Bunch

Our long time friend Michelle came to visit us from Minneapolis.  Ron and I have known her for over 20 years and she is always tons of fun and up for any crazy adventure.  Years ago, she acquired the nickname Bunch and to this day it's stuck.  The kids love hangin with Aunty Bunch because she is cool and incredibly hip. Within minutes of arriving, the kids had her settled into the Casita and blending up smoothies in the kitchen.  Rowan showed her all his treasures and tried to convince her that it was OK to eat scorpions (she was not fooled).  Soon after that, we were off to the beach to find some waves for surfing and SUP.  

She played in the Wednesday night poker tournament here at Casa Conchita, went to the Circus, hiked out to La Lancha, watched the sunset at San Pancho, played Lotteria at dinner, explored the local yoga and cross fit scene, went horseback riding and even enjoyed street churros. 

One day, while the kids were at school we went to El Anclote and took a surf lesson.  She was quickly up on her board and zipping thru the waves.

We can't wait for our next Bunch adventure.  Thanks for the fun Bunch!

Hey, it's Mexico......#5

What's in your Bodega.......

I have no idea how long the bananas have to hang before they ripen but I hope they don't all ripen at once. This bunch of bananas was growing in the yard about a week ago and is now hanging next to our surf boards.  Regio, our go to guy for almost everything, hung them there one day while we were gone.    What you can't see is that my washer and dryer are just to the left of the surf boards and there is a clothes line running the length of the ceiling.  I may be making loads of banana bread soon.

   

Hey, it's Mexico......#4

I took this picture one evening about 8:30.  This is in our palapa or living room and Rory watching an episode of "Lost" he downloaded.  Maybe he would enjoys some old episodes of "Gilligan's Island" next.  

House Guests

We have had a great time hosting Ron's mom Kathy and her husband Keith.  They arrived in Sayulita last Thursday as a surprise for Reilly's 13th birthday.  Since then, they have been getting to know the town and hangin with the family.  We went to the circus, to the beach to watch the kids surf, to many of our favorite local restaurants and even enjoyed a beautiful sunset in San Pancho together.  While in San Pancho, we were part of a baby turtle release and saw the surfers practicing for a  surf competition.  It has been a busy week of fun and Kathy and Keith have been amazing sports.  

Grandma is reading Regan's palm at dinner at Mex Tik

 Can't believe Reilly is really 13.

Reilly modeling her birthday present. 

 It's what all the cool slack line girls wear.

Of course, Fernando was chosen to be part of the circus.

Even the circus clown was laughing..........

Hey, it's Mexico......#3

This has to be my favorite sign so far.  

This is inside the stall door in the ladies room at the Costco in PV.  

Anywhere else this would seem quite obvious.   

So here's the poop, as it were.   In many of the towns in Mexico (Sayulita included) you can't throw your toilet paper into the toilet.  Of course, I haven't really gotten the whole story as to why.   Whether it has to do with a drain field or the town water treatment plant, I have no idea.  But there is always a garbage can next to the toilets for your paper.  

Apparently, this is not the case in PV.  The Costco employees must be really tired of cleaning up after their customers who won't flush their toilet paper.    

Hey, it's Mexico......#2

When you go out to dinner at almost any 'tacos on the street' eatery you get your food on a plastic plate with a plastic bag over it.  This alleviates any need to do dishes.  Also, you can run a little eatery with very few dishes.  You simply slide the plastic bag off the plate and replace it with another one.  It  really is a brilliant system.  The funny thing is I don't even notice it anymore. 

 Here is what it looks like......

Waterfall

While we were in La Manzanilla we were lucky enough to meet a rather unusual couple who told us about several great places to go and interesting things to see.  We called them M & M because both of their names started with M, Mateo and Maria.  He was a surfer and she a public health nurse working on a project there.  They thought that we might enjoy the hike to the waterfall and gave us some very vague directions out of town.  


We left Casa Porter (where we were staying) and headed through the town square.  Very soon it became clear that we needed better directions.  So we turned to Sigfrid (aka Kenny).  


Sigfrid (a big perfectly bald German man)  and his wonderful, equally big Mexican wife own a restaurant in La Manzanilla called Kenny's.  At Kenny's you can also get your hair cut for 40 pesos, a straight razor shave and many other salon type treatments.  Ron just couldn't help himself and went for a Christmas Eve haircut.

Every morning Sigfrid records a morning announcement about the restaurant specials of the day and a truck with loud speakers on it's roof drives around town blasting it for about an hour.  It's wonderful to hear Sigfrid in his heavy German accent saying, 
"Good Morning La Manzanilla it's Wednesday and today is Posole day at Kenny's.  You must try this wonderful traditional Mexican dish, for only 45 pesos.  That's at Kenny's restaurant." 
He sounds just like a cruise ship captain making the morning announcements.


We had Christmas Eve dinner at Kenny's.  It was served in 4 courses, a beautiful green salad, then potato soup with chirozo and homemade French croissants, then a plate full of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables.  Dessert was a choice of German apple pie ala mode, flan or chocolate cake.  It was delicious and perfect on Christmas Eve!  


While we were sitting at our table on the street, a pair of little angels dressed in homemade costumes with tinsel hallows came hurrying by with their mom.  They crossed the square and hurried into the church.  (Different country, tiny little town, same holiday tradition.)    


Kenny seemed to know everything about La Manzanilla and he was happy to fill in the details about our hike.  He said to go up the road to the bridge, but not to go over it.  Instead, go under it and follow the dry riverbed.  Eventually, you will come to the jewels (crystal clear pools among the rocks)  keep following them and you will find the waterfall.  He did mention that it was the dry season and the water would be fairly low.


So off we went with Holly and Rally.  We walked for a while until we came to a barbwire fence across the riverbed, it was stretched out in one section and we could all squeeze through easily.  We walked quite a bit farther and came to another barbwire fence, this one was in good repair and there was no way to squeeze under or around.  It was getting hot, we hadn't seen any water yet and this seemed to me like a great place to turn around.  


But not so fast, Ron and Rory hollered into the pasture next to the river where a man was tending a herd of very large steer with long horns.  In their best broken Spanglish they asked him where the waterfall was.  He pointed to a barbwire gate that lead to a road, next to the fenced pasture is herd was in.   


We followed the road and it wound along and climbed uphill next to the river, after a little while we could see a tiny stream in the riverbed.  We almost turned around again, but the kids and the dogs were having so much fun, in search of the waterfall, we had to keep going.  After more hiking we came to a collection of clear pools amoung the rocks.  It was really pretty and we all waded in the cold water to cool off.  Holly waded right in and swam around the little pool snorting and spitting water.  Rally even ended up in the water.


There really wasn't a waterfall where we were sitting and that was not good enough for Rory.  He took Holly and Reilly and pressed on.  They found what they were looking for and soon we were all hiking up to a higher pool and an 8 - 10 foot waterfall.  It was truly beautiful.  The pool was maybe 20 feet in diameter and 12 -15 feet deep.  It was crystal clear and refreshingly cold.  We all swam.  The kids climbed up to the top of the waterfall and jumped in.  It was a magical place.  We had gone from dusty, dry, hot riverbed to lush, green, jungle.  The sun was right over head and shining into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall.


On the way back we walked through the stream and Regan spotted a treasure Rowan was thrilled with.  It was an armadillo shell along with skeleton and tail.  Rowan singlehandedly carried it all the way back.  It is a very cool treasure. 

The hike was certainly worth every step.  I'm so sorry I don't have pictures.  I hope it is something I won't soon forget.  The whole adventure is still so vivid in my mind I can almost still hear the waterfall.         

Hey, it's Mexico.... #1

I have seen and done a number of things that you may only see in Mexico and I thought it might be fun to share then in an on going series.  I've heard many different people say, "Hey, It's Mexico........So here is the first.   This is number one because it happens at least a couple times a day.  

Hey, It's Mexico....when you have to check you slippers for scorpions each time you put them on.   

Baby Tortugas

La Manzanilla was the lovely little town we spent Christmas in.  It wasn't a place I would have liked to have lived in for very long but it allowed us a series of excellent adventure.  

Thursday night before Christmas, we went to the beach for a swim about an hour before sunset.  The sun was getting low and there were folks playing frisbee (not your young buck frisbee players but, a young at heart, 55+ crowd.) walking their dogs, some jogging, and many heading home for the evening.  We ended up taking a quick swim, walking the dogs and watching the sunset.

A small group gathered a few feet down the beach and we sent our best man Fernando to check it out.  Turns out it was a sea turtle hatchling release.  The Mexican man with the turtles had everyone take a turtle out of the bucket and  help it make it's way to the surf.

 The kids put the baby turtles along the shoreline and waited for the surf to help them into the sea.  The waves would push the baby turtles back onto the beach and eventually they would slide into the water.  Once all the turtles were in the water you could see all their little heads breaking the surface of the calm water just past the break.  It's hard to believe that we were able to be part of this.

I caught some of this on video.  Mind you, I have Holly on a leash and I am not a great cameraman to begin with.  Yes, I realise I sound like a fool, but I was so amazed at the whole thing, I couldn't get over it.  I considered covering   my comments up with music but I think it's better to hear what was really going on.  So have a good chuckle...I did.  Also, as you will see, there are lots of other folks on the beach who are just as interested in this release as we are.  It was a special evening and something we will never forget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdbXee83rfU

Happy New Year!

2011 is off to a great start.  

Ron is still in Texas with his dad, but Roger is slowly and steadily improving.  He is very weak but also highly motivated to get back on his feet.  We were able to talk to him on Skype this morning and he sounds and looks good.  He was very excited because he had breakfast this morning, apple juice, popsicle, and jello.  He hasn't eaten for two weeks, I can just imagine how good it all must have tasted. 

The kids and I spent a mellow New Years Eve here.  There was a bonfire on the beach with some of the other American and Canadian families.  We rang in the New York New Year on the beach and then came back here and rung in the Sayulita New Year together. 

It is so nice to be back in our cozy Casa Conchita, we are all settled in and it feel like home.  Sayulita is absolutely packed this week.  The beach is unbelievably full of people.  It seems like there are twice as many local families as gringos, but there are plenty of each.  We took these pictures walking down the beach yesterday.  The campground has overflowed it's banks and has spilled onto the beach.  There is music, volleyball, soccer, food, dancing, sunning, swimming and it seems like everyone is having a great time.   

There is progress on the auto bridge into town.  The  footings are in and there is some new re-bar in place.  I have mixed feelings about the completion of the bridge.  I realise it is the dry season and that things change quite a bit during the summer when the  river if full.  But for what it's worth, it seems like the the streets in town are so narrow, and poorly cobbled that more auto traffic will only make things worse.  It is possible to get into town by driving around, but the bridge is direct access for the tour buses and huge trucks.  This summer, before the bridge was out, the tour buses would drive right into town and park near the square, there was hardly room to walk by them.  Of course, I'm just thinking out loud.  

   Happy New Year from Sayulita, I hope your year if filled with peace and fun times and some ice cold Coors Lite.  I am keenly aware of how lucky I am to have health, peace and adventure this New Year.  I hope that you will consider sharing some of this adventure with us either in person or just through this Blog.  


Cheers!