My brother Steve arrived for a six month stay on Wednesday. We enjoyed a couple of days bumming around together and lounging around our pool. This morning we cut the apron strings and dropped him at his apartment in centro. Tonight will be his first night alone in Mazatlan. He is happy as there are many sports stations on his TV, but most in Spanish. I suspect his Espanol will soon eclipse ours.
After we left Steve off we met two different young men that we are sure were put into our paths for a reason. The first is a young man named Mark from Portland, Oregon. He was raised in Philadelphia, but calls the Hawthorne District of Portland home. He was living in a one man tent on the beach in a secluded part of Stone Island. He has been hitching and riding buses around the world. He spent time in eastern Europe including about a year in Prague, Czech Republic where he worked at a hospital. He is currently working his way south for a spring wedding of a friend in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was suspicious of us until I told him where to find where Jack Kerouac had stayed in Mazatlan and topped it off with directions to where Herman Melville had stayed. We discussed Ginsberg's "Howl" and I told him to check out Ferlingetti. Janice's big heart won the rest. He will visit on Tuesday to get a home cooked meal, wash his clothes in our washer and dryer and enjoy some time in bourgeois comfort, before he returns to his tent. During the two and a half years I bummed around the country in the 60's this occasionally happened to me, so it feels good to pass it on.
Next came a young man who told me his name is Jose Daniel Cortes Noriega, but in the US he goes by Daniel Noriega. Daniel will be eleven years old on January 25th. He noticed Janice working on her Spanish homework and came over and we thought it was to help, but instead he was wanting to learn Spanish better. Daniel's sister and brother-in-law run the small beachside cantina we were lounging in and he was visiting them for the day. He lives with his grandparents in Centro. His mother is in the US working to get him back in the country. He was in the US from the time he was two until he was eight and a half when it was found his papers were not in order. His mother is working on getting him back to the US. Daniel is finding school in the 5th grade in Mazatlan hard as he speaks English like an American, but is slowly learning Spanish. When I asked him if his schoolmates were helping him, he just said the teachers were trying to help. This is what I mean a young man without a country. He speaks and thinks like an American, but the US considers him a Mexican and Mexicans consider him an American. He understands the US better than most American kids. When asked why he wants to return, he said that he wants to be with his mother and in America he is free and can become anything that he wants to be. We talked for a couple of hours and we had a swimming race in the water. Next week we will return and do our Spanish homework with him.
Our friends Michael and Maxine from B.C., as well as my friend Cliff from England arrived this week.
We are unsure of what we will do for Halloween, but I am sure we will report next week.
Adios for now, Joel, Janice, Ollie
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Snapshots of life in Mazatlan
Over the last week we have had many enjoyable experiences, but today I will focus on two.
The first is Stone Island. Stone Island is actually a pennensuila that used to be a cocunut plantation. There are miles of coconut palms stretching as face as you can see. There are beaches with gentle waves due to natural breakwaters. There are thatch roofed cantinas on the beach. To get to Stone Island you ride the bus to the end of the line. This puts you on the waterfront. There for 20 pesos, $1.60, you get in a panga, which is an old boat that rocks in the waves as you get on. We hold each other to insure no one stumbles. The 20 pesos gives you a round trip. The pangas are old and beat up and you feel like Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn on the African Queen. When you reach Stone Island you can't see much until you cross the road and walk through a pile of rocks. All of a sudden miles of gentle beach appears. After clearing the rocks we walk about a half a mile to Letty's, a resturant on the beach that gives their customers beach loungers and covering if you wish it. Our favorite waiter Felix was there. He has two pins through his lips and speaks good English. He remembered us and was glad that we had returned as he said business had been slow. I asked him what was good and I ended up eating the pescado, a whole fish on a platter. It covered the whole plate and was in an awesome sauce. Janice had shrimp brochettes. The cost of our meals amounted to about $14 US. After about 3-4 hours floating in the surf, enjoying the sun and good food. Our friends and us took our panga back to the mainland. A wonderful way to spend some time.
The other experience was sausage making. At 10:00 today, Monday, we arrived at the Olas Altas Steak House. It was closed except for about 25 of us making sausage. This experince was organized by "Sam I Am", a man with a lot of local color. He is 77, spent his working life in San Francisco, and has been in Mazatlan for 20 years. He has a white beard and wears a nautical cap. He looks like Popeye's father. We were provided with ground pork in either 60/40 or 80/20 meat to fat ratio. Janice and I took the 80/20. On the table was every imanginable spice and a book of sausage recipies. We bought 3 kilos, 6.6 pounds of meat, split it in two and each of us proceeded to make our sausage. Janice mixture turned out like breakfast sausage and mine was a spicy Italian sausage. We made some new friends doing this, including a couple from Port Orchard, Washington. This was a great time of fun and fellowship. I must admit I had two cervezas and Janice had a drink much earlier in the day than is normal, but it was 5:00 somewhere.
This is just a slice of life in Mazatlan. There are people that have been frightened off by news reports. They are missing a wonderful, interesting life. Come on down and we will show you around!
The first is Stone Island. Stone Island is actually a pennensuila that used to be a cocunut plantation. There are miles of coconut palms stretching as face as you can see. There are beaches with gentle waves due to natural breakwaters. There are thatch roofed cantinas on the beach. To get to Stone Island you ride the bus to the end of the line. This puts you on the waterfront. There for 20 pesos, $1.60, you get in a panga, which is an old boat that rocks in the waves as you get on. We hold each other to insure no one stumbles. The 20 pesos gives you a round trip. The pangas are old and beat up and you feel like Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn on the African Queen. When you reach Stone Island you can't see much until you cross the road and walk through a pile of rocks. All of a sudden miles of gentle beach appears. After clearing the rocks we walk about a half a mile to Letty's, a resturant on the beach that gives their customers beach loungers and covering if you wish it. Our favorite waiter Felix was there. He has two pins through his lips and speaks good English. He remembered us and was glad that we had returned as he said business had been slow. I asked him what was good and I ended up eating the pescado, a whole fish on a platter. It covered the whole plate and was in an awesome sauce. Janice had shrimp brochettes. The cost of our meals amounted to about $14 US. After about 3-4 hours floating in the surf, enjoying the sun and good food. Our friends and us took our panga back to the mainland. A wonderful way to spend some time.
The other experience was sausage making. At 10:00 today, Monday, we arrived at the Olas Altas Steak House. It was closed except for about 25 of us making sausage. This experince was organized by "Sam I Am", a man with a lot of local color. He is 77, spent his working life in San Francisco, and has been in Mazatlan for 20 years. He has a white beard and wears a nautical cap. He looks like Popeye's father. We were provided with ground pork in either 60/40 or 80/20 meat to fat ratio. Janice and I took the 80/20. On the table was every imanginable spice and a book of sausage recipies. We bought 3 kilos, 6.6 pounds of meat, split it in two and each of us proceeded to make our sausage. Janice mixture turned out like breakfast sausage and mine was a spicy Italian sausage. We made some new friends doing this, including a couple from Port Orchard, Washington. This was a great time of fun and fellowship. I must admit I had two cervezas and Janice had a drink much earlier in the day than is normal, but it was 5:00 somewhere.
This is just a slice of life in Mazatlan. There are people that have been frightened off by news reports. They are missing a wonderful, interesting life. Come on down and we will show you around!
Whole BBQ Dorado
Shrimp Kabobs
Beach in front of Letty's where we visit on Stone Island
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
With all deliberate speed
Are you someone that has to have things done now? Do you easily get upset when things aren't perfect? If so, you are probably better off staying in your neat end of the universe.
We are now waiting for our Wi-Fi and we will be all set up in a record 12 days. We have been freed from one of us needing to be at the house in case a workman or technician happened to show up.
The first dilema was easy. After going five days without our sattelite TV, a serviceman called and told me a couple of buttons to push and voila, we had TV. That was good news and bad news. The good news was we could now see the baseball playoffs, the NFL, and Jeopardy. The bad news was that as we got the networks through Seattle stations, we are now subjected to political adds.
The next was that our water came out in a trickle. My friend Brian showed me how to clean the water filters. Once I got through cleaning them I understood why we only drink purified water. On Saturday the plumbers came and put in a machine that steps up the water pressure. Unfortunately it leaked and they had to shut our water off until they could get replacement on Monday. Luckily, the house has a 1100 Litre "Tinoco". This is a cistern on the roof that held enough water until they returned on Monday and put the water back on. It was great getting showers at full strength. Our drinking water is delivered in 25 litre containers that we put in a dispenser. The water is 20 pesos ($1.60) for over six gallons and is delived to our door. An essential to good health in this climate is to drink plenty of water.
The internet is an ongoing problem. We are currently using the Marina Gardens community Wi-Fi to get online. This is unreliable and the signal is weak. You often get bounced off in the middle of something. Finally after waiting eight days the guys from Tel-Mex arrived to install our local phone and wireless internet. They grunted and pushed, but there was no ways they could string their wire through our outlets. They finally were able to get the wire strungs and voila, we had phone service. Alas, they had not brought a modem, so we were still without wireless internet. This was a Saturday and the Tel-Mex office would not be open until Monday. On Monday our friends Vincente and Yolanda picked up our modem at the office at the same time UPS was delivering a modem to us, so we now had two. The instructions for installation were in Spanish, so Vicente and Yolanda talked through the installation with the Tel-Mex office and got it set up with our user name and passwords. They told them that we are to watch the flashing green DSL light on the modem and when it stopped flashing out wireless would be available. When Vicente asked about how long that would be, the told him, oh, about three to five days! As of a day and a half, the green light is still flashing.
Other things have been working fine. The first week we used air conditioning a lot, but now ceiling fans are sufficient as the temperatures have moderated as well as the humidity. We have bought a new propane barbecue and I put it together in 24 easy steps!? We had our first guests over Monday evening and it worked great. We also got a new patio set, table and six chairs. We had brought our large umbrella with us in the van as well as two patio lounge chairs, so the patio is now in business.
We are now having our Spanish teacher come for 1 1/2 hours every Tuesday morning. Janice is talking to art class instrutor today to see if she can get signed up. I am playing bridge two to three times a week, wll re-start working at the library one day a week starting the first week of November. My two different groups of guys will be meeting again starting next week. My brother Steve flies in from Iowa on the 27th of October. I picked up the keys to his apartment. He will live in Mazatlan six months this winter. This will be the first time in my adult life Steve and I will live in the same city.
We have been eating healthy and feeling well. Ollie continues to thrive. Many of our US and Candadian friends will be arriving over the next two weeks and we will get the honor of watching each of them go through setting up housekeeping. This week we will get our first trip to Stone Island and next week we go sailing and then on a 70's bus on a pub crawl. Life is returning to normal in Mazatlan. Ole!
We are now waiting for our Wi-Fi and we will be all set up in a record 12 days. We have been freed from one of us needing to be at the house in case a workman or technician happened to show up.
The first dilema was easy. After going five days without our sattelite TV, a serviceman called and told me a couple of buttons to push and voila, we had TV. That was good news and bad news. The good news was we could now see the baseball playoffs, the NFL, and Jeopardy. The bad news was that as we got the networks through Seattle stations, we are now subjected to political adds.
The next was that our water came out in a trickle. My friend Brian showed me how to clean the water filters. Once I got through cleaning them I understood why we only drink purified water. On Saturday the plumbers came and put in a machine that steps up the water pressure. Unfortunately it leaked and they had to shut our water off until they could get replacement on Monday. Luckily, the house has a 1100 Litre "Tinoco". This is a cistern on the roof that held enough water until they returned on Monday and put the water back on. It was great getting showers at full strength. Our drinking water is delivered in 25 litre containers that we put in a dispenser. The water is 20 pesos ($1.60) for over six gallons and is delived to our door. An essential to good health in this climate is to drink plenty of water.
The internet is an ongoing problem. We are currently using the Marina Gardens community Wi-Fi to get online. This is unreliable and the signal is weak. You often get bounced off in the middle of something. Finally after waiting eight days the guys from Tel-Mex arrived to install our local phone and wireless internet. They grunted and pushed, but there was no ways they could string their wire through our outlets. They finally were able to get the wire strungs and voila, we had phone service. Alas, they had not brought a modem, so we were still without wireless internet. This was a Saturday and the Tel-Mex office would not be open until Monday. On Monday our friends Vincente and Yolanda picked up our modem at the office at the same time UPS was delivering a modem to us, so we now had two. The instructions for installation were in Spanish, so Vicente and Yolanda talked through the installation with the Tel-Mex office and got it set up with our user name and passwords. They told them that we are to watch the flashing green DSL light on the modem and when it stopped flashing out wireless would be available. When Vicente asked about how long that would be, the told him, oh, about three to five days! As of a day and a half, the green light is still flashing.
Other things have been working fine. The first week we used air conditioning a lot, but now ceiling fans are sufficient as the temperatures have moderated as well as the humidity. We have bought a new propane barbecue and I put it together in 24 easy steps!? We had our first guests over Monday evening and it worked great. We also got a new patio set, table and six chairs. We had brought our large umbrella with us in the van as well as two patio lounge chairs, so the patio is now in business.
We are now having our Spanish teacher come for 1 1/2 hours every Tuesday morning. Janice is talking to art class instrutor today to see if she can get signed up. I am playing bridge two to three times a week, wll re-start working at the library one day a week starting the first week of November. My two different groups of guys will be meeting again starting next week. My brother Steve flies in from Iowa on the 27th of October. I picked up the keys to his apartment. He will live in Mazatlan six months this winter. This will be the first time in my adult life Steve and I will live in the same city.
We have been eating healthy and feeling well. Ollie continues to thrive. Many of our US and Candadian friends will be arriving over the next two weeks and we will get the honor of watching each of them go through setting up housekeeping. This week we will get our first trip to Stone Island and next week we go sailing and then on a 70's bus on a pub crawl. Life is returning to normal in Mazatlan. Ole!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Settling in
Greeting to all from sunny Mazatlan; As most know by now Janice, Ollie, and I made the trip unscathed as did all of our cargo.
Our trip was good. We left Spokane Friday morning the 1st of October and drove to Stanwood, Washington where we stayed two days with Tom and Crete Tazer at Tazer Valley Farm. On the 2nd I officated at a wedding at the farm.
Sunday morning the 3rd of October we started our trip south and ended in Medfored, Oregon. On Monday we drove to Santa Nella, California where we stayed at a beautiful Mission Style Hotel. We travel using the hotel coupons book, so sometimes we get great hotels, sometimes not. On Tuesday evening in Palm Springs our luck ran out. We got a great rate, but Janice described the place as a step up from a flophouse. We had a scare as I misplaced the key and Janice remembered signing something that said it would cost $300 if the key was lost. It turned out it was $50, but at the last minute we found the key. Palm Springs was not a bust as we got to see our friend Kerry Donavan and had dinner with him.
On Wednesday we drove to GreenValley, Arizona and stayed in a wonderful Qulaity Inn where we had stayed last year when we drove down. We met Nancy from Aspen, Colorado at the hotel and had dinner with her. She would be part of our caravan into Mexico. On Thursday morning we met Sandy and Maria who would also be part of our caravan. Sandy was from Wisconsin and Maria was from Ecuador. At 8:00 we crossed the border into Nogales and all got green lights at the first stop. (This means no customs inspection). Once insdie Nogales we found an ATM and got pesos for our trip. At Kilometer 21 was the Aduana. This is where we got our visa and registered our cars. This is a time consuming process, but all of ous had our ducks in a row, so were out of there in less than 45 minutes. (In Mexico three carloads of people dealing with administrative detail, this is a miracle). Luckily, all three of us got the green light again and were on our way.
Thirsday evening we pulled into Navohoa, Sonora, Mexico. We were able to stay in a nice hotel where they had patrols in the parking lot all night, which was a releif as all three of us had vans full of personal property.
Friday morning we headed towards the final day of our journey. All went well until about 140 miles from Mazatlan. We were the last car in the caravan. Sandy and Maria's car was ahead of us and all of a sudden pulled off the road. It was on a section of the road where after where we turned off there were no exits for miles, so the lead car driven by Nancy was unable to stop by the time she realized we had turned off. Maria emerged from the car covered with shattered glass, but luckily no cuts. Their passenger side window had been smashed by an unidetified object as we were driving down the road. Where we parked of was a nice young man who used his air compressor to blow out all the glass and help clean up. We had our cell phone, so Sandy was able to call her insurance company and report the incident. We then started driving again. I asked if they wanted us to follow them, but Sandy said she preferred to follow us. At a toll booth about 20 miles later we crossed and waited for them to come through. We waited a half an hour and they didn't show up and looked the other side of the toll booth and they weren't there. We ended up driving the last 120 miles alone and were relieved to find they had safely made it to Mazatlan as well as Nancy.
After unloading our car at home, we went to our favorite ribs joint for a welcome home dinner. After dinner we hooked up the TV we had brought down. It was not connecting to the sattelite. We knew the sattelite was working okay as the TV our landlord had was working fine on it, but we had him take it with him. Someone is coming today to get our TV working. Also today someone is coming to connect our Wi-FI and local phone. We have been using the Marina Gardens internet, but we have to go outside to pick up the signal. The weather currently has been arounnd 90 degrees and very humid. Traditionally the muggy season gets over the end of October. Until then we sleep in an air conditioned bedroom and have a dehumdifier running. I have dumped at least five or six gallons of water from the dehumidifier so far.
Saturday evening we felt better settled, so we went to a beachfront cafe called Diego's. We had a perfect spot to watch the glorious Mazatlan sunset and enjoyed Tapas, Mojitos, and Cerveza. Sunday we went to Sam's club and Mega. We stocked up on groceries and bought a propane grille. I spent Monday afternoon assembling the barbecue. It took only 24 easy steps tha took almost four hours, but I hardly muttered. Also on Sunday evening we met friends at Macaw's a cafe that was having 10/10/10 specials. 10 peso beer and 10 peso shredded pork sliders. 10 pesos is about 80 cents. The pork sliders were about twice the size of sliders we have bought in the US. We then went to friend's home on a hill overlloking Mazatlan and watched another great sunset.
Monday we started "eating clean". Our diets consists of mostly unprocessed food. This is easy as fruit and vegetables are very fresh, tasty, and inexpensive here. On Monday I also played bridge for a couple of hours with friends on the Oltas Altas. I also checked in with the library and they will be letting me know my schedule soon.
Today Janice is going to shop for patio furniature and curtain material while I wait for TV man and Telcel man. At 2:50 our friends from Calgary, Alberta fly in and we are picking them up at the airport. Brian and Larysa keep an old car here, so can avoid the drive down. It is cheaper and safer to fly than it is to drive to Mazatlan.
This morning we received shocking, saddening news. Our firiend Wayne Millirons died suddenly on Sunday. it appears to have been a heart attack. He and his wife Brenda had asked me to officiate at their renewing of their wedding vows on Decemeber 3. He as an awesome man. He had retired from the State Department and Brenda from her job. They had sold everything they owned except for what would fit in a min-van and moved to Mazatlan in June of 2009. They had been married 34 years. We had many good times with them during our last season here.
For now, that is the update on Life in the slow lane. Janice, Ollie, and Joel are health, although Janice has had itchy eyes so who knows what is in the air to cause that. Tomorrow, Joel will go to Hermandad de frijoles Y cerveza to see what all the guys have been up to this summer. We hope everyone is doing well and we send our love.
Our trip was good. We left Spokane Friday morning the 1st of October and drove to Stanwood, Washington where we stayed two days with Tom and Crete Tazer at Tazer Valley Farm. On the 2nd I officated at a wedding at the farm.
Sunday morning the 3rd of October we started our trip south and ended in Medfored, Oregon. On Monday we drove to Santa Nella, California where we stayed at a beautiful Mission Style Hotel. We travel using the hotel coupons book, so sometimes we get great hotels, sometimes not. On Tuesday evening in Palm Springs our luck ran out. We got a great rate, but Janice described the place as a step up from a flophouse. We had a scare as I misplaced the key and Janice remembered signing something that said it would cost $300 if the key was lost. It turned out it was $50, but at the last minute we found the key. Palm Springs was not a bust as we got to see our friend Kerry Donavan and had dinner with him.
On Wednesday we drove to GreenValley, Arizona and stayed in a wonderful Qulaity Inn where we had stayed last year when we drove down. We met Nancy from Aspen, Colorado at the hotel and had dinner with her. She would be part of our caravan into Mexico. On Thursday morning we met Sandy and Maria who would also be part of our caravan. Sandy was from Wisconsin and Maria was from Ecuador. At 8:00 we crossed the border into Nogales and all got green lights at the first stop. (This means no customs inspection). Once insdie Nogales we found an ATM and got pesos for our trip. At Kilometer 21 was the Aduana. This is where we got our visa and registered our cars. This is a time consuming process, but all of ous had our ducks in a row, so were out of there in less than 45 minutes. (In Mexico three carloads of people dealing with administrative detail, this is a miracle). Luckily, all three of us got the green light again and were on our way.
Thirsday evening we pulled into Navohoa, Sonora, Mexico. We were able to stay in a nice hotel where they had patrols in the parking lot all night, which was a releif as all three of us had vans full of personal property.
Friday morning we headed towards the final day of our journey. All went well until about 140 miles from Mazatlan. We were the last car in the caravan. Sandy and Maria's car was ahead of us and all of a sudden pulled off the road. It was on a section of the road where after where we turned off there were no exits for miles, so the lead car driven by Nancy was unable to stop by the time she realized we had turned off. Maria emerged from the car covered with shattered glass, but luckily no cuts. Their passenger side window had been smashed by an unidetified object as we were driving down the road. Where we parked of was a nice young man who used his air compressor to blow out all the glass and help clean up. We had our cell phone, so Sandy was able to call her insurance company and report the incident. We then started driving again. I asked if they wanted us to follow them, but Sandy said she preferred to follow us. At a toll booth about 20 miles later we crossed and waited for them to come through. We waited a half an hour and they didn't show up and looked the other side of the toll booth and they weren't there. We ended up driving the last 120 miles alone and were relieved to find they had safely made it to Mazatlan as well as Nancy.
After unloading our car at home, we went to our favorite ribs joint for a welcome home dinner. After dinner we hooked up the TV we had brought down. It was not connecting to the sattelite. We knew the sattelite was working okay as the TV our landlord had was working fine on it, but we had him take it with him. Someone is coming today to get our TV working. Also today someone is coming to connect our Wi-FI and local phone. We have been using the Marina Gardens internet, but we have to go outside to pick up the signal. The weather currently has been arounnd 90 degrees and very humid. Traditionally the muggy season gets over the end of October. Until then we sleep in an air conditioned bedroom and have a dehumdifier running. I have dumped at least five or six gallons of water from the dehumidifier so far.
Saturday evening we felt better settled, so we went to a beachfront cafe called Diego's. We had a perfect spot to watch the glorious Mazatlan sunset and enjoyed Tapas, Mojitos, and Cerveza. Sunday we went to Sam's club and Mega. We stocked up on groceries and bought a propane grille. I spent Monday afternoon assembling the barbecue. It took only 24 easy steps tha took almost four hours, but I hardly muttered. Also on Sunday evening we met friends at Macaw's a cafe that was having 10/10/10 specials. 10 peso beer and 10 peso shredded pork sliders. 10 pesos is about 80 cents. The pork sliders were about twice the size of sliders we have bought in the US. We then went to friend's home on a hill overlloking Mazatlan and watched another great sunset.
Monday we started "eating clean". Our diets consists of mostly unprocessed food. This is easy as fruit and vegetables are very fresh, tasty, and inexpensive here. On Monday I also played bridge for a couple of hours with friends on the Oltas Altas. I also checked in with the library and they will be letting me know my schedule soon.
Today Janice is going to shop for patio furniature and curtain material while I wait for TV man and Telcel man. At 2:50 our friends from Calgary, Alberta fly in and we are picking them up at the airport. Brian and Larysa keep an old car here, so can avoid the drive down. It is cheaper and safer to fly than it is to drive to Mazatlan.
This morning we received shocking, saddening news. Our firiend Wayne Millirons died suddenly on Sunday. it appears to have been a heart attack. He and his wife Brenda had asked me to officiate at their renewing of their wedding vows on Decemeber 3. He as an awesome man. He had retired from the State Department and Brenda from her job. They had sold everything they owned except for what would fit in a min-van and moved to Mazatlan in June of 2009. They had been married 34 years. We had many good times with them during our last season here.
For now, that is the update on Life in the slow lane. Janice, Ollie, and Joel are health, although Janice has had itchy eyes so who knows what is in the air to cause that. Tomorrow, Joel will go to Hermandad de frijoles Y cerveza to see what all the guys have been up to this summer. We hope everyone is doing well and we send our love.
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