Made a Wrong Turn and ended up at a Party

Today, Sunday, is the sixth day I have woken up to an ocean view in Mexico. This is the first morning the waters have been a bit rough. Last night was very windy and we have a bit of water breaking against the rocks and some foam on the sandy beach this morning. It's still not very rough compared to our northern California oceans. The waves that are breaking aren't more than a foot high. But I had planned on today being the first day I swam and/or took out a kayak. I think now I won't.

Frances and I walked rather than drove down to the beach yesterday. It is only about a 10 minute walk, but not an easy walk. Most of it is cobblestone. I am sorry to say that while Frances' knee ligament is still giving her a little trouble, and probably always will, it is her front paw that was injured in a brief dog fight before we left Placerville that is giving her the most trouble. She enjoyed the walk but our return, which is mostly uphill, was dictated by her very slow pace.

Nonetheless, we walked over to the rock covered in saguaro cactus and she enjoyed all the stinky ocean smells.


The water was no deeper than an inch when the tide was out. I talked with some folks who were kayaking and swimming there and on most mornings - when the water is calm - it will be a great place to go
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As it was my first venture out of the house without Betsy, I made a wrong turn on the way back. Just as I was realizing that this was the case, I strolled by an outdoor neighborhood get together. Betsy and I had seen the signs in the neighborhood that announced an afternoon gathering. As I was turning around to find my way back to the house, a man named Jim stopped me and invited me in. He said he would hold Frances' leash while I went and made myself of plate of food. I said that I really had to keep going because Frances' needed water. He immediately filled a dish for her... and I stayed and had every kind of nachos and dip imaginable and met some very nice people. I said I was staying at the Berryhill house and everyone knew where that was and when it was time for me to leave, I had directions on how to return to the house.

It was at this party that I learned of the local details of yesterday's tsunami warning. It is so interesting how they can time the arrival of the tsunami wave to almost the exact moment it will arrive. It was due to hit San Carlos around 11:03 am. And apparently it did but was less than a foot high, but that was higher than the norm. Apparently Mazatlan got a nine foot wave - so they did have to clear the beaches yesterday morning but nothing more than that.

The beach where Frances and I went, is actually on part of the property of the large hotel where we had brunched earlier in the day. It is called Marina Terra Hotel. This portion of the hotel is where folks can rent kayaks, swim in the pool or the ocean, and also where they have a bandstand and large outdoor party area. They were setting up for a wedding when we strolled through.

So last night Betsy and I enjoyed about four hours of Mariachi/Mexican pop mixed with some standard pop tunes sung in spanish. We spent much time on the porch and the rooftop last night, as in addition to being a warm balmy evening, it was a full moon on the water and it was gorgeous.




The "wedding band" was high energy and took almost no breaks. Their dance music was fast and I'm sure the percussionists in particular were exhausted by the end of the gig. The trumpet players were... well... not always in tune and it added a comic element to it all. The vocalists were good. We danced with our dogs when they played New York New York. We laughed when the first slow dance of the evening was the Beatles' song "Yesterday". Such a sad song for a wedding! They ended the evening with "La Bamba",(Betsy had assured me earlier that they would play that song near the end of the night), and an insanely fast medley of songs from the Broadway Musical "Grease", done in Spanish of course. It made me laugh.


Betsy and all also planted lot of seeds in the front flower garden yesterday - cosmos, sunflowers, nasturtiums, sweet peas, and morning glories. I wondered about the wisdom of planting seeds when we'll be gone in two months. But, Betsy assures me that things grow very fast down here and that we will see results before we leave. I have to say that the petunia beds that looked rather sparse when we arrived six days ago, have already filled out quite nicely!

Frances was sick last night and I was up with her for about an hour. She was restless and seemed to have an upset stomach. Finally I gave her a Tums and she settled down in about 10 minutes. She is bright eyed and much better this morning. I'm going to let her rest today as she still had a bit of a cough when she awoke. I'll walk Betsy's high energy terrier/border collie mix "Scout" on the beach today instead of Frances. I am concerned she may have Bordatella (bronchitis). She has always been prone to this since she had it as a puppy. If she doesn't show any improvement by tomorrow morning, I'll take her to the vet.


Today Betsy and I plan to finish all those pesky little chores that need to be done around the house, and catch up on laundry, exercise, and the like, so that tomorrow morning we can both settle into our individual routines. I have been sleeping a lot. I think I've been catching up on the killer pace I've kept since last May. My entire body has been aching for the last few days. It is probably the fibromyalgia flaring up a bit, combined with walking on the hard adobe floors. But, I am making health, diet, exercise and sleep, priorities while I am here. Hopefully, I will reinforce some good health habits so that when I leave Mexico, I will continue them and not always be so exhausted. I played my mandolin for 15 minutes the other day and was disappointed that my hand gave me trouble after such a short amount of time. My trigger thumb is not quite as healed as I thought. I need to be patient with that.

And now, off to check off things on my "list."