We are certainly hoping that March will bring us warmer temperatures. It has been a chilly few months for us. We are on the ocean and it is always cooler than posted temperatures.
Can you believe that we left Canada five months ago?
Ahh our old RV, which we really loved. We don’t miss that carpet though. The girls still love Katia.
I have so much to share that how can I decide which que pasa comes first? My plan was to go in the sequence of how things happened. Right now I am just going to go with what comes to mind first off and then the next and the next, etc.
My first lovely red flower off of this hibiscus plant. Almost 3D.
Tonight was the first night of Carnaval 2025 here in Mazatlan. Colin is at the baseball stadium where the crowning of the King of Carnaval started about 20 minutes ago. Very very very long story short – the huge main entertainment for tonight cancelled yesterday The cartel sent them a very disgusting thing sending them a message that they needed to cancel their event in Mazatlan or else they would be killed The second main group also cancelled – the cartel is deadly powerful.
Heritito and Colin
About midday today Colin got a phone call from his godson ( son of maestro Heriberto ) who is an architect but also plays in an extremely popular band here in Mexico as well as abroad explaining that his band had been hired by the Mexican government to replace the original entertainment for the crowning of the King of Carnaval tonight. So that is where Colin is right now. He was only going to go for the sound check and see his godson. For security reasons I am not naming names and details. Well Colin is there in the thick of it.
What can I say after that….every morning we wake up and just plan to ease into the day and relax! Nope, nada and a simple no – that is not our life. The daily dramas continue. Somehow the today just evolves.
Heri on the far right during the performance after the crowning of the King of Carnaval, February 27th. Taken from a Facebook webpage.
We could have had prime front row seating thanks to Heri but had already decided to not attend any events this carnaval. But look at those prices, in pesos of course.
Yesterday, Wednesday the 26th I had a massage, my first in several weeks and I needed it for therapeutic reasons. Only I had to settle for a 60 minute massage instead of my usual 90 minute session. Ciela had an appointment with a new vet in Centro re her ear problems. The vet says that it is only dirt and not an infection. She cleaned out her ears and also applied an antibiotic solution.
Ciela let me know her ears were a problem by scratching and shaking her head. This started about 3 weeks ago and I kept cleaning them out and used coconut oil to reduce any infection and inflammation. The guck kept coming back. It was time to see a vet as I did not want Ciela to be uncomfortable.
New to us vet and very close to us in Centro. Here is shy Carlie allowing by Dr. Carolina to hold her.
The girls very very calm and did not need to be held down at all. Best news of all is that at at 4 years old, their teeth are in great shape and still don’t need to be cleaned under anesthetic.
Meanwhile I went to the almost next door hair salon. Colin went there last week and had a great hair cut. As we were already there I just tried it. Communication is key in any conversation. I strongly said that I only wanted poco highlights. What I meant was to get about 10 -18 highlights to blend my natural current hair with a bit of blonde. Well I got about 100 plus poco highlights. It was a great job but I really was trying to let my hair grow to its natural color with a few highlights to blend it all. I don’t mind the new look but I had been working towards a new natural look for the past 18 months. So I am a blonde again. Plus my hair was cut quite a bit shorter. Hey this is Mexico and I don’t look so bad. Actually it feels really good to have shorter hair and Colin likes the color.
First time I have ever had two stylists work on me at the same time. When They took my photo from behind I knew that my hair was not going to be as expected.
As they took the foils out I was concerned when I saw my hair was blue. Just for my notes – they did use toner later.
I wrote all of the above yesterday, February 27th and just now, late evening Friday the 28th I am completing this post.
All of these veggies, including 3 avocados & mushrooms, for only 110 pesos, about $7.50 CAD.
Here is my new colour. Nicely done vey fine ( poco ) foils.
Next time I will get the wrinkles adjusted.
Sunset photo by Dallas, a local here on the Isla.
We are directly above the post for this signboard. The tall home on the left belongs to Drew and Jeannie and we are the lights to the right, first a straight line and then some up and down. Genie and Joe’s lights are the “n” shape.
Unusual sighting of a very large double hammerhead shark. Directly out front of our casa about 3 weeks ago. The lifeguards got everyone out of the water. A local fisherman caught the huge fish in his net a few days later. The Isla beach and water is once again safe.
Yes another new to us hibiscus. This one is huge, about 6″ or a bit more.
After my mom had passed I found a large bag of extraordinary yarns including silk and others.
I knew that I did not have the expertise to create anything with it. A lady in our park back in Kelowna purchased the yarn from me at one of my many garage sales. She recognized the quality of the wool as she used to own a yarn shop. So she promised to send me photos of her creation. Not great photos but again special for me to have this part of my mom in my blog. Thank you Dawn.
I did tell you that this post was going to be a mix of events that have happened in the past month.
Someone here on the Isla is starting a chess club. However at this point it will be in Spanish, not sure Colin will be able to mange it. Up to him.
This new to us RV fit perfectly next to the palapa we built last season. However there was a bit of a gap along the front door area. Now that the sun is higher the light is starting to come in and so of course will the heat in the months to come. We had a wooden extension added to the palapa and Colin is covering it with palm branches. Looks great.
We have spent some time hanging out in our yard tonight. So easy to spot bright Venus and a few of the rest fell into place. Wish we could have had an expert here with a telescope. We are so fortunate to be where we are.
How did it get to be the last day of February? It haas been another busy month for us including attending 3 events in fours days. The is when I caught the cold that laid me low the last two weeks. Feeling much better now and no worries folks, I for certain will posting all about it in the days to come. Love how my blog is a such a great diary. Hey we even for the first time ever went to a baby gender reveal. Life is exciting. So great to know that we don’t have departure date from here. When the time is right we will move on but no idea where, somewhere here in Mexico or the US or we just stay put if we can tolerate the humidity. But probably better for the bus to move it somewhere for a bit.
The following video was taken by Colin directing after the Coronation of the Rey de Carnaval. The fireworks were being set off all around Colin from inside the stadium. How lucky we are to be able to see this. Thanks for the video mi amore.
First of all we had to find out our blood type 😮 It was supposed to be a simple finger prick and get the result right away. We have been busier than anticipated the past two weeks and found a laboratory that was enroute to an evening event that just gave us enough time to get it done and to pick up the very last two tickets that they were holding for us till the last possible moment.
Details of that event will be included in the next post ( I hope ).
So with limited time Colin carefully inserted the address into his iPhone on Didi. Somehow the actual building number never made it into that insert. We ended up almost to the Golden Zone when the driver stopped and let us out. Turns out it was a blood lab but it closed at 2PM, not the one we wanted. So we walked down to another lab and they couldn’t help us. Between our two phones we found a lab that was still open. Got there in time.
However and this was very upsetting to me – plus we only found out when Colin went into the cubicle first. This particular lab only did this blood type test by withdrawing blood from your vein. I HATE having my blood taken and I always ( have had to since I was a child – despite being an RN – this is true stuff ) had to lie down to have blood taken. Well that was not happening here. I refused. Colin said that I had to. I ouched a lot and very loudly. And we had already paid, plus we were getting very close to not getting our tickets for the event that night.
I did not faint but I was certainly an upset weak female. The fellow actually did a pretty good job and if I really had to, I would see him again. So as I came out of my swoon my eyes latched onto the tube of very red blood. Aha I thought. I would pay the additional charge to get a full blood analysis done. Cost for the blood type was 120 MXN each and my full blood analysis was an additional 180 MXN. A total of $29.00CAD/ 20.00USD. So great news everyone – my bloodwork is totally normal. I knew that I just needed to sleep the past few months. Nothing wrong with my bloodwork 😎
I am A+ and Colin is B-. So we were good to go for the next thing on our to do list. Colin had meanwhile kept getting all the paperwork that we required including applying for a CURP certificate and with this blood type certificate we were ready to go.
We had heard that it could be a full day or even a two day application. But Colin was certain that we had all the documents required. However based on the advice of nearby friends we went with their facilitator. We did not require the translator that they suggested. The price was high but to be honest looking at all the lines of people that we passed by it was worth every singe peso. Plus we admitted that we did not think we could have dealt with all the various departments required. We also noticed that many many others were paying a price to get their paperwork into the system. We just somehow got to the head of the line.
So people lined up around the block and then had a few rows of chairs to sit in before they went inside and stood in a long line before seeing an official. This was just one of the stations everyone had to go thru.
Once we arrived and met our facilitator, Victor, we were asked to sit at this table. He ( fellow on the right ) took all of our documents and went and made copies, he returned and began filling out forms. We signed our names only once. He left again to get more copies and then brought us into a building via the backdoor where we sat ( there were 4 chairs for those paid )in front of some officials. Within 20 minutes we had each had our photo and a finger print taken. Money changed hands. And out that backdoor we went….
It only took a total of 90 minutes from when we got out of our taxi ( Didi ) on arrival and until we got back into another taxi with our new piece of ID to return to the Playa Sur Embarcadero and home. Amazing. So sorry my dear friend in Merida – it took her days plus lots of blood sweat and tears. Seriously we were away from the RV for only a full two hours. Amazing.
So what did we get. A Mexican drivers license for each of us.
Hard to see but I love my hair. Best official photo ever.
Stunning Mazatlan sunset tonight. Thank you Mary – Ann Knight for sharing.
I put my foot down tonight. I can’t see a proper sunset ( as I have done since 2009 ) and I am insisting that my view be restored. Since we moved here, road work has occurred which has stolen my sunsets from me ( and others ). So nice to have good friends in special places 😎 Gracias Mary-Ann.
Works well in a home or in an RV. Almost new, barely sat on and certainly never slept on. We purchased our RV with only 26,513 miles on it. The stove top had never been used nor had the windows been open so this high end free standing sofa is a great deal and in prime condition.
Exclusive Ultra Suede Leather Fabric designed by Ralph Lauren. This fabric sells for $100.00USD per yard and is long lasting. They say it will last a lifetime.
75 1/2 inches long. 36” wide and 18” from the floor to the seat top. From the floor to the top of sofa back cushion is 31 1/2 inches high.
Storage drawer. Cushions are 8” thick.
Fold down bed. 64” wide X 48” deep.
$500.00 USD or 10,000MXN. Available now.
Rare opportunity to live on the lake with Panoramic view – Lake waterfront and mountains! 319, 415 Commonwealth Road Kelowna BC (Holiday Park Resort), Winner of 4 Thompson Okanagan Housing Awards. This custom built home (2012) has all possible luxury features you can dream of: 9ft vaulted ceiling, porcelain tiles, cherrywood cabinets (with soft close) and finishes throughout, lux laminate flooring, 42 inch Malm Gas Carousel Fireplace, Backsplash, Silestone Quartz counters, skylight in few locations and much much more! One level living is perfect fit for elderly owners. As per Systems in the house: Watersoft B.C. Econominder Water softener, Counter top faucet, U.V. Reverse Osmosis drinking water. One of the largest lot in the park offers Private Landscaped property with stone lakefront patio, unobstructed lake and mountain views facing south best exposure you can get. Fully fenced for your pets safety. Lawn and flower pot irrigation/sprinklers. 2 spacious parking for cars and your golf cart. Shed for your tools. Lease term to 2046. Annual maintenance fee for 2025 is $5188 including water, sewer, all park amenities with year round activities! NO Property Transfer Tax! Any Rental allowed (with park approval)! Golf courses, award winning wineries, world class ski hills (Big White and Silver Star). Resort offers 2 outdoor swimming pools, one inside pool, tennis & pickle ball, gym, hot tubs, billiards, 6 hole Par 3 Golf Course! What better lifestyle can you get? (38251752)
Today, February 15th is National Flag day in Canada. My post is about Stuart Sutton who lives in Holiday Park and had an idea to create a HUGE Canadian flag on the ice of Ellison Lake, the lake where our home is situated.
On February 13th he recruited some other residents in Holiday Park to help him lay out a one acre area to recreate the Canadian flag. They then proceeded to create it in just under 4 hours by a great deal of snow shoveling, a perfect likeness in perfect portion to our Canadian flag. The decision was made, due to environmental concerns to not paint the red into our flag. Instead the image was created with totally scraped ice along with snow on the ice to create the image.
This is Stu’s link on You Tube as to the process.
Our lake is directly on the approach to the Kelowna airport used by dozens of Westjet flights from all over Canada. We even have a flight attendant living in the park who supplied a few photos. Westjet was contacted and they replied that it would be a pleasure for them to have their pilots fly over and point out the flag created on our lake to the guests on board as they flew over.
Next thing we knew all the local media were on board and coming to take photos. Plus both CBC TV news and CTV news sent crews out to do videos today, the official flag day. Stuart took this flag day event to an entire different level by having over 100 Holiday Park residents come out onto the ice dressed in red ( if they could ) and carrying flags to wave at 1:00PM PST today. The TV cameras were rolling.
Sadly because we are directly in the flight path there is no drone photo.
Photo by someone in Holiday Park as he climbed the mountain near the lake.
So here I am on the Isla in Mexico shedding tears as I listened ( video below ) to the group sing our National anthem while on the ice as the jets flew over and the media recorded it all. What a great community Holiday Park is.
And in the middle of it all was my very special realtor being a part of it all. Her video of the event….
What a great day for the National Flag day in Canada, for Holiday Park and for my wonderful realtor Irina Mierzewski with Royal Lepage Kelowna who showed our home several times today.
We are so fortunate to have chocolate doxies in our lives.
Today we are celebrating by listing our home in Canada.
My first hibiscus in a few weeks. The plants have not been happy. I love this shade of yellow with the white center. Colin had to hold the stem steady because of the wind. Taken with my iPhone. But I am still having trouble seeing to focus properly.
Finally the weather is ever so slowly warming up. I walked the beach ( second walk this week ) to Letty’s this morning and back. My back was sore with every step but I did do it. Sat for a bit at the computer doing some online research for a new project for the RV. Trying to figure out if my back issue is the computer and chair I am using. So I added an outdoor patio cushion for height and another cushion for my back. Seems we always have something on the go. After a lovely shower I sat in a sheltered corner of my garden with my back to the sun and nursed a glass of wine. Of course I fell asleep and had the loveliest wee nap. As I recall I was composing a blog in my mind. Can’t remember the details 😎
Hmm I just downloaded some photos from my iPhone so now I have about 90 photos to share…..I guess I will get to them when I do. They all have a story attached to them.
So this is one of the two fancy chairs that come with the RV. That large hole between the wood and the actual chair cushion hits me in the back and is not comfortable.
I really would like these two cushions to make my ‘desk’ chair more comfy.
This is now known as the feral cat watch perch.
Just hanging around. Our resident heron fishing from the rocks with the pelicans keeping an eye on what he might be catching.
Colin prefers not to use lists. Last week while in Centro he did purchase two plant pots for me. However they were 2 -3 times larger than what I needed. The very next day, Katia was offering up some papaya trees that she had grown from seeds 😀 She even delivered them but the the roots were bare and dry. We put them into water immediately and the next Colin carefully planted them in the large pots. Now we had papaya trees that would grow for years.
Sadly between the dry roots and the cold wind the plants grown with love did not do well and shriveled up.
The next day Colin had to go get fuel near the airport and I asked him to go a bit further and to pick up a new bougainvillea for me from the vivero on Hwy 15. He also came back with two new papaya tree seedlings.
Colin simply added the new papaya babies to the existing ‘large’ pots just in case the first ones survive. The new plants are doing well, not so much the original ones.
So on his last visit to Centro, a few days ago, despite passing the maceta store ( he said he even glanced inside as he walked past ) he neglected to actually go in the store to pick up the two smaller plant pots that I had requested – because it was not on a list! Oh well, one day I will get that project completed.
This lovely colored purple bougainvillea has given me grief for that past two winters. I pampered it and tried everything I know but life is short………
It has now been replaced by a slightly colored plant. Please live long dear plant. 180 MXN, about $12.00 CAD.
Dang, today my computer changed over to Espagnol – so everything you see on your computer is now on Spanish for me. Happens every year and impossible to change back. Just makes my mind work harder 😳
So fortunate to have a washing machine ( as wells a dryer ) but I prefer to do use this latest technology to dry my laundry.
Newest activity from El Faro!
Wedding tonight at Carmelita’s. There is a startled bird on the right flying into the photo. Special thank you to Genie for sharing her video. Now we get to listen to the music all night long……hope it is good.
It was another great day in paradise.
Sound up por favor….
Two bands at the same time, one on the beach and the other on the boat.
Oh and a banana boat as well….
It was a great day today, despite the cooler weather. I had a wonderful afternoon reading my book. I even forgot to go to to El Velero to listen to Los Cryps. Definitely a relaxing few hours 😎
This post was started on January 12th….
No matter how much you plan your day for tomorrow, it will change! So now I just get up when I do ( was about 9ish earlier in the week but today it was 10:30 ). Somedays we have one or two people drop by, other days more and on some days no one. So enjoying our few but very special visits. I am learning to go with the flow. We have had the opportunity to be active but we both have chosen to live quieter. Heck, Colin even had a nap today, I was just waking up from mine when I found him asleep on the bed. Nice to see. We have slowed the pace of our day to day. However he is finding time to play his guitar which means all the world to him and I am happy to have him playing again. Today he played, napped and then played again. Just as it should be.
Our January calendar photo, taken sometime last season.
So happy that Canada has sent men and equipment.
And of course Mexico has sent help as well.
We are saddened by the fires in the LA area and as well we have a handful of close friends directly affected. I got your messages Julie, sorry we are not there to help you directly. Hopefully you will have electricity soon. Another friend’s home is only 2 miles for the encroaching fire 😥
We have had a cold front come through. Love burrowing under our duvet ( with the twins of course ) with the open window at night. woke up to 57F yesterday and today. Two nights a go we had major rain – we both slept thru it – the road still has puddles. This RV is quite sound proof. Back to sunshine but with cooler temps for the next week.
Friends ( Tom & Mandy ) from Venice Beach are here for the winter and once again are bringing in blues musicians to perform in Mazatlan. January 10th Eugene Hideaway Bridges performed a few homes over from us for an informal concert. Our very own Joe DeLauro ( the other RV here in our compound ) on the drums and Rick Reed, on break from Canned Heat, played bass. The band also played gigs at Water’s Edge in centro.
We had to dress for the weather as we were sitting outside.
Back in January of 2020, Tom and Mandy started having Monday afternoons at our place at Tres Amigos RV Park as a fun day at the beach for the various musicians. The first one was just a few weeks after my knee surgery. Below Colin is jamming with Benito ( aka Santana ), Eugene and on the right Rick.
Click here for a link to a post I did January 23rd 2020. I totally recall how hot it was that January, we all needed to sit in the shade. In that post you will also see James Anderson who just played here last week. I blogged about each event at our RV. Here is the link to another great afternoon with photos of Mitch Woods who will be playing here in March during Carnaval. Back in those days the performances were at La Bohemia in the Plazuela Machado. Everything changed in early March of 2020 when Covid came into all of our lives. Sadly La Bohemia closed down to lack of business and now is a fast food restaurant.
So we have been busy – well actually Colin more so, immersed back in the world of music. Colin is now also filming each event for Tom. I have only been to the one event, just next door to see Eugene. I just could not miss seeing him again.
Continued today, January 19th…..
Poco a poco. I wish there were more hours in each day. Still cool at 62F today. No matter we still love being here and for certain the sun and heat will return. The girls are dealing with the best they can with the constant feral cat appearances. Bark and bark and bark, I guess it’s their job.
So many changes in our world on a daily basis. Not all so good. Best to live each day to the fullest. Special thanks to Cindy and Sonny who have been dealing with a constant blaring smoke alarm. The new batteries and reset did not help so they will replace the unit for us. Meanwhile we are working on find the right realtor to sell our home. Hope to get this sorted out and listed in few weeks. I don’t know if this is true but I have heard that we actually have to go back to sign the papers despite so many legal things being signed online. Maybe I will fly someone here to deliver the papers to us 😎
Lots of tuna activity. The helicopters are spotting them and flying personal back and forth constantly. The boats are leaving and returning full of tuna 24 hours per day. So nice for the economy. Over the years we have had shortages and tuna, of dorado and of shrimp – that was the worst for us. Fortunately this season there is lots of fresh fish available. Yeah, we finally just got some fresh off the boat tuna, best ever. And we have a good source to get fresh crab. We will not starve.
…and now today, January 31st we will get the rest of this post written – I hope!
What excuse can I give this time…..tick, tock, time is passing faster and faster.
But I do have a very unique reason to complete the final push to publish this post. Readers from way back (possibly from day 1 in 2010 when I started to write this blog) stopped to say hola to me just outside our open gate today. Robbin lives in Hawaii. He gives the best hugs ( next to you Alan, my Chilliwack friend ). He has a home about 3 minutes from us here on the isthmus when he is not in Maui or elsewhere in the world. Robbin reminded me how much he enjoys reading my posts so here I am.
Continued yet again today, February 1st……
Perhaps this post was never meant to be. It seems that everyday we have something that happens that interrupts plans. No complaints as most of them are interesting or fun and certainly enjoyable at the moment, yet this post never gets completed. How did it get to be February? Still dealing with yet another cold front, down to 57F last night. During the day the sun is shining and if you can sit out of the wind the weather is perfect.
I am feeling so much stronger. No longer dizzy. No longer sleeping for hours and hours. I don’t think I have had a nap for a week now. Two days ago I even walked down to the beach on my own to meet Colin returning from his longer walk with the twins and we walked back together. I am going to now push myself ( hopefully that is more successful than blog writing ) to walk every second day. I read my first book since before Christmas so things are much better in my world. So great to have more energy and it will get better yet. Also have been working on my eyes, I can see a bit better. Trying a few different things for more improvement.
I have lots to share with you – especially in photos. So I am going to wrap this loco post up pronto. Just have to add some photos. FYI that took just over an hour to add the photos, links and captions.
My photo taken from our compound January 25th.
Stunning sunset photo taken January 26th, by Mary-Ann Knight from her perfectly located condo on the Malecon. Thanks for allowing me to share.
The only complaint I have, apart from the feral cats driving the girls crazy, is my inability to see the sunset nightly. We had a great view location back at the RV park but honestly I had to keep darting in and out of our RV in order to not get bitten by the no-see-ums. Here the berm bordering on the shipping channel blocks the view. But now that I am stronger I really only have to walk a very short distance to get a better vista. Going to start working on that now. Plus we have no bitting bugs, not a one, here on the isthmus.
