Our Street

Our street here at La Penita RV Park is named Edward St.

No one has been able to tell us why.  There are seven spots on our street  and all are occupied by BC'ers, mainly from the Island.  We have one trailer, 2 fifth wheels and 4 motorhomes.

looking down the street

Dennis and Helen's 

our's

Miriam and Ken's

Barry and Marion's, and dogs, Nkiki, Xola and Odie

Bart and Judy's , dogs Autumn and Maggie

Les and Bonnie's 

It is a good bunch of people, we were supposed to have a street dinner on Saturday Night but we had rain!

On Thursday Night there was the first BINGO, BEER and PIZZA night at the pool.  Reuben comes to the pool Wed thru Sat nights to make fresh pizza, a loaded Meetsa Pizza costs $145 pesos for a large, it just feeds Al and I perfectly.

Anyways, back to Bingo!  We decided to go, with me protesting because I never win... It cost $10 pesos for a sheet with 3 cards on it.  The first game the pot was split each person winning $240 pesos, yeah I was one of the winners, the next three pots were each $400 pesos, and the last game was black-out bingo and the pot was $750 pesos, yes, I won that one too!  I will probably never win again but that was fun!!!

Next week it is Trivia

Al has now gone out fishing twice with guys from the park, the first time all they did was rescue turtles tied up in an abandoned Mexican long line.  I had to look up what that was, so here is the wikipedia description:

Longline fishing is a commercial fishing technique. It uses a long line, called the main line, with baited hooks attached at intervals by means of branch lines called snoods (organgions).^[1] A snood is a short length of line, attached to the main line using a clip or swivel, with the hook at the other end. Longlines are classified mainly by where they are placed in the water column. This can be at the surface or at the bottom. Lines can also be set by means of an anchor, or left to drift. Hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks can hang from a single line. Longliners commonly target swordfish, tuna, halibut, sablefish and many other species

The second time he went out they caught fish!

This was a wahoo, yes, I had to look that up too! 

WAHOO

This tremendous fighter lives up to its name in fight and beauty. Related to the barracuda, this slim fish is best known for its frightening array of razor sharp teeth. Common at 10 to 50 pounds, it can reach over 200 pounds. World record stands at 158 pounds, the Bay of Banderas gave up a 221 pounder in 2004 but didn't qualify from record status due to the manner in which it was caught. Excellent eating fish.

Here are some pictures of the view coming back to dock the boat..

Here are some pictures I just felt like taking!

clouds floating by..

Al contemplating life!

more clouds

Tonight is a fish fry...I will let you know who this wahoo tastes!

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!

Catching up since our Motherboard died! Part 1

Our troubles with the computer started around the middle of November.  Our computer just wouldn’t wake up! We tried everything and then it turned on, silly us we should have run to get the external harddrive out immediately but no we didn’t even think about that.  We used the computer for the day, if fact, I worked on a post with lots of pictures but couldn’t post because my internet time allotment had been used up. We closed the laptop and the next morning it would not start no matter how nicely we talked to it (or how much we swore at it).  We took it into La Penita to a young fellow who used to work for Toshiba in the states, three days later we got the news that its motherboard had died, and that to replace it in Mexico would be more expensive than buying a new laptop.  Our daughter, Alyssa was due to arrive in Nueva Vallerta at the RIU Palace for a week, so we asked her to bring us a “spare” laptop that was kicking around.  It was an IBM Thinkpad, a 386 dinosaur that weighed about 18 lbs and wouldn’t even connect to the internet here, so thanks but no thanks…We were investigating having one shipped to us from Canada, when Carole, the manager of this beautiful park said that she had a new computer that she had bought in May on her way home through the states and had not liked the Windows 8, so if we didn’t mind that she would sell it to us.  So now we have a Toshiba laptop that won’t turn on, a IBM think pad that we should probably use as an anchor, and a HP Pavilion G7 with Windows 8 that we are slowly getting familiar with.

So when I last posted it was the day before my birthday, I can’t remember every detail but I do know that we went into Nueva Vallerta to meet up with Al’s brother, Byron, sister-in-law, Patti, nephew, James his wife Shawna, their son Thomas and Terry and Jeannette their friends from Bissett, Manitoba. They were staying at the RIU Palace for 10 days, it was totally booked, so we stayed at the RIU Vallerta which was just down the beach.  We spent some good time with them and thoroughly enjoyed our visit!  (They are now back in Manitoba in the snow and cold)  Sorry I couldn’t resist that…

The view from our room at the RIU Vallerta

The beach in front of the RIU Palace

The malecon in Puerta Vallerta

Dining at the Riverside Cafe in Puerta Vallerta

Thomas was the photographer for this night, good work buddy!

The first week of December, Alyssa and her friend Mary arrived to also stay at the RIU Palace for a week.  We met them in Bucerias for the day and wandered around the market there and had lunch on the beach…

Please read part 2 to see our Christmas and New Years photos!

Merry Christmas - Feliz Navidad

We wish you all a fabulous Christmas and New Years!  We will be celebrating with about 200 of our new friends here at La Penita RV Park, in La Penita de Jaltemba, Nayarit Mexico.  We are approximately 60 Kilometers north of Puerta Vallarta!

We wish that you all could enjoy this experience with us!

We had some computer issues, our laptop’s motherboard fried so we had to replace our computer (it was cheaper then a new motherboard in Mexico), we are now getting used to Windows 8 and should be back blogging weekly by the new year!

Once again MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all a good night!

The first week...

Week one has come and gone and what a mixture of life it has been.  The weather here has been crazy.  We arrived to hot sunshine, but then clouds rolled in and we had 4 nights with rain.  Not just showers but torrential rain!  and cloudy days and very, very muggy.. The pool was used frequently to get your temperature down!

Wednesday night was the first Pool Party Dinner of the season.  There were 36 of us served chili rellenos.  For those of you not versed in Mexican cuisine those are grilled and stuffed peppers. One was stuffed with cheese the other with beef, and then there was vegetables, rice, and beans!

They were very good, I had to use my phone light to get a good glimpse at what we were eating as it was quite dark by dinner time..

After dinner there was music supplied by fellow rv'er Joe and there was line dancing, polking and fun until the skies opened up cut the fun short.

On Thursday we went into town to the market (sorry I keep forgetting to take pictures) it stretched all around the square and down the street forever.  We walked along and along on the cobblestone road and finally gave up and walked back to the square and found a nice patio to cool down and have a 16 peso cervesa (beer) which is approx $1.40 for a bottle.  Cheaper then a bottle of water back home, but of course some would say it is very weak beer but on a hot day, man, do those taste good!

On Friday, we took at taxi to Rincon de Guayabitos to check out the area.. Bus loads of people from all over Mexico had come into town for the weekend.  The beach was solid umbrellas.

They were releasing 120 turtles at the far end of the beach that night but we didn't wait around to see them head for the open seas

Today, there was pool volleyball for the first time this season.  There were twelve players and we played 4 games.  It was a blast!

tonight is fish and chips or burger night at the pool, and tomorrow might be a big day for you know who!  What a way to celebrate!

La Penita RV Park

After a night at Totonaka RV in San Carlos we left early for a long drive to Mazatlan.  The roads were good 2 lanes each direction most of the way, except where re-paving was going on.  We are quite happy to pay the tolls for better roads!

We pulled into Mazatlan just as the sun was starting to dip in the sky!  Perfect timing.. We went into Cerritos RV  Park which is on the north side of Mazatlan so that we avoided the hustle and bustle of the big city.

We left early the next morning for the five hour drive to La Penita.  As soon as you reach Tepic, you turn onto Highway 200 heading toward Puerta Vallerta and the twists and turns begin.  It is a pleasant drive, one lane each way but through beautiful green fields of mango trees, and various crops.

34 km before our destination we rounded a curve and there was a truck coming straight for us in our lane.  Al hit the brakes, as there was no room to pull off and somehow the truck squeaked back into his lane with inches to spare!

Needless to say by the time we arrived at the RV Park the shaking hands and fast heart rates were just starting to slow down!  That was too close for comfort!

We found a nice spot in the park, where we can see the ocean and hear its constant waves crashing on the shore.

our view!

all set up...no neighbours on either side yet..they are due in later this month

Saturday night there was a spectacular lightning show to the north going on for about an hour when the skies opened up here.. We sat inside (in the heat) and watched our neighbour using a broom to push off the rain accumulating on his awning.  We see lots of rain in B.C. but this was amazing!  It rained and thundered for about 3 hours steady!  But by morning the sun was up and other then dirt, rocks and leaves washed down hill and the pool being filled to almost overflowing everything was back to normal!

We swam in the pool four times yesterday just to cool off.  The "old timers" here say that another week or two and the humidity will be gone.  I hope they are right.

Tropical storm Sonia went by us last night.  It was further north  hitting land above Mazatlan but we got light rain overnight and we woke up this morning to cloudy skies, but still 26 degrees at 9am.  91% humidity though.  The forecast is for clearing skies and a little bit cooler temperatures for the next few days!

I will take more pictures around the park today and post them next time!

We are in Mexico!

We crossed the border at 8:45 with a few other "gringos" but it was a very uneventful crossing.  The roads are quiet, it is sunny and quite hot.

We pulled into Totonaka RV Park at 3:45.   It is still empty here.  Where is everybody?
Everywhere we go there are very few RV's.  Has everyone decided to travel later this year or quit travelling at all?

We would love to hear from are fellow Mexican RVer's.  What are your plans for this year.. will we be seeing anyone we met last year?

We have lots of travelling to do today, hoping to make it all the way to Mazatlan, so this is a quick post...

Happy travelling