Jason and Sarah Come to San Carlos

Jason and his girlfriend, Sarah, have been planning this trip for a year and it finally happened! They arrived safely in Hermosillo, we picked them up and drove back to San Carlos uneventfully.  Our first stop was at Charley's Rock, a renowned restaurant right at the sea.  Sarah and Jim and I had margaritas and Jason had his usual Coca Light.  He ordered a fish fillet that he thought would be fish and chips but it was a whole half of a real fish with the head and tail on.  He almost had a heart attack when he saw it.  We took it home with us another day.

We started out at this spot with the view but quickly
moved further inside as the sea gulls helped themselves
to our chips and salsa!

A first night of dancing and dining to Omar and the
Gypsy Fish-one of our favorite bands 

 On Friday, we drove over to Miramar with Cinda and visited the Pearl Farm, where Jason bought Sarah a beautiful necklace and she bought a pendant for her older daughter.  I refrained this time-never an easy thing to do.  The Spaniards traded with the Yaqui and Seri Indians in the early 1600s for pearls and eventually began fishing for pearls themselves.  By the 1800s they had pretty much exhausted the oyster beds in this area and moved to other parts of Mexico.  In the 1990s some graduate students at the university here experimented with reviving the pearl cultivation of oysters, using a particularly beautiful oyster, the rainbow lipped pearl oyster. They create 8,000 pearls a year using a non-processed elaborate procedure which takes the oysters through many phases over 4 or 5 years.  They are not embellished as are many pearls around the world.  Because it is a small operation, with no middle men, they are quite reasonable to buy.

We walked down to the little shed at seaside and watched
as they cleaned the nets and sorted out the oysters from
the other things in the nets.  There were lots of odd looking
little creatures in there.

These are the oysters, when they come up for a cleaning.

This man is using a very sharp knife to cut
all the crusty stuff off the outside of the oyster.

Afterwards we went to one of Jason's favorite restaurants from last year, the Mariscos Mazateno in Miramar.  He had the marlin tacos-his favorite.  We came home, had a slight rest and then went out to JJ's to hear the Dudes.  Jason was thrilled that JJ remembered him, gave him a big hug and told him he remembered how much he loved the Big Donkey (a huge burrito!).  We all danced some, visited with some friends and then headed out to Mr. Iguana's for more music.

The Dudes at JJs

Finishing that big donkey

Susan Anderson babysitting Boo while we danced

On to Mr. Iguana's....

Jason and Sarah at Mr. Iguana's which was JJ's original
location.  They have enlarged it quite a bit and made it
a really nice venue, complete with pool table, darts, etc.

Assterisko

Susan and her sister chair dancing- they are quite a fun pair!

We took a tour of the marina the next day and I took this of the two of them by the boats.

I am now taking Spanish lessons and Jason decided to go with me, while Sarah and Jim relaxed on the deck.

My teacher, Julia, is in the middle.  She teaches us beginners.
Though I've taken Spanish multiple times, it never seemed to
stick until I moved to Mexico-and I'm still a beginner! The
lady on the left teaches the advanced students.  The man on
the right was teaching us the Mexican happy birthday song.
Apparently, when it is your birthday, people come to your
house in the very, very early morning to serenade you with
this song. Most birthday beneficiaries are not especially
thrilled to be awakened so early.

That evening we were invited to Suzanne and Mike's for cocktails and then went to hear Jesus and the Country Boys at Delfines.  Jim and I, being the old folks, left early and the kids stayed out til the show was over, talking country talk with Jesus and his wife, Naomi, and then walked the 4 or 5 blocks home.

Suzanne and Mike live a couple of doors down from
where Win and Cinda are renting at Creston Beach.
That's Bev beside Win and Jim-she manages the San
Carlos gym where I take yoga lessons.

Jesus and the Country Boys at Defines
Yes-amazingly enough that is Jason dancing with Sarah.

Sarah and Jason in black and white

The next day was the Rescate Bazaar, a fundraiser for the EMT rescue service here in San Carlos.  There were many vendors, lots of entertainment and food.  We did buy a few things from the ever persistent beach vendors.  Later we finally made it out to the Soggy Peso for a walk and a margarita and a little relaxing in the hammocks.

None of us were very good at this game, trying to hook
a nail.  That's the shower behind Sarah.

Afterwards, we went up to the fishing village of La Manga.  We haven't been there much this year, since the kindergarten teacher left town and our project last year was to help them with supplies and event planning.  We did have lunch there and the place was crowded.  We were the only gringos in sight.

Sarah loved her shrimp and crab tostada
with lime and avocado.  Delicioso! You can see
the oyster beds from our seats.  And we watched
several of the people from the village preparing
the crabs.

We made it home in time for a quick half hour nap, change of clothes and off to the Hattie Annie for the sunset cruise.

The birthday kids-the cruise and dinner at Hammerhead's
 was our gift to them.

Susan King

Jim and Bill

Cutie Wootie

Araceli, female boat captain

A pretty little señorita, along for the ride.

Visiting St. Nicholas (or Christmas) Island to see the blue
footed boobies and the great blue herons in their nests!

Bird's eye view

When they brought out the birthday cake for the kids, they also brought out some wigs and hats which made for many laughs all around.

Never looked better!

A beautiful sunset surrounding the Tetas 

For their last day here, we had breakfast at Gustavo's, did some shopping and hanging out at our pool (yes, it's finally warm enough again to get in!) and then we packed up some wine and snacks for sunset on the beach and ended with dinner at Palapa Griega.  

We will miss them but, boy, did we have a good time!!

February Fun and Frivolity

Well, the month started out a little sadly with Janet and Tony going back to New York, but I think we may have talked Janet into coming back again soon.  I joined three new groups:  a beach clean-up group, Spanish class and a yoga class.  The clean up is killing my back but the yoga sets me straight again!  And the Spanish class is fun.  I've taken a few Spanish classes through CU but I never could use it enough in Boulder to get it down!

The first event of the month was a birthday party for Bobby.  Jesus and the Cowboys performed for the first time as a group at Delfines.  We had a great time-even Boo was there!  The next day, he had a heart attack and was taken to a Hermosillo hospital by the local EMT group, Rescate.  He got a pacemaker and is now happily home here again.

Bobby enjoying his party!

Jesus and the boys

Then there was a wonderful Super Bowl party with almost all Colorado fans:  Suzanne and Mike from Lyons, Judy and Larry from Durango, us and the Johnsons from Boulder, Margene and Joe (our hosts again-they give the best parties) formerly from Jackson  and Jerry and his wife Suzanne (the only Carolina hold out).

The theme was Super Bowl Soups:  Clam Chowder, Gumbo
and a vegetable pasta soup.  That's Suzanne P, Jerry, Judy,
Larry and Margene

Suzanne H. wasn't really a true Carolina fan-
she just had the perfect outfit!

Wonderful appetizers and salads and a fantastic
pear torte rounded out the menu.  Mike Enwall
is on the right.

AND WE WON!

 Tuesday nights are a special night for dancing as the Red Hot Blues Band plays at Froggy's.
Jim was home sick with a cold so I went by myself and met some friends-and made some new ones.

Candy, Larry and Judy, the Carnival participant and the
fantastic, incomparable Red Hot Blues Band!

Don't know who this lady was but she had
been to the Carnival in Guaymas-OBVIOUSLY!

The beach clean up girls-you cannot fathom how much
stuff we picked up in this one little spot.  I think we had
the back of two pick ups completely full of these big garbage
bags.

There's nothing better than to be at the Soggy Peso for sunset.  This time it was Margene and Joe who were with us.

That sun actually looked like it was sinking into the water.  No green light-
I don't think I've ever seen one.

Those are the Three Sisters of the Baja across the Sea of Cortez.

One night Judy and Larry invited us over to their house for drinks on their roof top.  They live across the street from Loma Del Mar.  These places are always amazing to us.  You basically buy a large lot and can do what you want with it.  Some people have elaborate homes on them; some people just park an RV on them and others create magic out of what is there.  Judy and Larry's place was just stone walls when they moved in.  They put up a roof, added on a porch, created a rooftop sitting area, and live in one beautiful room and a bathroom.  Judy is an artist, so it is really gorgeous inside.  The iron work windows and doors are left overs from an art gallery.  The owner used to live here.

The roof top hammocks

 We love going to La Playa Hotel on Sundays for their brunch with Lorena Robles but today, Bill and Jim went to lunch at Cocina Economica and Cheryl and I went to Shots.  We met up for a beer and a serenade at La Playa before going home.

On the way home, we ran into the Yaqui Indian duo making music at the marina.

Below are pictures of Cinda and Win's rental on Manglers, right at the ocean.  It is great for them as they can easily bike and kayak right from their house.  We hung out at their house on this day because they were doing an open house at ours.

VALENTINES DAY

It was a busy day at the beach.  We think probably alot of Americans came
down from Tucson or thereabouts for the 3 day President's Weekend.
These two boats were right in front of us.  We (and they) enjoyed seeing
a whole pod of dolphins frolicking in the bay!  It's really hard to capture
in a photograph how incredible this is-there must have been several
groups of dolphins coming and going.

Of course, my favorite part of being at the beach is seeing how happy Boo is, frolicking in the waves himself.

He runs up and down barking at the waves.  He is not interested
in going into the water-just chasing the waves.

Full speed ahead, just like a horse.

Not too shabby a place to find a little privacy on Valentine's Day

We usually take a couple of long walks and then settle in for
reading-a little- but mostly just staring at the ocean.

Our tent/umbrella keeps us out of the sun.

Is this funny or what!  He is soaked and
covered in sand.  He looks like he knows
he will have to have a shower when he
gets home!

 And we cooked steaks on the grill when we got home.  An all together perfect day!

The sea literally turns pink in the light of the sunset.