Farewell 2006

Farewell 2006

We had Gary up for dinner on Friday evening and then he left yesterday morning. I assume he has made it back to Yuma, where he will stay for a few days with his father in law before heading home to Canada. We hope he enjoyed his stay in Guaymas.

Today we went out to San Carlos to go for lunch with Marilyn and Edgar, the couple in the RV campground from Saskatchewan. We had a nice lunch and then drove out to the Mirador Lookout, it was windy and the wind was chilly. I took a few photos and we headed back to the car. We stopped at their place and visited for awhile before heading home. We made a stop at the grocery store and came home. Nothing too exciting for the last day of the year. Roy laughs at my "chilly weather" reports, it was 23 C./74 F. in the apt. and I was putting my sweater on. It certainly is better than in Canada, so I shouldn't complain.

Roy, Marilyn and Edgar.

View from Mirador.

View from Mirador.

Happy New Year to everyone.

The Old Jail

The Old Jail

This morning we decided to head down to the old jail in Guaymas. There was supposed to be a photography exhibit going on there. When we arrived we were greeted and wandered through one room with photos. When we left this room the receptionist asked us if we would like to see the building, naturally we did. A older gentleman appeared and showed us around the jail. The walls are about 18 inches thick and made of solid stone with concrete over it. He showed us the general cells, the solitary cells, the walkway where I assume the people got their exercise. It was a narrow hallway type area and a person wouldn't have gotten much exercise there. He then took us up a very narrow spiral staircase and opened one of the doors so that I could take some photos. We weren't allowed to walk around out there as he said that it was dangerous. There were 4 more rooms up there with photos and we looked at them all. Many of them were taken at Alamos a city not far south of here; but there were also quite a few from Prague, Chek.. We enjoyed the time we spent there.

Here is an old photo of the jail, thanks to Senor Valles and some that I took today.

One of the cells with the bedframes intact.

One of the corner guard towers.

There are more photos here:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/556224469YzzOJQ?vhost=travel&start=168

On the way home we stopped and had a coke at one of the places we used to go to lots last winter. They welcomed us back and asked where we had been for so long. We sat and watched their budgies and enjoyed our cokes before finishing the walk home.

I think that Gary is leaving tomorrow so we have invited him to have coconut shrimp here with us tonight for dinner.

¿Qué es esto? (What Is This?)

¿Qué es esto? (What Is This?)

This is a strange fruit that we were given the other day when we were at the orchard. Ciro told us that it is not an orange, lemon or grapefruit, and when I asked what it is, he just shrugged. This morning we decided it was time to eat it. It actually does not have any flavor at all, I have no idea what you would use it for. It would not make a good juice and does not taste good enough to just eat like an orange. I am thinking that it is a cross between 2 citrus fruits that did not turn out like it should have; but what do I know. It has a very thick, tough skin. Here are some photos.







Yesterday, Roy had a headache; but he took an aspirin and went fishing with Ciro and Gary at 2 PM. They didn't return until long after dark. They had caught a few fish; but nothing exceptional as they were fishing from the shore.
Irene had come up in the afternoon and invited us to go with them to a wedding in her cousins family. I asked her what time and she said that it depended on when our fishermen returned, probably around 8 or 8:30 she thought. I knew that Roy might not feel like it; but got our clothes out and ironed them just in case. By the time they returned, so had his headache and he wasn't feeling like going out to party. I told Irene that we wouldn't be going and she asked if I wanted to go without Roy, I didn't think it would be much fun to do that, so declined. Maybe next time. I was kind of disappointed; but didn't want to go solo.
Today I definately need to go to the bank and also to the doctor. It is supposed to cool off here because of a storm in the USA that is sending the cold down here. We actually had a few drops of rain here a few minutes ago. The current temperature is: 22 degrees C. and 72 degrees F. and feels chilly.

Around The House

Around The House

I have been slacking off on the housework the last while, so yesterday was the day to get back at it. I started off by going to the laundry, on my way there I met Gary just coming back from doing his. I sat and read a book, (one Gary has borrowed to me to read), while waiting for the laundry to wash. I headed home with the wet laundry and while Roy was hanging it up to dry, I vacuumed up the current resident dust bunnies. I hadn't done laundry for awhile, and we ran out of clothespins, so I walked down to the store for some more and had a chat with the storekeeper at the same time. Irene had borrowed our vacuum cleaner the other day and when returning it she brought us up a grocery bag full of oranges and lemons. I needed to do something with these, so juiced them all. I made a jug of orange drink and then baked a couple of lemon squares. I tried a couple of new recipes off the internet; but wasn't impressed with either of them, I should have stuck to my old ones. I took a plateful of squares down to Ciro and Irene for them to try. We don't often get lemons here, most of the time, we get the little green limes; but the stores don't seem to carry regular lemons. The little green limes do ripen into little yellow ones; but they are usually eaten long before that happens. Laundry dried quickly as it was a lovely day and that was put away. The hummingbird feeder needed refilling, the wind had emptied it and the birds were not happy with the empty one, so that was done also. By this time, it was time to start dinner, so I made papas locas as I was too lazy to do anything else. A fairly boring chore day, and looks like more of the same for today. I need to go to the bank and also get a prescription filled, I was supposed to go and get my blood pressure checked twice last week and didn't do that so should do it today. I might also take the linens and towels to the laundry, I didn't do them yesterday as we don't have enough line to hang everything at once. So, yes, even in paradise chores do intrude.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day

We were supposed to be out at the RV campground in San Carlos for Christmas dinner around 1 PM. We thought that we would show Gary some of the sights around San Carlos so we left home around 10:30 AM. We dropped off our food items at the campground and continued on. We stopped first at one of the marinas and took in the sights. It was a nice warm day and although the breeze was still blowing, it was nice to be outside
Tetakawi Peak behind the marina.

After that we went up to the Mirador Scenic Lookout and as always enjoyed the view from there.

We then went over to Pierdra Pintas.

This is the beach that we had snorkeled at in the summer. There were actually some people in the water today, swimming and snorkeling. Too cold for me.

We returned to the campground and enjoyed a wonderful meal and meet some other people from various parts of Alberta. A couple of hours of visiting and we were ready to be on our way home. We took the other road home through Miramar and showed Gary where the new Delphinario is located and the beach at Miramar. I was surprised to see people swimming there also.

We returned home to relax and later spent some time chatting with Ciro, Irene and Carlos.

At 4:30 PM it was 81 degrees F.(about 28 degrees Celcius) in the shade, not a bad temperature for Christmas Day. A great day.

There are more photos from today here:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/556224469YzzOJQ?vhost=travel&start=144

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Ciro and Irene had invited Gary and us to their home for Christmas Eve dinner. We arrived, (long trip-down the stairs and across their patio), shortly before 9 PM. Irene and Nancy were still at church, so we visited with Ciro and young Alan. Naturally, Alan was very excited about Christmas as he had been told that he could open his gifts after dinner. He kept a sharp eye out for the return of his mother and grandmother. He had to show us some of the dinner that was cooked, his favorite apparently. Gary told us some stories of where he had gone during the day on his bike and what he had seen. Alan, of course, spent some time goofing around with Roy. Ciro told us some more history of the area and of Mexico in general, in response to our many questions. The ladies returned and Alans enthusiasm to get dinner over with prompted him to assist by setting the table. His mother came out of the kitchen and shook her head when she saw that he had put tiny luncheon plates out for everyone.

Dinner was delicious as usual, Irene and Nancy are both excellent cooks. There was a rolled roast with olives and other things inside which was very tender and delicious, mashed potatoes, macaroni salad, and some vegetables. They served this to us on our plates, and then asked us to help ourselves off of the other plates in the center of the table. Our plates were already full and we also had a side dish of refried beans (seems to be a favorite of Garys) so it was difficult to find room to add more, either to the plate or our stomachs. Ciro kept explaining to us that it was buffet style and to help ourselves. The other dishes on offer were: fresh lobster, roasted chicken, and a seafood casserole and of course fancy bread. The buffet idea was different from last year and unfortunately I didn't have room to try everything. What I did have was very, very good. At the end of the meal, Irene brought out desert, which was one of her delicious pineapple desserts. We have had this with them before and as well as being delicious it is very pretty to look at.

We chatted about the differences in the everyday cuisine between here and Canada (or at least the area we were from). We explained that in Alberta, shrimp and lobster are not eaten as an everyday thing, that they are expensive and are served/eaten more on special occasions. They were amazed when I told them what a lobster dinner in a restaurant in Alberta would cost. We find that we are also eating more shrimp, etc. here as time goes by and it is not such a special thing to us anymore either.

We chatted about traveling and teased Ciro about his new job for the CFE in the new year. He is retired; but his old boss has been bugging him to come back in a different capacity. If I understood him correctly, he will be traveling about Mexico doing some training for the employees of CFE. We knew that he was going to be doing this; but had thought that it was only to be in the Guaymas, Hermosillo area or perhaps it has now evolved. I don't know. We told him that Irene should go with him and while he is working she could be shopping. Irene laughed and said that she prefers to shop with Nancy, as then they can take their time trying things on. Ciro doesn't care to shop much. It will be interesting to see how it goes, as Ciro is the one who likes to stay home and Irene is the one who likes to travel. Ciro did so much travelling at other times in his life, he likes to be at home now. It will not be a constant job though, so maybe it will be OK. Irene told us about some family members in other countries that she hopes to visit next year.

As we chatted, Alan opened his gifts. He was very excited and I had a very difficult time understanding him last night. It appeared that he got most of the things that he had hoped for and Santa Claus had not arrived yet. One difference here is that he is allowed to stay up until midnight when Santa arrives and then gets to open the rest of his gifts. I asked if he would then sleep in, in the morning and Nancy ruefully shook her head. Ciro explained to us that Christmas Eve is when the married children spend time with the wifes family and that tomorrow they will all be at his house for Christmas day. Carlos was at his girlfriends home in Obregon and young Ciro and his family were at his wifes family. I am not sure why Nancy, Alan and young Alan were not at Nancys mothers last night, as they were last year. Ciro is at his happiest when he has all his family around him, he says he is a traditionalist in this way. A young fellow, who lives just behind us and is a very good friend of the family, stopped in for a visit and of course had to have something to eat. We laughed as he attempted to carve some chicken and finally handed both the chicken and his plate to Irene to fix for him. She, laughingly, referred to him as her other son. When the stairs were finally in place for us here, he would bounce over the roof and down the stairs to visit. We noticed that he had stopped doing this and wondered why. One day Ciro laughingly told us that grandma had given him heck and told him not to do this anymore, as the upstairs was our home. We told Ciro that we didn't mind in the least; but grandmas word held as he still walks all the way around. We thought this was pretty funny. Grandma, according to Ciro watches out for us and our things.

Gary noticed that it was midnight, so we left so that Santa Claus could arrive for Alan. A lovely evening with good food and better company.

Today we head out for San Carlos for another meal and will also show Gary some of the sights around there.

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY.

Cena (dinner) At El Sauce Y Las Palmas

Cena (dinner) At El Sauce Y Las Palmas

Shortly after 8 PM last evening, we all got together again to go out for dinner. Gary had kindly invited us all out.

Ciro drove and we arrived at the restaurant and found very few empty tables. We were given the menus in spanish, funny as the last time, when we went in with english speaking friends, we were given the english menus. The menu distribution definately depends on who you are with. Roy and I knew what we wanted which was our usual, "Enchiladas Suiza". Gary and Ciro both decided on a combination plate with an enchilada, a taco, a gordita and something else on it. Irene chose a dish of menudo (tripe or cow tummy), when it arrived, it was a large bowl of soup with breads, tostados, cilantro and onion to go with it. The restaurant was busy and at one point there was a waiting line outside. A popular place. We enjoyed our meal and attempted conversation. I am sure that Ciro was exhausted with the effort of translating. He and I tried to keep the translation going; but I am afraid the bulk of it fell on his shoulders. Irene speaks no english, Roy and Gary speak very little spanish and my spanish is not much better.

Dinner finished we got back in the car and Ciro gave us a Christmas light tour of the downtown, we then went out to Miramar and saw some more lights, one area had the whole block lit up along with a small park area. Ciro showed us a very grand home, built and owned by a doctors son. I asked some questions about some old homes/buildings that I hadn't been able to find out anything about and got some answers. After our tour, we headed back into Guaymas, Irene needed to make a stop at the corner store as she had promised young Alan some chocolate. I guess he was upset that he couldn't come with us for dinner, so they had promised to bring him some chocolate back.

Irene has invited us all over to their home for dinner this evening. We had dinner with them last year on Christmas Eve. Irene is an excellent cook, so needless to say dinner was excellent and we are looking forward to the evening.

Tomorrow, Christmas Day, we are supposed to go out to San Carlos for turkey and trimmings with the couple from Saskatchewan and some other people. I need to get busy and get the dessert made that I said I would make.

Todays Trip--Part 2 (Giant Saguaro Cactus Forest)

Todays Trip--Part 2 (Giant Saguaro Cactus Forest)

When we had looked at the maps, Ciro had shown us 3 different places where the giant cactus grow in abundance. We left Guaymas and headed toward Empalme where one of the locations is, actually behind one of the schools. Ciro says the the school has a program where they are planting some of the cactus to preserve the area. You can tell which ones have been planted as they are in rows and are quite small as yet. I read on a website that it can take up to 15 yrs. for one to reach 1 foot in height and 40 years to reach 10 feet, it is around this time that they will begin to bloom. They will continue to grow for 100 years and can live for 200 years. It was amazing to see how huge they are. Roy is over 6 feet tall, so we estimated their height at around 25-30 feet.
Roy examining one of the cactus.

Gary and some prickly companions.

A small section of the cactus forest.

Irene laughed at this one, saying that it looked arthritic.

The base of the cactus, Irene said that it reminded her of the folds in an elephants skin.

There are lots more photos here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/556573532iXnQQT?vhost=travel After looking around for awhile and taking some photos, we headed out into the countryside to see the next area where they are growing. We bumped and bounced over some roads in the desert, at times turning around to take a different route if the holes were too large or filled with water. Ciro, would just say, no problem there are 100 roads and truly there are roads all over the desert, it would be so easy to get lost. Some of the plants and shrubs are still blooming and we saw blue, yellow, orange, and red flowers. The big cactus are not blooming at this time of year. We found a birds nest in one of the cactus and also picked up some obsidian stone which the flint knappers used to make arrowheads, etc. out of. Ciro did find 1 arrowhead; but the rest of us found none. He knows what to look for, as he collects them. After looking at the cactus in this area we headed onto the third place. We again, walked and gawked in amazement. It is impossible to describe or show with photos the immensity of the many cactus that we saw.

We then proceeded into the town of San Jose de Guaymas where they showed us an old hacienda. Irene pointed out where the large gardens had been, it is largely in ruins now; although they said that someone does live in part of it. The gates were locked, so we couldn't go inside to look around.

Before heading home we stopped at the home/office of one of the orchards as Irene wanted some oranges and grapefruits. We bought a few mandarins and an odd citrus fruit. I can't remember the name of it, it is not an orange, lemon or grapefruit. We were also given samples of red grapefruit which was very sweet and good; quite different from the sour grapefruit that I was used to in Canada. They were also huge, I have never seen such big grapefruit. We also made a stop for Irene to purchase some crab and other things.

We arrived home after 3 PM and were ready to relax. Irene came up with some soup/stew for us to try and we are going out for dinner, thanks to an invitation from Gary.

A great day.

Todays Trip--Part 1

Todays Trip--Part 1 (Around The Bay)

When we got up this morning we weren't sure if we would be going on our sightseeing trip with Ciro or not. It was windy and chilly; but as the sun came up the wind went down somewhat. The trip was still on, so at 10 AM we all piled into Ciros car and away we went. Ciro first took us around the other side of the bay. We stopped a couple of times to get out and take photos and Ciro showed us a castle on an island in the bay. He thinks it is around 100 yrs. old; but doesn't really know much about it. You would need to rent a boat to get to it and look around. We had walked around this whole area last winter; but had never noticed the castle until Ciro pointed it out to us. It blends into it's surroundings very well.

The castle, it is blurry because I used both the digital and optical zoom to bring it in.

The yellow building in the fore front of the photo used to be part of an RV campground; but the owner died and the family has closed it. Now there is only a bar open. This area is called Las Playitas.

Some older shrimp boats.

The "3 stooges", L to R, Ciro, Roy and Gary.

We drove around by the fish plant and just looked around the area. Irene couldn't remember if she had shut off the oven at home, so we returned for a minute for her to check it. Thankfully, grandma had noticed and shut it off. So, we were off again. This time on our way to see the Giant Sahuaral Cactus that Ciro had shown us on the maps yesterday. See next post.

The Christmas Rush-- Not!!

The Christmas Rush--Not!

I have been lazy about blogging the last few days and have been busy doing other things on the computer, and outside.

I drove for the first time to one of the grocery stores here the other day. I usually take the bus; but I wanted to stock up on some of the heavier things and Roy didn't feel like going. Up until now the only place in Mexico/Guaymas that I have driven to is the laundromat. The traffic here to me seems chaotic and I just wasn't ready to jump into the fray. Things went fine and it was not as stressful as I thought it would be, so I will probably do it again. A blog amiga from San Miguel de Allende is in Houston, Texas right now for Christmas. You can read about the driving experience she had there the other day, here: http://billiemercer.blogspot.com/ , I have to say that I am glad that I am here and not there!!

We knew that a fellow from Alberta, who we met up with online, was coming here and renting the downstairs apt.. He arrived, without getting lost, (surprising since the only directions he had were from me). He got settled in the apt. and prepared to enjoy his time here. Yesterday we hopped some buses with him and showed him a few of our favorite places and also went to the bank. While he was in the bank, we waited outside. The security guard for the bank, must have been wondering why we were just hanging around outside for so long. After we had exchanged a few smiles back and forth, he came over to chat with us. We explained that we were waiting for someone in the bank and he began to chat. He asked us lots of questions and as usual the first 2 thoughts he had were: A: that we were from the USA and B: that we lived in San Carlos, after we cleared both of those things up he had lots more questions. He had no qualms about asking about whether we can still get Canadian Pensions down here (doesn't apply as we are not old enough), where we live in Guaymas, how we like it here and many more. We had a nice chat, which passed the time while we were waiting. When the fellow came out of the bank and we were ready to leave, he shook our hands and wished us well. A pleasant interlude.

We returned home and later on in the afternoon Ciro came up to visit, with Brittany and Alan. We still have no railings, so it was interesting making sure that they did not run over the edge of the patio, especially when they and Roy began playing their game of "El Toro". Ciros brother is making the railings and as he is very busy at work, work for family members sits on the back burner. Ciro is hoping they will be done shortly. We got chatting about the giant Sahuaral Cactus forests that are close to here. We got out our maps and Ciro showed us where they are located, after he had marked them on our maps, he must have thought that we would get lost. He told us that he knows the area well and as there are many roads (read tracks) across the desert and we might not know which ones to take, we should all go together. He said that he would take us today at 10 AM. He is a wonderful man/landlord. I am not sure if he is going to get away from the hectic activities of the 2 grandchildren or whether they are coming to run off some steam. The two grandchildren follow him around like shadows and he looks tired already and they are still out of school for almost 2 more weeks. He calls them "chupa rosas", another name, other than colibris, for hummingbirds. Pretty funny from the sidelines.

Dentist--Part Four

Dentist--Part Four

We drove out to San Carlos yesterday morning for breakfast and a visit, then on to look for an easel. The lady said that she had just sold her last one the day before and won't have anymore until January. Oh well. We then stopped at the RV campground and had a visit with our friends from Sask.. We returned home early as I had a dentist appt. at 3 PM. I really was tempted not to go, after the last appt.; but at the last minute decided to get it over with. She needed to remove the temporary crown and put in the permanent one. The glue was solid on the temporary one, so naturally she needed to use her drill some more. She started drilling and it was pretty tender, so more freezing. It didn't take long to accomplish and 3/4 of an hour later I was home again. Roy questioned whether I had even gone to the appt., I was home so quickly. He actually accused me of going into hiding and then just returning home!!! He must have been reading my mind; because the thought did cross my mind. Smile. I am glad it is over!!! I promptly went to sleep in the recliner and slept until 7:30 PM, then went to bed at 9:30 PM and slept straight through until 4 AM. That freezing does strange things to me; thankfully she does not use the type that makes me physically sick. I really did not like that, I much prefer sleeping to vomiting!!

This morning it is chilly and I am wrapped in my quilt. When I got up this morning it was 59 F./15 C. inside the apt. and 56 F./13 C. outside. The weather thingy on the blog is showing 45 F., not sure where they get these temps from; but I am glad that it is not that temperature!!! As I have mentioned before, you need to look at those temperatures and just use it as a guideline, as it is usually not that accurate.
Sunrise this morning.

As most people with blogs do, I also check my stats from time to time. Sometimes there are searches that bring people to the site that absolutely tickle my funny bone. Yesterday someone had searched, "getting turned on by a doctors exam", sorry but you will not find anything like that here!! Made me chuckle though.

Malecon, Old And New

Malecón, Old And New

This morning we headed to centro to look for an easel. We went to one store and were directed to another, we were then directed to yet a third store. No one had one or knew of a store here in Guaymas that we could get one at. We may go to San Carlos tomorrow, there is supposed to be an art supply store there that may have one.

Rather than heading home, we went and sat in the park for awhile. I had bought a newspaper so we read/looked at that and watched a couple of cute kids and the pigeons.

We then decided to walk around to where they are dredging and filling in part of the bay. We used to walk along the malecón a lot; but since they started working on it, we haven't gone as often. It is not the same and I am afraid that I really don't care for the tourist plans that they have for the area . Unfortunately, in my mind, in February a fellow from Holland cruise lines is coming to meet with some people here. They will be discussing whether Guaymas would be a good place for them to bring their ships and lots of passengers, while they wait for the passengers who go on the Copper Canyon train ride (2 days or so). I realise that the new things going on here, are now and will in the future create employment; but I also worry about the negative aspects connected with things like this. I wish that I could have seen the malecón before they did the last improvements in the 1970's (approx. date).

This was before the statue of the fisherman was put in place, he was placed there after the remodeling at that time, or so I have been told.

This is what is going on today.

Maybe a couple of these boats are the ones below?

They filled in around this ship and another one, they are dismantling the other one piece by piece and we assume that is what will happen to this one. Needless to say, neither was seaworthy.




This is what is left (foreground) of one ship, they are still working on dismantling it.

We walked along, watching the birds. There were some interesting ones with bright orange beaks that were very vocal. A nice blue/grey crane, gulls and of course, my favorites the pelicans. It was cloudy today so some of the birds kind of fade into the water on the photos; but they do look better if you view them full size by clicking on them. We continued to walk for a long time before hopping on a bus and heading home.
A view of the port.



Blue/grey crane.

Rest and relaxation!!

This fellow was just taking off.

Empalme Tianguis

Empalme Tianguis

I haven't been to the tianguis in Empalme for a long time, so I decided to go today while Roy was watching NFL. When I arrived there, I realised that going before Christmas was not such a good idea. The whole area was absolutely packed with people. I walked through the whole tianguis, without buying anything. You certainly need to know your prices before buying there. One thing I noticed was the peanuts, in the store they are about $2.19 for a kilo, at the tianguis they were $3.00 per kilo. I am taking it easy on my tooth until I get the permanent crown, so didn't buy any. I was glad to get home out of the crush of people. Roy, being a nice man, washed the windows and mopped the floors while I was gone.

Centinela

Centinela

We went down to the sea this afternoon at Centinela. It was windy by the water; but sunny and warm. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon. There is just something about the sound of the water that sooths a persons soul. The last few times that we have been there the tide has been high. Today it was lower and we were able to walk on a rock shelf that is usually underwater. We do not bother watching the tide tables to decide when we will go to the sea, we just go when we feel like it.

Urchins under the water in a pool left by the high tide.

A view of part of the rock shelf in the forefront of the photo.

A little video of the cove. Unfortunately, the wind makes more sound on the video than the water does.

Parade Videos

Parade Videos

I pasted together some of the short videos that I took at the Christmas Parade last night. They are dark and not very good; but if you are interested in watching them, here they are.

We may go down to the water today, we haven't been for a long time and we are missing it.

Christmas Parade And Concert

Christmas Parade And Concert

As I said earlier, I had read in the newspaper that there was to be a Christmas parade and then a concert in the Plaza de Tres Presidentes. We ate early and then took the bus to centro to watch the parade. There were lots of families with their children waiting to watch the parade and it was a festive occasion. All of the salesmen were out in force, without even moving, we could have bought: toys, balloons, candy floss, candy apples, drinks and snacks of every description. The parade started as it got dark and it was fun to watch. There were a couple of fellows on stilts and one of them was a real crowd pleaser. He was hilarious to watch as he danced in the egyptian style. Good parade. As the parade ended we headed over to the plaza to see about the concert. They were just finishing the set up and we managed to get a couple of chairs to sit on. Lovely to be able to sit outside and enjoy the evening at this time of year. The Christmas lights were all on and it was a pretty scene. The concert started out with a number from the Nutcracker Suite, and we realised there was a problem. The sound system wasn't working correctly, it was transmitting very quietly, bet you didn't expect me to say that, did you? They kept playing and the fellows kept trying to find the problem. The choir then sang a number; but we couldn't hear anything. We waited for awhile and it didn't seem as if the problem was going to be rectified, so we got up and walked closer to the front. We still really couldn't hear much, so decided to head home. Roy had some fun with a little boy on the bus ride home, he loved the Christmas lights and we enjoyed watching his reactions. They got off the bus at our stop and we walked a couple of blocks together before going our separate ways. An enjoyable evening. I think we get as much fun out of watching the children at these type of gatherings as we do the actual event.
Some of the street decorations.

Toy salesman.

Frosty the snowman on a firetruck.

The Palacio Municipal building in it's Christmas finery.

Our landlords house with all the Christmas lights.

The rest of the photos are here on pages 9 and 10. http://travel.webshots.com/album/556224469YzzOJQ?start=96

Museum And The Doctor

Museum And The Doctor

This probably seems like a goofy title, and no, my doctor does not belong in a museum. It is hard to think up an appropriate title day in and day out. I usually try and put something up there that describes the day and sometimes it is goofy.
This morning we decided to go and try find the museum that Ciro has been telling us about. With his directions in hand we set out. We found it right away with no problems. After paying our $1.oo entry fee each, we began to look around.
This is one of the doors on the building that the museum is in. It is my favorite color of blue, so naturally had to take a photo of it.

This is a poor photo of a piece of a meteorite that landed close to Guaymas in the 1960's. This piece is very heavy and weighs over 200 kg.

There were many interesting displays. The paleontology specimens all (but 2) came from this region of Mexico. The oldest of the fossils were about 570 millions of years old. They also had a diorama of a Seri Indian cave and the paintings that they made, apparently similar paintings may be found in the Guaymas region. There was also a showcase with objects used by the Yaqui Indians. One historic fact that I found interesting, was that during the Mexican Revolution Guaymas had to print their own paper money for a time, as they were under seige from June 1913 - July 1914. They had several objects from the battles including a one meter projectile fired from the ship El Guerrero. Right at the doorway they have a large case featuring many, many beautiful shells. These shells are 1/3 of a collection of one lady, collected between 1920-1970, it is hard to find shells this size now because of over fishing the brochure says.
Part of the shell case.

It is not a large museum; but is laid out very well and also is looked after well.
From the museum we walked down the street on our way to the doctors office, where I needed to get my blood pressure checked. Ciro had told us about an old home (covering a block). He says that inside the doors, there is a courtyard with a fountain and the rooms are built around 3 sides of the courtyard. We found the house; but of course the doors were not open so we couldn't see into the courtyard.
Door to the huge home.

We also wandered by "Patios Leon", it is an area that you can rent for weddings, parties, etc.. I liked their doors/gates. The lions were cut out around somewhat like a stencil would be. On the right hand side lion you can see the light coming through the cut outs.

We continued on our way to the doctors office; but first had to stop and sit in the park by the Iglesia de San Fernando (San Fernando Church). The doors of the church were open, so we wandered in and I took some photos. It is a beautiful church.
A couple of the stained glass windows in the church.



When we arrived at the doctors office, it was nice to see that the only other person waiting was a salesman. The receptionist told us it would only be a little while, so we sat down to wait. You do not get rushed in and out here as in Canada, so I knew it would be a little wait. Two other people came in and the salesman decided to leave. I saw the doctor and we chatted about a couple of questions that I had for him and then we were ready to leave. We also stopped at the shop where I get my chocolate chips to see if she carries molasses. I want to make some gingersnap cookies, so need molasses. She didn't, so we continued on to catch our bus. Before going home we needed to stop at the grocery store about 3 blocks from us. This is the same street as the "shrimp taco lady", as we got close to the grocery store, we could hear the tacos calling us, so were forced to head there and have some tacos and a coke. While we were eating, I was reading the newspaper and noticed that there is supposed to be a Christmas Parade this afternoon at 5:30 PM (if I translated the paper correctly). So we may go to that. After eating we did go to the grocery store and then home.

If you are interested there are more photos from today in the album here:http://travel.webshots.com/album/556224469YzzOJQ?start=60 on pages 6,7,8 and 9.