5C's Que Pasa

It seems to me that many are leaving earlier this season.  Last week we had two unscheduled departures, one due to a family situation and another due to an earlier than expected arrival of a grand baby!!

Adios amigos!

Three RV’s from Tres Amigos #2 left yesterday and today another leaves as well as us but via Durango!  April 1st will see another 5 leave and by mid April perhaps there will be just another 3 left.  Hasta Noviembre everyone!

We are good to go.  Everything is packed, the final beach walk has been taken and the jacks are up and the slides are in!!  If you remember last October 30th we were having mucho problemas in leaving Arizona.  Yesterday afternoon we pulled in the slides and lifted the jacks.  The front left jack would not retract on its own as we had suspected, but with a good deal of prodding, Colin got it up into position.  We just hope the jack stays up there.  By 3:30PM we had moved the RV out of our site, backed in the car and then the RV and hooked it all together.  To err on the side of caution we will not be putting down the jacks or slides out till we get into the USA.

We plan to start the engine by 5:40AM this morning and leave soon thereafter. It will be a very very long day to San Carlos!

My garden gave me a final gift, I've been waiting months for my Desert Rose to bloom. It had a few problems over the past few months from bugs, to transplanting to someone falling on it!!

We noticed Pierre on the beach last season but only got to know him recently.  Pierre is a Canadian from Montreal and has been coming here for about 33 years, since his daughter was four.  His family spent 6 weeks here that first year.  In those days the jungle came right up to the beach.  It was in the day before the coco plantations and all the tourists.  Now he comes for months at a time but not to just hang around the Isla, he works here.

Garbage

Meet Pierre....

For years now, he spends at least 2 hours per day picking up garbage, beach garbage, mostly left by people.  All on his own he patrols the Isla de la Piedra beach, picking up bag after bag, truck load after truck load.  He provides the garbage bags & as well, at his own expense he pays someone to haul the mounds of garbage away.  Pierre estimates that over the past years he has picked up over 12 METRIC TONS of garbage off this beach!!  A few years ago the restaurants were dumping trash along the beach because there was no garbage pickup.  Thanks to Pierre the restaurants are now properly disposing of their waste.  He says that each year he finds a bit less trash so perhaps his message is getting across.  While working high off the beach as in the photo above he wears what he calls his ‘scorpion shoes’ to protect against the many burrs and also the scorpions which still do manage to bite him often!  Another thing that Pierre does is drive stakes of driftwood into the sand along the dunes to prevent the ATV’s from eroding the local ecology.  What you should know, is that Pierre does all this on his ‘vacation’ time, he still works when in Canada, part of the year anyway.  Let’s hope more of us are out there on the beach picking up……

Milles gracias, mon ami!

What we should be leaving behind are tracks, just tracks in the sand………………

Cangrejo ( crab ) tracks

dog...

doggie bano!

Heron and human...

Horse!

'small bird'

Seaweed track in a tide pool...

.... of course weiner tracks.......

We are down to our last two days and so much has been happening.  Time is passing muy rapido and try as I might I can’t stop the clock!  We’ve had some incredible weather but today it is cloudy, good maybe we can get more packing done instead of just hanging around visiting!  The other day we heard a loud HOLA, we had a surprise visitor!  Peter from Maine who has been coming to the Isla for 40 years had looked us up.  He found my blog last November and wanted to make a point to let me know he read it almost every day and especially enjoyed the photos of life here on the Isla.

Peter aka Pedro Picapiedra met his friend Moreno here on the beach in their long haired hippy days. I am amazed that they have remained friends over 40 years. Between them they have many stories to tell, most especially about the changes they have seen on the Isla. How I wish we had more time! What a wonderful visit we had, short that it was.

Later that day we had our farewell meal with Carol and Gary who live here in a house half the year and when not visiting friends and family in the USA also live in Maine.  Turns out that Peter met them here a few years ago and suggested they visit Maine and as the saying goes, the rest is history.  What is neat is that neither Peter, nor Carol & Gary knew that the other was reading this blog….neat, eh!

Hasta Noviembre, see you in November is fast becoming my favorite saying!

So back to some more packing, even the dogs are getting into it, well not Caeli, she’s asleep in the sofa (as usual) !!!

Good thing we used up most of the 'stuff'.

Nope, none of my toys are in here......

All the flowers and plants have been given away, planted or adopted out till November.   Colin hired a truck pulmonia and 2 locals to load the heavy pots for transport and at the last minute he added our small outdoor fridge.  Off they all went before I could even get a photo, too much, too fast.  As it turned out the fridge fell out partway to its destination!!!  Life in Mexico.  We did a deep cleaning inside the RV only to have a big wind blow all the dust right back in about an hour later!!  Why bother cleaning!

Life keeps happening all around us.  I am sad to say that the baby hummingbirds did not survive.  They were fine one morning and later that afternoon they were no longer breathing.  Perhaps the heat of the full sun was too much for them??  We were all very sad.

These two decided they liked the heat and wanted to heat things up even more. "Stumpy" (who has no tail) was on the bottom so now we know she is the female!! Well at least I think so......

The tuna boats are starting to come in, they have to wait till there is space at the canning facility for them to unload, then the workers get to see their loved ones, often after several months at sea.

I have mentioned before that when we return here in November we will be moving to an end site which is larger.  It does not have a palm tree in front as do the other sites so the other day, the manager asked Colin to come and pick out a tree.

There were several to chose from but transplanting and survival are a major factor so this it 'the one'. We think it will be replanted sometime in the next few weeks, perhaps someone can take a photo for us!

We went into Mazatlan yesterday primarily to visit the bank machine and pick up a few groceries.  We have been joking about getting a mini pool or a hot tub for our new site……well, while at the Mega store….

....we found this! Surprise! Did we or didn't we??

Then we head north.  What will we miss…everything!  It has just started to get to normal temperatures and the warm ocean breeze feels wonderful.  Last night we slept with all the windows open!  One thing for certain is the fruit & veggies!

A local just started selling organically grown tomatoes. These two were almost one pound each and cost 50 cents each!!

Our friend Liz was telling us the other day that most restaurants in Vancouver have stopped serving tomatoes.  The price is outrageous!  I’m sure that avocado will be right up there also.

Colin bought this 11 pound watermelon for the equivalent of $1.60 Canadian and the mango was even less. Both tasted divine!

We are going to miss all of our friends here and all the great restaurants along the beach here on the Isla.  The girls are going to miss crabbing and all the extra attention they get here cuz once home we’ll be working!

Our water guy/dessert truck guy just delivered 350 songs on a number of CD’s for Colin.  A variety of true Mexican music all for 150 pesos!  We won’t get service like that at home.  I know I will miss my weekly 90 minute massages by Mary.

Not sure if Colin will miss these two!

We’ll miss the almost daily occurrence of vehicles attempting the beach.

These guys really wanted to drive the beach. Fortunately they were able to push the vehicle back up to the road.

As a matter of interest Colin’s moon shot was put online by the local news station in Kelowna.

Break time is over….back to more sorting and packing.  I am down to my last 12 pots of plants, so very very sad!! Both the garden and the site are looking very empty.

Along with the arrival of spring we have had a few surprises.  Last Friday the 18th, who should pull up next to us but friends Mike & Terri Church.

We haven't seen Terri & Mike since Acapulco!

They are the authors of many books, from Vacations in Europe to Alaskan Camping.  But they are very well known for Traveler’s Guide to Mexican Camping, often referred to by Rvers as the bible to camping in Mexico.  Because of them, many Rvers have ventured into Mexico.  The best part is that via their website the book is constantly being updated.  Mike & Terri are here for some R & R and beach time.

Que pasa in Mexico?

Then on Saturday afternoon, after all the high tide activity, we met Nancy & Paul, Mazatlan residents, at our new favorite Isa restaurant, Puesta Del Sol.  Nancy and I became acquainted through our blogs.  She writes Countdown to Mexico, which is more than just a blog about Mazatlan but has many useful links to everything and anything you might need to know about Mazatlan as well as Mexico in general.  She and Paul have been living here for over three years and have fully become involved in the local community.  We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon with them and are all looking forward to sharing many more good times with them come November.  Remember Paul, Mi Casa es Su Casa!!

The promise of good times to come! It is amazing how very much we have in common from food to parrots! Who knew?

Yesterday, Sunday I was enjoying coffee, a book and the long awaited heat in my garden when Liz appears at my gate.  We had spent a few winters in Acapulco together and have several friends in common.

Liz suspected we were here & walked the beach looking for us!

We had already made plans to meet with another new group of friends here on the Isla so a quick hello & goodbye to Liz as we prepared to go meet these people at Pili’s, often referred to as Rudy’s.  As it turned out Liz & Bill and their friends were seated at a table in Carmelita’s while we were just a few yards away at a table at Rudy’s so Colin & I were able to back and forth between groups of friends.  It was a bit mind boggling, 14 visitors in the space of 24 hours!!!

The group at Pili's...

The weather was perfect, what a winter in Mazatlan should be and the beach was busy with many locals enjoying a long weekend.  The purpose of this luncheon was for four bloggers to meet.  On the right side of the table is Pattie who writes The Joy of Nesting, her and husband Larry have lived in Mazatlan for about five years now.  They wouldn’t live anywhere else and find going North for any longer that 2 weeks an extreme strain.  Beside me, on my right it Marty, who also writes a blog.  Her husband looks like Santa Claus and she writes Mrs. Claus Sews.

So many people, so little time! Marty is already on a plane back to Montana.

Their son and daughter in law joined them for their first ever trip to Mexico.  Millie had been very scared about coming and almost cancelled but has come to love Mazatlan in the short time she has been here.  She is already talking about bringing her children here.  She also blogs as Our Montana Life. Marty and family are from Montana and come here for a break from the cold and to appreciate the slow pace of Mexico.

Meanwhile we did get over to the next table,  to visit with Liz and her husband.  It was wonderful to see them.  This year they are staying in a condo for a month but I think they miss Rving down here.

Bill you look so very wonderful & healthy, good for you!!

A bit later, Terri & Mike came past and were introduced to Liz & Bill.

A few days before Terri & Mike arrived we had a very very long lunch with some friends who live here on the Isla.  Next we have another luncheon with friends from Maine.  We are very fortunate to have so many wonderful people cross our path!!  How are we ever going to get our packing done?  I think that maybe, just maybe, we should think about staying….wish we could!!!

Self portrait!