Mexico Again (And Again)

Stan and I spent ten days in Mazatlan in the middle of October, we flew home, and now I am back in Mexico. I'm in Ajijic, a town on Lake Chapala, near Guadalajara. A friend moved there a year ago and has been wanting folks from her hometown to come see her and her new home. I'm always game for a trip so here I am.

I have to make room for more pictures on my blogger server, so words will have to do for now.

It was beastly hot in Mazatlan, the locals even complained. El Nino had warmed the ocean and created super high humidity. We still had fun and went to the places we like the best. Last year I was so very sick when we left I forgot my Kindle. Took a long time to get well, but that's another story. Our friend Steve from the resort took it home and one year later I got it back! I bought another one in the meantime, now I have a spare so the grandkids don't hog the new one. We got home before the hurricane hit, but it missed Mazatlan anyway.

The weather here in Ajijic is perfect, high 70s during the day and around 60 at night. The altitude is high and the humidity is low, similar to Montana only without the snow, lol! Carol is taking me to lots of places, today we rode the bus to Chapala and some of the outlying towns. We walked the malecon in Chapala and had lunch there. The rest of the week will be filled with social events, more food, and a little volunteering.

I am slightly homesick, two trips back to back kinda do that to you. But this has been a great adventure, traveling all by myself, and I'm missing a couple of big snowstorms back home.

In Answer

This link is in answer to all those nervous people who worry about our safety when we travel to Mexico:

http://www.thetruthaboutmexico.com/

Still There

They're still not satisfied with Stan's kidney numbers so he gets to spend another night.  He seems to be totally fine with it, and was watching TV with his eyes closed when I left.  Still praying-kinda like having him around.  They did an ultrasound today, and we thought the kidney specialist would be in to give us the results but he didn't show.  I gave up and left at 7:00.  He'll be in to see him in the morning, I'm sure.

Had a neat thing happen at the restaurant where I had dinner.  Our favorite restaurant is "Fiesta Mexicana," a real Mexican restaurant owned by a family from Jalisco.  We have gotten to be pretty good friends with them.  Tonight when they found out Stan was in the hospital, I got hugs and well wishes, and they each spent a little time with me.  Then when they found out we are hoping to go to Mazatlan, I got suggestions for food to order in the restaurants.  So nice to feel like we're part of their family.

Now That Was Work!

I just spent the last 2 hours on the computer looking for and booking flights to Mazatlan.  That was a job!  First I found the itinerary I wanted on Priceline, and when I went to book they doubled the price.  Forget that!  Then I went to Hotwire and got the times and price I wanted, but of course you can only book 6 at a time, so I had to do 2 installments, actually 3 because while 11 of us fly from Bozeman, Dave and Laura will fly from Austin, and Hotwire was no help with that, so their tickets come from Expedia.

I think my credit card is a bit warm from use right now, but I got it done.  Dave and Laura will be there a couple hours sooner than us, but I'll get them on an earlier shuttle and inform the resort of the earlier arrival.  They can walk the beach til we get there.

Just 2 1/2 months and we'll be back in that great place!

Millie walking the beach on Stone Island

Going Again!

Just booked our timeshare for October.  This is going to be a hoot!  We have our entire family-kids, grandkids, in-laws and an auntie, basking in the Mazatlan sunshine.  Gonna be so much fun!

Now if I can find decent flights for everybody-one comes from Billings (not a problem-she can drive over and stay with us) and two are coming from Austin, TX.

We're Back!

We're home safe and sound, and had a fantastic time.  Jim and Millie are ready to move there, and since I want to also, it seems right somehow!

I'll try to show you day by day what we did.  First day, after getting up at dark:30 in the morning we boarded a 6:00 plane in Belgrade.  We transferred in Minneapolis (I know, huh!?) and flew directly from there to Mazatlan.  I will say all our flights went smoothly-they left a bit late but arrived early.  So we were in Mazatlan by noon.  When we touched down, the entire plane erupted into applause.  They were ready for spring break!

We managed to miss the gauntlet of timeshare salespeople on our way out of customs, and went directly to our shuttle pick-up spot.

Then on to the resort for check-in, lunch and that important first walk on the beach.

 

That smile says it all!

We stayed at the resort for the rest of the day.  We took in happy hour, amazing Imperial Shrimp at the resort restaurant and a wonderful sunset.

We did come home to some bad news.  Gramma fell twice on Wednesday, and now is bedridden.  She has to have a family member stay with her 24 hours a day, and the doctor says it's just a matter of time.  I know at 94 it's expected, but it still makes us sad.

I'm Getting Noticed!

In the last two days I have gotten e-mails from two different health websites that have posted links to this blog and my cooking blog.  How flattering!  They want me to post links to their sites, and I will carefully consider it for a few days.

In the meantime, preparations continue for the Mazatlan trip.  Today the suitcases come out.  Since the guest room is full of people, I'll set up a small table in the office for the bags.  I can pack the backpack for "La Vina" right away, but I think some of the spiral notebooks will make it to the big suitcase because it might make the backpack too heavy.

We have a small concern.  My daughter-in-law's mother is panicking over the news reports of violence in Mazatlan.  She is begging them to reconsider their trip, to the point of offering to pay the difference for changing their plane tickets to someplace "safer."  I know things aren't perfect there, but we know the area and know where and where not to go.  We would never put our children in jeopardy, and I think we will have a grand time there and come home safely.  People still go to Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc. even though there are VERY unsafe places in those cities that a person should avoid.

The resort is gated with 24 hour guards, and we are never out and about past 10:00, although I have seen some people arrive back at the resort (noisily) in the wee hours safe and sound.  Not for me, but I fall asleep in front of the TV at 8:30-no party girl here!

Prayers for our trip are solicited-from safety, to plane connections, to avoiding the dreaded time-share salespeople.

And They Say Mexico Isn't Safe!

Two weeks ago, several people had their houses and cars broken into, including our son's car.  Then last night 75 homes were either robbed or the attempt was made.  I think ours was missed this time, but maybe we just haven't discovered what was missing yet.  Here is the article from our local news station.

It cracks me up, because people think we're crazy for going to Mexico, because "it's so dangerous!"  We live in a town of 1500 people and 75 houses were hit last night....  Not to mention the Highway Patrol officer who was gunned down just 10 miles from here about a month ago.  Now just where is the danger?

Spanish

My hubby gave me the Spanish version of the Rosetta Stone for Christmas 2009.  What with all those people moving in and out of my house, I installed it on my laptop and set it aside for a more interrupted stretch of time.  Yeah, funny joke-there's never such a thing!

But I decided do or die-I'm gonna learn this thing.  So I started on Monday after everybody left for work, school and fishing.  Why did I wait so long?!!  What a cool way to learn a language.  I set it up on Latin American Spanish and went to work.  I think I just might learn a bit of Spanish before my next trip to Mazatlan.  Of course, the only really effective way to learn a language is to go where they speak it and beg for patience, which I hope I can do.  The people of Mazatlan are so hospitable and accommodating that they speak very good English, so I might have to ask them to practice with me.  I have two months to learn enough to actually practice with!

Well, done with the lesson for today and I just got called in to work, so I'd better brush my teeth, eat something and get going.

Two Months and Counting

Knowing that we make frequent trips to Mazatlan, friends have been asking when our next trip is.  I was checking out the timeshare website when my daughter-in-law and I started chatting on Facebook.  Don't ask how I got from the timeshare website to Facebook, but nevertheless...

Wonder if the resort iguana will still be hanging by the pool.

Anyway, she was talking about getting away.  I asked her if she thought it was feasible for her and my son to go with us, and she said, "As long as we go during spring break."  I got on the phone with the timeshare people, and then spent three hours on the Web tracking down plane tickets.  We are set to go and I'm not sure who is more excited-my DIL or me.  I am so excited that at least one of my kids gets to see my "other home!"  I said their four kids might be mad, but we agreed they would get over it!  And when their parents get back with all the stories of the fun they had, they'll be ready to go the next time.

Two months from today we'll be sitting on the beach, watching the sunset.  DIL sent their passport applications yesterday and is now on pins and needles hoping they come back in time.  I have no doubt that they'll get here on time-I bet they take less than 4 weeks.  One nice bonus-usually we have to fly out of Billings because it's always been more expensive to fly from Bozeman.  We both happened to trip over a better price from Bozeman, so we won't have to drive over the day before we leave and come home the day after we get back.  Cheaper and less stressful-we all know flying is stressful enough these days.

A view of our timeshare-nice place, huh!

More Mazatlan

Our building directly faced the ocean this time. I slept on the Murphy bed in the living room and would open the patio doors just before bed so I could be gently lulled to sleep. Turns out it wasn't so gentle-we were right in the middle of high tide! Lovely, anyway.

Hunting for seashells.

On the city tour we met Rosemary, another owner at the resort. She is 85 years old and suffers from macular degeneration. It hasn't stopped her-she flew all the way from Florida to Mexico alone, with a plane change in LAX. She said all you have to do is ask and people are willing to help. She is a delightful lady!

Judy loved the cathedral-the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. I've seen it many times, but it never stops being a treat to see.

Irene was recovering from a tooth extraction so she missed going to the Fiesta Mexicana at El Cid. Previously we've always gone to the one at Playa Mazatlan, but they have discontinued it. Too bad, the food was unbelievable. El Cid's food was OK but nothing to write home about, but the show was extremely good. Several of the acts from Playa now perform at El Cid, including my favorite singer Oscar Gomez. Dang that guy has pipes! Cute, too. El Cid had a breathtaking Aztec ballet-very worth the price of the ticket.

On Thursday Irene was feeling better so we decided to ride the bus to Old Town. Halfway there this clown got on the bus. Turns out there was a clown parade on the Malecon. (Beachfront walk) Then two guys got on and immediately started playing guitar and singing. What fun!

After we browsed the big Mercado, bought fabric and had lunch at Panama, we grabbed a Pulmonia to go home. Turns out the local college had just graduated and was celebrating with a parade, complete with tiaras, formals, tuxes and decorated vehicles. A Hummer was decorated with Post-its-all over. The cab driver scooted around the parade, cutting BETWEEN the traffic and took a scenic route back to the resort, through side streets. We loved being able to see new parts of Mazatlan-where the REAL people lived. What a fun day!

Friday we took a tour into the Sierra Madres to a little town called Copala. On the way we saw a rocking chair factory, a bakery with a 400 year old wood fired oven, and a brick factory where they still make all the bricks by hand.

We ended the day in the restaurant at the resort, talking until the sun went down. We had many heart-to-hearts that evening. We are permanently bonded and want to make this a yearly trip.

L to R-Irene, Mickie, Judy, and I'm in the back. Sistahs forever!

The Most Fun Ever!

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth-just trying to catch up and regroup after two trips with less than 24 hours in between.

The first trip-off to Mazatlan with "the girls." If I were to think about what was the best thing about this trip, it would be watching my youngest sister enjoy it. Judy has a few delays but is a sweet loving person and is a joy to have along. She started grinning when we boarded the plane in Billings, and nine days later when I dropped her at her apartment in Helena, the grin was still there. She promptly set down her bags, donned her "Mazatlan" hat and headed off to her afternoon tea date to share her trip with her friends.

We tried to show her the most fun activities of Mazatlan. We rode the "Pulmonia" whenever we could, and made sure Judy rode in front with the driver. She was thoroughly infatuated with the Mexican men and probably would have run off with any one of them!

We ate, laughed, walked, sunned, toured, dabbled our feet in the Pacific, and just tried to enjoy as much as possible. We caught as many sunsets and happy hours as possible. Judy decided that margaritas were tasty indeed. White wine went down pretty well, too!

The first thing you do, after catching happy hour, is line up and wait for the sunset.

Definitely worth the wait!

We toured the city, and ended up high on the side of the hills. We could see all of Mazatlan and the harbor from there. This is the harbor that receives shipment of the Korean-made cars that Mexicans drive, and from there are trucked all over the country.


There was a restaurant near the viewing area, and the owner came out with an iguana that hangs out there-iguanas seem to pick an area and stick to it, our resort has a couple. This iguana was the biggest I've seen, and the owner placed in a young British boy's arms.

He wasn't too fond of holding it. so Judy took it. She has been to Guatemala and had a lot of experience with Iguanas. She started talking to it and it licked her on the nose!


Hopefully I'll post more later-we're off to a concert tonight. I do have to say that I agree with my sister-in-law Irene: We've both been to Mazatlan several times, but this has to be the most fun trip ever!

A Word or Two

Things have been pretty hectic around here since we got home. I posted some pics to Facebook, but have completely ignored my blog. Sorry!

Our trip was completely healing and relaxing. The weather couldn't have been better if we'd ordered it! Even the forecast Tsunami from the Chili earthquake didn't come, other than a bit higher than normal evening tide on Saturday.

Stan and I hung out a lot, just watching the ocean and looking for dolphins. We lucked out our last full day there with the dolphins-they were in the water in front of our resort all day. I got a little video, but they don't like to pose for still pictures. The video isn't very good, since I couldn't see the image in the LCD screen in the bright sunlight and only figured out how to convert to the viewfinder afterwords!

The cruise ships aren't the only ones who make towel animals:

Random sailboat picture:

Brown eggs from the supermarket:

For breakfast scrambled eggs with chorizo and mangoes on the balcony:

Our building:

Spent a lot of time right here:

More tomorrow. (I hope)