Author: Contessa Jewall

Silly me! Did I really think that we would be dry camping in 99F temps? I just wasn’t thinking. We are staying in an RV Park we have stayed at before. The rate was $40.00USD but we were only charged $20.00 plus .50 cents to use Visa. They still had our Passport America number on file but I don’t think that we are still members. Colin did the checking in.

We arrived about 3PM and have had both A/C’s running since then. Now at 7:50PM it is down to 77F. By bedtime we will shut it down and just have open windows, like we did last night.

The weather on the Isla is much cooler with our constant wind. The girls are loving the heat here but I know that we would all prefer to be back in Mexico.

Once again I am worn out. So no blog but all is well. Carlie in on about day 7 of doing well. Our priority with her is to give her her meds on time several times per day.

We spend the time as we drive discussing what we should do first once we get home. So far we are on the same page. Today we only drove 169 miles but it still took over 4 hours as we had a lengthy road construction delay.

Tonight we are having a simple dinner of burgers and salad. I hope to get to bed early. You should be able to figure out  our next stop 😎 We will be staying there for four nights and I will have time to catch up on blog details of the past few days. And hopefully get some down time.

Tonight we are in Ajo, Arizona, staying at the Ajo Golf Course RV Park. All the other RV parks were full and this was all that was open. So happy to be here and have 50AMP ( it is a very dry 95F outside.). Not to mention internet.

It was a much shorter drive day, only 208  miles – which took closer to 6 hours on the road.  However we still had our fair share to bumps and potholes.

We had no problems with either side of the border. However we are worn out and need to decompress as we are driving again tomorrow. I know that some of you worry if you don’t hear from us.

Life is good, other than this very very dry air we are trying to adjust to.

Of course we had an incident or two, Stay tuned for details.

Carlie is doing well thus far.

Thanks for checking in……

….to the place I belong! Oh my, what a very very long day.  Even though we left at 7:40 AM, we drove for 10.5 hours. It took forever to drive 417 miles. The roads totally slowed us down. Plus as I mentioned recently, we are trying a new schedule re overnight stops due to having to leave the Isla earlier in the day. However I think that I screwed up. I was working on my timing, mileage and places to stay at night while the carpet cleaners were at the RV last weekend. Not really an excuse but I should’ve had calculators and maps outside with me.

A very long second day of travel. The roads were that bad that it took us 10.5 hours, actually 9.5 hours. We stopped to fuel up, to make breakfast and lunch. Not more than an hour total did we stop.

I think we are beyond long distance driving which we used to do. Sadly the condition of the roads has lead to extra time driving. Plus there are not that many RV parks or places to spend the night. Colin is really exhausted – he may go to bed without dinner. The good news is that tomorrow we are only driving 200 miles, about a 3.5 hours drive.  Plus we will be stopping at a full hook up RV Park in the USA.

The girls are doing really well and Carlie appears to be better. She is certainly happier.

Ciela has all these adorable positions as she sleeps.

We are happy that the RV is doing great mileage wise. In November we filled up at our favourite Pemex ( just before Culiacan) enroute to the Isla. Today we were able to use that same tank of diesel all the way to Navajoa. 210 litres for 5600 MXN. At least we won’t have to fill up again until we get to the US. Oh can anyone tell me if fuel is still cheaper in the US than here? I don’t have any extra time to research. FYI we got the best window wash at the truck stop north of Navajoa. The fellow wanted 30 pesos to do our huge front window. It was so sparkling clean that we gave him 50 pesos.

Such dedication to cleaning our windows.

Tonight we are in Santa Ana, Sonora at the Punta Vista RV Park, they are on FB. There is water and 15AMPS. 350MXN for the night. The sites are back in but we were allowed to stay in the middle of the road so we did not have to unhook. Dora has created a lovely environment including a garden setting to sit in the shade and relax. We were here well over 15 yers ago when her brother was running the park. It is now a family affair.

Today I noticed a strange thing. Ever since Ciela has been a puppy she would only sit on Colin’s lap as we drove back and forth whenever we were in the RV. In the past Carlie was lucky to get 2 or 3 lap visits per year when we traveled. She usually slept on the dash, or in the bed between our seats or on me. Ciela has yet to sit in Colins lap this trip. She has sat on me a few times. And they have shared the bed between us a few times. I look forward to seeing how it will all unfold. Perhaps because her sister has been ill she is giving up sitting on Colin’s lap.

Basking in the glow of the sunset.

Looks like I didn’t take to many photos today. Lets see what tomorrow brings.

****This is the second post I published today. Don’t miss the first one , Unwanted Early Morning Intruder.

Continue reading “Sorry no internet”

One of my favourites. I love the bit of peach edging along the end of each petal.

Ready for the bodega.

Yesterday ( Wednesday ) Colin arranged for two trucks as we usually do to take our ‘stuff’ to the bodega. Two trucks have alway been more than enough. It wasn’t yesterday and one of the trucks had to come back for a second load. Plus Colin had the Jeep full of other ‘stuff’. We are storing much more than normal.

There is nowhere in Canada nor the USA that has such delicious burger buns. Note the avocado, pickles, tomatoes and cheese. Not to mention all those wonderful seeds on the bun.

So much important ‘stuff’.

Our good friend Nancy has a few pet iguanas.I bet that they don’t bark! But they do expect her to feed them. Cabbage is a favourite.

There was so much ‘stuff’ in our area of the bodega that Colin could not get back far enough to get a photo.

Lots of muscle required.

Miss Carlie resting in her carry bag coming back from the vet about 10 days ago. She has had six good days now. Hopefully the daily driving in the RV will be good for her. She is so good – she lets me give her her ‘stomach gel’ before every meal with no fuss. She even licks my nose as thank you.

This fellow is affectionally known as King Kong, mostly because of his muscles. He was good at organizing the maximum amount that would fit inside each of the trucks. This vehicle is normally used to transport folks around the Isla including tourists, but space is limited. He was more than happy with the money for the third load.

I hope that my Desert Rose survives as I have had this plant since 2009.

Today, Thursday, after the girls beach walk, Colin power washed the roof of the RV – lots of dust 8O. Then he washed down the entire RV and cleaned all the windows. I was doing some inside stuff including making egg salad for lunches on the road as well as arranging to transfer money from our Canadian bank to one of our Mexican banks. Another busy day.

I was going to do this post last night but a very special friend dropped in to say goodbye to us until we return in October. We had a lengthy and most pleasant visit. Meanwhile our dinner was cooking in the crockpot. New recipe and very tasty. We will have the leftovers on Sunday when we will have electricity again so we can heat it up.

This past week the weather has been perfect ( for the most part ) and the waves were larger and interesting to watch. Unfortunately we didn’t have more than a few moments here and there to sit and observe.

A relaxing moment together before the packing began in earnest.

However, next October we will be living here full time. That thought should keep me going all summer.

Colin was able to figure out the plant watering situation today. To be honest I am not sure of the details and I don’t care to know. Our neighbour Humberto told us that it would be very windy and at times the rain might flood everything. In my mind if the plants die then we will simply replace them as needed. However I do have some favourites but it is all out of my hands. I have no intention of even thinking about them again.

Colin was also able set up to have a load of pea gravel delivered before we arrive in October. We never put any under the RV last November as we were already parked. It will be nice to have it all completed.

Our last cruise ship before we leave.

We are going to miss this place so very much. Six months should pass quickly. If the house sells we will be back here sooner.

They were great puppies. They have grown and do their own thing at times but are still attached as twins. Today Ciela gave one bark ( it was a ‘I can see a cat bark’. )  Carlie who was asleep in her crate came running in just a few seconds. I am so going to enjoy cuddling them as we drive home. Lucky me.

We only have three more nights here at our Isthmus Isla RV Parque. Tick, tock 😕 It seems that we have run out of time to get ‘it’ all done. Thank you so much for your comments over the last few  blog posts. From suggestions re vets to medical health insurance for us and so much more. I would like to reply to some of you and hope to get to that one day. I want to thank Laney for your comments re IMSS and self insuring. It has helped me to not worry about it any longer – I have enough other things to worry about. I just want to mention that last week I was told about a fairly new hospital in town called the Mazatlan General Hospital. It is not a private clinic but much better than IMSS. Apparently IMSS is run differently in every state in Mexico and here in Sinaloa it is not very good, even the Mexicans don’t want to go there. The Mazatlan General basically has good doctors and charges based on what you can pay with your income. That is all I know. Do any of you have more information to share?

Our girls give us as much love as we give them. Over and over everyday.

Our gate has finally been installed. It needs to be painted and I think it is okay but certainly not what I was expecting. However I love having it. Looks I have started a job list for next fall. Sadly Genie & Joe left just a few hours before it was installed last Wednesday, the 10th. They are now safely back in the USA and missing their home here on the Isla.

The orange machine at his feet is a welding machine.

We had quite the scare after the gate was installed. We had no electrical power. However it was only in our RV. The fellow installing the gate used a large welding machine that was plugged into our RV outlet. It was quite the panic situation as we had no idea if parts of the electrical rv system had been permanently damaged. Colin was able to discover that Joe had power at his post which meant that the problem was solely with our RV. Erik responded quickly to the SOS call. He and Colin put it together and Erik suggested that Colin go the meter on the street and reset the breaker. Another miracle. Thank goodness that the RV was not damaged.

Colin running 3 RV electric cords together to reach Joe’s post.

We are for certain listing our home in Kelowna on May 1st. If it does not sell this summer we will still be moving here full-time in October. We are not in a rush to sell but it certainly would be nice to have it sold. Just have to wait for the right person to fall in love with it.

These goats are right next door to us. They came along the rocks munching everything in in their path. Hopefully they won’t get to my plants once we leave.

The same cleaners that did the Jeep last week were here this last Saturday to do the RV carpets and the furniture. Everything looks so clean and smells like new. So special to have this service right here on the Isla. However they were here for close to 5 hours. We gave them a huge tip.

As you can easily see they did a great job on this carpet. I don’t remember it being so white.

Our palapa builder Alex came late that same afternoon to put in one more support post at the front end of the palapa. This had been suggested by our very very first palapa builder, Lupe, after Colin asked him to come and check the construction and strength of our palapa. So glad that was done. That lone post was also cemented into the ground.

Doing the hole for the post. Being diggers themselves the girls were quite interest in his technique.

Also that same day Erik came to do some RV work. While cleaning the dust off the engine he discovered that a fuse for the transmission was almost totally corroded. We likely would not have got very far without being stopped in our tracks on the road north. Today Erik came to replace that fuse and did the others at the same time. One of them was almost as bad. They were the original fuses from 2001. We are so fortunate to have him here looking out for us. He will be removing our water pump once we leave and will install it again just before we arrive in October. We can’t afford to take a chance on it going missing.

Alex and Colin deciding to add yet another cross beam. The two chairs are the inside dining chairs drying in the sun.

Oh yes we also had a friend or two drop by that afternoon. Gosh as I write this I once again realize what a crazy busy week we have had. Last Saturday I was so unsettled from all the people coming and going and the noise and activity that my solar plexus was really stirred up. Of course the carpet was wet and would need a few days to completely dry. Needles to say all surfaces including the bed were covered with stuff. I managed to push things around so I could lay on the bed and I slept for several hours. I did not wake up feeling any better and could not eat so went back to bed for the night.

This bottom wine area went to the top of the photo. This extra shelf allows the same area for vino but a full shelf for something else. Colin will be finishing the edging to match the cabinets.

So here we are working hard to get ready to leave. I have cleaned out many many of the things usually left in the RV in order to make room to pack in more of our personal items to bring down here. Just another thing to add to the job list for October. Which cutlery will we keep, or even set of dishes. Maybe I can keep my entertaining items in a bin under an outside table next year which might give me another cupboard to put clothes into. It will be fun sorting it all out.

Again making an extra shelf.

Oh I almost forgot, Erik also put in four extra shelves into my pantry ( last Saturday ) to give me more storage space.  I love them. Should’ve it done this long ago. I have several ideas in the works to make our home here much more efficient.

The nightly sunset evening party boat. This was taken from inside the RV thru the windshield with some items drying on our clothesline. We simply love it here and both feel so relaxed and at home.

I was asked and just want to clarify that we are only renting this site. It has room for three RV’s but it was not quite ready for full occupancy this season. Who knows what next fall will bring?

The wind picked up and Carlie’s shade umbrella went flying – for the second time. Our neighbor Phil rescued it the first time. Now we are placing it closer to the RV rather then the water front.

Great sunset last night.

Carlie has had 4 good days so we did not take her back to the vet this morning. He wanted to put her on some neurological medication 😯  Long story short from last vet visit – she reacted to the B complex shot and puked all over the Didi car we were in. Then she could not walk at all once we got back home. We have decided on our own to feed her first thing when she gets up to go out, even at 6AM. She does her business and then goes back to bed for a few hours. Just half her breakfast and again about the same amount at bedtime. We are beginning to think that she may be so hungry that that is why she shakes in pain and then can’t walk. The extra kibble has worked for four days now.

The new gate. I really miss my sunsets and will work out next season how to get up over the rocks on the other side of the road to get great shots. It is a bit rocky and uphill and I need to be stable on a path and not fall.

Meanwhile, shower time and then another late dinner. Oh my, I just downloaded 27 photos, but I haven’t time to use them all tonight. I will do my best.

Fun shot thru the wind block.

11:26PM, I must get to bed. Only two full days left.

How lucky we were that our RV was directly under the path of totally. The eclipse made its first landfall here in Mazatlan.

Sunday night there was a parade. Official or not,I don’t know, but what fun for all the visitors to this wonderful city.

Mazatlan was crowded with folks visiting from all over the world. Sadly many reservations were not honoured, including car rentals. Getting from the airport into Mazatlan on Sunday evening became a five hour nightmare. It will be interesting to get the estimate on the number of visitors we had.

Traffic from Culiacan came to a standstill on the autopista wth huge line ups at the toll booths.

From 6AM on this morning, we were aware of vehicle after vehicle heading to the point on Chivos facing east. Many were walking. Many had spent the night on the ground or on the sand around Casa Flor. We had neighbours a few doors down that were having an eclipse party with their family. The air around us was full of excitement and anticipation.

People had scouted out what was to them the best location. This was the top of El Faro. As you can see there was cloud but it cleared just at the right moment of totally.

Waiting for show to begin.

People were everywhere.

The eclipse started at the time expected. There on the top right of the sun the moon began to cover the light. Bit by bit the moon just kept covering the sun.

I do not know this location other than it was along the malacon. Cultura had set up music. A lovely touch. There actually were events all over the city including viewing telescopes for everyone to use.

We made sure that Ciela had the proper viewing glasses.

About 30 minutes in. Photo by Colin.

NASA was here in Mazatlan for this momentous event. In fact they were just a few miles down the road from us.

So glad that the Isla was not as crowded as the Malacon.

We didn’t experience the hippos but pretty much all of the following happened “the temperature quickly drops, the colors of shadows become tinny, day flips to darkness, stars precipitously appear, birds stop chirping, bees head back to their hives, hippos come out for their nightly grazing, and humans shout or hide or study or pray or take measurements until, seconds or minutes later, sunlight, and the familiar world, abruptly returns.”  Ciela was on my lap and began to whimper, Carlie was sleeping inside. The pelicans had disappeared, the few that we saw were heading to their roost for “the night”. It was both eerie and magical. Folks along the beach cheered once totality happened and then suddenly were very quiet. After four minutes and eighteen seconds the sun ever so slowly began to reappear. Yeah it was back 😎 Such a very extraordinary special day.

We were ready and watching.

Strange cloud formations.

The light was changing and the pelicans were flying home.

It was getting close to totality and the sky darkened. I think we had 14 or 15 boats in the bay.

Very close to the total eclipse. Photo by Colin.

Wow, just wow. It was almost too much to take in. Photo by Colin.

There will be hundreds of photos all over the internet. The better ones of course were taken through a very strong telescope.

I wish that our pets could speak. I have no idea how long Carlie has been suffering. Perhaps since before we left Canada, really hard to know. However in the past few days she has bounced back – like really back 😛 Neither of us can remember the last time she was so active. She is running around and not hesitating to use the ramp or the stools in the RV. She is full of love and keeps kissing her sister and us and both Joe and Genie. It is so wonderful to see her ‘almost back to normal’.

Monday vet appointment. Getting ready to take the xray. Both Colin and I asked the vet to draw blood and do a check but she said that Carlie was too small to take too much blood from??? Also too weak!

We had no choice but to bring her to that new vet back on March 22nd as our vet was gone for the day. We faithfully gave Carlie her meds for a full week ( over Semana Santa ) but she continued to have very little vitality and remained in pain. Being the Easter weekend there was nothing we could do so I gave her Gabapentin as required. Monday, April 1st Colin was ready to take her to our regular vet but again his office was closed. So we returned to the first vet. She was surprised that Carlie was not any better. She decided to do spinal and hip x rays as that could be the cause of her pain. Colin quietly said that the problem was in her gut which was irritated as she told him last week. She insisted on the x ray – when it’s your baby it matters not the price. However this was an unnecessary process. On the other hand we now have an x ray showing how perfect her hips and spine are.

So Colin and Carlie were sent home with another bottle of strong antibiotics and more Gabapentin for pain. She was a very good girl and did not make a fuss. But it was obvious she was not well.

Another long morning for Colin with no food. The mango smoothie was delicious. Carlie is exhausted.

The next morning was Tuesday, April 2nd and Colin was waiting at the door of our regular vets office when he arrived for work. I had to given her a pain pill that morning. Carlie was thoroughly examined. Dr. Rafael, who has been a vet for over 38 years asked about the x ray and said that it had nothing to do with Carlie’s problem but that it showed she was in good health in that regard. He also wondered why she was on antibiotics as she had no infection. He said that her problem was in her gut and it was some sort of irritation that at times caused her much pain. So he gave her a liquid dewormer and an injection of B12. He also checked her stool under a microscope.

Now Carlie is getting Magaldrato/Dimeticona, three times per day, this is a liquid gel that coats her gut to soothe any irritation or pain (Magaldrate is an aluminum-containing antacid. Magaldrate is used to treat heartburn, indigestion, or stomach upset ). She is also on Pantoprazol every 12 hours ( Pantoprazole reduces the amount of acid your stomach makes. It’s used for heartburn, acid reflux and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) – GORD is when you keep getting acid reflux. It’s also taken to prevent and treat stomach ulcers ). We could see an improvement within 24 hours and she has continued to improve every day since. What a relief. We will be seeing the vet yet again this Tuesday.

That same afternoon, our very special friend Mary, who was here for 3 days, came for a visit and dinner. I also saw her unexpectedly in Edmonton last fall. You can read about that by clicking here. The moment Mary arrived we never stopped chatting. Colin had Erik here that day to work on some small RV projects which he did even in the dark. Erik then came in for a sit down visit as well. Mary eventually asked when we would be having dinner and Erik left.  We had the best of visits and she left shortly after 11PM, back to Mazatlan and her Airbnb. Sadly there were no taxis, pulmonias, busses nor Ubers and she had to walk all the way back. We felt very bad about that. However my friend is a big girl who used to live here in Mazatlan and she knows the ropes. It was not dangerous but somewhat scary and nerve racking. It was so wonderful to see you Mary  😎

I made a shrimp stirfry with tons of veggies in a gingery sauce. No photo of the cooked meal but we were all hungry and busily eating.

I was doing some muscle testing.

Forgot to mention that the wife of the owner of the building next door ( Genie and Joe’s side of the compound) came by selling fresh caught tuna. Her husband just came off the boat the night before. Best tuna ever.

Since then I spent part of a day researching where to purchase Sympatico Trio for the girls. It is very expensive. I was lucky enough to find Discount Pet Medications. They each need one pill per month and it costs $27.00CAD per pill, each. Thanks to my research I am only going to pay $16.78CAD each pill. That is a savings of $20.44 Cad per month, just over $245.00CAD per year.

This past Wednesday was the day our Jeep got an extremely thorough cleaning ( over 2 hours of work ) on the inside for 500 MXN plus tip. A young couple has started a carpet cleaning business of the Isla. They are doing a wonderful job. So happy for them. They will be doing the inside of our RV next week.

The Jeep looks better than new.

Meanwhile we were going to be six for dinner Wednesday evening. Joe did the cooking and we ate inside our RV. Once again I neglected to take photos of how the seating worked out. Glenn and Amy provided the shrimp which Joe did a great job of cooking, creating a special pasta dish. I made salmon pate for happy hour and a large salad for dinner and Genie brought another salad. It was a very special evening.

Colin, Glenn and Joe.

Ciela sleeping on her godmother Genie.

Carlie begging for some attention from Colin.

Friday was an unexpectedly long day for us. Colin had found our second bank, Scotiabank. They actually have better interest rates than Intercam. There are only two branches in Mazatlan but they have ATM machines everywhere. We thought we had an appointment for noon but were not seen until 1:30PM. The bank was full and there were only 2 bank officers working that day. We had Octavio who was wonderful, answered all all of our questions and more. He was extremely efficient. While we were filling out paperwork he would go out to the waiting area and help a few who were patiently waiting. Then back to stand and then back and forth. It was amazing to watch his professionalism and his eagerness to help others. At one point I asked him if he got paid extra because he  spoke English – he did. He is certified bilingual and was the first to get extra pay in all of Sinaloa.

However as you all know things move slowly in Mexico and that means lot of waiting. We were tired but no where near upset but rather hungry. We left very satisfied with the service at about 4:45PM. Yes, were there 4 hours and 45 minutes. Fortunately Genie & Joe were able to let the girls out to pee and a bit later fed them. I would not have been so relaxed if the girls were alone all that time. Colin & I thought it would be quick in and out. There was tons of traffic along the malecon getting back to the embarcadero. Hmmm, the city was filling up as the eclipse is tomorrow.

Colin and I were exhausted and had a quiet Friday evening. I may have been in bed by 9:30PM. Saturday afternoon we had friends Dennis and Patricia (they travel further south than us ) over for an early and long happy hour. We had a marvellous time. Sad that it had to end. I may have been in bed at  9:30 that night as well.

The hours flew by during our visit with Dennis and Patricia.

Today Colin waxed the RV, polished the chrome bits and much more. I got my desktop organized and this post written. We have no plans to leave our compound until Tuesday. So many people coming to the Isla today, lots and lots of traffic. Many vehicles piled high with camping gear. Chivos will be busy tonight. Sadly it is unusually chilly for this time of year. I have worn a sweater for a few days now. Usually I can’t even be in the sun because of the heat. Sadly the climate is unsettled everywhere.

Phew, I do believe that I am caught up with my blog. Guess where I’ll be at 9:30PM tonight 🙄

Oops 🙁 I neglected to take a photo of our visit with Tris and Merle a week or so ago. Nor a photo of Nancy and Randy when they visited us on March 29th. We have known both these very special couples since 2009 when we  all RVed together at Tres Amigos. Now Colin and I have finally joined them here on the Isthmus. We are in a very special area here on the Isla, surrounded by many many friends.

Sometimes it is spinning quickly and here and there is slows down a bit, but it never stops. I have tried to write a proper post with all the que pasa’s happening now.  Sometimes we just have to stop and eat. We have been particularly busy making decisions and researching a bit more here and there.

The one major thing that happened today is that we will be listing our home with a realtor on May 1st. If the house does not sell, it won’t charge our plans about moving here. One day someone will fall in love with it.

However Carlie has been our major concern. The vet on Monday was confusing.  A few X-rays were done but that is not her problem. Yesterday, Tuesday, Colin took our #1 girl into an another vet. This was with La Jungla, whom we have always used since 2009. However the day that Carlie was extremely sick and in pain we had to go to another vet as our vet now only works a few hours every morning and was already gone on March 22. Also on April 1st he was not working ( a holiday for some ) and we had notchoice but to take Miss Carlie back to the first vet.

She did not have a good day yesterday, However today she is a tiny bit better. Meanwhile Ciela is down in the dumps and refused to eat. I think she is upset with her sister being gone off and on and to her it must appear that she is being neglected. Colin had to carry Carlie in her bag most of yesterday, as she was having pain again and could not walk very well and her legs kept buckling. That is okay today.

I know that many of you are concerned so this is just a quick post with an update. Details as soon as I have an hour or more.

Your comments have helped so much. Right now it seems that we will be self insuring re health issues and likely joining IMSS. However we learned something very important yesterday but I have yet to find time to do the research.

Stay tuned.