5C's Que Pasa

Thank you fro being the first cruise ship back to Mazatlan in over two years.  The city appreciates your return and so do all of us even here on the Isla.  It is a great boost to the local economy.  Here is a link for the booked cruises for the next year.  We look forward to the three ships arriving the end of December.

We started our day Tuesday at 7:00AM with a walk to watch the ship come into port. Thanks for the photo Deb.

It is slow process coming into port.

A bit of fun. That is a shrimp boat at the tip of my finger.

The ship passes directly behind this huge rock Island which is called Chivos. It is connected to the Isla and you can get the best pizza there at Benji's.

The ship is now in the narrow channel. Behind it is El Faro, the lighthouse on the Mazatlan side. Between the ship and the ocean is the road to Benji's restaurant Chivos Island. There is some good snorkeling there.

Shortly after passing in front of this hillside in Mazatlan the ship docks out of site of the Isla.

There goes the Veendam, to the left of the shot, enroute to even warmer climes.

I just had to share our gourmet dinner last night. Our first shrimp of the season sauteed in coconut oil with a touch of garlic, honey garlic noodles, steamed broccoli and cauliflower and our favorite caesar salad. It tasted as good as it looks.

We are back to no internet so this is all you get today.

Tags: cruise ships, Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, Mexico, Stone Island, sunsets

We are still doing things but much slower and much less on a daily basis.  We are enjoying greeting all the locals we know from years past and they are happy to see us. The water delivery folks, the lavenderia ( laundry ) family, the two fruit & veggies truck fellows, the local tortilla shop, the beer store and all the friendly people who live here on the Isla.

You never know what you are going to see from day to day. It is constantly changing.

I don't remember seeing this particular cart before.

Caeli remembers this one, she likes to bark at the horses. We have only seen the others horses a few times, the one that come down the beach at their own pace. Looking forward to seeing more of them.

I was sitting outside reading a book when I saw this small oriole stop for a snack. Earlier we had tiny yellow canary drop by. I have yet to put up my hummingbird feeder. Manana, I am slowing down and relaxing now.

I just couldn't figure this one out, I guess that umbrella had to be moved. Next walk down that way I might find out where it ended up. That's the Baja ferry you see in the background.

Spoke with a few more RVers who crossed at Nogales before us and they had no problems whatsoever with the crossing or  at KM 21.  Like us they were not stopped once.  They had however spoken to people crossing at Lukeville who had everything in their freezers taken, beef and fish.  I just received an email from my friend Chuck who crossed at Lukeville last Wednesday with no problems.  He was carrying 40# of beef plus 200 # of dog food.  However he planned to cross at 6:00AM thinking that the officials would still be too sleepy to do any searching.  He said they just sat there drinking their coffees huddling in the cold.  Good strategy.

Two of the rigs here at Tres Amigos RV Park have come through the new Durango – Mazatlan highway and say it is fabulous.  I will get more details for those who want to know, manana or possibly pasado manana.

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

Things are always better when the sun is shinning.  The temperature inside the RV is 88F during the day and that is with three Fantastic Fans running.  We made a great decision getting that new fan installed in Quartzsite last Monday.  I have no idea what the high is outside but we tend to stay in the shade.  The lowest temps at night are 77F inside as well as outside so we keep those fans running 24/7 right now.  We have used the A/C a bit at dinner time just so we can eat comfortably.  It is dark by 5:30PM and just at sunset those nasty noseeums come out to party.  That’s when we head inside.

Carmeh is doing much better, not sure how long to keep her on the eye ointment.  Gail, any thoughts?  She seems normal but can’t quite open her eye as fully as the other one but perhaps she was always like that.  We did our first long family walk yesterday and the girls were so happy to have me walking again.  I was too.

For some reason the girls decided to dig for a crab in the sand in front of our site. I think they were just practicing.

We have been spending our time completing the majority of our set up.  Some folks like to get here and relax and slowly go about their set up but we like to get as much done as possible right away so we can relax.  So we spent most of Saturday working hard and part of Sunday.  We still have things to do like put up all of our outdoor lights but that can wait a few days.

We even managed a swim Sunday, which is a major accomplishment for me.  I haven’t walked or swam for the past three winters.  I am slowly building myself up and hope to leave the Isla in much better shape than I arrived.

Where to start? So much stuff to sort and store.

Everything that we had left in storage in our bodega ( garage/shed ) had to be power washed, my job.

Colin had the dirty and sweaty job of hooking up power, water, our water filter & softener and removing the lug nut covers from the tires so they don't rust as we sit in the salt air. The worst part was his crawling under the RV to protect us from getting ants inside.

We don’t like to use chemicals because of the dogs so instead Colin built ant boards that he coats with vaseline.  Really it is just a thin  wooden frame that is placed around each tire as well as the jacks.  We are very careful to not let anything lean against the RV, not even a palm branch brushing it in the breeze.  We never have ants inside.  Certainly worth the effort.

Once the ground had dried from the rain we were able to get our dust screen up along the fence.

Sunday afternoon was so hot and muggy that I begged John to help us put up out new gazebo.  This is to replace the one that was destroyed in Hurricane Manuel.  In the photo above you can see brown patches on the palapa cement post.  That is where the old gazebo twisted itself around the post and became mangled.  Another repair job to add to the list.

John is extremely detailed and methodical and a true craftsman and Val his number one helpmate. It was a treat watching how in tune they were with each other in directing the construction of our gazebo.

Because of their help we got that thing up in no time. Colin and I would have been at it all day and night. Thanks to Val & John we now have shade with a breeze.

We do have shade under the palapa but it is not breezy with the dust screen up.  For some reason the palm tree we planted a few years ago is not growing  🙁

We were rewarded with a lovely sunset.

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

Normally when we arrive, life is perfect here on the Isla.  However we have had some damage from Hurricane Manuel, the end of September and Tropical Storm Sonia which passed just days before we arrived.  They each caused some damage.  We have no internet right now as Sonia knocked out the internet lines in both parks.  Deb is kindly letting me and others use her Telcel hotspot periodically.  How I miss being online and keeping up with my favorite blogs.  Hopefully soon we will be up and running.  I also promise to get back to each of your comments.  I love getting your comments and have appreciated reading each and every one of them.

We arrived Thursday noonish and it was hot and humid but overcast.  Sure enough the rains began late in the evening, all night and part of Friday.  We still were able to do some set up but I sure missed that ocean breeze.

We are not sure which storm blew the palm fronds off, exposing the white plastic core of our palapa. It is on the get repaired list.

I was crushed to see that the winds from Sonia had so damaged my bougainvillea.

Half of my hibiscus are gone also, as well as some plants I have had for 5 years.

Sadly the back hedge made of bougainvillea here at Tres Amigos has also been damaged.  They will grow back but not my hibiscus.  The waves from Manuel apparently came right up to where the front of the RV stands so the salt water did the damage.  Fortunately they are easily replaced.  It was sad coming home to see this but then we fared much better than many others here on the Isla.  There are many restaurant palapas damaged or destroyed all along Stone Island  beach front.  Many private yards were flooded and now as snowbirds are  returning they are finding their homes very very dusty due to the high winds. I can only image other damages that I have not heard of.

Ishmael has been a great help helping us with the clean up and part of our set up. He works here in the RV park during the day and we pay him to help us with various tasks. He works hard but makes a better income while us RVers are here.

It finally cleared enough Friday to give us our first sunset on the Isla.

Life is good.

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

We left San Carlos at 7:00AM Wednesday, Nov. 6th in order to make the long 366 mile journey to Culiacan.

We were barely on the highway again and John's CB antennae got clipped by a palm tree. Fortunately we were close to a toll both where he executed a unique repair job.

There have been protests off and on for several months at Vicam regarding water rights. There now is a bit of a detour to take. Trucks are being stopped but cars and RV's are allowed to pass. Only we were stopped for a while until trucks were moved so that we could pass. Not sure if they were parked to in order to block us or it just happened by accident. We were eventually allowed to pass and continued on.

The building of better roads continues with lots of minor detours, nothing to slow one down.

South of Guaymas the roads were horrid, full of potholes and very rough.  Finally from C. Obregon we were on a new stretch of highway, a relief from the jarring potholes.  Soon the entire route from Nogales South will be an easy drive.  We are  happy to see the changes over these past years.

You never know what you will see along the way.

We finally got to the Pemex just south of Culiacan where we were to spend the night.

I could not believe how full it was, full of trucks, parked everywhere and in every direction.   I wondered how we would find a spot for the night.  It took an hour to fuel up and then jockey into position to wait to move into that spot where I am standing. We did fit in front of the yellow trailer.  We soon discovered that the Autopista to Mazatalan had been shut down but we could not find out the reason.  Finally the super highway opened and the trucks started to leave.

John did not feel comfortable ( his very first overnight in Pemex ) parking behind us, alongside the yellow trailer. Instead he unhooked his toad, backed it in along the semis behind the yellow trailer and then backed his RV up and re hooked up. A lot of work but you have to do what you feel comfortable with. In the end we were surrounded by trucks all night, they were 3 deep between us and the fuel pumps.

Meanwhile I was rushing as I was expecting Heriberto and Isela, our friends from Culiacan to come to the RV for dinner at 5PM and it already was 5PM.  Somehow we got parked, levelled and the bedroom ( curbside slide out out) and the living room slide out about 8 inches.  Colin got the girls peed and fed.  Then our guests arrived about 5:30PM.  Good timing.  Surprise they had brought along their younger son Chris and his girlfriend who we met last year during Carnivale here on the Isla when they all came to stay for a few days.

It was so hot and humid that we had to run the generator for A/C. Meanwhile I cooked up a huge pot of pasta and still got a steam facial in the process. Isela brought a lovely salad and some tortillas and queso. I had given Val a head of romaine and she created two salads, one an English salad.

Did I mention that we were crowded, 8 for dinner in an RV with only an 8 inch slide out, after a 366 mile drive 😯 Yes my eyes were bulging but wine soon took care of that.

Somehow we managed to push the 80 lb plus canopy box up onto the dash and just found a seat or a stool and ate, drank and were merry.

Heriberto then pulled out his guitar and played several Beatle tunes in honor of our English guests Val & John.  He played a few numbers, then Isela sang.

The highlight of the evening was a performance by the Margarita Diablas.

By the time our guests left, the dishes were done and put away and the RV made ready for travel the next day, we were exhausted.  Of course we didn’t get much sleep as the trucks kept coming and going all night long.  I think we managed 2 -3 hours of shut eye.

Thank goodness we only had 140 miles further to our home on the Isla.  We were so happy to arrive.  So now you know the rest of the story.  Be sure to come back for the next chapter.

Tags: food, friends, Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, Mexico, Stone Island, Tres Amigos RV Park, vino, Wine