Friday March 26 2010
In the last two weeks I have had Chinese food twice. The first time I rode my bike to the restaurant and got Pollo (chicken) Chop Suey to take back home for 75 pesos. I had two meals and Larry had one. The next time I went with Val. I again bought the chop suey and egg rolls. Val bought pollo chow mein; the chow mein has pasta noodles in it and no bean sprouts. The chop suey has bean sprouts, no noodles. We ate as much as we could there and took the rest home.
We went to the beach yesterday. While there wasn’t a lot of customers in the palapa’s there was a lot of work going on. Grass getting cut, trees trimmed and roofs getting new thatch. In one of the palapa’s a man was making tables. The legs were trunks from palm trees. He was using a chain saw to cut the right size for the table tops from planks.

Val and I have gone to El Chaco to swim in the pool on Wednesdays. Larry went with us on the 17th. The hotel also has a campground. The campground was full. There must have been 100 RV’s and at least 50 tents.
I think one of the groups was a youth group on a retreat. Needless to say we had to share the pool this time.
We ate at a roadside restaurant called Shrimp Express. Larry and I should have ordered one plate of the Camaron Empanizado as we brought home enough for 2 more meals. It was a little expensive, Larry had a beer and I had a soda all for 245 pesos. The food was good.
This last Wednesday Val and I caught the bus to El Chaco (Chaco is a Mexican woodpecker) for 10 pesos. We swam in the pool again for 30 pesos and ate at El Chaco’s restaurant. I had shrimp, for 100 pesos this time.
Val had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 3:00 pm. The taxi was 20 pesos for both of us. My share was 10 pesos which is what it would have cost to catch the bus back to San Blas.

The fence around the hotel is painted.

Ok the pool is not heated but it is ok once you get in.

Yesterday an amusement company came into town. Some of the trucks were parked in the street in front of our landlords. Today they are setting up the rides on the street where the Saturday Market is. The rides are for young children. I think they will be here all week as this next week is Easter week.

Thursday March 11 2010
I did make it to the Saturday Market and did find a new wrist watch, it’s smaller than the one I had before but as long as it tells me the time I will be happy with it.
Jean-Paul left for PV on Monday the 8th. He will be flying home on Tuesday the 9th. He is in hopes of coming back to San Blas in April.
Wednesday the 10th Val came by and asked if we wanted to go to El Chaco for the day. It’s a hotel south of here. That has a nice swimming pool. It’s also right on the beach so if you want to spend time swimming in the ocean you can do that too.
Larry didn’t want to go but I did. We were going to take the bus but Val’s friend Carmen took us in her car.
For 30 pesos you can spend all day pool side. At first we were the only people there. We walked down the road to a restaurant for lunch then we walked back on the beach. Val and Carmen did go into the ocean for a short time then it was back to the pool. When we got back to the pool there were 5 more swimmers.
I had a great time lounging and swimming.
This is the top step going to the pool

Looking east from the pool

The pool

Saturday March 6 2010
Larry is feeling better but is not at 100%. I haven’t had to buy any more food as he has no appetite. We have been living on chicken and a vegetable soup I made earlier in the week. We did make it down to the plaza yesterday to get ice cream cones.
It clouded up yesterday and has started to drizzle this morning. If it gets any worse I won’t be going to the Saturday market as the jejenes (little biting bugs) will be out in force. I did want to look for a new wrist watch as mine has disappeared.
San Blas is not known for having orange trees but we have two in front of our casa. I am told that this is not the time for them to have blossoms on them but one of the trees has blossoms. Jean-Paul thinks it’s because of the unusual rain we have had this year.

Tuesday March 2 2010
Larry started coughing yesterday. He stayed in bed most of the day today. I did got to the store and the market to get him some juice and fruit to eat. I also got some chicken so I could make some chicken soup. I spent 64 pesos for all of it. I also bought some cat food, a kelio for 23 pesos.
I stopped in at the bank to exchange large bills for smaller ones. I had to wait 30 minutes as there were 20 people in line. When you use the ATM most of the bills you get are 500 pesos. The stores and vindors don't have change for big bills.

Monday March 1 2010
We have been having better weather here in San Blas this last week. We made it to the beach one day. There was a slight breeze which helped to keep the little biting bugs away.
On Thursday we went to a little restaurant called Restaurante Economico El Rincon de Todos. It’s in an ally that cars can’t drive on but motor scooters and bicycles can. We went with Jean-Paul for omelets. We had Jamon (ham), Champiñones (mushrooms) and Queso (cheese). The omelet was good and was only 30 pesos. Larry and I also had Jugo de Naranua (orange juice) for 15 pesos, our breakfast was 90 pesos total. This is less than $9.00US.
I learned that on Fridays during Lent most of the restaurant’s serve chiles rellenos so I bought two without the rice and tortillas that come with them for 50 pesos.
Today we went back to El Rincon de Todos for lunch. Larry had Huevos (eggs) A La Mexicana for 28 pesos. I had Camarones (shrimp) Enpanisado (breaded and fried) mine was 35 pesos. Both meals came with Spagueti Chino (small spaghetti) and a salad. We had orange Fanta for 7 pesos. Our lunch was 77 pesos.