Cake and Coke

Cake and Coke

Yesterday we purchased a couple of cakes and cokes to share with our landlord and family. The lady across the street and her grandson came, Ciros daughter in law Nancys sister, her husband and their little boy, Brittany and her mother and father and of course all of Ciros family. We had fun fooling with the kids. It was a lovely warm evening to sit around outside.

Brittanys dad, besides working for the power company, is also a professional wrestler. He told us that he has a fight coming up on Tuesday, unfortunately we are leaving tomorrow morning so will not be here to go and watch it. He told us he would have some photos taken for us. Later on after the non-family people had left, grandma brought out some old photos to show us and then Irene brought some more out. Photos of them when they were young and of their children and other family members. They are having a family reunion on the 3 of April at their house, so they will be busy.

We finished cleaning the apartment this morning and are all packed and ready to go; but not willingly. Ciro told us to phone our family and tell them we would not be back for a year or so, boy was that a tempting thought! We are going out for dinner and then probably an early night. We hope to get on the road fairly early as it is a longer trip going north because of all the check stops.

Alan and Brittany, before the cake.

After the cake.

There are a couple more photos here:http://community.webshots.com/album/549023305cepjhn/1

That's it for now.

The People

The People

There are 2 posts today as I have been lazy.

The best part of our stay here has been the people, how they have accepted us into their neighborhood, city, and country. There are so many memories we take away with us.

The elderly man in the Plaza who sat down to chat with us on one of our first trips there. Then there was a younger man with his family, who told us some of the history of Guaymas and of the pride he has in his son for leaning english in school.

The friendly shopkeepers, bus drivers and just the regular people on the street who stopped to chat or give us directions.

Senor Achilles, who we met one day as we walked by his house and who we have returned to visit 3 or 4 times (at his invitation). Listening to stories of his 60 years as a fisherman and his children, was a great experience.

One day when we were walking, a fellow rode by on his bike, waving and smiling. We finally figured out that he was one of our garbage men!

As we walk to the computer everyday, we pass a home where 2 fellows have been working for the last few months, building on a 2 nd story. The first time they saw us ( we are the only gringos in the area, so we kind of stick out), one of them had lots of questions for us. Since then every day we exchange "good mornings and how are yous". If we happen not to notice them, they yell after us until we turn around. Several times as we have been walking, they have been driving down the street and they wave, whistle and holler until we notice them and wave back.

The local mini market owner, who practices his english on us, as we practise our spanish on him. His sister- who I made laugh so hard one day as I assumed she was his wife. She made me feel so good one day as she told us, first in spanish and then in very halting english that she thought we were very nice, good people.

The little old lady who lived on the corner and we would stop and admire her garden. Her children came and moved her away to live with them suddenly one day. A few weeks later they were back for the day. When she saw me walking by, she came to the fence. She stuck her hand through the fence to grasp my hand and hold it while we chatted, and she told me how happy she was to be back home for the day and how nice it was to see me again.

All the people (adults and children) in the neighborhood who have accepted these crazy gringos into their neighborhood. I'm sure they can't figure out why we walk and take the bus when we have a car sitting in the driveway.

The family across the street: grandma, mom, husband, wife and little boy. When we came the little boy was just starting to walk and was very shy, turning his head into daddys shoulder to hide. He is now walking well and trying to play baseball. He grins and waves to us from wherever he is. Hmmmm..... wonder if it was the cookies!

Young Brittany and her father. We tease and play with Brittany and Alan (landlords grandson) and now when it is time for her to go home we are included in her round of hugs and kisses.

Rudy who has helped us in innumerable ways, always with a smile.

And of course our landlord and his family. I can't possibly describe the feelings we have for them. They have invited us into their lives, family and home. We have gone places with them and had meals with them. They have told us of places to go and things to see. Irene has treated us to many Mexican culinary delights. Grandma has tried to tell us stories and shown us pictures and shared her life with us. They have all shown us every kndness possible and we will deeply miss them.

We will be taking so much back with us in the ways of feelings and experiences and we leave with much sadness. The Mexico that we have seen and experienced is a varied, colorful, wonderful place and has enriched our lives in many, many ways.

Saying Farewell

Saying Farewell

On Monday we took a walk along the malecon (waterfront) for the last time. Then we wandered around the market and finished up our gift shopping. We both also got haircuts, Roys cost $3.00 and mine cost $5.00 ( Irene laughed at me later saying she only pays $4.00). There are so many barbers and hairdressers that we just walk past them until we see one that isn't too busy and go in.

Yesterday we went to the cove at Centinela. If you've been reading this blog for awhile you may remember me saying that one of the bus drivers had originally shown us how to get to the cove. Well as if it were fate, when we got on the bus it was the same driver ( we hadn't seen him since the first time). He gave us a big grin when we got on. It was cloudy but warm and we spent about 2 hours. just sitting- listening and watching. We did see the back and fin of a whale; but he didn't surface and blow for us. I took some video clips with the camera; but can't seem to load them here. We stopped at our favorite spot for a coke on the way back and said our goodbyes to the owners. Then home to do some cleaning and laundry in preparation for our departure. There are some more photos here: http://community.webshots.com/album/549023305cepjhn

The long way up the mountain from the cove at Centinela--Part one.

The long way up-- part two.

Today we will go to the tianguis for the final time, then pick up a cake to share with the landlords family in the evening.

Thursday will be spent packing and cleaning and perhaps one more trip to the beach at Miramar.

We intend to leave early Friday morning so will not be blogging for awhile. We will be returning to Alberta through Saskatchewan to visit with some of my family for a few days.

It is hard to believe that by the time we get home we will have been gone almost 7 months. We left on September 20, 2005 and will probably be home about the second week of April 2006.

We have met so many wonderful people and have had so many great experiences that it is very hard to leave. We will be leaving a part of ourselves behind and it is with great sadness that we say goodbye to everyone here.

Misc. Photos

Misc. Photos

Here are a few misc. photos that I haven't put anywhere else.

Just fooling around with some of the naturally occuring things found on the shore: Coral, sponge type stuff, dead crabs and of course misc. shells.

Ciro and Irene working on their garden.

Wind chimes made from shells.

Part of the garden.

Ciro and grandson Alan.

That's it for today. Oh yes, by the way Juan, thanks for reminding us that we will need our coats on the way home. UGH!!

Only 10 Days Left

Only 10 Days Left

Only 10 days left to enjoy this lovely weather. What a depressing thought. We have been watching the weather on the computer and everyday it is the same up there: snow, snow and more snow! UGH! Landlady asked me last night what I was going to do when we returned to the cold weather in Canada. Her daughter in law, Nancy, was running around in shorts and a halter top and I was sitting on the step with my sweater on. Yes, I am going to feel the cold alot on our return home.

On Sunday we drove out to Mirador look out, it is a beautiful scenic look out point, part way up one of the mountains. A young couple asked me to take their picture for them, when I finished an older couple asked me to take theirs also. The older couple turned out to be from around Dallas, Texas. It was their first time here and were only here for 4 days. We spent some time talking to them and telling them how much we love it here. Can't imagine only coming for 4 days. They seemed to be enjoying their time here. We also stopped in San Carlos to visit some people from Tennessee that we meet in October, shortly after our arrival. We stayed for awhile and basically said our goodbyes to them, in case we don't meet up with them again before we leave.

We also went to Playa Algodones, which has a beautiful white, sandy beach and also sand dunes. It was cooler and windy so we didn't stay for long.

Today we are going to the beach at Miramar, it is like we are saying our goodbyes to all of our favorite places. Next week will be spent cleaning the apartment and packing up our things, saying our goodbyes and getting ready to leave. It will be a sad time for us.

It is Benito Juarez Day today, another holiday, not sure if there will be a parade or not; we are not intending to go downtown today so will miss it if there is one. If you miss a parade one day, you know that it won't be too long until the next one.

Same Old, Same Old

Same Old, Same Old

There is not too much excitement here. Yesterday we went out to the cove at Centinela and stopped on our way back at a large palapa roofed restaurant. We have seen this place everytime we went out there on the bus, it always looked cool and inviting. We decided that we are running out of time and so stopped on our way home yesterday for lunch. It is a lovely, relaxing place. Palapa roof, electric fans stirring the lovely,warm air, clean crushed rock floor, birds chirping, palms trees blowing in the warm, soft breeze-- you get the picture. I ordered the fish tacos and Roy ordered shrimp tacos. The waiter was friendly and the service excellent. We had studied the menu and weren't sure what everything was exactly, he explained the daily special and it sounded like enough food for an army, "oh no", he said "for 1 person". I've heard that one before and stuck to my tacos. The food doesn't always look like alot on the plate; but it is usually so rich that you are full before the plate looks remotely close to empty. When he served the ladies next to us a lovely looking plate, he paused and told us what is was. It looked really good. Fried shrimp and all the trimmings including cherries and pinapple slices. Our tacos when they came were great. When they serve you a taco, the toppings are in one taco and underneath is another taco. Usually there is enough filling in the top taco to fill the bottom one underneath also. I think with Roys tacos there were 9 large shrimp, battered and fried which cost $3.50, a plate like this would be about $14.00 at home. My fish tacos were also very good. I ended up eating all the fish and leaving one taco, not enough tummy room. Naturally all the usual fixings came along with the food and also the pre-lunch dish of chips, crackers,tostados and salsa. We were hot from being on the seashore and decided to have a beer also. All in all we had our 2 meals and 3 beer and our total bill for this feast was $10.00 or 100 pesos, man what a tough life!

We only have about 2 weeks left here unfortunately before our return to Canada.

Happy St. Patricks Day to everyone.

Well That Seemed To Work

Well That Seemed To Work

OK, it seems like things are working again, so will try again.

We are doing fine, the weather is abit cooler, 23-24 C. some kind of cold front apparently, snow in Vegas and Phoenix yesterday, Yuck!! Boy, are we looking forward to returning to Alberta, when it is snowing in Arizona! Landlord is laughing at me wearing my sweater and teasing me about returning to the weather in Canada.

We haven't been doing anything earth shattering here. The usual trips to the seashore and some more walking tours of other areas of the city. We went out for supper again the other night and again had the "enchiladas suiza", I had thought of trying something different; but they were so good the last time that I re-ordered them. I wasn't disappointed.

Holidays in Mexico- since I posted last there has been: Family Day and International Womens Day and a couple of days ago all the children were out in groups flying kites, I am not sure what that was all about.

We are on our way uptown to wander around today, Roy was up early this AM to watch Formula One racing on TV, so he may need a siesta later.

The Joys of Internet Cafes

The Joys of Internet Cafes

We have been having trouble with the internet here, for 3 or 4 days we couldn't even read our emails. Yesterday we thought that everything was back to normal so I wrote a big blog. When it came time to publish it, of course it didn't work. I am going to try this short one today and if it works will write more in another one.

Another Long Walk

Another Long Walk

Yesterday we decided to take another of our long walks. We looked at the city map and decided on an area that we hadn't wandered around, as of yet. This area has a mixture of two story homes that are connected, what we would call duplexes, single story homes and single story homes that are connected to one other house with one common wall. There were a few large apartment buildings and a couple of smaller walled in new communities. As we walk around looking at the homes, etc. we always seem to end up chatting with people. One lady and her husband noticed us pointing out different things on some of the homes and started to chat. We told her that we were just looking at the homes. She said "I hope you find a home here, we could be new friends". The friendliness of the people just makes you feel so welcome. We also chatted with an older man, who said that he had started fishing when he was 6 years old and after 60 years at it he had to retire because of a heart attack. Now he likes to share his knowledge of the art with others. He invited us into his home; but we told him we needed to be moving on. When we told him that we were just looking around at the area, he told us that the house next door to him was empty if we were interested. We also chatted with a younger couple and learned some things about the area. When we tell people that we are enjoying our stay here and how much we like their city, they always respond with new information for us and we have a nice chat. It was 28 C. yesterday and sunny, we were getting hot so we stopped for a nice cold coke before heading home. A nice walk and an enjoyable morning.