Finished With Fillings

Finished With Fillings

The new lenses for my glasses weren't ready yesterday when we went for them, so we made an appointment for this morning at 9 AM.. When we arrived at 9 this morning there was a fellow there waiting for us. He made a phone call and seemed to be double checking what he was supposed to do. No one else was in the building. He took my glasses told us to wait there and that he would be back shortly. He left in his car and we were left holding down the office. Pretty funny. We looked at each other and just laughed, this would never happen in Canada. They wouldn't trust anyone enough to leave them in the building with all of the merchandise, without a staff being there. We sat and waited and in less than a 1/2 hr. he returned with my glasses and we were on our way. Just when you think you are getting used to things, something like this happens to remind you just how different things are down here.

We had lots of time to kill before my dentist appt. at 11, so we walked down to the water at the Statue of the Pescador (fisherman) and then over to the plaza to sit and people watch for awhile.

We then walked back down to the dental office, we didn't want to be late. This dentist has little slips of paper for your appt. and on the bottom of the slip it asks you to be punctual. Different, punctuality is usually not a big deal here. We walked in and it was a different receptionist from the other day, she asked if I had an appt. and I told her at 11, and then pointed out my name in her book. OK, a couple of minutes later the dentist called me into the room. I love it when they expect you to be punctual and they are too. No long wait in the waiting room looking at old magazines. He picked out part of the temporary filling and then dabbed in some more de-sensitiser before putting in the permanent filling. When he finished he grinned at me and said, "see all done, quick and no pain". I grinned and agreed. He also told me that the office will be open until Wednesday if there are any problems. Then they will be closed for Semana Santa. Finished. Yahoooooo!!!

We did notice some of the stores had signs on their doors stating that they will be closed from April 2 to April 8th for Semana Santa.

Dentist

Dentist

We picked up Roys glasses on Tuesday and they seem to be working out fine for him. We also purchased a licuadora (blender), an Oster brand, so hopefully it will be a good one.

Yesterday morning I went to the dentist. I had been told that he spoke english, which I thought was good as my spanish fails when things get too technical. I waited for a few minutes in the waiting room and then was ushered into the room by the dentist himself. He began speaking to me in spanish and I explained why I was there. We discussed it for a minute until I couldn't understand a couple of words, then he just automatically switched to english. Pretty funny. He asked me if I wanted Novocaine and I told him yes. I told him in spanish that I am very afraid of dentists and in english he replied, "me too", and we both had a good laugh. Apparently there were two old fillings that needed replacing, hmmm... the other dentist said 3. So he began to drill. There was a bit of decay starting under one of the fillings he said; but not too bad. He put in medicated temporary fillings to deaden the sensitivity that was present and told me to come back on Saturday. He very nicely told me that he would not need to drill on Saturday as he just picks out part of the medicated filling and then puts the permanent one on top of that. Pleasant news for me. All in all a good experience. He worked quickly, gently and hopefully did a good job. Who knows?

Differences from a dental visit in Canada: 1. no long wait in the waiting room. 2. no extensive xrays 3. no assistant hopping up and down and doing the little things for him 4. cost of 2 fillings--$800 pesos or about $80.00 (400 pesos each--$40.00).

The novacaine always zonks me out, so I spent part of the afternoon having a nap. I didn't feel up to my spanish lesson so Roy went up the hill and told the teacher that I would be back on Friday.

Today we have a day off, no appointments or grocery shopping or anything.

Friday I need to pick up the new lenses for my glasses and wait for them to put them in the old frames, then back to the bank and later in the afternoon my spanish lesson. Between new glasses, dentist and rent the cash from Monday is gone. Boy, that was quick for down here. It usually lasts for about 2 weeks. Saturday morning it is back to the dentist. After that we should be good for awhile on the medical side of things.

Medical costs this week: New lenses for me and complete set of glasses for Roy--2900 pesos (about $290.00 dollars). Two dental fillings for me--800 pesos (about $80.00 dollars).

Eye Examinations

Eye Examinations

We decided yesterday morning to try the fishing. There was no wind and it was a beautiful morning to just sit and relax and look at the view. Roy caught one right away and then we sat with no bites for the rest of the time. We saved the one that Roy caught and gave it to Ciro when we got home. The breeze started to come up, so we headed to our friends restaurant for a bit of breakfast and visiting. I had been looking to borrow the book, The Zone of Tolerance by David E. Stuart and someone had kindly said that they would loan theirs to me. They had dropped it off at the restaurant, so I wanted to pick that up also. A nice morning.

This morning we headed uptown intent on having eye examinations. Roys arms are getting too short and I thought that my glasses needed an upgrade. We stopped at one place and were told that the doctor would be there in 10 minutes or so. Instead of waiting inside, we stepped outside and a fellow stopped to chat with us, we chatted with him until the lady motioned to us that the doctor was there. The doctors english was quite good and the examinations were painless. As we expected Roy needed reading glasses and we decided on bifocals so that he doesn't have to take them off everytime he gets up. Cost of his glasses--bifocal lenses $450 pesos (about $45.00), frames $450 pesos for a total of 900 pesos (about $90.00). Not too bad. Mine did need upgrading and I decided to keep my old frames as they are in good shape yet. Cost of my lenses were more as they are a little more involved, and I got the transitional, coated ones for 2000 pesos (about $200.00), which is about 1/2 the price that I paid for them in Canada 4 or 5 yrs. ago. Roys should be ready tomorrow and mine should be ready on Friday.

We then stopped at a dentist and I got an appointment for a filling on Wednesday. One of my old fillings has been bothering me, so I thought I should get it taken care of before we head over to the Baja in May. I decided to try another dentist this time, just to have a comparison. The receptionist said that a filling is 400 pesos, (about $40.00) so we will see on Wednesday.

We then headed to the bank and then over to a computer store to look around before heading home. We accomplished what we set out to do, and had some interesting conversation while doing it.

Name The Trees

Name The Trees

Wow, third post today, I am impressed with me.

As I mentioned before there are alot of trees blooming right now, after all it is spring. I could use some help with naming a couple of these.
I think this is the Jacaranda Tree; but I am not sure.

What is this one?

Here is a closeup of the flower on the tree above.

This is what covers the new leaves on the rubber tree before they emerge.

I love the color contrast between the red bouganvillea and the blue car.

Here at home the Desert Rose is starting to bloom, here is a close up of the first blossom.

It is too windy this afternoon to go to San Carlos fishing, so I guess that is it for excitement for today.

Squid Festival

Squid Festival

After we finished eating our tacos we headed uptown to the Squid Festival.

They had rides set up for the kids and lots of booths cooking different specialities of squid.

As I said before we aren't big eaters of squid or calamar, to me it is rubbery. According to the newspaper there were supposed to be 57 different booths, I didn't count them; but I don't think there was that many. They had a stage set up and there was a fellow singing. I think that maybe later they were going to have some dancers also, as we saw one girl there in her outfit. There were also some members of a basketball team shooting hoops and showing off their expertise. We wandered around for awhile, listened to the fellow singing and then walked over and sat in the park before heading home.
On the way home there was a tianguis, so we got off the bus and looked at the merchandise. We starting walking the rest of the way home, looking at all of the trees that are blooming right now.

Shrimp Tacos

Shrimp Tacos

We went to our favorite taco stand today for lunch, it is about 4 blks. from home and we thought we would eat before going uptown to the Squid Festival. Neither one of us is too keen on squid so we weren't worried about filling up beforehand. I have never taken a photo of the place as I don't usually take my camera with me; but today I had it, so thought I would show you what we eat there. It was very busy and we had to wait in line to order; but it was worth the wait once we sunk our teeth into the tasty shrimp. I had only put on some cucumber; but there are many things you can add. I like to keep it simple so that I can taste the shrimp. Some people load them up so high with salsas, etc. that I don't think that they can even find the shrimp. The plate below costs 12 pesos or about $1.20, I think that the fish ones are cheaper; but I forget as we haven't ordered the fish ones for a long time. The lady also serves soup and chili rellenos.
Yum, yum I do love these things. A delicious lunch.

A view of the back of her stand, it was too busy around the side to take a photo.

No Fishing

No Fishing

The closer we got to San Carlos this afternoon, the cloudier it got. When we arrived at the marina where the guys usually fish, it was really cloudy and the wind was very strong. Not good weather for fishing from the shore.

Roy had seen some small houses on the other side of the marina and wanted to see if there was a road to get to them or if they only had boat access. We went around the marina and found a road; but decided that we didn't want to rub the bottom of the car off, so got out and walked. There is a big difference between the homes on one side of the marina and these homes. These were fishermens homes and were made out of various pieces of tin, etc.. When we returned home, Ciro (who had been unable to come with us) told us that this area is called the "kitchen". It is a very poor looking area, in marked contrast to the other side of the marina.

Homes on one side of the marina.

The road to the homes on the other side of the marina, and the homes there. Click on this photo to enlarge it to get a better view of the homes.

As we walked along the road we happened to look up and saw a home that had been built into the mountain. We are assuming that there was a cave there and he just built the front wall of the house. It is very interesting looking.

We walked all the way to the homes and down to the water behind them, there are some interesting color and formations on the rocks in the area. On the way back, I was watching closely where I put my feet as it was very rough. Sprawled across the road right in front of where Roy was ready to put his foot down was a snake. I hollered at him and he stopped and looked down. The snake was a couple of feet long, very thin maybe about the thickness of your little finger and green. He was alive; but not moving, perhaps he was trying to warm up in the sun. I don't know and as far as I was concerned he should have still been sleeping in his hole. Roy walked over him and I hopped over his tail end and took off down the road. No, I did not stop and take a photo of him. Roy had a good laugh at me, and my snake paranoia. We told Ciro about the snake later and he said, "it's OK, he is a friend". I told him that the snake was no friend of mine and he laughed. He also told us that besides the rattlers there are other venomous snakes here that are red, black and yellow; so I am assuming that he is referring to the Coral Snake; but I could be wrong.

Other than the snake, it was a nice walk. We returned home to eat the roast beef that I had cooking in the crock pot.

There are more photos here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/558058576aoLWMJ?vhost=travel&start=36

Entrance to the marina.

Interesting looking mountain.

Está lloviendo (It's Raining)

Está lloviendo (It's Raining)

This morning we were awakened by some very loud thunder; a fast, hard shower followed a couple of loud rumbles. It didn't amount to much; but we are getting another shower right now. Spring showers? I hope that it washes the dust off of the plants. I took the photos below last night and the plants sure look dusty. NOTE: Long before I had finished writing this our shower was over.

Desert Rose buds.

Hibiscus flower.

This geranium just keeps blooming and blooming; although right now it has the least blooms on it that it has had all winter.

On Tuesday afternoon we decided to go fishing, well Roy was going to fish and I was taking my book along. Roy went over to see if Ciro wanted to come with us; but he wasn't home. We headed out to one of the marinas at San Carlos where they usually fish. They had piles of gravel all over and we had to make some detours to get to where we wanted to park. As we were driving in, I said to Roy, "wouldn't it be funny if Ciro was here fishing". We pulled in and sure enough there was Ciro. He just laughed, he said that he had gotten tired of visiting at home and the visitors didn't want to go fishing so he went by himself. If he wanted solitude that afternoon, he didn't get it. It was a holiday here and there were a lot of people there, fishing and just enjoying the afternoon with their families. The afternoon was full of music and chatter. Ciro had an extra fishing rod and gave it to me to try. My book got put away and I joined the men in their pursuit. It wasn't long before I caught a very little fish, it could have gone into an aquarium. Unfortunately, the way it hooked itself, it was dead, so he got used for bait. I then caught another little one of the same type. Nothing happened for awhile, then I caught a good sized one that was a keeper. All in all, I caught 4 or 5 and Ciro caught a couple. They kept nibbling at the bait; but didn't chomp down on the hooks. Roy didn't have a very productive day, his catch was a slimy, green sea cucumber that got thrown back. He didn't seem to want that for his supper. It was a fun afternoon and got me hooked.

Yesterday we decided to go to the downtown tianguis, looking for a fishing rod and reel for me. As we were riding the bus, we noticed a parade. The cars were decorated with fake flowers, with little children sitting on the hoods and roofs. The children were dressed as bees, butterflies and flowers. They looked really cute. As we were on our way to the tianguis I didn't have my camera with me, so no photos. I am assuming that the parade was because of the first day of Spring.

There were no rods or reels at the tianguis. We walked along the malecon up to the downtown area, we were going to sit in the park for awhile. Along the way Roy asked if I wanted to go to a couple of the fishing supply stores and look for a rod, so we revised our plans.

On the walk to the stores we passed the "Hotel Ruby" and the "Bar Ruby", these are old buildings; but still in operation. Part of the setting for the book: Guaymas Chronicles:La Mandadera by David E. Stuart were these two buildings. We both really enjoyed the book and would like to read the second one that he wrote about here: Zone of Tolerance: The Guaymas Chronicles. I peeked into the lobby of the hotel and it looked clean and neat, I didn't check out the bar.

We looked at one store and then continued on to another one, where we purchased a rod and reel. We then headed back to the plaza to sit in the park for awhile before going home.

Yesterday afternoon was my first spanish lesson with my new teacher, who very conveniently is only about 2 blocks from me. He wanted to find out just where I was at with my spanish, so we chatted in spanish for 3/4 of an hour. Questions and answers galore, I really had to concentrate; but caught almost everything he said. He decided that we will converse, work on the verbs and practice with the newspaper, etc.. It should be interesting!

I am anxious to try out my new fishing rod, so if it is nice this afternoon, (not too windy), we will go. We asked Ciro last night if he wanted to come and he said yes, so if nothing comes up for him the three of us will go. With Ciros large family quite often things will come up to prevent him from spending the afternoon fishing. Check back tomorrow for the story about the "one that got away".

Foggy Morning

Foggy Morning

There was lots of fog this morning just before sunrise.
Here is the normal south view we have from our patio.
Here is the view I had this morning.

Sun starting to come up through the fog.

Hanging Out With The Birds

Hanging Out With The Birds

It was another beautiful day today, 32 C./90 F., no discernable breeze, some high faint clouds and the wonderful sun shining down on us. Just plain old lovely March weather.

Roy and Ciro were going to go fishing; but Ciro ended up having to cancel, as they had a problem with their water, I think the piece in the toilet tank broke so he had to fix it. No problem, it was nice outside in the shade so we sat and watched the birds eating. Besides feeding the hummingbirds I have been feeding the sparrows (I think) and they have come to expect it. They are getting braver about coming to eat when we are sitting outside now and we just sat and watched them and looked around us with the binoculars. There are an assortment of birds here, which I really should look up and properly identify; but so far I haven't. We have a few pidgeons, some doves, a woodpecker, a thrush type and some little ones that have a canary look to them and of course the large eagles that soar high overhead. I told Roy we were going to have to move more often as they were circling quite close today, maybe they thought we were deceased and were looking for their supper.

Sparrow??

The sparrows now sit on the powerline chirping every morning, waiting until I go and throw something out for them to eat. It's like the drive through line at a fast food restaurant.

I found some seedlings growing in one of my pots and am thinking that maybe they are from the orange seeds that I threw in there one day awhile back. I transplanted them today, and will wait and see what develops.

Plants

Plants

Here's a look at what is going on with some of our plants.
The Hibiscus is blooming.



The Desert Rose is getting buds.

The second Plumeria cutting is growing quickly.

The first Plumeria cutting is just starting to get leaves. The little pink flower in the pot is a piece of geranium that I accidently broke off, I stuck it in the soil and it is now blooming and all of about 2 inches tall. Cute.

If you look closely you will see some flower buds on the Jasmine.

The Mango Trees are covered with blooms and wasps pollinating them. Do you think we will have enough Mangos this summer? This is one tree of about 7 in the yard.

Part 2-Kino Bay

Part 2-Kino Bay

We continued on our way to Kino Bay, there is a lot of irrigation and farming in this area. We saw barley (I think) that was headed out already. Lots of oranges, nut trees, and grapes. Some of the oranges had been picked and some had not. Fields with other plants growing that I couldn't tell what they were. The farm camps looked in better condition than the ones we had seen last winter in the countryside around here; but were still not great. We passed through one sizable town, Miguel Aleman; but other than that it is mostly farming with a few tiny towns.
The desert is colorful right now with lots of the trees/shrubs in bloom. In a couple of places there were so many of one type of tree blooming that it smelt like perfume coming in the car window.

I think these trees are called Huizache Chino, as Jon from San Miguel Photo Of The Day has one posted on his site and it looks like the same tree. You can check out his photo here: http://sanmiguelphotooftheday.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

There were other shrubs and flowers blooming also, here are a couple.

We arrived in Kino Bay and drove down the 8 km. stretch of road that new Kino consists of. There are very few businesses here. There is a strip of homes with a couple of small RV parks on the ocean side and on the other side of the road there is another strip of homes. We only saw one restaurant and a couple of taco stands. There were no stores or gas stations and only one OXXO.
We stopped at the restaurant and it was very busy. We added our name to the waiting list and stood there. The family in front of us had a little boy of maybe 6 months or so that dad was holding. We amused ourselves by talking to him and making faces. He leaned towards me, so I held out my arms and dad transferred him over. He was grinning and grabbing for my glasses and checking us both out. His dad was asking him if I was grandma; but the little fellow paid no notice to him. A pleasant way to pass the time, the waitress came for us, so I had to hand the little fellow back to his dad.
We sat down and ordered our lunch. While we were waiting the young fellow next to us started to chat. He was from Hermosillo and spoke very good english. We chatted a bit while we waited for our food. The lunch was good; but not exceptional, Roy had a chicken dish and I had a fish fillet. After lunch we decided to check out old Kino town.
Old Kino is where the businesses, restaurants, etc. are. We found a hotel and parked the car. The hotel had a nice courtyard with upholstered furniture to relax on in the shade, a small pool and a nice atmosphere. Our room seemed to be very new and we think that this separate building with about 6 rooms in it was a fairly new addition. There was a computer we could have used in the office area and some other amenities. In case anyone is heading to Kino Bay it is called the Eco Bay Hotel and is kind of in the center of old Kino. We paid 550 pesos (about $55.00) for a room with one bed, not bad for a resort town so close to the USA.
We then wandered down to the water. We were surprised to see so many people swimming on the beaches in both old and new Kino. I asked one fellow if the water was not too cold to swim and he said that yes, it was cold and then shook his head and grinned. We walked out onto the pier and just looked around.




There were the usual vendors selling shells and iron wood carvings along with other things.
There were some shrimp boats working quite close to shore and there is also an island that is fairly close to land. We walked the beach and then decided to walk through town.
There is a big contrast between old and new Kino. Old Kino is the everyday working mans town whereas new Kino is the holiday area. We went back to the hotel and vegged out for awhile. When we checked in the lady had given us a coupon for a free movie rental; but we didn't think that we would use it. We tried the TV and couldn't get more than one channel and cartoons were on it. We asked the young fellow from the office and he told us, yes, only 1 channel. We saw that there was a cable running into the TV from outside, so we looked and followed the wire into a dish on the roof of the office. We then figured out that they probably only had one reciever, so we had to either watch what they were watching or rent the free movie. OK, we weren't into cartoons and we ready to relax for awhile so headed to the movie rental place. We found a movie and headed back to the room. We couldn't get the DVD player to work, so back again to the office. The young fellow came to our room and he couldn't get it to work either, thank goodness as I was beginning to feel like an idiot by this time. He left and came back with a new player and voila we were in business. We relaxed and watched our movie. After having such a large, late lunch we weren't very hungry; but decided to go out for a small bite and a beer. We decided to return the movie and then walked a couple of blocks to a restaurant and ordered the smallest thing on the menu or so we thought. A hamburger. We sat back with our beer and chatted and the next thing we knew we were being given a large plate with a burger and all its fixings, (including pickles! pickles are very uncommon here) and homemade french fries. I can't remember when I last had homemade french fries and I am not a big fan of fries; but these were GOOD! Hamburgers here are not usually that good either; but this one was excellent. So much for our small bite for dinner, we stuffed ourselves. Not gourmet mexican food; but very, very tasty. We headed back to our room to finish off the evening.
Yesterday morning we drove the new Kino strip again and didn't see anything that would entice us to stay over for another day. There is a big difference between Kino Bay and San Carlos. Kino Bay seems to be more of a vacation town for a younger crowd than San Carlos, with the majority of people seeming to come from Hermosillo. There were some older snowbirds; but not nearly as many as in San Carlos. The amenities for the snowbird crowd are definately not the same. We decided to head home.
There wasn't anywhere to eat on the road home, as we were taking the back roads, so we decided to stop at our friends restaurant in San Carlos. We forgot that it was Monday and they are closed on Monday, so we ate at a different place and had huge omelets. We stopped and got groceries on our way and finally arrived home in the afternoon. I still had time to get to spanish class; but was too lazy to go.
Here are a few more photos, and the rest can be seen here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/558142109uhDdOH?vhost=travel

Part 1-Tastiota

Part 1-Tastiota

We left on Sunday morning, headed for Tastiota. We went north on highway 15 until we reached the Kino Bay turn off. The road was paved, some rough patches; but not bad. We were watching/hoping for a sign at the turn off for Tastiota. There was a sign for shrimp farming; but not for Tastiota, so as we went by I turned around and looked back. On the opposite side of the road, going the other direction, was the town sign, so we backed up a few feet and headed off into the desert on a road graded into the sand. The road wasn't too bad for awhile. There was a lot of work going on beside the road, digging ditches, etc., apparently enlarging or making new lagoons for the shrimp farm. We arrived at a narrow bridge over a deep water ditch. It was covered with dirt and full of holes with water in them and the road didn't seem to go anywhere but into more lagoons or holding ponds (I am not sure what you would call them). We stopped and looked around for someone that we could ask. There was a little guard shack; but no one was in it. A vehicle was coming down the road, so I got out and stood by the road, hoping that they would stop. They did, I asked them where Tastiota was and they told me over the bridge and about 2 kms. straight on before turning right. They continued on their way over the bridge and so did we. We crossed without incident, it looked worse than it was, and continued on. The road was hard packed clay now, full of holes and we just looked at each other and laughed. A short time later the SUV that was still in front of us, stopped and waved us towards another path heading right. We yelled our thanks and they continued on in their direction. The road all through here was surrounded by large dry lagoons and there was very little vegetation. A few of the ponds did have a tiny pool of water in the center and there were wading birds catching lunch. On one of the power poles there was a huge nest with a pair of some kind of eagles sitting in it. We kept driving over this rough, holey road and didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Finally we did see some buildings in the distance so kept going. We saw another eagle nest and then on the line of power poles heading into town there was a nest on every pole. I guess the fishing, for the birds is very good there. It must be like their own take out restaurant when the farm is in operation.

We arrived in the town of maybe 10 homes or so. We noticed a place that sold pop, so stopped and got one. There were some tables under a roof in the shade right beside the house where some people were sitting. The old fellow that sold us the pop, told us to come in and sit down in the shade, so we did. We got chatting with the people sitting there. The lady told me that the shrimp farm wouldn't be working again until September. They also said that we couldn't drive to the beach from there; one of the fellows sitting there was from Hermosillo visiting the older couple who are apparently the godparents to his son. His children were riding an ATV around the town. He told us, that if we wanted when the kids came back on the ATV that he would take us out to the beach. Roy declined as he thought that we might not have time then to make it to Kino Bay and there was nowhere to stay the night in Tastiota. We chatted about where we lived and where we were from. The fellow told us that his son had just come back from going to high school in Winnipeg to learn english, we are assuming that it was one of those exchange programs. He said that he had enjoyed it and wants to go back; but in the summer. He said that he had relatives that had been in Calgary and Vancouver. They said that out of the 10 homes in Tastiota, 5 of them were "gringos". They told us that it is a better place to live than in Guaymas, ha, ha and that we could rent a place cheaper there or build and only pay 30 dollars a year for taxes. I asked them where they get their groceries and he said that there is a place about 20 kilometers away with a grocery store. I am assuming that the shrimp farm uses a lot of power and this is why the tiny town has power. They told us to come back and visit during Semana Santa when all of the families come home. We chatted about the fishing and other things and then decided that we should be on our way. On our way out of town I noticed that the porch on one of the houses was held up using enormous bones as the pillars. I am assuming that these were ribs from a whale as they were huge. I didn't get a picture though as I was too busy looking and didn't think of it.

We returned the way we had come and breathed a sigh of relief when we got back onto the rough pavement, it seemed like a good road now. We continued on the paved road until we got to a crossroads where there was a checkpoint. We asked the cop, which way we would take to get to Kino Bay. He started to try and give us directions in english and when I asked if we were to go straight (derecho), he grinned and asked if we spoke spanish. I told him a little and he seemed to relax and started to rattle off directions in spanish, thank goodness we understood him and he waved us on. We laughed as we left as he hadn't had time to even ask us one question. Hmmm.... maybe this is an idea for checkpoints, ask them lots of questions and not give them time to question us. Not that we had anything to hide and I am sure he could tell this by our relaxed attitude.

Away we went again.

Continued in the next post.

Dinner At La Barca

Dinner At La Barca

Last evening we decided to go out for dinner. We headed uptown to one of our favorite places; but then changed our minds about eating there. When we arrived outside of the restaurant there was a very unpleasant smell and we didn't want to smell that while we were eating. We decided instead to try a place called La Barca. One of Irenes sisters works at this restaurant; but we had never eaten there until last night.

We were at Serdan and 23rd Street and La Barca is off of Serdan on Calle 9. We debated taking a bus; but decided that as it was such a lovely evening we would walk instead. We slowly wandered down Serdan Avenue taking in the sights, smells and sounds. I noticed that one of the corner hot dog stands had painted the front of his cart with a picture for the Guaymas Carnaval. I love the look of his cart as it actually looks like a huge hot dog. The picture for the carnaval is very nice; but I liked the plain look of his cart before, now a big part of the "bun" is covered with the picture. Oh well, it is different. Daytime and evening are very different in centro, a whole different world, things are much more relaxed. Some of the daytime vendors close up shop and others open up just for the evening. An interesting contrast.

We arrived at La Barca and entered through large, heavy wooden doors into a courtyard with an uneven brick floor. There was a palapa roof and a large wishing well in the open area and then a larger closed in area at the back, where we were told there was to be dancing later on. We were given menus and I asked the waitress whether the chili rellenos were very spicy. She just laughed and replied, sometimes, yes and sometimes, no. We both decided to order a combination plate with a chili relleno ( poblano chili stuffed with cheese, which is then breaded and fried and then topped with more cheese and cream), an enchilada and a chimichanga.

Irenes sister noticed us and came out and chatted with us for a few minutes, which was nice. I actually understood her, which was even nicer.

When the food arrived it was served with some salad and of course refried beans. The food was very rich and tasty, Roy managed to finish almost all of his; but I didn't do as well. We both really enjoyed our meals and will be returning there to eat again. The bill was very reasonable also, our meals were only $40.00 pesos each (about $4.00). We debated walking home; but decided to take a bus instead (I was too lazy).

Tomorrow we may take a drive up the coast, to see some places that we haven't seen so far and may even end up in Kino Bay for the night. We will see.

Beach And Tomatoes

Beach And Tomatoes

It was a lovely day here in town yesterday, so we decided to go to the beach at Miramar. I got brave and left my sweater at home and when we got there I wished that I had taken it. There was quite a cool breeze off of the water and I was chilly. It didn't seem to bother the birds and they were busy fishing. The water was not as clear as usual because of the wind. Here are a couple of bird photos that I took.

If you look closely at this fellow below, you will see that his pouch is bulging with water. It seems that when they catch something, they keep their heads down and drain the water from their pouches before throwing their heads up in the air and swallowing their lunch. I love watching the pelicans. They look like something prehistoric when they are flying and appear cumbersome when they are on the ground; but their diving skills are fantastic.

I needed to do something with the tomatoes today that I had bought the other day. Remember 3 kilos for $1.00? Gary, the fellow who was here in December for a couple of weeks, very nicely emailed me and told me what the tomato costs are right now in his area of Alberta. He said that they were $1.99 a pound the other day, which at 2.2 lbs. per kilo would be $4.38 a kilo. Now multiply that by 3 and it comes to $13.24 for 3 kilos. Yikes, what a difference!! Anyway I made a pot of tomato soup and chopped up the rest to make enough for 3 batches of tomato sauce for spaghetti. Mission accomplished.

Tomatoes, Anyone?

Tomatoes, Anyone?

I had just returned from spanish class this afternoon, when I heard a loudspeaker blaring. Now, this is not an unusual thing around here, as there are trucks that drive by selling everything from veggies and ice cream to a couple last week selling mattresses and bed frames. Some of the tapes are quite muffled and you have to listen closely to understand what they have for you. This time I made out that they had tomatoes, "tomatoes, tomatoes, diez pesos por bolsa", 10 pesos (around $1.00) for a bag. Either he was really muffled or I just wasn't listening closely enough; but as I handed over my 10 pesos I happened to hear the rest of the tape. Diez pesos for tres kilos, oh uh I had just handed over my whooping great sum of $1.00 for 3 kilos of tomatoes, (almost 10 lbs.). As the young fellow and I walked around to the back of the truck and he handed me this big bag, I could see work in my future. Oh well, I laughed to myself, I guess I will find something to do with them. Roy thought it was pretty funny when I came back in with my big bag of tomatoes and he started making noises about a pot of fresh tomato soup. Figure this out, I had just bought 3 kilos of tomatoes for $1.00; but in the store 1 regular sized can of Campbells tomato soup costs somewhere around $1.45. Someone is making money. So, guess what I will be doing with part of my day tomorrow? They look nice and should be tasty. I wonder how many tomatoes you would get for $1.00 in Canada right now? Certainly not 10 pounds.

We have had a beautiful full moon the last couple of nights, so I tried to get a photo tonight. This is the result. Much better in real life, when you can see the shadow of the mountain in the moonlight; but this is what I captured.

El Estero del Soldado

El Estero del Soldado

I was out of books to read and the library that I use in San Carlos at Tecalai, is only open on Friday mornings. I had forgotten what the hours were, so had asked on the local bulletin board and been told that it was open from 10 AM to 12 PM. I had a big bag of books, and also my stuff for my spanish lesson later that day, so we took the car. When we arrived at the library I found out that it is open from 9 AM to 1PM, so now I know for next time. I turned in my books and borrowed a bunch of new ones and then we went to lunch at our friends restaurant. We were a little early for the lunch hour and they were not busy, so we had a good visit over our lunch. We were still a couple of hours early for my class when we finished our lunch, so we decided to go out to the estuary and look around.

The estuary, Estero del Soldado is a wildlife area that is protected by the WWF, and is a very interesting place. We have been wanting to visit the area since last winter; but just never seemed to get around to it. The estuary is used by many species of migratory birds and is home to many animals and sea creatures. There are signs posted along the path, telling you about the vegetation, land and animals. The signs, of course are in spanish, so I couldn't understand everything on them; but did get the main ideas. We walked along the path and sat and watched some of the birds. There are lots of Mangroves and the water is absolutely clear. The tide was going out, so we saw all the sandbars and watched the water running back into the sea. We traversed the area and arrived at a lovely, sandy beach and decided that we would be returning to try out snorkeling in the area, when the water warms up enough for us. It was a nice, warm day with a wind blowing; but I had a long sleeved shirt on. We did see some people paddling in the water and in their bathing suits. I guess they were tourists down from the colder climes, as it wasn't warm enough for me to be in a bathing suit. It is a beautiful, tranquil place and we will definately be returning there later on in the summer.

It was time for my spanish class, so we had to leave. Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera with me, so I didn't get any photos this time. I "googled" the estuary and did find some photos from someone else on this site: http://atiniui.nhm.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4367

here are a couple of their photos.

Looks like the tide was out when they were there also.

Some of the mangroves.

Saturday morning, Nancy, the landlords daughter in law, came up. She was selling tamales and barbacoa. I already had meat out for supper, so I didn't buy any barbacoa; but I get get a couple of shrimp tamales to try. I had never tried shrimp ones and they were very good. She had an olive in the center of each one along with the rest of the filling. A strange breakfast; but as they were still hot, I decided to eat them right away. Yummy.
Yesterday it was a nice day so we decided to go out to Empalme, as it was their tianguis day. I needed some new flip flops as mine had broken a week or so ago and I still hadn't replaced them. We caught the bus uptown and then caught the Empalme bus. We wandered around the market and I did find some flip flops. I also stopped at a store and got a couple of squares to embroider. I had finished the ones I had and the store here was out of them. This store had a big selection to choose from, so I picked up a couple. The tianguis in Empalme is much bigger than the one here in Guaymas, so we wandered for a couple of hours. When we got back into Guaymas we went and sat in the park for awhile. Mass was going on in the church and it must have been full as people were standing in the doorway. People were sitting on the park benches visiting, children were feeding the pigeons and running around playing, there was a dance group practising their routines. We sat and watched for awhile before going home. After returning home and relaxing from our hectic lifestyle, I made coco shrimp for supper.
Today it is back to work with spanish class and I need to go and pay the cable/internet bill.

More About San Jose De Guaymas

More About San Jose De Guaymas

On the last post about San Jose de Guaymas, Gary commented "that it looks like some of the mission churches built by the Spanish in California" and indeed it has its roots there. I have done some searching online for information and from this site http://www.guaymas.gob.mx/historia/sanjose.pdf I got the following information. Now, remember that this site is in spanish and my spanish is not the best, so some of my translating might not be correct.

In 1617 the Jesuits entered the territory and began teaching Christianity to the Yaqui natives. The Yaquis adopted some of the teachings and retained some of their own religion, creating an interesting mixture of religion that they practice. The missions in Sonora settled down and they set out to Baja California to set up a mission at Loreto in 1697. Father Salvatierra and Father Kino did some exploring on the Baja to make sure that it was indeed a peninsula and not an island and then returned to Guaymas in April of 1701 to found the mission of San Jose. Before this time they were using the Port of Yaqui which was inadequate, they knew that a better port existed several miles away and decided to found a mission with the Guaimas and Pima natives and use the port there to transport grain and cattle to the growing number of missions in California.
In 1701 the Jesuit, Juan Maria de Salvatierra founded a little mission called San Jose de la Laguna. This mission was about 2 miles from the present town on a small lake where two streams joined. After establishing the mission, Padre Salvatierra returned to Loreto, leaving Jesuit Manuel Diaz to instruct the natives in Christianity. In 1704 they had built corrals for the cattle, and the church, there were about 500 natives living in the area. On the 2nd of April, 1704 they received a visit from Father Eusebio Francisco Kino from his mission in Dolores. He apparently led some cattle there, to ship to the missions in Baja California. If I understand it correctly, it says that he was surprised to see that the cattle could be loaded right onto the boats there from a stone wharf at that time. Apparently there was a ship canal that existed which allowed the boats to come right to the stone wharf. This is hard to believe now, as the town is a long way from the water but I have been told that the water was much higher years ago, so maybe I am interpreting this correctly.
The Seri indians were the enemy of the Guaimas indians and attacked the mission, destroying the church several times. The Jesuits reconstructed the church over and over again. Finally in 1758 or 1759, after a great rebellion of Seris and a new attack to San Jose, the inhabitants decided to leave the town and went to take refuge in Belem, one of the Yaquis towns.
So, after trying to figure all this out, I still do not have any idea of when the church in the photo was constructed; but I did learn some interesting history.

San Jose de Guaymas

San Jose de Guaymas

This morning we decided to go to San Jose de Guaymas. Instead of taking the bus we took the car in case we decided to buy some fruit at one of the orchards. I had mentioned a couple of days ago that I wanted to see the old church in San Jose. We arrived in the small town quickly as it is only about 10 miles out of Guaymas. It is a quiet, pretty town with lots of plants and big, old trees in the yards. The streets are of course, sand, we are after all in the desert.

We stopped and looked at the church; but there is no marker or anything saying what year it was constructed. The church was closed so we couldn't go inside. We walked around the outside and noticed that the "stained glass" windows are different from the usual, they are more of a mosaic. There is a huge square in front of the church with just a few trees growing around the perimeter.
Right beside the church is a large building, kind of like a community hall where events would be held.





Some of the vegetation in town.

We drove around the streets, admiring some of the yards and then headed back towards home. We did find one of the orchards where we had been with Ciro and Irene and we bought a bag of oranges and one of grapefruit. The bags would be about 10 pounds each and were 20 pesos a bag (about $2.00).

When we returned home I made a jug of orange juice and a tall, cold glass of grapefruit juice. The grapefruit are the red ones and are very sweet and good.

Now I need to get busy and do my spanish homework before class tomorrow.