Wednesday January 27 2010
I slept in some this morning as I had a hard time getting to sleep then of course at 4:00am the bottle rockets started going off.
This is the week of the 6th annual Festival Internacional de las Aves Migratorias. The town is full with what we call birders from all over. Every day they have a different field trip they can take to see all the different birds that are here right now.
In the evening they have entertainment on a stage they have put up on the plaza.
Sunday the 24th we had decided to go to Wala Wala’s for hamburgers but got there just as he closed the door. Our next try at finding something to eat was to find where the economical that we have been going to this year moved to. We couldn’t find it but I think it wasn’t open yet as I found it on Tuesday and we had walked right by it.
Our next try was to go to La Familia, they, as well as La Isla. McDonalds (no it’s not the US McDonalds) was open but the last time we ate there the food was not as good as it has been. I know it could have been a different cook.
So we decided to go back home and use some of the tomato sauce to make spaghetti with. It was better than I thought it would be. The sauce had a little spice to it but was very tasty.
We didn’t go to the plaza to see the opening ceremonies for the festival but was told it was real good entertainment.
Monday the 25th we went to Wala Wala’s for hamburgers, they were very good. They were 55 pesos each so dinner was 110 plus a 10 peso tip.
Larry fell asleep before time to go to the plaza so I went without him. They had only one entertainer; she was a very good signer. I think people were disappointed that there was only one.
Tuesday the 26th we decided to try steak night at the Social Club again. Only it looks like steak night is gone. We decided to get the rib eye for 99 pesos anyway. They were really good. At first we thought they had been cooked to long but they were cooked how we like them and tender. The steak dinner for both of us was 198 pesos plus a 22 peso tip that had not been added to the bill. We left much happier this time than last. Just wish they still had steak night.
For the entertainment they had 5 different acts. Most of them were local entertainers.
One band of young men from Coco Loco’s, a young woman singer, a couple of older men that entertain at McDonalds, was the local acts. There was a group of singers from San Francisco Mexico, and another woman singer that I don’t know where she was from.
We didn’t get back home until 10:30pm, a late night out for us.

Friday January 22 2010
I had planned on sleeping in this morning but Tony’s new garage door was delivered and installed starting around 7:30am. Our bedrooms window is right next to the garage in fact when we look out the window we are looking in the garage.
We went for a bike ride and stopped to visit with Bill. When we got back he was still installing the door.
I went to the market to get the chiles and some grapefruit. I bought 2 of each for 14 pesos. Then I went to the meat market for hamburger. I asked for “molida”, all I got was a blank stare so I said hamburgesa, another blank stare. A man standing next to me said something to him, it was like a light came on and he went to get a big chunk of beef from which he cut several very thin slices put them in a bag and gave them to me. I paid him the 16 pesos and went home. On my way back home I saw a pot I thought would be the right size for heating the oil in too deep fry the chiles in. But when I got home I discovered that it needed to be a little bigger so I took it back and exchanged it for a taller one that cost less. I had paid 79 pesos for the pot; I was given 55 pesos back.
Since I didn’t have to make the sauce it only took an hour to fix the chiles and get them cooking in the sauce.
Blackened chile
Stuffing the chiles

Deep Frying

Enjoy

Thursday January 21 2010
We had about five minutes of rain this morning, not enough to get things wet. Then the rest of the day was hot and sunny.
I have been looking for a restaurant that makes Chiles Rellenos ever since we arrived here. Mario says there is a place by the airport but it was closed when we found it. We have a book called The Peoples Guide to Mexico that has a recipe for them with step by step directions, so I cooked some.
It’s a lot of work. You have to make a tomato sauce, blacken the chiles over a fire, so you can remove the skins, stuff the chilies, coat them with an egg batter, deep fry in oil then put in the tomato sauce and let cook for at least 30 minutes.
The book calls for cheese that is called Panela, it also named two other kinds that could be used if you can’t find it. We went to two stores before we found the cheese. It is a very moist cheese; I had to pour liquid out of the bag. We bought about 16oz for 15 pesos.
Then we had to get 2 pounds of tomatoes and 2 onions, we paid 23 pesos for them.
We also bought a long fork, like what you use when you BBQ, for 25 pesos, toothpicks for 5 pesos and an egg for 2 pesos. That is what we spent for the chilies rellenos. It won’t cost as much next time as we won’t need to buy another fork.
Larry did buy a fish for 17 pesos a bottle of pina juice for 8 pesos and pastry for 3. I bought some tequila for 30 which made our total spending for the day 128 pesos or about $10.00 US.
The chilies were very good, I am planning on making more tomorrow as we still have a lot of sauce. Larry wants me to use hamburger with the cheese for the stuffing.

January 20 2010 Wednesday
Last week when Larry went to Tepic he asked me if I wanted anything. I asked for a table lamp to use by the laptop so the bright light wouldn’t keep him awake at night.
Ron and Larry went to several stores to no avail, no lamp was to found. They didn’t go to Walmart. The Walmart here is not the same as we have at home.
As we were walking to the fish market I looked in a store and way in the back was some lamps. We went in to see what they had. The one I liked was one that came on when you touched it. It also had different levels of brightness. The only problem is they wanted 250 pesos for it. They had 3 more lamps but they wanted more for them. Larry offered them 200 pesos for the lamp but the person that could ok that wasn’t there so they said come back tomorrow.
We talked it over and decided to look for one at the Saturday Market before we went back.
Saturday we walked all the way to the end of the street (something we don’t always do). At one of the last vendors were 2 lamps. One was a table lamp and one was a floor lamp. They wanted 170 pesos for the table lamp, after doing some haggling Larry paid 130 pesos. I now have a table lamp.

This is how we use it, so that it’s not too bright for the person sleeping.

Week of January 10 – 16 2010
Monday Larry and Ron called from Ed’s phone to a cardiologist in Tepic to make an appointment for his echocardiogram, which was set up for Tuesday at 11:00am.
Tuesday, Ron and Larry took the 9:00am bus to Tepic only the bus left late. So they got off at the first stop in Tepic where most of the people get off and got a taxi with two other people to share the cost which was 25 pesos. Then the taxi dropped them off at the wrong place, but where they needed to go was only four blocks away. They got there just before 11 but had to wait an hour before the doctor could see him.
The doctor had studied in Boston at Harvard.
The echocardiogram showed that he does have a small heart mummer but it’s nothing to worry about at this time. The cost for the test and seeing the Doctor was 800 pesos. The bus ride to Tepic was 160 round trip for two.
One of the nights this week we had thunder, lighting and rain, almost like being home but the rain is warmer.
We did make it to the beach one day and the water was cleaner.

Saturday January 9 2010
We were at the laboratory for our blood work at 7:30 as that is when the sign says it opens. A man was coming down the stairs and told us it would be 60 minutes before she would be here to open. But we only had to wait 30 minutes. She took us right in and drew the blood for the test. We paid her 800 pesos for the 4 tests that had to be done. She told us the results would be there by 5.
We went straight to Walla Walla’s for coffee and toast as we couldn’t eat anything before we had the tests done.
Larry went for a bike ride as soon as we got back to the bungalow and I took off for Saturday Market. There seemed to be more vendors at the market today. I saw Ray and Val just as they were getting ready to leave. They told me they had gone to Patty’s pizza last night and really enjoyed it.
When I got back to the Bungalow Jean-Paul (our neighbor) told me he just got back from Norms (a Canadian that lives here year round) had just died.
We had gone to his Saint Patties party last year.
The sun was back in the cloudless sky. We decided that it was a beach day. We took off for the beach on our bikes. We really enjoy riding them down here.
Larry went swimming twice, he had 2 beers I had a coco and we shared an order of onion rings. Cost for all was 95 pesos.
We were back at the lab just before 5 but the results hadn’t come in yet. We must have waited 45 minutes before the fax from Tepic.
All my results were great but Larry needs to work on getting his Colesterol levels down.

Friday January 8 2010
Another cloudy morning, so it’s not a beach day. Larry took the laundry to get done early this morning. He started to take the garbage to the garbage tree but noticed the garbage truck had already picked it up so the garbage was put in the garbage box at the store.
He took off on a bike ride but was right back with Ron, who took us to a doctor’s office to find out where we needed to go for the blood work we need done and for the echo gram Larry needs to have done. Tomorrow we will have the blood work done by his office and will have the results by the afternoon. Larry will have to go to Tepic for his other test.
On our way back to our little bungalow we stopped at the pork place and had tortas, for 30 pesos.
We had to go to the bank to get smaller bills. When you get money from the ATM you get a lot of big bills that the vendors don’t have change for when you buy something so you exchange the big ones for smaller. The vendors don’t like to get 200 or 100 peso bills, there is no way they can break a 500. Some of the stores can deal with the 200 or 100.
I must have walked down to get the laundry at least 3 times, the 10 year old girl kept telling me one more hour. Larry and I went on a tequila run and to get the laundry. This time a man was there and tried to tell us why our laundry was not there. They ran out of water is what I got out of what he said. He then said wait one moment, got in his car and drove off. In about ten to fifteen minutes he was back with four or five bags of cleaned laundry and ours was there. The laundry cost us 50 pesos this time.

Thursday January 7 2010
Another cloudy morning so we won’t be going to the beach.
We rode our bikes over to Roxanna’s. She is a lady that lives here year round and was one of Ellen’s friends. We had talked to her yesterday and she invited us over for coffee.
She has a very nice place that she had built two years ago. It has a nice yard with grass. It’s a very quite part of town.
Larry told me that we spent less than 100 pesos yesterday so we could have something special for dinner. So I went on my bike to Patty’s pizza to order a pizza.
The door was open but they really weren’t open but she took my order anyway. This time when she asked for my address I was able to say 124 Salas, by Negros. She said she remembered from the last time I did this. Her English and my Spanish was good enough for us to get the order accomplished. The pizza was delivered around 5:30, cost was 95 pesos.
It was great pizza.

Wednesday January 6 2010
We went to the market today to get some vegetables. I got a bag of strawberries, two grapefruit, one onion, and two tangerines for 33 pesos. Then we stopped at the fish market for another sierra, for 20 pesos.
Larry did a great job cooking the fish. We did have one bolillos left which he made garlic bread with.
Today is the day of the Kings. This is the day they open their Christmas gifts. It is also the end of the Christmas holiday season.
They had tables set up all around the plaza. On the tables they had loaves of bread. The bread looked like French bread, with some kind of candy on top. All the kids stood on one side of the tables and waited for some people to slice the bread then they got to eat it. The adults also got a slice. It was sweet white yeast bread.
After the bread was handed out we went back to the bungalow. There was some very loud music playing, too loud for us.

Tuesday January 5 2010
We walked down to the plaza around noon just to see if anything was going on and to get some bolillos but the bread place was closed. We stopped at the ice cream place, Larry bought a cone and I had a lime ice.
Then it was to the bungalow until 6 when we went back to the plaza to find something to eat. We must not have been very hungry as we just sat and talked to our plaza friends.

Monday January 4 2010
A lady came to the door selling bags of limes for 10 pesos. Larry bought a bag. They are nice big ones with a lot of juice.
We walked to the fish market, Larry picked out a sierra. Cost was 25 pesos.
I also bought some more grapefruit for my breakfast.

Sunday January 3 2010
The sun was back this morning. I wanted to go to the beach but being a Sunday and a holiday weekend we thought the beach would be crowded so we stayed here and watched another Tom Selleck movie. The movie was another western called Last Stand at Saber River.
We did buy some shrimp for dinner. The cost was 60 pesos for a little over a pound.

Saturday January 2 2010
I thought for sure the rain had stopped last night but this morning it was still coming down. It’s not a hard rain most of the time, a drizzle, then showers, then drizzle and it even stops for a while.
The rain had stopped so I went to the Saturday Market to see what was there. This was the lowest amount of vendors I have seen at the Saturday Market.
Then it started to rain, I stopped at the vendor that sells a lot of things in bulk. I got toilet paper, (trying to find a 4 ply instead of a 2 ply) tea, and Raid Raidolitos ( anti-mosquitoes). Then I saw the long line of people buying their weekly or monthly supplies. The Raidolitos is a spiral that you burn to keep the mosquitoes away. I have used them more this year as the mosquitoes seem to be worse this year. So I got to stand in line and watch the rain start to come down harder. This is when the jejenes (no-see-em) bugs came out and started biting. This area is known for this bug, they are very small, ¾ of them is mouth and they seem to bite harder the longer they are allowed to stay on you. So everyone started to do what I call the jejenes dance it’s a slap type of dance.
Then I noticed that a lot of the vendors were packing up and leaving. When I finally got to the front of the line some men tried to cut in front of me the lady in charge asked if I could go before them, they had to say yes. Cost was 40 pesos.
I was really glad to get out of there even if it meant walking in the rain. As long as you are moving the jejenes have a hard time landing on you and biting.
The rest of the day was spent inside. We watched a Tom Selleck movie, called Monte Walsh. We enjoyed it as we had not seen it before.

Friday January 1 2010
What a nice morning this was. I sat out on the front stoop enjoying the sun. Everyone that goes by wishes you a Happy New Year.
At noon I was thinking it would be a great beach day and started to change into my suite but looked out the window and saw some clouds starting to roll in.
By early evening I had changed into my long pants and longer sleeve shirt.
We went to the plaza and talked with some of our friends. Larry wanted to get some bolillos for sandwiches but the place was closed. Some amusement rides for kids is using the street where the store is that sells bread, which makes it hard for them to deliver the bread.
Around 11 this evening (after I had gone to bed) the thunder and lightning started. It was very loud and the thunder seemed to last a long time. It did rain but only for a short time.

Thursday December 31 2009
Larry went for his early morning bike ride, and thought he had found the Fonda (café) where I can get chiles rellenos. So we went there for lunch only it was closed when we got there. We decided to go to the one down by the plaza. She makes the chiles rellenos sometimes but not today. Lunch was 40 pesos.
Val and Ray from Canada were downtown; they had arrived here last night. They asked us over to see where they are staying.
It’s a nice place, bigger than ours. The bathroom is inside and the shower has a glass door. The kitchen has more counter space but is a narrow room and a small stove.
We went to the plaza for a while but didn’t stay too long as it looked like not much was going on.
I added some noodles and tomato paste to the leftover spaghetti and ate the last of it for dinner. It was better tasting this time.
When we were at the Fonda a man was trying to tell us something about the New Year’s fiesta. What we didn’t understand was that they really start around 1 in the morning. There were fireworks at midnight, but we didn’t see them as we had gone to bed.
Hope everyone has a Happy New Year.

Sunday December 27 2009
It’s another warm sunny day here in San Blas.
A lady came to the door selling fruits and vegetables. She had a bag of tomatoes for 10 pesos. I have been planning on making spaghetti from scratch and inviting Jean-Paul, Mylaine and Ed over for dinner. The recipe calls for 20 tomatoes, this bag had close to 30 but some were small and a little greener than I would have picked out but it was a good buy so I bought the bag.
Now I had to find the rest of the ingredients, should be an easy thing to do. I got out our book The Peoples Guide to Mexico, to get the Spanish names for the spices I would need. I found the oregano but basil and thyme were another story. I asked Ed if by chance he had any, he had some that he had picked from his garden and dried. He also had some corn starch. He did tell me that the Minisuper Kane had the corn starch but they sell in bulk so you ask for it by weight.

Monday December 28 2009
I started cooking the sauce around 11 this morning. I decided I needed another pot; I only have one big one that I would need to cook the noodles in so I bought another one for 90 pesos to cook the sauce in.
The hamburger (ground meat) is not like ours at home. It has a lot of liquid and fat that I cooked off instead of draining. I think it tastes different to.
Everyone said the dinner was good but I felt something was missing in the sauce.
We had rain again this evening, not a lot but we didn’t go to the plaza.