One For The Road

Adios Amigos

2010-03-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well after several months on the road and bumping ourselves over way too many topes - I'm happy to report we've made it home safe and sound. What an amazing journey we've had. We saw so many beautiful things, had a ton of fun and met lots of great people.

Thanks to everyone who followed our blog faithfully and sent us messages hoping we were ok when we didn't post anything for a few days (or weeks in some cases if we had no internet for a while). There was no need to worry, thankfully we never ran into any of the problems everyone was fretfully warning us about.

We had fun with this blog and we hope we've inspired you to take a trip like ours in the near future. Life is short - enjoy it!

Thank you Ronald for taking me on this trip and thanks for all the memories.

Adina

Hasta la vista Puerto Vallarta

2010-03-10T06:10:00.000-08:00

Puerto Vallarta was a fun place to hang out. The beaches were beautiful. I ate at beachfront restaurants with my feet in the sand. I watched fishermen and fed pelicans from the pier. Some local boys asked me to take pictures of them jumping off the pier. It was cute, after they'd jump in they'd run back over to me to look at the pictures I'd taken of them. Gotta love digital.

I loved strolling along the busy malecon (boardwalk) at night. We watched street performers and dancers in the main square near the cathedral. Things really come alive at night. Bars and clubs don't get going until about 11pm. We went to a bar called Club Roxy, the house band was excellent.

We ride the scooter everywhere we go. For us cobblestone streets are brutal and so are the topes (speed bumps). I have to get off the scooter every time we need to go over a speed bump. Mexican scooters all have bigger tires, the locals always have a good laugh when they see us trying to maneuver over the topes. We're ok with being a source of entertainment. Have a look at the video of Ron singing along with the mariachi band in the restaurant. Maybe he's found his calling as a mariachi man?

Or maybe a Mexican shoe salesman? Hey sinor, wanna buy a pair of shoes?

After leaving Puerto Vallarta we spent a night in San Blas on our way Mazatlan. We parked right next to the beach for the night. The sand in San Blas was fine white sand, the nicest we've seen so far. Here are a few pictures I took of the view from our windows.

We're now in Mazatlan for a week. This will be our final Mexican city before we cross over the boarder at Nogales. I can't believe our trip is almost over and we'll be back to reality soon.

I've gotten pretty comfortable with traveling, exploring and living in the RV full time, along with not having to wake up to the sound of an alarm clock!

Adina

Got eaten alive at the zoo

2010-03-09T05:33:00.000-08:00

At the zoo in Puerto Vallarta you have the opportunity to feed almost all the animals they have there. With my trusty bag of zoo food in hand, I knew there was a risk of being bitten while I was reaching into a cage and feeding a variety of wild animals, including leopards and black bears. But my main concern should have been the fleas! A picture is worth a thousand words and this one says - Ouch, someone should have used some bug spray!

I went online and checked out Trip Advisor to read the reviews of the Puerto Vallarta zoo before we went there. I do agree with other visitors who said some of the animals looked stressed and sick. The ostriches barely had any feathers left on them, one ostrich was bleeding on its back, that was sad to see. Also most of the cages looked too small for the animals they housed. Watching some of the animals pace back and forth in circles was hard to watch as well.

It was amazing to be so close to the animals. There weren't high walls or moats between us and them, including the big cats. We could feed most of the animals either over a low wall or through a chain link fence. What an experience that was. It was funny how the hippo and the zebra opened their mouths before we even got out the food.

Putting my hand through the fence and feeding a big black bear was very cool. He ate a peanut right out of my hand. Also a highlight of our zoo day was for an extra $10.00 you can go in the cage with a young tiger or jaguar. I chose the tiger. I was too chicken to wrestle around and play with him like you see lion tamers do, (since he was 3 months old and already had really big teeth!) but I did manage to pet him on the head once lol. I should have chosen the jaguar, he was only a month old and I could have sat with him on my lap, oh well next time.

Aside from the buffet lunch I provided for the fleas, we had a great time at the zoo. :)

Adina

I'm baaack! In Puerto Vallarta & loving it :)

2010-03-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

After a few weeks away I'm glad to be back in Mexico.

My beautiful family

I had a nice visit with my mom who flew in from Toronto. We took the ferry over to Vancouver for the day to experience some of the Olympic festivities. I couldn't believe how many people were in the streets, singing and waving Canadian flags. It was an amazing atmosphere. Way to go Canada!!

Adina

Back to Victoria for a party

2010-02-13T06:32:00.000-08:00

I'm flying home to Victoria tomorrow for a few weeks.

I'll be back in sunny Mexico on February 28th. I'm not sure if Ron will keep up the blog while I'm away. I'm sure he'll have lots of adventures of his own while I'm gone, they just may not make it to the blog. ;)

Adina

Thanks for a 1000 hits

2010-02-09T05:53:00.000-08:00

Wow our blog has made it to a 1000 hits. I didn't know we were that interesting. Its gotta be the Speedo!

Thanks to our loyal followers for taking the time to follow our Mexican adventures. I'm not sure who you are (but I would if you signed our Guestbook and left comments under the posts - hint hint). ;)

Adina

Boys will be boys

2010-02-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

No matter how old they are, boys will always be boys. That pretty much sums up all the events of the past few days.

Only a Canadian could invent a 'sand Zamboni' using a quad, a board, a few chains and some nails. Ron and the Bocce boys have been busy manicuring their Bocce course to perfection using their new invention. It was pretty funny watching them driving it up and down the course, one guy driving, another on the back weighing it down and the other 5 guys watching from the sidelines drinking beer.

After doing a superb job on the Bocce course Ron and Dave decided to play in the ocean for a while. When Ron showed up in his French Canadian swim attire Dave thought twice about hanging out with a dude in a Speedo, but he eventually got over it and in they went. Good on ya Dave. ;)

Last night we went to the rodeo. We listened to live music, danced, drank cheap beer and watched Mexican cowboys ride raging bulls. Ok not all the bulls were raging, one smart bull decided laying down would be easier than trying to throw the rider off. The crowd had a good laugh over it.

We got there around 9pm and stayed until after 1am, it was still going strong when we left. Mexican's sure know how to have a good time. The arena was full. Everyone was up dancing in the stands and in the ring in front of the stage. The girls were dressed to the nines, and the guys were all decked out in their plaid shirts and white cowboy hats. No need to worry if you left your hat at home because they had lots for sale.

We enjoyed watching some young future cowboys fooling around pretending they were bulls. One boy had a lasso and was running around the ring catching his friends (the bulls). I didn't take any video because my camcorder wasn't working properly, but I did manage to snap a photo of the boy with the lasso as he was waiting to get into the ring.

I had so much fun, I'd love to go again.

Oops I almost forgot about Jarro's. My brain needs a siesta. I've had a fun busy weekend without much sleep. Saturday night we went to Jarro's, the nightclub in Barra De Navidad. We hung out with our friend Roke and danced the night away until 4am. Have I mentioned that I barely slept this weekend?

The last time we were at Jarro's they had three Mexican senorita's do a dance competition, well this time it was the boys turn, except they had to do a little strip show. Ay, caramba!

As you can see, life in Mexico is never boring. :)

Adina

Under the big top - Mexican style

2010-02-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

Its always exciting when the circus comes to town, especially when they have tigers. Back home animal acts are banned. I haven't seen a circus act with tigers in years and well - I still haven't.

As I sat under the big top waiting for the show to start I think I was just as excited as all the Mexican children who waited anxiously with me. All I could think about was how cool it would be to see a tiger jumping through a fiery hoop like I did when I was a kid. But alas this was not to be. As I found out later, the tiger in the cage outside the bigtop was just a ploy to entice people to buy a ticket and watch the show.

So the tigers didn't jump through any hoops, but a zebra, a kangaroo and few misbehaving ponies did make an appearance. At one point one of the ponies jumped out of the ring and came within a few feet of us. Thank god they didn't have a tiger act! Or I may not be here today to tell this story.

The clowns (I use the term lightly) got a few laughs. The show was all in Spanish so we had no idea what they were saying, for all I know they were making fun of the two confused gringos in the front row.

As you can see from the video it was an odd little circus. For a low budget operation I think they did ok. Hey I didn't get run over by a zebra or eaten by a tiger, that's gotta count for something. ;)

Adina

Forgot about the wedding...

2010-02-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

With all the talk about the storm, I forgot to mention the wedding we watched on the beach earlier this week.

We went out for an evening bike ride and ended up watching a traditional Mayan wedding ceremony. I could hear conch shells being blown and music playing on the beach, so of course I had to investigate further. What we saw on the beach was amazing, probably 100 people all dressed in white, most were barefoot. They were listening to music being playing by a Mariachi band, who were also dressed in white. There were lots of candles and herbs burning. Smoke was pouring into the night sky. When the Shaman arrived we knew we were at a ceremony of some sort. She was dressed in brightly coloured clothes, unlike everyone else in white. It was hard to tell what she was up to because out of respect we kept our distance - unlike one tourist who walked right into the middle of the ceremony taking pictures, wearing only a pair of shorts. Topless overweight hairy men should not crash weddings!

I finally figured out we were at a wedding when the bride arrived in her gorgeous wedding gown. She looked about 16 and so did the groom. The most interesting part of the ceremony was when the bride and groom were taken down to the water and their family and friends made a circle around them, I couldn't see what was going on inside the circle, but it was neat when everyone in attendance around them raised their arms up as if in prayer.

I'd never seen anything like it. When I got home I wanted to learn more about what we'd just experienced so I Googled it. Here's what I found on Google:

The Mayan Wedding Ritual is based in the Maya's connection with the universe and their gods. Which is described in their sacred book the Popol Vuh. The ceremony brings the couple to the four cardinal points (north, south, east and west) to unite them to the feminine Mother Earth and the masculine Cosmic Energy, symbolized by a central sacred candle.

Family and friends circle around the couple and they celebrate the union of the bride and groom by presenting gifts of flowers, music, food and drink. Mayan music with pre-Hispanic instruments and the sacred conch shell is performed before and during the ceremony.

The bride and groom wear simple natural clothing of white or off white. They wear no shoes so they can absorb the energy of the ceremony. It is suggested that family and guests wear natural cloth clothing in white or cream, preferably barefoot, so they can share in the spiritual energy created by the ceremony.

It was all very interesting and I'm glad I got to see it. It seems when you're on vacation in Mexico you never know what you're going to experience next.

Adina

A rough night in Mexico

2010-02-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

We woke up last night at midnight to a rain storm and what felt like hurricane force winds rocking our RV. We found out today that they were actually 80 MPH winds, no wonder we felt like we were going to take off.

Before I went to bed I sat at the beach and watched a lightning storm flashing in the distance over the ocean. I thought the light show was over, so I went to bed. But as I slept the storm got closer and pounded down on the trailer park. During the night the guys were all running around in the rain trying to tie things down. It was a long night for everyone.

Ron just came in and said "It's like a friggin monsoon out there." He's been out in the rain all morning helping people dig trenches and clean up everything that's been blown around or broken.

The road and the Bocce course are now gigantic mud puddles as are most of the sites across from us. I heard a few people will be renting rooms at the hotel for the night because their sites are flooded. We seem to be ok where we are.

Gord looking at the flood in front of his RV and still smiling -No Bad Days for Gord :)

During the night our awning came crashing down and hit the trailer beside us, there doesn't seem to be too much damage to the neighbors trailer but Ron will need to buy a new awning.

Earlier this morning I went out for a walk to find my favorite stray dog and see how he was after the storm. He's a sweetie, a shaggy Terrier mix of some sort. The locals call him Solo Vino. He usually runs over to me right away when he sees me, but today he just looked up at me as if to say - what the heck's up with all this rain? He's not too happy with being soaking wet, but he sure smells better. Now that he doesn't stink (as much) maybe I can sneak him into the RV without Ron knowing? ;) He's blind in one eye, missing a few teeth and walks with a limp but I'd love to take him home.

Our power's been going on and off since last night, so I'd better hurry up with this post. It's still raining like crazy out there, so it's not over yet...and to think we were worried about the septic problem.

Adina

Shit happens even in paradise

2010-02-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

Where are my friends Paul and Howie when I need them? One of the exciting events around the trailer park this week was the back up of the septic system for the RV's along the beach side. Adina and I were sitting outside and heard a strange gurgle then boom it happened, I won't describe any more cause it was pretty nasty. Thankfully it never caused a problem inside the motor home, but the aroma on the outside was another story.

Another event this week was our big Bocce ball tournament. We had 9 teams playing double knock out. It was 95 degrees out and there we were playing Bocce for 6 or 7 hours in the sun. It was nice to have all our neighbors come out and have a good time, drinking and playing Bocce til sundown. We stopped at 2pm for a potluck at Gord and Donna's place, everyone brought food, it was an awesome spread. That's me and Gord in the pictures.

View of the tournament from the hotel rooftop - my motor
home is the 2nd one in on the beach side

Me throwing - got my serious game face on

Me & Gord at the 'officials' table - Gord's keeping score
on our Chiquita banana box score card with clothes pegs

Chili - Dave's Mexican Hairless dog

Me & Gord having a drink

After lunch, me and my partner Linda made it to the final 4 teams. Things were going just great until darkness was upon us. I requested from the head honcho guy Dave (haha) that we should postpone the last 4 games until tomorrow, as he was holding two spotlights in hands (with about 50 candle power each) he said ahhhh lets keep playing. Well since its our first year here I reluctantly agreed to play in the dark. Half way through the game we were leading 6-5 and I threw 4 balls out of bounds! My opponent Harold only had to throw 4 balls in bounds anywhere on the course to win, and he did. I was very upset, but in the spirit of the thing I walked away quietly, and then everyone packed up for the night, go figure.

The other 3 games were played the following day. As it turns out (which I knew) my opponent Harold and his partner Ron were the ones to beat, and they won the tournament. As Forrest Gump would say "And that's all I have to say about that."

Me being official again

Rum
- as I'm affectionately know as around here.

The Spanish word for Rum is Ron, "I'll have another Ron and Coke por favor."

Hey Ron!!!

2010-01-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

That's what Ron heard when he sat down to have a drink at a bar in Barra De Navidad. It was our friend Concetta from Victoria! What a small world to unexpectedly bump into someone you know here in Mexico.

Ron, Concetta and a couple of her friends ended up going to the rooftop bar of Hotel Alondra, where our friend Rocky works. They had a good time, so much of a good time that I was a little worried when Ron wasn't home by sunset, we had no way of calling each other. I had visions of the scooter breaking down and him being left pennyless on a dirt road somewhere. But I didn't need to worry, it's pretty safe around here and the people are very helpful, they'd probably fix his scooter, give him more Tequila and send him on his way. :)

Yesterday I wasn't feeling too hot, so I stayed in bed and read a book all day. I finished my Nora Roberts book Red Lily. It was a little creepy, it's the first Nora Roberts book I've read that has a ghost in it. I enjoyed it though, it kept my mind off my aching tummy.

I was feeling much better today, so Concetta invited us over to her daughter's house in Barra for a swim in the pool. I am determined after 40 years to learn how to swim. Ron was shocked when I jumped right in.

After our swim at Concetta's we went to Salamandera's in Melaque, we had a little dinner with our big happy hour drinks. Now it's time for bed, drinking gigantic Daiquiris are exhausting. Tomorrow it's Market day again, I'll be on the lookout for finding cheap Nike shoes for my son Austin, I'd better rest up.

Buenas noches.

Adina

Ok on to happier things now...

2010-01-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

The other day we rode our bikes over to Barra De Navidad. Barra is a nice little town, I like it there because everything is so central. I have a terrible sense of direction, I keep getting lost in Melaque when I'm out riding my bike on my own. But I always seem to find my way home, as long as I can find the ocean I can make it back to the RV park. :)

I've been enjoying watching the surfers playing in the huge waves in Barra and the skim boarders on the shore here in Melaque. Last March there was a big skim board competition held on the beach in front of the Laguna Del Tule where we're staying. I have to find out if they're doing it again here this year. That would be cool to watch. I hear people come from all over to watch and participate, they blast loud music, drink, eat, it's a 3 day beach party. Sounds good to me.

Yesterday I went to a fundraising event benefiting the clean up of the lagoon. I had a good time, they had dancers, singers, a mariachi band and a buffet. No wonder I couldn't find a goat in Melaque, they keep putting all of them in their stew! In spite of the floating goat's head in the pot, I was brave and ate the stew. I passed on the brains though, I do have my limits.

Its another beautiful sunny day in Melaque, time to go lounge by the pool...hey check out the dude in the Speedo...omg.

Adina

My puppy Maya died today :(

2010-01-20T17:08:00.001-08:00

I'm heartbroken.

Adina

Never try to milk a male goat in Mexico

2010-01-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

We've met so many people from Vancouver Island here in Melaque, one of them is Shaer from Comox. When I took our new Chihuahua puppy to the vet he told me she was too young to be away from her mother, at the most she was only 5 weeks old. So for the past few days Shaer and I have been riding our bikes around Melaque on a quest to find goat's milk for the puppy.

The first day went around to the grocery stores asking for 'cabra de leche', every time we said it the locals would laugh, finally someone who spoke English said we were saying "Do you have any goat of the milk?", that is funny. The stores only sold goats milk cheese, so no luck with the goat of the milk.

The next day we decided we'd head out of town into the more rural areas to see if any of the farmers had goats milk. We thought there had to be goats around here somewhere, it's Mexico! We headed down the 200 highway and turned off into a little neighborhood. Most of the roads weren't paved, we rode our bikes down dirt roads with lots of potholes, it was a fun bumpy ride. On our journey we saw two little boys around 10 years old who were busy running down the street swinging machetes, and chopping up tall grass as they ran. We're definitely not in Kansas anymore. One of the boys smiled, winked, said "hayyy" then made an a-ok hand gesture to me as he ran by. I've heard some interesting catcalls around here lately but that one really made me laugh.

Ok back to the goat story...we got lucky and finally found a goat tied up in someones yard. We rode up to the house, which was humble and not much more than a shack, an older man came out, this time we said "Hola, leche de cabra?" to which he laughed and basically said in Spanish that his goat was male and it wouldn't be a good idea to try and milk him. No kidding, ouch those horns looked like they'd really do some damage. So off we went to look for a safe milkable goat. We reached a road made of really jagged rocks, I thought it may not be a good idea to ride over it, but Cher said something like ah we have mountain bikes we should be ok...nope she was wrong, a few minutes later she had a flat tire. We were in the middle of no where, a few miles outside of Melaque. Who carries a tire patch kit? not me.

The next thing we know the police are driving down the dirt road toward us, the scary police that everyone fears running into. They spoke little English but it was easy to see we needed help. They put our bikes in the back of their truck, we squeezed in on the passenger side, the big guy with the big automatic weapon got in the back with the bikes. I don't think I'll ever forget it, I thought it was so cool. They were great, they drove us to the gas station to fill up the tire, but it wouldn't hold air. Then they drove us to two different bike repair shops, both were closed. The Mexicans were sure wondering what the heck two gringo women were doing in a police truck, they were pointing and laughing as we drove around town.

When we arrived back at the RV park, we told Ron we'd been arrested by the Mexican police because we tried to milk a male goat, omg Ron's face was priceless!

So there you have it, the police weren't that scary after all, Miguel and Alfonzo saved the day. As long as you aren't carrying weapons or dealing drugs the police aren't going to bother you. In this case they we're very helpful and friendly.

We never did find any goats milk, I guess we'll keep trying, and we'll try to stay off sharp jagged rocks. :)

Adina

Made it to Melaque

2010-01-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

We decided to make a right rather than a left and here we are in Melaque. I think this is the furthest south we're going, decided against going to Zihuatanejo. We're enjoying Melaque. It's a quaint village with cobble stone streets, dirt roads and friendly people. They have everything we need here, beaches, shops, restaurants, nothing big, no Walmart and no McDonalds thank god. The beaches are shallow with lots of sand and big waves. We're staying at Laguna del Tule, they have RV spaces and bungalows to rent. They have a pool, swim up bar and restaurant over looking the beach. We have a prime location in the park, right on the the beach. We have some fun partying neighbors, under 50 thankfully. Most days I've been drinking, swimming, playing Bocce ball in the day and drinking by the bonfire on the beach at night. Man this is a tough life.

As you can see from this picture, I'm looking more and more less like a gringo every day. The locals all think I'm Mexican and the gringos are shocked when they say hola to me in the morning and I reply with a hey how's it going. I hope they let me across the border going home.

We went out last night to Barra de Navidad, the town next to us. We went to a blues bar and grill called Piper Lover. It was full of Canadians. I drank a gallon there and then we moved on to a local nightclub called Jarro, pronounced Harro with a rolled Rrrrr. We had fun at Jarro's dancing and drinking with the locals. We grabbed a taxi back for a reasonable 50 pesos and arrived at the RV homestead at 3:30am. A good time was had by all, and now I need some Tylenol and a nap on the beach.

We're hoping to stay here for 2 weeks if we can keep our spot, we're here for a week for sure. If they can't find another spot for us we'll sick our new guard dog on them!

Ron

On the road again...

2010-01-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

Hmmm Guadalajara or Tequila?

We've left Mazatlan and we're in Guadalajara now. On our way here we boon docked at an RV park in Teacapan. Boon docking is when you park right on the beach for the night. We had no power or air conditioning but we opened all the windows and it was quite comfortable. There's nothing like falling asleep to the sound of the ocean.

After visiting this 'ladies room' in Teacapan I don't think I'll ever complain about another Canadian restroom again, talk about a lack of privacy! Gotta love Senor Mustachio's commentary lol

Today we met our new Mexican friend Myrna and her adorable 2 year old son Ashton. If anyone's traveling to the Guadalajara area and needs a tour guide I can pass her information along. Myrna is a flight attendant and speaks great English.

Myrna took us on a tour of the historical area downtown (Centro Histórico) and to the Guadalajara Cathedral. The cathedral was built in the 1560's and took almost 50 years to build. The interior was gorgeous, I was in awe, it actually brought tears to my eyes. I didn't expect to be so emotional, it was just so beautiful and peaceful. The stained glass windows and murals were incredible. Everything was covered in gold, I've never seen anything like it.

A creepy part of our cathedral tour was visiting the coffins of the dead priests they have hiding in the basement. Equally as creepy was seeing the remains of a martyred little girl called Santa Inocencia (Saint Inocencia). I'm not sure why she was made a saint, Myrna tried explaining it to me but I couldn't pay attention because I was too freaked out. Her face isn't real but her hands and urn of blood are. Remind me to avoid this section next time.

Ok onto happier and less creepy things now...today we went shopping at a huge silver and gold mall downtown. Here they have high quality silver and gold, unlike the fake stuff we bought on the beach in Mazatlan. Ron bought a nice silver chain and a gold charm for his 'I Am' necklace. I bought a white gold chain and two charms, a Jewish star of David and a cross. Yes that's an odd mix, but hey so am I. :)

Adina

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's Flying Ronaldo!

2010-01-09T06:38:00.000-08:00

Hola! from Ron

2010-01-07T15:54:00.000-08:00

Today I was busy relaxing amongst the palm trees on the beach beside my wonderful 1987 motor home. She's working great, no problemo's.

Here's a lesson on buying silver in Mexico. Today we found out that when you spend only 300 pesos (about $27 US) on two sterling silver bracelets, they're probably not really silver even if they are stamped with 925. Our very convincing Mexican beach salesman with the big smile, said "Senor 925 is the best silver you can buy, see the stamp? I give you best price." So we bought. Then Adina was trying to take off a link to make the bracelet smaller and one of the links broke in half in her hands. She's gotta stop eating so many Wheaties or maybe we need to be more cautious with our beach purchases. After the fact, we found a webpage explaining what real silver in Mexico should look like, it's suppose to have the 925 stamped on it and it also has to have Mexico stamped on it, fake ones don't have the word Mexico on them. Live and learn.

For the last couple of days we rented a scooter to zip around with, sure beats walking. Yesterday after finding a beautiful deserted point overlooking Mazatlan we managed to get lost, ended up somehow on Highway 15 going south. When the traffic became unbearable I finally had to stop at a gas station and ask for directions. Getting directions was an experience in itself, we had 4 guys and a map and only one of us could speak English. And the solution was - go back! After making 2 lefts and a right we found our way back. Not blaming Adina cause she packed the translator and it helped with the street signs, but somebody should have brought along the GPS, maybe me? I'm not admitting anything. All in all we still had fun.

As it turns out, the guy from Manitoba who's parked next to us here at the RV park has a scooter for sale, and we've decided to buy it. So we're staying here in Mazatlan a little longer until he's ready to give it up. We'll be heading out of here on Monday morning, into the south and on to a hotter humid climate. My tan is going well, Adina is still pretty much white with a slight brown tinge. I've decided the rooftop of the motor home is a great place to tan. God I love the sun!

Oh and by the way does anyone have any Raid??

I just took this sunset photo from the roof of the motor home. Who needs expensive hotels with a view like this!

Ron

Bad Santa!

2010-01-06T06:55:00.000-08:00

Well I've found out what Santa does during his off season...it seems he roams the streets of Mazatlan by night. I caught him with his pants down outside a bar downtown. I of course had to snap a quick pic as he was changing into his Santa suite, I cut off the top his head because I had no time to focus the camera oopsy. Santa was busy smoking and drinking beer with two 'ladies of the evening'. He'd hired them to walk around Mazatlan dressed as his helpers. The ladies didn't speak any English but they seemed to be good sports about it all...what a naughty Santa!

Adina

We're having a blast in Mazatlan!

2010-01-04T06:09:00.001-08:00

We're at the Mar Rosa RV park in the middle of the hotel zone, right on the beach, it doesn't get much better than this. Its about 80 degrees during the day and a comfortable 70 at night. The sunsets are incredible. The sunset photo I've posted isn't edited, its like the sky is on fire, its amazing. Everything here is within walking distance or just a short Pulmonia ride to the markets and the nightclub zone. Pulmonia's are open air golf carts, like taxis, except they drive really fast, weave in and out of traffic and they blast loud music while their driving. Its quite the adventure. Our driver Saturday night played Michael Jackson for us on our way to the 'Disco' (as they call them here). Ron took video of our ride, in the video you'll hear him say we're in Manila, now that would be long drive! Its now a running joke with us, he never remembers where we are, where are we again?? ;)

We went to a really cool bar the other night called Sumbawa, its a funky beachfront club with a pool. Nightlife here doesn't start until 11pm, so if you show up early around 10pm there's no cover. Drinks are cheap too, 2 for 1 Corona's for only 4 bucks. I of course had my usual Kahlua, which they were making more like doubles or triples. I had so much fun.

Yesterday we went into Old Mazatlan for the afternoon. We visited the cathedral, checked out some abandoned buildings and had a delicious authentic Mexican lunch at an outdoor restaurant. We walked around for a few hours trying to find the flea market area, we finally found it but most of the shops were closed because it was Sunday. We'll have to go back again during the week. I think we're here for another 3 days. I'd love to stay longer. :)

Adina

Happy New Year from Mexico!

2010-01-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

Yes we've made it. We crossed the border in Nogales with no problems, no searches or loss of any fruit. When we crossed the border into the US they did an hour long search, made a mess of our stuff only to apprehend a bag of grapes and one potatoe. (I'm not sure where they found the potatoe) This time we got to keep our grapes woo hoo lol.

Aside from hearing what we thought were gunshots all night, we had a quiet New Years eve in Hermosillo, Mexico. (not sure what was going on with the gunshots, hmmmm fireworks maybe??)

Now we're off to sunny Mazatlan!

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year.

Here's one of my favorite New Years quotes:

Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. A majority of people revert back to how they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you to a new resolution. I challenge you to just be yourself. - Aisha Elderwynv

Have a wonderful 2010.

Adina

Mexico here we come!

2009-12-31T07:04:00.000-08:00

We've been hanging out at the Mexico/Arizona border for a few days. Yesterday we met a Terry & Teresa from Tubac, Arizona. They invited us to their home for a delicious Mexican lunch. Their house was beautiful and decorated in a bright Mexican colours. Teresa is originally from Mexico, what a sweet lady. Ron talked American politics with Terry and Teresa showed me her beautiful gardens and the amazing view from their rooftop. The photo I've posted was taken from their rooftop at sunset, what a stunning view. Oh and I had to show you Ron's pig face as well, lol. They have wild pigs called Javelinas that run around here and in Mexico, they have tusks and aren't very pretty. I guess they're really boars and not pigs.

We enjoyed our stay in Arizona, but now its time for Mexico!

Adina

It's worth the trip up the hill...

2009-12-30T09:14:00.003-08:00

We lucked out again with clear roads and didn't need chains to get us up the mountains, it was a little slow going but my old girl made it up just fine and the RV did ok too. haha Adina.

The Grand Canyon was incredible. The snow and a 7 bellow windchill made it even more interesting. The sidewalks were slightly sloped toward the edge of the canyon. Gotta hang on to those railings! It was beautiful and I'm glad I finally made it here. Maybe we'll drop in again on our way back when its warmer and we won't slip and kill our selves.
Right now we're at a the Mountain View RV park in Nogales, Arizona..in a few days we'll be crossing the border into Mexico - hola!

Ron

Ho ho ho from Vegas

2009-12-25T21:14:00.001-08:00

Merry Chistmas & Happy Hanukkah!

Adina & Ron

San Francisco was great, now it's off to Vegas!

2009-12-24T07:27:00.000-08:00

Our first night in San Francisco was spent driving around the scariest parts of the city - thanks to Dave aka our GPS. It sent us to a so-called RV park which was actually just the parking lot of a crack shack apartment building. It also sent us down a one way street next to Candlestick Park. Again Ron's driving skills were superb, he managed to turn the RV around on a one way street. Lol now we know that sometimes the direction of the streets change and the red X's above the street lights mean don't enter! oopsy. After our exciting tour of the hood, we managed to find a Walmart parking lot to park in for the night. I've never been so happy to see a Walmart in my life. Funny thing was they kicked us out early in the morning after giving us a warning ticket because we parked too close to the Macy's. Signs were posted? We didn't see any signs officer, really we didn't. Another oops.

The next day we went for a hike up a mountain trail and watched the ocean waves crashing below, it was so beautiful. We also went over the Golden Gate bridge, we saw Alcatraz from the shore of the Bay, now I understand why only one person has ever escaped, that's quite the swim.

We stopped and bought delicious tree ripened oranges from a road side market, they were soooo good. They were so fresh they still had green leaves on them. I wish I could bring some back home with me, but customs won't let us, bummer. We'll just have to eat as many as we can before we come home. :)

For me the highlight of San Francisco was riding our bikes through the famous gay village in the Castro district. I haven't ridden a bike in that much traffic in years, and there I was on the hilliest streets of American riding my bike, gotta love it.

Now we're in Vegas, this is gonna be fun fun fun....

Adina

Nothing like a little Weed in California...

2009-12-21T08:27:00.001-08:00

Ok fine we haven't smoked any weed, but we are in Weed, California.

Ron sure likes to drive. We got off the ferry in Vancouver at 9pm on Saturday and we arrived in California 24 hrs later. We lucked out and had no snow on the highway through the mountains so we just kept on driving all the way to the McDonald's truck stop in Weed.

Time for a McYukky breakfast...next stop San Francisco!

Adina

Hasta la vista baby!

2009-12-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

Well we're on our way to Mexico, a little behind schedule due to a few mechanical difficulties, generator going, water pump, needing to make the hole in the bathroom wall bigger (yes it's bigger now because someone forgot to measure his feet before he cut the hole lol).

Thanks to all our family & friends who wished us well, we love you, see you in April!

Adina & Ron

Get busy living!

2009-11-29T21:23:00.000-08:00

Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies.

The lesson in this movie is that in life you have two choices, you can either get busy living or get busy dying.

I'm choosing to get busy living!

Ron

Rancho De Los Ninos Orphanage

2009-11-24T19:07:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy that we've finalized our plans to visit the Rancho De Los Ninos orphanage near Mazatlan in early February. It's one of the only orphanages in the area to care for children with disabilities. What a blessing to be able to go there and help out. If anyone is interested its $40 a month to sponsor a child from the orphanage, it works pretty much the same as World Vision. You receive letters & photos from your sponsored child and you can visit them if you're in the area. The orphanage has just started their sponsorship program and I think only 5 children are sponsored so far. If you've been thinking about sponsoring a child have a look at the sponsorship page on the Rancho De Los Ninos website. Many of the children are also available for adoption, there's a link to their adoptions page on the site as well.

Here's the link to their site and also to a few YouTube videos a Mexican doctor took while visiting the orphanage. The videos are in Spanish but you'll get the idea.

YouTube Video - Rancho De Los Ninos

YouTube Video - Lots of Laundry!

Rancho De Los Ninos Website

I think it may break my heart when I have to leave them.

Adina

I got my swine flu shot yesterday...

2009-11-22T19:27:00.001-08:00

...and I don't feel quite like myself today hahaha

Adina ;)

Mission Accomplished!

2009-11-19T23:15:00.000-08:00

The hole in bathroom wall is complete!

Adina never thought I'd do it, well I DID! I think it's a pretty good job, it's functional and it'll get the job done. If anybody is in need of any problem solving don't hesitate to get a hold of me. I am a man after all. And by the way have you seen the cut out for my driver's chair? It sure beats driving down the highway at a 90 degree angle and yes Adina's informed that the seats don't match now, well life is all about choice and priorities.

Ron

Oh my...what a solution

2009-11-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

First here's the problem...Ron is too tall to fit in the double bed in the RV. I think Ronald can come up with a solution for pretty much anything but this one I'm not so sure about...today him and his friend are going to make a hole in the wall at the end of the double bed to make room for his feet. The proposed idea is that when Ron's sleeping he'll hang his feet through the hole in the wall, it would almost make sense - if it wasn't the bathroom wall! So now when I get up at 3am to use the facilities I'm going to have to move Ron's feet out of the way first! This is going to be an interesting trip!

Adina

Should I get the swine flu shot or not?

2009-11-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

Next month we'll be leaving for Mexico for the winter and I'm not sure if I should get the swine flu shot. Aside from having a sore arm for a few days Ron seems to be ok after getting it. If I don't get the shot I could always walk around in Mexico wearing one of these oh so cool swine flu masks...oink!
Adina