Year: 2022

So many photos to share and we are running out of days for 2022. Are you looking forward to the New Year?

Very early December some new folks to Tres Amigos asked about going to a special restaurant before Christmas. So on December 17th a few of us went to Gaia.

The Plazuela Machado was all decked out in Christmas lights and this cute display train. It was so wonderful to get out and about. At this time I had no idea that I would not have to have surgery so I was soaking everything in.

All BCers, Kelly and Fred, Patrica and Dennis and Gary and of course ua

Our favourite band, Los Cryps, was playing at Gaia. However there is no longer any space to dance, yet Kelly and Fred found a place to do their thing.

I did have physio on December 22nd and again on the 24th. The first time I only received two types of this electrical stimulation to my knee as well as an ultrasound treatment. On the 24th I also received knee exercises to do at home. For which I am grateful as I do them daily.

There are a few areas set up to sell fruits and veggies on the Mazatlan side of the Embarcadero as well as the fish market. First time that we have seen bamboo being cut up and prepared to sell.

I took a few close ups of the pelicans that hang around the embarcadero.

Yellow!!!

Green! Interesting tip of his beak.

Always fun to pass a cruise ship on the lancha as we head back to the peace of the Isla.

Clever marketing. This fellow had obviously made arrangements with the lancha captain to entertain the very full boats going back and forth on the 24th.

He also sang and I was surprised that a few of the people on the lancha knew what he was singing and joined in. He did well in tips as we disembarked.

December 27th.

December 28th.

So I woke up the morning of December 26th still feeling worn out and I had a bit of a cough. I rested most of the day so that we could get on with our Christmas celebration. Colin and I have no need to exchange gifts so it is always fun to do a few things. Some years are fuller that others, we were down to a minimum this season. Our biggest thing at Christmas is cooking our two favourite holiday casseroles that we only eat at this time of year. I guess you might say that these are recipes that we have been enjoying at this time of year for over 35 years plus a good bottle of wine make the holiday special for us. Oh and of course a really good Christmas movie.

We had eight sailboats in on the 26th, not a great sunset. But every sunset is special in its own way.

This RV came in the afternoon of the 26th. I meant to get a better photo of it but I never left the RV. It was a young couple with three children ( one maybe 4 or less??) and a dog. I wondered where they had spent Christmas Day. They did leave mid morning the next day. Of course I wondered how far they were going and where they would stop for the night. I bet they are on the way to South America. I will let you know where it came from once one of my detectives gets back to me.

It was time for snuggles.

No idea where Carlie was but she loves to nap in their crate.

When did Santa drop all this off? Big surprise to us both 🙂

Looks like Santa caught me have a very very tiny nap!

The carrot with dressing casserole on top was made mid afternoon. We had extra carrots and stuffing so two casseroles were made. This is, believe it or not, Is our old convention microwave. We needed two ovens to cook our meal. This one was outside. Talk about decadent! We plan to gift the old convection microwave to someone who needs it.

Meanwhile the new convention oven inside the RV ( now installed) was cooking the potato dish and the stuffed tofu turkey.

Aunty Ferne gave the girls colour coordinated small balls to play with and we gave them peanut  butter bubbles which should be fun. I got a lovely blown water glass from Guadalajara and two of my favourite style day dresses. Colin got two fun baseball caps and a few dozen new colourful socks.

Yum yum and so many left overs. Of course we had a few other veggie sides but this was the main attraction.

We always try to have a beach walk unless there is a serious reason not to.

I was well enough to do a walk and it ended up being so wonderful. I have really missed seeing the girls running.

They truly love the beach and would likely spend all day out there if we let them.

Only one paw down – both of them. They love to chase the birds and turn on a dime as the bird changes direction.

We invited Dianne and Bob, who purchased our old home in Holiday Park to join us. They are currently in RV2. Can you see that Carlie is in the air?

That is a tidal pool where the girls are and they are learning to be careful as they have been in over their heads a few times.

They seem to have no fear and even run into the ocean and the waves. We do have to watch them carefully. Today the waves were higher than usual and Carlie was being been pulled back into the ocean so she stopped paddling and started leaping forward. Colin was close by and would have rescued her. Happy that she is figuring it out on her own.

The beach was busy and it was pleasant watching all the families come and go.

The twins bring us such joy. We can’t believe how much their behaviour has changed and grown over the past several months.

In fact when I went to physio on the 24th Colin was checking them in our nanny cam and they never barked even once in the two hours that we were gone 😎

Christmas Eve we had our party leftovers and did the same again on the 25th. We were too tired to cook our regular Christmas meal and made the decision to celebrate Christmas on the 26th. Why not! We were still worn out and decided do what we wanted when we wanted to, so we had a relaxing few evenings watching Christmas movies and snuggled our girls. Christmas waited for us.

Happy December 25th.

We have had a wonderful few days. It feels like it has been Christmas everyday. The girls are changing daily. They keep coming back to us on the beach. Today was my first beach walk with them in two weeks( photos next post ). We were able to leave them alone for two hours on the 24th when Colin took me in for physio and they never even barked. He was watching them thru the nanny cam that we have. Today we went out delivering Christmas cards and a tiny gift to all here in the park and the girls sat and watched us walk around the park. They only barked 2 -3 times. The best news of all is the my knee is much better, I only have the occasional twinges of pain. Life is so good that we have been living in the moment of every minute of each day. I have so many photos to share but perhaps just a few days at a time. This will be the first time that I haven’t done a formal annual Christmas photo but the season is just beginning.

On Friday December 23rd, Santa Drew ( rv park 2 ) visited the entire Isla on his sleigh and with all his helpers delivered 750 bags of candy to the children.

Santa even drove his sleigh down the beach handing out his goodies.

Later Friday evening ( 23rd ) we hosted our first annual Christmas dinner for the RV Park since Covid began. We were here on the Isla last winter but keeping our distance from everyone as Covid numbers were very high in Mazatlan. So it was fun to be planning the evening again.

Frederico aka Fred, a BC Ferry Captain, was my official photographer of the evening as well as pumping out the Christmas tunes.

Some happy campers, Kathleen, Darwin, Audrey, Dave, Patricia and Dan.

Dianne manning her margarita table. She very generously made custom margaritas of all flavours all evening long.

Patrica, Dan and Karen in front of the colourful sunset.

Karen and Colin figuring out the Raid mosquito coils.

We even got to sit with our 22 plus guests and enjoy the gourmet Christmas dinner that everyone contributed to.

Once dinner was over Santa and Rudolph flew in for some fun.

Time for a few Santa jokes.

Rudolph had several jobs but one of the most important was to keep Santa’s hair in place.

Santa handed out some fancy party hats while Rudolph checked the list as to who got candy based on how naughty or nice they had been. It didn’t take too long to figure out that Rudolph liked to give out extra candy to those on the naughty list!

Dianne, Rudolph aka Fernanda aka Ferne, Kelly and moi!

Kelly and Frederico.  Everyone went home with a smile and hopefully a happy heart. A good time was had by all – especially Santa.

This post is full of larger photos and much smaller ones but I had to go though dozens of photos shared from about six photographers. I hope that you prefer to get a mixed up post rather than none.

Special thank to Dallas and his crew….

Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for staying with me all these years. Cheers to many more posts in our future.

Monday morning we were off to the medical imaging place here in Mazatlan. I had made an appointment for my MRI last week. For the most part partients are expected to get their x-rays or MRI’s etc before they see the doctor. Most of the hospitals even send their patients to this place to get their imaging tests done.

Because I was being given a tranquilizer an hour before the MRI for the sake of my claustrophobia and the fact that I could be out of it for up to eight hours Colin decided to drive us there and back. He could not imagine trying to load me into a pulmonia never mind getting me onto the lancha without dropping me in the ocean. We allowed enough time and arrived twenty minutes early but had to wait for the person in front of us to finish their business with reception. We even had a puppy sitter for the girls as we were gone close to 5 hours.

Finally it was our turn and based on what I had been told I was to take my ‘magic’ pill at 12:30PM. Oh, they also charged me 50 pesos/ $3.44CAD/$2.53 USD for it. So I reminded them that I needed to take it one hour before the MRI. I was given a pill wrapped in foil and an empty plastic water glass. I did have a water bottle with me. Later I saw that there was a water station across the room.

Colin’s photo of my regular knee X-ray.

So we payed all that we had to including some last minute x-rays requested by Dr. Cervantes. As we were sitting waiting for the x-ray procedure I became a bit dizzy. It took both Colin and the X-ray tech to walk me to the room. I had to sit right away. After the regular x-rays we were moved to another sitting area next to the MRI location. By about 1:15 I was suddenly level headed and felt like I could ride a bike or go for a walk!! Colin could tell that I was back to normal with lots of energy. The gentleman seated next to us went in for his ankle MRI 20 minutes late. Hmm I knew that I needed more medication if I had to wait until he was done, I was likely to flip out getting into the machine.

Never has a knee x-ray in this position before.

I promptly asked for for medication. I was told that it was impossible, I kept pushing even claiming that I would sign something that it was my choice. Nada. I asked for a half pill, again no. I insisted and they told me that I could come back tomorrow because ta second pill was dangerous 😯 and they could not give it to me. Three doctor levels came to see me and seemed to agree but then it was taken to the top level who said absolutely not. I argued that it had already passed through my system, at the dentist I need a numbing shot every 15 minutes, my system processes meds like that quickly. So I found a T3 ( Tylenol Codeine ) in my purse and swallowed it in front of all these people. It gave me some peace of mind and I hoped that it would do something to relax me.

No hospital gown for me as I was not wearing any metal.

As I was being put into the tube I was told that it was only a 10 minute procedure 😮 What?  Yes it was thirty minutes three years ago but they now had new software and it would only be ten minutes. So in I go, close my eyes and hope. The tube came up to my chest and I had the choice of leaving my arms and hands out over my head. They gave me ear plugs re the loud sounds but my ears were too small or the foam plug were not one size fits all.

Going into the tube.

This where I stopped this post last night at 10PM, I just could not continue. Quick snack and bed right after.

Today, Wednesday was much busier than expected. I solved many issues but ran out of time to even call the medical insurance company. I stopped and took in tonights sunset. So much to accomplish.

Actually I was up early today ( for me @ 7:30AM ) my dear friend Colleen from Toronto had arrived for the winter and was able to colour my hair today 😎 What a great feeling. She did a fabulous job.

I spent a good deal of time on the computer today organizing my absolute to dos.

So back to the MRI, we paid, I had it done and then we came home. Later that evening I got the Spanish report on my MRI. I translated into English and then the bottom fell out of my world. Finally I got my English translation today, cost me 400 MXN for that. Have a read…

After reading that I thought well I am done, looks like I would need a knee replacement. So yesterday ( Tuesday ) we picked up my MRI and x-ray images and went to see Dr. Cervantes. I can’t say enough about what a great medical doctor he is. He knew that I was upset and right away he said that I did not have four tears as the radiology report said nor any of the rest of it. Deep breathe. What was shown was some scaring from my miniscus surgery three years ago and no I did not need surgery. WOW!!! This is the second time he has corrected the reading of my MRI results.

However he was distressed about how swollen my right knee was. I told him that it was 100% better than four weeks ago. To him my knee was very swollen. He asked why I did not come in sooner, I said that it was because the swelling was so much better. However I still had pain and decided to spend the money for the MRI, 4200MXN/ $400.00CAD/$214.00USD. So very glad that I did. Dr. Cervantes showed us all the pockets of liquid around my knee. He said that had I waited much longer that my knee and the rest of my body would have become infected and that is was very serious. My father died of septicaemia from an infection.

My doctor did some mobility tests. I had to make a decision.

I had two options, Cortisone shot in the knee, meds and physio. Or just the meds and physio. Of course the cortisone would relieve most of my pain right away as well as speed up the diminishing of the the liquid in my knee. I asked him if it hurt and he said no, that he sometimes gave  himself cortisone shots. So despite hating needles and pain I went with the shot. Of course I wanted to get better ASAP. I won’t go into details but it surely did hurt. I almost broke Colins hand by squeezing it too tightly. About 5 – 10 minutes later the pain of injecting so much medication quickly started to diminish. So I went home with some to dos. I was ever so relieved at not having to have surgery again but I was totally worn out.

Tomorrow is yet another day with more adventures for me to deal with.

Or two and even better if they are chocolates.

I thought that life was supposed to be slower in paradise. Guess not. No matter where we are life seems to engulf us with all it holds. But better to be happy enjoying every moment and creating new memories than the alternative. I really wanted to post but truly had no free moments.

December 8th. The girls are really doing well with getting to the beach with no barking or any noises at all.

Then as soon as they are set free off they go, barking when they see a bird to chase.

Later that afternoon we joined in the the happiness of this graduation class from Lic. Biology Acuacutor. Note the yacht in behind. It was here for as long as the tele nova was being filmed.

Artsy sunset photo by moi!

December 11th sunset.

At least 80 people attended the RV1/RV2 auction ( silent and live ) to raise money for the Christmas coupon hand outs, on Dec. 11th. Instead of giving actual food hampers like Dallas does they give vouchers that can be used at the two stores here on the Isla.

We donated these two 5′ whips for ATVs for the final auction item. It brought in 2000 MXN pesos.That is the auctioneer on the right in the white shirt. By the end of the auction he had lost his voice. I have heard that they raised about 40,000MXN/ $2700.00CAD/$2020.00USD.

The sunset that evening from RV2. A much different view.

A few nights later.

Yes I am still doing my exercises. Ciela loves to lie across my throat and lick my nose when I am doing my lying down exercises. December 14th

Eight boats in the bay.

A few close ups.

Tomorrow morning I am going in for an MRI as well as specific X-rays of my right knee. The pain continues and it is worth the cost of the MRI to know the que pasa of what is happening in my body. Bottom line I will find out once the reports have been written if I need surgery and if not what is creating the pain. Because I am so claustrophobic of being in a tube and not being able to move I am being sedated for the procedure. This condition for me comes from being stuck in a plane next to the window with a basketball team who were drunk and were out of control. They were tossing things all over the aircraft. Not even the pilot could calm them down. It was very frightening. Flying had never been an issue for me and now I have to do deep breathing and always sit in an aisle seat. So the MRI is very terrifying for me.

Tonight.

Sunset this evening. First time ever that we have had ten boats in our harbour. Not easy to count as a few are directly behind another sailboat.

The film crew are still here. What do you see extreme right?

It almost looks like the girls ran thru the film scene. I don’t think that they did!!

Well I don’t think so!

Not sure if this yacht is part of the film or not!

A few sunset photos of that evening.

Movie film update…..

I think that this is the closest we will get to seeing the telenovela/soap opera.

Last Friday we went to a kids Christmas concert at El Velero. Jose the son of the owner of the restaurant, MIkkail, has been volunteering in an underprivileged area of Mazatlan and teaching music to several students. This was their first ever concert and for some their first time in a restaurant and for all a first time performing in front of an audience.

The concert was a great success.

I was happy to be a small part of the promotion for the event. It was a by donation event and because of all the RVers who attended and their generosity and of course others they were able to raise enough funds to purchase TWO additional keyboards. A wonderful start to the Christmas season.

Another person who attended the concert put these photos on a FaceBook page. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=9290757457604790&set=pcb.9290811380932731

Lovely sunset that evening.

The very next evening we went out to dinner with Dianne and Bob, neighbours and friends back home, Holiday Park Resort. They are staying in RV2 or a while.

And now, finally, the long awaited new guacamole recipe 😛 Special thanks to Michelle from Comox, BC

~3 avocados – smashed or mashed  😉

~1 large or two small green onions

~2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

~3 garlic cloves, minced

~1/2 to 1 jalapeno, diced

~lime juice to taste

~two drops of liquid smoke or to taste (suggest mesquite not hickory )

~salt to taste

~cayenne to taste if you prefer more heat

 

 

 

 

I have been absent from posting but we are having a wonderful time. My knee is still sore but other days it is okay. I am doing a full set of my exercises everyday and walking a bit on the beach as well. I was going to get an MRI just for the heck of it. Prices have gone way up 🙄 So I am going back to day by day. Got some great shots of the girls on the beach today. Somehow they got into deep water. We now know that they can swim 😀

Close up of one my plants from last season that did not bloom. Love its flowers this year.

We are building new friendships and renewing old ones. Sadly the girls are being rather vocal and we have been using their bark collars. They are enjoying all the various visitors we get everyday but seem to want to say hola rather loudly to everyone. Overall they are 90% better than last season, its just that they like to greet everyone. We have offers from folks who want to puppy sit.

Lacey lived next door when we arrived but had to move to RV2 for a few weeks re scheduling. The girls miss their playdates.

It is really difficult to come inside and sit at the computer with everything being so wonderful out there.  The outside is done for Christmas and Colin put up the inside coloured lights. Tomorrow I will put up our special decorations inside and our mini mini tree.

Thank you Cindy for this lovely photo of our Mountain Ash back home. I am sure that the winter birds will be happy.

As in years past I am accepting donations via E-Transfer or PayPal for the December 24th food hamper distribution to those that need help in providing a Christmas for their families. Click here for a synopsis of years past.

This is this years request for donations and their hope for this Christmas season. $24.00CAD will give a family a complete Christmas meal along with extras for a few days.

Photos from the past few years.

Volunteers help package the food.

The RV Park now has a Santa on a sleigh ( ATV dressed up ) who will go out December 23rd giving candies to all the children on the Isla. The official Isla Santa passed last year and now we have Drew who grew his white beard long these past months just for the children. Hopefully I will get a few photos.

Tres Amigos RVers has a committee who do many things to raise funds to also help the less fortunate on the Isla. They get the names of those in need from the heads of the various areas in the Colonia. These people get coupons to spend at one of the two food stores here on the Isla. We support both but I have a soft spot in my heart for Dallas and his Isla born wife Rocio.

This is a large one.

Surprised to see all these cruise ship visitors sitting close up to the RV fence. Perhaps they feel more secure.

In other news we have a broken toilet seat. Rather precarious 😳  Colin may may need to duck tape things for the time being. Not sure if we can get a replacement here. Sadly Erik our wonderful RV tech’s wife had a stroke last week. So this is not the time to be bothering him with things like this. Gracie is coming along but has a very long road to recovery.

PS……. I have not forgotten and that guacamole recipe will be in the next post.