Author: Contessa Jewall

Thank you Colin for getting up and taking these splendid shots. Happy to share these with you. The last shot is a panorama created from ten individual shots. No colour enhancement was done – this is just like Mother Nature painted. I believe that most of you can click on the photo once or twice to see the full image.

Actually I have a great deal to share and I like to do so as it makes for a great diary recording details of our life. We love, love, love being here. I can’t think of anything major, nor minor for that matter, that we are not happy about. The palapa is great, the weather is perfect and the girls and us enjoy the beach as often as we can.

We did get some R & R in about three weeks after we arrived.

I even got my moss rose seeds planted, the ones that I saved from our garden back home. That small beige fence was to try and keep the girls in the yard. It is a steepish drop down to the rocks and ocean. However nothing will stop the chocolates when a feral cat goes past. Colin has since added a higher fence but I don’t like it because I want a clear view. Solution in progress.

As you know there are 3 sites here in ‘our’ RV Park. Sometime last September I shared with a few people that we had two spots available. By the end of that month G&J had snapped one up. They moved into our compound as I sometimes like to call it December 10th. I always wanted to live in a compound just like the Kennedys 😉 Their original check in was January 1st but they couldn’t wait another day.

Thursday December 7th, three loads of soil were delivered and then placed all over G&Js site in order to level it. Here they are shovelling the dirt out and then they would carry it over to level the area. That took several hours.

As well an electrical 50 amp RV plug needed to be installed. Water had to be hooked up and a sewer need to be dug. But by the time the fellows came back from a late lunch the sun was getting lower in the sky. As I explained before, the isthmus is built on huge rocks. These guys used a pick axe to dig down to install a sewer pipe to reach G&Js RV.

They did the same for us but in the daytime. Colin put our Jeep in position and let it run with the lights on. Colin and I came up with a few large beam flashlights. They just kept working until they were done.  Such very hard workers.

The pea gravel for G&J site arrived as planned the morning of the 8th, however the wrong size gravel had been delivered. Our handyman called the patron who authorized that he pay for the mistake and not G&J. Meanwhile a front end loader arrived from another construction site and moved the gravel to the entrance to the park. Amazing.

The next day, the morning of the 9th, the proper pea gravel was delivered. All that landscape cloth you see had to be covered shovel by shovel before they could move their RV in. It took us hours to get that gravel moved in our site. Suddenly the handyman and his workers began to help J move the gravel, shovel full by shovel full. That huge full truck load was spread in 90 minutes. G&J kept giving the workers both water and coke and I think at the very end beer. They generously tipped the workers for their extremely difficult work in all the heat and humidity. Now they could finally move their RV in.

Sunset on the 8th.

Colin had arranged for some tree trimming. We got a dent and a few scratches on the roof of our RV. The road was now clear.

We still have things that need to be done here in the park but have decided to wait until January.

Here they come the morning of the tenth.

Welcome to the Isthmus RV Parque. Sadly our internet line was somehow pulled down. Of course that took the rest of the day to sort of but we did have internet before dark.

Looking pretty settled the next day.

Spontaneous happy hour to welcome them and the success of our wee park.

So much happens on a daily basis that I run out of time to post. Last week we ate grilled cheese sandwiches three nights in a row. Our time has been taken up doing things for us and for our RV Parque. I love giving however I do need some quiet time for me. I don’t regret anything that I have done the past few weeks. My wish for Christmas is another 20 hours in each day 😎 Today was busy but I did did get a few hours to myself to read.

We have had many impromptu happy hours this past week ( hence the grilled cheese sandwiches ).  Always fun to spend time with others.

We have begun to eat well again. I made a veggie ground round spaghetti casserole in the crock pot yesterday and the night prior Colin make a fantastic salmon fettuccine with tons of fresh mushrooms.

Colin and I put up our outdoor Christmas decorations just this past Friday. This has to be the latest we have ever done so. Then Colin started putting up the inside Christmas lights. While he prepared dinner I put up the rest of the inside decorations. We ere both so relaxed and happy to have it done. I love Christmas but circumstances are different this year.  Setting up an entire new site and developing an original RV Parque takes much more time than expected. But we are having fun doing it all.

Very quick shots taken thru the RV windows.

However we have neglected to take photos of everything we have done but on the other hand I have some very different things we have been part of to share in the days to come.

I am officially getting my crown ( for the tooth  😳 ) this Wednesday. After that its just going to be Colin and I relaxing and enjoying every moment to the fullest.

Last weekend there was a lovely wedding on the beach that music playing until 5:30AM. I didn’t sleep much and finally got up to read. So last night there was another event, don’t know what ( perhaps a pasada ) for, but it was closer.  Again the music went until 5:30 AM. Colin slept through it all, but I woke up every 30 -50 minute but was able to fall asleep again.

Tres Amigos continues to have a variety of events and fundraisers. We have not participated. We have been told how bad the biting bugs are this season. So wonderful that we have no bugs here 😀

I finally finished getting my plants planted and two flowers beds seeded with wild flowers just outside the wall along the road. Took a bit of energy to clean out the beds of debris and old weeds but we did. The seeds were sown yesterday. Hard to believe that we have been here 6 weeks but there just wasn’t time to get that project completed. However we are going to be here long enough that we will see them bloom.

We have been able to see so many fireworks since setting up here. Most are coming from Mazatlan but a few are from the Isla as well. Such a privilege to be able to see them several times per week.

I am very frustrated with using my iPhone for photography.  It is fast and I’m able to get them online quickly using Air Drop. However I really prefer my ‘real’ camera. When I download those photos they go into proper areas, day by day and are dated. I have lost so many photos I think with theiPhone, because they are all mixd together and unless I download everyday they sort of get lost. Guess I need to get more organized. Maybe next year. So I plan to go back to my real camera tomorrow.

A bit of Christmas with more photos to come.That is me working on this very post tonight. I tried to finish this last night but had to stop for dinner. Poor Colin, he was so tired tonight that he went to bed without dinner. Hmm no wonder, I put just over 5 hours into this post.

Credit cards:

~just found out this afternoon that my personal Visa card has been compromised. Somehow Amazon ( ??? .ca or .com ) have been charging me $15.00 US per month since May.  Looks like it could be for Prime which I do not have. The strange thing is that every month I check my Visa statement with each receipt. Nothing was out of line 🙁

We went to the nursery last Saturday and got extra soil and a few plants. However things have happened since then and they have not yet been planted. Very very soon I hope.

~as I was sorting that out with Visa I discovered that charges were made in Paris yesterday on my Visa card at a travel agent for $1671.38CAD. However much I would like it to be true, but it is not.

~thus far I have been on the phone holding for close to four hours. At the moment I am waiting for the FRAUD department to answer.

Salt water pond full of happy egrets.

OOPS………40 minutes later after finally speaking with a human we were cut off and I am starting all over again 😡  I had given her a for certain phone number to call me back on but she said if we were cut off she could only call back to our home number. Well she never even tried as we have phone messages call forwarded to our emails.

Heading to the Isla for some surfing.

Ciela:

~she appears to be totally back to normal.

Both of the twins love Katia. Ciela especially. Once she saw the massage table being set up Tuesday, she sat at the top of the stairs patiently waiting. I did have to cancel my massage last week because of my root canal. Once the sheet was down she jumped up onto the table from the recliner on the far left. Ciela lay as still as she could be as Katia gave her some attention. when her ” treatment ” was over Ciela jumped up and ran all over like a whirling dervish.

Colin:

~last week he stepped on a rock helping the girls out of a rocky wavy area in the ocean. He had a small cut  on the one foot, which between us we thought we had addressed. Then the pain stopped but started again ( rather aggressively ) last Sunday. So Monday morning before we went into Mazatlan, he went to the local Isla doctor. She confirmed that it was inflamed and then gave him three different meds and a lidocaine gel. Of course he is supposed to be off his feet for several days but this is almost impossible. However he really is trying and if he doesn’t pull his full weight down on the affected area then the pain is tolerable.

Carlie was more cautious and would not lie down and relax.

Contessa:

~I saw Dr Paty ( the dentist ) Monday about noonish. As my pain remained at the same high level I completed the antibiotics and the anti inflammatories plus the self prescribed heavy duty pain killers. I was tired of constant pain, it wore me right out. Dr Paty was not happy that I was taking so much medication but I stood my ground. She had received the X-rays from the root canal specialist and she said that it was a perfect root canal and that there was no infection. There was no reason for me to have pain. Other than the fact  that a perfectly healthy live root was cut from a live healthy ligament 😥  She said that it can takes weeks to heal. Again I stood my ground saying that I have had several root canals over the years with no further pain. She was concerned about my medication intake. I told her that I could not live without the meds re the pain. I mentioned that the temporary filling had not been levelled and could that be a part of the pain? She did another ( normal looking ) X-ray. The she did the graphite paper test to check high points on that filling. Yes the filling actually was high.

Colin managed to get photos of the sunset. Monday. I just slept and slept. My body was/ still is worn out.

~so she filled it down and almost immediately I felt strange tingling sensations all over my lower right side jaw, even between my upper lip and nose. So strange, this went on for over an hour. I surmise that the high filling was being been pushed up by my lower teeth. Thankfully the pain is decreasing.

~so next Monday I see Dr. Paty again and she will remove the temporary filling and redo it, seal the root canals and and she has decided I need a crown as well. 14,000MXN for the crown ( I already paid $5,500.00 ) so a grand total of $1127.00USD or $1534,00CAD. Good thing Santa sent us a memo last month that he was not going to visit us 😎

CREDIT CARD UPDATE:

~back and forth holding for this company or that company. I got dropped at least twice but it may have been three times. Very long story short, my card has been cancelled and a new Visa card is being mailed to me at home. As luck would have it, a very very wonderful friend has my mail key and will be bringing it to me end of next week. Along with a much needed RV part 😀

Does anyone have a prescription for anti drama medication???

The poor girls missed their beach walk today as we both needed to be here to speak with Visa. This compromised credit card thing happened to me long ago while here on the Isla and the replacement Visa card was delivered to me on the beach. Rather amazing 😛

Yes, it is finally complete 😀 Colin carefully followed the construction and made a few suggestions here and there. We are confident that it will be a able to withstand high winds but not certain about a Hurricane 3 or higher.

Very heavy supporting beams. Our last palapa had cement posts.

Colin insisted that the holes be deep and also that cement was added.

We definitely needed some protection from the sun.

Love our view.

It was about this point that Colin had an epiphany. The main beam had to be raised several inches so that when leave we can actually get out. Once our engine is on the airbags start to inflate and the RV rises. Had Colin not thought of this, we would have had a major problem to back the RV out.

Once the problem was discovered and the solution found the building of the palapa continued.

The tall yellow and white house belongs to RVers Drew & Jeannie. The next white house ( closest to us ) belongs to our loverly Mexican neighbours.

It is turning out to be a larger palapa than we expected. No complaints about it though. Once the roof in front of the RV was completed we removed the large window screen.

End of the day.

The next morning the palm fronds arrived.

This old timer came along to help. He kept his unlit cigarette in his mouth the entire time. What he is doing is splitting the palm frond in half by splitting the spine in half by simply using his hands.

Half of the branch is carefully placed one at a time.

At least two layers of palms,, then heavy plastic sheet and more layers of palms, all covered by a net ( my request ).

The first set of support braces.

We decided to not have the roof come too far down so we could enjoy the full vista. I really like how my mini palms make it all come together.

If you look up, you can see a bit of a pattern from the palm fonds. Very neat.

Taken the day after the full moon.

I am still in pain because of the root canal. Thank goodness for drugs.

Even more palapa photos coming.

We have been having at least 2 -3 sets of people dropping by on a daily business. Only one or two from Tres Amigos. have dropped by. Most folks just want to know the cost of our rent and can they get that third last site. Ideally we want RVers to be here long term, ie a 5 month commitment. Many just want a month here and there. We and our friends are firm on renting two sites and hope that the 3rd site will work out as well. Hopefully not a 5th wheel unless they wish to drive in. We all want to have our own private patios.

This past Sunday morning as we were being “interviewed” about the third site, I noticed out of the corner of my eye the girls munching on a small seashell. Basically they ate a bit of the edginding.  Carlie did not look good but she came out of it. Ciela on the other hand could hardly catch her breath and appeared to be choking. I first thought that she had tiny pieces of shell all through her throat that was moving downward. She was visibly suffering. I started googling the situation and other than immediate surgery ( it was a Sunday of course ) a possible solution was to mix tiny pieces of bread with some canned pumpkin. We had the ingredients, the thought was that the bread would absorb the pieces of shell and the pure pumpkin puree would help slide it our of her body. Ciela gobbled up what I served her but just lay still on her stomach. What to do, what to do?

Ciela walked around looked for something green to eat. She then started eating the lower leaves of my mini palm trees. There was some grass growing two sites over and Colin got her this batch. She ate that and then the same amount a second time. Quite a lot I thought.

I held her for a while and then placed her on the chaise. Carlie soon came over to keep Ciela company. So sweet.

We had already scheduled Katia and her fiancé to come by for drinks and snacks. Interesting how Carlie jumped up to sit with Allen. Ciela had settled a bit but she was only about 60%. Once they left we sat with Ciela holding her close. We expected her to start upchucking all that grass but she did not. It took her over ten hours before she had a poop, no sign of grass nor pumpkin. However today, this Tuesday morning, about 2AM she threw up few times in the RV. There was a bit of grass and pumpkin. At this point we have no idea where it all is. She is doing better but still very sleepy but still wanted to go to the beach today and chase birds. Her breathing is back to normal but she is rather tired.

I had tenderness in my mouth off and on Saturday. Saturday night was very uncomfortable and when I awoke Monday morning I knew that I required a root canal. OUCH! 

The last root canal that I had was back in 2014 with Dr. Paty and all remains 100%.  So she was my first stop yesterday ( Monday @ 1PM ). Yes I needed a root canal but she has not done them for many years and in all honesty wanted me to go to a specialist Dr. Wong is an endodontist who only does root canals. Dr. Paty was able to get me an appointment with Dr. Wong just one hour later. I was in so much pain that I was ” okay whatever “. Dr. Paty also asked Colin if he could update her website photos which he took 9 years ago.

Here I am, a full day later and my teeth are aching. I have been told that it is due to extreme inflammation.

Having had a few root canals in my past, I could tell that Dr. Wong was very thorough,

He took an X-ray every step of the way.  It was a complicated situation in a very short tooth.

He competed the job and we left, I was in worse pain than what I had come in with. So I am on antibiotics and anti inflammatories. Part of the pain comes from having to hold my mouth so very wide open for over an hour. On the way home the freezing started to come out.  The pain was intense and I told Colin that I did not think I could make it home – ie pulmonia and lancha to the Isla. I wanted a morphine IV and an ambulance. Neither of my hip replacement surgeries gave me so much pain. Still this morning I have the pain. I guess I just have to let my mouth settle down and wait for the inflammation to go away.

So Dr. Wong only did a temporary filling and has sent me back to Dr Paty.  He has no idea what she will do.  The tooth is too short for a crown.  Meanwhile he never levelled the bite of the tooth.  So I am unable to bring my upper and lower teeth together on my right side or I scream. Dr. Paty won’t see me until Monday so that my mouth settles down.

Definitely  a double whammy. I really don’t like to be in constant pain. No one does.

I took this last Saturday from our site.

Sunday, the day prior to the full moon. Due to our double whammy we did not get any moon photos yesterday nor tonight.

Yesterday I finally got onto the beach for a long walk. From zero to 7000 steps. Yeah me.

I loved it, the girls loved having me with them.

Finally I got over my driving down aches and pains and setting up our new site physical issues. I took some, only to be found in Mexico, heavy duty anti inflammatories. So my toes are totally back to normal. Sorry but previous readers have banned me from posting any further toe photos 😳

Loved being on the beach. We did it again today. The water is so warm. Thank you El Nino. Quite possibly we may have a beach day before lunch tomorrow. I want to run into the waves and swim with our girls.

Colin took this past Thursday morning.

The sun was coming through our huge front window creating a good deal of heat. We did not want the palapa to block our view so Colin did a Robinson Crusoe and created this screen.

Colin cut a piece off of our dust screen ( used at Tres Amigos ). It works perfectly to stop the heat from the rising sun to penetrate our window.

So very creative. We only need to use it for an hour every morning.

We also set up our Shaw dish today.  Look at those numbers! We are able to get each channel that we are subscribed to. Well for now, it all might disappear on February 1st.

Colin went into Mazatlan to get veggies and on the way back he got this photo from the launcha, that is us, two over from the yellow house ( left ).

Working on the palapa in the dark!

We are still waiting for the final supports for our palapa to be installed. Of course we paid in full so we are at the mercy of the builder. We did delay him a few days as we were worn out and just needed quiet time. He never showed up today 😯  Possibly manãna. It will happen when it does. We have really enjoyed our last few quiet days. The last six months have been an unsettling time and we are here to rebuild.

The girls are ever so happy. They have a variety of sunny or shady locations to relax in. Usually each photo I take is cropped so that various parts are enlarged. Right now I am only taking photos with my iPhone and what you see is all there is. I have no time at the moment to do any more, I think you would rather have some photos than none.

Colin purchased an outdoor security camera. It works very well. Nice to have.

Monday I woke up with lots of energy and was eager to head to the beach. Ouch! Did I break my toe? It really hurts. Haven’t walked for a few days but can hobble and today I think that it has begun to slowly heal. I can move it just a tiny bit.

OUCH!! Sorry for the yucky looking toes.

So much bruising and swelling.

Early yesterday morning Ciela alerted me to an oyster diver just below us. How fun.

It was cooler last night with much lower humidity. For the first time since we got here we shut off the air conditioners. So nice to sleep with the windows open and no electrical noise.

Over an hour this morning, the sky became dark with clouds and we heard loud thunder. Then the rain began.

Id did not take long for the open area to get muddy. Thank goodness we got pea gravel.

Cruise ship last night. Unless I look up the cruise ship schedule we have no idea if there will be a ship.They glide into and out of port ever so quietly. I have to add that they are simply stunning up close.

Good morning sunshine.

Colin on the beach with the girls a few days ago. Carlie loves swimming in the big waves.

This was a Mexican long weekend, Revolution Day. Many visitors to the Isla. This photo would look 100% better cropped.

We woke up this morning to a coolish breeze and left the windows open all day.

Later this afternoon three sets of strangers dropped in. All very interested in renting an RV site. Only one person was serious but she wanted to build a container home. I explained that we are only leasing year by year – but likely for 3-4 years at this point.

I finally had my massage yesterday. Wow, I had no idea how badly I needed it.

So as to the the TWIST ❗  ❗  I have heard ( first hand I might add ) that the people who were to take over our site at Tres Amigos RV Park, yes the ones for whom we were asked to vacate our site for one year, have been a no show 😥  So we were asked to leave for no shows 😳  We have only been here for two weeks. We were not asked if we would like to return, despite being there since 2009. No one in the second, third or fourth row sites in either park, were asked if they wanted a front row site – as has been the norm for many years due to seniority requests. Instead our site was offered to first timers ( never been here before ) who just happened to drive into the RV park 😮  What can I say? Thank goodness this new site was made available to us. So much peace, quiet and tranquility. No stress. We truly love it here.

Thank goodness Colin’s restaurant allows substitutions. However I love broccoli as well as asparagus.

A smaller more intimate Disney ship tonight. They actually played ” When you wish Upon a Star” as they passed us.

Interesting cargo.

The autopista is being repaired.

Everyday we do a bit more. Looking forward to a day ( perhaps next week ) when there will be nothing left t do.  Yesterday I sat in the shade of the palapa after we had been sorting furniture and carpet placements. I fell asleep within a few minutes. It is so very peaceful and quiet. Last thing I remember is listening to the gentle waves and the sound a a new to me bird call. I had no idea where I was when I woke up. Our palapa is almost complete.

The sun was setting behind us. A view of Cordon Island that we have never seen before.

We have had a few people drop by to say hola. We always stop for a few moments to chat. Two days ago Ishmael from Tres Amigos RV park, he was the handyman, doer of all things, came by for a visit and gave us huge hugs. He is most impressed with all that we have accomplished and the high standard of everything here. We did find out that our old palapa is in very bad shape, the the roof is rather holey.  Had we returned to the RV park, it probably would have cost us as much to repair as to build our new palapa. I wonder what will happen when the “special” renters show up, that is the renters for whom we were asked to vacate our beautiful lot.

Sunrise two days ago.

Let me know when you get tired of cruise photos.

El Faro in the background.

As seen from my bed.

Had a very enjoyable visit with Katia, my masseuse, yesterday afternoon. So happy for her and the many changes coming to her life. She is the perfect example of applying your mind to a task. Last year she could barely have a conversation in English. She used Duo Lingo since we left in March and I would say she is now very fluent in English. So wonderful to see. Fingers crossed that there are no major issues coming up later today as I do believe I am about to get my first massage of the season 🙂

Trying to use my plants for mutual privacy.

Our neighbours are Mexican. Umberto can speak a bit of English but not his wife nor four year old daughter. I’m sure that is must a be difficult adjustment for them to suddenly have someone living next door. All their years in their home, this site has been an empty lot. We are getting along fabulously and I am very aware of their privacy. I have positioned my taller plants to help block each other views of our homes. As RVers we are used to having someone close by, surly they are not used to that. We had two other neighbours drop by to introduce themselves. We are going to love living here. Ahhh, so sweet, Umberto just dropped by to remind us that there is no water today. The Isla water flows from Mazatlan under the shipping channel. Two days per week the water source is shut off. Right now that is every Thursday and Friday. Between our large RV water tank and our new tinaco we will never run out of water.

The best news since my last post is that Colin and I now are official residents of Mexico 😀  A year from now we will exchange that document for a three year residency card. After that the next step is to become a permanent resident. Good thing that is five years away as we still have no idea about our future plans. Poco a poco.

Getting our paperwork in perfect order for immigration, using Holga, the fixer. The entire process was pretty easier and rather quick.

We are so enjoying this new sunset vista.

Colin up on the berm.

A few bonus photos from the RV roof. The view of the shipping channel behind us and our back yard. That is the Baja Ferry in port. The Chivos Road behind us n the process of getting graded hence all the dirt/rock piles.

We arrived on Monday the 6th of November with no problems on the road. Even the bad Isla roads ( huge pot holes ) worked out for us. We did not have to have anyone move their vehicle for us as we lumbered the heavy RV down roads .Our final day on the road in Mexico had us driving only 195 miles but it seemed to take forever. We were so very anxious to arrive.

November 6th. We are parked in the middle site allowing access to our site to be levelled, etc.

They worked and worked and worked till dark. It was at least 35C and 88% humidity.

From our home in Kelowna until our arrival here we have driven 2654 miles. The girls seemed to be tired of traveling as well as us. Once we started down the road from Estrella del Mar they knew where we were. Their tiny noses never stopped. However they were confused when we pulled into our new compound at 12:45PM. Where were we? If you have any specific questions re the road conditions or anything else make a comment, send me an email. I apologize to those following, but we have not yet had the time to set up our Shaw TV System. Hopefully within the next 5 days or so. I have read in a few places that Shaw will no longer be functional in Mexico come February.

Erik and Gustavo installing our water system.  Good thing Colin had our portable generator to provide electricity for the drill.

The guy in white is the electrician and the other is his helper. And that is the 50AMP plug that we brought here from the USA.

We have electricity, connected to the very old meter to the left of the post.

Tuesday morning working out how much length we need to reach the main pipe. All of that distance was dug by a pick and shovel. It took about 10 hours.

We could not drive into our site, as a wire was hanging about mid level from the front RV window. Colin reached out to the manager who showed up an hour or so later. He simply cut the wire. Turns out it was someone’s internet/TV fiber optic which was broken anyways. Glad we did not do it.

A full truck load of small pea gravel was delivered at 8AM Tuesday. We only ordered it Monday afternoon. The black area is the landscape cloth we put down to control the weeds. 3000 MXN for the gravel. A few times during the day some of the workers stopped to help Colin get the gravel moved.

First thing that Colin did was to brick in the chosen circumference of our site. I say chosen because we could have much more land behind us but for now we have enough. Maybe we should build a guest cottage?? So happy that we did the pea gravel.

Next we had to park in order to show the manager where the services had to come to. It was a challenge moving the bus back and forth trying to find the perfect position for a set up which would be permanent. I did not have time to take photos and was exhausted. Just 48 hours earlier Colin was told that the site was ready for us except for power and water. It wasn’t what we expected. Weeds/grass needed to be removed. There were some rocky areas. We wanted the site to be as level as possible re our set up plus avoiding any tripping hazards for me. It is a new RV Park and a new concept to the manager here. There was some concrete in an area where they had mixed the cement to build the fence last April. It did not appear to be too difficult to remove it. He thought the site was ready while we did not.

Breaking up and removing the lumps of hardened cement.

Monday, I went to bed very early with no dinner. I was too tired to eat. The next several days all began at 6AM, most usual for me. And never ended before 7PM. We were often in bed by 9PM. Because of the heat and humidity we have had to run air conditioning 24/7, either the front or the back and sometimes both.

Our very first sunset in our new Isla home.

About two hours later Erik arrived ( at least a month ago we gave him our our arrival time and date ). We could not believe our eyes, Erik and Gustavo had arrived 😀 They even had our water tinaco and pump which they proceeded to install. Suddenly we had over ten people working for us 😛 An electrician just showed up, no idea who he was. It was magical. They hooked up the 50AMP plug that our special friend Colin ( yes same name ) had purchased for us the day prior to our leaving Arizona.” we can’t thank you enough, notre ami especial” and shrugged their shoulders as if to say okay.  Our 50AMP electricity is running. It is even being metered. Incredible!

As you can see they started delivering the palm branches for the palapa almost right away.

So by dark that very first night, we were able to pull into a reasonably level rv site. We had electric and we had water. I can’t say anything other than that it was a TRUE miracle. Thinking back I was pretty sure I would’ve not made it that first night dealing with the heat/humidity and no electricity.

Our power on the left and the very well made septic system.

The next day more area around and behind us was cleared. Two days later the entire three sites had been cleared.

The water project complete with the tiny house house Colin built for it including a rain roof for the engine. We had moved all of our bricks here last March.

It really appears to us to be a miracle to have a clean and level site, 50 AMP  power and water. Tuesday they actually connected our site to the septic system, using much physical labour to connect up to that main line. It has been a fascinating three days watching how these so very skilled labourers work all day with the extreme high humidity readings. It was obvious to us that we needed to be onsite for them to measure the electrical hook up, where the water should be linked to our RV plus where to connect the sewer to the exceptional septic system. We can attest to the fact that it all works perfectly.

Our set up the second evening.

Such a perfect first night.  Since then many activities have been happening. Colin and I have been involved whenever we could to help including the provisions of liquids and comida, carrying bricks, raking gravel, etc.

The girls were happy to have a fenced in yard to run around in. Colin has taken them to the beach I think 3 times and will again today. I can barely get in and out for the RV. I ache everywhere. But is so very worth it. We are in love with this place. We are constantly looking out the window or at the vista when outside.

Alex, the master palapa builder, and his crew are outstanding, they never walk when they run. More on the palapa next post.

Our local temps remain high with extremely prominent humidity readings all day. Looks like El Nino is going to control the weather pattern this winter.

Each day has been a challenge from the delivery of our pea gravel early Tuesday morning to spreading of it out over the next few days. Wednesday, Colin along with King Kong (truck taxi driver we have used in the past ) to pick up our plants and stored belongings.  Two back and forth runs and to pick up our fabulous looking plants ( they were so well looked after this past winter ), plus another two runs from storage with all of our “stuff”. I spent a few hours that day on the phone arranging for our internet to be set up. I had arranged that once with someone back in September but he backed out a few days before we arrived saying that Total Play would not install in an RV. I didn’t believe that and arranged for someone on the Isla to handle the installation. They were a no show Tuesday. So after a few hours on the phone Wednesday I had a crew coming to do the job on Thursday.

The palapa construction started with hole digging on Wednesday and something has happened everyday since. It was a good thing that I had planned a weeks worth of meals as we still have not had a moment to get out to purchase any food. At then end of everyday we sit with a glass of wine and look at each other and say ” we sure did a lot today, didn’t we “. We are constantly astounded at our daily accomplishments.

We have officially had 4 sets of visitors including Sonny from back home. A very short but lovely visit. These huge cargo ships cruise just behind us. Fascinating. Taken from inside the RV.

We have been busy setting up our site, a bit here and there. Of course once the palapa construction started that all had to be moved away from the side of the RV. Because of so much outdoor activity by others, we kept the girls inside with us and took two days to organize things. So nice to not be stepping over things. Once the palapa is complete then more things will go outside. I have no idea where Colin gets the energy to keep on going and going. Hopefully towards the end of next week we can take a few days off and just sit and enjoy the moment.

The photos I have included have come from our 2 iPhones and my camera. Neither of us have been taking a lot of photos, too busy working. So what is here is a mix of everything. Beauty shots and beach shots and sunrises and sunsets will be coming in the weeks and months to come.

Our very first sunrise, this taken Tuesday morning. I think that we are going to be very happy here.

We have been without internet for so long ( a full week I think ) that I became used to not having. It took a bit if a push to write this and to sort out the  photos. Mind you I did get to sit down to do it 😎