Music Anyone?

Music Anyone?

Yesterday afternoon we were just sitting around when we heard a noise outside. It sounded like part of a band starting to warm up to play. We looked at each other and headed for the windows. Just down the street from us were two guys, they both had drums and one of them had a trumpet. He was multitasking as he held the trumpet in one hand and played it and banged on the drum with the other hand. They slowly walked up the street, and rapped on some of the neighbors fences to attract attention. As if the trumpet and drums, couldn't do this. No one popped out of their house to ask for a request, so they continued on their way up the street. I forgot to get the camera until they were almost out of view, so only got a very poor picture.

Another moon picture.

A Walk Through The Neighborhood--Part Three

A Walk Through The Neighborhood--Part Three

There is nothing to exciting happening right now, so I thought I would continue to show you around our neighborhood.

Yesterday was my moms birthday, so I phoned her and had a nice long chat, also chatted on messenger with my sister. So it was a talkative day. This morning continued that trend with an early morning chat with the homeowner from the Baja house sit.

Still hot here, 10:45 AM and it is 30 C. (86 F.), humidity 75%, "feels like 36 C." according to one of the weather sites. We did turn the A/C off again for the night last night though and it was comfortable to sleep. It seems like the humidity is getting lower and it is more comfortable now in the evenings.

This is our favorite taco stand for fish/shrimp tacos.

A beer store.


A hamburger stand, this one is quite new and we haven't tried it yet.

This is a tortilla shop, its sign says, "tortillas y mas", which means tortillas and more. Not sure what the more is as we get our tortillas right across the street from us and this place is about 5 blocks away.

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The next 2 photos are of a gym which is only 1 blk. away from us. We haven't been motivated to try it yet.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom

Tomorrow, September 28th is my moms birthday. No, I can't tell you how old she is. She doesn't read this as she doesn't have a computer. She has no time for one she says and believe me if you knew her schedule you would agree. I am sure if I did tell her age though one of my siblings would run and tattle on me, some things never change. Somehow I don't think she wants her age plastered all over the Internet. Anyway, Happy Birthday mom!

Before we left Canada for Mexico, I scanned a lot of my old photos into my computer and onto discs so that I could have them with me. Tonight I got looking at some of the old ones and decided to post a few of them.
This is my mom and dad, in their dating days (I think). Definitely before 5 children entered their lives! I have always loved this photo of them, they look so happy.

This is their wedding photo.

This is my maternal grandfather in his younger days. I believe that this was taken on his way home from ringing the church bells. The church is in the background. This was before he emigrated from England to Canada.

These are my maternal grandparents. I believe that this was their wedding photo. Both were born in England and later emigrated to Canada.

This is my paternal grandmother, another wedding photo? She was also born in England and emigrated to Canada.

This is my paternal grandfather. He was my only grandparent to actually be born in Canada; his parents had also emigrated from England a few years before he was born.

Repairing The Street After Hurricane Henriette

Repairing The Street After Hurricane Henriette

We had been discussing the state of our street with our landlord the other day. When Hurricane Henriette came through, all the rain and water rushing down our street created a washout that you couldn't drive over. We actually didn't mind it; but then we don't do a lot of driving. To us it just meant that there was no traffic on the street; therefore it was quiet and there was very little dust. Apparently though our views were not held by everyone, so the city was called to come and repair the damage.

Yesterday they showed up with a grader, a water truck and a dump truck. They dumped several loads of gravel, and the grader began his repair job. After he had done a fair amount of work the water truck watered it all down and everyone left. We assumed they hadn't finished as there was still a pile of gravel in one spot. Sure enough, several hours later they all showed up again and finished the work. Our street is back in working order and is probably better than it was before the hurricane.

Full Moon

Full Moon

According to my calendar tonight is full moon. I love when the moon is full; its soft, glowing light bathes the neighborhood and makes everything look so special. The palm trees seem to glow in its light. There is something about a full moon that brings out the frustrated photographer in me. I can't recall the times that I have tried to take pictures of the full moon. Some of the ones I took when we were in the Baja turned out not bad (for me anyway, someone like Billie must just cringe and grimace, if they look at my photos ). The moons light shining across the water of the Sea of Cortes was beautiful.

Here we don't see its glow on the water; but it lights up the neighborhood and makes everything look soft and pretty. So, naturally I got the camera out again last night. I was too lazy to get out the tripod and didn't really expect to get a photo worth saving; but I liked one and Roy liked one, so here they are.

The one I liked.

The one Roy liked, he liked the better view of the buildings.

If you read this blog very often, you know that we use the bus system here the majority of the time. We seldom use the car, at times it sits for a couple of weeks without running. It is not without its value though, even when not being used for transportation. Here you can see one of its other uses, for some of our street residents it is a valuable part of the nighttime neighborhood.

Computer Problems?

Computer Problems?

I may or may not be having problems with receiving emails. I am not sure. I just found out that I have not been receiving emails from one person. We are not sure if the problems lies within my system or theirs. If you have sent me an email in the last few days and I have not responded please let me know by leaving a comment here, as I may not receive the email.

A Walk Through The Neighborhood--Part Two

A Walk Through The Neighborhood--Part Two

We had a nice evening last night with some new acquaintances, who have their boat on the "hard" (land) at the marina seca (dry marina) here in Guaymas. They came over and we visited for awhile before we headed out to dinner at La Barca. Strangely enough the biting bugs were bad at the restaurant (outdoor under a palapa roof), which was a first. For this reason we didn't linger too long over dinner as both she and I were getting eaten alive. The men were not being bothered at all by them. I can only assume that it is because of the recent rains that they were so bad. Anyway we returned to our apartment and visited some more.

Not too much exciting going on today, so thought that we would continue on our walk through our neighborhood. I could not get blogger to upload the photos so I am putting them in from webshots. Slightly more time consuming and I hope that you can still click on them to enlarge when I am finished. Our connection seems to be slow this morning so that could be the problem.

This is where we both get our haircuts, it is about 3 1/2 blocks from home.

This according to the sign is supposed to be a butcher shop; but the times when I have been in there it is more of a vegetable shop, so I think they have changed their speciality.

This is the laundromat where we do our laundry, it is about 5 blocks from us.

On the corner by the laundromat there used to be a second hand shop, I used to go and look around while I was waiting for the laundry to wash. One day it closed and shortly thereafter a paint shop opened up in the same space. There was already a paint shop right across the street from them.

This is the other paint shop right across the street from the newer one.

On the corner right beside the paint shop above is a pharmacy where they also have a medico that you can consult with for 25 pesos (about $2.50). Upstairs in the pharmacy building is another hairdresser where I have also gotten a haircut while waiting for the laundry to finish.

Many more places to see in our neighborhood, return tomorrow for the next installment.

A Walk Through The Neighborhood--Part One

A Walk Through The Neighborhood--Part One

Zoning laws, if they exist, must be quite different here than north of the border. You don't seem to see strict business/housing segregation. Homes and businesses co-exist quite happily right beside each other.
Our neighborhood is no different. Some streets consist only of homes; but others have a mixture.
The other day I needed some paper and so walked down to a papeleria (stationery store) and decided to take my camera along to document some of the various businesses in our area. There are many within a 6 or 7 block radius and if we didn't want to we wouldn't have to go downtown or to the big grocery stores hardly ever. We could get almost everything we need right in our own neighborhood. Nice.
This store is right across the street from us. You can get an assortment of things there, kind of like a 7-11 with character. We get our soda pop there, or a pastry, or if I run out of eggs I can buy 1 or 2 there or a tomato or.....almost anything you need.



This one is at the other end of our block and you can get the same things as at the one above.

This is a wonderful mini market, it is 3 blocks from us. The owner and his sister who run the place are wonderful people and we do a lot of our shopping here. We get all of our meat here, it is excellent and he has a selection of vegetables and almost everything else you can think of.

This bigger grocery store called ISSSTE is 4 blocks from us and has a large selection of everything; but for some strange reason they do not carry flour or fresh milk. I have no idea why not. They also have a pharmacy where we get our prescriptions.

This is the stationary store where I went to get paper. It is probably 6 or 7 blocks from us at the eastern border of our 'hood; and usually as far as I go walking for shopping.


This is a gift shop right beside the stationary store.

There are many other shopping options available and I will show more in the upcoming days.
This evening we are to meet some new people (through the blog, again) and go out for dinner to one of our favorite restaurants, La Barca.

Dolphin Dies At Delphinario

Dolphin Dies At Delphinario

One of the 4 dolphins (Gabriel) at the Delphinario has died. They are not sure at this time why; but tests are being conducted at Guadalajara, Jalisco and also at the Independent National University of Mexico . The other dolphins seem to be healthy; but the staff are keeping a close eye on things. Apparently the dolphin died within 24 hrs. of becoming ill and the veterinary could do nothing to help it. They are thinking that it was some type of virus and possibly the effects of Hurricane Henriette had something to do with it also.

The dolphins do therapy sessions with children with Autism, Downs Syndrome and Cerebral Paralysis.
The therapy sessions have been cancelled until the first of October because of this.

Delphinario, photo taken from El Vigia newspaper.

In other news, more about the Virgen de Gaudalupe that was retrieved from the sea by the fishermen of La Manga. They are saying that it was abandoned and so they brought it in and had no bad intentions when they did it. They say that at no time did they intend for it to be viewed as a miracle and that it also was not serving its intended purpose as an artificial reef for fish. It weighs more than 2 tons and is more than 3 meters long. They insist that it was not a robbery as she was covered with stones and sand and not performing as a reef and that they didn't realise that they had to inform the harbor authorities. They say that she is safe now and should remain in a chapel in La Manga. Apparently they held a meeting yesterday and it has been decided that the Virgen will remain in La Manga.

La Virgen, photo taken from El Vigia newspaper.

Looking For A Place To Retire?

Looking For A Place To Retire?

If you are looking for a place to retire, you might want to consider Mexico, according to International Living Magazine anyway. They have published their new list of the best places to retire and Mexico ranks as number 1. In its 15th annual global retirement index, they look at such things as: real estate, entertainment, special benefits offered to retirees, culture, safety and stability, healthcare, climate, infrastructure and cost of living. The USA ranked as number 19 and the UK as number 29 of 29 countries analyzed.

Hmmm......we could have told you this.

Another Hurricane?

Another Hurricane?

Tropical storm Ivo has been updated to a Catagory 1 Hurricane, at the moment it is about 410 miles south- southwest of Cabo San Lucas on Baja Sur. Hopefully it will decided to stay away from any habitated areas or totally dissipate without doing any damage. I am sure that a lot of people will be keeping an eye on it over the next few days.

There has been a strange thing going on the last few days at one of the small fishing villages just out of San Carlos. It was reported that some fishermen from La Manga "found" a Virgen de Guadalupe statue in the sea just off the coast of San Carlos. A group of them got together and brought her back to land. She weighs in the neighborhood of 2 tons, so this was a big undertaking. They laid her in town and said that she arrived just in time to bless the beginning of the shrimp fishing season. They asked a priest to come out to La Manga and view her and were talking of building a chapel for her to reside it. A day or two later a group of people surfaced who say that 5 or 6 yrs. ago they purchased the statue and sunk her in the sea to make an interesting diving site. They want her put back where she came from. What the next move in this stand off will be remains to be seen!

This photo was posted on the VivaSanCarlos forum.

This photo taken from La Voz del Puerto newspaper.