December 29 & 30 - Sin gasolina, sin dinero

Early this morning I saw our neighbour go out in his truck.  Later on he told us that he had tried to get gas and the stations were either empty or had lineups out onto the highway so he came back without (sin) gas.  At coffee during our walk, the talk was all about empty gas stations, trucks out of gas along the highway and empty bank machines.  Apparently somebody tapped into a main gas line somewhere in Mexico and this is causing shortages.  Also the price of gas is going up 20% on January 1.  Some people think it is just the government being tight with gas until the price is up.  No se (I don't know).

We have gas and can walk for most things we need.  The Guadalajara tourists have to get home and the Primera Plus buses, delivery trucks and taxis have a job to do.  Some of our friends have family coming into Puerto Vallarta tomorrow and they are not sure a taxi from PV will come out here now.  One of the RVers is headed out of Mexico in a few days but has to fill up first (maybe???) and then will there be gas further along????  The big Pemex in Rincon was jammed full of buses lined up to get fuel.

The sure sign of an empty gas station is no cars and a guy sitting on a pail out front (just in case you aren't bright enough to figure out there is no gas there).

December 27 & 28 - Tis the season

Many of the old timers here say this is the busiest Christmas ever.  they even have traffic police on the main Avenida in town.  Many Mexican families have arrived in the park and area and many more continue to arrive.  Apparently, the holiday atmosphere will continue beyond New Year's day through Epiphany or El Dia de los Reyes (day of the kings or wise men) on January 6th, it even extends further to February 2nd, El Dia de la Candelaria, when the nativity scene and holiday decorations are finally packed away.  However, most of the holidayers will leave the area after Jan 6.   Of course the foreign tourist season will be really kicking in by then.

Market set up outside the park office

Tents filling in any open spaces

Furniture store in La Peñita, I bought a fan.

Not sure how these buses maneuver in town

December 25th & 26 - Driving tips, festivities and Mexican delivery

There' s a lot of questions around driving in Mexico.  This is a reasonable summation: Tips, Secrets, and Advice for Driving in Mexico  Other than watching for topes (speed bumps of various sizes), I find the trickiest part of driving an RV in Mexico is that, if it has dual rear wheels, it is considered a heavy truck.  This means that in urban areas, you have to stay on the laterals that run parallel to the main route through cities, and you may have to take an entirely different truck route.  The signage for this is frequently very difficult to see (or not there) and easy to miss when navigating a new town or city.  The Traficos or Policia know this and watch very carefully for infractions.

The Christmas bonus (Aguinaldo) is law in Mexico: The Christmas Aguinaldo in Mexico

A few photos from the Christmas eve piñata bashing:

The pool area was decorated for the dinner Christmas day.

Cute idea for reindeer

Our table

Not Ho Ho more like oh oh

Cam and company

A great time was had by all.  It's a good thing we don't dance, some Mexican campers joined the party for the dance and they make the rest of us look stiff.  Wonderful to watch though.

Boxing day, I walked with the ladies in the morning then we enjoyed watching the busy beach activities.  There was a volleyball tournament with 2 Canadian teams, one American and several Mexican teams.  Mexico won.  Lots of kids and dogs running around and Mexican music, kind of a nice break from the usual quiet.  I was at the office and a young boy was asking Antonio to blow up his tire tube so he could go on the playa.  Antonio had a small hand pump and it was pretty hopeless.  When Antonio shook his head, I said "I've got an electric tire pump".   I don't think either the boy or his dad understood a word I said but they followed me to the Brave.  Then we headed back for the CRV,  however a curious neighbour said his car was right here so we plugged in the pump and blew up the inner tube.  Saved the day!  They departed happily with many "Gracias".

Since it was Boxing day I decided we'd get supper in a box.  When Karina at the office called the restaurant they said no servicio a domicilio only takeout.  However, Karina said that she could call Tony R. who would pick it up for us on his motorcycle for 20 pesos.  It was a deal.  An hour later we had Thai food. Tony will also go to Rincon for 30 pesos.  Gotta love certain things about Mexico.

December 24 - Christmas eve on horseback

José picked up Lily and I and we headed up to J.E.E.P. at 9 a.m.   I had ear mite salve with me and I treated the ears of 8 cats while Lily walked dogs.

I had to hold a dog with one hand while Lily took photo

I lured the cats in with Friskies soft cat food.  Then it was time to get ticks off a dog.  Meanwhile a volunteer Mexican trainer gave horseback rides to some visiting children.

I was fortunate to get a wonderful Christmas present as the horse needed exercise and they have a nice arena.  

Little dog who loves to ride horses too.

Flashy gets a bath

After some horse grooming and washing it was time to return to the park.

We had Appy hour on our street then around 6:30 it was time for some cross-cultural Christmas eve events.  The Mexican campers and families of park staff sang a Christmas carol in Spanish then the Canadian and American campers sang a song in English.  This went back and forth for quite awhile.  After that it was piñata smashing time.
There's more to Piñatas than meets the eye

December 23 - Squirrel Cuckoo

This morning I saw a new bird, the Squirrel Cuckoo.  A fairly large reddish brown bird with a long tail.

We had company in our Spanish class, I took his/her photo below.

Piñatas are beginning to appear around the park.

Park staff who are only parttime received a monetary gift from all of us winter residents at the oficina today.  The 2 full-time staff receive a Christmas bonus by law in Mexico from park operators so campers collect for the others.

Otherwise a quiet day on our patio watching empty campsites filling in with Mexican vacationers. 

We avoided town as we heard the lineups are out the doors.

December 22nd - A visit to the Doctor and una fiesta de compleaños

I went back to the Doctor's this morning, for a follow-up blood test,  The stylish young secretary had not made it in to work this morning.  There was the drug delivery man, with two plastic bags of drugs, who had waited for over half an hour to get a receipt signature, who was not very happy.

In her stead, the woman who did the blood samples was working the phone, and the young nurse/aide man was working the computer.  The delivery man finally left the drugs without a signature, and the woman took my blood sample.  When I asked how long it would take to get the results, surprisingly, she said "In three hours".  I returned in the early afternoon, and they gave me the results in an envelope, for only $179 MXN.  They seemed surprised when I asked to see the Doctor to interpret the results, but I got immediately in to see him.  Nothing to worry about, he said, everything is normal.  That summation cost $530 MXN (but I did get right in, with no appointment).

As we worked through the billing process, I told the young man "Necesito practicar me español ( I need to practice my Spanish)", he laughed and said "I need to practise my English, slowly, please".  I complimented him on his English, and he on my Spanish, and we both parted happy.

Since we arrived in the end of October, there has been major sewer and water work going on, on one of the major side streets off of Avenida Centro in La Peñita.

The work is completed, and they are nearly finished re-paving the street with uni-stone.

 It was the last market day before Christmas, so it was very busy in La Peñita

Birthday dinner at Santo Remedios in Los Ayala

December 20 & 21 - Figs, Birthday party & Crayfish

Well, it is raining figs in the park.  We have several huge trees that are keeping park staff busy hauling away garbage cans full of fallen figs.  The birds love it though.

Fallen figs

Crows enjoying a fig feast

Last night we continued the celebration of Cam's birthday with prime rib and all the fixings including yorkshire pudding (200 mex) at restaurante Avanti.

The restaurant staff came out with free flan cake and sang Happy Birthday to Cam.

Today, I did the usual morning walk then we went into town for a final trip to the Carneceria and groceries before the Christmas rush, to the vet's for ear medicine for the animals at JEEP, and sent out our laundry.

Lady selling crayfish to passing cars.

Crayfish

Eggs are bought by weight

Medicine for cats and dogs at JEEP

December 19th - Rogue None

We are nearly finished out site set-up, finally having hung the electric light from our canopy.  We don't often use it, being content to sit in the evening dusk/night and listen to the Night Herons croak their way past, on the way to an evening hunt.

So the big plan for today was to go see the new Star Wars movie, Rogue One at Cinema Guayabitos.  The fly in the ointment was the need to climb a long, winding set of cement stairs with no handrails to get up to the cinema.  Friends said that the DVD's were already for sale in La Peñita, they're cheap, but unreliable, however, you can take them back if they don't play.   Hmmm, cheap....I mean, frugal...  Off to town we went.  The store on Centro across from Pharmacy Guadalajara had them on display.  No hablas englais, but Nancy asked specifically if la pelicula was en englais, and she was assured it was.  $25 MXN (multiply by 7 for approximate CDN, i.e. about $1.75 CDN)  Done.  Home we went with our prize.  It was the first time that we had used the DVD player in the Brave, so it took a while to figure out, plus I had to do some coax cable re-arranging since we're jury rigged in order to use our neighbours sat. receiver (since he upgraded LNB's over the summer and we did not, our receiver won't work with his dish, so he has loaned us one of his) (Nothing's ever simple).  Finally, with great anticipation, we started the movie.  The iconic Star Wars script started to scroll up the screen, slightly crooked, en español.  The conversations started, and yep, Spanish.  Sigh.  We searched around the DVD for an option to change the language, but nope, it was (Surprise!) a cheap burner copy.  (I say we, because Nancy did not trust my meagre tech talents, and had to have a go herself).  So it goes.

We had drinks on the deck to celebrate my birthday.  I got a pair of great "Mexican-ish" shirts from Teri & Louise, plus Louis brought up two prepared plates of gourmet level spaghetti and meat sauce for us for supper, and from Dave and Dawn, a point (that's Newfie) of high-end dark rum.  I'm fortunate to have such thoughtful friends.