Fig Fest

So the Sinaloa crows have been enjoying a feast in the form of ripe figs.  We have quite a few fig trees in the park but they don't all produce fruit at the same time.  The one up at the big palapa has just produced ripe figs and the crows are descending in hordes.  The sound is deafening in the form of cawing crows and falling figs and leaves.  The park staff sweep away the fallen figs and 15 minutes later it looks like it was never done.

Then a few of them flew over to our friend's patio and started knocking the almonds out of the tree above us.  What a bunch of rogues.  Luckily we had a canopy above us.

Almond tree above us.

Almond still in exterior coating.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher & Araña

I finally got a photo of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher which is a small incredibly active bird.  It is common but dreadfully hard to photograph as it just doesn't stay still.  So I decided to just shoot and forget about a perfect focus, etc.

And it's gone!

The Gnatcatcher eats insects, insect eggs and spiders.  However, this wee bird had best stay clear of one spider that has strung its web from the ground to the top of the clothesline by the wash area.

The web is about 6 ft high by 4 ft across with a 3 inch spider (toe tip to toe tip) in centre.

Araña

Still growing!

Road trip to Las Varas

We went to Las Varas through the construction today.  It wasn't bad, it wasn't good.  Traffic was fairly light but there were cars and one Semi-trailer  that just had to pass in the work zones.

I think these kids are headed to Chacala Beach

There's a guy with a red rag ahead stopping traffic.

Unfortunately these vendors will see no business this season.

Off onto the lateral to make the left turn.

A little dust on that car.

Our destination, the Bodega Aurrera.

Our new Bodega in La Peñita is waiting for a liquor license so this was the Christmas run.

Burritos

Cam successfully ordered something through Amazon Mexico and it arrived in a few days.  So we have a new source of "stuff".

More Fauna and Flora

We had a little visitor to our patio.  A Hermit Crab.  Although they like marine water they can also be found on land and trees.  We see a variety of sizes of them on our rock walls but this guy came onto the patio.  He's found himself a nice snail shell as a home for now.  They like to climb and its hard to imagine how when it looks so ungainly,

Time to get outta here!

Wasp or bee nest

About 17 cm (7 inches) across.

The waves have been sculpting the beach daily.  Although the weather remains fair,

The Century plant by our site continues to grow everyday.  It is native to Mexico.  It takes an average of 15 years to flower.   The stalk will grow 15 to 40 feet (4.572 to 12.192 meters) high and produce hundreds of clustered white or yellow flowers. It will keep its flowers for about a month and send off suckers from its base then die.  So we are going to keep an eye on this one.

Social Flycatcher

Los Compadres and other views

 I went to JEEP and sadly Dr Phil the burro passed away this summer.  At least he had a good few last years here.  There is a new horse at JEEP.  He was hit on the highway and had a dislocated hip.  George kept him in a sling and they nursed him back to health.  Remarkably he is now able to lie down and get up on his own.  He is old and will spend the rest of his life at JEEP.

The view from JEEP is lovely and in the photo below along the foot of the hills runs the new highway being constructed from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta.

Horses at JEEP.

From JEEP we went to Los Compadres and had a tour of the rental suites.  George designed Los Compadres and had it built.  The view from every room is quite spectacular.  In case any of you are looking for accommodations here are a few photos.  

The rooms are large and come furnished.  

Ground floor view

We had an amazing flock of Sinaloa Crows (also called the Mexican crow) flying formations over us today.  They did these wild flights many times today.  

A sailboat came into the bay late today and moored off our beach for the night.  They came up to visit people they know and came to hamburger night.

A wander in La Peñita RV Park

I realize that many of you have not been here.  So here is a brief early morning tour.  The park is built on a hillside with roads like terraces along it.  It is really filling in as Christmas nears.  Today several Mexican RVs arrived as well as a large number of tents and tent trailers belonging to a Mexican family that comes for Christmas every year.

The Oficina (Office), the street on the right is our street.

The street you drive into the park on (looking back from office steps).

 Heading uphill towards the pool

The restaurant, bar,  pool and pickle ball court area coming up on right.

 Street of Dreams

Another side street 

Restaurant and pool area

Pool with pickle ball court and movie area in distance

Top level by pool

On the way back down the hill, bathrooms in red

Back at Oficina

Heading on down the hill towards the beach.

Grassy Way

Further along to beach.

Another side street

Then back up to the office and onto our street.

Our street

Happy hour site on our street

Top of our street

Lane into Big Palapa

Massage table, also haircuts, pedicures, facials and manicures are done here.

View from palapa

Then back to our site.