Baby, It's Hot Outside

I thought that we were used to the heat; but baby it is hot here. The other day it was 109 F./around 43C., it tied the record high temperature set in 1989. Today the high is supposed to be 110 F..
We haven't been doing very much in the way of sightseeing, it is just too hot. Roy hasn't been feeling well the last 2 days so we haven't done anything at all. He seems to have caught a very bad chest cold, I think from the way the A/C is vented into the rooms here. This morning he is feeling a little better and we went for coffee. No coffee for the last 2 days, yikes. He then was going for a few groceries, while I caught the bus to the University to use the computer.
We have been walking the dog in the early mornings before it gets too hot, it is usually around 76 F. at 6 AM so it feels not too bad. It was still 96 F. the other night at 10 PM so we feel it is better to walk him when it is cooler in the mornings. He is a good dog and we are really enjoying him. I think he is enjoying all the attention that he is getting also.

We will be heading home on Monday and I probably won't be at the computer again until we get home.

Until then stay cool.

Tucson

We caught the Tufesa bus out of Guaymas at 11:20 AM yesterday and had a good trip. The fare to Tucson is 415 pesos or about $41.50. We were stopped at one checkpoint for awhile but not long. Bus didn't make too many stops, Hermosillo and Nogales. It then drove over to the Mariposa crossing and of course, we were pulled over to be checked out. They checked out everyones documents and put our luggage through the scanner. They pulled 3 people out of the bus to get more documents of some type or permission to enter the USA, I am not sure. Anyway they rejoined the bus a few minutes later and we were on our way. We arrived in Tucson about 6:30 or 7:00 PM.
Stopped and checked when the bus leaves daily for Guaymas, called a cab and headed to the homeowners place. We were quite aways from their house as the cab fare was $29.50 USD!!!!!! The bus trip cost about $40.00 and the cab almost $30.00???????? Go Figure!!!!! Price shock and culture shock all in one day.
The homeowners will be taking their laptop with them on their trip so we won't have computer access at the house. At the moment we are on the University of Arizona campus in the library using the computers for free. Free is good, after yesterday.
This morning we took a walk for almost 2 hrs., we stopped at a coffee shop and had a coffee and discovered where the grocery store, art supply store and a few other things are. It was a nice walk.
We like the look of the area we are in, it is well treed and there are lots of birds. While we were sitting out in the backyard this morning we saw a multitude of birds, including a male and female cardinel. Pictures will be forthcoming I am sure.
Will try to come here every couple of days to use the computers I think. That's it for today.

Housesitting

I have had lots of interest expressed since I talked about housesitting. Kelsi, the radio girl,
(who did an interview with me last winter about moving to Mexico), had some questions about it also. I sent her an email and she did a blog post about it today. If you are interested in housesitting you can head over there to read it.
Housesitting can be a fun and enjoyable experience if you do your homework before leaving. Have some experience with the pet varieties that you will be housesitting. As an example, if you have never had anything to do with birds, it is probably not a good idea to apply for a housesit that involves lots of bird care. Use your common sense. As with anything else in life, remember that people are not always the same in person as they portray themselves in emails or on the phone. Be prepared for unexpected things, be flexible, be open and hopefully nasty surprises will not happen. We have been lucky so far, with very few misrepresentations given us by the homeowners; but it does happen so be aware.
Remember, when you do a housesit you are there to look after the homeowners house and pets, it is a BIG responsibility and that responsibility is YOURS. It is NOT all about you wanting a free vacation. If there are pets involved you will only be able to be away from the house sightseeing for limited hours at a time. The pets need to be looked after, fed, walked, and loved so please remember that it is not all about you.
On the other hand we have gotten to see some things that we probably wouldn't have otherwise. The first time we went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA it was during their big Balloon Fiesta
and the many balloons were a sight to see. The second time we went to Albuquerque for a housesit we arrived a day early and went and spent the day in Santa Fe. We are not big on touristy type towns, so we probably wouldn't have gone there, gotten a hotel and stayed. This way we just went for the day, wandered around and saw the sights and then headed to our housesit. We enjoyed spending a few afternoons wandering around "Old Town" Albuquerque looking at the shops, galleries, buildings and listening to the street music. We went to several museums, botanical gardens, etc. and really enjoyed our time there.
Entrance to "Old Town" Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Church in Santa Fe.

We spent 7 weeks in a beachfront home on the Sea of Cortes on the Baja Peninsula. Unfortunately, after being told that we could swim, snorkel and fish, the beach and water were full of big rocks, so we did not swim, snorkel or fish after lugging our things all the way from here on the buses and ferry. You live and learn.
View from the patio on the Baja.


We also spent a few weeks close to home in San Carlos, Sonora. We got to walk to the beach on Christmas Eve and watch the lighted boat parade. We probably wouldn't have driven out there to see that and it was a pretty sight to see.
Overall we have had good experiences, so go ahead and try it, you might like it.

Getting Ready For Vacation

It looks like we will be spending a couple of weeks in Tucson, Arizona doing a housesit. We will be riding up there in style on the Tufesa bus, which has runs that go across the border into the USA, so we won't even have to transfer bus lines.

Tufesa Bus Terminal here in Guaymas.

We haven't been across the border to the USA since February of 2007 and we haven't been in Canada since June of 2006 so I am expecting some culture shock. It should be interesting.
I am intending to do some shopping for some things that I can't get here so price ticket shock will be in store for me also, I am sure.
We are looking forward to being able to play with a dog again and have some quality petting time. Should be fun.
We leave Monday and will be gone for a couple of weeks, not sure if we will have access to a computer there or not, I didn't bother asking them, so posting could be either non-existent or sporadic.

I hadn't checked the site for Mexican housesits for a few weeks, and when I did tonight I noticed that there is one on there for Isla Mujeres, hmmmm, that is where blogger Wayne lives. I think that is too far to go for just a couple of weeks though, and after being away on the Baja for so long last spring we have decided that we don't want to do long housesits. Anyway, I don't think that we will apply for that one. There is one for a couple of weeks around Lake Chapala though and that would get us out of the heat here which is a nice thought. Hmmm, will have to think about that one.

We're Home

We're Home

We gathered up all our things that we had at the home in San Carlos and brought them home, by the time we had put everything away it was time to head to the airport to pick up "grandma". The plane was only a couple of minutes late, thank goodness it wasn't a re-run of picking up our Baja homeowners, where the plane was over 3 hrs. late. She arrived in fine form and we drove her home, got her settled and then we also headed home.

When we arrived home, everyone was outside so there were hugs and Feliz Años all around. Good to be home.

This was definately the easiest housesit that we have done, and I am thinking that there may be others coming up in the future. We had an opportunity to do an 8 month housesit in Tulum, from the end of February to the end of October. The home apparently is just being built and would have very few furnishings in it. We decided that 8 months was just too long to be away from home; although it would have been nice to have seen that area; I am sure that something else will come up. We are now emailing with some people who live in Patzcuaro, Michocan, if their regular housesitters can't make it, we may go there for a month this summer, we will see.

Here are some pictures that I took on our dog walks in San Carlos, peeking over walls in some cases. Well.....you never know what you might see.

Pretty detail on an outside wall.

Nice yard.

Close up of the guard at the home.

I think this might be Saint Francis, the saint of gardening.

I like the look of this planter high up on the wall; although gardening through the bars can't be much fun.

Walk On The Beach

Walk On The Beach

Yesterday we decided that we would go out to San Carlos and walk our friends dog one more time before she left. We made arrangements with her and she decided that she would be elsewhere when we arrived. We wanted to see how the dog reacted to us coming into the house without his owners around. No problems, the dog was happy to see us and we went for a nice walk along the beach. By the time we returned so had our friend so we chatted for awhile and then went to meet the people across the street.

These people are in need of someone to also care for their dog and their home while they are on holiday. They had someone lined up to do it; but unfortunately there was a tragic traffic accident about a week ago and they were both killed. Very sad. It was a shock to the community as these people seem to have been well known and loved by all. We did not know the couple but sympathise with their families.

We chatted with the new people, exchanging information and meeting their dog, who is an exuberant 1 yr. old. So, it looks like we will be spending over a month in San Carlos over the holiday season. We should be getting an ample amount of exercise with all the dog walking! We will be coming home sometimes during the day to keep our plants watered, etc., so it will be a different way to housesit.

After meeting the second set of dog owners, we headed over to the RV park and visited with our friends for awhile. Their dog had been very sick and now appears to be on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, they have decided to head up into Arizona at the end of the month, to spend the rest of the winter there. The vet. strongly recommended that they keep the dog out of the sea water and being that he is a water loving dog they are hoping to find a place to park along a river where he can be in the water and enjoy himself more.

Today we went to the tianguis and wandered around, it seems like there are more vendors now in the new area than there were in the old place or maybe it is that there are more now that it has cooled off and the Christmas season is coming up. We enjoyed wandering around and then headed back towards home with a stop off for lunch at our favorite shrimp taco stand.

Tomorrow we will again be going out to San Carlos to join our friends and enjoy a turkey dinner for the USA holiday. There were not enough snowbirds here yet in October to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, so we will be having ours tomorrow.

This weekend they will be holding the annual Shrimp Festival, so we will again be going out there. We really enjoyed the folkloric dancers and other talent displayed last year, so we are hoping that it will be just as good this year. Too bad all these activities couldn't have waited until we were living out there, it would have saved us some trips back and forth. Normally we don't go out there more than once every 2 or 3 weeks; but this last week or so it seems we have had to go every couple of days.

I finally managed to take the time to go and get a haircut late this afternoon and that sure feels better. I was beginning to feel like the shaggy dog in that long ago movie.

I hope that all the people in the USA enjoy their turkey tomorrow and that we are all smart enough to take some time and give thanks for all the good things we have enjoyed in the last year.