Winter is on it's way

Happy November!!! Fall has arrived in Bahia!!! So have the winds. It is typical weather for fall. The days are cooler and we have resorted to wearing sweats again. It’s nice to have the cool weather. Creela and Phil have arrived so Dave and I went over to help them unload their truck. Their nephew and wife followed them down so with all of us helping it didn’t take long to get them unpacked. Creela and Phil are staying for Thanksgiving, but the nephew is leaving before then. Phil’a Cousin and wife (Lee and Sheryl) will come down to spend Thanksgiving with them. Dave and I have been invited to Mary and Georges for Thanksgiving dinner. They have will have Mary’s sister and niece and our small community of neighbors. It should be fun. I am making pies, a pumpkin and apple, and other people have been assigned a dish to bring with George BBQing the turkey. YUM!!!!! It has been a busy month already!! Twice a week I play games with the gals. Then there is shopping on Saturdays with Penny, Mary Ann and Annie. Mary Ann drives us to town and we stop at all the stores to buy what we need. Sometimes we have lunch in town, but most of the time we just head home when we are done. There is a vegetable truck that comes to town every Saturday with fresh broccoli, green beans, onions, carrots, lettuce, bananas, apples, swiss chard, cilantro, radishes, cucumbers and more. I buy lots of green beans then blanch and freeze them so I can have them when the season is done. It is cheaper to buy vegetables from him than the stores. Plus it is a lot of fun. The guys get a kick out of us trying to speak Spanish, but it is all fun!!! We all learn from each other. Today, Monday the 7th, Dave and I drove to Ensenada to go to Costco and Walmart. When we got into town we headed for the hotel first, got a room then took off for Walmart. I had a few things to get at Walmart while Dave visited the ATM and then went to Home Depot to pick up some liquid nails for Mary Ann. The bank, Home Depot and Walmart are in the same plaza. When we returned to the hotel, Santo Thomas, we went downstairs to the restaurant and had a great meal. The next morning we went to see our insurance man to take care of the insurance for the boat. When we left there we headed to Costco. After Costco we left Ensenada and headed for San Quintin to spend the night. With the time change we wouldn’t have made it home from Ensenada before dark so we stopped at Jardines (Garden) Hotel. What a great place. It is like a tropical Oasis!!! There are all types of succulent plants, trees, birds everywhere chirping and flying about. We love it there. We had dinner at the restaurant and then relaxed in our room. Wednesday morning we got up and drove to town to make one more stop at an ATM. We need to have enough pesos for Bahia since there isn’t a bank in town. After that we headed for Bahia. In some places it was slow due to road construction and lots of trucks, but we made it to the house early that afternoon. I have been giving exercise classes to a couple of the women that asked me to work with them. We have set Sunday, Tuesday and Thursdays as our exercise days. So far so good. We stretch, work with weights, and motivate each other. Tomorrow, Friday the 11th, we have been invited to a Full Moon party. It is just like the one we went to in September when Lois and Larry hosted it. We get to guess where the moon will come up over the mountains and what time. It will be fun to get together with those people we don’t see very often. There is a birthday party this afternoon in Rincon (across the bay from us) this afternoon, but Dave and I aren’t attending. After the drive from Ensenada, we just want to stay home. We enjoyed our quiet evening. Tomorrow I play Hand and Foot with the gals and then Dave and I will attend the Full Moon party. Busy time!!! It is also the day my youngest son, Jonathan has knee surgery. Bummer!!! I hope and pray all goes well for him tomorrow and during his recovery!!! He tore his ACL playing soccer. Things here will start to quiet down after Thanksgiving when most of the people go back to San Diego for Christmas and New Year’s. The full moon party was fun and the only thing that didn’t make an appearance was the moon. We had cloud cover all day and it never went away, so even though we guessed where the moon would rise over the mountains and at what time, we didn’t see a hint of it until later on. So the people that had the closest time to seeing it that night and guessed the correct position got a prize. It was fun. This fall has been quite different from last year. We have had more clouds and rain. I’m not complaining as we always welcome the rain, but it is just interesting to compare one year’s weather to the next. Happy, Happy Birthday to our youngest grandson, David. He is two years old today, the 13th. It is times like this when I miss not being home. It is a sad day today, the 22nd, as Dave lost his youngest sister Kathy, to cancer. It goes to show you that life is short and live it to the fullest!! Be happy!!! We had Phil, Creela, Phil’s cousins, Lee and Sheryl over for dinner. Dave made carbonara and Creela brought a salad and wine. We had a wonderful dinner and great conversation. Unfortunately the 4 of them are leaving to go back to their homes in San Diego on Saturday. It was nice to see and spend some time with them. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!! It is a beautiful sunny day with some wind from the west. It’s not too cold or hot. Wonderful!!! Dave is helping Phil bring his boat in from the buoy in front of their house. Phil is taking the boat home with him to do some repairs and bright work then bring it back the next time they come down. I made 4 pies yesterday. 2 apple, 2 pumpkin. We are having dinner at Mary and George’s house, joined by her sister, niece and another neighbor Joanne and Mary Ann. I am bringing one apple and one pumpkin pie, plus the whip cream!!! Yum!!! Today I am cooking our turkey to have tomorrow night. The house smells good!!! I started ordering on line for the grandboys for Christmas. Have to do it early to get the good buys. Plus Dave and I are going down to San Jose Del Cabo for Christmas, meeting Ron, Noreen, J.T., Carolyn, and their 2 sons Christian and Nathan, at the time share. It will be a blast and I can hardly wait. We have a free week so we figured now is the time to use it. We are trying to either sell or rent it, but no luck so far on either. I look forward to being with our good friends at Christmas. Jonathan, my youngest son, came through the knee surgery with flying colors and he is healing nicely. He has started therapy and doing very well. He almost has full range of motion which is excellent!!!! Kudos to Jon!!! I can’t believe in three weeks we will be in San Jose del Cabo enjoying great food, lots of booze and friendship!!! I have vowed to stay on my exercise program through that week we are there. Speaking of exercise programs, the two gals aren’t exercising anymore with me. One of them is experiencing really high blood pressure and I have told her not to do much until she sees her doctor and they find out what is going on. She is on high blood pressure medicine, but it isn’t working to well. I told her we can start again after the first of the year when she has a clean bill of health. Mary Ann won’t come without her so I’m getting more me time!!!! I am reading books, crocheting a scarf, and trying to learn Spanish. The learning of Spanish is such a slow process!! I am determined to learn it if it kills me!!!!! I have to remember that I have come a long way since entering in Mexico and knowing virtually nothing. So I have to keep positive about it. Little by little it is starting to sink in. My friend Penny is the one with the high blood pressure. For a while her blood pressure was scary and we were all concerned about her. She increased her medication and it is finally starting to work and her blood pressure is coming down. I am relieved and really glad she will be seeing her doctor soon. Mary Ann is driving to the states to visit her family for Christmas so Penny will ride up with her, stay with a friend until she is finished with the doctor visits, then walk across the border and catch a bus back to Bahia. The day after Thanksgiving I went on a hike to the top of Red Mountain not far from where I live. Emma organized the hike and at first it sounded like we would have a lot of women going, but as the day got closer, most of the gals fizzled out. So it ended up being Emma, myself, Pam, and Peggy. Here is a picture of, Pam, myself and Peggy.

The day was beautiful and hardly a breeze. We are supposed to get some winds later in the morning but for now it is perfect for hiking. I went to Emma’s house and she drove to the mountain which is about 2 miles or so. We met up with Pam and Peggy and started our hike. The hike was a gradual climb to the top of what everyone calls Red Mountain. We would stop from time to time to take advantage of the beautiful scenery and photo ops!! Here are some pictures looking to the north and seeing the town of Bahia and the bay.

Here are some pictures of the surrounding area and as you can see it is mostly desert and very barren. I love it!!! Also as you look at one of the pictures you can see like a line that curves, that is part of the road we travel into town and back. It is filled with tiny sharp rocks and bigger rocks which make for a very slow and bumpy ride. Hard on the cars but I guess those who have quads enjoy the ride.

The beauty of our little community and bay is astounding!!! You can’t really see where we live but we are close to where the bay curves around to the south.

Rincon, which is the next picture down, is another gated community which is across the bay and very hard to see from this far away.

Reaching the top of Red Mountain, we found a cement grave with a wood cross lying on top. Emma and Pam, who have lived here for many years, said it was a lady who used to live in the village but didn’t want to be buried there. She wanted to be buried on the mountain. They believe her son is also buried with her. Here are a couple pictures. The last one is a picture of Pam, Emma and Peggy.

The islands that surround our bay and town are beautiful.

Bahia and the surrounding area is beautiful and somewhat remote.

A lot of tourists come in the fall and spring to fish and hire guides to take them to see the Whale Sharks. Speaking of Whale Sharks, they are still here. As the water cools more, they will be moving on. They are awesome creatures.