Christmas in Los Amores

It's been a little while since I posted! We've been having lots of fun here over the Christmas break. First we had the owners Christmas party at the large palapa on Saturday December 19. It was a great party particularly as so many owners had finally arrived here. We decorated the palapa in the afternoon and the party really just carried on from there. Maureen's kids had given her a Margaritaville maker for the birthday and that was a huge hit. She had margaritas going for most of the night. We had tons of food and a great time was had by all.
Mexican's really don't celebrate Christmas the way Canadians do. We were surprised and amused to see that by Monday morning all our decorations had been carefully taken down and stored away by our maintenance people! Oh well, at least lots of us have lights and wreaths outside our homes to make it all look festive around here.
Our friends Ruth and Allison had to cancel their holiday here because of a medical issue, so we were very disappointed about that. Another time for sure!
We had mentioned to a few of our friends to drop by Christmas Eve night. We thought it would be nice to have some friends over as we are the only home with a regular size tree. Well, it kind of got a bit larger than planned as we ended up with twenty people here! It was great. I realized in the morning that we would probably need to have more food so I made about four appetizers extra-plus the stuff we already had-including home made cookies, shortbread and fruitcake. It was a perfect way to spend the night.
Christmas morning was sunny and hot- and I slept way past my usual time-not getting up until 9:30! We opened the few gifts to each other and found that Santa had left other things under our tree. We have such great neighbours! Maureen and Tony had heard me whining last year as it was the first in my memory that I didn't have a Terry's Chocolate Orange in my stocking. So, they put two under the tree for us that they had brought from Canada. So sweet-both the candy and our friends!

We spent the most part of the day visiting around or having others drop by then late in the afternoon we went to the other side of Bucerias to have dinner with our friends Linda and Loren. They had fifteen in total for dinner. It was delicious and made special with the Christmas crackers that we brought with us from Canada Costco.

Oh, by the way- I made the blue coloured nativity scene back in 1979-thirty years ago! It was a Christmas gift to my parents. I brought it back with me when I came home from Newfoundland in August after my father died. It was so special to have it with me again-knowing that it had spent so many years with my parents. 

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone!

Manos Amor

Manos Amor- Hands of Love. The long awaited opening of the Bucerias Children's Orphanage opened yesterday. It's called Manos Amor. The community has been fund raising for this orphanage for a number of years. Previously, the place where the children lived was in a gruesome place although I had never seen it.
Anyway, yesterday we decided to attend the opening and give a donation. It was quite emotional. Right now, they have completely paid for the land and building, but only have enough funds for one full time staff member and lots of volunteers. There are two large rooms, one for ninos (boys) and one for ninas (girls) and each has 12 beds. There's a large kitchen and a storeroom for food, which mainly contains rice and beans. There are both girls and boys bathrooms, with showers. Of course there are also rooms for the administration. The place is very sparse but very clean. There are only 10 kids there now because they cannot cope with more until they have more staff. The lady who has been instrumental in getting this done told me that there is a great need to take more kids, but they just can't. I have to wonder where these poor children are right now.
So, it was actually quite nice to see the place and meet some of the kids. They were so EXCITED to be hosting this party for the community. They were all dressed in their best clothes, polished shoes and braided hair for the girls. There was so much food and grills being set up when we left so I'm sure the party continued on long past the posted time of 6pm!
The kids were adorable. We were totally amused by the boys, grabbing bottles of soda pop from the coolers, then after shaking them up, climbed the monkey bars and let them explode!
Gail has been thinking of volunteering there, but I don't know if she will. It is a little far from where we live, so she couldn't walk there, and it's quite a drive over what we would consider logging roads. So, we will see.

A Beautiful Sunset!

The bonus of a bit of a cloudy day is the fabulous sunsets we have the night before. Here are some photos I took on the beach one evening last week, just before we went for dinner. Oh, and the clouds didn't last. The weather has been GREAT this week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guadalajara Trip

At last, the promised post on the Guadalajara/Tonola trip. I've been really sick with a crappy flu for three days and am finally well again, yeah!

Thanks to Ann for providing the photos for me. Tonola is an amazing town. The ENTIRE place is a shopping mecca. The hotels cater to the buyers-wholesalers and tourists alike. The place where we stayed devotes the entire lobby to storage space for purchases. They have a fantastic system set up. There are areas to rope off and a white board on the wall for you to put your name and room number. Then you simply store your stuff in your space. The best thing of all is that you can give this information to the shop and they will deliver your purchases to your space and you don't have to be there to accept the delivery-so you can keep on shopping! You can buy everywhere you look, even from the back of a truck, where I bought my three kitchen jugs. There are also many many boys in the street pushing carts for your things as well. So if you buy from one of the street stalls you can hire a kid for a few pesos, pile your things in his cart and send him to your hotel. For some reason, it is perfectly safe. We used these kids and everything was right in our spot when we arrived home! With all the stuff I bought, Ann and Jack bought, and Marilyn and Barry needed help with, my van was almost as stuffed coming back as it was from Victoria!

One morning we went for breakfast at a really nice little place. It was only about 15C that morning, so definitely chilly for here. I pulled on a sweatshirt and was quite comfortable. We arrived just as the place was opening and one little waitress arrived dressed like she belonged on an Edmonton street. She was wearing a jacket with hood and scarf wrapped completely around her face. We were so delighted with the contrast and laughed so much with her about the temperature. She was happy to have her picture taken with us!

We had great food everywhere we ate. There was a tiny little kitchen (almost literally the food was cooked in the family kitchen) right next to the hotel, where we had an amazing meal home cooked by the Mama, orders taken by the son and served by the daughter one night. The cost including a beer was under $5.00 Canadian each. Then by contrast, we went to a really nice place around the corner another night where I had one of my favorite Mexican meals, Mocajete. The only other time I had this was a few years ago in Guadalajara so when I saw it on the menu, there was no need to look at the other choices. It's sort of like a thick soup or stew, filled with either chicken, beef or prawns and stuffed with lots of other veggies. It's served in a very hot dish made from black lava so the meal stays hot right to the finish. It is DELICIOUS!

Finally, on the way home, we took a 20 minute drive detour so we could stop in the town of Tequila. I just had to go! It's a sweet, quaint little place and just about the only thing for sale is well, TEQUILA! And coffee flavored, coconut flavored, almond flavored, pineapple flavored etc etc etc. TEQUILA!  Because it is all made there it is incredibly good and incredibly cheap. I had a literally, 1/4 tsp. taste of the each of the flavored ones because I was driving, sob! But were they good! Jack and I each bought three 5 litre bottles of coconut, pineapple and pina colada liqueurs for $200. pesos each (about $18. Canadian) and a five litre bottle of aged regular tequila for $150. pesos (about $13.00 Canadian). This stuff is not gut rot, it's really good! Am I going to drink it all? Not a chance, but it's great to have for company!

We didn't think we could stuff eight 5 litre bottles of alcohol in the van, but it's amazing what you can do when you have to!!

On the way home, I was thinking that this was the most amazing shopping I had ever done in my life. A van filled booty and booze and I didn't have to go through customs!!

My Tonola Loot!

Well, I am back in Bucerias and have a lot to do today. Gail arrives home tonight and I want to get as much as possible done before she gets here. This morning I already finished and installed a Roman blind in the den. I finished the one for the guest room last week. Now I have to deal with all the stuff I bought in Tonola.

I have three paintings, one piece of wall art and a mirror to install. I also bought a set of three beautiful large floor vases and grasses/reeds to put in them plus a set of three large mushroom "ornaments". I fell in love with them. They have pottery bases and broken glass shades (the mushroom caps) in blue and silver. I have a set of three Aztec tin wall ornaments and a set of three tin frogs. Just about everything is sold in sets of three, including the three pottery jugs which I've put on top of one of the kitchen cabinets. I bought some teal blue glass balls to put in a square box, along with sand and beach glass/stones to make a dining room centrepiece. I have a really funky fired tin rooster-so typical of Mexico! Right now it is about 8am and the real roosters are crowing away outside.

As soon as I get the photos from Ann's camera I will post pictures of our trip.

When we arrived home yesterday aftenoon, Tony and Maureen plus Karen and Bud had arrived from BC and Alberta. It was so great to see them. Last night Karen and Bud, Ann and Jack and I went out for dinner at Miguel Angel's restaurant in the town square. This is such a great little spot. Every night there is live music and the owner, Miguel, is a great guy-really friendly and a perfect host. I had chicken kabobs that were just about the best I've ever had.

Sad to say, it poured rain again all night and is overcast today. Where has our beautiful blue sky gone?

A Quickie Update

Gail's Mom is doing really well and in fact is now up and walking a bit. Gail will be flying back to Bucerias on Tuesday and arrives around 8pm.

I left Bucerias this morning at 7am to drive to Guadalajara. Ann and Jack came with me and Barry and Marilyn drove in their car. Now we are here and plan to shop till we drop tomorrow and Sunday. I've already had a taste of how fabulous it is here. I've spent a whopping $50.00 and cannot believe what I got for it! We are actually staying in the market town of Tonola, just on the outskirts of Guadalajara, which is where all the artisans sell their wares. Can you believe it? I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!!! But luckily Ann has hers and I've taken some pictures with it. I'll have to get her to email them to me so I can update the blog when I get back home on Monday night.

More next week, including photos of my loot!

Upper Hallway and Stairs

 

The sun is shining again! A beautiful cloudless day just like it should be here. I spent the morning cleaning the upper hallway and stairs. It's been messy for weeks while I did the painting and Lobo did the mural. We also had a handrail added at the top of the staircase which I've wanted done since we moved here. There was a very dangerous area at the top of the stairs and now it has been eliminated. I'm posting a few pictures now that everything is done. The area at the top of the stairs is very large and there was really no use for it. I decided to have an electrical outlet installed so I could put a desk there for the laptop. It's a great place for it. The desk and chair fit perfectly there. You can also see more of the top of Lobo's mural. The two doors are to the guest bedroom and the third bedroom which we are using as a den.

I've been waiting all afternoon for Beto, the electrician who installed the outlet last year, to come fix the ceiling fan in the master bedroom. It only turns on low speed and it's not at all effective. Of course right now Beto is almost three hours late. He probably won't show up. Sigh.....but I have to realize it's a small price to pay to live in paradise!

The placement of the photos on this blog is so random. It drives me crazy. I can never get them to go where I want them!

Rain!

I cannot believe it-it's rained on and off all day today. This is so unusual for Vallarta! This morning there was water on the bedroom balcony and I just thought it was dew dripping from the overhead canopy (it's been dropping to 18-19C at night which is so nice for sleeping) . Then, as the day went on it started to drizzle and tonight we had a DOWNPOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really do feel sorry for people who are here on a one week resort holiday from the rain and snow up north BUT I have to say that I love it! It is so cool and refreshing for a change from the heat and sun and humidity.

Tonight I went to Greg and Shirley's for dinner and had to actually walk on the street around the outside of the houses to get there because it was raining so hard. Good thing Gail left her very light rain jacket here, otherwise I would have arrived like a drowned rat.

It's stopped now and hopefuly for good this season!

Master Bedroom and Ensuite

I've FINALLY finished the master bedroom! It's not that it is such a huge room but that I had to work around the furniture, shifting everything each time I tackled a wall. Three walls are painted a pretty lemon colour and the window wall is painted white.

Unless you have already been here you wouldn't notice anything different about the bathroom or closet. I've included pictures though to show the drawers that were added to the bathroom cabinet on the left side. Previously there had just been a solid wall there which made the area behind impossible to access. I had to buy the toilet paper holder as the only place to hang the holder was on the wall behind the toilet where the drawers now open. I hate having them hang behind the toilet anyway so I'm happy with the holder.

In the closet, I added a bank of shelves. There is now an additional one beside the one behind the door to the ensuite bathroom. I also added an extra shelf above the existing one. The ceilings are 10 feet high so there was a lot of wasted space. There is now a door into the closet from the master bedroom. It closes the room and looks much tidier. Besides, there is a skylight in the closet ceiling that brightens the bedroom too much in the morning. The skylight is a dome shaped thing that is larger than the hole in the ceiling because....it is opened to the outside with only screening around the bottom. You can't see it but it is a constantly opened skylight. It's designed so that rain cannot get in. It's commonly done down here to give air circulation, especially in the rainly season when things can get mildewed really fast. I hate it for two reasons: all the dust from the construction around here comes in through the openings, and when the air conditioner is on in the bedroom, the cool (and very expensive to run) air flows right out the top. It's kind of the opposite of hearing my father say when I was growing up: "Close that door! I'm not paying to heat Elizabeth Avenue"! :) So now the closed door will at least allow the air conditioner to run more efficiently.

Yesterday, I went back to the fabric store and bought beautiful fabric to make Roman blinds for this bedroom and the guest room. I'll start working on them this week. I can't wait to have them done and hung. Next weekend I'm going to Guadalajara to go shopping so then I can add all the little finishing touches (like paintings and wall hangings) to many rooms in the house. Anyway, that will be a different post.

This morning I went out for breakfast with some of the neighbours to a litle Mexican place called Jorge's Cocina (George's Kitchen). They have great food at typically cheap Mexican prices. One thing I've noticed about just about all the restaurants here is the cheap and awful cutlery they use. You can go to a really nice place and have a fantastic meal on beautiful Mexican plates and the cutlery looks like it comes from a dollar store. Anyway, this morning my cutlery was really bad. The knife and fork were so small and short I could hardly cut and pick up my food. Then I noticed the name on the side of the fork "Mexicana". It was cutlery from an airline! I just howled when I saw it! It's things like this that I just love down here. The most innocent thing can turn into a "I cannot believe it" story.

American Thanksgiving+Lots to be Thankful For

Gail's Mom is improving every day, so much so that Gail thinks she may be able to return to Bucerias sometime next week. The family has lots of meetings set up with the social worker and doctor to discuss her ongoing care and placement. She now requires more intense care so this weekend they will be checking out long term facilites. Of course there are long 6-7 month wait lists for the best ones so in the meantime, she will either have to stay in the hospital or go back to her intermediate care home with extra support until a bed comes available. Lots of decisions. Still we are thankful that she made it through this latest crisis and that Gail got home to spend time with her mother.

For me, I spent a very nice evening yesterday celebrating American Thanksgiving with neighbours-Canadian hosts for some of the American's here. We had turkey with all the trimmings and boy was I glad not to have to heat up my kitchen for all the food! It was delicious and lots of fun. One couple is Jewish so Thanksgiving was even more special for them than most. They are so cute, they can't imagine having a Christmas tree in their house yet they buy Christmas gifts for their Christian friends and love going to Christmas parties!  Last year Marilyn showed up at the owners Christmas party wearing a t-shirt with reindeer on it. I had to tease her about it of course!

I spent the entire day today and a good part of yesterday painting the master bedroom and I'm still not finished. There is so much furniture to work around. I've finished the ensuite bathroom and painted one wall in the walk in closet so at least that much is done. I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow. I really don't mind much because it keeps me busy and after all it has to get done sometime.

So that's about it. I talk to Gail a couple of times a day using the MagicJack. What a fabulous device. I bought it last year for only $20.00. Then there is a $20.00 per year fee which gives me a Washington State telephone number that anyone up north can call to talk to me or leave a message. I can make unlimited 24/7 calls anywhere in the USA or Canada on that twenty bucks. I have a telephone connected to my computer instead of the wall but that is the only difference to using a regular telephone. It's been fantastic.

Hopefully, I will be able to post pictures of the bedroom sometime this weekend.

Thanks to all of you who have called, emailed and left messages on Facebook for Gail. I read every one to her and she is very touched. All your good thoughts and prayers have worked!

Mural Painted by Lobo!

First of all, Gail is home in Nova Scotia and spent last night with her Mom in the hospital. They both had a good night and Lillian is doing ok. She has some very good moments and some bad. It's hard to know what is going to happen as she has surprised the medical staff a lot. So, this is good news and no matter what the outcome is, Gail is very glad that she went back to spend this time with her mother.

Lobo finished our stairwell this morning. We wanted a Mexican puebla (village) scene, with houses, a church, flowers and a few people. He did a magnificent job and I am thrilled. Gail will have to wait to see the finished product! He painted two sides, one has a meadow with cows, trees, agava (tequila) plants, sunflowers, stone wall, fence etc and it flows onto the second wall to the street with a lady, man on a burro, vendor, houses, flowers surrounding them, trees, church etc. It's painted all the way to the ceiling so the top shows the mountains with the sky and clouds above. I'm describing it all because there is no way to take photos showing the entire effect.

On a funny note, I was home alone last night and every time I walked past the stairwell into the kitchen, the lady on the stairs startled me! I guess I will get used to her- almost like having a friendly ghost in the house!

So here are some photos- showing Lobo working, the progress and the finished wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Nova Scotia

Gail received some bad news yesterday. Her mother is in hospital with pneumonia, irratic heart rate, high blood pressure and failing kidneys. She is 86 years old. We were unable to get a flight back to Halifax for her yesterday and the only one available today leaves at 8:40PM on Westjet. She arrives in Calgary at 12:45am then has to stay overnight until her flight via Toronto tomorrow morning at 8AM. She won't get to Halifax until 5:30PM Monday

It's been an emotional 24 hours so far. Thank God we have the MagicJack Washington State telephone number here. She has been able to make and receive calls and messages back and forth to her family- who are of course all at the hospital. This morning the news is guardedly hopeful. Her Mom had a good night and is somewhat stable. Gail was able to speak briefly to her Mom yesterday, which made her feel somewhat better. She just wants to make it home in time to see her.

Of course yesterday, when we were desperately trying to make an airline reservation and dealing with lots of long distance calling, all my workers showed up! Aghhhh.

We had our metal security/screen door installed- what a terrific amount of noise that created.

Our artist showed up, without a ladder as he was unable to borrow one from his friend. Our stairwell is at least 20 feet high- so I had to borrow Ann and Jack's for him. He climbed up and promptly dropped a bottle of bright blue paint from a height of about 15 feet- hit the light fixture on the way down to smash on the ceramic tiles and grout. What a scramble to clean THAT up! (But he was so sweet and apologetic I couldn't get mad). The wall is about one third done and looks breathtaking!

Mariano, my carpenter arrived with all his equipment, tools and materials and had to get up the stairs with it all. Oh boy, it was like a zoo here.

So, now we have a long wait today for our trip to the airport. Gail has very little in the way of warm clothes. One pair of long pants, one pair of jeans, one pair of sneakers, two light sweaters and a rain jacket. Our sweet neighbours Marilyn and Barry stopped by last night to see if they could lend her some things to wear. We are so blessed to have purchased a house in this complex. Everyone is so helpful and kind.

So, if you read this today or tomorrow, send Gail good thoughts and good karma. I'll keep the blog updated with what is happening there and here, where I will remain.

Sunset Picnic on the Beach

Last night we decided to have a picnic dinner on the beach so we could watch the sunset. Early in the morning, Gail BBQ'd chicken and made a Greek salad. I spent most of the day painting the ensuite bathroom so by 5pm I was ready to call it a day.

We are so close to the beach. We walk out of our complex, go down the street, cross the road, turn right and walk about the length of a building. Then we turn left to a beach access path. There are steps leading to the beach and right in the middle of one step a large palm tree is growing! Last year when we arrived, there was a drop of about 10 feet from the bottom step to the sand because so much was washed away because of the heavy rains. This year, no problema!

There were very few people on the beach. We had a beautiful, relaxing time, eating cold chicken, cold salad, drinking cold bevys and watching the surf and sun. At one point a trio of Mariachi players strolled by, no doubt heading to one of the beach restaurants just down the sand a few hundred feet away.  They were so colourful!

Remember you can click on the photos for larger views.