Brenda and Roy Going To Mexico

Mom

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:09:00 +0000

My mom had another stroke last night. They did a CT scan and it didn't show any bleeds so they gave her the "clot buster" drug and will do another CT scan on Monday along with a swallow test. She is not talking again; but her writing is legible so that is better than the last time. Her mind is good and she is writing notes to everyone saying what things she wants brought to her. It has been less than 24 hrs. since the stroke so at this point it is still a waiting game.
I have what I think is a nasty ear infection. Ear is aching, jaw is aching and neck is stiff and sore, hot and cold spells, so I am not doing much of anything.
Update on the Telmex guys and their new post at the neighbors place. The other day they came back and tied the old post to the new one and added some ropes and a pulley to the whole thing. One guy began chopping at the old pole with an ax and shortly thereafter they lowered the old pole to the ground with the pulley mechanism. Worked pretty slick. Loaded the old pole onto their trucks and away they went.

We are supposed to go to the neighbors grand daughters baptism/birthday party tomorrow, so I went uptown and got a gift yesterday. Will see how I feel tomorrow and decide if we will go or not. I don't like to miss this one as the last party they threw I had a splitting headache and stayed home so don't like to miss this one too. We will see.

Just Another Day

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:56:00 +0000

When we came home from San Carlos it seemed that our refrigerator was not cooling, the freezer part was working fine; but the frig part was not cool. We shut it off for awhile thinking that maybe it had frozen up with the door not being opened for 5 days; but that didn't help. We turned it to a cooler temperature, didn't help either. We decided that the fan had probably quit working.
About 3 blocks from us is a repairman. We had taken our electric frying pan to him when the switch went and he honestly told us that he probably couldn't get a new switch as it was from Canada. We left it with him for a couple of days and when we returned he explained to us that he just couldn't find a new switch that would work. Since then every time we see him on the street he says hello or waves to us. We decided to try him first. We wandered over there and explained what we thought was the problem. He said that he could come over soon and Roy waited for him while I continued on to the store to pick up a couple of things. I assumed that I would be back before he arrived at our place as "ahorita" (soon), doesn't always mean that soon. When we were there before I had spoken to him in Spanish and he had also spoken in Spanish, naturally. When I arrived home, he had already been there and left. Roy said that the repairman had spoken to him in English. Too funny. Anyway he had taken the fan out and said that he would be back in an hour or so. Sure enough about an hour later he returned with another fan, put it in and it worked. Cost: 200 pesos for the fan, 150 pesos for labor for a total of 350 pesos, which is about $28.05 CAD. The frig is working perfectly.
Yesterday we heard some commotion outside and as good, snoopy neighbors we had to have a look. There were 2 Telmex trucks parked at a neighbors home. Just ordinary 1/2 ton trucks with the toppers on the truck beds. On the top of one of the trucks was a long wooden telephone pole. The hole was already dug, we had missed that part somehow. Anyway they backed the truck with the pole on it up close to the pole and lowered the one end into the hole. They then slowly backed the truck up so that the pole slid off of the truck and stood in the hole. One man then steadied the pole while the other shoveled in the dirt, tamped it down and voila it was in place. One guy then climbed the pole while the other guy threw him up the stuff he needed. It didn't take long and soon they were gone. A job well done. No heavy equipment needed.

We were downstairs chatting with the landlords last night and our landlady was telling me about a new coffee that she had seen advertised on TV and heard good things about. It is made by Nescafe and is an instant coffee. They are advertising that it has twice the antioxidants in it that green tea has. She gave us a couple of packets and we tried it this morning. We thought the taste was OK; but that it was pretty weak. If we used it again we would put 2 packages in for 1 cup. I need to google it to see what all the hype is about. Interesting though as the package only lists 100% soluble coffee as ingredients.
Anyway that was the day.

Queremos Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:28:00 +0000

Last night we sat out by the house entrance at our friends place and handed out Halloween treats. They came shouting, "queremos Halloween", got their treats and left. It didn't last long. Geordie unfortunately did not appreciate the yelling children and spent a nervous evening.

We have been watching the hummingbirds and orioles? that come to the feeder. I love watching them. One of the hummingbirds flew into the house yesterday and Roy had to capture it in a towel as it tried to get out of the window.

We again walked down the beach and then over to the marina and had breakfast. We have been having a nice light breakfast there, eggs with ham, beans, toast and coffee for 30 pesos.

After breakfast we walked all around the marina and then being lazy old folks we took the bus back here.

A plaque of remembrance for some people lost at sea.

Just Hanging Out

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:01:00 +0000

Nothing too exciting going on with us, we are just hanging out with the beasties. We walked along the beach yesterday morning and then walked down to the marina for breakfast. We had a nice chat with the restaurant owner and then walked back to the house and pretty much did nothing for the rest of the day.
This morning we took the golf cart and went for a few groceries at a different store and also had breakfast out.
Chad, just being a cat.

View walking down the beach.

In San Carlos

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:44:00 +0000

We are spending a few days in San Carlos at a friends home looking after their dog and cat. They and their visitor from England have gone to visit Guadalajara. They should have fun; especially since they will be there for Day of the Dead.

Distance wise San Carlos is only about 15 miles from where we live in Guaymas; but it is a world away in things other than mileage. San Carlos has beautiful views that is for certain.

This morning we went out for breakfast, it wasn't great, the food and cleanliness of the restaurant has definitely gone downhill since the last time we were there. We haven't been to San Carlos for probably 6 months or so and things have changed I guess.

We then went to the grocery store. Talk about sticker shock!! The price for a can of coffee was double what we pay in Guaymas. We picked up a couple of things and went to the check out. When the clerk gave me my change I just looked at it and then back at her with raised eyebrows. Oh no, she said, I told her in spanish that she still owed me 100 pesos, or around $10.00. She agreed and then gave me all of my change and we left. Not a good shopping trip.

Other than shopping we are having a good time here with the animals.

This is our buddy Geordie.

Bran Muffins With Cranberries

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:08:00 +0000

When I was in Canada this summer with my mom I got hooked on Bran Muffins with Cranberries (bollos de salvado con arándanos in spanish). In the Yorkton hospital the coffee shop has Robin Donuts coffee and pastries,etc.. Robin Donuts is a chain that seems to be mainly in Saskatchewan. They used to have a few in Alberta; but it seems that most of them have closed down. I am sure I will get some hate mail for this next sentence; but Robins coffee and muffins are much better than Tim Hortons, in my mind anyway. The muffins are definitely moister and fresher. Anyway, when mom got moved to Regina there was a Robins on my way from where I was staying to where mom was in the rehab. hospital. Unfortunately they didn't have the bran/cranberry muffins, maybe it was just a promotion thing. Anyway since I have been back home in Mexico I have been craving those muffins; but it has been too hot here to have the oven on. I bought all the stuff I needed when I went shopping the other day in hopes of cooler days to come. The last few mornings it has been only 18 or 20 C. when I got up so this morning I decided to bake a batch of bran/cranberry muffins. I did and they turned out yummy, fresh out of the oven with butter melting on them, yum. Took a few down to our landlord as his wife is away visiting relatives in the USA right now. Hope he likes them. He jokingly told me that they should be healthy for Roy and I joked back that Roy only likes greasy food, like tortas and hot dogs, not stuff that is good for him. Roy wants onion rings for lunch today, I rest my case lol; but then I am not any better, as I am looking forward to the onion rings also. Not something we get here, and not something that I make very often. We normally eat a lot of chicken breast without the skin and quite a few veggies, so I guess we are allowed some digressions.

Almost Sweater Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:17:00 +0000

The last 2 mornings it has only been 18 C. when I got up, chilly. Almost time to put on a sweater; but it warms up to a toasty 30 C. by afternoon, so it is not winter yet.
Landlord was being run ragged by his littlest grandson yesterday morning. Up and down the stairs countless times. Grandpa had put a hat on little Diego and said that he is going to be a fisherman in his free time instead of a futbol player like his dad. Diego is a little cutie and is lots of fun now. Definitely has lots of energy.

Nothing Much Going On

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:05:00 +0000

Not too much going on right now. Tropical Storm Rick gave us a pass and instead hit Mazatlan and the area around there. Good for us, not so great for them. Hope all is well down there.
There were some really nice clouds last night though.

The local cats that we are feeding are getting quite comfy up here. They have been sleeping in our patio chairs at night and now come running to eat when they see me come outside. Spoiling them I think maybe. There seems to be only 1 baby kitten left of the 2. Life is tough on the streets.

Went uptown and bought some fabric today so I guess I will be busy sewing tomorrow.

We're Legal

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:37:00 +0000

We had taken all the papers into immigration at the beginning of September to re new our FM3's. On Thursday we remembered that we had been supposed to pick them up on the 7 th of October, oops!!!! We went down there and the lady apologized to us. The booklets were ready except for the bosses signature and he was away that day in Hermosillo. No problem, we told her and she said to return on Friday. We decided to wait until Monday before we returned and did so yesterday. The boss was in and they had us sit down at his desk while he filled out some other paperwork and had us sign whatever it was that he filled in. Then he gave Roy a paper and said something to me that I wasn't quite getting. I guess something finally filtered through to my brain and I asked him if that paper was just to prove that we had paid, he said yes. Then he said that there system was down and that they couldn't print out the same paper for me and that I should return for my page today. I asked him if I really needed that paper and he kind of shrugged his shoulders and smiled. I don't think I will bother going back for it, as if I hadn't paid they wouldn't have given me the FM3. Wonder if that will come back to bite me in the butt next year???? We thanked them all for their help and left with our renewed FM3's in hand. Mission accomplished for another year, a pretty painless process.
Rick has now been downgraded to a Tropical Storm and looks like he will hit south of us. Good news for us; but not so good news for wherever he lands. It is cloudy here this morning (at 7:30 AM) and a bit cooler, only 28 C. (feels like 33 C, with 89% humidity), so we have the door and windows open which is nice. We hope for the best for the people wherever Rick ends up. It is just beginning to rain now.
Some friends from Canada that have a home in San Carlos have arrived and they popped in to visit us yesterday. It was nice to see them again and their visitor also. She visits every year from England and it was nice to see her again also.
There is a store called Aka Sí (not sure if it is a chain or not, goggled it and nothing much came up) that opened here awhile back, there is one in centro and another one close to the mall. Every once in awhile they have peanut butter. Went there yesterday and sure enough they did, the last time they didn't. So I picked up 3 jars so we will be good there for awhile.

Look What I Found

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:25:00 +0000

Normally I don't like to go shopping and only go when I have to. I have really been wanting some fresh homemade bread lately; but it is still too hot to have the oven on for that long. I have also been wanting some bran muffins.
I decided that I would go yesterday and see if I could find the ingredients that I wanted though so that I will be prepared when it cools off. Roy also needed a new pair of flip flops and with his foot size it is difficult to find them here, we had looked at a few places the last time we were uptown and found nothing. He needs a size 12 up north which equates to about a 30 here or 31 depending on the shoe. Usually the largest size we find here is 29 which is not big enough. My little electric food chopper decided to die the other day so I also wanted to look for one of them, not with very high hopes though as there are not a lot of electric kitchen appliances here. Last year when our electric frying pan died I asked at a couple of places and the answer was always, "no hay", in other words, "we don't have them". Yesterday I was surprised to see that at these same stores they are now carrying electric frying pans, go figure. I jokingly said to Roy last night that perhaps I am responsible for the electric frying pan coming to Guaymas lol. Ask and you shall receive and it only takes a year. Oh well, at least they have them now for the next time we need one.
So, no food chopper downtown. There are still a couple of places to look at the mall so will try them another day; but don't have very high expectations.
On to the flip flops. Asked a couple of places and got the usual, we don't have them answer. Then stopped at a young fellows stall outside of the market place. He had some but the price was 68 pesos which was pretty high for the product available. I started to walk away and the price came down a bit, I hesitated some more and the price of 68 pesos came down to 55. I bought them.
While I was chatting with a merchant at one place, this fellow was listening I guess and after I was done he came up to me and told me that my spanish was very good. I am afraid that his hearing must be really bad, like my spanish; but it made me feel good anyway. I chatted with him for awhile and found out that we had both known a fellow who had passed away awhile back. There are not many of us here so we tend to stick out lol. Anyway had a nice conversation with him and he made me feel good about my lousy spanish skills.
On to the baking ingredients. I have found a multi grain bread here that I like, made by Bimbo of course. It has sunflower seeds in it along with 4 or 5 other seeds and things. It is difficult to find though and most of the time it is not in the stores. The lady at the little Bimbo store told me that it is because there is not much demand for it as most of the people here like white bread and I know that. The day after Tropical Storm Jimena passed through here the landlords asked me if I wanted to take a drive with them around town. I did and so did one of the other neighbor ladies. We drove through several sections of town and in each area stopped at all the little stores as both the other ladies were out of bread. One stop was at one of the little Bimbo stores and they, along with all the other stores were out of white bread. Que lastima for the other 2 ladies, for me not a big deal as we had bread at home. This little store had 1 loaf of multi grain bread and before grabbing it I asked the other 2 if they would like it. Scrunched up noses and an emphatic NO from both of them, so I grabbed it, a happy camper. Go figure. Roy also loves white bread. Anyway I want to try and replicate this multigrain bread so a hunting I went for ingredients.
I decided to try a bulk place that has been open for a few months and has a good selection of stuff. Several health food stores also carry nuts and grains; but I thought the bulk place would be cheaper if they had what I wanted. This store is called MOY and has stores in various places in Mexico and also the USA. They are very friendly and helpful people who moved here to open this store from Guadalajara. The lady helped me find what I needed and the fellow chatted the whole time with me. I ended up buying a kilo of whole wheat flour, 1/2 kilo of bran, 100 grams of sunflower seeds, 100 grams of sesame seeds and 1 bag of ground flax (not sure of the weight; but a good sized bag) and the total bill came to 38.50 pesos (about $2.94 CAD). I was happy and had a good language work out at the same time. They didn't have any raisins; but I found those at the grocery store so I am already to bake when it cools off. Score 1 for me.
Of course I needed to use the washroom so headed for Woolworths. You have to pay 5 pesos there to use it and then you get a ticket for 5 pesos off of your purchase. The washrooms are very clean, equipped with paper, soap and an air hand dryer, so I usually go there. As I was walking down one of the aisles I saw a familiar looking package.

I love peanuts/peanut butter in any shape or form so grabbed a package to try. They are a bit different than in Canada where this was my one chocolate treat; but were pretty good. The peanut butter filling has bits of corn in it for some reason. It says on the package "flakes of corn". Not sure why; but whatever tasted good anyway.
Then when I went to the local Soriana I noticed that they had the bags with 4 of them in. Will have to remember that for my next snack attack. A nice find. I also found blue cheese there, that was a first. I love blue cheese on toast so of course snapped some of that up. I think it might actually be Danish blue cheese as the label said, "danubleu". Who knows, it tastes good anyway. I am thinking a blue cheese sauce to pour over tortilla chips, might be good. You never know what you will find, maybe some day a cheddar cheese will be had.
All in all a good shopping trip.
Weather wise we are keeping an eye on Hurricane Ricks progress. This has been a crazy weather year for here, very unusual activity for us. Rick is, the last time I looked a Catagory 5 and they are predicting that he will hit the Baja and cross the Sea of Cortes and then hit the mainland just south of us. This won't be til about Thursday so things can change a lot before then. We are not panicking but are keeping a close eye on it. I hope that Nancy and Paul in Mazatlan don't have too many problems with the storm, as on its present track it could create some havoc there also and in many other places.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Here we go again, what is with the weather this year? There is another Tropical Storm out there, this one is named Patricia. It started raining about 8 AM this morning and is just pouring down. The usual river is again running down the street. It is so gray out that you can't hardly see the mountains. Unreal.

Happy Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:18:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving to all in Canada. Have a great day.

The Tianguis (outdoor market)

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Several days a week there are tianguis' held in different areas of the city. The one close to centro is on Wednesdays. We haven't been going over the summer as it is so hot to walk around; but it was cooler yesterday and we wanted to look for a couple of things so we decided to go. I have never taken any pictures at the tianguis so I took the camera yesterday. I didn't get any shots that were exciting and in fact it seemed like there was only about half of the usual venders there. Not sure if that is because of the season or because some of them are out of business because of the storm Jimena. There were lots of people around; but other than the vegetable/meat areas there didn't seem to be many buying.
I got some veggies and a couple of other things; but there was nothing too exciting there. The plant lady did have some nice looking plants; but I don't think I will get anymore. The landlady gave me a couple of plants that I am trying to get started so all my pots are full for now.

Getting Scrubbed

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:30:00 +0000

We've been gradually working towards getting our upholstered chairs cleaned. They were very dirty/dusty. Our street is dirt/gravel and you could dust the furniture daily, if you were so inclined-- me, not so much. Anyway on one of our trips to immigration when we were working on getting our documents ready for renewing our FM3's we walked past a cleaning place called Chem Dry, so we went in and asked them for an estimate. The receptionist made sure that we understood that it was just an estimate and that when the guys saw the furniture the price could change depending on size, etc.. It wasn't a bad price, pretty reasonable actually; but we decided to wait until mañana lol. In a conversation with our landlady I happened to mention that I was thinking of either buying the spray cans of foam and cleaning them myself or hiring these guys. She said that she knew of a guy that did good work. He is a friend of Nancys dad apparently. Sometimes it is who you know lol.
Anyway Tropical Storm Jimena intervened and we did nothing. One day the landlady asked if I still wanted the guy and I said yes, I guess she had forgotten about it and we were in no rush so I hadn't mentioned it either.
On Monday night the landlady came up with this guy and he looked at what we wanted cleaned and gave us a price. We agreed and he asked what time Tuesday would be good for us. I explained that I had a class in the afternoon so he said he could come at either 9 or 10 AM and we agreed on 10 AM.
Yesterday morning he showed up at about 5 minutes to 10. We took everything outside onto the patio and he went to work.
When we were at Chem Dry we noticed that they had the power shampooers and were working on some mattresses out in their yard, well we didn't expect the same type of equipment from this fellow and our expectations were met. He arrived with a vacuum cleaner, a bucket, a brush and a backpack full of his cleaners and went to work.
It took him about 3 hrs. or so to do the work and he worked steadily, only taking about a 5 minute coca cola/cigarette break with Roy.
His boss came by a couple of times to check on him to see if he was ready to go yet and on his last pass he came upstairs wanting to know what was taking him so long as they had another job they needed to get to. The worker explained that the recliners were big and Roy had taken the backs off of them so that he could get right down inside to clean so there was lots of area to do. The boss watched for a bit and then started to help him out and they quickly finished.
We paid the bill of 720 pesos, about $56.00 CAD at yesterdays exchange rate, tipped him, (factoring in the pack of cigarettes that Roy had given him) and they went on their way. I got their phone number/name for next year. A good job well done. He and Roy were having some interesting chats together throughout the morning. The worker didn't speak English and Roy doesn't speak much Spanish; but they were yakking away out there and was funny to listen to from the sidelines. I, naturally stayed inside so as not to impede the work progress, lol.

I headed uptown in the afternoon to go to the bank and do some shopping before Spanish class. I was looking for a necklace to match a certain outfit and haven't been able to find what I liked. I tried a few places and the staff helped out without finding anything. Did what I needed to do and headed to Woolworths to use the bathroom before class. Here to use a bathroom you usually have to pay about 3 pesos; but then you get a fairly clean washroom with toilet paper, etc.. Well yesterday the ladies were collecting 5 pesos and I went hmmm; but then they gave me a discount slip for 5 pesos to use when I went through the till. Too funny. So if you actually buy something there your trip to the washroom is free. The bathroom there is really supposed to be for customer use; but it is one of the few that I have found in Centro to be fairly clean and tidy so I don't mind paying for it. I passed a fellow, his mom and his little boy in the aisle on my way out. The little boy maybe 3 or 4 yrs. old was having fun trying on Hallowe'en masks. His dad pretended to be scared of him and then he took the mask off. He noticed me coming down the aisle and put it back on, so I pretended to be scared and got a good laugh from him. Later I noticed them heading towards the check outs so I gave them my bathroom discount ticket to use. Too funny.
After a good Spanish class I went necklace hunting again and did find what I was looking for. I then went looking for a torta place as I had promised to bring back tortas for supper, all the places were closed at that time of day (too early for Mexican dinner) so I got on the bus and headed home. At one of the stops a little boy and his brothers and mom got on the bus. He and I both recognized each other, as he is one of the students at Hogar Paz y Bien where we go in the winter to teach the children some English. He smiled and giggled when he saw me and then as they sat behind me he was telling his mom who I was. I turned around and asked him if he was using his English words, he assured me that he was, yah right, anyway I said to him, maybe a little and he laughed and agreed. I told him we would probably be back in November as the other ladies don't live here they live in the USA and Canada. I told him that I was the only one that lives here and his mom laughed. When I turned back around I could hear his mom telling him what to say to me so he then called me and said that he hoped to see me in November, so I told him the same thing. He kept chattering to his mom about the classes and when I got off we said our goodbyes. A nice encounter and good to see that he didn't frown when he saw me anyway.

Fall Color

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:31:00 +0000

I guess you can say it is fall, at least that is what the calendar says; although you wouldn't really notice it yet here. The humidity is still here along with the heat. I am hoping the humidity will disappear magically in a week or so, it seems to me that it left about the 12 th of October last year. So I am hoping. Once that leaves you don't notice the heat and fall has arrived in my mind. The temperatures also do start cooling down a bit. With all the rain lately the mountains are looking very green and lovely.
I cleaned off the patio Sunday afternoon while it was cooler, ( 29 C., 84% humidity, felt like 35 C.), it is all relative I guess, as before the "feels like" temperature would hover around 43 C. with the humidity. I moved around some of the plants and took a few photos.
It must be almost 3 yrs. ago that we bought this little bougainvillea plant/bush. It has almost died several times and has basically done nothing up until this summer. All of a sudden it began to grow and is actually looking alive, healthy and bush like. It is beginning to bloom and is pretty.

The Desert Rose just keeps blooming and blooming, never seems to quit and also keeps growing. At one point this summer it lost a major amount of leaves for some reason; but has recuperated and is doing well now.

The Jasmin blooms off and on and smells heavenly.

Clouds Last Night

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:43:00 +0000

There were some pretty clouds last night. The rain has stopped and it has cleared off, we are back to our regular weather.

Olaf Hangs On

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:39:00 +0000

I thought that Tropical Depression Olaf would just be a memory for us by this morning as it looked like he had headed south. It has rained off and on since Friday evening and is still at it. Most of the time it has just been a fairly gentle rain though for us.
Last night it looked like it was clearing off; but this morning there was heavy clouds, couldn't even see the mountains at some times.

Is it just me or is blogger driving anyone else crazy with a different format for loading photos? They won't go/stay where you want them to and everything is crazy the last couple of days. Maybe it is because I am still using the old format of blogger. I had so much stuff on here already when they switched to the new format, and everyone was having trouble at that time so I just stuck with the old one. Maybe it is biting me in the you know what now.

Olaf And The Bridal Shower

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:36:00 +0000

At the moment we are getting some rain from Tropical Depression Olaf. It started last evening and continued most of the night. Thankfully so far it is not a heavy downpour, just a light rain that won't do any damage to property. They are forecasting it to weaken more so hopefully it will not get worse as there are people here who are still homeless from Tropical Storm Jimena.

Now on to what you are waiting for. Pictures of the bridal shower last night. Nancy and I went over around 8:30 PM and naturally the usual snacks, beer and sodas/pop were offered. We got a good seat to view the upcoming performance.
No, it was not male strippers. It was the same female impersonators, I hope that is putting it politically correct enough, that performed at Nancys baby shower.

They must have performed for almost 2 hrs., there were 3 of them and they went through several costume changes. The performance consisted of lots of off color songs and jokes. The majority of which went over my head. My Spanish teacher is quite religious so needless to say I am not being taught the majority of the words that were used last night. Some I know; but there were lots of new ones lol. Nancy has offered to be my teacher for this type of vocabulary lol.
At one point in the performance one of the performers noticed that I was there and asked Nancy if I understood any Spanish. When she told him/her that I knew some, he pulled up a chair and proceeded to ask me the English words for certain parts of the human anatomy to the laughter of all the other guests. In keeping with the theme of the night I gave them words that you wouldn't learn in health class. Rather embarrassing for me, as I hate standing out in a crowd; but all in fun and much laughter ensued.
There are some videos and other pictures on my webshots album that I didn't think were appropriate to post on a "general" rated blog. If you are interested you can find them here

One auntie (I think) of the bride to be, had an interesting apron that she was wearing. When she lifted the apron up, an appendage also arose to greet everyone, pretty funny. Throughout the show the performers had lots of fun with that item, to the amusement of all.

The performers told us at the end of the show that they perform every Thursday night at a local nightclub called Chendos, so if you are interested and in town you can go and see their show.

All in all it was a fun evening and quite unlike any bridal shower that I have attended in Canada; although I have not been at any stagettes so perhaps things like this are done at those. In Canada usually the "older" ladies such as me go to the bridal showers and the younger ladies attend the stagettes.

The bride to be.

The performers.

This is the one that wanted the English lesson from me.

This one came out dressed as a man for a couple of songs and made eyes at Nancy. Pretty funny.

Another First For Me

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:52:00 +0000

Last night Nancy and one of the neighbor ladies came up and Nancy began to explain to me that they were here to invite me to an evento/fiesta ( event or party) and that it was a "despedida de soltera". OK, my Spanish challenged brain took that phrase and rapidly translated it to, " disappearance of single" HUH???? I didn't get it so I had Nancy type it into a translator on the computer. Those things are not great; but usually with its help I can manage to grasp enough to get the idea. Up popped "bachlorette", DUH, OK it is a bachlorette party.
I have been to lots of parties for various things here; but not a bachlorette or stagette party. When I looked at the envelope that the invitation was in I noticed that it said, "no niños" (no children). Hmmmm this could be interesting.
At Nancys baby shower they had a couple of cross dressing performers that they called transvestites, that was interesting to say the least and there were children in attendance at that, so what might this party have?
The party is on Friday night and should be a fun time..

We Are Inundated

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:38:00 +0000

Yes, we are inundated and no, it is not with water this time. It is because of my own soft heart or soft head, not sure which. lol
I am sure you all know that there are lots of street animals here. They abound, some well fed by the neighborhoods, some very undernourished and ill. I have to say that this street is pretty good, everyone puts out their leftovers for the animals to eat, so we rarely see any that are too bad off. Some areas it is really sad.
A few weeks ago I felt sorry for one of the local cats, a Calico mama who has 2 babies. So I put out some food for her. Well, silly mama, instead of keeping the fact that there was food available to herself, she had to go and tell her friends. The street animals on our street are VERY good about sharing their finds.
We now have lots of cats coming around. The other day when I went out there were 5 cats laying in various places on the steps, just waiting for a meal to appear. Now when mama cat sees me come outside she runs up the stairs to check for food, it doesn't matter how many times a day she sees me. Too funny. Anyway so far both the babies have survived and have now started eating the hard cat food that I have been buying.
Before I get a bunch of comments about just contributing to the problem instead of letting nature take its course, as in the tough survive, I know this. I just couldn't help myself.

The Strangest Thing Just Happened

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:56:00 +0000

I was just poking around in the guts of my blog here and discovered a whole bunch of comments that I never knew were sent. Very strange. Some of them were from way back in February!!! Why they weren't sent on to my email box the way all the others are is a mystery. So if you have made comments in the past and I never answered them now you know why. Some of the comments were from regular commenters and some were from new ones. Anyway if I didn't answer a comment you made it was because of this, not because I was ignoring you.
Blogger can be very strange sometimes. I will have to remember to poke around more often.
Have a good day.

Dinner Out

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:19:00 +0000

Usually when one of us has a birthday or we want to celebrate something we will head down to the Bay area in centro and the restaurant Club Nautico. You can either eat inside or eat outside in the bar area. We always choose to eat outside and enjoy the view.

Last night we decided it was time to go out to celebrate both our birthdays so Roy met me uptown after my Spanish class and we walked over to the new malecon. The photo below shows the statue of the Pescador which has been moved to a new location and has a new base. He is now in the center of a traffic roundabout, overseeing all.

We then stood and looked out over the bay and the boats in the new marina. Roy is looking at the pirate ship, El Rey del Mar.(Note to Wayne: notice Roy without cowboy boots lol)

Below is one of the shrimping boats that is past its prime.

Below is a short video of the view from the restaurant. If you can't relax here, you won't relax anywhere.

What We Have Been Doing

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:05:00 +0000

It seems like we have been busy; but haven't got much to show for it really.
It is time to renew our FM3's so we got together the documents that we thought we needed and headed to immigration. This year they told us that we needed a rental contract. This is our third year for our FM3's and we have never needed to provide that before, so home we came. We chatted with our landlord about it and we typed up a document, signed it and took it back to the office. The lady looked at it and said, "no sirve", in other words, no doggone good. lol. Back home we came and chatted again with the landlord. At this point Tropical Storm Jimena intervened and things came to a standstill for awhile. The landlord said he was talking to a notario or a licenciado but nothing was happening, so we explained that we needed this to happen quickly. After we explained the circumstances more completely things started to happen and Saturday morning we went with them to an office of a licenciado and after hanging around for awhile we were presented with the stamped documents ready to sign. We got them photocopied and presented them to immigration on Monday morning and hopefully our FM3's will be ready in a month or so.......
A month or so ago the landlord was getting his air conditioners (mini splits) cleaned and recharged so we had them do ours too. Ever since then both of them have been spitting out water droplets to the point that it was extremely annoying and messy, along with that the bedroom one developed a horrible sound in the fan. So yesterday we got the name of a fellow from my Spanish teacher and she phoned him for us while we were chatting to her. He showed up in the afternoon and looked at them and said he would return in the afternoon when his worker finished his job on the shrimp boat. Sure enough later on they returned. He looked at them and decided that the post holding the fan in the bedroom one was broken, probably from being forced on by the previous guys. At first they were going to replace it with a used one; but found out that the used one that they had was smaller than ours, so no go with that. He then said that they could either try and glue the post back in or we could buy a new fan. We chose to have them try and fix it. They disappeared and reappeared with some crazy glue and baking soda lol. They put the post in glued it, sprinkled it with the baking soda and voila it was in there hard as a rock. Too funny and ingenious. Back into the mini split it went and quiet as a mouse it works. The one in the living room they decided that the previous guys had cleaned the exterior of the coils but not the inside and so the water was not draining properly. He had a small pressurized hand sprayer and re cleaned it. Put it all back together, had a glass of coke with us and chatted about the price of shrimp while we waited to see if there was any water coming out, nada (none). Asked him what the bill was and he rubbed his head and thought for a minute, mumbling to himself about what they had done (they were here about 2 hrs.). After some deliberation he decided that the charge was 500 pesos. No problem, we paid and they left. This morning both air conditioners are still working fine, thank goodness. Before anyone asks me for this guys phone number, remember that neither of them speaks any English, so be prepared to do business in Spanish.
A big surprise this morning, a front end loader appeared and began to repair the damage to our street. I didn't expect this to happen for a long time as there are many areas in the city that are in much worse shape. We actually didn't mind as there was no traffic and it was nice and quiet. Anyway he fixed it up and it is drivable again.

We Have Drinking Water

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:50:00 +0000

Water of any kind is in short supply right now here. The word from the authorities is that we may be without water for 15 to 20 days. Our city water came on for a little while yesterday morning, so we both showered and I washed a load of clothes. It then went off again, I haven't checked it this morning so far. We do have a tinaco (holding tank on the roof); but are trying not to use much out of it, as it won't last forever.
Drinking water is the same, apparently there is only 1 purifier company working at the moment in the whole city, I read this and am not positive it is true as there are lots of rumors flying around right now. Anyway it is almost impossible to buy drinking water anywhere. We have been drinking lots of coca cola to conserve on our water and have not been cooking at all. This morning we heard the distinctive sound that our water mans truck makes and rushed outside. Sure enough, there he was, all smiles. He said that he was worried about his clients as it has been 4 days since he could work. He apparently went to Empalme, over the almost destroyed bridge, to get the water to do his route. We got our water, and also for the same price that it always was. Got to love the spirit of this place and its people. Just reinforces to us why we live here.
This morning we are going to attempt to go to the immigration office to hand in the documents to renew our FM3's, we will see how that goes. We are not sure if they will be open or not.

Cleaning Up After Jimena

noreply@blogger.com (Brenda) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:06:00 +0000

Here is an excellent site with photos and videos of the damages in Guaymas, Empalme and San Carlos.
El Portal de la Noticia
The following 2 pictures are taken from the above site and show the damage to the Iglesia de San Fernando in centro Guaymas.

Lots of work to be done cleaning up.
The above site says that more than 500 milimeters of rain fell here, which would be about 19.685 inches. Lots of rain, wind and damage.