Thinking Back

Our days have been quiet compared to previous Decembers in Melaque. We made a decision last year to spend more time at the Casa Grande and in doing so, we saved enough money to pay for our upcoming Copper Canyon trip. The trade-off is that we couldn't stay on the beach in the Pink House and we didn't have our usual set of Idaho guests visiting us. This has proven to be a bit harder than expected. 

Don't get me wrong, we love being down here no matter where or with whom. It has just been a very quiet December. Holly, our family friend who has visited us several times with her family, wrote us an email yesterday. She explained her thoughts on missing their visit down this year. 

She said, "Every day I dream of all the things I love: the beach, the heat, the wonderful restaurants, the town square, the grocery store, Linda’s margaritas—all margaritas really, La Manzanilla and Barra de Navidad, playing cribbage in those crappy white plastic chairs on the beach, the bus rides, the friendly Mexicans, the ice cream shop, exploring other towns, eating fish that Dean and Ryan catch, experiencing different culture, watching the kids play with Dean and Ryan in the pool, walking with Linda, the simplicity of life, I could go on and on." 

That sums up the Melaque experience very well. Holly, Ryan, and the kids have made our Christmas's very special over the couple of years that they visited. Everything about this place grows on you.  

For our celebration photo this year we brought something special with us.  For two years now the kids have brought a Christmas tree that they drew and colored. We posted it in the living room and put presents under it. Santa visited during the night and left gifts for Anika and Zane. 

The tree last year had silver snowflakes taped to it as decorations. Before we left Idaho, we visited the Edward's, had dinner and watched the Seahawks play.  The kids had hung the Christmas tree that they drew last year, by the fireplace. Before we left their home, Linda and I took one of the silver snowflakes with us and we brought it to Mexico. It reminds us daily of the fun we had when we were with this wonderful family.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Go, Bug, Go!

Sunday morning was the 7th running of the Carrera Costalegre Extrema 10k. Linda has run in all of the runs since the first one. which was part of the Festival de Costalegre. The Festival has since died away but the 10k run has survived to become a fun annual event.

Linda registered for the run and then Dayl, a friend and walking partner, asked if she would walk with her during the event. Linda agreed and so this year she fast walked the event.

Our Casa Grande Neighbors, Rinette, and Diane, also ran the event! It was quite the topic of discussion last night as we sat in the cool evening air.  Linda recalled her first Mexican 10k, which actually measured 8.5 miles by her Garmin.

Look close and you can see Linda's head.

Linda, Rinette, and Diane. Champions!

Linda and Dayl.

Linda, Susan, and Dayl.

Bye, Bye Big Guy!

Looks like our big crocodile will be swimming in the ocean tomorrow. Where's Karpenko when you need him?

Yesterday

It is good to see some things are the same from year to year.  This morning the big crocodile was back laying in the sun on the walkway behind the Casa Grande. This big old thing comes out of the lagoon each day and takes in the afternoon sun. It is over 12 feet long. 

We walked down to Bungalows Laguna del Tule and played cribbage last night. Linda had her first margarita and we watched our first real sunset from the beach. The temperature has been near perfect.

Very, Very Nice

We have been having great weather down here. It has rained one afternoon and two nights, but that has not been a problem. In fact, it has cooled the air temperatures down to a very comfortable level. We hit the mid 80's to low 90's each day and then the evenings cool off into the mid 60's. Great sleeping weather.

Sleeping here has been a bit of a problem for both of us. We may have said that our beds are less than desirable. They are Mexican hard and there is no comparison to our bed at home. 

We took a trip to Cihuatlan with Barry and Leigh to do some grocery shopping. We stopped into a little department store and found an egg carton foam pad to put on Linda's bed and we ordered another for mine. Lee and Barry are driving through again on Wednesday on their way to Colima, so they will pick up the second one. Linda has slept on her's two nights now and we think it will help.


Yesterday we helped decorate the palapa next to the pool. Our next door neighbors Rinette and Jeanmarie, Giles  and Regina, and Claudette all gathered providing the workforce. The French and English was flying as everyone made sure the lights were working and hung perfectly around the beams of the shelter. 

As I said before, we are settling into our routines. We miss everyone from home, miss our dog, but don't miss the weather.

Like I said, it did rain one afternoon.

Well, Exciting to Me

Life if settling down. We are quickly getting into routines and with the temperatures a bit moderate things are good. Went down and watched our first sunset last night. I didn't think it would be any good because of a cloud cover that was there all day, but the sun provided. There were breaks in the clouds just as we hit sunset and a beautiful picture of pink and red mixed with blue appeared. No camera of course so you will just have to use your imagination.

In the last post, I talked about all the steps I took to get set up on a VPN server. Last night we tried using all the components, connected to the server and believe it or not, everything worked!

We watched Survivor and the Walking Dead. Both shows have been restricted from viewing while in Mexico and using the VPN, we were successful. I want to state that we have cut our watching TV in half over the past year. With that said, we do watch Survivor and a couple other shows that are available on Netflix.

What all this is really about was that I did my research concerning VPN servers, gathered the technology and put it all together, with the help of my super-geek friend Steve, and it worked! Enough said.

The New Digs

It only took one trip in the Frog, Larry's truck, to haul all our stuff over to our new casita at The Casa Grande. The move in was relatively painless and we were pleasantly surprised that it was a bit larger then we remembered.

When we were staying in the lot next door and at the same time deciding to rent the casita for the next year; we were able to check out the room for to help make our decision.  I remember that it was a very brief, in and out, visit and we both proceeded to forget what the space looked like. All we remembered was that it was clean and neat.

A year later we are moved in getting to know the space.  When you walk in the door there is a counter on the wall to your left. This counter wraps around the corner of the room butting up against the refrigerator. The counter consists of a sink and gas stove with space for a brand new microwave. We are provided with basic plastic dishes, some pots and pans, and various utensils for our use.

After the refrigerator there is a double corner shelf with a TV on it.  We use the lower shelf for storing some of our food items. Rounding the corner you come to a table with two chairs.

Finally on the wall across from the refrigerator and stove, on the right wall as you walk in, is a wooden couch with lots of pillows.  The entire space is about 13' x 13', so we will not be able to practice our Dancing with the Stars free style routine.

The bedroom is roughly the same size as the living space with a small matrimonial bed, a single bed, another wooden couch, and a wardrobe. The matrimonial bed is smaller then a queen bed but larger then a single.  We gave me this bed because the single was so small I hung over the end by about six inches.  This bed I am in is a bit wider and longer by three inches so my overhang is less.  Linda is in the single bed and I hope it will work out for her.


We had just enough room to fold and hang our cloths in the wardrobe and once that was done we placed the suitcases up on top out of our way.

Our bathroom is what they call a wet bath in the RV world.  There is a shower, a toilet and a sink. The shower is separated from the sink by a small curtain. That is about all I can say about that.

Since we are accustom to living in our camper, a small space, we are adept at moving about without infringing on each others space. This little casita will work out very nicely and I think we will enjoy our months near the lagoon.

View from our front door. Yes, two pools!

Lunch on the upper level.