January 23 - Full Moon

We started out the day with breakfast at the park restaurant.  Then moved Rick and Amy to a new hotel that just opened across the street from the park, very nice.  They can now walk to our place and have their own chickens crowing in the morning.  More patio time and swimming, then dinner.

Banana tree by park restaurant

Banana flower

Dinner at Mariscos

the view from the restaurant

Full moon from our table

Rincon from our table

January 22 - Lyndon and Ed

This morning we drove to Puerto Vallarta and picked up our nephew Lyndon and his friend Ed who are enjoying their first trip to Mexico.  They were out for the day.  We had a fish and shrimp taco lunch at a favourite restaurant, refreshments on our patio with Rick & Amy, shopped a bit and went for a walk in the surf and beach (Rick & Amy went for a swim in the surf).  It was a whirlwind day and I sit here with no photos!  In late afternoon, Lyndon and Ed caught a Pacifico bus back to PV ($138 pesos each).  We enjoyed having them out and are glad they made time for a visit with us.  Rick & Amy and us relaxed the rest of the evening having dinner on the patio.  Still can't believe I have no photos, we were busy taking photos of them in Mexico with their cameras!

January 21- Market Day

Today, we went to the La Peñita market.  The market has grown in size considerably now that it is the height of tourist season.  We started with breakfast at Mario's Tortas, then wandered into town and through a very busy market.  Here are some photos:

Beadwork

weaving

corn husk flowers

Rick & Amy haggling for a hammock

January 20 - Rick and Amy

I saw a Blue-footed Booby flying by today.  We drove to Puerto Vallarta and picked Rick & Amy up at the airport.  Had drinks and snacks on our patio, walked the beach and had a great dinner at Tonita 1.   Yesterday the beach had blue jellyfish on it, today it was clear again.  Some photos from yesterday:

Water bottle cap for size by Blue Bottle Jellyfish (related to the Atlantic Portuguese Man-of-War Jellyfish but smaller)

Blue Button Jellyfish (dead)

Blue Button Jellyfish (live)

Went for a walk and took these flower photos:

Mother of Thousands, Mexican hat plant 

Mother of Thousands, Mexican hat plant 

Flower is size of a two dollar coin, some sort of pea vine?

January 18 & 19 - Jaguarundi

Yesterday was a normal day - beautiful weather, aquacise, etc.   Today, Cam and I went for a drive with friends into the back trails of La Penita.  We stopped the car on a lane overlooking a stream bed and could not believe our eyes.  A Jaguarundi!!!!!!!   It was walking along the edge of the stream weaving in and out of tall grasses.  I was using binoculars and trying to get a photo at the same time.  Anyway we all got a great look at the cat but missed on the photo.  It's habitat is lowland brush areas close to running water and that is exactly where it was.

It was hunting in grass along the water on the bottom of the photo. If you enlarge the top photo, you can see the Jaguarundi's reddish brown tail just below and to the left of the large rock in the lower centre.  I have enlarged it in the second photo. 

This was definitely Jaguarundi habitat

The above photo is from the internet however this is the spitting image of what we saw, habitat and all!

When we came to Mexico I never imagined we would have the privilege of seeing such an amazing and beautiful creature.

January 16 & 17

Yesterday I went to Puerto Vallarta on a major shopping run with friends.  We went to Walmart, Costco, Gallerias Vallarta (mall), and Home Depot.  You know you are beginning to feel at home when it is just like another trip to Winnipeg without the snow/cold.  I bought 2 strings of solar rope lights for the patio canopy which Cam installed today.  Last night a Coati Mundi (kind of like a large raccoon), who is known to be a night time visitor, knocked down our hummingbird feeder and bent our pole slightly.  While we were finishing breakfast, flocks of Brown Pelicans and Magnificent Frigate birds started dive bombing the beach shallows below us.  It was another run of little fish swimming up the beach chased by larger fish.  So I grabbed my fishing rod and went down there to surf fish.  Alas, although I saw fish in the surf I didn't catch any.  A large flock of Mexican parrotlets also visited our trees this morning, quite a noisy crew.

Some local photos:

Bollitos!  How can you resist this outside our door in the morning.

Look junior, Kirk is making an ass of himself again.

I am going to get that iguana!

Cacique

Well, the solar lights work great and the neighbourhood inspectors will be arriving soon to try it out.  Buenos noches.

January 14 & 15 - flowers and birds

Thursday was a kick back kind of day.  We spent the morning on our patio with 6 ladies who were birders.  We managed to bag a few new hummingbirds for them.  Some photos Meagan took when she was here:

Black-chinned

Black-chinned diving on Ruby-throated

Broad-billed hummingbird

Violet-crowned hummingbird

Cinnamon Hummingbird on left

The culminating moment of the day was when I won $200 pesos at Bingo in the park community centre, that left me up $30 pesos.

Today, I saw several new birds - Streak-backed Oriole, Rufous-backed Thrush and a Bullock's Oriole as well as a Golden-cheeked woodpecker which I may have mentioned before.

Streak-backed Oriole

We went to Spanish class and aquacise then sat on the patio and admired the flowers Meagan helped us purchase and plant when she was here.  Here are a few photos from the planting:

Bougainvillea

The finished product