Sunday January 30 2011
On Wednesday we caught the 2:00 bus for Tepic. The ride to Tepic is about 1 ½ hours. We took a Taxi to the doctor’s office it was 30 pesos. Larry’s appointment was at 5. We arrived there at 3:45, the office was closed but we were told it would open at 4. We went for a short walk, thinking we might find some place to eat.

The doctor didn’t speak much English and of course we don’t speak a lot of Spanish but we were able to get through the exam and were told it was a stretched or strained muscle. He gave Larry some pills and a prescription for some shots that the doctor in Tepic would give.

We couldn’t decide where to eat and Larry was starting to hurt from the walking so we went to Burger King by the bus station. They are not as good as the ones in the states.

Saturday Mario was able to get a boat so Jean-Paul, Larry and I could go whale watching. At home we can see the whales from shore. If you go out in a boat you don’t have to go out very far. Here we traveled for half an hour before we spotted any whales. We never got real close to the whales but we did see a lot of sea turtles.





The circus is in town. Big trucks and pickup trucks with cages drive by with camel, lamas, horses, goats, kangaroo, jaguar and tigers. We had one here two years ago which we enjoyed and this one was only 20 pesos each if you bought the ticket from the truck driver, so we decided to go. The show we went to was at 5. The gates didn’t open until 5:15. They then tried to get us to get better seats but they wanted 50 more pesos. We sat on the bleachers.

I don’t know if because they started late they cut out some of the acts or if the tigers that ride around are just for show but the tigers were not there, nor was the camel. It was not as good as the one we went to two years ago here.

This little guy was on the wall in our patio all day.

Tuesday January 25 2011

There was some excitement in town this last week. A drug bust down by the school that’s by the airport was one of them. We were standing outside our place when we thought we heard shots. One of our neighbors said it was bottle rockets. We felt that the sounds were to close together for bottle rockets. I have heard several different stories from one man getting wounded in the leg to four getting killed. I really think the wounded story is the right one.

There was also a kidnapping. Somehow this man brought down four new cars. He was showing them off in Santa Cruz, and strutting around. Somehow drugs are involved in this but I am not sure just how. The kidnappers asked for 200,000.00 pesos. They were given 100,000.00 and one of the cars. The police got involved and shots were fired. Again we have been told someone was wounded or someone was killed. We only get news like this through the rumor mill.

Larry was setting down when (he thought) his back started to hurt. It would hurt most when he stood up or sat down. It got so bad that he couldn’t walk for any distance at all. He could still ride his bike; he likes to take an early morning ride down to the beach.
After a week of it hurting and it wasn’t getting any better, he decided to go to the doctor. At this point he thinks the pain is more in the groin area.

He is waiting for the doctor.


The doctor gave him some pain pills and a muscle relaxer, 350 pesos. We had to back to the doctor today, no charge. He sent us to another place to get x-rays, 300 pesos. It looks like Larry has calcium deposits in one of his hip joints. The doctor made Larry an appointment with a specialist in Tepic for tomorrow. We have to go to his office first so he can call and make sure the appointment hasn’t been changed, making it a wasted trip.

It does get foggy here.




The bird festival started this week, there will be dancers, music, and skits on the stage at the plaza all week. People come here from all over to see the birds. We rode our bikes down to the lagoon to see if we could see any rosette spoonbills. We spotted 4. I think the birds come here to see the tourists.

Friday January 14 2011
Tony did work on the toilet. He brought a float that is used on fishing nets, to replace the broken blub. While it didn’t completely stop the water from running it did slow it down.

On Wednesday we went to Tepic. We went to the bus station at 10 and learned that the bus we wanted to take left at 1. Larry had taken this route to Tepic once before and wanted me to see how steep the mountains were.

The last half of the trip there was only 4 people on the bus. The driver stopped the bus just as we entered Tepic and said we had to get off here. He then hailed a taxi, and he paid for all of us to go to the plaza.

We went to the bank then we wanted to find the computer store that I was told I could get speakers for my laptop. All we had was the name of the street and the name of the store. Larry did have his book “Pacific Mexico” with him, it had a small map of central Tepic so we were able to find the street. We have learned it’s best to ask questions, Larry asked a girl if she knew were the store was. In English she said she wasn’t sure but thought it was two blocks down and on the left.

We found the store, the girl that worked there did not speak English but I was able to let her know what I wanted. She showed me several different speakers. I am not real smart when it comes to buying something like this. I don’t understand what the numbers like F60 mean. So I picked out a pair and bought them. They were 265 pesos, and they work with my laptop, so now we can watch movies and Larry can hear them.

We then caught the bus to Soriana’s to buy a few more items. I couldn’t find everything we wanted and got a few things that weren’t on the list. We spent 242.00 pesos there.
Then it was to the bus station and back to San Blas. The bus ride to Tepic was 90 pesos for both of us; the ride back was 92 pesos.

Thursday we went to have breakfast at Cocodrilo then we walked to Kane’s mini super for candy. We watched them working on paving the street. What they are doing is pouring cement. They are about half done.

Friday we rode with Tony out to his restaurant. He takes his cook out there at 10:00. Larry was worried that would be too early. Tony said he would be back at 4, but we didn’t want to stay that long. We had a good time. I walked on the beach and did some beachcombing, found some real nice shells. Larry went swimming, and then we had lunch. At 1:30 we were going to catch the bus back but a taxi drove by and Larry decided to take it back. Lunch was 110 pesos, the taxi was 20 pesos.

Sunday January 9 2011
New Years Eve day Val and Ray from Canada showed up to let us know they are here. We talked about doing something for New Years but never made any real plans.

Larry and I went to Billy Bob’s to see in the New Year. There was not much in the way of a party. Someone at the bar kept buying drinks for the house. No one said anything when it was midnight, so we missed wishing everyone a happy new year.

Saturday the first, Roxanne came to get me to go to Santa Cruse to get some organic eggs. She bought 5 dozen, from Rosa. Roxanne buys for other people, that don’t have their own transportation. The eggs are 20 pesos for a dozen. We stopped in Aticama on the way back for lunch.

While I was gone with Roxanne Larry took my bike to the bike shop and had new handle bars put on. They are taller than the old ones, I don’t have to lean forward and my hands don’t tingle with them. It was 90 pesos for the new handle bars.

Sunday Val and Ray came by to visit but when I told them we had planned on riding over to their place they decided to get their morning shopping done and would visit with us when we came over.

Mike, Jen and baby Salina who are from NH arrived on Sunday, they have been coming down here longer than we have.

We went to the Chinese restaurant for dinner. They were out of what I wanted, so we had pork chop suey. A lady setting behind Larry could speak English, she helped us with ordering, and then she had us try what she had ordered. It was a beef broccoli with fried rice dish, it was very good, and we wished we had ordered that.

Monday the third, Jean-Paul bought a new bicycle. It’s black with gold flake blotches. He has decided to stay and will keep his bike inside from now on.

On Tuesday the fourth we went with Val and Ray to Santa Cruse to take a Spanish class from Rosa. The class started a 10 and ended at 1. Larry didn’t last five minutes. This was the 6th time this class had meant. I think if I had started from the beginning it would be a good class to go to. The class meets twice a week, which is a big commitment to make right now.

On Wednesday the 5th we went to Matachen Bay, to Tony’s restaurant for lunch. We rode in the back of Tony’s pickup along with Ed, Melanie and Jean-Paul. Jen, Mike and Salina rode with Almondio and Helen in their car. We had a very good fish lunch; the fish was grilled and had a lite smoked taste to it.

We thought the weather was not going to be nice as it was overcast when we left but when we got to the bay it was nice and sunny. Next time I will take my swimming suit with me just in case I decide to get wet.

Thursday I made spaghetti for dinner. First when I went to the mini super market I asked for medio hamburger but she gave a full kilo instead of the half I asked for. I was able to find all the veggies I needed but no basil. Larry had asked me to get him a fish, I told him no but stopped and got him one anyway. As always I made to much so we will be eating spaghetti for a couple of days.

We didn’t do much the rest of the week. We did make it to the Saturday market, first time in 2 weeks.

This morning the blub in the toilet tank broke. I told Tony, he said he would come to look at it. Sunday is a busy day for him at the restaurant and he has a cold, he forgot. I reminded him and he said he would fix it in the morning.