Sunday, December 28, 2008

Merry Christmas!









We have had our first Christmas in our new home! We've had a great time with lots of partying and eating- so some things are the same worldwide. Last Saturday night (the 20th) we had our first annual owners posada (Christmas party). It's a tradition in Mexico for neighbourhoods to close their street and have a big block party to celebrate the season. We had ours in the large palapa by the main pool. We walked around the complex a few weeks ago to deliver invitations to our pot luck party. We were very pleased with the number of people who came. It was fun meeting the neighbours outside our little "inner horseshoe". Quite a few Mexicans attended so with them and all of us from other countries (Canada- 7 provinces, USA, England, Germany and probably more) , we had a wonderful assortment of food. Dan and Sheryl set up a sound system so we had music all night. At one point we had just about all the ladies, both Mexican and gringas, up dancing. At one point we rotated turns and every single one of us hopped onto the table to do a little number while the rest of us clapped to the music. It's amazing how we were able to have conversations with so many of these Mexican people who speak little or no English while most of us speak so little Spanish.

A couple of days before Christmas our neighbours Tony and Maureen and their guests from England went down south to visit Maureen's sister, who is building a home just outside Barra de Navidad. Gail volunteered me to babysit their little kitty Poppy. They left us a little ceramic gingerbread house filled with candy to thank us.

Christmas Eve I made a batch of Lea's wonderful Beef Bourguignon and invited Scott and Nancy over for the evening. They brought us a beautiful Mexican pottery bowl. During the day I made three of the Honey Almond Twists I've been making for a few years now. I gave one to Nancy and Scott, one to Jack and Anne and kept the other for us.

We were surprised on Christmas morning to get a little gift of gourmet ground coffee and a Christmas card from Greg and Shirley. Next year we will have to be better organized and bring down some Christmas cards for our new friends.

I insisted that Gail had to buy me at least one little thing to open on Christmas Day. I bought her a set of shot glasses (amazing that we had none yet!) and she surprised me with a beautiful hand made shoulder bag, a set of two ceramic Mexican bowls and a bottle of homemade Limoncello from the Italian restaurant close to us. So I was spoiled for sure! Gail said it was the most fun she ever had Christmas shopping. I dropped her off in the town square and she walked to the market, in shorts and sandals, sunglasses on, no traffic, no mall parking, no heavy winter clothes and no crowds.

Our friend Linda and her family invited us for Christmas dinner. I had brought Christmas crackers from home and they were a huge hit. There were twelve of us for dinner as Linda had invited other people as well. Two of them were from Calgary and were the only ones who had ever heard of Christmas crackers. They just don't have them in the states. Dinner was fabulous including the sweet potato delight- a southern dish that I had never had. After dinner we went up to the palapa on the roof of the building and watched the sun set (photo above). Linda lives on the other side of Bucerias, close to the Decameron and other resorts. We could see the resorts in front of us and the sun set behind. It was a lovely end to the day.

On boxing day, six of us went to a real Mexican seafood restaurant and had a PLATTER of food.
This is what was included: a bottle of tequila for the table (alas I couldn't partake as I was driving), fish soup, tortillas, crackers, a mountain of shrimp cooked three ways, salad, bread, a chunk of crab, bananas baked in a sweet sauce and a kahlua type of cocktail, all for $99.00 pesos, the equivalent of $9.00 Canadian! We had so much food we took a box home for lunch yesterday.

This morning we went to the marina for breakfast and now I am taking a break to download pictures and update the blog.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Friday, December 19, 2008

We've Got Mail!!!




Wow, what a surprise we had yesterday!

Gail has appointed herself the Mother Theresa of Los Amores. We buy huge quantities of coke and cookies so she can feed the masses. Whenever she sees any of our workers outside she pours them coke and gives them cookies. Naturally they all love her. She is without doubt the most popular owner amongst the workers. In all fairness, they work hard, outside in the heat, doing the most grunging work: digging ditches six feet deep with pickaxes and shovels so they can install a new drainage system; hammering the sides of the buildings with chisels so they can repair cracks in the concrete; weed eating the entire lawn area because the mower has broken down. All of this without any eye or ear protection, no hard hats, in sandals - no steel toed boots here. They work ten hour days from Monday to Friday and on Saturday five hours. Of course, they do have their two hour siestas in the middle of the day! It's often the only time of the day that we have peace and quiet around here. It is still a construction site with lots of noise and dust. Even so, it's all good. It's Mexico in December and the sun is always shining.

Anyway, back to our surprise. It suddenly occurred to Gail yesterday that she had been neglecting the guards as she goes about doing her "good work" lol. So, off she went with a glass of coke and cookies to the guard station. Our favorite guard, Rosita, (a sweet girl around 25 or so) was on duty and was delighted with her snack. Gail explained in her Spanglish that Rosita could bring the glass back to our house number 56, when she was finished. Rosita said 56? and gave Gail a bundle of mail.

We didn't know that the mail is delivered to the guard station by the post office and we have to ask if there is anything waiting for us. So it proves the theory that you are rewarded for good deeds!

We had Christmas cards from my sisters Janet and Brenda, a beautiful photo Christmas card from Graeme, Ceci and baby Nicolas and a PACKAGE from Dale, Tim, Trent and Michelle! Inside the package was a Santa wine bottle cover, a set of window stickies of a snowman and snowflakes, two blinking Christmas tree pins (which arrived just in time for us to wear at our owners pot luck tomorrow night and a Burl Ives singing Christmas card.

Last year my sister Brenda sent us a card which belts out Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad". We kept it for this year- Gail drives me crazy opening it constantly. Brenda was so kind to send us a hilarious card with a Mexican snowman wearing a sombrero and serape this year- no singing! HOWEVER, my good friend Dale obviously loves Gail more because now we have another singing card. It was difficult for me last night listening to these cards, sometimes both together. I am threatening to hide them if this continues!!

Anyway, we were so completely thrilled and pleased to receive this mail. We have a tiny little tin angel that I bought at a craft fair here and a teeny little Christmas tree with glued on bobbles for our decorations.

I also brought as our only tree ornaments the Swarovski crystal snowflakes that Lea has been sending us for years. I've hung them from our dining room light fixture and they are beautiful and festive.

Thank you for thinking about us!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A Long Overdue Update!












I realized today that it's been over two weeks since I last updated my blog. Things have finally settled down here somewhat so we've been able to get out and about! We've been into Puerto Vallarta a few times, and of course had to drop in to Cafe Roma to see Fox and the regulars. Robin and Serge have tenants for the month, Nancy and Scott, who are also from Tacoma. We took them along with us and they signed up for Christmas dinner - which is where we spent last Christmas. Fox closes the restaurant and for $100. pesos (about $10.00 Canadian) and a small pot luck dish, you get an entire traditional Christmas meal. All the money goes to support the "School of Champions", a local charity that helps the kids who comb through the garbage at the dump to help feed their families.

Nancy and Scott had a Mexican friend from Mazatlan visit for a couple of days this week. Mazatlan is the shrimp/prawn capital of Mexico. He brought lots with him and they invited us over for dinner a few nights ago. We had YUMMY prawns and veggies on skewers that were BBQ'd over charcoal.

We've been to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle three times. It's the little town just north of us where the fabulous new marina is being built. The boats moored there are magnificent. Like just about everywhere in Mexico the rich and the poor are right next to each other. That's one of the things I love most about living here. One night we went for tacos on the street and they were delicious and cheap! We had two "gringas", a little taco filled with meat and veggies, for $20. pesos - equivalent of $2.00 Canadian- and it was just the right amount of food. Another time we went for breakfast at the marina restaurant. It is a beautiful place with excellent Italian food, great service, fabulous views and very reasonable prices. My huge breakfast was about $5.00 Canadian. Then last Friday night 15 of us hired a large van and went to Phyllos bar for dancing and live music. The music was GREAT! One guy played the sax better than anyone I have ever heard.

Of course, we've been for dinner in Bucerias. One of our favourite spots is "The Rim" where you get a fabulous burger with all the fixin's for $2.00 Canadian. The name? Everything is cooked outside on a tire rim. I swear to God it's true!

We've driven up to La Penita for the weekly market. It's about a 45 minute drive but well worth it as it is the best open air market in this area. You can buy fresh vegetables, fruits, bread, fish, chicken and meat. There are also lots of vendors with Mexican pottery, jewelery, glassware, clothing, plants etc. Then you can carry on to to flea market which is exactly what you would expect here. It's a real experience to walk around the town on market day. It will be one of the things we will take our guests to see when they visit.

Last Saturday we had a thank you party for our workers at the large palapa. We went around the complex and collected about $1,600. pesos and bought hot dogs, buns, decorations, beer, pop, snacks and a pinata which we filled with candy and coins. Greg and Ian BBQ'd all afternoon and the workers had a great time. It was a lot of fun, especially when they beat the Santa Claus pinata apart and scrambled for all the loot. We figure there were about 25-30 workers, some of whom brought their spouses, plus about 30 or so owners and guests. We had a great group who organized it all and helped clean up afterwards. I've posted a little video at the bottom of the blog. It's of the last worker who smashed the pinata. That's me screaming at the end as all the candy came flying towards me!

Last night we had six of our neighbours over for appies, roast beef, Lea's pear mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, and Gail's famous brandied peaches on vanilla ice cream for dessert. Oh, and lots of great wine and laughs. It was a fun evening.

So, I guess the title of my blog is now starting to be quite accurate. We are "Living in Bucerias" and loving every minute! Oh, especially when we see the snow in Victoria, Vancouver and Kelowna on BCTV!

For Andrew and Tamara- we listen to you just about every morning while we are having our tea and juice. When you do your all request Christmas show- play Feliz Navidad for us! We'll be sure to be listening!