Wrote a long entry in Pisa and suddenly the computer quit so nothing got posted! Apparently the system the cafe has just turns itself off when the time is up - they just didn't tell us ahead of time . . . oh well. So - we just quit and went home. I will try to recap some highlights.
So - Venezia - we liked it. 3 nights was not quite long enough. We saw the Guggenheim, the museum and the Doge's palace. Missed the massive cathedral, would have liked to have seen it, although after the Vatican . . . . . Went to the island of Mirano where the glass factories are. The best glass blowers in the world have been born and bred in Mirano for centuries - we saw the glass museum with samples of glass from the first century BC. It was all very interesting but overall not the richness or quality or culture we saw in Florence. Seems to be set up to lure the tourists - one small tourist shop after the other. Lots of shiney things - jewellery, glass, glass jewellery, glasses of every size and color, glass art, glass lighting, glass everything - beautiful, and yes expensive. They will ship anywhere. They will bargain (a bit) on the price. We have very small suitcases so bought nothing to speak of. Food incredibly expensive, some of it good. We stayed in a B&B on the island of Lido, a short boat ride to St. Marc's square.
So - Pisa - yes the tower is still leaning - a wee bit more every year. Food not so pricey as Venice. Stayed one night in a nice little B&B so that we could arrive early in the day at Cinque Terra. We were unable to arrange accomodation before we got to Cinque Terra. Nothing else much to say about Pisa.
Cinque Terra - Oh dear! May 1 is a big big holiday for Italians - its sort of their labour day so it was a long weekend. Turns out that most of the country decided to go to Cinque Terra the same time we did - five little picturesque and remote villages that cling to the cliffs on the West Coast of Italy. There are hiking trails that go between them. Friends have told us - no problem getting accomodation after you get there, there are lots of places that don't have a web connection for prebooking. Hah - that may be true on any other weekend in the entire year.
We arrived and nothing could be found in spite of efforts made by the kind local people we met in the towns. On their suggestion we went to Levanto, a town outside the park of the Cinque Terra, no luck there either - we were befriended by two people who run the Tobacco shop at the train station - I called all the places they recommended - nada! While I was doing that Natasha went into town to the tourist info place and ended up at a travel agency. There she met two German ladies that were having the same problem. The travel agent was able to find a country house for the four of us away up in the hills - she called a taxi to take us there and it turned out that our friend from the tobacco shop was the cab driver. He drove us up an impossibly steep and narrow road to the top of a mountain - much higher than mine - and told us there was no grocery store but there was a restaurant up there in this very tiny village and dropped us off. Good there was a restaurant as we had no food with us since everything just happened so quickly. We all showered and changed and trooped over to this delightful restaurant hanging off the cliff and overlooking the steep valley, the town of Levanto and the ocean below. Walked in and there was NO table possible, they were totally booked - it was after all the holiday weekend! We pouted and imagined going hungry when the phone rang and there was a cancellation! Yippee! We enjoyed a wonderful meal at a very reasonable price, including delicious teramisu!
Next day our taxi driver (now called Papa) arrived to take us down to the town and agreed to take us back up again at the end of the day - no busses - it was a holiday! Had great hikes over the next two days - even though it was a bit like being in a parade, so very many people. Beautiful setting for hiking but a lot like East Sooke park - with thousands of people. The towns are very picturesque, however, totally packed with people! We had to imagine what it would be like there without all the crowds.
The train goes between each town so you can hike one way and train the other - the train experience was something else - wow - many many people squished together and pushing to get on - very claustrophobic!
Our two new best friends Marie and Ann were wonderful and so much fun, we just laughed and laughed. Marie had to drink quite a bit of wine before she could talk English - but she was certainly able to make herself understood even so. Ann could speak English quite well so she had to be the translator. We were so very lucky to have met them.
We spent one afternoon and night on the beach in Finale Ligure another small Italian Riviera town, so that we wouldn't arrive late at night into the big city of Nice as we didn't have a reservation. That night we got the first rain of our trip - a huge thunder and lightening storm - wet pavement the next day but otherwise it is nice in Nice. We were able to easily get a place right close to the old city of Nice. So we will be here for three nights then on to Barcelona for three nights before a week in Paris and then home. Still having a wonderful time!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Last Day in Florence
There are still some sights we havent seen here - can you believe it? We have been walking from morning till we climb the 102 concrete steps up and up to our room with a view. We have a little terrace on top of our room - have to go up yet more steps to get there! All the buildings around us are the same height as we are so we have a great view around. There is a fabulous view of the Duomo glowing over the rooftops (also from our room).
I have been to church so many times mother would be very pleased! Natasha is now tired of the church thing and opted to stay in bed this morning. May also have something to do with the cold both of us have contracted milling around millions of people,going non-stop since we arrived in Italy and being too jazzed to sleep when we get home.
Besides the wonderful art and antiquities there are many shops lining all the main streets, big names of course including Prada, Yves St. Laurent etc. There are at least two leather shops on every street selling soft exquisite leather - Natasha got a beautiful lambskin jacket. She went in the store for shoes, they didnt have her size, she found a great belt, and the next thing she knew she had bought a jacket! What can I say, I wasnt with her and they are very good salespeople! It is lovely - dont think she could get such a jacket for such a good price at home. Sometimes you just have to do these things.....
There is a market that floods about 4 blocks, no cars able to get through, filled with stalls selling inexpensive interesting things. There is also a great indoor market - two huge floors with beautiful fresh fuits and vegetables, alongside wine stands, cheese shops, meat and fish stands. Great musicians in the piazzas at night, artists painting and selling their work, and a round of black market sellers with "gucci" bags and "rolex" watches. The sellers play a great game with the police, since what they are doing is illegal when a polzia comes near they grab up their booty in white sheets and walk or just stand completely innocent, the polizia are not 5 feet away and out come the displays on the street again! Its funny to watch. Most of these guys are black and they speak many languages, certainly enough to play haggeling games with the tourists.
We are off by train tomorrow for Venice for three nights, Pisa for one night, and then to the Cinque Terra on the west coast of Italy - the Italian Riviera before hitting France.
I have been to church so many times mother would be very pleased! Natasha is now tired of the church thing and opted to stay in bed this morning. May also have something to do with the cold both of us have contracted milling around millions of people,going non-stop since we arrived in Italy and being too jazzed to sleep when we get home.
Besides the wonderful art and antiquities there are many shops lining all the main streets, big names of course including Prada, Yves St. Laurent etc. There are at least two leather shops on every street selling soft exquisite leather - Natasha got a beautiful lambskin jacket. She went in the store for shoes, they didnt have her size, she found a great belt, and the next thing she knew she had bought a jacket! What can I say, I wasnt with her and they are very good salespeople! It is lovely - dont think she could get such a jacket for such a good price at home. Sometimes you just have to do these things.....
There is a market that floods about 4 blocks, no cars able to get through, filled with stalls selling inexpensive interesting things. There is also a great indoor market - two huge floors with beautiful fresh fuits and vegetables, alongside wine stands, cheese shops, meat and fish stands. Great musicians in the piazzas at night, artists painting and selling their work, and a round of black market sellers with "gucci" bags and "rolex" watches. The sellers play a great game with the police, since what they are doing is illegal when a polzia comes near they grab up their booty in white sheets and walk or just stand completely innocent, the polizia are not 5 feet away and out come the displays on the street again! Its funny to watch. Most of these guys are black and they speak many languages, certainly enough to play haggeling games with the tourists.
We are off by train tomorrow for Venice for three nights, Pisa for one night, and then to the Cinque Terra on the west coast of Italy - the Italian Riviera before hitting France.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
More travels....
We did successfully make it home, following spring as we moved north. No time to post as I had to begin planning for a trip to Europe with Natasha. We are now in Florence Italy for 7 nights.
We landed in Rome, were awestruck with the opulance of the sights of the Vatican. Everything is so grand. Also awestruck with the colleseum, the forum and the pantheon. Loved the pantheon. There were many smaller churches we wandered into with much more intimate and spiritual feelings than St. Peters. An incredible amount of art and antiquity in this city. Hard to believe that buildings - and roads - built centuries ago are still standing, continue to be used and remain in good shape! In Canada we have nothing to compare - we knock things down before they get even a bit old!
We walked and walked, with aching feet and legs we fell into bed each night. Now we are in good shape - yesterday we walked up all 465 steps to the top of the Duomo in Florence (round and round, narrower and narrower, darker and darker, warmer and warmer, less and less oxygen, feelings of opression, then people started to come down! using the same staircase as us!! Very cozy indeed. Not for the faint of heart - quite claustrophobic. What an amazing view of the city from tiny (in comparison) coppula on top! I am sure Lorne would have loved it - NOT!
We then spent three nights in Siena - an old walled city that was quite amazing too. And of course all a lovely siena color! More fantastic cathedrals and hours of wandering the steep medieval narrow cobblestone hilly alleys of this ancient city. &Thank goodness for maps - even if they dont have all the names of the streets on them. And just try to find that wonderful restaurant we passed!!! Drank ciante in a cool wine tasting cellar with Alesander, a lovely Italian man who charmed us in the piazza del Campo - where the fabulous and amazing historical paulo horse race is. Got beautiful flags (about the size of large scarfs) from three of the twelve districts that compete in this race.
We are immersed in art here in Florence, so far I am loving being saturated every museum is better than the last - the Uffizi gallery, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Pitti Palace, The Bargello museum- Natasha is enjoying it too and she is very good at picking up Italian quickly. There is a Parisian guest at the hostel and Natasha is also very good at remembering her French and communicates well with her too! This will be a real asset when we get to France! Most everyone we come across in Florence and in Rome speaks English (a bit- certainly more than we speak Italian!). I keep speaking Spanish - doesnt work so well.....
Next is Venice, then..... the Cinque Terra??? perhaps, if we can 1. find a place to stay and 2. figure out how to get there from Venice.
We landed in Rome, were awestruck with the opulance of the sights of the Vatican. Everything is so grand. Also awestruck with the colleseum, the forum and the pantheon. Loved the pantheon. There were many smaller churches we wandered into with much more intimate and spiritual feelings than St. Peters. An incredible amount of art and antiquity in this city. Hard to believe that buildings - and roads - built centuries ago are still standing, continue to be used and remain in good shape! In Canada we have nothing to compare - we knock things down before they get even a bit old!
We walked and walked, with aching feet and legs we fell into bed each night. Now we are in good shape - yesterday we walked up all 465 steps to the top of the Duomo in Florence (round and round, narrower and narrower, darker and darker, warmer and warmer, less and less oxygen, feelings of opression, then people started to come down! using the same staircase as us!! Very cozy indeed. Not for the faint of heart - quite claustrophobic. What an amazing view of the city from tiny (in comparison) coppula on top! I am sure Lorne would have loved it - NOT!
We then spent three nights in Siena - an old walled city that was quite amazing too. And of course all a lovely siena color! More fantastic cathedrals and hours of wandering the steep medieval narrow cobblestone hilly alleys of this ancient city. &Thank goodness for maps - even if they dont have all the names of the streets on them. And just try to find that wonderful restaurant we passed!!! Drank ciante in a cool wine tasting cellar with Alesander, a lovely Italian man who charmed us in the piazza del Campo - where the fabulous and amazing historical paulo horse race is. Got beautiful flags (about the size of large scarfs) from three of the twelve districts that compete in this race.
We are immersed in art here in Florence, so far I am loving being saturated every museum is better than the last - the Uffizi gallery, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Pitti Palace, The Bargello museum- Natasha is enjoying it too and she is very good at picking up Italian quickly. There is a Parisian guest at the hostel and Natasha is also very good at remembering her French and communicates well with her too! This will be a real asset when we get to France! Most everyone we come across in Florence and in Rome speaks English (a bit- certainly more than we speak Italian!). I keep speaking Spanish - doesnt work so well.....
Next is Venice, then..... the Cinque Terra??? perhaps, if we can 1. find a place to stay and 2. figure out how to get there from Venice.
Monday, March 12, 2007
In LA and Homeward Bound Manana...
Well its Monday and here we are at Miguel's waiting for him to get to our coach. A few things have come up for him so he may not be able to look at it till tomorrow, or . . . oh well.
Border Crossing on Sunday:
Don't do it. What were we thinking? We had a 2 1/2 hour wait in the hot sun at the Tecote border only for them to look in the fridge and send us on our way. We had thoughtfully emptied everything out that morning so we had nothing for lunch. No worries, we would be well across the border by lunch! Ha!! Not!! We spent lunch in line and I made natchos for lunch. No nice fresh salad. No vegs. no fruit. Now we know.
Food
I have had some requests for comentary on the food, well camerones and scallops - yum, what can I say. At El Coyote a vender or three came by every day with fresh caught fish, scallops and camerones - our dinner slept in the sea the night before! Can't get too much fresher than that. We were not the piggy wiggys we were the first year or even last year, we now manage to make a kilo of camerone last for a dinner and a lunch the next day. Our big find this year is carne asada. Due to Lorne's food issues most Mexican food is verboten, however we were in Costco shopping for when the kids came down and Lorne grabbed what he thought was corned beef that he could eat as the marinade did not include onions or garlic. Turned out it was not corned beef at all but the most delicious thinly cut tender beef. This is traditionally bbq'd on a charcol grill and tortellias heated to fill with the beef. Add lots of hot sauce and whatever else you want - peppers, salsa, onions and WOW! this is so good. So we went back to Costco and bought up lots of carne asada to bring home. Difficult to make it fit around all the camerone and scallops we have in the freezer tho.... I think I could probably figure out a marinade that would work to make this at home too. Oh boy a Mexican food party - get ready!
Had to have lunch today at the In and Out - think I've had enough of that now but it is very good. Its also cool to watch them peel and cut the fries right in front of you.
Homeward Stretch
So, now is the time to give me a list of any items you would like us to bring back for you from the US. If you haven't figured out how to send comments just send me an email (don't worry you are not alone! I have received many emails from others who can't figure it out either). We will be stopping at one or more of the outlet malls and a regular mall too - possibly Frys, a huge computer store in Oregon if they will give us a warranty that will be honored in Canada. Did I mention that our computer is toast? We are using Miguel's computer today and will check email before we get home if we can. Otherwise you can text message me on my cell phone.
Border Crossing on Sunday:
Don't do it. What were we thinking? We had a 2 1/2 hour wait in the hot sun at the Tecote border only for them to look in the fridge and send us on our way. We had thoughtfully emptied everything out that morning so we had nothing for lunch. No worries, we would be well across the border by lunch! Ha!! Not!! We spent lunch in line and I made natchos for lunch. No nice fresh salad. No vegs. no fruit. Now we know.
Food
I have had some requests for comentary on the food, well camerones and scallops - yum, what can I say. At El Coyote a vender or three came by every day with fresh caught fish, scallops and camerones - our dinner slept in the sea the night before! Can't get too much fresher than that. We were not the piggy wiggys we were the first year or even last year, we now manage to make a kilo of camerone last for a dinner and a lunch the next day. Our big find this year is carne asada. Due to Lorne's food issues most Mexican food is verboten, however we were in Costco shopping for when the kids came down and Lorne grabbed what he thought was corned beef that he could eat as the marinade did not include onions or garlic. Turned out it was not corned beef at all but the most delicious thinly cut tender beef. This is traditionally bbq'd on a charcol grill and tortellias heated to fill with the beef. Add lots of hot sauce and whatever else you want - peppers, salsa, onions and WOW! this is so good. So we went back to Costco and bought up lots of carne asada to bring home. Difficult to make it fit around all the camerone and scallops we have in the freezer tho.... I think I could probably figure out a marinade that would work to make this at home too. Oh boy a Mexican food party - get ready!
Had to have lunch today at the In and Out - think I've had enough of that now but it is very good. Its also cool to watch them peel and cut the fries right in front of you.
Homeward Stretch
So, now is the time to give me a list of any items you would like us to bring back for you from the US. If you haven't figured out how to send comments just send me an email (don't worry you are not alone! I have received many emails from others who can't figure it out either). We will be stopping at one or more of the outlet malls and a regular mall too - possibly Frys, a huge computer store in Oregon if they will give us a warranty that will be honored in Canada. Did I mention that our computer is toast? We are using Miguel's computer today and will check email before we get home if we can. Otherwise you can text message me on my cell phone.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Conception and El Coyote Beach
We stopped for eight days to kayak and hang on the beach. The Conception area is just south of Mulege and is a very large bay with about 8 quite sheltered camping access beaches and a number of small islands so if we were to find a place to kayak this should be it. We had never stayed at El Coyote before so thought we would give it a try. It was fabulous! Similar to the West Coast of Vancouver Island, the wind usually gets up about 11 am so we needed to be up and on the water early to get in a good paddle. The second day we went out we were not far from our beach when we were suddenly blasted with a big wind! and I mean big! And it wasn´t even 10 am yet! It was a bit startling for us newbies to say the least so we quickly paddled to shore, fortunately it was blowing towards land so we had the wind at our backs and not too much water in our boats, lots of whitecaps all around and breaking over our bows. My boat felt good tho and it wasn´t more sea than we could handle so that was good.
We had heard the wind can pick up quickly here but we had no idea it would be quite like this, dead calm one second and then pow! We learned these winds are called buffaloes, good name. We also discovered that a fellow named Gary broadcasts the weather for the area over the VHF (marine band) radio every morning at 8. He lives at the next beach over (El Burro) and weather is his hobby. He let us know that we now had a few days to wait for really flat water and to expect big winds (buffaloes) every day.
We spent some time hiking, there are some great hikes to do around this beach, up and over the desert hills to the next beaches and into beautiful valleys. We also hiked along the old Baja road and into a lush valley, very nice. Read a few books and soon it was time to do some serious kayaking. Last Monday dawned with the water like glass, kayaking was amazing, it was like moving over gentle shimmering folds of silk. It was so clear we were looking into a tropical aquarium with lots of interesting fish to see. The water was quite warm so I also enjoyed swimming and banging up my shins practicing wet exits. Couldn´t get Lorne it tho. We did find a fairly large red jellyfish, fortunately not while I was swimming.
The first few days I was buttoned up tight in my life jacket and thinking we really should have our skirts on, Lorne of course had his jacket on but not zipped and was totally opposed to the skirts as it was really quite warm. By day 3 Lorne´s lifejacket was strapped to his deck and by day 4 so was mine! We really didn´t go any further off shore than what we could easily swim and the water is warm so, we dressed for immersion - swimming suits!
ElCoyote is the beach that our friends from Santispac, Chet and Marida have moved to so we had a few good visits with them. They built a new, almost identical palapa and moved their whole kitchen and stairway over from Santispac. They don´t own the land but pay $10 per day all year for the privledge of renting the land, plus they have services that they didn´t have at Santispac - water and sewer - so they are reasonably happy and settled now. It was quite devastating to them when they arrived at Santispac this year to be told they had to move off the beach by the end of January. Six of their friends from Santispac have also moved over to this beach. Santispac looks quite different now with almost all the palapas gone. Apparently it has been bought by someone who plans to put in a resort... A Baja dream or??
We are now in Guerro Negro, working our way north. The desert today was in bloom and so aromatic it was wonderful! My plant book tells me the flowers were lupins, a type of poppy and an incense flower. We´ve bought a big load of camerones and scallops to take home, the freezer is full! We´ve also got a few bags of delicious San Ignacio dates and a container of their yummy honey too. We should be in LA by next Monday where we will visit Miguel to have him give the GMC a once over before heading home. Depending on how things go we should be home by next weekend.
Time to cook - as once again I am not doing the driving on Baja!
We had heard the wind can pick up quickly here but we had no idea it would be quite like this, dead calm one second and then pow! We learned these winds are called buffaloes, good name. We also discovered that a fellow named Gary broadcasts the weather for the area over the VHF (marine band) radio every morning at 8. He lives at the next beach over (El Burro) and weather is his hobby. He let us know that we now had a few days to wait for really flat water and to expect big winds (buffaloes) every day.
We spent some time hiking, there are some great hikes to do around this beach, up and over the desert hills to the next beaches and into beautiful valleys. We also hiked along the old Baja road and into a lush valley, very nice. Read a few books and soon it was time to do some serious kayaking. Last Monday dawned with the water like glass, kayaking was amazing, it was like moving over gentle shimmering folds of silk. It was so clear we were looking into a tropical aquarium with lots of interesting fish to see. The water was quite warm so I also enjoyed swimming and banging up my shins practicing wet exits. Couldn´t get Lorne it tho. We did find a fairly large red jellyfish, fortunately not while I was swimming.
The first few days I was buttoned up tight in my life jacket and thinking we really should have our skirts on, Lorne of course had his jacket on but not zipped and was totally opposed to the skirts as it was really quite warm. By day 3 Lorne´s lifejacket was strapped to his deck and by day 4 so was mine! We really didn´t go any further off shore than what we could easily swim and the water is warm so, we dressed for immersion - swimming suits!
ElCoyote is the beach that our friends from Santispac, Chet and Marida have moved to so we had a few good visits with them. They built a new, almost identical palapa and moved their whole kitchen and stairway over from Santispac. They don´t own the land but pay $10 per day all year for the privledge of renting the land, plus they have services that they didn´t have at Santispac - water and sewer - so they are reasonably happy and settled now. It was quite devastating to them when they arrived at Santispac this year to be told they had to move off the beach by the end of January. Six of their friends from Santispac have also moved over to this beach. Santispac looks quite different now with almost all the palapas gone. Apparently it has been bought by someone who plans to put in a resort... A Baja dream or??
We are now in Guerro Negro, working our way north. The desert today was in bloom and so aromatic it was wonderful! My plant book tells me the flowers were lupins, a type of poppy and an incense flower. We´ve bought a big load of camerones and scallops to take home, the freezer is full! We´ve also got a few bags of delicious San Ignacio dates and a container of their yummy honey too. We should be in LA by next Monday where we will visit Miguel to have him give the GMC a once over before heading home. Depending on how things go we should be home by next weekend.
Time to cook - as once again I am not doing the driving on Baja!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
More on Casa Metta and Los Barriles
Following the hurricane there were apparently quite a lot of bugs, as you may know, I am not that fond of bugs, particularly the eight legged variety. However, I was assured that there was not that many now. And actually it has not been bad at all. There are many unusual bugs that we had not seen here before - one of the is a very large (about 2 inches long) black cricket. Apparently following the hurricane there were hundreds around and in the house once the sun set; fortunately not that many now. Just enought to be annoying. They are very loud, particularly when in the house. Like most of the houses here Casa Metta is made of concrete block and has a wonderful echoing resonating sound for a chricket to sing in. We could make a killing selling them in China!!
The other interesting insect we have seen lots of is a humming bird moth. They are very amazing insects, look and fly a lot like our hummingbirds at home and like most things in the desert, very very fast. We have lots of pictures of empty space, they are really difficult to capture on film. They have a very long tongue that rolls out to sip the nectar from the flowers. There is also quite an assortment of beetles with beautiful designs on their backs and great long antenna. No, I don't think they were cockroaches, they didn't mind the light and they were very easy to catch.
At the park where we are now there are so many kite boarders - it's a very popular sport here on the East Cape, along with windsurfing of course. They are quite amazing to watch as they leap and twirl high in the air with the big winds that come up here. These of course are not kayaking days and no it's not my next thing to take up, at least not yet . . .
The sunsets here are truly breathtaking. Dawn really does "break" this far south and the sun rises so quickly out of the Sea of Cortez. Mainland Mexico is not visible at all as it is quite a distance away (over 300 kms) so for us Westerners it is quite wonderful to see such a sunrise. The full moon rising out ot the Sea of Cortez is also spectacular. The rise of the full moon was amazing - the sun was setting on one side of us while the moon was rising simultaneously. Two spectacular events!
We are out to dinner tonight with the Bradleys, good friends from Rancho Pescadero, and then tomorrow morning we go north, hopefully as far as Ciudad Constitution.
The other interesting insect we have seen lots of is a humming bird moth. They are very amazing insects, look and fly a lot like our hummingbirds at home and like most things in the desert, very very fast. We have lots of pictures of empty space, they are really difficult to capture on film. They have a very long tongue that rolls out to sip the nectar from the flowers. There is also quite an assortment of beetles with beautiful designs on their backs and great long antenna. No, I don't think they were cockroaches, they didn't mind the light and they were very easy to catch.
At the park where we are now there are so many kite boarders - it's a very popular sport here on the East Cape, along with windsurfing of course. They are quite amazing to watch as they leap and twirl high in the air with the big winds that come up here. These of course are not kayaking days and no it's not my next thing to take up, at least not yet . . .
The sunsets here are truly breathtaking. Dawn really does "break" this far south and the sun rises so quickly out of the Sea of Cortez. Mainland Mexico is not visible at all as it is quite a distance away (over 300 kms) so for us Westerners it is quite wonderful to see such a sunrise. The full moon rising out ot the Sea of Cortez is also spectacular. The rise of the full moon was amazing - the sun was setting on one side of us while the moon was rising simultaneously. Two spectacular events!
We are out to dinner tonight with the Bradleys, good friends from Rancho Pescadero, and then tomorrow morning we go north, hopefully as far as Ciudad Constitution.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Casa Metta
What a beautiful spot, a beautiful home, great weather. Its great to be here. The sea has been fabulous, we have had lots of flat water so have been able to do lots of kayaking. The water is so clear on flat days that we can see a multitude of tropical fish right under our boat.
Mike Kate and the grandkids Lindsay (4) and Tristan (2) were here from the 5th to the 15th. We all had a great time, playing, walking the beach, swimming in the little pool; Lindsay is now swimming all on her own! She likes to dive under for things and to sink down to the bottom and sit on your feet! Tristan had a good time in the water too. The two of them get along so well, they played and played all day. They found lots of cool things on the beach including a whole dried trigger fish! That was the best find, but it has to stay here. We visited the neighbors animals with the children and fed them treats. The dogs were more than happy to gobble up their treats and to play ball with the kids but Trish and Trev’s cats scampered away when the kids arrived, only two of the four came out for camerone! And Smokey, well forget him! He didn't show his face!
Mike and Kate did some kayaking and snorkeling while here and they took the kayaks out one day to where the batrays were jumping. They saw literally hundreds of batrays swimming under their boats and watched them leaping out of the water at a very close distance. They were able to get some great pictures. This leaping thing is a very strange thing the batrays do. It sometimes looks like a chorus line with many of them leaping up together and landing with a big slap on the water. This goes on at times day after day and all through the night. When the water is really flat they make a very loud slap, almost like a gun shot! These are not small creatures – their wingspan is between 3 and 4 feet on average so a fairly awesome sight to see at close range.
I started a Spanish class on the 12th for three hours a day with about 6 hours of homework every night. There were a total of 8 in the class and it was only for 8 days, one can do anything for a short period of time right? I learned a great deal, Paulina was a wonderful teacher. There was an exam at the end and I passed. This means I can go on to the second level and spend another 8 days working 10 hours a day/or I fall asleep on Spanish. Not this trip - maybe next year, that was an exhausting 8 days but I think well worth it!
Our neighbors (and friends) Jim and MaryAnne lent us their quad and Lorne and I drove the 6 miles into town. Way cool. I think Lorne is sold on getting one. I had to travel daily with Trevor to town on his quad to attend Spanish lessons; quite a different driver than Lorne! Each day he went a little faster, very fun. Perhaps once Lorne gets more used to it he will find the gas pedal…. Ha.
We have had some great visits with the neighbors here. Some very interesting and lovely people; we feel completely at home in this little neighborhood.
Our friends Ellen and Chris own Casa Metta and they have been so very kind to welcome our use of it even though they will not be here till March 5. I wish we could stay till they get here but we do need to start heading north. Ellen told us that they had a caretaker here who was in the casita (small house) and we could have the big house. Well we did have a bit of a surprise when we arrived here, as the kitchen in the casita had been ripped out and a new one, which was to have been put in months ago, was yet to be completed, or to even have had any workers for quite some time! So that puts Dirk the caretaker in the house with us. Well he sleeps in the casita; and understandably has to cook in the house. Good thing he is such an easy going nice guy.
Tomorrow, Friday, we head to Los Barriles to stay at an RV park in town for a few days then will head north looking for good kayaking. We plan to be home the second or third week of March.
Being without a computer is such a drag I tell you. I only hope we can get things off the hard drive from the fried one.
Mike Kate and the grandkids Lindsay (4) and Tristan (2) were here from the 5th to the 15th. We all had a great time, playing, walking the beach, swimming in the little pool; Lindsay is now swimming all on her own! She likes to dive under for things and to sink down to the bottom and sit on your feet! Tristan had a good time in the water too. The two of them get along so well, they played and played all day. They found lots of cool things on the beach including a whole dried trigger fish! That was the best find, but it has to stay here. We visited the neighbors animals with the children and fed them treats. The dogs were more than happy to gobble up their treats and to play ball with the kids but Trish and Trev’s cats scampered away when the kids arrived, only two of the four came out for camerone! And Smokey, well forget him! He didn't show his face!
Mike and Kate did some kayaking and snorkeling while here and they took the kayaks out one day to where the batrays were jumping. They saw literally hundreds of batrays swimming under their boats and watched them leaping out of the water at a very close distance. They were able to get some great pictures. This leaping thing is a very strange thing the batrays do. It sometimes looks like a chorus line with many of them leaping up together and landing with a big slap on the water. This goes on at times day after day and all through the night. When the water is really flat they make a very loud slap, almost like a gun shot! These are not small creatures – their wingspan is between 3 and 4 feet on average so a fairly awesome sight to see at close range.
I started a Spanish class on the 12th for three hours a day with about 6 hours of homework every night. There were a total of 8 in the class and it was only for 8 days, one can do anything for a short period of time right? I learned a great deal, Paulina was a wonderful teacher. There was an exam at the end and I passed. This means I can go on to the second level and spend another 8 days working 10 hours a day/or I fall asleep on Spanish. Not this trip - maybe next year, that was an exhausting 8 days but I think well worth it!
Our neighbors (and friends) Jim and MaryAnne lent us their quad and Lorne and I drove the 6 miles into town. Way cool. I think Lorne is sold on getting one. I had to travel daily with Trevor to town on his quad to attend Spanish lessons; quite a different driver than Lorne! Each day he went a little faster, very fun. Perhaps once Lorne gets more used to it he will find the gas pedal…. Ha.
We have had some great visits with the neighbors here. Some very interesting and lovely people; we feel completely at home in this little neighborhood.
Our friends Ellen and Chris own Casa Metta and they have been so very kind to welcome our use of it even though they will not be here till March 5. I wish we could stay till they get here but we do need to start heading north. Ellen told us that they had a caretaker here who was in the casita (small house) and we could have the big house. Well we did have a bit of a surprise when we arrived here, as the kitchen in the casita had been ripped out and a new one, which was to have been put in months ago, was yet to be completed, or to even have had any workers for quite some time! So that puts Dirk the caretaker in the house with us. Well he sleeps in the casita; and understandably has to cook in the house. Good thing he is such an easy going nice guy.
Tomorrow, Friday, we head to Los Barriles to stay at an RV park in town for a few days then will head north looking for good kayaking. We plan to be home the second or third week of March.
Being without a computer is such a drag I tell you. I only hope we can get things off the hard drive from the fried one.
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