5C's Que Pasa

Ahh the bliss of it all. 90 minutes of  relaxation.

Casa Maria is back in Mazatlan and on the Isla for my weekly Monday morning ritual.

It just can’t get any better than that.  While I have my shower and wash my hair Colin gets a 60 minute massage.  Just one of the reasons we come here and travel with our own massage table.  Maria is a RMT, a registered massage therapist from Canada.  Yes she is the same person I saw in Edmonton when I went to see my Dad.  She mostly works in Mazatlan where her home and office are but she moonlights on the Isla on Mondays.  Lucky me.

We were good and took our long walk on the beach first so we had the rest of the day to just sit and relax.  Somehow one never just sits, the water truck comes or the veggie guy or someone drops by for a visit.  The day passes before you know it.

First time I have seen a barnacled piece of driftwood on the beach.

We have been working very hard on completing our garden and it is looking good.

Just a bit past it's prime, my first white hibiscus.

Yellow is a new color to my garden this year. I was so desperate for plants that I was not so fussy as to what I able to plant.

This is going to be one of my favorites. This is called a double hibiscus as is the white one. Their flowers are more full that the traditional single hibiscus as shown in the photo above with the yellow hibiscus. I like them all.

The day passes so quickly. Up very early and walking by 7AM, a bit of a cleanup of the yard, feeding the dogs, have a coffee, check emails, make sure all is well with our business, cut up some fruit, read a bit or play the guitar, lunch, work on the blog water the garden, another walk, sunset, dinner and bed.  I seem to be petered out by 9:00PM.  The heat is still wearing me out.  I haven’t made the last few end of the day walks, just too pooped, hmm, maybe it’s the wine. Actually it is the exercise, first time in close to three years.  So happy to be here and feeling better.

Tags: flowers, Isla de la Piedra, massage, Tres Amigos RV Park, Wine

…just not enough time in the day.  Which is why this is coming to you late.  But much better late than not at all, eh?  We are almost settled but with folks dropping in and high tides and hot temps the day seems to pass in a flash and the computer gets ignored.  A good thing, yes????

Ishmael bought new shoes with the money we paid him earlier in the week and Colin really like them so we gave Ishmael some money to buy a pair for Colin.

116 pesos ( $9.38 CAD ) for a pair of leather sandals with three different velcro closings. Now they are twins according to Ishmael. He was so honored that Colin chose to get the very same shoes.

The plant guy came midday Sunday and we bought our final major plants. Santiago, the plant man was complaining about the heat, made us feel much better 😆

End of day Sunday.....please note...I received 12 bites taking this shot!

I have so many things to share with you and many photos but time here means  something other then being dedicated to a blog.  There really are not enough hours in the day.

We walked early this morning, before the tide came in. More work on the calves and quads, good work out.

The girls are just so happy to be with us no matter what time of day.

We had one plumeria bloom when we arrived and this is my second and likely the last of the season. They bloom when we are away but the exquisite fragrance of just the one bloom is worth having the plant in my garden.

This hibiscus was almost pulled from my garden but it came back to life, no leaves but a lovely flower. The promise of things to come.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I will try and make my posts more interesting but we are still in the transition stage.

Tags: garden, Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, Mexico, Stone Island, The girls, Tres Amigos RV Park

For us it started at 3:30AM with strong winds.  We were expecting rain showers but not the 35 KM/Hour winds.  Even though we had prepared for the storm we still had to get up and do a few things outside.  Most of the RVers had to take down their awnings.  It was muggy and warm all night.  I have not been sleeping well at all.  Maybe I’m the only person wishing for things to cool down so we can sleep better at night.

First thing I saw in the morning was a full size oriole trying to eat my fruit.

During our morning walk Caeli rolled in something so we rubbed her down with sand and rinsed her off. She sure gave Colin the evil eye as she walked away. Unlike Carmeh she does not like the water, unless she is diving for a crab.

Our neighbor John worked almost 12 hours building his sun shade. I think his diligence kept Rene, the Mexican worker going. A lot of work on such a muggy day.

Meanwhile we did as little as possible in the heat. Simply watched the Isla pass us by.

I saw this wagon pass by at least twice. It was filled with palm fronds, lots of repairs happening at the restaurants. At one point 27 shrimp boats were counted.

ATV's, horses, vendors and tourists, it was a great day to stay in the shade sipping a vino blanco. It never did rain but the clouds added to the humidex.

One of the RVers here in RV1 decided to have a spontaneous group dinner.  He provided the shrimp and asked the rest of us to bring something to the table.   We declined for a number of reasons but mostly because we are still not ready to socialize.  We are mostly set up except for the garden, but just need more time to do nothing.  If we were going to go out last night it would have been to the opera.  Il Pagliacci was being performed at the Angel Perrault Theatre and as my Mom had sung with the Edmonton Opera Association for years that is the only event I would have gone to last night had I the energy.

I found this while sorting through her things with my Dad this past October.

She is listed 7th down but her name is misspelled, should be Laurette Dropko.

I found programs of all the operas she has sung in. Dad and I contacted the Edmonton Opera Association and they are supposed to be picking up the programs for their archives.

This is Mom in what I believe was Verdi's La Traviata.

So that is why fellow RVer’s I could not join you for dinner last night.  My heart was elsewhere.

Colin and I were happy to see that you had a wonderful meal.

Despite the interesting clouds we never had a drop of rain.

Tags: critters, Family, Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, Stone Island, The girls, Tres Amigos RV Park, vino

We never saw the sun Friday but it was still a great day.  We delayed our morning walk till about 8:30AM due to high tide and with the clouds it wasn’t too hot.

Some folks from RV1 and RV2 were already playing volley ball.

More horses along the far end of the beach.

The girls were happy to greet the horse mascot.

Moments later we had this fellow come past. I don't know why the driver had the horse go thru such deep water. I'm sure it was more difficult for the horse to pull the cart thru the wet sand.

After our walk we sit with a coffee ( well, not real coffee as you know ) and enjoy fresh fruit. Friday it was watermelon, bananas, oranges, and sweet strawberries.  Colin also has a muffin with peanut butter and I have a yogurt.  We sort of read but mostly just watch life pass us by.  This is a long weekend for Mexicans, in honor of the Mexican Revolution.  It also happens to be Buen Fin, very similar to the USA’s Black Friday, it is an annual nationwide shopping event in Mexico.  It has been reported that Mazatlan will have 100% hotel occupancy this weekend.  Already Friday afternoon we saw more Mexicans enjoying the beach.

Anywhere from 12 to 18 shrimp boats floating in front of us, as well a visit by a catamaran.

This boat came in for the night but was gone by early morning Saturday.

For a cloudy Friday afternoon the beach was well attended.

Remnants of Hurricane Manuel and Tropical Storm Sonia.

Dinner Friday evening was very special as we were christening our new Weber 200.  When I saw it in Lake Havasu I thought it was way to big for us…..

Looks like it was just the right size for us. The foil packets contain 2 potatoes and onion in the third.

Another gourmet meal. Chinook salmon, a gift from Carol, a fellow RVer. It was cooked on 2 lawyers of foil with a topping of mayonnaise whipped with fresh lime juice and it melted in your mouth. The potato was covered with onions and sour creme, and the zucchini were grilled to perfection. The mushrooms were lightly sauteed in coconut oil and of course our caesar salad.

There was no sunset Friday due to the cloud cover so I leave you Thursdays offering.

Tags: Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, Stone Island, sunsets, Tres Amigos RV Park

I have not been posting as we lost the internet again, this time due to a power surge that fried something.  The good news is that here at Tres Amigos RV Park things are repaired quickly.  This is a great park with great power and water pressure.  We had 2 front row sites left but someone turned up the other day, from Enderby, B.C. and are here for 2 months.  At this point the other front site is open until the end of January when the renters from Colorado will arrive.  Lots of new faces here this winter.

We came across a boat and two fisherman the other morning.

This was quite a ways down the beach.   Due to the heat and humidity we have been starting our walks about 7:00AM.  Day by day I am walking further than the day before.  Hopefully in a few weeks I will be back to walking as far as I have in the past.  I have to admit that I haven’t been getting in the second walk of the day mostly because of the heat.  I am still acclimatizing.  Colin is handling that much better that I am.  Soon it will cool down and won’t be an issue.

These fellows caught a lot of fish, many different types of which one species he was most proud of, but I couldn't understand the name. I'm sure they filled that red crate over a dozen times.

This fellow was hanging around a short distance away hoping for leftovers.

This has to be the perfect beach, you can walk forever, unlike the short and rocky beaches in Mazatlan. Looks like I did walk a long ways this particular morning.

Always a happy ending.

Tags: Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, Stone Island, sunsets, Tres Amigos RV Park