Bo and I now play beach doughnut fetch twice per day. We have so much fun ! He makes me laugh !
I washed the rear and the front of the trailer today. And continued with Mexican road casualty repairs. I spent about two hours in the evening online, an hour actually working, and an hour spinning my wheels with Internet connectivity / functionality problems.
I have begun using my new computer ... a little bit. Windows 8 is confusing. Or ... maybe I'm just resistant to change ? I took some photos this afternoon of a fishing boat that was fishing in shallow water just offshore from our beach, and downloaded the photos to my new computer as well as my old one. My photo "processing" software is in my old computer, but at least I learned how to transfer photos from my camera to my new computer.
We started our day with a great beach doughnut session. I took some movies of our play session with my new digital camera and then downloaded them to my ( old ) computer. Worked fairly well ! Right now ( at 3:30 PM ) I'm sitting at the swimming pool patio trying to upload one of them to YouTube and then to my blog. Wish me luck ! I just hurried back to the trailer to get myself a Diet Coke. Next door neighbour's damn dog bit the back of my ankle as I rushed by their site ! Stupid territorial Border Collie ! Where did you think you were going to "herd" me to, Kip ? ! ? Do I look like a ****ing sheep ? ! ?
Joanne did two loads of laundry today. This RV park has a washer and dryer, but charges outrageously for their use. Nevertheless, Joanne would prefer to use the washer and dryer here. The alternative is to take our laundry to a lavanderia in town and have our clothes laundered for us. She doesn't like that, although we have used lavanderias in the past while travelling in Mexico.
We washed the truck today. Lots of road grime !
WOO-HOO ! ! ! The YouTube video thing worked ! ! ! ( 4 PM ) Time to head back to the beach for another play session !
We had another great beach play session and went for a long walk along the beach. The roast had to be removed from the Sun Oven and finished in the trailer's oven. MMMMM ... it was good ! Joanne had marinated it in a marinade she made using zest from a local mandarin orange. The local mandarin oranges are huge ! As are the local avocadoes !
I did more work with my new computer. I'm starting to get more comfortable and proficient with Windows 8. After supper I went back to the pool patio to do more online work. I finally solved my blog photo upload problem.
Tuesday ; We woke up this morning to wind and rain. Not a very good beach play day. So ... we decided to go to Escuinapa to run errands. On the way to and from Escuinapa we explored some local small villages.
On the way across town Joanne decided she wanted to stop for lunch at a small ( there's no other kind, actually ! ) pollo asado restaurant. Out front, a 50 gallon drum cut in half, filled with wood and charcoal, achiotte marinated chicken slowly barbecuing on the grill over the half drum. Under the roof ( not really "inside" ) three tables for four. Whole chickens, barbecued, eat-in or take-out. All pollo asado restaurants are essentially the same. We ordered "eat-in" with small "salads" ( we got just a bit of lettuce, radish, and onions, no dressing ). The waitress asked a long winded question that I didn't understand. My response was "todos" ... everything ! She left and returned with two FANTA soft drinks and plunked them down in front of us. Okay ... I guess we're drinking FANTA today ! And I guess my response probably made no sense in the context of whatever she asked.
< shrug > Oh, well ! She also brought about a dozen small tortillas. DARN ... I forgot that a dozen or so small tortillas always comes with a chicken. I forgot to specify "wheat" tortillas. If not specified, tortillas are always "corn", which I can't digest. Joanne ate a couple, we left the rest on the table. There was plenty of chicken left over to take home with us. The chicken was very good !
We did the rest of our grocery shopping at Ley's, a much better store than the Bodega Aurrera. We drove around town looking for, and finding, an aqua purificadora place to refill our water jug. By the time we were leaving Escuinapa the sky had cleared, but it was windy.
When we got home, while Joanne put away groceries, I took Bo for a beach doughnut play session. It didn't last long, because it was windy and the surf was big, and ... there were small jellyfish washed up on shore ! Small jellyfish apparently called Blue Bottles. They were no larger than a cherry tomato, but they had thread like tails that were a few feet long ! And that's where the stingers are ! It was too risky to play on the beach with all those long stinger tailed jellyfish getting washed up on the sand.
I made supper tonight. Plan B supper ! After supper I went to the pool patio to do some online work with my new computer. I'm slowly making the transition from my old computer to the new one. HEY ... I found out that the correct name for those Blue Bottle Jellyfish is ... wait for it ... Portuguese Man O'War ! And they're deadly little buggers ! ! !
Wednesday ; Sunny, warm weather has returned.
Yesterday's winds and high surf have rearranged the beach. The dry portion of the beach now has a "step" at yesterday's high water mark. It was fun to walk to the edge of the step and make it collapse to the lower level. Gee ... maybe I gotta get a life ! HA HA HA ! In the shallows, the previously flat bottom now has steps and holes and sand bars and ... quicksand. Some of the holes are filled with sand and water making a mush. They're invisible ! Bo stepped on one today and sunk so deep that Joanne had to grab the handle on the top of his doggy lifejacket and pull him out. He only wears his doggy lifejacket when Joanne comes to the beach with us < rolling eyes >. Falling into the quicksand increased his trepidation about chasing his beach doughnut out too far. He's taken to running into the water until just before it becomes deep enough that he needs to swim, then waits for the surf to wash his doughnut back closer to shore before he grabs it. Apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks !
This afternoon we finished washing the trailer. Gee ... and I thought traveling through the Pacific Northwest in the fall left a lot of road grime on the truck and trailer !
I felt quite ill today. Joanne and I are both frustrated with these colds which seem to take one step back after each two steps forward. I've been sick for over a week. She's been sick for over two weeks.
I continued loading old software into my new computer as part of the transition from my old computer to my new one. Tonight I was unable to load the software to operate my 8½ year old printer. I have a new printer but ... it's in Yuma. And it's quite a bit larger than my old printer which
I was hoping to use as my "travel" printer. Late in the evening I went to work online to download some software. I'm getting much more comfortable with Windows 8.
Thursday ; One of the gifts I received for Christmas ( from myself ... HA HA HA ) was a bread cookbook. This morning I prepared a batch of banana bread dough and baked it in the Sun Oven. Looks great ... haven't tasted it yet, though.
And I flew my kite today. One of my neighbours took a kite to the beach and was flying it. That reminded me that I have a kite, and inspired me to join him. I haven't flown my kite in a long time. The wind was softly blowing in from offshore, and was perfect for kite flying. I flew my kite to 300 feet, a height I don't think I've done before. Standing on the beach, wearing just a pair of shorts, warm sunlight on my back, waves rolling over my feet ... AHHHHH ! ! !
My outdoor project today was to remove the damaged trailer tire and install the spare. I don’t think the damaged tire is repairable, but I’ll take it to a llantera / vulcanizadora and get an “expert” opinion.
I spent the evening working on the migration of everything from my old computer to my new one. Most of that went quite smoothly. Some of it was difficult. A little bit of it was impossible … tonight. I’m hoping that tomorrow it might not be.
Yes, yes … my banana bread tastes as good as it looks !
Friday ; Well … I’m now typing this on my new computer ! I think I have completed the transition from old to new as far as I am able. There are three “migration problems” that I think I’ll just have to live with. It seems to me that I’ve encountered “migration problems” before when changing computers and / or operating systems. Some of the software I have been trying to load to my new Windows 8 computer is about nine years old, and Windows 8 simply won’t load it or will load it but it won’t function correctly.
This morning while trimming Bo’s dew claws I cut one a bit too short and hit the quick, Sorry, Bo ! That hasn’t happened in a long time !
Right after our noon beach play session we went into Teacapan. I paid the ten pesos I owed to the meubles y madera / furniture & wood shop. We went to the panaderia and stocked up on pan dulce and bolillos. We drove east out of town to the playa pescador / fishermen’s beach on the “inside“ of the peninsula. I was looking to buy some fresh fish. When we got there, things looked a lot different than they did a few years ago. There was a group of fishermen gathered around a large table. All were filleting their large daily catch of small fish. DARN … my camera was on my desk in the trailer ! WOW … were they ever fast ! I wandered over and asked some simple questions about their fish. They didn’t really seem all that eager to discuss their work with some old gringo. Tourism didn’t seem to be part of their job. HA HA HA ! They said the fish were “Sobalo”. They looked like herrings or whitefish. There didn’t seem to be anywhere around there to buy fish, so we drove back into town.
I asked in town where could I buy fresh fish ? I was told to go out to fishermen’s beach. DUH !
I just came from there ! We drove back there. We got out of our truck and wandered down to the beach where a fisherman was just coming in with his panga ( fishing boat ). His wife was meeting him to take his daily catch away while he tended to the boat. I asked her some questions about his daily catch. Most of it were small Sobalo, but there were also two larger, golden coloured fish which she separated from the Sobalo. I surmised the Sobalo were going for sale or processing, and the larger golden fish were to be for their family.
There were three people sitting out front of a shack, chatting. I asked them where could I buy some fresh fish. The lady’s response was the Spanish equivalent of “You want fish ? You’ve come to the right place !” With a frown she told her less than enthusiastic husband to sell us some fish ! With obvious unhappiness at having his rest time interrupted, he took us inside to an old chest freezer filled with ice, and his daily catch of fish. We picked out a large Corvina, and two small Mojarra. He weighed the Corvina, and told us it cost cuarenta ( 40 ) pesos, about $3.20. There was no additional charge for the two small Mojarra. Gracias, senor !
The fish cleaning table at the fishermen’s beach was only the second place in Mexico that we’ve seen cats. We saw one cat entering a home through the window in Escuinapa, and today there were at least three cats around the fishermen’s feet as they were cleaning fish.
At home I cleaned the two small Mojarra, and cleaned and filleted the larger Corvina. The two small Mojarra were for supper tonight. The Corvina we froze, two suppers of fillets, and one lunch of strips for fish tacos. Four meals for $3.20 ! And fish don’t come any fresher than that !
Saturday ; Today was cloudy, windy, and cool.
This morning I took Bo for a drivey and we went into Teacapan. I went to the llantera ( tire shop ) to see if the damaged trailer tire can be repaired. It can’t ! The only tire dealer in Escuinapa is a Goodrich dealer, and I don’t really want to buy a Goodrich tire. Maybe I’ll take the risk of keeping the damaged tire as the spare until we return to Yuma. I’ll take a look at the Goodrich tires next time we go into Escuinapa.
On the way out of Teacapan I stopped at the Pemex to refill with diesel. All the way down here
I had been asking if they accept credit cards before the fuel was pumped because on previous trips to Mexico many Pemex stations did not. On this trip all the Pemex stations accepted credit cards so I made the erroneous assumption that all Pemex stations now did. Today I had the truck refilled with diesel, then offered a credit card. “No tarjeta aqui, senor”. Well … **** ! Mil ciento sesenta
( 1160 ) pesos worth of diesel now in the truck and I’ve got about a hundred and fifty ( ciento cinquenta ) pesos with me ! “No pesos, no dolares … no dinero!” The pump attendant took me to a window labelled facturaccion y ticketas / billing & vouchers. I had to deal with a female voice behind a one way mirrored window with a tiny slot underneath. She wanted my credit card and a few minutes later, my driver’s license. She spoke no English. I couldn’t understand her Spanish through the tinny speaker. After a lot of futile back and forth by both of us, she opened the door and motioned me inside. What the **** ? ! ? There were two women and a man in the small office. AND … < sputter > … four … count ‘em … FOUR credit card machines, each with a different bank logo on it ! ! !
What the hell do you mean … “no credit cards here, sir” ? ! ?
There was my credit card, sticking out of one of the machines. It had read the chip embedded in the card, and was waiting for me to enter my P.I.N. I did so, the transaction was approved, and the machine printed the transaction receipt. We’re done, right ? NOOOOO ! ! ! She had me sign the transaction receipt. Okay. She photocopied my driver’s license. HUH ? She printed another voucher off the pump register machine, showing the pump details. She attached everything with a staple. She filled out a small, handwritten voucher and gave it to me with instructions to give it to the pump attendant outside. Okay ! When I gave the voucher to the pump attendant outside she looked SO relieved, as if … “great, now that transaction won’t get taken off my paycheque”. The whole thing was beyond my comprehension !
This afternoon we watched part of a dog agility competition on TV. And afterwards, we hosted the first annual International Beach Doughnut Fetch competition. YAAAAAYYYYY … Bo won ! HA HA HA !
A few days ago we found the most perfect specimen of a Sand Dollar on the beach. I decided to display it by mounting it in the trailer with Velcro. Today as I was doing that … I broke it ! Darn !
DSK
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