Catching up Part 2

I think I forgot to mention in the last post that I lost all of the pictures that we had taken with the camera and also all files that I had updated or created since June, when my last back-up was done!  Thank goodness I had posted some pictures to the blog.  We might be able to get them off the old harddrive but I will wait until we get back to Canada to figure that out..

This is the market that comes right to us on Tuesday's and Saturday's.  We get fresh fruit and vegetable, beer, wine, dresses and sometimes crafts and even cheapie movies!

And the bread lady brings her truck full of baked goods once a week.  We also have the "honey" man and occasionly the shrimp vendors.  And not to forget Ramon who is in the park daily making sure that we all have bottled water!

We went twice during the month to a nearby beach in "Chacala" with friends from the park.  The beach is very smooth and usually great for boogie boarding but both times we were there the good waves were few and far between.

All around the park Christmas decorations were popping up!  We added some lights to our assorted trees.  

It is hard to get good pictures in the dark... 

Poinsettas were plentiful down here..Ramon delivered them to your door for $60 pesos (under $6).

December weather was perfect up until the 20th.  Then a storm moved in and it would rain and thunder every evening. 

The park was full by the 24th with many Mexican families parking in all available sites and spreading there tents and awnings everywhere!  How they survived the torrential rain and lightning storms is anyones guess.

We were very lucky to be able to celebrate Christmas outdoors at the pool.

Boxing Day was the La Penita International Water Volleyball Tournament. What fun there were three teams, one made up of Canadians, one of Americans and one of Mexicans.  The Canadian team had too many players so some were spares for the other teams.  Al played one game as a Mexican and 2 games as an American!  The American team was the winner! (They had a lot of younger players compared to the Canadians)

I developed a lung infection right before the rains started so I was sidelined for most of the Christmas festivities, but I saw a local doctor and he gave me three different medicines to take and it is clearing up.  The cost for two doctor visits and the 3 medicines was $900 pesos ($85).  That was cheaper then the cost of medical insurance for the month in BC.

New Year's was a very wet occasion, but it didn't stop the park from celebrating!

By this time, Al had developed a cold so it is amazing that we lasted until midnight but we made it...

On the 2nd of January the sun came back out and we are now drying out from what the locals say was one of the wettest December's ever.

Let's just keep our fingers crossed that January, February and March staying sunny and dry!