Mar 23, 2014
What one wakes up to and how the day goes..
The past two mornings we have woken to dense fog. You could not see the sailboats in the water, in fact you couldn’t even see the water. When we went for our morning walk we had to keep checking that the girls were close to us as we could easily have lost them in the fog. By the time we got back to the RV our faces were wet as was my hair. By 10:00 AM we were back to sunny skies.
Right along the edge of the ocean these young vultures were breakfasting on the remains of a pelican.
Their father was sitting high up in the corner of our yard making sure his flock remained safe. You can see the waves crashing but not much else.
It was hard to get a good shot because of the heavy fog. The tip of his nose was white, then red on the beak with all the rest black.
Just before 6:00AM this morning this group of campers decided to move on. I saw five of them come out of that tiny tent. I assume that the other four slept on the sand.
They were very good about picking up all of their litter and they did make sure that the fire was doused. Interestingly it was the three girls who took down the tent, packed up and picked up and carried everything away. The boys did not help nor carry anything at all. Hopefully they found a place open that early for breakfast.
Self portrait! Colin went to see Dr. Paty the other day to have to a tiny filling done.
He took a pulmonia from the embarcadero, 90 pesos! It was just 80 for the past few weeks when I was going back and forth. The pulmonia driver waited for Colin to be done with the dentist. He claimed that business is slowing right down and he would rather wait an hour to get the return fare. When business is slow, Mexicans tend to raise their prices. Colin’s driver said that on average he clears 170 pesos per day after paying for the pulmonia cost and fuel. Yikes, I just added up our pulmonia costs and I’m sure there are some I never noted in my book. 3755 pesos, roughly $320.00CAD. That is an expense that needs be added to your budget if visiting the Isla. We did have many trips to dentists and vets this year. My budget was 3500 pesos and we still have just over two weeks to go but overall it is not too bad. You do have to remember that we never drive the car off the Isla, other than Colin’s trip to Culiacan for the guitar festival. We used one tank of gas for 5 months with no wear or tear on the car. I think that most here will have spent close to $180.00 for fuel plus paid for pulmonias for their evening trips into town.
Had a visit from friends who live a few blocks away. Usually we are all so busy doing whatever we do that we only have time for brief chats here and there. It was nice to spend some quality time with Carla & Diego and their three year daughter Cielo.
Cielo did not want to leave the dogs. Sadly the family is on their way back to Canada, near Winnipeg where they have an event venue. They have 50 weddings booked for this summer. They can be found at Ceilos gardens.com, we look forward to seeing them in November.
So ends another few days. Where does the time go? Unlike the sun it does not return the next morning. Use your precious time wisely.
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We too enjoy every day as it comes, doing whatever strikes our fancy, keep having fun there.
about your comment “this expense needs to be added to your budget”, is not true for all people. I have not once hired a pulmonia or a taxi in my 5 months here. Once you get to know the mazatlan bus system it is easy to get around using the buses, and at 6.50 peso a pop it’s much more economical than a taxi. Just saying….:)
Good point Maria! I actually meant to make mention of the bus system. Personally I would be worn out by the time I got from point A to B. We got into the habit of hiring pulmonias because I could not walk the past few years. I can walk much better now but it would still be too much getting off and on busses and carrying parcels. I know that many folks actually do walk from the embarcadero to Centro and the mercardo. I guess I am a whimp.
We love watching and feeding the birds when we are in Mazatlan. We enjoyed Baltimore Orioles, Woodpeckers, Hummingbirds, both the big and little Dove and the ever graceful Mag Jays with the long, long tail and the common Sparrow We also saw a covey of Quail and two deer. We got to see the Chalaka although briefly but heard it most mornings and evenings. I like your pictures of the Vultures but just can’t find much affection for them but they do serve a purpose. As always thank you for sharing your pictures especially the sunset pictures, never tire of seeing them.
Correction for spelling of Chachalacas…sorry for the error.
Matt & Sandy, you were fortunate to experienced so much wildlife. We have never seen the Mag Jays and only heard the Chachalacas. Yes, sadly, the Vultures do have a purpose here on the beach. Hope to see you next season.