One month review

Hola Hola Coka Cola!!!! (an endearing greeting for us gringos from the locals)

Hard to believe that we've been gone from Santa Fe a whole month, but there you have it.

30 Fabulous days of every kind.

We are part of a sweet little gypsy community of people who are also looking for eternal summer. Mostly Canadians and as it turns out, they hold the "Winter" space for me - there is always a lot of talk of home and the cold, snow and ice.

According to the locals, Mazatlan has about 3 or 4 days of rain every year and so far, we have experienced one of those. Not too bad considering it is the first precipitation we seen since we left NM in the snow. Most of these people are retired and we are on the young end of the curve here. Good for our egos.

The time here in Mazatlan has been so good for getting quiet again in my life. I do some kind of ceremony almost every day, take time to focus on healing my lungs and the arthritis and so far, I'm finding that I skip a day here and there with the inhaler. Since we walk everywhere or take the buses and since we swim every chance we get, I'm getting so much good, fun exercise. And my hip seems to love it.

I'm also reading lots of books. Its great. All the donations from friends and yard sale scores are not going to waste.

And then, there's time and space for creativity....I'm getting started on my "inventory" for the summer. And it is fun, fun, fun.

We have always been big fans of the Mexican Cuisine, so we are in heaven here. I get to play house in my little kitchen and we eat good food and every chance we get, we're eating outside on our little "patio". And here's a fun little perk.... Want some fresh coconut? Pick one up off the ground, break it open and have a coconut feast.

We picked up a few little plants - lordy! I have a garden again!!!! Yerba Buena (mint) and a lovely petunia.

We can have as much or as little socializing as we want.... we are participating in a Bocce Ball tournament next week (our team is the Santa Fe All Stars). We checked out a museum yesterday..... Every day is a new adventure.

And then, there are days like New Year's day, when it is okay to stay in bed reading with a jar of nutella and a spoon.

All good stuff for us. The only challenges that come to mind are the no-see-ums and mosquitos. Grrrrr... And the sketchy skype (close to non-existent these days) and tricky internet. Oh yeah, and the tow hitch that busted off our truck on the off-ramp to Mazatlan. yikes!

Full Moon blessing to you. I trust you will be able to find a good place to observe moonrise tomorrow (saturday) at around 5:24 Mazatlan time. It will be the only full moon at perigee (closest to the earth) of 2009 so she'll be 30% bigger than we're used to.

Another day

This afternoon we took the public bus downtown and checked out one of the museums. Then we went up to the rooftop patio of a tall hotel to scout out a good place to view the rising moon at the full moon on Saturday. It's gonna be the biggest moon of the year. We found a good spot to see the sun setting and the moon rising at the same time, Saturday evening. After that, we'll be racing downstairs, grabbing a taxi, and trying to get to the opening pitch of the Mazatlan Venados playoff game.

We finished off our downtown visit with a stop at our favorite little restaurant that has the best tortilla soup in town. And the smoked marlin tostada was not bad either.

Our internet connection has been poor lately so we haven't been able to upload photos and make skype phone calls regularly. As soon as we regain a good connection, we'll be able to do more.

Breakfast and mercado

Here are some pictures: the mercado, as seen from the public bus and me eating breakfast, as seen from our patio.

Ocean photo

Still testing.

Photo test

If this works, you should be seeing a picture of Northie at the bus stop outside of our favorite supermarket in town.

Update

Well, we've been having a problem with our photo uploads so until that gets resolved, we'll be posting just text.

Things are pleasant these days. We've put in some long days at the beach. Today we went to the big flea market/mercado in town. (I took pictures, you'll be happy to note.) Tomorrow it's supposed to rain so we are planning a museum excursion.

That's it for now.

Feliz Ano Nuevo

Happy New Year.

2009 = 2+0+0+9=11. A Master Number that brings light and spirit.

Tarot card Number 11 = Justice. Brings peace and justice and reestablishes balance.