Rick and the Roiling Seas

I've always wanted to write that expression--the roiling seas---and I got my chance 2 days ago when Rick came stormin' in. I woke up about 5:30 and realized we had lost power sometime during the night. I stumbled around feeling the walls on my way to the kitchen to find a candle or my little Tuality flashlight. It was thundering and lightning and blowing the rain sideways. Luckily, for we coffee drinkers, the power popped back on long enough for me to hit the on button the pot on so we had nice hot coffee while we watched the natural show outside. For a little while the power made a valiant effort to stay on---the microwave kept whistling---but finally it went off for good.
And what a show it was. It rained a lot but mostly it was the wind that was scary. Rick had to lock the front door as the wind was trying to suck it open. The palm trees were swaying, some of them becoming uprooted, and coconuts were flying all over the place. When it was over, our little courtyard off the bedroom was covered with debris, mostly palm fronds and about 6 coconuts but were safe and sound. The power didn't come back until quite a bit later making me realize what a sissy I am. While it was storming Rick and I listened to "The Poet" on my Kindle just like the 40's radio. It was pretty neat, I must say.
Rick cleaned up the debris in the courtyard and swept down the terrace and we are as good as new. The weather here has changed---don't know if Rick is culpable but it's cooler and less humid. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Hurricane Rick---no kidding

This morning we wondered a little out of our home neighborhood up the beach to the Golden Zone. The Zona Dorado is where the nice hotels and restaurants are and where the Canadians and Americans go for a week's vacation in the sun. While Rick was on his cigar search, I went into Martha's Spice shop and bought some Mexican cinnamon and a couple vanilla beans ($7.00 for 2. I'm hoping I can do better somewhere else but I know they are expensive. At home I paid $13.00 for two to make my son's birthday ice cream. He ordered "strong vanilla".

We continued on back to the Mega for survival shopping as the hurricane is coming in a few days---probably Wednesday. I bought a bunch of stuff that does not require refrigeration in case we lose electricity, plus paper towels, paper plates, alcohol gel,candles etc. So, we're good as long as we like fruit cocktail tacos.

When we got home Glen was here taping up our windows. He and Rick brought in the gas grill and secured anything that could be a dangerous missile. Talk of the impending storm is on every one's lips from the pulmonia drivers to people on the street. The cruise ships have been diverted from the Mexican Riviera port this week which really hurts the economy here, especially after the swine flu scare.

I've been checking the Weather Underground website to watch Rick's path and progress. Right now it's gray, cloudy and raining here---just like home but it's warm. Even if Rick goes from a Cat 3-4 to a tropical storm, it's still serious.
More later.

Baseball Stadium in Mexico

I couldn't upload this before. Maybe I was a little wordy?

Mexican Baseball

Last night we made our way over to the baseball stadium in Maz. You can see the lights from our perch on our deck. We went in the Red Trucks again with some new friends. I sat on the end of the bench and hung on for dear life, praying I wouldn't get bounced out or rear-ended.
The estadio looks like most well-worn minor league stadiums (stadia?) The steps going down to the blue plastic seats is aggregate---not nice aggregate like around a pool but very crude, rustic, dark gray. stuff with rocks the size of---well, baseballs. You are assigned a section but not a seat and there was lots of seat changing depending on who was watching.
They have 2 electronic scoreboards, smallish but very nice, but Rick said it was very dark in the outfield. That was the first thing he noticed. The place is loud. Some kind of music is playing every second, a Mexican band strolls around playing Mexican music with the tuba player--omm paa paa. There were two sets of five teenage girls about the age of my granddaughters (15), one group dressed in cowboy hats and the other dressed in red baseball caps dancing to the same music my kids do.
We got there early so we could all sit together. I watched the people coming in---families with babies, young studs, and beautiful you women dressed in tight jeans and sparkly jewelry. One thing that is exactly the same as home--all young people carry call phones and are frequently checking them and texting their friends.

Before the game Rick spotted Sid Monge talking to a middle-aged man by the dugout.They played together for the Cleveland Indians in the late '70's. He went down to say hello--Rick said he knew it was him because he was balancing a baby in his left hand. He's going to leave us tickets for next Friday and we will make plans for lunch. It was heart-warming to see the camaraderie of old team mates.
Vendors vendors, vendors, hundreds of them selling everything from the ubiquitous "we're #1" hand,cotton candy, cookies, tacos, pop of all colors, aqua and orange are big here and cut up fruit. Next week, after the next game I will write about the food. We decided not to have dinner before we go to the game. That's how good it looked. We left early. Rick's back was killing him. They won 4-1.

The Shrimp Ladies etc

Before I write about yesterday I have to tell everyone how nice the Mexican people are. Rick left this morning on an errand to buy cigars. He had some information about a man who made--or imported Cuban cigars and operated from his home. He took the pulmonia to the place but the man wasn't there yet. His wife--an abuelita like me--and spoke no English invited him into their home to wait. She offered him a glass of cold water and served it to him on a saucer with a napkin under it. He could have been a bad guy but she offered him her hospitality anyway. (by the way he bought a box of Cubans)



Yesterday we met a bunch of people at Casa de Leyendas to go for lunch at 2 PM. Hotter than hell at 2PM. Most of the twenty three of us got on Red Trucks, they are Pick-ups with benches in the back and headed off with loud Mexican music playing to the "shrimp ladies". Every day in shrimp season the ladies sell the shrimp and other seafood along the street. You pick out what you want, do a little bargaining and then take it to a restaurant to have it cooked. It was 780 pesos(60 bucks) for all of us. We walked around the corner to the restaurant, Dunia's. (By the way I WILL NOT be posting pictures of me because I was totally drenched and no make-up by that point, although Rick looks totally perfect....grrrrrr Dunia's looks like a regular dark storefront but it was deceptively large and very dark. No a/c but fans blowing, but it was cool inside. They sat us all at a long table and started bringing out the food, family style. Of course, there were chips and two kinds of salsa, a cruda and a chipotle, and jicama with lots of lime. The ice cold beer was put in buckets at the ends of the table. The first dish was ceviche raw shrimp cooked in lots of lime juice, chilies, and salt, then came the shrimp in garlic butter, followed by fried shrimp We were entertained by a large Mexican man with a huge, loud voice and a boombox.

On the way out there was a kid selling absolutely fresh sugary doughnuts. Lots of our friends bought them and sighed.

I sat next to my new friend Mikki from Washington, who is a passionate knitter, and all that entails (Ravelry, stash, books classed etc) like me.
That was a fun day!! Off to a Mexican baseball game tonight. The Venados.

Rain

It rained like hell yesterday afternoon so we postponed Il Mosto until another time. They have a steak in burro negro that Rick is dying to have. I "cooked" at home our traditional Monday Night Footbal meal...soup. Luckily I had purchased some canned black bean soup from Walmart (Mexican brand) It was fabulous, especially with the jamon y queso sandwiches, grilled.

Today we got an early start and walked down to Centro Historico for breakfast at Panama. I made a fortunate mistake in ordering---thought I was ordering huevos rancharas but got some thing similar, two fried eggs with frijoles and a side of the most delicious beef concoction. YUM. Served with fresh, warm tortillas. We walked around, past the Plazuela Machada and Il Mosto, stopped at a bakery and bought some goodies and then stopped to see Glen and Sharon at the B&B.

Off tonight to La Copa de Leche for fish tacos and a margarita. The picture is of a Pastel minitura de guava. Rick put it in the fridge upside down. It was beautiful

Knitting etc in Maz

Woke up this morning to pouring rain, a nice warm shower. It didn't last too much more than daybreak. Rick took off to find some cigars and I after watching a whole day of the NFL in Spanish decided to work in the tiny Christmas ornaments (sweaters etc) I brought to knit in peace. The first one, red and white stripes, although a little tricky went well. I decided to make a plain blue one next. Some of the preliminary work was done so this one would be a breeze. Or so I thought......... With my Kindle reading "The Lost Symbol" to me I got busy. The book got really thrilling and you guessed it, I had to tink and tink and tink. (for you non-knitters that is knit spelled backwards). Now I would like to embellish the thing with my own symbol to an upright middle finger on the front.

We are going to a new place for dinner tonight, Il Mosto. It must be Italian. We are walking there so I can eat a lot!!!

Yesterday, we hit the Walmart to buy some groceries. I only buy enough for a few days so we run out of breakfast stuff and water quick. I bought enough pan dulce for three days and there is only one left.....hmmmmmmm. We weren't thrilled with Walmart so we'll go back to the Mega which was large and clean and friendly. Most of the Mexican people couldn't be friendlier but the young women seem to have a had fight with their boyfriends. No matter how much I smile-----and I grin until my face hurts it's hard to make them smile back. I's almost 4 PM, time for my dip in the pool. What a life. As Rick says, "another 50- 60 years of this".

Plazuela Machado

Last night we went over to Glen and Sharon's B&B, La Casa de Leyendas for drinks before we went to the Plazuela de Machada for dinner with a bunch of their guests. A good time was had by all. All the guests were from the states and, of course, much younger than us. That's the story of my life. Words could not describe what either if these places looked like so anyone who reads this, please Google the places.
I had pollo in a chipotle sauce and Rick had shrimp crepes and chicken with portobello mushrooms. They put the most delicious garlic toast on the table. There were tables and tables of vendors in the center selling mostly beaded jewelry and other neat things. The strolling troubador that sang to us---"recueudos de ti"----the first night here was there and he recognized us. Rick asked me how I pulled that song out of my head. I know more than he thinks I do. LOL Will post his picture. Rick has named him Felix

Dinner at the Plaza

We are just on our way out for dinner with our new friends at the Plaza Machada. Will post some pics tomorrow.

I just about killed my poor elbow today trying to get towels out of a still revolving drier. Muy Stupida.. Have a huge hematoma, swollen and not as painful as it looks. Rick wouldn't take a picture of it for me.
Mas manana.

Grocery shopping in Mazatlan

Yesterday we took the pulmonia to the Mega store. I's a huge grocery store like any in the US. It's on the second level of the mall. You take a people mover straight up. Returning, your cart is magnetized to the escalator without steps to go down.
Buying pastries is going to ruin me---but in a good way. The bakery has trays and tongs which you pick up and choose from at least 100 pan dulces. I didn't even look at the cakes or dounuts.

I bought enough food for a couple meals and breakfast and lunch stuff. When I asked for a kilo of boiled ham (jambon) the lady looked at me and smiled sweetly so I knew I screwed up. I then ordered a half a kilo, which is of course still too much for us. Last night I made spaghetti and meat sauce, Ceasar salad, and wonderful Mexican peasant bread. Surprise, surprise, my blood sugar was 109 this morning. rick says we have to move here for health reasons. Maybe it was all the "exercise" I got in the pool.

My computer went crazy last night--so much that I was sure it was gone forever. I am one with this thing and realized just how much when I couldn't sleep trying to figure out how to live without it. If I'm ever gone for a while that's the reason.

Mazatlan Day 2

We arrived exactly on time and got through customs like a breeze. Glen was there to pick us up and gave us a tour of our area Olas Altas. (Tall Waves). We got settled in this beautiful setting and went down the hill to the Malecon (boardwalk--except it's not boards) and took the pulmonia (golf cart--muy dangerous) to dinner. Not really knowing how far it was we could have walked. Dinner was fantastic---huge shrimp on the barby with grilled asparagus, etc.
Today we took the pulmonia to Centro Historico for shopping and breakfast (huevos rancheros). OMG, I wanted to go grocery shopping but the driver took us to the supermercado which is a covered open market like the Reading Terminal Market in Philly. There was tons meat lying about, and dead carcasses in all states. I'm not quite ready for that yet on my 2nd day in Mexico. The chickens and fish looked OK......maybe later.
It's hot and humid. the heat index was 103 all day but it's nice now. We are just about ready to go find some dinner. shrimp again, I hope. That's Rick in our pool.

Mazatlan

One more day!!! We are so excited. My packing is done, all the technology and their chargers are in their places. If I didn't knit I would have been done long ago. I keep changing my mind about how much and what knitting I'm going to take. Since it's still so hot (and I'm such a weather wimp) I may be stuck inside listening to my IPod and knitting my fingers off. I'm taking yarn to make tiny sweaters for Christmas ornaments. I figured they would take up less space.

My friend Lisa had to come back to PDX because her brother had a massive CVA. He's doing fine so far. I hope she gets back to Mazatlan while we're still there.

Back to packing.