5C's Que Pasa

The 7th Festival that I have attended

A great learning time and listening time, plus the meeting and discussing with the great masters.

I arrived in Culiacan and just off the main highway from Mazatlan my car broke down – dashboard said “engine low power”  I tried to gain control but gave in at a Pemex, shutting it down. I needed Policia to help push it to a stall infront of an Oxxo store.  There it sat.  A Sunday with no mechanicos around. I was ill prepared; had no phone number for Heriberto, my Maestro friend whom I would be staying with and had no address of his home. I knew the way to get there, that is all.  Cell phone – heck! who carries that these days? – not me.  Spanish -Yes I have been studying. So up pulls a police car and I explain all this to them. They say get in and away we go, to Heriberto’s home.  I had a map with his street pinpointed on. Through red lights, listening to Led Zeppeline I am in the back seat holding on while the co pilot is working on his  iPhone doing personal things.  A half hour normal ride done in 12 minutes.  At Heriberto’s we/I explained and I offered a tip to the police- no thanks, so Heriberto sat on the curb and played guitar for them.  They were more than thrilled and appreciative just like the Pemex guards with the AK 47s who were sitting in our motorhome Nov. 2012 as we headed to Mazatlan that year.  Heriberto is a master of the guitar and likes to give impromptu concerts.  Back to my car, after several back and forths to my car-unloading, mechanico checks etc. my car is in the shop.  Problem- a rock from the Isla Road I suspect, came up into my aircleaner, knocked a hole in it and broke my sensor re fuel/computer/control for the engine.  The mechanico just disconnected it.  Can’t get those parts easily in Mex. It drives fine, uses little more gas and hard shifts. I have an appointment at home to have it repaired.

Back to the purpose of going , The Festival.  There were concursos, seminars, competitions, master classes and concerts.  The concerts were given by:

 

A Russian lady Anna Likhacheva 21 years old – her talent incredible; she started guitar at 3 1/2 years old Check out this utube (9 years old)

 

Then we had Zoran Dukic, Croatia, one of the worlds great masters Check this utube

 

We had Mauro Zanatta, Italy, who plays early music instruments. He had 2 standing ovations. His music expression with great feeling and flawless technique.  Check out his incredible utube video

 

Andy McKee, USA  very famous from a U-tube video 7 years ago, look at this.  Andy has unique guitars – notice the slant of the frets, and he changes the tuning on almost every song.

 

Oman Kaminsky, Mexico, who won the competition last year, played with the Culiacan Symphony this year. Here he plays a very difficult Leo Brouwer modern piece

 

Few hours of sleep. In 6 days a total of 23 hours.  The water truck came by at about 7 or 7:30 am and I could not sleep after that. The rest of the house got up around 9am. Some afternoons I slept in the theatre splayed out over a few seats. Each day we had morning classes, lunches, afternoon master classes, evening concerts, late night after concert diner parties at a special restaurant and guitar the playing started again at Heriberto’s after midnight with Heriberto playing, Isela singing  and me playing and Lulu playing and singing …. then at 2 AM cheese quesadillas were on the stove.  A blast, a learning time, and the greatest friends in the world.

Thank you to Heriberto, Isela, Vinicio, Anaid, Rodolfo, Heri, Lulu, all the maestros, all the students, the Policia of Culiacan,  and special thanks to Heriberto’s mechanico Edel, a brilliant mechanic who is also a lawyer that has a very big heart.

I met Heriberto on the beach in Guasave many years ago and he invited me to come to the festival and live with his family for the week.

A special man with a special family.

I take photos for the festival which help in it’s international promotion.

Photos to follow, includes a photo of the new classical guitar group “The Mop Heads” who provide music  for Las Margaritas Diablas

Policia who drove me to Heriberto’s home

 

Anna Likhacheva, 21 years old

 

Winners of competition, from right to left, 1st, 2nd, 3rd

 

Andy Mckee

 

 Oman and Zoran

 

 

 

Oman and Conductor Gordon Campbell

 

Winner of competition, next year plays with the Culiacan Orchestra (OSSLA), as below

 

 

Zoran Dukic, me, and Mauro Zanatta

 

Famoso Mop Heads

 

 

Me and Anna Likhacheva

Vinicio, Zoran and Vinicio’s wife Anaid

 

  Heriberto, Zoran and Mauro

 

Great student guitarist, came in 3rd in competition

 

Andy Mckee, Heri (Heriberto’s son) and his novia Lulu

 

Heri with Andy’s guitar, notice the frets

 

Lulu, Mauro, Isela

 

Me, Heriberto, Anna, Zoran and Isela

We have had two days of overcast and cool weather.  75F is considered winter conditions in these parts  😥   I leave you with my final shot of the day, taken from an email from a friend.  It is sure to put a smile on your face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent the next few hours doing what I do on the phone and computer.  How come I was so busy on a Saturday?  Not my choice.  I am making progress and starting to see a peep of light at the end of the tunnel.

I received an email a few days ago from an RVer asking for an update on ‘the road’.  From Estrella del Mar where the gravel road begins, it still remains gravel but it was graded just last Thursday so it is in very good shape.  At this point there is no funding to pave that section due to some political situations but the plans are in the works.  The next four kms have been paved and totally completed.  However the last few kms ( Colin says that 1/3 is graded, 1/3 is paved and the last third is a mess ) from where the pavement ends to the Isla itself have not been paved nor graded and this part of the road is rough, especially after those two heavy rainstorms we had in February.  One just has to take it very slowly.  We haven’t been able to find out much about getting that final bit paved, other than a random comment that ‘they’ ran out of money.

My friend Linda dropped by for a visit during the afternoon.  Suddenly I was famished and realized I hadn’t eaten all day.  She left and I quickly made up two cheese burritos with salsa and avocado.  My stomach happy I sat down with my book and a glass of vino when a petite lady peeked around the RV and asked if she could just stop in for a moment and say hello.  She was about to leave Mazatlan Sunday ( today ) and asked her friends to bring her here to the Isla to meet me.  Kathy has been reading my blog for a long while as has her husband and her sister who lives in Arizona.  What a lovely surprise.  I am always so happy to meet my blog followers especially when I have no idea it is about to happen.  The five of us had a lovely visit and chat.  So much to discuss and so little time.  They had to drive back down the road to Mazatlan.  Judy and Bob, I do hope you stay in touch and perhaps we can meet for dinner one night on your side of the shipping channel.

Colin did have a great time at the festival in Culiacan but was exhausted.  He had slept only four hours the night before.  When you are an artist you just go with the flow and music takes precedence over everything else.  We had a quiet evening along with a visit from our neighbour, a new arrival to Tres Amigos.  Needless to say we went to bed fairly early.

Just another quick reminder that you can sign up to have this blog delivered to your inbox by simply clicking here.

 

The moon wasn’t just affecting the ocean.  I just didn’t feel like posting.  If I had any spare time from my constant calls and emails I spent it reading.  Heck I even turned down two dinner invites for Tuesday, one in town at an Indian restaurant that I have been wanting to try.  I just didn’t want to leave home.

Today at 10:00AM it is already 82F inside the RV and 77F outside under the palapa.  Looks like we are going to have another prefect day in paradise.  We are never too warm because of the ocean breeze.  It has been a busy last few days.  I found out that I can no longer get access online to Dad’s estate bank account which makes it difficult for me to check about deposits, etc.  I now have to call in to check things which is a real pain.  The nursing home was supposed to have refunded 18 days to his bank account and as of yesterday they hadn’t.  Call the bank, call the nursing home and back and forth.  I was expecting a deposit from another source and that hasn’t happened.  Dad’s van was sold yesterday but even depositing the money into the estate account required a trip to Dad’s bank and a special exception made.  The powers that be certainly don’t make it easy.  I can’t even get the lawyer to call me back nor respond to my many emailed questions.

Some good news is that the condo has been emptied and cleaned.  It is ready for the new owners who take possession on Tuesday.  Hopefully that money will be deposited with little problem.  The mechanico in Culiacan can’t repair our car so instead took the broken sensor and air filter off the engine and declared that Colin will be able to drive it as is.  The only problem will be that it will take more fuel to drive it.  So Colin will drive it back here and next week we will check with the dealer about how safe it is to drive and to tow back to Canada.  Some bad news is that I seem to have broken my eyeglasses yesterday.  I have no idea how that might have happened but suddenly they just weren’t sitting right on my ears.  Fortunately I have a back up pair with my current lens prescription in them so I going to be fine.  I was contemplating getting a new pair this year  😎  Decision made.

This week has passed quickly and I haven’t even got half of what I wanted to do done.  I did take some time each day for myself to read, I enjoyed a few visitors and a dinner out here on the Isla with Rae where she very generously let me have the last of the shrimp.

Time to head to the beach, it’s 10:30AM and the girls are eager to head out.  I leave you with this photo, taken a few days ago.

The ants are gone.  I think I killed them all.  It must have been a one time thing, perhaps they came in on something.  I finally was able to contact Colin this morning and things are happening with the car.  A rock or something had damaged the air filter and sensor that sits on top of the engine and the car just stopped working.  A mechanic who knows Chevy HHR’s has been found and parts have been ordered.  Hopefully the car will be ready for Colin to come back to the Isla on the weekend.  He says it has been a hectic few days but he is still managing to enjoy the guitar festival despite little sleep each night.  Seems that he and Heriberto are up till the early hours of the morning playing the guitar.

Monday was a good day for me, as I had my usual 90 minute massage and it was fabulous.  I really relaxed with it and got a lot out of the session.  The girls were so happy to see Maria so it was a treat for them also.  I even got to read my book for a while which is always a treat.  Things are quieter in the park as a few RV’s left Monday.

A long time blog reader is thinking of purchasing an RV but is being held back by a number of questions one of which is health insurance.  He made this comment and requested your input.

Personally Peter, we just get medical insurance for the days we are transiting the USA in both directions, plus a few extra days in case of a breakdown. We don’t have medical insurance while in Mexico.  If something happened to us we would pay the price and know that the BC government will reimburse us for what they would have paid for the same procedure at home once we fill in all those forms.  We do however have a no charge medical evacuation through our annual membership with Family Motor Coach Association.  Worse case scenario we would just get on a plane and fly home to be treated.  It all really depends on what the medical problem is. We also have a certain amount to medical coverage on the car and RV so if something happened while traveling in either of those we have some coverage.  It is a choice we have made and not necessarily the correct one.  What do you do?  Does anyone have any ideas that might help Peter?  Any suggestions of a good place to get insurance from?

Another friend sent me the following email…..

Suzanne just followed a notice given on TV these past few nights. If you bought a computer, printer or any other device that used a DRAM memory chip in Canada from April 1999 to June 2002, you are eligible for at least $20 as part of a class action settlement claim. Really easy to apply at: https://themoneyismine.ca and no documentation needed unless you have a bigger claim (like businesses etc with lots of computers).

It isn’t much, but why should Apple or Microsoft gouge you? We just applied for it.

Be sure to pass this on to all your family & friends.

That is certainly worth a shot.  Are you going to apply?  Remember this is for Canadians but when you read the fine print is is also for Canadians who lived in the US during those dates or are now living in the US.  Go for it.  Let me know if you apply.

Monday’s show was spectacular….