to shade our front window so that we can see our magnificent outside view without having to cover the window to keep the sun ( and view ) out. A certain amount was trimmed shorter.

It looks strange now but the palmas will dry out in the next few weeks with the sun and start to droop. That is when we will shape what we need or remove parts entirely.

The front row here in RV1 is full. The view from the roof of our RV. Hard to see but you can count eight units to our left.

Our roof in the foreground and the very full back row of RV1.  We were full for December and January.

Panoramic shot of RV1.