5C's Que Pasa

…about baby Romina.  She arrived in Los Angeles today by plane.  Thanks to the many people who donated. We were able to raise enough money, but we did come down to the wire.  I have learned that she may only be away 15 days, depending on how she responds to her prosthetic arm.  If there are problems or she is slow to grasp what is happening she may need to stay the full 30 days.  I have been promised photos later this week.  If and when I get them I will post them here.

Two of my hibiscus are under attack.  Hopefully it won’t spread to my ten other hibiscus plants.  It took me a while to figure out what was happening.

Where did my flower go?  First the stamen disappears then  a while later a few petals are missing, until the entire flower is gone.

Colin and I both did a good deal of research and iguanas are impossible to get rid of. One site suggested a trap. The best we could do was hope that the critter would go thru the saran wrap to get the flower and would become trapped.  It likes to sit on the wall in the background and of course is much too fast to catch by hand.  Our trap never worked.

Ishmael, our handyman suggested catching it in a fishing net.

That only served to slow the iguana’s consumption rate.  Anyone have any other ideas.

Not easy to see my iguana but that is its green head in about the middle on the right.  It just slithers through the mesh of the net.

So the battle continues.  I lose a few flowers everyday 😥   Nothing I can so about it.

I have been a tad busy of late dealing with this and that and of course Baby Romina.  I do hope to have an update for you very soon.  I can say that things are looking promising.  Fitbit has been taking some of my time as I have been working to hit that 10,000 step mark on a daily basis.  Since December 21st I have hit that mark everyday but for five, not bad it I say so myself.

RV2 hosted a happy hour last Saturday to welcome a few new folks to Tres Amigos.  We have two new RVers in RV1.

Note the long sleeves and jackets on most people.  January is the cold month in this area of Mexico.  We only have daytime highs of 24C/75.2F with very chilly nights of 10C/50F.  Factor in the wind off the ocean in the late afternoon and it is cool.  Great for sleeping but we have easily become used to 30C/86F during the day but not a one of us are complaining.  I will admit to wearing long pants in the evening if we are out and about.

The girls love to sit in the sun on the dash in the morning to keep warm. Caeli was already up there laying in her bed when Carmeh went up the ramp and put herself in front with her rear in Caeli’s face.

They really do love hanging out together.

Colin has started his annual waxing of the RV. A little here and a little there. Eventually it will all be done.

Meanwhile I am relaxing and reading a few novels.  Sadly I have let my emails lapse but please know that I will get back to you.  Time is moving on, we have been here 2 months now with only 2.5 months left.

Even the sun is setting much more to the right, it used to set in that low spot between the two hills.   By the time we leave it it will be setting to the right of the photo.

A fisherman setting out his net in the glow of the sunset.

…let us start with the parade.  We were on our way to a specific address just off Olas Altas to check out a new location ( to us ) for the monthly Friday Night Art walk.  I can’t believe that I have not discussed Art Walk since January 2014, if you care to check out the photos, click here.

With no warning whatsoever our pulmonia became part of a parade.  Photo is blurry as we are literally bumping along the road.

It didn’t take long for us to realize that this was a parade for all the princesses competing to become Queen of Carnival 2016.

Just as we approached Olas Altas we were able to veer off.  Lots of bands in the parade and lots of noise.  I was surprised to see the number of spectators lining the street.

Once we left the bustle and noise of the parade we quickly became lost.  It was obvious 15 minutes later that we were very lost and our driver has no idea where to go.  It was also very dark by now.  We spied another pulmonia and Colin hopped out to get directions.  Not so good as we remained lost.  Finally we called the place we were headed to, our first stop for Art Walk.  Bodie kindly offered to meet us at a certain area which we were able to direct our driver to.  Our quote of 5o pesos was doubled to 100 pesos 😐  We had planned a large tip due to the circumstances but 100 it was.  Turns out that the road we should have driven down was closed off and a bunch of jack hammering was taking place.  So how could we have found the place in the first place 😯

We were very happy to finally arrive at the home of Wendy Kain and Bodie Kellogg and their Dynamic Photo Art.  Bodie takes wonderful photos and then plays with them in the computer creating some most interesting art.

Next stop was the Museo de Historia de Sinaloa. They had many old photos depicting Mazatlan’s history however nothing was in English. They did have young students there who spoke very good English willing to translate for you as well as answer any questions.  A well organized event.  This photo depicted a scene in 1914.

This old phonograph was also on display.

Yet another stop was Galeria Nautilus were Antonio does painting using only his finger and fingernail. This is a small magnet that he is working on.

An example of his work. Rather amazing considering his limited tools.

We managed to get to about 1/3 of all the venues participating in Art Walk. Always a fun evening.  Most folks who attend Art Walk end up gravitating to the Plazuela Machado for a drink or for dinner or simply to stroll the square and take in all vendors and the ambiance.  Certainly lots of energy in the area.  Colin and I were seated at a cozy table for two right on the edge of the action where we could spring up to dance should the urge take us.  Drinks had been ordered and delivered when I suddenly looked up over Colin’s right shoulder.  I knew that Tioga George was in town both by reading his blog and also through Carol’s blog.  I had the idea earlier in the day to contact Carol to get together but decided to let them have their own time together without our intrusion. Not only were they all sitting there right behind us but also fellow Canadians from Toronto,  Jackie and John.  Her blog can be found here.

I finally get to meet the great Tioga George, well known for his adventures & travels through Mexico.  He is the who’s who of RVers in Mexico.  It is easy to say that we have all learned a great deal over the years from George and his travels.   That is Carol’s husband Bill on the right.

Only George seems to know where the camera is. That is Carol on the left.

They all insisted that we join them for dinner. So much for our romantic evening for two.  However I wouldn’t have missed our group evening  for anything. We had a blast. By the way that is John and Jackie on the left. They left yesterday for Guadalajara, San Miguel for 5 weeks and then onto Puerto Vallarta. They are not RVers but they love to travel and it is all documented on Jackies blog.

Between sets in the kiosk there were a few performers in front of it, which happened to be directly in front of our table.  George got up to teach these youngsters a thing or two about how things should be done.  Great job George!

Needless to say Colin and I got a good bit of dancing in. But George and I managed to cut a rug as they used to say. George does a great jive.  Look at the smiles on our faces.

The end to a perfect evening in paradise. Thanks for the memories George.

Readers who have been with me for a while are familiar with Baby Romina.  It was Dec 18th, 2014 that I first became acquainted with Romina.  She is a baby who lives here on the Isla who was born with only one arm.  It took a few weeks for me to figure things out but I set up a way for readers and friends to donate to Romina so that she could travel to Los Angeles to the Shriners Hospital.   By the end of February 2015 over $1000.00USD had been raised as well as 5000 pesos by the family itself.

The family did travel to the hospital in LA and Romina was accepted into the program.  However the doctors wanted to wait another year before fitting her with a prosthesis.  That time has come.  Everything is paid for except the actual airfare.  Romina, her grandmother and a translator will need to stay in LA for a month for physiotherapy.  All accommodation and transportation is being provided by David Perez the owner of the RV Park that we are currently staying in.  The family does need to raise $900.00USD for the return airfare.

Romina has grown quite a bit in the last year.

It is difficult for me to ask you my readers and friends to dig into your pockets yet one more time but I am asking.  Every little bit will help and make a huge difference to this child’s future.  They need to fly out of Mazatlan on January 19th in order to keep their appointment for the fitting of the prosthesis.

You can use PayPal by logging into your account and click send money to friends/family and use my email address.  For those who do not like to use PayPal for whatever reason or simply don’t have a PayPal account please send me an online e Transfer.  Through your bank you can send me your donation by simply using my email address contessa549@gmail.com.  How about we keep things simple by using Romina as the password.  Of course anyone here on the Isla or in Mazataln who might want to donate can just give me cash.