Report from Mazatlan

Five days into our Mazatlan winter and this is what we have to report:

We are both adjusting quite nicely to the heat – high 80’s every day. The humidity, however, has brought me to my knees. Matches turn to mush. Sweat runs down your face and makes your clothes stick to your body. For the first time in years, we put our air conditioner up. The plus side is that my skin and hair don’t need any conditioning. And I’ve probably sweat off 7 or 8 pounds.

The temperature in the Ocean is so warm, that it doesn’t cool you off when you go in. So when we arrived and there was no hot water in the showers, it was a GOOD thing. We are both starting to change from desert-skinned folk to a nice, rosy, beach-glow look. There are a ton of huge coconuts on the trees. You really have to watch where you walk or station yourself so that you don't get clunked.

There's a dark, new condo tower that went up over the summer. We leave here for a few months and they change the skyline on us.

Yesterday was the first day that we actually put some time in at the beach and in the water. I felt like I had the best arthritis therapy – not to mention mental health adjustment and some serious spiritual healing….

Our little community from last winter is starting to come together quite nicely. We are among the first to arrive and every day, it is fun to see another familiar face arrive. We have made some new friends – our beautiful birds are starting to come by for their orange buffet and we have a gecko housemate that made me scream like a little girl when we surprised each other yesterday….

While I get the house stuff handled, Hal puts in his couple of hours every day at the Telcel office hoping to get voicemail for our Mexican phone. They know him well now and he always gets to go to the front of the line. As of Friday afternoon, still no voicemail. "It's the system."

Tonight – Friday night – we will be checking out our favorite happy hour spot. We’ll be taking the bus (mass transit – not home) downtown with a few other couples from the park.

Now that we are not distracted by work, we are really aware of the shorter days. We go to bed early and are up pretty early too. A nice, easy rhythm that when you throw in tides and the moon cycles, makes for perfection.