Frio in December for Mexico

We had a visitor the other day. I discovered a stick bug on the planter at the bottom of the steps! They are fascinating creatures. Here are a couple pictures.

December has roared in like a lion!!! We had 61 mph sustained winds and gusts of 69 mph starting at 10:00pm November 30. The news said that San Diego was going to get hit with high winds, but it missed them and came down to us. The northern part of San Diego got hit with hurricane force winds, but the southern part got nothing. At least we didn’t have hurricane force winds but it was strong enough to have us sleep in the trailer. Usually it is a lot quieter and we can get some sleep, but this time it sounded as though our metal roof over the trailer and bamboo room was going to fly off. It might not have been as bad as sleeping in the house with windows rattling and the toilet vibrating, but let’s just say we didn’t get any sleep. The sand was blowing everywhere and rocks were hitting the trailer windows. The worst of it was before dawn. Dave got up and moved to the bamboo room across the breeze way from the trailer and I stayed behind because I was warm and didn’t want to move. After about an hour (at least that is what it felt like) Dave came back and said it sounded like the roof was trying to fly away and we should get out of the trailer just in case. So we trudged to the house fighting the wind and sand as we went. It was hard to walk up the stairs but we held on to the banister and took it slow. At least the wind was from the south west so as we walked up the stairs the wind was partially blocked by the house. By this time the sun was working its way up behind the mountains so I started perking coffee. There was no sleeping until maybe later that afternoon. After the sun made an appearance and started to warm up the air, the wind started to subside. We went outside to assess any damage we might have incurred from the wind, and were pleasantly surprised there wasn’t any. The roof over the trailer was intact and all was fine. We did have the two beach signs I made come loose from the post they were nailed into, but surprisingly they didn’t blow away. They just dropped down on the ground and stayed there. So Dave will fix them in a day or two. Because the house isn’t tightly sealed, there was a ton of it inside the house along the window sills and doors. I spent the day vacuuming the blinds, window sills and of course everything else. I figured as long as the vacuum was out and the generator running, I might as well clean it all. Surprisingly I never took a nap that afternoon. It has appeared that our weather has changed drastically so we are experiencing cold temps due to the north winds and clouds. At least the clouds don’t stick around for a long time. The people that have come down from the States for the fall are slowly leaving to go back to the states for the holidays. Then after the 1st they will all start trickling down again until May or June time frame. The new guard is working out fine and he seems to be enjoying his solitude. Our neighbor Joanne had inverter problems so Dave is over at her house trying to figure out what went wrong. This is the second one in a year to go south on her. Needless to say Dave couldn’t find anything wrong with it. He thinks there is a design flaw since it has only been 7 months since she exchanged the first one that went belly up. She is leaving here soon so is trying to order another one and have her son bring it down with him when he comes to visit. Poor gal. At least she has a small generator she can run for lights. The time is arriving fast to when we will be leaving here and going to Santa Rosalia to start the process of renewing our FM3’s and going to San Jose del Cabo for Christmas. We have a free week at our time share so we decided we would take advantage of it and join Ron, Noreen, J.T., Carolyn and their 2 sons. We are really looking forward to it. The temps will be in the 80’s and we will have a blast!!! Chores don’t seem so bad when you have a fun trip to look forward to, so I have been busy with defrosting the refrigerator, washing clothes and cleaning. John and Sandy Eltrich will be stopping here after the New Year so I have their room all cleaned and the bed set up. It will be nice to see them again. I made chocolate chip cookies to give to the soldiers that work the military search stops. There are a couple military stops on the way to Santa Rosalia so I thought it would be nice to leave them a little taste of home for Christmas. Yesterday, the 11th, there was a quarter mile race in the desert flats not far from our house. I watched through field glasses to see when activities were going to start and cars showing up. After awhile I walked over to see what was going on. Just before I got to the festivities, there was a race with 2 horses so didn’t get to take pictures of it. There were a few Americans that hadn’t gone north yet so I talked with them and was introduced to a couple I hadn’t met before. I took some pictures of the horses and some other things, but after an hour of waiting around for more racing, it didn’t happen.

The sun was going down and it was going on 4:00pm so I finally said goodbye and walked home. Apparently this race comes to Bahia about every 3 years. They travel to the different towns and I guess it is a fun thing. What I saw today didn’t seem very exciting, but at least I checked it out and got a walk in as well. Today is bathroom cleaning and packing for Cabo. We invited our neighbor Joanne over for dinner tonight as she is leaving to go to the states Wednesday and won’t be back until February. Dave took one of our propane tanks along with one from Joannes’ to town to get them filled. The propane truck came to town yesterday and started to head south to where we are, but turned around and headed north to La Gringa. By the time the truck serviced the town and La Gringa, they were out of propane. They told the people in La Gringa they would return next Sunday and service those of us who are south of town. Unfortunately, both Joanne and us will be gone so we had to take the empty tanks to Yolanda’s in town, and exchange the empty ones for full. Dave was hoping to get the jeep washed before leaving on Wednesday, but when he stopped by to see Sammy, he was really busy putting windshield wipers on cars since this is the first heavy rain we have had for a year. Sammy suggested Dave come back tomorrow. Little by little things both of us are getting things we need and want to get done, done. We got a little rain last night, but not enough to really wet anything. We are getting all the weather from the 4 corners, (clouds and wind) but at least it doesn’t stay for days and months like in Washington!! And it is still in the low 70’s!! We have received more rain in the last couple days then we have the 2 years we have lived here. We had rain again early this morning and we are still getting sprinkles from time to time. Dave took the jeep into town to get it washed and waxed. It looks as though it is really raining that way. The sun keeps trying to peek out from behind the clouds. I hope it does because I did a small tub of laundry and need it to dry today since we are leaving tomorrow, the 14th for Santa Rosalia. This morning we had a double rainbow and it was gorgeous!!! I took a couple pictures through the windows, so one is streaked with rain and the other one isn’t. It was raining too much to go outside and take the picture. The picture with the rain streaks is at the back of the house and the other is facing north toward town.

Just as I got my pictures downloaded for the blog, another rainbow showed up to the north so here are a couple better pictures. Rainbows are always beautiful.

You would have never known it rained yesterday. The roads for the most part were dry and the only indications of rain were puddles here and there. We left this morning for Santa Rosalia. We will be there until Monday the 19th then we will drive to La Paz. There we will stay for 2 days to check out availability for mooring our boat and the cost, among other things. Wednesday the 21st we drive to our timeshare at Royal Solaris, in San Jose del Cabo. It should be a fun trip. The boat looks really good and the stainless steel also. Alberto has done a wonderful job keeping it clean. We stopped at the bus station on our way back from dinner tonight and found out we won’t be saving any money taking the bus as opposed to driving. It will cost $1053.00 pesos for each of us one way and they don’t stop in La Paz. So Dave did the math with distance and gas and it works out to be about the same money, maybe a little less. That was the cost from Santa Rosalia to San Jose del Cabo. So we will drive to La Paz, stay a couple days then leave on Wednesday, the 21st for Royal Solaris in San Jose del Cabo. Since we are driving we can stop at Costco in Cabo San Lucas and get a few things. We went to the office of immigration in Santa Rosalia today and they were closed for an office BBQ, but Javier, the man we see for our FM3’s, was there and answered our questions. He doesn’t want to do FM3’s before January 9th, so we don’t have to worry about them right now. We will have a relaxing time on the boat before heading to Royal Solaris, and on our trip back we will stop for a night in La Paz then be on the boat the 29th. We will spend the night and head for Bahia and be home on the 30th. That means we will have to turn around and come back to Santa Rosalia on the 9th of January to process our FM3’s but that will be alright. Sandy and John Eltrich will be coming to visit us on the 3rd so now I can tell them we will be home before the 3rd. We weren’t sure what was going to happen until we talked to Javier and knew what we were doing with the FM3’s. So it is working out. We needed to get a new tarp to replace the one that is now on the boat and ripped to shreds. We walked down to the hardware store not far from the marina and as Dave was picking out the tarp, I snooped in the room where they have all the Christmas decorations and more. After Dave paid for the tarp we walked back to the boat and dropped it off and then walked to the other marina just up from where the hardware store is. Our friend, Jim has his boat there to have some work done on it so we stopped in to say hi and wish him a Merry Christmas. After talking for a few minutes we said goodbye and Dave walked back to our boat while I went on to walk the breakwater. The wind hadn’t picked up too strong yet so I got my exercise walk in. It was refreshing. This afternoon Dave noticed the bilge pump light went on and wondered if the bilge was full. I checked and it had a little water in it but not so much you would think it would trigger the switch to drain the bilge. We just blew it off. Well after getting back from dinner tonight and both of us sitting at out computers, Dave noticed the light go on again. This was a little unsettling because it doesn’t do that unless there is water coming from somewhere. So he checked all sources that water could drain into the bilge and they were dry. The next step was to check outside where the hose from the dock goes to the boat. He opened the back locker and found everything wet. Not a good thing to find. The hose from the dock is hooked into the water connector on the boat. This allows us to use dock water rather than draining our water tanks on the boat. Apparently water is leaking around the connection. So for tonight we aren’t using the water from the dock. We will either run from a tank on board or walk up and use the facilities before going to bed. Tomorrow we will empty the locker and let everything dry and then we will have a better idea what is going on. I get to clean sump pumps (2) tomorrow too. What fun!!!! Part of the boat life. Doing chores you really don’t want to do but HAVE to!!!! Dave found the problem to our leak. The washer in one end of the connector was shot. He put a new fitting on and also a check valve. It works great now. That was easy and it is really good that Dave bought a few of those parts to have on the boat. He also tried to fix the galley sink faucet from leaking. It is better but still leaks a little. He will need to get some sealant to put on it. We can get that probably in La Paz. I filled the forward water tank just in case of emergency if there is no dock water. That way we can still shower and flush the toilets and wash dishes. After doing that I cleaned the sump pump to the shower. It wasn’t really dirty, just needed the filter cleaned, so that was a quick and easy job!!! I didn’t need to clean the other one since it was clean. That is the one the refrigerator drains into. I walked to town and got a few groceries and stopped at the pharmacy to get Dave’s medication and my B-Complex pain killer. They had the medicine for Dave but not the pain killers so I will need to either go back tomorrow or Sunday. No worries!!! Dave talked to Alberto this morning and found out he won’t be washing the boat until around the 28th or 29th. So Dave pressure washed it to get some of the bird doo off and dust from the mine. We took the dinghy off the boat and put it on the dock and wrapped a new tarp around it to protect it from the elements. I think we are going to store it in the cockpit so Alberto can wash the deck where it was stowed. Since it sat in one spot for so long there is a stain on deck which we tried to scrub with oxi-clean and fiber glass stain remover but only managed to dull it. We will pick up some baking soda on our way back from Cabo and have it so to scrub the stain. That is what we used when we had the bird doo stains so bad before and it worked well. Of course it took a lot of scrubbing but it worked!!! I did a load of laundry today and will do another one tomorrow since we are leaving for La Paz on Monday. The dryers are hooked up to propane again so I don’t have to hang the clothes on the lifelines!! The tarp we bought the other day will be laid out and secured tomorrow, under the boom, so we can keep that area clean of bird doo. We are really pleased with the work Alberto has done on the boat. The cockpit was even clean to where I didn’t have to rinse it and the stainless steel has been wiped down. That was nice. After coming back from dinner and stopping at the crepe place at the head of the marina for desert, Dave was on his computer and I was reading when there was a knock on the boat. Dave went out to see who it was and it was Carlos the diver. There are some men here cleaning and painting the pilings and Carlos was one of the divers. He was bringing Dave back his car keys!! Talk about amazing!! Dave had gone to the jeep earlier to get his sunglasses and then stopped at the bathroom before coming back to the boat. Apparently he hung the keys on the hook of the door and walked off without them. Who says there aren’t good people in this world and in Mexico!!!!! I would have hated to have the keys fall into the wrong hands as we would be without a vehicle and that would suck!!! What a nice surprise!! Today is Sunday and the day to secured the tarp on the deck, shine some stainless steel, exercise, pack things up and do another load of laundry, as we leave in the morning for La Paz. Well things didn’t go as smoothly as we thought they would with the tarp. As it turns out we bought one that was huge, a 19x16. We needed a 10x12. So we ended up walking into town to the hardware store and getting one quite a bit smaller; but not a grey one which is the better quality. The blue tarps don’t last as long but for now it will have to do. Once back on the boat we laid it out and secured it. After the tarp was in place I cleaned the stainless steel stantions on the deck. It didn’t take long and at least they will be protected for another month or so. The laundry is done, so is the packing and all we have to do tomorrow is unhook water and power and close up the boat and we are headed south. Hooray!!! We are in La Paz and having a great time. We are staying at a place called Casa Buena, a Bed and Breakfast, which is a unique place run by some ex-cruisers. The place runs itself practically. Here are some pictures of the place and one outside our room.

They have Mexican maids and the guests help themselves to what is in the kitchen for breakfast which is included in the price of the room. The owners have 2 children, a horse, 2 cats, and 2 dogs, thus the picture of the play house, which Dave said I would be in 7th heaven along with the toy riding cars. Ha!!

The place is very relaxing and it has been fun mixing with the guests. One guest was a guy named Dave who used to play for the Dallas Cowboys. He is retired now and enjoying life. We ate at a restaurant tonight called Banditos. We had hamburgers and onion rings. Mmmmm!! Very good! Dave took a pair of his dress shoes to the cobbler to have the bottoms replaced and should pick them up tomorrow before we leave for San Jose del Cabo. Noreen, Ron, J.T., Carolyn, Christian and Nathan arrive at Royal Solaris about 5:00pm. We will be there much earlier and will enjoy just hanging out until our room is ready. We went to see Andrea at Palmira Marina today to find out what they will charge for our boat after March. It’s a bunch!! We will have to think this through carefully so we have 3 months to mull it over. We talked to our boat broker and even boats our size aren’t selling. The advantages of having the boat in La Paz is the availability for people flying in to look for a boat, getting things replaced or repaired, and the biggest of them all would be no birds pooping on our boat. Today is the day we leave for San Jose del Cabo and I am anxious to be on our way. Before we go we have to wait for the shoe repair place to open so Dave can get his shoes. He is supposed to open at 10:00am but since we are in Mexico it is whenever. Needless to say we ended up giving money to Susu and asked if she would pick them up for us and we would get them from her when we return. By now it is after 11:00am so we had to go. We decided not to go through Todo Santos as we heard there was a lot of road construction and it would take longer than going along the Sea of Cortez side. It took about 2-1/2 hours and it was a nice drive with beautiful scenery. The last time we came this way was on a bus and it was at night so we didn’t see anything. The further south we went the warmer the weather. We are really looking forward to warmer temperatures. We arrived at Royal Solaris and got checked in and had some strong margaritas!!! Our room was ready so we were able to go straight there after check-in. We are on the main level and have a room that is on the corner which looks out to the beach and ocean and also to the pool. NICE!!!! After we unpacked we went to the lobby to wait for Ron, Noreen, J.T., Carolyn, Christian and Nathan. I got a gin and tonic and did it ever pack a wallop!!!! Welcome to the world of all inclusive and powerful drinks!! When the gang arrived we were so happy to see them and gave hugs all around. Then we went with them as they checked in. Then it was time for them to go to their rooms and unpack and meet us later for dinner. There is a French buffet at our favorite restaurant, Panchos’, so that is where we will be having dinner. Everyone was freshened up and ready to have a good dinner and a good time. Happy Christmas vacation to us all!!!! Christian and Nathan took off on their own and had dinner together and were exploring when the rest of us were ready to eat. The dinner was great and Noreen was very happy to have French cuisine. After dinner we went to the lobby to listen to music and dance. The guys, Christian and Nathan, were trying all kinds of drinks and having a great time.

It is great to have Ron, Noreen, J.T., and Carolyn here and I know we will have a ball. It is also great to see Christian and Nathan and get to visit with them a little. Of course they didn’t hang with us much. Ya think!!!! The next day we had some early morning cloud cover and it was cold to us but comfortable to the rest of the gang. We were disappointed because we have never been there when it has been cold before. Needless to say we had about 3 days of the clouds which burned off by noon and then became hazy in the afternoon. Us gals still donned the suits and stretched out by the pool. Sure hope the weather clears up. Tonight we had dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant. The food was delicious and everyone had dessert except me. I was stuffed!!!!! They didn’t have my favorite, Crème Bruele, otherwise I probably would have had dessert and then suffered for it. We left the restaurant and went to the lobby to listen to music, watch people dance, and of course dancing for us!!! Oh and drinking!! We old folks stayed until the band finished, which was about 11-11:30pm and the boys found friends their age and took off to do their partying and mischief until the wee hours of the morning. Today is a walk to San Jose to do some shopping and tasting of tequila. J.T. was going to take a cab as his hip was really hurting, but then ended up not going. He was hurting too much. So it was Carolyn, Nathan, Christian, Noreen, Ron, Dave and I. All of us bought something to take back with us and then there was tequila tasting and purchasing. By the time we got back to Royal Solaris it was about 3:00pm. Just enough time to chill before dinner. We are going back to Panchos’ tonight. J.T. got a massage while we were gone and was able to relax a bit. I gave him some of my B-complex pain reliever and he is feeling much better. We all met for cocktails in the lobby then at 6:00pm went to Panchos’ to have a wonderful meal and our waiter was fantabulous!!! His name is Ventura. He made Mexican coffee for us with the flaming tequila and did a great job. We are glad that art hasn’t vanished. Everyone in the restaurant got to watch him make it. It’s quite a show if you haven’t seen it and the coffee is wonderful!! We also had dessert and then left to go to the lobby to enjoy music. After the band was packed up and gone we retired for the night. Another fine day was had by all. Today is Christmas Eve. For the Mexicans it is their Christmas and Christmas day not much is going on. We ate at Panchos’ and ordered off their special Christmas menu. Again we had a wonderful dinner and Carolyn couldn’t stop taking pictures of the food as it was presented very well. We all were having a really good time and it was nice to be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas with good friends. After dinner everyone came to our room to exchange gifts; drinking brandy and almond tequila. Merry Christmas!!!! For us, it was a day of lying on the beach, reading, catching up with news about home, or snoozing. What better way to spend Christmas. And get this----the clouds have gone away and it’s warmer. It would be warmer yet if the wind would quit blowing. Tonight is what they call the Gala dinner where we will be outside. I sure hope the wind subsides. We all got dressed up in our finest and unfortunately we thought the wind was dying when it picked up again and we had to wear sweaters and jackets.

We had a fancy dinner and a band played music while we dined. Unfortunately we couldn’t wait for it to end so we could get somewhere warm!!! We had a good time and here are some pictures of the evening.

I did keep to my exercise program and even used the weight room to walk on the tread mill or use the elliptical. I had too as I was eating and drinking way more than I do. Hey----I’m on vacation from my vacation!!!!! HaHa!!!! Royal Solaris has a house tour for the owners and their guests so we went on a catamaran boat ride out of Cabo San Lucas. They take the boat out of Cabo San Lucas and motor to a spot for snorkeling. On the way you can drink all you want, if you could get through their powerful drinks. Upon arrival at the snorkel spot, those that wish to snorkel are given life vests, flippers and masks. The rest of us that don't go get first dibs on lunch. Nathan, J.T., and Christian snorkeled while the rest of us watched and took pictures and started lunch. Once everyone was back on board the engines fired up and we were jostling our way around other boats that arrived to do the same thing. Once out of the little harbor, we headed back to Cabo. Here are some great pictures as we were leaving Cabo.

The boat ride to and from the snorkeling spot was lumpy as the wind had been blowing for the last few days making the seas lumpy. I was glad when we were heading back to the marina. It was a fun trip but not as much fun as it had been in the past for us. They used a different boat than what they have had in the past and the cocktail tables were not bolted down so we had to be really careful not to push or pull on them and hold on to our drinks so when the boat rocked they wouldn’t go flying. We saw one whale but he was too far away to get a good picture. Unfortunately we didn’t see any more. The seagulls were out in force hoping to get some tasty morsels from the people on board.

As we got closer to the entrance of the marina, we saw people para sailing.

When we returned to Royal Solaris we recuperated in our rooms or by the pool until it was time to go to dinner. We met in the lobby for cocktails and then at 7:00pm we attended the Mexican buffet and show. There were some really tasty dishes and the show was on the history of dance in Mexico. Afterwards we went to the lobby for a while and then called it a night. Tuesday, Ron, J.T., Christian and Nathan got up at the crack of dawn to go fishing. Dave didn’t go since he has been 2 or 3 times before, and he wanted the rest of the guys to experience it on their own. Carolyn, Noreen and I agreed to meet in Noreen's room to watch the sun rise. So at 6:30am I walked over to Noreen's room, but no Carolyn yet. Noreen made coffee and we stood out on her balcony waiting. Finally Carolyn showed up before the sun rose. We got some really nice pictures.

After the sun was up and we chatted for a few minutes, I left and went back to my room to have coffee with Dave. The guys were gone all day and just got back in time to freshen up and change clothes for dinner. They had a great time and caught dorado. They released all but one and had that frozen. They were tired, sunburned, and happy fishermen!!! Tonight is Caribbean Night where we have dinner outside and it is a buffet with a show. It wasn’t as cold tonight as it was when we had the Gala dinner. The area where we are dining tonight is farther away from the beach and more protected from the wind. The food was delicious and the entertainment sublime. There was a band, fire twirling acts, a couple dancing and performing on stilts, drums, and dancing girls that could shake their bootie which pleased the guys!!!!

We received beads and masks and had a chance to get up and join the group dancing around all the tables. It was fun but really fun to watch Christian dance with the two dancing girls!!!

It was definitely a fun night and one everyone will remember. When the show was over, we headed for the lobby to enjoy more music and visit with the people around us. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!! J.T. and Dave made arrangements with Panchos’ matre’d, Juaquin, to cook the dorado the guys caught on Tuesday. This is our last night at Royal Solaris so we wanted to celebrate with the fish the guys caught. The matre’d, took care of everything for us. J.T. and his sons walked to San Jose together so the guys could show dad the town. Remember J.T. was hurting so he didn’t go with us the first time. Dave, myself, Ron, Noreen and Carolyn stayed behind and enjoyed a wonderful sunny warm day on the beach. The weather finally was like what we remembered it had been in the past. Of course we are leaving tomorrow, but at least we got a couple nice warm days in. Later in the afternoon we decided to go to the pool where it is only for adults. I needed to walk so I told them I would see them after I got back. I had a nice leisurely walk on the beach and when I returned to the pool I was told I had to get in. It was warm!!!! So I did and it was wonderful!! We had no idea it was a heated pool. Shoot we would have been hanging out by this pool most of the time. Oh well. It was something to file in our minds for next time. Dave didn’t join us at the pool as he had some things he wanted to do. That evening we went to Panchos’ and ordered a salad or soup, and then the fish came out. WOW!!!! It was so good!!! It was very tasty, flaky, and cooked to perfection. We asked to see the chef and when he came out we gave him a standing ovation. I gave him a hug and thanked him for doing a wonderful job. Then it was cheers to the fishermen!!!! We couldn’t have had a better dinner for our last evening here. We had dessert and ordered Mexican Coffee again with our favorite waiter, Ventura. While he did his act, we ooed and awed so that everyone in the restaurant was looking. We were drumming up business for Ventura. Most people don’t know you can ask for it. It isn’t printed on the menu. Actually for the owners it is a free service. Hopefully there were more people who ordered it. We said our goodbyes to Ventura, and Juaquin and told them we were leaving tomorrow. We thanked them for the wonderful dinner and service we received. Then we headed to the lobby one last time. Tonight is Karaoke and even though Dave hates it, he stuck around. Actually it wasn’t bad as most of the singers were kids. No bad singing this time. We hated to call it a night, but every good thing must come to an end. So we said goodnight and made plans to meet for breakfast. Well today is the day we go our separate ways. Dave and I need to leave around 11:00am to head back to the bed and breakfast in La Paz. Ron, Noreen, Carolyn, J.T. and sons leave around 1:00pm to catch a shuttle to the airport. While we were waiting for everyone to get together so we could have a group picture, Christian took pictures of the 3 hot Amigas!!!!

We had Mason, who was our concierge for our stay, take a group picture. Two of the pictures are with a Bell Hop. Mason didn’t realize until the 3rd picture that he was part of the group. Everyone is funny and great!!!

Here is the picture of the gang.

We said goodbyes in the lobby and then moved it outside as they were following us to our car. Carolyn wanted a picture in front of the fountain and then Nathan had to have his favorite picture taken. Needless to say, mom and Christian were not real happy to comply, but they did and here it is.

Then I got a great picture of the Thomas’.

We had such a great trip and were sad to say goodbye, but the good part is we will see them all in a few months when we drive to Washington State to see family and friends!!! So it is something to look forward too. Dave and I had a very nice trip back to La Paz. We decided not to go to Costco because it was closer to Cabo San Lucas and out of our way. Once back at the Bed and Breakfast Dave was able to get his shoes he was supposed to have picked up before we left for San Jose del Cabo. The man did a beautiful job and Dave is happy. For some reason I was really tired so I didn’t do much socializing. I went to our room and read and ended up falling asleep. Dave watched the Huskies play and lose, but he had a nice visit with the folks that stayed and watched the game. We were up early and since we were already packed, Dave paid the bill and we said goodbye to those who were up. We are headed for Santa Rosalia to stay the night on the boat. I know why I was so tired yesterday. I am coming down with a cold!!!! Blah!! Not too happy about that but at least I caught it at the end of our vacation. When we got to the boat, I washed clothes and we went into town for dinner then came back and went to bed early. It had been a long day in the car. I am looking forward to getting home. It has been fun, but it is always nice to come back home. We made really good time as it is New Year’s Eve and hardly anyone on the road. We extended our stay at Royal Solaris by a day as the rest of the gang made their reservations to end on the 29th. We had no problem keeping the room we had so it worked out just fine. We didn’t know until Noreen got there that they were staying a day more than us. No worries. We saw a truck that had driven off the road into an embankment which wasn’t a good thing. Luckily he crossed the road to the left instead of the right; otherwise it would have been very tragic. We did see an ambulance, but it didn’t have a siren going so hopefully the person or persons inside were going to be all right. Dave said the driver must have fallen asleep at the wheel, and commented about our lucky break when I did that. There is a God!! When we got home it was early enough for me to take a nap so I slept the afternoon away. We had hot dogs for dinner. Hey----at least they were turkey dogs and it was simple. I didn’t feel like cooking. We watched some T.V., had some brandy and about 10:00pm called it a night. Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year. This is an Osprey in our yard ready to take off.

May this be a symbol for all of us for the New Year. May our year take off and be productive and full of life.

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.

October is always a fun!!

Wow!!! It is October already!!! Where does the time go? The coyotes have been fairly quiet lately. What is up with that? They were serenading us just about every night for a while. Our neighbor Joanne has a cat so the coyotes like to visit her house a lot. Pour Duffy. He can’t go outside on his own anymore. Well it beats getting eaten. Monday, the 3rd, the gals and I went to Ruth’s to play train. When we broke for lunch, Ruth cooked some hot dogs and the rest of us had brought some food to share. Dave joined us for lunch then when we were finished, Ruth sent a pork roast and a package of cut up chicken pieces home with Dave. She is trying to get rid of some food because she and Ernest will be going back to Big Bear soon. She wanted to do something to thank Dave for all the electrical work he did for her to get her lights working again so she gave us the meat. That was really nice. Ruth and Ernest have been coming down to Bahia for 25 plus years and Ernest isn’t doing so well anymore which means Ruth ends up doing everything herself. They are in their 70’s and it is getting harder for Ruth each time they come down so they don’t know if they will be back again. I hope so, but there comes a time for all of us that live here, to be faced with that dilemma. Before Dave came for lunch, he tried to start our little generator and it wouldn’t. Plus it was backfiring like the one did on the boat. So Dave checked the carburetor and some other things, so he wasn’t having the best of days. We are back on the boat for a couple days. Our cruiser friends, Lynn and Cliff are going to be arriving in Santa Rosalia from San Carlos this week so we will be able to give them the items we have been holding for them. It will be nice to see them again. They spent the summer in San Carlos, on the mainland, and now will be heading south for winter cruising. The electricity is back on in the marina again which is good. But there is no water. They are working on getting that fixed. We need to wash the boat as we don’t have anyone yet to wash it due to the personnel changes that were made to the marina. So the plan is to pressure wash the boat tomorrow, hopefully the water will be back on, clean the stainless steel and do more waxing. The weather is cooler for doing those chores. The water has been turned on and we are in business now. So the work begins. Oh yea!!! Have I told you I hope the boat sells soon????? I know------patience!!!! I was looking forward to washing my dirty laundry and then drying it when I found out I can wash but can’t dry them due to any propane for the dryers. So I will have to hang my clothes on the boat. Some things don’t change. I’m back to doing what I always did when we were cruising and that was hanging the laundry to dry on the lifelines of the boat. I did two loads of laundry and took them down to the boat and we rigged a clothes line from the headsail (forward sail) to the mast. I had sheets and a mattress cover so I hung those on the clothes line and the rest of the laundry on the lifelines. The wind picked up so I added more clothes pins and kept an eye on everything to make sure my clothes didn’t blow away. We worked our fingers, hands, shoulders and a bunch of other muscles today cleaning stainless steel. I rinsed the cockpit then started on the stainless. It was pretty bad. Dave ended up having to go behind me and rub even harder to get the rust and water spots off. The boat is starting to look better, but it is taking a lot of rubbing and scrubbing. Dave pressure washed the deck and after he was done I wiped down the stainless around the boat. Tomorrow we will try to finish the stainless. We got all the inside of the cockpit done and one aft side of the boat on deck. Tomorrow is the other side aft then the stanchions around the deck. Dave also waxed the back of the boat, but it had been so long since the last time it was done the wax soaked in very quickly. We will have to do another coat. We have more waxing to do in other areas too. Our job isn’t done. We have hired a different man to wash our boat. I think he will do a much better job than Arturo. Dave told Arturo to wash the boat then wipe down the stainless steel when he was finished. Unfortunately it never happened. Dave and I feel better about Alberto washing the boat because we have seen him wash other boats in the marina. He does a really nice job. He will also contact the diver to clean the bottom of our boat once a month. So maybe all of this is a blessing in disguise. The boat will be better cared for. Lynn and Cliff arrived in the marina tonight. It was good to see them again. They had a rough trip over from San Carlos and their cat and Lynn got seasick. Yuck!!! They will be busy tomorrow washing their boat as it is covered in salt!!!! Oh the good ole days!!!!! We remember it well! After they got checked in, the four of us went up to a shop above the marina that makes crepes, milkshakes and more. Dave and I had a crepe filled with cream cheese and strawberries. Dave also got a chocolate milk shake. I just had the crepe. It was yummy!!!! The cruisers that have been in the Bay of L.A. for the summer are heading down to Santa Rosalia and they will love this place! The shop will do good business with the cruisers. This morning I walked to town and got some groceries and when I returned to the boat I took the last of the laundry up, washed it, brought it back to the boat and hung them to dry. It looked like a Chinese laundry, but what can I do? The wind is suppose to blow pretty good today so I wanted to make sure I got an early start so the clothes would dry before the wind picked up. Actually I did well in that department because they were either almost dry or dry enough to bring them in when the wind picked up. We are talking 20-25 knots of wind here! The stainless steel and some waxing have been done. She looks good again. I have been icing my right shoulder and putting heat on it to keep it from getting stiff. My mobility has been hindered a bit, but if I continue with the ice and heat treatment and moving it around, I should be alright. Just some of those old aches and pains you get from doing too much at one time. Oh well. Sometimes you just don’t have a choice. Dave was a big help when he came behind me and rubbed more on the stainless. We will need to do it again the next time we visit the boat, but it should be easier and take less time. We are headed for the house tomorrow so we have started packing up and putting things away. The wind has blown steady today. It was a good thing I did my laundry early. This evening, Cliff, Lynn, Dave and I went to have Chinese food. There are a couple restaurants in town and the one we are going to tonight is the better of the two. Cliff and Lynn will be heading south to La Paz and then to the mainland in a week, along with the other cruisers who have been in the Sea of Cortez all summer. Some will stay in La Paz; others will go back to the mainland and cruise south of Mazatlan. We said our goodbyes to our cruiser friends and headed back to the house. The weather has cooled nicely and we are finally able to sleep soundly. That is until the coyotes start to holler and yip outside our windows. We have counted 6 so far and they are youngsters. The people that live down here for 6 months or so in the winter are starting to arrive in droves. Pretty soon most of the people will be here until the holidays. Our neighbors, George and Mary just got home yesterday, the 12th. So the neighborhood isn’t going to be quiet anymore!! It was nice while it lasted. Monday I joined the gals to play train. There were 8 of us who played train and 4 who played hand and foot. It was fun. Dave took the head off the small generator and noticed the valves need cleaning. Nothing major. So tomorrow when he goes to town to get water, he will take the head over to Philipe to see if he could clean it up. Dave ended up having to leave the head with Philipe because his friend borrowed some of his tools so instead of waiting around; Dave just told Philipe he would come back tomorrow. I went into town to get some groceries, dump garbage, get gas in the truck, and pick up the head for the generator. I had perfect timing as when I was heading to Philipe’s shop, he was leaving and saw me and went back home. He had the head ready and I asked how much I owed him and he said nothing. He was happy to do it for his friend/customer. That was really nice. The next time we have work done; we will give him a little more so he can treat himself to a beer or whatever. When I got back to the house, Dave put the generator back together and started it and it ran nicely. Glad that was an easy fix. We have the really big generator, but it runs off propane, but for just vacuuming we don’t need to run it. The weather, during the day has heated up just a little, due to San Diego getting a big high pressure and heat. It will only last a couple more days and then it will start to cool down. The nights have been wonderful!!!! Something is in bloom which is driving my allergies crazy. I wondered why I was getting so tired and sleepy, and then realized that’s what happens to me when I am allergic to some plant blooming or whatever. So I take naps and my allergy medication. No worries!! Lois and Larry had an impromptu full moon party the other night. We had to guess where and when the moon was going to come up. I tied with Mary Ann so both of us won a prize for guessing the closest time it rose. I got a neat battery operated lamp and Mary Ann got some dish towels with cherries on them. That was cool. There were a couple other people that got prizes too for their answers. We had snacks and sat around and visited. This afternoon, Thursday, the 13th, I am playing hand and foot. There are going to be enough ladies where we can play partners. The game goes faster when we can do that. It will be fun. Here are pictures of my Train and Hand and Foot game ladies!!! They are a fun group.

Saturday, we have been invited to a birthday party in Rincon. Dennis, the birthday boy, is turning 70. He and Rainy are great people and we are looking forward to attending. The party was great!! He handed out small plastic shot glasses that lit up when liquid was put in them. Fun!!! His favorite saying is “Bite Me” so that was written on the outside along with the year. They had a huge piñata filled with candy which we didn’t stay to see Dennis bust it open, but we heard it was fun. Dennis made sure that whoever had the shot glasses got tequila in them. There was a Mexican band and dancing, lots of food and drinks. A fun time was had by all. Our gate guard walked off the job the other day. When the Mexican people get pissed at you, they don’t confront, they just leave and will not talk to you again. There was a misunderstanding on his part and instead of waiting for his boss, who lives in San Diego to come down and straighten things out, he just walked away. So now Leysl, the lady we pay the land fee too, is coming down to interview and hopefully hire a new guard. I sure hope the next one speaks some English and speaks Spanish where we can understand him. Nasario was hard to understand by even the locals. That’s how bad it was. We liked Nasario and thought he did a great job, but things started going sour the last couple weeks so now it is time to move on. Ruth and Ernest left Tuesday for their home in Big Bear. Pretty soon she will be teaching ski lessons again. She hopes she can come back down here next April, but it all depends on how Ernest is doing. Annie and Elwyn had their Halloween party on the 31st. Here is a picture of them.

What fun that was!!! Happy Birthday to Davey!!! I dressed as a bag lady-----and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Dave came as a Parrot Head (Jimmy Buffet fan) with his parrot shirt. There were a great group of people, lots of food and music and dancing!!! Annie and Elwyn throw this party every year. It always is a lot of fun. Their friend made the grave yard at the back of their house. It was neat. It was better when it got dark as he had green lights that showed dots all over the grave yard area. I didn’t get a picture of that, but did manage the day light picture. There was a San Diego Charger game airing that evening so some of the guys didn’t stay long but the wives stayed and had fun. Annie was so tickled the weather cooperated. It was a little breezy, but it was warm. Last year it was blustery and cool. We thanked Annie and Elwyn for having this party for Dave!!!! HA!!!

September Continuing to Bring Hot Temps

It has cooled down some from the heat of the past couple days. I rinsed and scrubbed the port side of the boat to try and get more of the bird crap off. A little more was removed but not all of it. Oh well. That is the way it goes. After that job I rinsed out the cockpit while Dave went to town to price car batteries. We need to replace our start battery now. We have known it for a long time, but we can’t wait any longer in replacing it because it is on its last leg. I was almost finished with the cockpit when he got back with battery in hand. I finished my job and let everything dry. Dave hooked up the new battery and now it is charging. We will have to buy another one later on, because this doesn’t have a lot of amp hours, but it will do for now. Clouds started coming in and it looked like it was going to rain. After lunch I went out and waxed the port top side of the boat. Just the smooth parts. Dave took the old battery back to the hardware store while I polished. I finished polishing and had to quit. I have had enough of the sun for today. I had been sweating a lot and I needed to cool down and get some water in me. Dave returned and checked on the weather. We have a small storm cell above us passing by. I think it is moving south so we won’t see any rain. Dave is also keeping an eye on a tropical storm south of us on the mainland. It was churning and then headed inland and we thought that was going to be the end of it, but it is reviving and does not look too good for us here. Carlos, the marina manager, says that most of the hurricanes develop and come this way around September 1-15. He has lived here all his life so he should know what he is talking about. The tropical storm could generate itself again if it goes out to sea as the waters are warm enough to help it along. We were planning on heading back to the house tomorrow morning, but depending on what this storm is doing south of us, we may have to stay. Dave will take another look at it around 5:00pm when it is updated again. No sense leaving if we have to turn around and come back again right away. Dave and I made a decision about the man wanting to lease our boat for a year. We said no. Dave wrote our broker and told him that if he had enough money to pay the boat payment each month and the moorage fees, he would be able to buy it. The broker thinks this man just wants a cheap place to live for a year. I don’t think it has much to do with selling his boat. It sounds as if he has money. So we wait for the next offer to come along. We have plans to work a lot on the boat in the next 3 months to get her looking nice and protecting her from the elements. The weather should be much cooler. We have just scratched the surface in waxing her. Dave also is waxing the starboard hull where the fender has rubbed the wax off, leaving a black mark. As suspected, the little storm cell has blown away from us. The cloud cover has definitely cooled us off. Well it is time for a beer before I have to do a load of laundry. Toodles. We had dinner in town and when we returned we packed up for leaving tomorrow. We noticed the sky was getting grayer again and looked like it really might rain this time. We got everything packed and ready for transport tomorrow morning to the jeep. Before going to bed we heard thunder and looked out and saw lightning. We didn’t think much of it until it intensified and we had to put the computer in the oven to keep it away from the electrical charges the lightning creates. There is no pilot light on the boat stove so it’s o.k. That is the safest place for electronic devices during a storm. For about 3 hours or so, we heard it thunder and saw the flashes. You thought it was the 4th of July celebration!!!! It seemed as though there were several storm cells converging over us. It rained like crazy and all I could think about was having the jeep and foresail on the boat rinsed as we had a lot of dust flying last week in a 50-55 knot wind chubasco. Then we wondered how the road was going to be in the mountains. We had thoughts of roads being washed out. That is what happens when it rains hard here. We didn’t get a lot of sleep, but we did get up early to head back to Bahia. After securing the boat and saying goodbye to our fellow cruisers, we loaded the jeep. Then we found out that Carlos wasn’t going to be in until 9:30am. Dave forgot to give Carlos money for the diver and boat washer so we had an hour and a half to wait. We drove to town, parked and I waited in the jeep as Dave went to the bank to get pesos. When we returned to the marina, Carlos was just getting there. That was great timing!!! Carlos told Dave the roads were fine once we got out of Santa Rosalia. The majority of the rain fell in town. So that was good news. With all the heavy rain last night, the mud from the hills came down through town and they had backhoes and dump trucks taking the mud away. It made a big mess. We said goodbye to Carlos and headed home. He was right about the roads. No problems after getting through Santa Rosalia. We stopped to do some shopping on the way home in San Vizcaino and then came home. It was pretty warm coming into Bahia. We stopped for gas and then one more store and came home. The house was 106 degrees!!!! We opened all the windows and skylights. It took a while for everything to cool down, but it was just hot. We are back to normal again, in our home. It has been hot and humid, with the wind blowing during the day, but when you need it to keep you cool at night there is nothing. Good thing we have a big fan above the bed!!!!  We have had 2 thunder and lightning storms in the mountains south of us, but no rain here. While we were in Santa Rosalia getting all that rain, Bahia here, got a lot of wind. They had 50 plus knots of wind from a chubasco. It was enough force to blow some items off our storage shed where we keep the garbage can, and one of my rock formations at the beginning of the driveway, which never gets blown over, did!!! Everything else was fine. We seem to fair very well with the weather so far here. I heard from a couple people chairs came blowing off decks and all. Today, the 6th, Dave launched the boat and went fishing but didn’t catch anything this time. He did get a couple hits, but they didn’t latch onto the hook. The wind started picking up so he headed in. I met him at the boat ramp and helped him get the boat on the trailer. This time I resigned myself to getting wet!!! You just can’t fight it. The surf was up a little, but Dave said it was nothing compared to the way it was off the town. So no fish today. We relaxed for the rest of the day. Dave played his computer game and I read. There has been a nice breeze blowing but it is slacking off. We have gotten clouds over the mountains and we are hearing the rumbling of thunder. The clouds have covered the sun so we aren’t getting as much solar power any more. This happened yesterday and then around 4 or so the clouds went away and we had enough power to last all night. Just typical summer weather. We were invited to a birthday party at a friend’s house in Rincon. One of the cruising ladies was having a birthday so Mary invited all those cruisers that wanted to come and us too. Mary knows we use to cruise and we know some of them. So that was nice. It was a potluck and there was lots of food. It was nice to see those cruisers we had cruised with for a while and also to meet new ones and hear of their adventures and plans. It was a fun time. There is going to be a full moon party next weekend in La Gringa, which is north of Bahia and we have been invited to it. Happy 6th birthday Dominick!!!!! Our next to the youngest grandson is going to be starting 1st grade this fall. We were blessed to be able to see him while we were in Washington State. He didn’t remember us because he hadn’t seen us since he was about 2, but we had a fun time at Point Defiance Park with his dad, mom and step brother. Dave and I attended the La Gringa full moon party. We didn’t stay for the potluck, but we did get to see the floaties the cruisers had put together to float in and out of the estuary. They were all great and some were very, very creative. Every year they have this competition of who can make the best floatie and they are judged and prizes are handed out at the potluck dinner later that evening. I wore my bathing suit and got into the water with my noodle to join the fun and talk to some of the people. It was a hot day and the water was cool!!! I floated out of the estuary prior to everyone else so I wouldn’t be among them when the judging started. It was a fun afternoon. Just when you think the weather is cooling, you get another blast of heat. It has gone back up to the upper 90’s and even 100. Dave and I don’t exert much energy when it is that hot. So we’ve been reading and working on jigsaw puzzles. I’ve been trying to walk on the beach after the sun goes behind the mountains as it seems to be a little cooler. Dave has always wanted me to learn cribbage but it just seemed so complicated. But Mary Ann and another gal, named Penny, and I are learning together. As soon as I get a little more comfortable about the game, Dave and I will be able to play. That would make him happy. The gals and I have been playing hand and foot and also train to pass the time. It has been fun. Pretty soon the rest of the gals will be down here so there will be more people to join in. There are just 4 of us that are here all summer, give or take a month for vacation. Ruth, Mary Ann, Penny, and myself. Now we have 5 gals since Joanne has returned. The first part of October there will be more people returning to spend time here until the holidays, then they will go home to the states to be with family and then come back in January or February until it gets too hot for them. So the Bahia shuffle will start soon.  There isn’t going to be a pre-Christmas craft show this year. There wasn’t enough interest to go through all the trouble to put it on, but we are going to have a huge Spring Show. That should be interesting. We had a bunch of people last year and it was pretty crowded. Don’t know where we will fit all the tables-----but wait!!!! I’m not in charge so I don’t have to worry about it!  That feels so good to say!!!! Ha!! The weather is starting to get cooler again. I hope this time it stays cool. Our refrigerator is having a hard time trying to keep things cold. Just a couple days ago we got a west wind which blew very hot air down the mountains and across our area. The temp in the refrigerator was 57 which needless to say spoiled the milk. The inside house temperature was 107 and outside the temperature was 109. That is too hot! Running the fans really didn’t help much but we had to circulate the air somehow. The next house we have I want it to be cement. It is the best type of construction for this heat. Wood absorbs the heat and it takes a long time for it to cool down. If we don’t get a cooling breeze during the day or evening the house never cools down. Just when you think you can’t take it anymore, the weather changes. Just two nights ago it got cool enough that Dave and I had to pull the covers up over us. So maybe the cooling trend is starting. We have had some cooling breezes both in the day and night which is cooling the house down nicely and the refrigerator. I think the weather forecast for next week is to start getting into the 80’s. That will be soooo nice!!! Maybe then I can get back to my cross stitching craft. We got some news from a couple that has a boat in the same marina as we do and they live across the bay from us. They said they heard the marina was changing hands, which we knew, and Carlos, who is the harbor master right now, will be resigning on Friday, the end of the month. That saddened us as he was so good to us. His partner was offered a job at the mine so he left a couple weeks prior. There is no power to the facility so the boats that need power can’t get it unless they run their generator or engines. We are good because we have the solar panels working for us while we are off the boat, but we are going to the boat October 4, and I sure hope the power will be back on by then. It will be interesting to see how the marina will run in the next few months. All the personnel that worked there under Carlos and Evan are being laid off and being replaced with Mexico City personnel. If it gets too bad, we may take the boat down to La Paz, or bring it back to Washington State, in the spring of next year, if we haven’t sold it yet. Time will tell. Always an adventure!!! What would life be without all these ups and downs? Dave and I took the truck into town to the mechanic to have him take a look at the breaks. They are not holding like they should. Every time Dave launches the boat he worries if the breaks will hold. I followed Dave in the jeep and did some grocery shopping while he was talking to Philippe. Then I picked him up when I was done and headed home. Philippe said he would give us a call to let us know about the truck. Our gate guard, Nasario came by and tried to tell me the truck was done and asked if I needed a ride into town to pick it up. I really didn’t understand the truck was ready until after he had left and I was telling Dave about it. Ruth was over for a visit so Dave went to see Nasario and figure out if that is what he was saying, while Ruth and I visited. Sure enough, Philippe told Nasario to tell us the truck was ready. Dave told Nasario we would go into town tomorrow. The next morning we went into town and picked up the truck. Dave drove it while I drove the jeep. Dave said the truck runs really well. Philippe adjusted the breaks, changed 2 spark plug wires and plugs added brake fluid and it only cost $300 pesos. That is pretty cheap!!! Especially with the exchange rate at around 13.7. I played cribbage on Wednesday and hand and foot on Friday. Keeps my mind active and also gives me something else to do. Not doing much crafting stuff right now. Just reading and working on my cross stitch again. We heard the power is back on in the marina in Santa Rosalia so we will be heading down on October 4. I am glad that has worked out because I have some bedding and towels to bring down to wash. So life is good. It should be interesting to see what changes have been made.