5C's Que Pasa

Back in December 2010 we discovered what a tlacuache was.  It is a possum like critter found here on Stone Island/Isla de la Piedra.  We have spoken with some of the locals and some do eat them, others use their grease to soothe a cough and a cold.

We knew we had a critter problem three or so weeks ago when we found something had been eating the pineapple we had left outside to ripen.

In January of 2011 we discovered we had a critter problem when we found left over canteloupe all over our site.  You can see the photos here.  That year Colin did catch our tlacuache and released it into the wild.  That year one couple had one die in the basement of their RV and it was horrible, details on the link above with the photos.  A week later el tlacuache struck again.  Actually you might say he got struck out when he chose to nest inside a truck.  That was a mess to clean up.

So this year we knew we had to catch it sooner than later before it took up residency in our RV. Colin devised a trap.

All the locals had their idea of the best bait. The egg was the only thing that is did not eat. The idea was as he grabbed the egg the string would pull the stick and the critter would be caught.

Meanwhile our neighbour found evidence of a possum visit on the top of his generator so he set up a rat trap.  The food was taken but the critter remained at large.  Soon we started finding our bird orange which is spiked on a nail on a stick that sits high up in the top of our generator.  Day after day our trap was sprung and the various types of food were gone as was the critter.

The trap needed to be bated differently. No matter what food we used or how it was placed in the trap, the food was gone in the morning.

The tlacuache only hunt at night and there a local joke here on the Isla.  If you are caught laying about during the day you are accused of being a tlacuache, who sleeps all day.

When we cooked our dorado the other night Colin kept a piece of the raw fish for bait.  He then borrowed the rat trap from John and very carefully tied the string around and around and around the piece of fish and place the rat trap just so within our trap so it would shut even quicker than it had before.  It was a matter of leverage and balance.  Colin was tired of this critter outwitting him.

Guess what happened?

We caught us a big old ugly varmint!

Colin was trying to help Ishmael put it into a sack. They put the trap inside the pump room to prevent the critter from escaping if it tried to.

Look at those teeth. There is no way I could pick that thing up with my hand.

At this point the possum got it's head out of the bag and Ishmael calmly placed his hand around the jaws in order to not get bit and pushed it back into the sack.

Colin was holding the shovel in case we had to hit the critter on the head if it ran away. The girls had been hollering with the sent of a huge rat just on the other side of their fence. Between them they pushed so hard that they breached the fence and got to the sack. Caeli, our mild little doxie who likes to sleep, was on the attack, trying to rip the sack open with her teeth.

As Ishmael carried the sack away the girls followed.

As we assumed that we would be catching a tlacuache we had discussed with David the owner of Tres Amigos RV Park what to do with it.  He said that often even if dropped off miles away they will still return to the area they were captured in.  So arrangements were made to have it taken to the Mazatlan Aquarium where it will live with other similar creatures.  Meanwhile it took all day for the girls so settle down.

Now we may must have to catch another varmint.  Ishmael says there are always two, a male and a female.

Tags: critters, Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, Mexico, Stone Island, The girls

Yesterday started with a long pulmonia drive up the Malecon, almost to the Ed Cid Marina.  I was off to see Dr. Paty.

She has a wonderful modern dental practice and comes highly recommended. I wanted to get another opinion on my tooth. The root is indeed dying and there is some sign of infection. She will do the root canal herself on Saturday morning. She is not an endodontist but I think she will do a good job.

It was a beautiful day and we walked for a few blocks.  We kept getting hounded by guys trying to sell us a time share or to take a tour so we hopped back into a pulmonia.  How I love the tranquility of the Isla.

Meanwhile Mazatlan is getting ready to party.  The giant paper mache statues, monigotes, depicting the theme of Carnivale  are going up along the malecon.  We went past too fast to get a photo.  The theme this year is The Skin of the Sea.  This is a great website giving all the details of Carnivale as well as a few videos of years past.

Stopped to get some fresh dorado for dinner at fish market next to the embarcadero.

When we got back to the RV we were greeted much quieter than normal.  Carmeh could barely make it down the stairs.  Something was wrong with her front right leg.  She could barely put any weight on it and was limping when she tried to walk.  We checked and could see nothing nor did she flinch as we checked her out.  Finally we called our vet in Kelowna who gave us some advice, a few more areas to check and what to give as medication.  I travel with a bunch of dog medication as well as people medication.  She was on bed rest for the rest of the day.

For the first time in days I got a few hours to relax and read and Colin got some guitar time in.

Soon it was time to start cooking the dorado.

We had dorado burgers as we watched the sunset. We wanted to make up for the disappointment of the Beach Burger from the night before.

We picked a good night for our beach front dining.

The colors continue to amaze me.

Caught this little guy enjoying one of the oranges we put out for the birds.

Sorry to all of you at home in Kelowna dealing with the -23C  (-9.4 F ) temperatures.  Once again we will be experiencing our daily high of 26C (79 F ).

Carmeh is doing better this morning and barely limping but no beach walks or frisbee catching for her today.

Tags: Carnivale, critters, food, Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, medical, Mexico, sunsets, The girls

Monday started off in its usual spectacular fashion with an incredible 90 minute massage.  For the second week in a row Casa Maria suggested that I might want to see Diego as she thought something was not quite right in my neck area and no matter how much she massaged it just was not going to get better.  As we had already introduced our visitor Hugh to Diego, our chiropractor here in Mazatlan, and he happened to have a 4 PM appt today I called and yes he could fit me in also.

The panga crossing is always special. Today we had 2 fellows who were carrying their organic tomatoes in 2 huge bins the small ones you see at the bottom and huge beefstake tomatoes in the top bin. They also had 2 large bags of cucumbers. Grown on the Isla and only for sale somewhere in Mazatlan.

Our panga had to slow quickly to let this larger vessel pass. He had 3 large trucks onboard, but where was he going?

Less than 15 minutes later, there I was under Diego's hands. My C3, C4 and C5 were compressed and had moved my Atlas. Here he is working on my right ribs which were also displaced. I won't lie, it did hurt a tad but I sure feel better.

From here we went to 3 different banks and a few different ATM machines of which all claimed they could not deal with Hugh’s cards.  Enough!  Time to walk to the Plazuela Machado and one of our favorite restaurants, the Beach Burger.  Today was yet another Mexican holiday ( Dia de la Constitution ) and I was surprised that so few restaurants were open.  So we ordered our drinks and all three of us ordered the mahi mahi fish sandwich.  This was to be a special treat for Hugh.

Colin has used my camera many many times and try as he did this was the best he could do with a photo of our meal. It was an omen.

We were entertained by two bridal parties and a Quinceanera celebration.

So our food arrived and Colin and I commented on how tough the fish was.  I found it very tough but as I was very hungry I just kept eating making excuses thinking that the fish was old and tough or something. Colin said that this was not normal and took his fish out of his bun and started eating just the bun.  I gave him a piece of my fish to show him how bad mine was also.  Hugh just ate his meal with no comment.  Colin really was not happy and just did not eat the fish and finally called the waiter over to complain.  This particular waiter has been serving us from 3 -4 times per month for the past five years and even remembers my particular margarita drink preference.  He offered to cook the food more for Colin…”what ??”  A few moments later he came back to say he had made an error and served us a chicken burger!!!!!!!!!!!!  We are vegetarians and have not had meat or chicken for well over 30 years.  We added fish when we started travelling to Mexico about 13 years ago.  Chicken!!

The photo of my empty place as I am in the restroom trying to get rid of my meal. I won't go into detail but suffice to say that very little came out. I felt so violated and somewhat sick to my stomach. I will never ever eat chicken again!

The waiter apologized but still gave us a bill for 3 pollo/chicken meals!! Hugh paid but Colin and I did not. Sorry ,but I just can't forgive such an error. We do love that restaurant and have brought many people there but it is off limits for this year. If I survive this incident, we may reconsider next year, and give it another shot.

So we got into a pulmonia only to discover that it would not start.

Colin knows that I am in a very bad way and not feeling very steady. There are no other pulmonias around. Colin suggested to the driver that he pop the clutch and that the fellows push it.

Hugh says, "no not me, I have a bad shoulder" ! A music student leaves his violin with Hugh and comes to Colin's aid.

Not quite enough steam from these two.

Come on guys....poco mas, poco mas!!

You can't quite see him but another fellow, on the right comes to help.

...and finally, sputter, sputter and connection. Notice how far back Hugh is.

We finally got back home where I went running for help and comfort.  Helen gave me a digestive enzyme to help that ‘chicken crap’ pass down my system.  I kept burping and trying to keep it still inside.  Marjorie rushed over to offer some vino blanco.  Finally I came home and settled here at the computer, thus taking my mind off the battle in my gut.  So I have completed this post, about 8PM Mazatlan time, and have finally settled my stomach.  Do you think that the better part of a bottle of vino blanco helped?

Wait until you hear about what the universe has in store for me tomorrow!!

Tags: food, Mazatlan, medical, Mexico, vino

…and no champagne!

We had this bottle in the fridge, just waiting to pop the cork. Can you see how very chilled that bottle was?

We had no idea how to pass the hours as we awaited the results of the Tommie Awards.

Homemade pizza and a good movie helped.

Finally the phone rang at 11:30PM.  The news was not good.  We had not won a single Gold in any of our Tommie Award entries.  Colin maintained that 4 out of 4 Silvers was still superb.  Some of the clients he has done photography for have not even won a Silver, never mind a Gold award.  We figure that our modular home was in competition with regular homes and that made a huge difference.  Sigh!!  So we don’t get that gold statue but we do get to live in that fabulous home.

Tags: food, Tommie awards, vino

For the past 2 weeks I have had sporadic tooth pain.  I would chew something and have a sharp almost electrical pain somewhere in my upper left back teeth.  The day of our road trip I woke up to a constant toothache and it continued. I know I still have to write about that trip and I will, soon as I can.

Yesterday, after 2 telephone consultations with my dentist in Kelowna and with 2 Mazatlan dentists, I was referred to an endodontist who was willing to do a root canal three hours later.  Yikes!!  I was very nervous.  It’s bad enough dealing with a root canal with a dentist you know, never mind a Mexican who speaks limited Spanish.

It was lay there and "open". He never told me what he was going to do when I opened my mouth so I never knew if I was being prodded, poked or having ice applied to my teeth or having them banged on.

I guess this is pretty modern for Mazatlan but it does not soothe me.

Many many people come to Mexico to get their dental work done.  Many just go to US border towns such as Algodones to have dental work done at much lower prices that what we normally pay in Canada or the USA.  Many people have great results and again there are just as many who have many problems.  Colin and I do not have any dental plan and at home we pay the full price of whatever we are having done, from check ups, to cleaning, to fillings to root canals and crowns.  It costs a great deal more but we have peace of mind.  We personally know several people who have endured problem after problem due to dental work in Mexico.  We have chosen to have our dentistry done back home in Canada.

Strangely, as soon as we walked into the dentists office, my pain disappeared.  The appointment was for an hour, he only does one hour appointments and your root canal needs to be completed within that time frame. So I was poked and prodded and on and on.

He does do digital x-rays which is very good.

The good dentist believes that my problem lies in the very back upper left molar.  I have no problem with that tooth.  I believe that my pain comes from the second tooth from the right or possibly the fourth.  The third one already had a root canal.

He used a different camera, which hurt a bit, it was long and pointy.

According to the dentist my pain is coming from the back molar because I have a problem just above the existing crown.  Something is black at the shoulder of the crown and has caused the root to die and hence I need a root canal.  First off he does not like to do a root canal through the crown but wants to take my crown off, clean up the ‘black area’ and do a root canal.  I told him I had no pain in that area and perhaps I did not need a root canal after all.  He said that once the crown was off I needed to have a root canal.  So that leaves me with doing both.  The cost of the root canal and the new crown would still be less than the cost of just the crown at home. I insisted, against his advice, on having just a temporary crown and would get the final one done in Kelowna.

By now we were almost at an hour and he had another patient waiting so we decided on Tuesday as my root canal day.  Meanwhile any pain I have had since my dental visit has most definitely not been in that back upper molar.  There are dentists on almost every street here and this particular specialist has actually done root canals in other RVers in the park with no problems.  One then needs to go to another dentist for the final crown.

S0 we decided, Colin was with me, that I would have the root canal and a temporary crown on Tuesday morning.  Cost about $330.00 Canadian.  The last root canal I had at home cost me $1350.00CAD but money is not the issue.  I also have a problem with anesthetic.  It just doesn’t numb me and I often need 5 times what most folks get and even though I am a nurse I strongly dislike needles.

There is no way I will go through all of this for the wrong tooth.  Right now I am strongly considering cancelling my Tuesday appointment.

I received this email from a fellow RVer this morning….

So no root canal yesterday?  I had the same thing happen to me.  When my tooth started hurting, I got into my regular dentist within a couple days, and by the time of the appt, it had stopped hurting.  He said the root was probably dying or dead so no longer a rush to get the root canal, but something I would want to attend to within a few months (or years) before it abcessed.  I decided to go back to the endodontist who had done a root canal for me a few years ago rather than have the regular dentist do it– root canals are tricky business! But you might be able to just wait until you get back to Kelowna too as long as the tooth isn’t hurting.

Tags: health, Mazatlan, medical, Mexico