Valentines Day 2009

February 14. 2009 Saturday sábado
Happy Valentine’s Day!
The last few days have been lazy days for us. I must have taken at least two naps each day.
We haven’t done much today either. This evening we went to WalaWala’s for an evening of music. There were 3 different groups that sang. I don’t know who the first singer was but the second one was Rhoda. She sings jazz and the blues. We even danced a little. Larry left before I did, I didn’t stay to hear the 3ed group. It was a fun evening.

There is a note on the banks door that says it will no longer exchange money. I can still get money out of the ATM but Larry always wants to exchange cash for pesos. Jean-Paul says they did the same thing a few years ago so they may go back to doing exchanges.

Santa Maria de Oro

February 10, 2009 Tuesday martes
We took off this morning on the 8:00am bus for Tepic. It was 88 pesos for both of us one way. We were able to catch the combi to Santa Maria del Oro.
This is a smaller community than San Blas. The community was not our final destination as we were headed for the Crater Lake Santa Maria de Oro or also known as Laguna Santa Maria which is tucked into an ancient volcanic caldera.

Another combi took us from the town to the lake. We got off at the first stop the combi made on the lake as we were going to the Koala Bungalows and Trailer Park. I wish we had ridden on the combi to his last stop on the lake so we could have seen more of it.

As we walked to the Koala Park we noted how quite it was. The weather was cooler but very pleasant. The Park looks like it is will kept, but we couldn’t find anyone to talk to about rates for a bungalow. So walked back to where the combi dropped us off.

We decided it was time for lunch and found a place that had tables that were right next to the lake.
We ordered Chicharrón Pescado, this was a fish that is cooked like pork rinds, and one order was more than we could eat. The price for the fish was 80 pesos.
While eating we were joined for lunch by two different types of ducks.

We caught the combi back to town, the driver stopped at the top of the mountain so I could get a picture of the lake. When we arrived in town another combi was ready to leave for Tepic so we went back to Tepic.

When we arrived in Tepic we decided we were tired, so we caught the next bus back to San Blas.
Cost for the day Bus 176 pesos, Combi 140 pesos, Lunch (fish) 80 pesos (drinks) 25 pesos = 421 pesos or less than $42.10US.

February 9, 2009 Monday lunes
We decided to go to the economical for lunch, my favorite dish, chiles rellenos con queso was being offered. The meal for both of us was 64 pesos. Larry tried to give him a 100 peso bill but he said he didn’t have change. We can pay him next time we come to eat.
The mornings and evenings have been cloudy. I have been dressing a little warmer during these times. It is still hot during the day when the sun comes out.
We have been making plans to go out of town for a change of pace.

February 7, 2009 Saturday sábado
It seems to be even warmer this morning. But was cooler this evening.
We went to the Saturday market in hopes of finding Larry a new pair of shorts. The button on his pair has popped off. The market has a lot of clothing, both new and used. No luck in finding a pair he liked, that were men’s shorts.
We decided to go to Charlie’s for spaghetti dinner. For 60 pesos you get salad, spaghetti, garlic bread and cake. The spaghetti was better as he is now adding garlic to it. He was out of good bread for the garlic bread, all he had was a dark bread to make garlic bread with.
After dinner we started to walk to the plaza. I had a leftover box to take back to the apt. Larry’s back started to hurt, he needed to set down. I told him I would go ahead, put the leftovers in the apt and meet him on the plaza.
I got to the plaza and no Larry. I looked down the street and couldn’t see him. I decided that he needed a little more time so I waited about 5 minutes before going back to where I had left him.
He was still setting in the same place. He was talking with 3 young men, who had told him they were gang bangers from LA. They had been deported from LA. When I got there they left.
While setting on the plaza a man that we had meant 2 weeks ago, David came to set with us. One of the things he told us was that he had been told about 3 muggings in this last week. The men that were mugged were drunk and alone at the time.
Then Jean-Paul came up to us and asked if we knew anything about the man on the church tower. We turned around to look and sure enough a man was setting on the tower. He had told the police he was going to jump. After a while he stood up, raised his arms in the air and waved. He then climbed down the scaffolding that is on the tower. I don’t know what happened to him after that.

February 5, 2009 Thursday jueves
I went for a morning walk alone. I will ask Bridget what time she goes.
On my way to Tai Chi class Steve and Julie called out to me from the Flamingo Hotel. They were setting outside waiting for breakfast.
We talked about Ellen and having a service for her on the beach at her favorite palapa. I thought this was a great idea and asked if anyone had said anything about the rock out in the ocean. I explained that Ellen had told me she wanted her ashes scattered on the rock she calls shit rock. Ellen had told me she had it written down somewhere but I didn’t know where.
Julie said she now understands what they were trying to tell her at the club last night. She asked if I could find a boat to take them out there, then we could all go to the palapa to celebrate Ellen’s life.
After talking with Jean-Paul, he said he would take us out; I went to the club to tell them there that we would be going out to scatter her ashes at 11:30. If anyone had a boat that they could use to join us please do. Then we would meet with everyone at the palapa to continue the celebration. I also stopped in at Ernie’s bar and gave them the same information.
At 11:30 8 of us got into Jean-Paul’s boat and headed out to sea. Then the outboard stopped working. We rowed ashore and Jean-Paul walked back to the docks to find another boat for us to use. He found a fisherman that was willing to take us out in his fishing boat.
Ellen’s daughter Julie is a minister, she gave a really nice short service, then scattered the ashes.
We got back to the docks with no more problems. Then back to our apt to change clothing and go to the palapa.
Ellen has a lot of friends; there were between 70 and 100 people there for her celebration. Julie read the same scripture from the bible that she read out at the rock. Then people had brought flowers to put in the ocean.

February 6, 2009 Friday viernes
My morning walks are not as long but I am still walking.
Steve and Julie left this morning. Augustine, the owner of the club gave me the poem that Julie read yesterday. He was going to give her the copy of it before they left. I e-mailed it to her.
We had two more at Tai Chi this morning. It was good to have new people there we did a lot of review for Larry and me; it was all new to them.
I am feeling very tired, took a couple of naps.
It feels warmer, would have been a great day to go to the beach just not in the mood to go anywhere.

February 7, 2009 Saturday sábado
It seems to be even warmer this morning. But was cooler this evening.
We went to the Saturday market in hopes of finding Larry a new pair of shorts. The button on his pair has popped off. The market has a lot of clothing, both new and used. No luck in finding a pair he liked, that were men’s shorts.
We decided to go to Charlie’s for spaghetti dinner. For 60 pesos you get salad, spaghetti, garlic bread and cake. The spaghetti was better as he is now adding garlic to it.
After dinner we started to walk to the plaza. I had a leftover box to take back to the apt. Larry’s back started to hurt, he needed to set down. I told him I would go ahead, put the leftovers in the apt and meet him on the plaza.
I got to the plaza and no Larry. I looked down the street and couldn’t see him. I decided that he needed a little more time so I waited about 5 minutes before going back to where I had left him.
He was still setting in the same place. He was talking with 3 young men, who had told him they were gang bangers from LA. They had been deported from LA. When I got there they left.
While setting on the plaza a man that we had meant 2 weeks ago, David came to set with us. One of the things he told us was that he had been told about 3 muggings in this last week. The men that were mugged were drunk and alone at the time.
Then Jean-Paul came up to us and asked if we knew anything about the man on the church tower. We turned around to look and sure enough a man was setting on the tower. He had told the police he was going to jump. After a while he stood up, raised his arms in the air and waved. He then climbed down the scaffolding that is on the tower. I don’t know what happened to him after that.

February 3, 2009 Tuesday martes
Ann came for our walk this morning. This will be our last walk as they are leaving in the morning for places south of here.
Ron showed up here to tell us no class today as the building is being used and is very full of people.
Today is San Blas day. This is the day they take the statue of St. San Blas out of the church. They take him to a shrimp boat, the shrimp boat then take him out to sea where the priest blesses the shrimp boat fleet.
The rest of the fishermen take their boats out to be blessed too. The smaller boats that follow the shrimp boat out are full of people. This is a big event. When the boats get back into the harbor they have water fights.
San Blass is then taken back to the church. You know when he has been taken back in as the bottle rockets and the bells go off.
This year Jean-Paul asked us to go out in his boat. We also had about 6 younger boys that were drinking beer. They were having a great time. Two of them jumped into the water while we were watching the blessing of the fleet.
There are so many boats moving in different directions all the time I am shocked that there were no accidents.
Then this evening there were the fireworks. The Indians build a tower that has firecrackers on wheels that twirl around. They also have a shape of some kind that lights up. One of the wheels had 4 hearts. Two had different types of birds.
When the tower is done the fireworks like what we have for the 4th of July go off.
Steve and his sister (two of Ellen’s children) made it to town today. They are going to try to get some rest tonight then will take care of the things they need to do tomorrow.

February 2, 2009 Monday lunes
I was up early this morning. Ann wasn’t coming for our morning walk as they are going on the jungle boat trip. I decided to go for a walk by myself. I walked down to the river and back.
We didn’t have Tai Chi today as Ron was going to Tepic.
Larry and I went to the economico for lunch. We had what looked like porcupine meatballs.
On our way to the economico we rode to were the circus is and to the fishing boat marina.
We went to the circus. We bought the cheap seats which are up high. Then the people who were ushering us in said for 20 pesos more we could have front row seats. We paid 40 pesos each for front row seats.
We were very surprised when 5 huge tigers were part of the show. One of them was white. We enjoyed the circus.

February 1 2009 Domingo
This has not been a good day.
I checked in on Ellen before going to Tai Chi. After Tai Chi I checked in with her.
Ellen has a parrot that really would like to bite me if given the chance. I did manage to fill Maggie’s dish with sunflower seeds without her biting me.
Then I called Ellen’s son to see if he knew how to get to Ellen’s place. He told me he would be here on Tuesday. He will have a rental car.
I went to tell Ellen that he would be here on Tuesday. When I went to tell Ellen her son will be here on Tuesday, it was too late, she had gone to sleep, and would wake up in a better place.
I don’t know what is going to happen next. This will be a learning experience for me.

January 30 2009 Friday viernes
We didn’t walk this morning as Ann and Doug had friends show up yesterday that have been staying in PV.
We were about half way through our Tai Chi class when 3 ladies showed up that wanted to do the class too. They thought it started at 8:30, had been there and left. They joined in with us. 1 of them had done Tai Chi before but the other 2 had not. It was nice to have some other people there.
We went to Patties Pizza for dinner. This place makes really good pizza. We were on the plaza Doug, Ann and their friends walked by with a pizza from Patties.
It was cooler this evening, we didn’t stay for the entertainment. When we got back to the bungalow I closed all the windows to help keep it warm during the night. It was 79 when we got back home and went up to 81 after I closed it all up.

January 31 2009 Saturday sábado
Ann was here at 7 for our morning walk. We walked out past the old hotel and back. When I got back to the bungalow we had walked over 4 miles.
Ellen is sick again this year. I think she is a lot worse. Helen, who understands Spanish, took Ellen to the hospital. They gave her some oxygen which made her feel somewhat better. They sent her back home but she is still having hard time breathing. We (her neighbors) think she needs oxygen here to help her. I called her son and he said he will be down here this week.
Larry and I went to Saturday Market to get some vegetables. We meant up with Doug, Ann and their friends.
Ann told us that Rhoda would be singing at Walla’s Walla’s tonight. We first saw this lady 2 years ago singing, she was here last year too. She sings jazz and the blues.
We did go to see Rhoda sing. I had spaghetti and Larry had a bowl of corn soup.
I left early so I could check on Ellen, Larry stayed longer to listen to Rhoda sing. He also danced one dance with Ann. Then Trish and John bought him another beer, so he was longer than he had planned on.
I could hear a mariachi band playing in the plaza but didn’t feel like walking down there.

January 28 2009 Wednesday miércoles
I slept much better last night. I burned one of the coils in the bedroom and had no mosquitoes biting.
Ann came here to get me for our morning walk. We walked just over 3 miles. We went through parts of town she has never seen before.
At the Tai Chi class the jejenes (bugs) were out in force. I was getting some welts from their bites. We cut the class a little short because of the bugs.
After class and back at the bungalow I was starting to feel like I was coming down with a upset stomach. I thought that if I took a nap I might feel better. But the nap was not to happen.
Someone started banging on the floor in John Paul’s bungalow. John Paul had a leak in the pipes under the floor. They had to take tiles out to find the leak. We didn’t go to the plaza this evening. The entertainment was a band. I have been told was not very good.

January 29 2009 Thursday jueves
Ann showed up for our morning walk. We walked down by the marina. Found were the circus is going to be. I got a little lost as we were in an area I had not walked before. All we had to do was look for the church then we knew about where we were. We walked over 3 miles this morning.
I had started defrosting the refrigerator late last night. I had emptied about half of the ice before going on my walk. Larry had taken care of it while I was gone. There must have been 3 inches of ice in the freezer. The freezer is in the refrigerator, you have to open the refrigerator door then the freezer door. Only there is no freezer door, so the freezer gets a lot of ice in it. I should have defrosted it last month.
Larry and I put on bug repellant before going to Tai Chi, it did help. The class was more enjoyable. Larry was our leader again for our warm up form.
I took out laundry down to get done; this was the heaviest load I have had. Cost was 75 pesos.
It’s been a lot warmer the last few days. I have turned on the fan in our bedroom. I would like to sleep without the sheet too. Now that I am using the coils the mosquitoes are not bothering us.
The entertainment for the evening was a group of children that did folkdances. They had beautiful costumes, they gave a wonderful show. What was so great about this group of children was that they were special ed. children. To have them perform as many different dances for as long as they did shows how much time and caring has been put into teaching them.

January 26 2009 Monday, lunes
I went to Doug’s and Ann’s for our morning walk. We walked just over 2 miles.
We went to Charlie’s for spaghetti dinner. We thought he was opening at 5:30 so we arrived at 6; he arrived shortly after we did. He said he had hired a woman to help but she didn’t show up. I helped getting the tables ready, wrapping the silverware and making the garlic bread. Dinner was 65 pesos each.
We went to the plaza for the evening entertainment, which was two singers were very good. The girl was better than the man but we did enjoy both.

January 27 2009 Tuesday martes
I did not walk this morning. For some reason I had a hard time getting to sleep, and the mosquitoes were keeping me awake. I bought some coils to burn at night to keep them away.
Ron had Larry be the leader in the warm up form to see how he is coming along with it. There are 17 different movements in the warm-up form we have learned 11. We are still having quite a time remembering what comes after what.
Some of the names are, Tai Chi Greeting, Calling The Energy Of The Earth, Touching The Energy Of The Sky And Looking At The Palms and Gathering Up The Golden Ashes these are the first four movements.
We did go to the club for steak dinner, Ann and Doug joined us. We sat out on the terrace were we could watch the people walk by. We had better lighting so we could see what we were eating. The steaks were better this time, but Larry did have them cook his a little more.
I was very tired so I went straight back to the bungalow. Larry said there was a male singer that was good. He even sang some songs in English.