An Afternoon With Friends

An Afternoon With Friends

An internet friend has a site where she takes a photo a day in the city where she lives (Alexandria, VA.). She is part of City Daily Photo Blog which encompasses more than 150 blogs worldwide. She takes some wonderful photos and her site is an enjoyable place to spend some time. We became acquainted through my blog and have emailed back and forth for the last while. This is her site:Maries Site . Through this blog she saw one of my pictures of a door in Old Town Albuquerque and asked if she could post it on her other site, Doorways Around The World , naturally, I said, yes and it is posted there today. My photo is the one entitled "Sky Blue". I love the door in this photo and I hope that others will enjoy it also. Thanks Marie.

We had made plans to meet our new Saskatchewan friends and another lady from Alberta downtown this afternoon to do some wandering around. We visited the mercado building and then stopped to feed the pigeons at the park. We had remembered to take some rice with us, so the pigeons loved us and we were hand feeding them in no time.

The city has put their Nativity scene up in the Plaza de Tres Presidentes and I just loved the look on the donkeys face.

The decorations are also up on the Palacio Municpal and in the streets. Looks very festive.

We strolled over and watched the work going on at the waterfront for awhile before going to see the old jail. We continued on to a restaurant, El Sauce y La Palma for some dinner. The food was excellent and so was the company. We then walked to where they could catch the bus back to San Carlos. School had just gotten out across the street from the bus stop and soon a group of school children spotted the five of us. It took awhile, as they were shy; but they eventually got up enough nerve to come and try out their english, learned in school, on us. We spent a lively few minutes chatting with them before the bus came that our friends needed. Roy and I then walked back and caught our bus home. It was cool and windy today and everyone was wearing their jackets and sweaters, I was wishing that I would have worn a heavier one as the wind was chilly. Sounds kind of wimpy, thinking of what the weather is in Canada now; but everything is relative.

Shrimp Instead Of Cookies

Shrimp Instead Of Cookies

I know that's a weird title; but that is what happened. I had the butter on the counter getting soft all ready to make Roys chocolate chip cookies, when Ciro knocked on the door. He had our latest order of shrimp in his hand. OK, now I had to deal with them. I cleaned and butterflyed enough of them for our supper and froze the rest. Then I potted up the plants that needed doing and sprayed some of the others with soapy water. I have been having trouble with bugs on the bouganvillea and have been spraying it regularily. I had the same trouble awhile ago and thought that I had conquered them and quit spraying. A couple of weeks later the bugs had managed to eat a lot of the leaves in the space of a couple of days. So, I started spraying again. I am keeping it away from the roses hoping that they won't move over to them; but I have been spraying everything. I don't think container plants have the same resistance to pests as plants right in the ground or maybe it is just that I notice things more as there are fewer plants. I don't know. It could be the weather also, (lots of rain this year), as one of Ciros lime trees is infested with bugs also. The undersides of the leaves are full of bug eggs. He has been spraying it with soapy water to no avail. He doesn't want to use a chemical because we/they/ and others eat the limes. The roses have buds on and I can't wait to see what color the flowers turn out to be on the one that had 2 different colored flowers. I am curious to see if it was just a virus that changed the color or whether it is a grafted plant.

I needed to go uptown for a few things and decided to look for a small deep fryer. I have been thinking about getting one for awhile now and just haven't done it. I returned from uptown, checked out the painting that Roy was doing, and relaxed for a bit before starting supper.

In case anyone is interested here is the recipe I kind of use for the Coco Shrimp. I modify it slightly and will put my modifications in brackets. I rarely follow a recipe totally after the first time I make it, I usually add/delete this or that.

Coco Shrimp

1 1/4 lbs. shrimp (I just do enough for us for a meal, don't know the weight)

1 1/3 cups flour ( I use 1 cup flour and 1/3 cup cornflake crumbs for some added crunch)

1 tsp. salt

black pepper to taste

1/8 tsp. paprika ( I don't have paprika so use sal con chili y limon which is similiar to seasoning salt and I skip the regular salt. I do it to taste rather than measure)

1 1/4 cup beer ( I don't usually have beer so just use water; although I have been told it is better with the beer)

2 Cups shredded coconut

Peel, devein and butterfly the shrimp leaving on the tails. (For just us I remove the tails and then you just eat everything; but for company it looks nicer to leave the tails on for a handle when dipping in sauces). I coat the shrimp in flour and then dip in the batter, dredge in coconut and then deep fry. The recipe says the oil should be 350 degrees. I just do it by watching them. Drain on paper towels. Serve with any type of sauces, dips, salsas that you like and of course fresh limes/lemons for squeezing over it. I usually make some type of rice to go with it and warm tortillas. This recipe for batter would probably coat about 30 large shrimp. I usually do about 24 and end up throwing some batter away.

ENJOY!!!

I don't imagine this is very good for the cholestoral levels; but it is sure good for the taste buds.

As it is Wednesday, it is tianguis day, I am not sure if we will go or stay home and bake cookies and paint. We will see.

A Visit To The Doctor

A Visit To The Doctor

I needed another bag of soil to top up some of the plants and also to plant the yellow rose that Ciro had brought back from the tianguis on Saturday. I also needed to get a pot for it. We decided on Sunday to take the car to get the dirt and pot, so I was in the process of making a grocery list when Irene came to the door. They had bought a Jasmine plant for themselves at the tianguis on Saturday and she had it in her hand. She told me that it was for me, I told her I would pay for it and she wouldn't let me. I thanked her and she left. I can't quite figure this out as Ciro had been showing it to me and telling me that Irene had wanted one because of how nice they smell. Then the next day she is giving it to me, I don't know. So now we needed 2 pots and saucers. The pots here are not sold with the saucers and the only place that I have found the proper saucers for the pots, they have been as expensive as the pots. I have just been buying plastic dish pans to go under the pots as I don't want the excess water running all over the patio.

The yellow rose and the jasmine plant.

It seems like it is always a Sunday when we end up taking the car out for these errands. Why, I don't know, as that is the busiest day of the week for the big grocery store as most people are off work. It is not like we have a busy schedule, I think it is just that we tend to forget what day it is until we get there. This retirement thing is tough!! We got the soil from the nursery and proceeded to Soriana, which as we expected was busy! As we had the car, I stocked up on some of the heavier things so that I wouldn't have to carry them on the bus. I needed flour, I had asked Roy to get some one day and he had come back with a bag of lard, which I already had. I had gone uptown for some other things that day and realised when I got uptown that I hadn't shown him the flour bag so that he would know what it looked like. He doesn't know the spanish words for things like that. So I was wondering what he would get. I told him that I thought he did it on purpose so that I would have to do more baking. Ha ha. So, on Sunday I got a couple of small bags of flour and forgot to get yeast, oh well.

I have been intending to go to the doctor for awhile now and decided that yesterday was the day that I would try that. I needed chocolate chips for cookies, Roy has been mentioning them and the last couple of times that Alan has been up, I think he has been looking for them also, as his face kind of dropped when I gave him a lollipop instead of cookies. From the directions for the doctors office it seemed that it was only a couple of blocks away from where I get the chocolate chips. Two birds with one stone! I have never been to the doctor here in Mexico, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I found the office easily, (he also has a small hospital attached) and asked the receptionist about an appointment. Yes, she said, you will be after the man in the hat. OK, I sat down to wait. From the speed that people were coming in and out of the room, I realised that this doctor must be taking time to talk to the people. No in and out in 5 minutes like in Canada, this is a good thing, I thought. The receptionist by the way did not take my name or any medical history or anything else. There were lots of people waiting and I decided that I would be there most of the day, until I noticed that everyone else that was there was in a family group. I was the only person there by myself. People were friendly and there was lots of conversation going on, which they included me in. There was a cute little boy sitting beside me that everyone was getting a kick out of. He asked where his dad was and his grandma pointed at an elderly man waiting and said, he's right there. No, the little boy, said that's not my daddy. This went back and forth for abit with everyone getting a good laugh out of the little fellow. I gave him a candy and he didn't seem to like it. I asked him if it was dulce (sweet) and he said, no it's malo (bad, no good), his grandma stuck it in her mouth and told him that yes, it's sweet. He insisted it was bad and kept putting it in and out of his mouth and getting all sticky before she finally took it away from him. That kept everyone laughing for awhile more. Time passed slowly as there were no magazines or anything to look at other than a couple of large paintings on the walls. There was a huge television in the corner; but it was not turned on. I read all the diplomas on the walls, the doctor had trained in England with some other courses taken in Arizona. When it was my turn the doctor ushered me into the exam room himself as he had done with everyone else. I explained why I was there and he chatted with me for awhile before taking my blood pressure. He then went and phoned the pharmacy and came back with the information that I had asked for, we chatted about something else and he again went and looked something up and phoned the pharmacy. When he came back we chatted some more and he wrote out the prescription. He told me which pharmacy he had phoned so that I would know that they had the 2 things. During all this, he never asked my name or took any written medical history. He did ask lots of questions about my medical history; but nothing was written down. At the end of the visit he came back out with me, told the receptionist the charge and ushered in the next patient. A very different visit from in Canada; but very nice, as I didn't feel rushed, he took time to listen to what I had to say and was very helpful and informative.

After the doctors visit, I went and got the chocolate chips and then to the pharmacy for the prescriptions and then to the store for the saucers for the plant pots. This store was very busy and the lady behind me was showing me the santa claus hat she was buying for one of her children/grandchildren. It had long white braids on it and little red plastic stars on it. I showed her the switch and told her that there were lights in the stars. She hadn't realised that; but when we hit the switch nothing happened. She went back to the counter to pick out another one. She returned with another one and it also didn't work, there was a clerk right there so she asked her about it. The clerk either said that the batteries were missing or dead, I am not sure which, so the lady went back to the counter again. This time when she returned and showed me the hat, I showed her that one of the wires was hanging totally unattached. She rolled her eyes and returned to the counter again. This time she returned with one with no lights, she had given up on them, she said and laughed. A fun way to pass the time standing in line. After finishing my shopping I debated going home or heading to the bank as I was getting low on funds and it is almost rent time. I decided to do the banking and got on the bus, to go to the bank that gives out a higher limit per day at their ATM. I did my banking and caught another bus to go home, I was getting tired so decided to be lazy and do a transfer (they actually don't do transfers here, you just get off and catch a different bus). When the first bus stopped at one of the hospitals I noticed that stopped right in front of us was the bus that would take me to within 1 block of home. I hopped off and hopped on the other one and was home shortly. I was too lazy to pot the plants when I got home, so need to do that today. I used all the cheese making supper last night, so I should go and get some more of that today to. Instead of painting yesterday while I was gone, Roy decided to dust, and mop the floors for me, it was nice to come home to a clean house. He may get back to the painting today, maybe.

Shrimp Festival

Shrimp Festival

Yesterday we were sitting quietly, just messing around on the computers, when Ciro knocked at the door. He had a grocery bag almost full of fish for us. He said that the fish were Cabrilla (sp?) and are very good. We haven't tried them yet, as I had made enchiladas suiza for our dinner. He and Roy finished giving the south walls on our apartment the first coat of paint yesterday also. It looks much better and will look great when the second coat is done.
This morning we were just getting ready to go out when he again knocked at the door. They had gone to the tianguis at 100 casas and had picked up a yellow rose bush for me. I still can't get over the idea that you can buy a rose bush for about $3.50 (dollars). He showed us a Jasmine plant that they had bought for themselves.
This weekend San Carlos is holding their Shrimp Festival. We had arranged to go with the couple we had met from Saskatchewan. We left here a little earlier as we wanted to stop and see our restaurant friends for a short visit first. We arrived at the campground at 1 PM and the four of us and another lady headed for the festival. They had changed the location this year and it certainly was better for everyone. There were 2 lines of booths set up by various restaurants with seating in the center, some under shade and a stage set up at one end. The restaurants all cooked their shrimp specialties, you purchased tickets and got your shrimp from wherever you wanted. There were also some craft booths selling their handwork. We enjoyed listening to some bands and watching a local dance group perform. The dancing was wonderful to watch and we really enjoyed ourselves. There seemed to be a lot more people there this year than last year.
Here is one of the videos I put on Youtube. There are some others if you are interested and you can see them here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=brendamaa I had put all the clips together in one video but can't load it onto YouTube as it is larger than their maximum size, so will have to redo it tomorrow.

The costumes were colorful and the dancers talented.



We arrived home and Roy went over to the corner store to get water. They were out for the moment, so he left our bottle and said he would come back later. We had our dinner and sat back to relax. There was a knock on the door and it was the lady from the corner store to tell us that they again had water if we wanted to come and get ours now. Talk about service! We had kind of forgotten about it and really didn't need it until the morning anyway, so we weren't too concerned. Roy went over and got our evenings coke supply and was returning to get the water bottle, but by the time Roy got back downstairs, the store owner had carried it half way over to our place for him.

Taking It Easy In Paradise

Taking It Easy In Paradise

We haven't been up to much in the last few days. Things have been quiet here in paradise. Yesterday a grader and a water truck showed up, they watered down and graded our street which was nice.

I cleaned the apartment today and Roy is working on painting one of the outside walls of the apartment.

I have been doing some reading on the history of Guaymas. Last evening Ciro and Irene came up and we had a nice visit with them. I asked Ciro some questions about what I had been reading online and showed him a new site that I had found. He was very interested in reading what the site had to say about a canon that had been found here in Guaymas and then just mysteriously disappeared.

Speaking of things being found, this is kind of interesting. They are working on the malecon and bay here in town. The workers doing some dredging in the bay dug up a very large propeller off of a ship (3 tonnes in weight) so they are trying to figure out where and when it got lost in the bay. Very odd, you'd think that if a ship needed a prop. this size and lost one they would have said something, no? I don't know anything about ships so your guess is as good as mine.
This photo is taken from one of the local papers: La Voz del Puerto. It is not the greatest photo; but does give an idea of the size of the thing.

Also from the newspaper, the governor of the state of Sonora, Eduardo Bours Castelo participated in "a carne asada más grande del mundo" ( largest meat barbecue in the world) in Hermosillo (state capitol about 1 1/2 hrs. from us) a few days ago. The plan was to get into the Guinness Book. Not sure if they did or not.
The man in the forefront of the photo is the governor. This photo also from La Voz del Puerto.

Another newspaper article stated that 27 educational institutions participated in the Revolution Day parade and being at the parade, I believe it.
Some one emailed me the other day wanting to know the dates of the Carnaval here in February of 2007. I hunted all over and couldn't find the dates anywhere, so I emailed the city office and they very nicely answered me. According to them the dates for the carnaval are from the 15th to the 20th of February, 2007. So, if anyone is thinking about coming, now you now know when it is.
The paragraph below is taken from this Mazatlan site which has some interesting carnaval history: http://www.carnavalmazatlan.net/en-historia-origenes.php On the eve of the French invasion in 1864, Ignacio Ramirez, a local seer, made reference to carnaval in a letter he wrote to Guillermo Prieto: “. . . and famous is the lavishness with which the fiestas of carnaval are celebrated, even more brilliant than those of Merida, and which only Guaymas can occasionally match . . ."
High praise indeed, even if it was in 1864. I have to say that we thoroughly enjoyed the parades, etc. last year.
So that's the highlights for today.

We Are In Hot Water On Revolution Day!

We Are In Hot Water On Revolution Day!

Actually the title should read, we have hot water on Revolution Day, as we haven't actually gotten into the hot water....yet. Yesterday we needed to go to a tire shop and it just happens that the tire shop is right beside the shop of the fellow who was supposed to be building the stand for, and installing the hot water tank. He was working outside and came over to chat with us. He said that he would be over to do it and asked Roy if he would take the list and go and get the supplies that were needed. We had been on our way for breakfast; but decided if there was even a remote chance to get the tank hooked up, we would cancel our breakfast. We returned home and then Roy and Ciro went to the plumbing shop for the necessary supplies. We then sat and waited and waited and waited. I went and had my siesta, Roy got antsy. We were sitting outside after dinner, it was already dark and up pulls our plumber. Ciro brought up an extra light and he started work; but was missing a drill bit so had to go home for that. He returned and did what he could; but had forgotten to put a few things on the list. It was now hooked up to the gas; but not the water as they hadn't gotten the flex hoses to connect the tank to the water supply. He packed up his stuff and said that he would return at 9 AM in the morning, go to the store and get the hoses and finish the job. We weren't to sure if he would come as today is Revolution Day and is a holiday. He arrived this morning at 9:30 AM, he and Roy went and picked up the hoses and he finished the job. WE NOW HAVE HOT WATER!!! Ciro and Irene were doing some painting and we were all laughing about needing the hot water now. I told Irene it was a good thing to have as Roy was getting a little "aromatic" already, she thought that was pretty funny.

The hot water tank set up (before the flex hoses were on).

As soon as the plumber left and we made sure the water was getting hot, we left for the parade uptown. We arrived at the parade around 10:30 and watched it until it finished around noon. It was colorful and fun to watch, lots of children in their school colors, bands, teams, etc..

Lots of color.

Some of the colorful costumes in the parade.

I got a laugh out of these two little boys having such a serious conversation, while waiting for their turn to move on, in the parade. Discussing world affairs, I am sure.

This little girl and boy looked wonderful; but as I am short and there were soooo many people in front of me, I didn't get a very good shot of them.

I love the expression on the one twins face, as her sister tells her something. They were having a great time.

We walked through the Plaza de Tres Presidentes, where there were lots of people, and some drink and toy vendors. We wandered over to the water for awhile and watched the fish jumping until we got too hot, so we decided to go and sit in the 13 de Julio Park in the shade.

Church by the 13 de Julio park.

13 de Julio Parque. (July 13 Park)

We did some pigeon and people watching, stopped for a nice, cold coke and then headed home to relax. There will probably be some things going on later, so we may head back uptown later this evening. I am sure there will be some fireworks.

I have been searching for some music of Sonora, etc. on the computer. I had found the National Anthem of Mexico and of course La Barca de Guaymas (quite famous here) by Linda Ronstadt. I had forgotten the name of the song for Sonora, so I asked Ciro last night. He told me and then also wrote down some other ones that are about Sonora. I found quite a few of them last night and then today he told me of a couple more that he thought of, so I want to look them up also. There are quite a few.

Friday Night Tianguis

Friday Night Tianguis

Last evening, after making and eating a dinner of shrimp tacos (wanted to try them at home), we needed to get some exercise. We decided to go to the Friday night tianguis in Guaymas Norte. We hadn't been to this one yet, as we either didn't need anything or had other things going on on Friday evenings.
This week at the Wednesday tianguis there had been a fellow with a huge, iguana. To be technically correct, I am not sure if it was an iguana; but it was a lizardy type creature. It was approximately 2 feet long, brown, and of a very stocky build. This fellow was giving a sales talk of the benefits of fresh vegetable, fruit juice, etc. for illnesses and your body in general and would occasionally give the creature a drink of orange juice squeezed into his mouth. I stood and listened to him and watched the creature. It just sat on his leg and never moved anything other than his eyes. I did have the camera with me; but couldn't get a good picture, as the crowd was thick around him and I was shorter than everyone in front of me, (on the other hand there are some benefits to being short as you will see below). It was very interesting.
I was hoping that this fellow would be at the Friday night one in Guaymas Norte so that Roy could see him.
Getting to Guaymas Norte from our place requires 2 buses, first we catch one and go to the uptown and then catch another one to Guaymas Norte. It was just getting dark when we arrived and most of the shops had light bulbs strung up to illuminate their products. Roy had to watch his head so that he didn't accidentally run into the lines strung overhead across the streets. This is my "short" benefit, I don't have to worry about things like that! I can gawk and walk and only worry about the ground!! Unfortunately the fellow with the iguana wasn't there, he has probably moved on by now. It was a lovely evening to stroll around and look at all the wares on sale. We didn't need anything so were just looking. There was the usual assortment of clothes, shoes, dishes, veggies, fruits, meats, etc. and with Christmas coming there are also lots of toys for sale. There were some good looking postres (deserts); but we were full from our dinner yet and also Roy had shopped at the "pan man" earlier, so we had desert waiting for us at home. It was quite busy with lots of families with their children shopping. We laughed along with some of the young families with strollers when they created their own type of traffic jams. There was one little boy being held by his dad, who was laughing so hard at something his dad was doing. When Roy talked to him, he abruptly stopped laughing and got shy. His dad tried to get him to say something or wave; but he wasn't having any part of these strange people. We adults all thought it was pretty funny. We looked to our hearts content and then caught the bus and toured through the area before returning to centro, where we caught the bus home. We stopped off at the corner store for some milk and headed home for desert.
I decided to get the camera out and see what kind of photos I could get now that I have a tripod.

I didn't use the digital zoom on these, as it seems to make the photos grainier. I must say it works much better without me jiggling and making light streaks everywhere on the photo.

Shrimp Tacos

Shrimp Tacos

2nd post for today.
I went to the tianguis this morning to look for the plant pots that I still needed. The "plastics" lady had told me last week that she would have more today and she did, so I got the necessary ones and continued on. I had taken my camera with me today, thinking that if I didn't buy too much, I would walk home and take some pictures. Down one lane of the tianguis was a fellow with a couple of camera tripods for sale, I have been thinking of getting one now that I have a better camera. I had one for my 35 mm camera in Canada; but of course I couldn't bring it with me. I checked that the screw would fit my camera, it did and I was the owner of a tripod. Now, how easy was that! I also picked up a few veggies and decided it was time to head home. The buses seem to take us to the tianguis from home; but don't seem to come back and get us. I walked down the street and finally asked someone about that. He laughed, when I said they bring you; but they don't take you home. Yes, that is right he told me and laughed also. He told me I would have to go to Calle 10 to get a bus, which was fine as it was only about 3 blks. from where I was. We don't usually try to get a bus home from the tianguis as we either walk home or walk uptown for something else and go home from there. I kept walking and tried to take a few photos of the church that is just east of Calle 10. We can see this church and the one in the plaza in centro from our livingroom window and from the patio. I had taken some photos last year; but wanted to get some different ones with the new camera. I couldn't get the whole church in from where I could stand and of course I was standing in the shade and the church was in the sun with parts of it in the shade. I got some funny colors in some of the photos, so will need to play with the settings a bit, I guess. I love just looking at this church, the doorway, the stained glass windows, the spires, etc.. It seems that no matter how many times I stand and look at it I see something different. Another plus of stopping to take some photos was that I got to have a little conversation with a gentleman sitting on a bench right where I stopped.

Church doorway.

Top portion of the church. Notice the gorgeous sky color.

One of the stained glass windows.

The entrance to a parking area beside the church.

When I got home, I invited Roy to come with me and try and find the fish taco place that we wanted to try last night. He didn't have any prior commitments (tongue in cheek) so we went to hunt it down. We did find a taco stand, not a restaurant as Ciro had mentioned. She also had shrimp tacos so our plan of having fish tacos went by the wayside. We ordered 3 servings, which is actually 6 tortillas with enough shrimp for more and 2 bottles of coke. The coke was cold, the tacos and fixings were excellent and we were stuffed. Time to pay the bill. My mind still heads to Canadian shrimp prices and I was holding my breath as I asked her how much the bill was. Total came to 44 pesos (about $4.40 dollars). She had started packing up, so I asked her if she was open for cena (supper/dinner); no, she said, she opens in the morning at 7 AM; but on Friday, Saturday and Sunday she is open for dinner and she also has other things those evenings. Not that I would be ordering anything different after those shrimp tacos. They were muy rico (very delicious). We were going to go and take a walk on the beach; but after eating decided that we would head home instead, we had siesta visions in our heads. When we got home Ciro was outside and told us that there is another different variety of hummingbird at the feeder now, this one he said is totally black and his tail is different. We are thinking that these new kids on the block are maybe on their migration and we are hoping that when they see there is sunshine and food they may stay here for the winter. We will see.

An Update On The "Hand Feeding Hummingbirds" Post

An Update On The "Hand Feeding Hummingbirds" Post

When I opened my emails last evening, I was surprised to find a new comment on the "Hand Feeding Hummingbirds" post from October 29,2006; usually this long after a post there aren't many comments. Here is the post in case you didn't see it. http://brendandroygoingtomexico.blogspot.com/2006/10/hand-feeding-hummingbirds.html

I was even more surprised to find out that it was from the lady(ABIGAIL ALFANO) whose photos you see on this post (her husband took the photos). They have had so many emails about the photos that they have started a web page to explain more about what led up to the morning when they took the photos and the ensuing excitement over the photos. Not all of it good, unfortunately. Immediately after reading her comment I went to her site and then emailed her. She has graciously allowed me to update this post using the current info. that I have. Her web page is here: www.abigailsings.com/hummingbirds and I hope that you will go and have a look at it and read the "before and afters" of all the pictures that we all enjoyed so much. She said that they never expected the photos to cause so much excitement all over the world just by emailing them to some friends. I guess this just shows us that we should never underestimate the power of the Internet. Thank you Abigail for chatting with me via email.

After trying to clean the car the other day without a vacuum cleaner, we had decided that we should go and buy one. I have also been concerned about not being able to vacuum off the fans in the computers. We decided that we would go and look around uptown and then go out for supper. We found the vacuum cleaner at the first store we went to and told them we would return to buy it after we had our dinner. No problem, they are open until 8 PM we were told. We wandered over to the malecón (breakwater) to take a stroll. Unfortunately for us they have begun the new construction there and the walk is all torn up and the men were working hard on it. So instead of taking a calm, quiet walk we stood and watched the men and equipment for a few minutes and mourned our old walking place. They have big plans for the area and I suppose it will look nice when it is done; but we liked it the way it was. We then wandered over to the restaurant where we were going to have our dinner, and it was closed. As the church and park are right close we decided to go and sit in the park and watch life go by as we planned our new strategy. We sat and relaxed for awhile and decided to go to a different place, we walked in the door and they told us that they were just closing for the day. OK, now what? Ciro and his brother in law had told us about a place not far from home that serves good fish tacos so we decided to go and buy the vacuum cleaner, go home and then go there for tacos. This we did. We weren't exactly sure where the taco place was, so I asked one fellow on the street. No, he said there is no place around here like that. I decided that we should ask someone else as it's always nice to have a second opinion. The next person I asked told us that yes, there was a place just down the street; but that they were not open until the morning. As it was a beautiful evening we decided to keep walking and go to another place that we had eaten at last winter. As we walked we noticed another of our favorites places to stop for a coke and burger was also already closed for the evening. They get most of their business from the school across the street so are open mainly for lunch. We finally found the other place, "La Sauca y Las Palmas", not sure if that spelling is quite correct; but it is close. The building was dark and locked and they had a sign on the door saying, "descansos martes", or in other words they are closed on Tuesdays. We gave up and came home and ate whatever was around, which wasn't great. We had a similiar experience a few months ago; but had both thought that it was on a Monday. Oh well, we didn't starve and had a really nice walk. It is so different walking in the evenings than it is in the daytime, it is like a whole different city.

This morning I am going to the tianguis and hopefully get the plant pots that the lady told me she would have today, then I can pot up the last plants and just sit back and watch them grow.

We still have not seen the hot water tank installer, he told us mañana last Tuesday and we haven't seen him since, so will have to get on that as the water is getting cooler now.

Naturally we had another beautiful sunrise this morning and it looks like it is going to be another lovely day. I noticed that I had the date wrong on the camera, so have changed it now, oops!

Historia De Guaymas

Historia De Guaymas

I just found this video of Guaymas this morning on YouTube. It gives some history of our new home and some great pictures.

You may not be interested in this as it is in spanish, so if you don't want to watch it, just scroll down and you will find the first post of today.

I don't understand much of it; but am working at it. One thing it does say is that we are 15 metres above sea level.

Another Great Sunday

Another Great Sunday

It was very foggy again when we woke up on Sunday morning. This is a view from the car window as we were driving.
A foggy morning.

We had made plans to have breakfast in San Carlos with a couple from Canada. We had never met this couple before. The lady had found this blog and emailed me with some questions about Guaymas. We emailed back and forth and they arrived at the campground on Thursday. How the world has shrunk, this couple lives about 45 miles from where I lived for many years in Yorkton,Saskatchewan. We met them at the RV park where they are staying and went for breakfast to our friends restaurant in San Carlos; "Marias Pizza" (I know, a shameless plug; but what the heck, it's my blog LOL). The restaurant opens at 6 AM so is the perfect place for early risers. After breakfast we drove around San Carlos a bit and went to the scenic outlook at Mirador, and one of the nearby beaches. We then drove into Guaymas, via Miramar where we stopped at a nursery, the lady runs a greenhouse in Canada and we thought she might be interested in seeing the plants here. She insisted on buying me another rose which has 2 different colored blooms on it and is very pretty. This was definitely not necessary or expected; but I am sure we will enjoy it immensely. Thank you, Marilyn!
Marilyns gift rose.

We then showed them one of the larger grocery stores, the mall, etc.. before stopping at our apartment where we chatted for awhile longer before returning them to their campground. It was an enjoyable meeting and we hope to see them again while they are here. A pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning.
I had gone to the Saturday tianguis in 100 Casas and did manage to find a red rose finally, it has some leaf damage and I think perhaps some insects making a home on it. I asked the lady selling the plants and she told me the leaf damage was from cold (this she said with a straight face). I thought she was joking and asked her where she would find cold here, and she looked at me like I was crazy. I hope I didn't hurt her feelings. This was the first stop when I got to the tianguis, so I asked her if she would hold it for me while I looked around and I would return in 15 minutes or so. I really didn't need anything else, so I knew I wouldn't be long. With the leaf damage on the plant, if it wasn't there when I returned I wasn't going to be heartbroken. Yes, she said she would hold it for me. When I returned, there it was sitting off to the side in a bag, so I paid for it and walked over to the bus stop. Roy had told me to take enough money with me, so that if I bought one I could take a cab home, as usually we have a fairly long walk home from this bus run, and the plants are fairly heavy. I decided that I would instead try the bus and even if I had to get off and catch a different one, it still would be cheaper than a cab. Roy stayed home, just in case the hot water tank installer would show up,(he didn't). Actually I think he is just tired of looking at plants and this was a good excuse! Anyway,I got on a bus headed the right direction; but when he pulled out he promptly made a U turn and headed in the opposite direction. UH OH...oh well, I was in no hurry. He drove through a different colonia and then headed back in my direction. Instead of getting off where we usually do on this route I decided to stay on and see where he would head. Good idea, he eventually turned onto the big street where I could get off and only have to walk 3 blocks to go to get home. Yipee!! I promptly sprayed the rose with soapy water when I got home, hopefully this will discourage some of the insects that I think are residing on it.
The new red rose.

I took some other photos of our flowers and of Roy working at washing the car. I always enjoy watching a man working!!









Here are a couple of photos of the sunrise this morning from our patio.

Well I guess I have put off doing laundry for about as long as I can, so time to get busy.

A Hummingbird Moment

A Hummingbird Moment

Wow, 2nd post for today. Hmmmm....can you tell that I have no major timelines in my life. The tree massacre finished across the street and I went over and asked if it was OK for me to take some of the pieces. So right now we have a beautiful large bouquet of red bouganvillea blooms in the house. I may try and root some of them, we will see.

I played with the little video of the white breasted hummingbird and loaded it onto YouTube. The beginning is a little boring; but if you hang in there, I got some good shots of him feeding near the end. So, here it is, fresh from the cutting room floor.

The De-Forestation Continues

The De-Forestation Continues

The people across the street from us have had a fellow doing some work for them the last couple of weeks. They have an open room and a patio on the second floor and also another part of the patio which we could not see into because of a very large, beautiful bouganvillea. This tree was just covered with bright red blooms all last winter and was until today, again covered in blooms. Just yesterday I asked Roy if he had looked at the tree as it has just popped with blossoms in the last few days. I had taken a few photos of it last year; but as usual not as many or as good a ones as I should have apparently. I heard noises over there this morning but didn't think much of it, just thought the workman was doing some more work. I happened to notice our power lines vibrating a lot and decided that I should look out and see what was going on. To my dismay there was a man going at this bouganvillea with a machete! He had most of the top of it hacked down to about the second floor level. I went out and took some photos of what he was doing, thinking that he was just doing a major pruning job. I went back to minding my own business for awhile, I know strange for me. LOL The next time I looked out, he was on the ground and had hacked off almost all of the tree. Yikes, this is not a pruning job, this is a massacre!!

Here are some before and after photos.

Obviously, these are the before photos from last winter. The tree had grown alot in the last year.

And here are the after photos. Enough said.

On a lighter note. Yesterday I went to another nursery and purchased a very little Desert Rose plant.

My newest "baby", Desert Rose or "flore al desierto".

I had also seen a lovely Plumeria Rubra (white flower) tree down a few blocks from us. I pass it when I go to catch one bus. It is blooming right now and you can smell it from ½ block away. I had knocked at the door of the home beside it; but no one was home. Last evening I decided to go and see if anyone was around. There was no one at home again; but some children were playing at the house 2 doors down. I explained to them what I was after and they said, "oh we have one of those trees; but ours is pink." They invited me into their yard, asked me to sit down and went to call their mother. When she came out, I explained that I really liked the tree and asked if I could have a slip of it. Sure, she said; but it is pink not white like the one over there. That's fine, I told her. She looked around at the tree and suddenly snap, she broke a huge hunk off of it. She just laughed when she saw the look on my face at the size of the "slip" she had gotten for me. I also asked her if it takes a lot of years before they get to "blooming age" and she said, "yes"; but couldn't tell me how many. So, I will have to do some research online to see or if anyone knows, please let me know. I thanked them all profusely and came home. As I was walking home, I realised that I had just had a major "blonde" moment, and I am not even blonde!! This was the same cutting as the one that the fellow on the other street gave me a couple of weeks ago. I had been after the white one and ended up with another pink one!! DUH!!! When I told Roy, he just laughed and said, well maybe one out of the two will grow. Sheesh, is it old age or what?

The new plumeria slip.

I sat beside the hummingbird feeder this morning and got this photo of one of our resident hummingbirds. This one is a relative new comer to the feeder and is of a different type. He has a bright white breast; although you can't see it in this photo.

One of our "hummers".

I also tried to take a little movie of him feeding; but it is tough as they move sooo fast, muy rapido!! I haven't looked at it yet; but if it is any good I will load it into You Tube and put a link or the movie on here later today.

A Foggy Morning

A Foggy Morning

It is an unusual day today, we woke up to fog! We have all the curtains and windows open and there is a tiny, soft breeze flowing in. We can hear the children out playing in the school yard a couple of blocks from here. It is cool for here, at 9:30 AM it was only 24°C./75° F.. Wow!!! I guess winter is here!!!

I took some photos of the fog and another one of the scorpion mentioned in last evenings post.

A Very Large Scorpion

A Very Large Scorpion

Yesterday Ciro knocked on the door to tell us that his brother would come later in the day to have a look at the hot water heater to see what he would need to install it. He then motioned us to come outside, he was telling us that there was a new animal out there. We both went to look, expecting another street dog, cat, rooster, or rabbit. He was just kidding about the animal part; but showed us a huge scorpion that was on our wall. He had very quietly screwed it into one of the places on the wall; where I had one of the plants hanging before the sun tried to fry it. It is made out of wire and he said that one of the men he had worked with, had made it and had given it to him. It is great, it amazes me how talented some people are. The fellow took pieces of wire and bent and twisted them into this scorpion. Naturally, me being me, I forgot to take a photo of it until this evening when I started to blog. This photo is not very good; but it will have to do until tomorrow.

Ciro must have thought that the wall looked bare without the plants there. I had to get Roy to move the plants to another wall where there is more shade. The plants that I had bought, which the man said liked sun, were being fried. They are recovering nicely now that they have some shade (well one is, anyway). I am looking for a couple more of the flat sided pots to put up in the same place; but with different plants in them, I think I will just stick to petunias as they were in the full sun at the viveros. I went to the tianguis today; but the lady was out of the pots, she said she might have some next Wednesday. I bought some fertilizer from the plant lady; but she had no red roses. Next week, she said. While I was gone Ciro came up and told Roy that he had been at the tianguis and they had red roses; but they were going fast. I had left here around 10 AM and they were gone when I got there. So I guess next week I will have to get there earlier!!

Ciros brother had come last evening and looked at the water heater. He felt that we should raise it up on a stand. He said that he could make the stand for us. He wrote down everything that he would need and then we sat and visited for an hour or so until his wife could come and pick him up. Their daughter was at dance practice at school and mom was watching. He told us some fishing stories and some stories about the history of Sonora. It was an interesting evening.

When I returned from the tianguis I went and got some groceries and then returned home and made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. They turned out pretty good; although when the "pan" man came down the street we still had to buy some of his wares. Nancy was laughing, she said something about fat, I told her I am already "gorda" and both she and the bread man laughed. I bought 2 of 2 different kinds and she asked me if they were all for me. I said, no-dos por mi y dos por Roy. She said that she had bought 3, just for her...I doubt this very much, as she is nice and slim. The bread man stood right below our window, calling, "pan, pan", hmmm.....I wonder if we are on his customer list yet. We will have to pretend we are deaf soon or I won't be able to move. His products are very delicious!!

Ciros brother did not come back this evening, so we still do not have hot water. Oh well. Tomorrows another day.

It's Monday....So Back To Work

It's Monday.....So Back To Work

It's Monday, so it's back to the daily grind. Yah, right!! The hot water heater was delivered this morning as promised and Ciro came up to tell us that he had gotten ahold of his brother to install it. He will come tomorrow some time.

I had been holding off on going down to pay for the cable/internet. We don't get a bill, you just go down and pay for it sometime at the beginning of the month. You have either until the 10th or the 13th to pay it, I forget which. Last month I went right at the beginning of the month and stood in line for quite awhile, so this month decided that I would wait a few days. On my way to the bus, I noticed another plant that I would like to have a piece of, it is growing right between the sidewalk and the street and I am wondering if anyone would mind me snitching a piece. Hmmm, will think about that and maybe the next time I go by someone will be outside. I caught the bus, went to the bank and then to the cable company. For once I had the correct amount ready to give the clerk and when I did she told me that I owed veinte pesos más (twenty pesos more). She explained that the cable had gone up this month. OK, what are you going to do? When she handed back my receipt she also gave me a printed paper explaining the increase. I had to laugh at myself when I read it. If I would have gone before the 5th of the month to pay my bill, I wouldn't have had to pay the increase this month (I think), so my waiting until today, the 6th, cost me an extra 20 pesos (about $2.00). Just goes to show you the early bird gets the worm. We are paying $719.00 pesos for "basic plus" cable TV and high speed internet, which is around $71.90 dollars depending on the exchange rate.

After doing my "chores", I decided to head to a nursery to see what was new. This one had some nicer petunias, so I bought 4 and also bought a nice geranium to put on the outside table. I am finding the same problem here as in Canada, all the nurseries carry the same plants. In Canada I got around that by buying seeds and starting my own. I may do that here eventually also, just to have something a little different. Still no roses that I want. I asked if he would be getting some and if so, when (more politely than this sounds)! He thought maybe in about 15 days. Ciro is saying it is still too hot for good blooms anyway. It was around 90° F. again today; but there was a little breeze sometimes, that felt good. I caught another bus and headed home with my plants. I was hot and feeling lazy, so for the first time, instead of staying on that bus and walking up the BIG hill home (about 4 blocks for this route), I decided to get off at a certain point and wait for the one that takes me to within a block of home and no big hill to climb. I just didn't feel like carrying the plants up that hill today. My laziness cost me an extra 40¢; but boy was it worth it. One of the routes that we take has gone up to 5 pesos from 4 pesos and this is the bus that I catch to go to the cable company. Today when I got on, the driver asked me where I was going, when I told him, he gave me back 1 peso (I had paid before he started asking me). I thought that was very nice of him and is consistent with the way everyone has treated us here.

I lazed around for awhile after getting home and then made an old fashioned meal for dinner/supper/cena. We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and boiled cabbage and it was good. Doesn't seem like a meal for a hot climate; but sometimes you just feel like a heavy meal. I transplanted one of the plants and the rest will have to wait until I get more pots from the tianguis on Wednesday. Ciro and one of Irenes brothers came up for a visit and we had a nice discussion about the different types of cooking/foods in different areas/countries.

A tough day at the job.

More On The Sinfonica de la Armada de Mexico ( Mexico Navy Symphony)

More On The Sinfonica de la Armada de Mexico ( Mexico Navy Symphony)

Last evening right before I shut off the computer and went to bed, I received an email from You Tube. The email said that there had been a comment posted on one of the little videos that I have put on there. I went to read the comment and while there noticed that there were some short videos of the concert given by The Mexico Navy Symphony that we went to see in the Plaza de Tres Presidentes. We had so enjoyed the concert and so last night ended up watching all the videos that we found there of it. We also found some videos of a dance performance that seems to have been held at the Belles Artes here in Guaymas. We finally went to bed at 1 AM. I said to Roy that we are going to have to buy the paper more often if we are missing out on performances such as this dance/ballet one, as it looks like it was an excellent one. The majority of the time I read the paper online, rather than buying the hard copy; but by doing this I miss out on all of the ads/notices.

I am going to put some of the You Tube videos of the Symphony performance here. It is quite legal, as when you upload your videos there you make the choice of allowing them to be used by others or to keep them private. I may spend some time today hunting for other ones of Guaymas. I hope that you watch some of these videos as they really give you a feel for what a great performance they put on. When they pan the crowd, remember we were out there somewhere. In the paper the day after the performance, I think that they said that there was around 5000 people in attendance. It didn't seem like that many; but it is a big space. We were so into the performance and did have some empty space around us, so it wasn't claustrophobic. The building in the background is the Palacio Municipal (Municipal Building) of Guaymas. I am wondering if the song that they do, "La Barca De Guaymas" is the same song by Linda Ronstadt. I have never heard her sing it so do not know; but I am kind of assuming that it is the same one. If anyone knows please leave me a comment.

I also found this video about the fish processing plant here in Guaymas (Selecta de Guaymas). It is quite good, Roy said that the only thing missing is the smell. Ha Ha. Almost right after he said that, the narrator of the video said something about "mal odores" (bad smell), it was funny. I didn't understand most of what they said and will have to watch it a few times more to see if I can pick up a bit more info. I did catch that the company is 100 % Mexican owned.

Moonlight

Moonlight

We had a beautiful big bright moon this evening. Unfortunately I cannot seem to hold the camera without shaking for long enough to take a decent photo. I guess I am going to have to look into getting a tripod, if I want to keep trying to take photos of the moon and stars. The other problem with putting the dark photos on this blog is the black background and I don't want to change that. Today I tried adding a border around the photos but then ran into the problem that the file was too large for blogger to upload, as they only allow you to upload 8mb., I am trying a very tiny border here to see if it will show up better.





We went uptown this morning and purchased the hot water heater and it is to be delivered mañana en la mañana (tomorrow in the morning). Other than that we had a lazy day and enjoyed it immensely!

A Fire In Guaymas

A Fire In Guaymas

Wednesday evening we had gone into the house to have our dinner, when Ciro came up and told us that there was a house on fire across the valley from us. We stood and watched it for awhile and it didn't seem like there was much action going on. Ciro said that some of the homes that are built partway up the hill/mountain don't have roads going to them. We did see a police car and some other lights after awhile. Reading the paper the next day, it said that 2 homes had been completely destroyed and another one partly destroyed. There was no one injured thankfully, except one police officer who needed some oxygen because of the smoke. It did say that he recovered fully on the scene though. This is terrible at any time; but with winter coming it will be even harder on the people affected. The paper said that the fire trucks arrived on the scene quickly and had lots of help from the police, Red Cross, Pemex and others; but could not contain or stop the fire. I guess we just couldn't see everything from here. They think that it started from a short circuit in the wiring.

On a lighter note. I went to the tianguis on Wednesday; but the plant lady either was sold out or did not come that day so I wandered uptown. I have been looking for chocolate chips for cookies and none of the grocery stores have them. Irene is in Obregon for the week with their son who is going to university, so I asked Ciro. He told me about a cake decorating store on a street 2 or 3 blocks north of the main street. I did find the store and she did have the chocolate chips, I then stopped and got a pyrex cake pan that I have been looking for. When I mentioned to Ciro that I had found the chocolate chips he said that he remembered another store that sells them that is closer to home, so I will have to remember it for next time.
We went looking at hot water tanks on Thursday and found one that only holds 4 liters of water at a time and is more of an "on demand" type and hopefully will use less gas. The store phoned the installation man, who said he would come over on Friday and give us an estimate on the installation costs. We hung around all day Friday and no one showed up, we also hung around today and nothing. When Ciro and Alan came up this evening, we asked him if maybe his brother could do the installation (he did our stove hook up), Ciro was sure that he would. Tomorrow we will go back to the store, buy the tank and arrange for delivery. So maybe in a week or two we will have hot water, which will be nice as it is getting close to when we will need it. Alan brought up a chess board, so he and I had a game. Considering that he is only 6 yrs. old, he surprised me with knowing how many of the men are supposed to move. Every time that I told him how to take one of my men, he would jump up and do a little dance; therefore the pieces still left on the board did some moving on their own!!!! Needless to say, he won the game (wink). He was happy when I called him the champion and told him that he needed a new opponent. He also brought up a book from school, "the motivation book", each child that does well gets to bring the book home for a day, draw a picture in it and sign his name. He was very proud to have gotten the book for the day. Ciro said that the book has been a big motivator for Alan to do well. He had some trouble staying still at the beginning of the school year; but apparently he is getting used to the more structured environment now and is enjoying school immensely.