5C's Que Pasa

Living here in paradise my days flow one into the other and I really have no idea of the actual day.  I write my blog today, well actually tonight based on what is on my camera.  In fact by the time I write this I have lived yet another full day that I won’t write about that until tomorrow.  Are you confused ? Well I am, but at this moment in time it seems the only way that I can keep up with our active life and the daily blog posts.  These posts take between 3 -4 hours between editing the photos and creating the final post.  Most often the time is spent in dealing with very slow computer speeds.  I find it very frustrating to just sit here and wait while the computer circles and circles before finally saving a photo and my words.

So despite the fact that it is 9 PM MST on Sunday night I am writing about what transpired Saturday.

A very cloudy sky for our morning walk.

Lots of energy in the air.

The girls very active today and enjoying the water.

Most days, including today, are a fun walk. However I am constantly monitoring Cameh to see how much energy she has and if she has slowed down.

Back home as I was dead heading my flowers I saw this butterfly flying slower and slower. This is taken with its wings closed.

…this with the wings open. Sadly it was dying and we did take it and will bring it home with us.

Micheal is in site #3 and there  were steps built for site # 2 last season which were in storage. The owner of the park said it was alright to move the steps into place. Brilliant idea to use another RVer’s car dolly to do the heavy work.

No matter what happens here, it is of interest. Never a dull moment.

Part of my Saturday was spent planting seeds of kale, swiss chard, basil and peppermint. I am a week behind due to the hurricane.

Eric, our wonderful RV repair bloke came by to check out our to do list for the season.

The list is long and one the items will take a full three days of work. Yesterday he installed a new Fantastic Fan in our bedroom ( yeah cool air once again ), repaired our shower door closure and did some work on our rooftop A/C covers.

…the inevitable closure to the day!

Everything comes to a stand still at this time of day.

Mother Nature requires a standing ovation.

On Friday night we were kept up till 2:30AM with a party down the beach in front of Lety’s.  Was is it a wedding  or ….

Last night, Saturday, the restaurant right next to us was the host to a quinceanera, a  celebration of a girl’s coming of age, where she celebrates her 15th birthday.  This one was way up there and from what we were told easily cost $12,000.00 USD.

Happy 15th. Your dress is fabulous.  Wow another Princess Diana, so much attention.

No idea who this but she was sitting on her ATV under our spotlight reading a book !!  She did sit there for a very long time..until her boyfriend  joined her and then they moved on.

Sad to report but the quinceanera party went on until 3:30 AM….yes the music just kept on going.  Wow two nights in a row.  The entire RV park is exhausted.  Guess us old folks just don’t have the stamina.

Just after our morning walk I noticed ‘the iguana’ stalking my hibiscus.  Really hard to see him but he is green and slim and is sitting on the white wall just above the leaf on the right.  Day after day he has been devouring my hibiscus on this side of the yard.

Fortunately he isn’t interested in or has not yet discovered the new plants on the other side of the yard.  So I have been researching how to catch an iguana. Forget about it……next to impossible to get rid of one.  So I checked a few words like ‘trap’ in the Spanish dictionary and checked with Ishmael, our go to guy/handy man.  He suggested laying a fishing net along the wall where Mr. Iguana hangs out and that should trap him.  I think that Ishmael said he would bring some netting on Monday.

So yesterday, Friday was the day we showed Rochelle and Michael how to get to the embarcadero, take a panga and then a pulmonia to in, in this case, the mercardo in Centro.  Then they should be free to come and go into Mazatlan as they desire.

Just outside the Tres Amigos gates we saw this colorful laundry drying in the sun.

In no time we were on the Mazatlan side and exploring the fish market. Always a lot of pelicans waiting for a hand out.

Pretty cool stretch VW bug!

So many sites at the mercado/ market. I loved the rich color of this smoked marlin.

We spent a few hours wondering around looking at junk souvenirs, clothes, etc…..yes I got 4 new botton dresses with pockets,  my hot weather uniform.  We checked out meat, fowl. fish, spices, coffee, tamales, veggies and fruits and in no time we all had full bags.

I noticed more signs this year geared towards health and safety such as this one asking you not to touch the fish for hygenic reasons.

After a few hours it was time to sit and relax and where better than at Tony’s for a shrimp burger.

Each booth has it’s little bit of Christmas spirit. Gosh I am no where near ready to even think about that time of year.

Back to the Isla for a cool breeze and some relaxation.

The sunset seems to come very early at this time of year, approximately 5:15PM.

I only share with you a few of the many photos I take  at this time each evening.

Just as the sun was very low in the sky, us, along with Rochelle & Micheal who were also enjoying the sunset were joined by long time blog readers Debbie and Russ who als0 recently arrived here at Tres Amigos RV Park.

Not  a good photo at all due to the low light but enough to make out this great couple.  It seems that they are here in part due to my photos of the Isla as well as my blogs about the area.  They are very familiar with Mexico having traveled to Puerto Vallarta for many years.  However this is the first year that they have RVed down.  Welcome to the Isla my friends.  They had quite the day yesterday  First off they were extremely brave by driving into Mazatlan yet again down the road and actually dealing with the big city.  They did have some direction/location issues but what affected them most was that their car broke down, not once but twice.  Needless to say I was rather concerned that they were so late arriving back here on the Isla but they did get back just as it was getting dark 🙂

Yesterday was Art Walk here in Mazatlan which only happens on the first Friday of the month.  Most everyone ends up at the Plazuela Machado where there is music and an assortment of vendors and much gaiety.  Suddenly a few of us decided to head into town, we were too late for the actual Art Walk but we wanted to catch the energy of the Plazuela.  So off Debbie and I went and picked up Rae on the way.  Debbie also reads Rae’s blog.

No sooner had we arrived then we were surrounded by at least a hundred of our friends. Thank you Debbie for taking this photo of myself, Rae and Grant and Janet.

We hadn’t been out of the pulmonia for two minutes when I kept greeting friend after friend including Gord and Pat.  A few moments later we ran into the entire group of RVers from RV 2 and then moments later others from RV 1 as well as Joan and Jon. Also a quick visit with Mary, my massage lady.  It was fun to be there.

I wanted to stop at the box office of the Angela Peralta Theater to pick up a few brochures.  There was a symphony happening that I would have licked to attend but I had no idea that I would even be in Mazatlan yesterday evening.  Wandering Mike went to the symphony and said it was good.  I wished I had gone with him, next time Mike.  I’m not usually so spontaneous but it was so great to just go with the flow.  I asked if we could peek into the outdoor lobby so the girls could see the open air lobby.  I wish that they could have seen how the theater is aglow with mini white lites strung along each of the balconies.  Very fairy like and magical but only in December.

Next we checked out the top of the Jonathan Boutique Hotel which is now closed, ( just the roof bar that is ) perhaps to open soon, I don’t know.  What I do know, is how to get to the top for a view of the area.

A view of the Plazuela Machado from atop the Jonathan. We also had a great view of the Cathedral.

It was a great walking tour and we checked out a few other areas.  Quite a bit for Debbie to take in on her first visit.  Thank you Rae for treating us to a tasty gelato refreshment.  The coconut was quite tasty complete with actual pieces of coconut.  We were back home by 9:30PM.  Colin was surprised to see me back to soon but it was enough, we just wanted a taste of the energy of the evening.  The ride back on the lancha ( along with the other RVers ) was magical, seeing the fading Mazatlan lights and then the Isla lights.  I am so lucky to be in this wonderful place winter after winter.

Thursday was really low keyed and rather relaxing.

Even Carmeh was really laid back….literally.

It was a day of reading and guitar playing in addition to our daily walk.  Carmeh is doing very well and we are almost walking as far as we did with her last year.  She is amazing.  We know that one jump could be the end for her but she is 99.9% doing the ramps and seems to be getting stronger every day.  We know she is enjoying the quality of her life and that pleases us.

We finally got a few  of our no rush chores done including some surgery on my desktop. Here Colin is vacuuming the area where the RAM is stored. Lots of dust.

I had ordered more RAM for the desktop which I picked up in the US. I have now increased it to max and hope that will help speed things up.  I am looking forward to getting back to the desktop, much easier on my eyes.  I am enjoying the laptop but I need to ease my eye strain. I completed the surgery with no problems.

It was even a quiet sunset.

Big party down the beach tonight, some private party.  Very high end, a huge stage with different levels, several bands and a variety of tents.  Likely a wedding.  The humidity is finally decreasing and we have been sleeping with open windows but certainly not tonight, loud music,  mostly pleasing but pulsating, but we do have to get some sleep or at least attempt to so it is an A/C night for us.

I am slowing down and finally finding moments here and there to catch up on my blog reading.  Not quite done yet but within a day or two.  Always something to deal with.  Our water softener has packed it in as well as a cracked bushing on our filter system.  Fortunately Colin was able to find a new bushing right here on the Isla, rather amazing 😛

It was a two ( large ) cruise ship day but the beach was not busy.

However, the boy band as we call them still made a loud appearance. The great thing is, is that this group really does appear to love music despite how very loud they are 🙁

A late lunch a El Velero with Mike, Michael & Rochelle and us. Gotta love those margaritas.

Back home to see the restaurant next door, Cordone’s, work at getting their boat back onto the water.

The tide got the better of them today.

With some effort they did get back into the ocean.

This wee one was out for a stroll with her Mom but did stop and offered up a few waves to me.

Caeli was sitting on my lap so the following shots were taken from my not so perfect vantage point.

A sunset taken through our side fence, kinda of a different perspective.

I’m sure that some of you are tired of this view…

Yet others enjoy it as we do.

Colin and his best girl, Carmeh.

The day began with Caeli wondering if we would ever feed her.

We got back from our beach walk to find Ubaldo up in a tree pruning cocos and a few dead branches.

Hummingbird overload.

Fernanda has attracted bees instead of hummingbirds…..she is so very sweet.  We only get regular hummingbirds, thank goodness.

Our friends Michael and Rochelle arrived before 10AM…..guess they got a very early start 😉   Great to see them here on the Isla.  As they got settled in, our day progressed.  Just a quick note….their set up is almost immediate unlike ours.  But then they are only here for a month.

We had brought 3 bags of soil with us from Arizona and had purchased  another 3 large bags of soil at the nursery then mixed them all together.  Hopefully the mix will be what my garden requires.

Turns out that my front left flower bed is almost full of palm tree roots.  Maybe that is why most of my plants in that bed die.  Perhaps it is not just the salt air and ocean breeze.

Finally getting my purchases planted.

Longtime blog readers Debbie & Russ arrived about an hour before sunset. This was taken this morning but regardless these two took no time in settling done to some serious relaxation. Welcome to the Isla.

As they settled in, Rochelle and Michael joined us for happy hour.

Meanwhile Caeli is now wondering if she is going to get her dinner in time to satisfy her stomach.

Just another Isla sunset….

…well not quite.

Rather special in my opinion.

A fisherman and his net…

…then the horses heading home for the night.

Oops, here comes the lone filly.

I think that for my newly arrived friends, all four of you, this is a very spectacular sunset.

Colin and I are saying WOW!  I actually showed this shot to Micheal immediately after I took it to ask him if what he saw in real life was the same as what he observed on my camera screen and he affirmed that it was.

What I don’t for through for my friends  😆 Welcome to the Isla, Debbie and Russ, Rochelle and Micheal. I am so very happy to hear that you are all happy to be here.