VisitLaManzanilla

Moving my Blog

2011-02-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I'm moving my Blog to my own host. I hope you continue to read my musings on life in La Manzanilla. Here is the the feed address http://feeds.feedburner.com/Visitlamanzanillacom

and here is the site address
http://www.visitlamanzanilla.com/blog/

Sunday street soccer game

2011-01-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

Lyle and his friends spend a lot of time playing outside together. Sometimes its skateboarding in our carport (because the street isn’t paved), trying to capture iguanas living in the trees, looking for bugs, chasing chickens, all that fun boy stuff. Most weekends our neighbor’s grandkids are over and at some point there is always a soccer game, unless the ball is flat and no one can find a pump... The game can last for 15 mins to 2 hours depending on how many kids there are and how everyone feels! Short clip of what kids in La Manzanilla do when they have a ball and some time to kill.

Good neighbors

2011-01-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor Maria is the matriarch of a very large family, eight living children, 6 of which live here and all have children of their own. She is the best neighbor I’ve ever had. When the fruit truck comes around she makes sure that the guy doesn’t sell me the shlock product, when someone tried to steal our truck she sent her daughter to find the “town law”, when the lady comes around selling the baked candied pumpkin she makes sure to send her over to my house so I don’t miss out, and if I’m not home she buys me a piece!

She is also very generous with her family’s food, we've been treated to posole, tamales, ceviche, enchiladas and other delights. If never fails that when Rick, my husband, leaves for a few days to go to the States, Maria is at my door with a plate of food.

He hasn’t been gone for 24 hours and she marched over with a plate of sopitas and tomatillo salsa. And not just 2, one for Lyle and one for me…no the plate had 6 of the tasty little treats. I scarffed down 3 right away, Lyle wasn’t hungry so I saved his 3 for later…I ended up eating them as well.

She’s a gem, we are very lucky to have her and her family as neighbors and friends!

Holiday vacation with a bang

2011-01-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

I have to laugh because we'd probably be thrown in jail if we lived in the US.

Christmas, New Years and really, any other holiday is an excuse for fireworks in Mexico. Not to generalize the whole country but I can tell you from me experience the Mexicans who live and visit La Manzanilla have a thing for fireworks.

We got into the swing of it buy purchasing Lyle various little bags of fireworks with names like, cebollitas- "little onion", busca pies-"looks for feet", chifladors-not sure what this one means but they were loud so we promptly took them away. (Here comes the jail part) And furthermore, we gave Lyle a lighter and let him light them himself. He was in heaven. On Christmas eve the kids started lighting them around 1:00 and it continued until 10:00 that night.

I noticed both the boys and girls like the fireworks but the boys were like crack addicts and couldn't get enough of them!

We limited Lyle to small fireworks that throw off sparks or make a small popping sound...but the other kids had what I would compare to M80's, boys, fire, fireworks- now that is a recipe for disaster.

Luckily all ended well and everyone still has all there fingers, toes and eyes!

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile

2010-09-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

Tried to go to the beach here in La Manzanilla the other day but alas…there were 2 crocodiles in the bay. Rick and I were having a beer, Lyle runs into the water and 5 secs later a fireman is running toward him waving his arms yelling, “get out of the water,” a little unnerving to say the least. Images of Jaws flashed in my mind as I catapulted out of my chair and ran toward the water screaming “Lyle get out of the water.” He couldn’t hear me but he must have been able to tell by my face that something was wrong and he quickly scurried out. The crocodiles were nowhere near our location, but so much better safe than…well you know.

The rains have filled the lagoon and it’s spilling into the bay with an occasional croc going as well. The locals say it happens most summers and when the water goes back down in the lagoon so do the crocs. If one of the crocs gets to be a nuisance then the fishermen take a boat out, lasso the beast and drag him back into the lagoon.

There is a viewing platform at the end of town where you can view the crocs and if you want buy fish and toss it to them. Locals swear the only bad human/croc encounter happened when a tourists was feeding the crocs some fish, got too close and lost his hand. Because the crocodiles here are protected there are a lot of them, probably close to 300, I sure hope as the numbers of crocs as well as the number of humans increases our luck holds and nothing tragic happens...but I think it’s just wishful thinking.

We're Back in La Manzanilla!

2010-09-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

We arrived in La Manzanilla Saturday the 4th at 5:00 PM to cloudy skies and drizzle. Around midnight it stared really raining and thundering and lightening. At 6:30 we had water seeping into our bedroom from the lot next door and a river running down the street that nearly as wide as the street. The river ran for 24 hours.

After the initial shock dealing with the seeping water and worrying about the chance of the water jumping our sandbags and really flooding the house we joined in the fun of the river! In the afternoon the kids built dams and played in the pools of cool, clear water. Video was shot in the late afternoon on Sunday, the flow was about 1/4 of that in morning.

Monday morning the river was dry but the street and those streets around us look like a war zone with huge crevices, some as much as 7 feet deep. We can’t get our truck out of the car port and even if we could it’s doubtful we could make it off our block without falling into a crevice. So, we walked Lyle to and from his first day of school in the rain, walked to Juan’s to buy tamales for dinner and were happy we still have electricity and internet! It’s the little things after all….

Carnitas- no wonder its so delicious

2010-06-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

On Sundays you can get Carnitas in La Manzanilla and only on Sundays. On the main road paralleling the beach you'll find aborrotes Chona. During the week it's a humble food store and meat market but on Sunday the street in front is lined with tables and chairs and people waiting in line to snag one.

I was curious how one would go about making carnitas so I checked out a wiki site and this is what I found.

“The traditional way to cook carnitas is in a copper pot which disperses the heat evenly (one may use any thick bottomed pot to get the same result). Lard is used to cover the dish in proportion to the amount of meat being cooked. Once the lard has melted, pork and flavorings are added (usually salt, oregano, marjoram, thyme, bay leaf, crushed garlic cloves). Traditional carnitas is then made by process of simmering the meat until tender over a very low heat. Once appropriate tenderness is achieved, the heat is turned up and the outside of the pork begins to crisp. The carnitas can then be cooled and shredded.”

At 8 pesos (.67 cents) it's a fattening treat I indulge in almost every Sunday! They do handmade tortillas and a very spicy pico de gallo that just adds to the culinary delight.

Next time you come for a visit to La Manzanilla be sure you stay the weekend so you don't miss out.

Lyle builds a bonfire!

2010-05-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

We’ve been in La Manzanilla for 3 years now and last week was the first time we’ve been to a bonfire at the beach! Lyle has been bugging us for months to go to the beach and have a fire; basically because he wants to roast these HUGE marshmallows we bought in Patzcuaro (to roast in the fireplace at the hotel we stayed!) It doesn’t get dark here until 7:30, the only nights we could do a fire at the beach would be Friday or Saturday (school and all) and something always comes up.

Last week my friend Alex, chef at La Manzanilla’s Café de Flores, invited us to a bonfire to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Well, it was a Thursday night and lo and behold no school on Friday so we accepted.

I can’t believe we waited this long to have a bonfire. It was a blast! At sunset we light the fire and the hot dogs and marshmallows came out accompanied by the sounds of guitar and drums. Lyle was the only kid there but that didn’t seem to bother him. He usually goes to bed at 9:00, but this night he was dancing by the fire and roasting mellows until 11:00 pm.

The next morning it was all he could talk about!

Day at the water park

2010-05-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

Here in La Manzanilla Mexico, the kids get lots of days off school. This week they are out Monday-Wednesday in celebration of Labor Day. Yesterday I took Lyle to the water park in Barra de Navidad. It’s the first time we’d been to the park and we had a great time sliding down the big water slides, swimming in the big pools and playing pirates.

That is WE had fun, until a group of boys aged 8-16 showed up. Then mom was out and big boys were in.

I’m always amazed how Mexican kids love other kids. I’m guessing it’s because of the family structure; big kids are expected take care of the little kids without a second thought or complaint. That group of boys played the entire afternoon with Lyle and his friend Elior. Keep away, water tag, took them down the big slides and it went on and on. They never tired of our little boys screaming for more rides on the slide, asking to be put on their shoulders in the water, yelling the “throw the ball to me!”

The day was a highlight that Lyle won’t soon forget.

La Manzanilla Primavera

2010-05-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

We have the most beautiful Primavera tree in front of our house in La Manzanilla Mexico.

Actually, I think it’s the most beautiful tree in town. About 3 weeks ago all the leaves fell off the tree, 2 weeks ago the yellow buds started to appear, 1 week ago the tree was glorious, bright yellow flowers about the size of a child’s hand filled the branches and were juxtaposed against the deep blue sky.

I watched each day as people walked by with camera in hand trying to capture the beauty of the tree.

The flowers are now fading and gracefully falling to the ground. I’m not sad at all to see it go, it was so gorgeous in its prime that it had to be fleeting! Looking forward to next spring already.

Arroyo Seco for some surfing!

2010-04-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

Arroyo Seco, 25 mins north of La Manzanilla, is hosting its first surfing competition this weekend. We headed up to check out the action and the beach, we had only been to Arroyo Seco once so this was a good excuse for another visit. La Manzanilla is a metropolis compared to Arroyo Seco, the long and expansive beach has one hotel and one restaurant.

There were lots of young surfer dudes on hand and judging from the license plates they came from as far away as California. We arrived at 11:00, the start time was 9:30, but they were just getting going when we got there. From what I could gather a couple of surfers headed out each 20 mins and had 20 mins to catch as many waves as possible. I’ve never been to a surfing competition but it was a very entertaining way to spend the afternoon.

Lyle makes some music

2010-03-09T17:11:00.000-08:00

Lyle has a few toy musical instruments and on occasion he likes to "make music", he also likes to dance to rock star music when he thinks I'm not watching. La Manzanilla and not having a TV, is great for letting kids be creative when it comes to making up fun.

What is Patriotism?

2010-02-24T20:05:00.000-08:00

Today, Lyle’s elementary in school in La Manzanilla, Mexico offered a flag presentation. Once everyone was lined up and in place the 6th graders marched out replicas of the various flags Mexico has had over the years. Then director approached the microphone and announced he would recite the Pledge of allegiance.

All the children and parents dutifully raised their hands to their chests (including Rick and I) and recited the pledge. Lyle raised his hand and half-heartily mouthed the words (afterwards he told me he didn’t really know what the words were). But as I watched him, it occurred to me Rick and I had never talked to him about pledging allegiance or patriotism.

After the ceremony, as the children raced back to their classrooms, I started thinking about patriotism, countries and flags. Do we really need to pledge an allegiance without understanding the meaning? How do we balance Lyle’s US heritage with a worldview? How do we convey allegiance to principles of liberty and justice, humanity and generosity, to all regardless of birth nation?

If I teach him to pledge, just to be dutiful and polite then I’m sending the wrong message. Duty and politeness over principles is never the correct choice.

A Lost Marathon

2010-02-15T16:10:00.000-08:00

We don’t have a TV in our La Manzanilla house. Well, we don’t have a TV that gets reception we use the TV just to watch movies. Most movies are available on DVD here within a day or two of their theater release. But that’s another post.

This is about our recent Lost Marathon. I have to admit I’m addicted to the series Lost. On a recent trip back to the US for business, Rick bought season 4 and 5 on DVD. I’m not sure if you’ve ever watched a series on DVD but it’s the only way to go! Just when that anticipated commercial break happens….boom, you are on to the next scene, its commercial free heaven.

I feel terribly guilty admitting to doing something so wasteful as watching TV all day, but alas, Rick and I watched 5 episodes on Saturday!

Any other Lost fans out there?

FM3 – get it right the first time.

2010-02-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

We live in La Manzanilla Mexico, 10 months out of the year. We have FM3 status and we need to get to Manzanillo to renew our papers. Only problem is we’ve moved and we moved last year while immigration had our paperwork so we just “neglected” to mention it when we received our FM3’s. We figured, “why gunk up the process, we’ll take care of next year.” Well, it’s next year and we finally got around to taking care of it….sort of.

We thought we’d just go to Telemex in Manzanillo, change our address and then have them print out a new bill with our current address. But drat, it’s tough to get to Telemex during the day without having Lyle miss school. So we kept putting it off.

Today I called the office. Guess what? You can change your address over the phone, easy, yeah! After it was changed I asked in my best Spanish if we could stop at the office next week and have them print out a new bill with the new address that we could take to immigration. NO, the address isn’t updated in THAT computer system, we’ll have to wait for our March 8th bill…but our immigration papers expire March 7th!

Weekend road trip to Comala

2010-01-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

La Manzanilla, Mexico is great, nice beach, warm water, coconut trees…ok so it’s paradise. But Mexico has so many different places to explore. We've decided to take advantage of our life here and travel around the country as much as we can. Last weekend we went to Comala.

We left La Manzanilla at 11:00 a.m. and arrived in the main plaza of Comala at about 2:00. Just in time to sit at one of the restaurants that line the plaza and order a beer, and then enjoy the parade of free food that comes with drink orders. And I don’t mean chips and salsa, I’m talking Ceviche, Taquitos, Taco’s dorado, chicken burritos, fruit…and it kept coming until we had to say, “stop!” This is the normal gig in Comala from 2-6 pm every day. Order and drink and the food is free. Now granted, the beers were 32 pesos ($2.70 USD), we usually pay 18 at the beach, but we were served a heck of a lot of food!

We stayed at a lovely B and B Casa Alvarada. The next day the host of the B and B acted as our tour guide and gave us a “highlights tour” of Comala. We had some great views of the volcano, coffee plantation education, a village specializing in wooden mask making and a marvelous museum which is the ex-hacienda of the famous
Mexican artist Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo

Lyle makes his first phone call and it’s all in Spanish

2010-01-26T13:14:00.001-08:00

He has a friend who lives a couple of blocks away and because Lyle’s been a little sick I didn’t want him walking down there. So, Lyle went next door to the boy’s grandma (on his own accord) and asked for the phone number.

He then picks up the phone and makes his call.

The mother answers the phone and they proceed to have a detailed conversation, in Spanish, about why Yeir can’t come over to play, his homework isn’t done. Lyle explains that he has finished his homework and urges her to get Yeir going so he can finish his and come over to play.

It’s the thought that counts---Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-01-14T17:43:00.000-08:00

Been in a funk all day because today is my birthday and I’m 43 and not happy about it!

Worked most of the day, canceled my Spanish class because I didn’t have the energy to spend an hour speaking in the past tense!

The afternoon was dragging on when a friend (who is a reflexologist) called and said she would like to give me a treatment for my birthday. What a treat! I think I like reflexology better then massage.

Moving on to dinner- we bought some nice and expensive steaks for dinner. I sauté some spinach, Rick put the steaks on the grill. Unfortunately, the fire got away from him...(see the picture) that’s burnt steak and vegetables. I got a HUGE laugh out it! Funk gone!

He’s in town trying to find a pizza for dinner.

Happy birthday to me 

A quiet moment….and chips

2010-01-12T17:42:00.001-08:00

Usually when the kids are playing here in La Manzanilla it’s a herd of them out in the street playing soccer, hide and seek, or war games. The common denominator of any of these games is that they are loud, raucous and wild. Lots of screaming, “da me lo!” translation- “give it to me!” “el me pegó” -translation “he hit me!” Followed shortly by a parent yelling “no, peleando!” translation-“no fighting!”

Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window and witnessed Lyle and Gael sharing a conversation, a quiet moment…and a bag of chips.

A new beach vendor in town!

2010-01-10T15:03:00.000-08:00

We’ve been beading and making jewelry as a family for a few months. We made bracelets for grandmas, I received a lovely glass bead bracelet, “just because” and Lyle made some cute little rings that he handed out to his many girl friends.

He’s been talking about wanting to sell his creations at the beach, and today was his first day. He packed up 5 necklaces and 4 bracelets and announced that he was going to sell them at the beach. So, we headed to the beach for lunch and after an hour of playing in the water and enjoying some shrimp quesadilla’s at Quinta Valentine Lyle decided to try his hand at beach vending.

We left the beach with 3 necklaces, 3 bracelets and Lyle had 50 more pesos then when he started! Who knew, Lyle was such a good salesman!

Burrr...it's cold!

2009-12-20T11:06:00.000-08:00

Yes, I can't believe it, but it's cold. Two days in a row we woke to temps in the low 60's. We actually put blankets on the bed! I'm walking around at night in jeans and a fleece jacket, feeling like a local. It's a lovely change and so funny to think 8 weeks ago we were melting.

The ice cream man cometh.

2009-12-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

In La Manzanilla there is a never ending stream of ice cream trucks and wagons. They take turns parking outside the school at 1:00, walking around town and driving down the beach. For 5 pesos a scoop, including sprinkles, we treat the neighbor kids to ice cream pretty often.

Here's Lyle and his compadres enjoying and ice cream treat.

School’s out…3 days early

2009-12-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

We arrived to pick-up Lyle after school today and were informed that there will be a posada tomorrow from 8-10 and then school will be out until the 7^th of January.

I have the official school calendar and the last day of school is supposed to be Dec 21^st.

Not sure why we have this extended vacation but I am sure that Lyle’s class is supposed to have testing on the 2^nd block of work in Jalisco educational system issued school books and that they are only 2/3 of the way through the 2^nd block. I'm also sure that in the last 4 weeks we have not had one full week of school, either ending early of days completely off because the teachers have meetings they need to attend. I guess meetings after the 1:00 hour (when school gets out) is out of the question.

I’m completely baffled by the school system here in La Manzanilla. We will be working with Lyle over the holiday break to finish the block. I’m thinking this time next year we will be homeschooling.

Let’s make cookies!

2009-12-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

It’s raining in La Manzanilla; the locals say it’s been at least 10 years since we’ve had rain in December. A couple of nights ago is poured so hard the streets were flooded up to the sidewalk.

Yesterday, Sunday, we decided since it was such an overcast and winter like day we should make cookies! I was all about sugar cookies, but Rick and Lyle turned up their noses and voted for chocolate chip. Ok, so we need 1 more stick of butter and some chocolate chips. Rick heads into town. He returns about 15 mins later with the news that there are no chocolate chips to be found in town. They still say, “no thanks” when I chime in about sugar cookies.

Not completely deterred the boys decide it would be fun to bake a cake, a cake from a box. Ok, so Rick and head down to our nearest corner store while Lyle is playing with the neighbor kids. No cake mixes. It’s now about 4:30 on Sunday afternoon and Rick is determined. He goes back into town. He returns 15 min later empty handed and bearing news that everything in the 3 block town is closed!

Guess baking wasn’t in the cards.

Revolution!

2009-11-30T17:56:00.001-08:00

So, it's been a month (how did that happen) since my last post. We've been so busy, work, school, homework, sickness, bad renters..it all takes time.

One highlight I have to share, a week ago Friday was a national holiday- Revolution Day!

All the kids dressed in period clothing and paraded though town. Lyle loved his costume so much that he has been wearing it for the last week, I finally had to wash it and it shrunk 2 sizes! He's heart broken, as he thinks it's the appropriate attire for any dinner invitation or restaurant outing. I guess we'll have to buy him another one.

On the Saturday after the parade the mom's hosted a fundraiser in the jardin. The mama's love it when I work these events, I'm an endless source of amusement for them- they speak no English and I speak ok Spanish so I just do what they say. My duty was selling juice and taking orders from gringos!

Yes, but we don’t have a key

2009-10-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

On Friday all the children (147) left the primary school in La Manzanilla with a note stating that today, Monday, parents needed to come to the school at 5:00 pm to clean.

Lyle had received this same note 3 weeks ago, I showed up at 5:00 and waited with 2 other mothers until 5:45 before we decided to leave. No one ever showed up to open the gate so we were locked out.

Rick and I get there at 5:00 to find one man with a machete and one other woman at the school. The man with the machete goes to the edge of the school and starts hacking down the grass. The other woman has a list of all the parents, she checks off our name from the list and tells us we need to clean the garden area. So Rick and I look around and ask if there are any tools and she tells us, "No, but you can put the grass, that you pull by hand, in the trash dumpster by the gate."

We brought gloves.

We started pulling grass and after about 5 minutes I say to the woman, “this would be a lot easier with a lawn mower.” To which she replies, “yes, the school has one, a push mower, but it’s locked in the bodega and I don’t have a key.” I'm thinking, "geez they can produce 147 slips of paper with the note to come to clean but no one can think to come and unlock the door of the bodega..."

We pull grass, by hand, for another hour and leave. No other parents show up, but at least our name is check-off as doing our cleaning duty.

Surf's UP!

2009-10-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we headed to Vallarta to meet some visiting friends. We decided to take them to Sayulita for the day and try our hand at surfing. Well, they wanted to try surfing.

After we got settled in our beach chairs we spied a man out in the water with two kids, small kids, we estimated about 5 and 7 years old. We assumed he was an instructor. They kids were doing great, he gave a board a little push when the wave came in and up the kids jumped. We ventured out to have a chat with the man and come to find out he was the dad, was learning to surf himself, and had just rented the boards for the kids.

After a brief discussion with Lyle we decided to rent a board. Fifty peso’s an hour gets you a board, because I was renting for Lyle the guy gave us a few tips about holding the board and standing on it. Them he looked at me and said, “I’d try to sell you a lesson but kids learn so fast he probably won’t need one….now you on the other hand.” I laughed and declined the lesson for myself.

Kid’s learn fast is an understatement. He would have gotten up on the first wave, if Rick and I hadn’t pushed him so hard. This is a picture of him on the second wave, and the rest is history!

I’ve hit the mother lode!

2009-10-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

That’s what this chicken is thinking. He discovered our compost pile about 2 weeks ago and now everyday, for the better part of the day, he is hanging out eating his fill and lounging under our banana tree.

Funny thing is he hops the fence at night and goes to roost with his buddies. But alas he hasn’t shared his good fortune with them, he comes alone every morning.

Death to leaf cutter ants!

2009-10-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, it’s my battle cry! We are waging a war in our small yard in La Manzanilla. Why, why, why there is a 12,000 sq ft empty lot full of vegetation on the side of us, but no they want to eat our almond tree and my brand new not even in the ground hibiscus.

A web search revels these little bastar#$%#@’s are nearly impossible to kill as they have several openings to a massive underground habitat. Some courses of action include 3 gallons of boiling water down the hole, followed by a pureed mixer of citrus peelings; flooding the highest opening (for up to an hour because the underground area is can be so vast) then putting a liquid herbicide down the hole and running around and capping all the exits, yeah like that is going to be easy to do. We’ve started with small caps of sugar mixed with borax and a nightly dose of a poison called Patron.
Here is the top of our almond tree after 1 night.

A-E-I-O-U

2009-09-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

First day of first grade for Lyle was Tuesday. We arrived back in La Manzanilla about 3 weeks into the school year so Lyle is having to catch up just a little.

His teacher Adele handed me a sheet of paper with the vowels both capital and lower case and in various groupings of two… A-E-I-O-U Ae-Ei-aU you get the idea.

Each child must stand at her desk, while the other children look on, and respond appropriately when she points of one of the vowels. Talk about pressure.

I watched as several children took there turn, some laughed and giggled when it was their turn. Some needed to be reassured and have their back’s rubbed by maestra Adele before they could speak. Today as class is ending Lyle will have to take his turn. He’s great at the kitchen table but I’m not sure how he will be at the front of the class. Here’s wishing him success!

Guadalajara 4, June and Rick ZERO!

2009-09-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

We’ve just arrived back home in La Manzanilla. This time we drove down through Texas. The roads are fantastic! You bypass, every city along the route (except one)roads are in excellent shape, lots of Pemex stations along the route and fast driving.

We made great time, arriving in Tonala in the evening of our first night in Mexico. We’ve been through Guadalajara 3 previous times and we’ve gotten lost every time. We thought this time would be different; we’d leave Tonala, stay to the right and get that dang airport exit to the south perifico so we could bypass the heart of the city.

Traffic was a nightmare as we edged onto the highway. We saw the sign for Chapala and knew that was the same exit for the airport. We headed for the exit, a motorcycle went down in front of us, no one would let us over and there were 4 lanes of traffic where there are only 3 lanes. We missed the turn.

We decide to try it again so we took another exit and circled back around, got on the highway again and slowly edged for the exit. As we approached the correct exit, traffic got more fierce, a bus came so close to us it scraped along the side of our truck and nearly took our mirror off. By then we were both sweating and trying to remain calm, we were about 25 ft from the exit when we saw the sign for the airport, the small airplane indicating airport was almost completely covered by graffiti and we had 3 lanes of traffic to cross. I could see it in my husband’s eyes, he was going for it. I started yelling, “we can’t make it, go straight, we can’t make it!”

At the last minute he came to his senses and we stayed on the main road and went through the heart of the city, no perifico for us.

Guadalajara 4, June and Rick ZERO!

Heading back to La Manzanilla!

2009-08-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

Having two homes has some challenges. Now I realize this is the first year we've done this but I have to say, one month prior to leaving La Manzanilla we spent a fair amount of time getting the house "ready for summer." Now that we are leaving Denver we've spent the last month obsessing about what we “need” to take back with us. By my estimates we’ve spent 2 months out of this year in one place but thinking about getting to the other.

We are driving our 2004 Toyota truck- no extended cab and there are 3 of us, but that will be another blog post.

So we have the truck with a topper on it and we’ve availed ourselves of the opportunity to go crazy filling it up! Grill, rugs, cookware, blender, knives, printer, toiletries all this stuff! I was trying to get to a point where I could say, “if you have to store it, you don’t need it.” Boy have I fallen off that wagon!

Goals for next year- don’t spend so much time thinking about what’s coming next and let go of this ridiculous idea that life in Mexico is made better by bringing my life (stuff) from Denver with me.

Marketing La Manzanilla

2009-08-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know it...I own and operate website about La Manzanilla I built the site about two years ago and I've had success driving traffic to the site and making a little money along the way. I wrote all the copy, took or purchase the photos, designed the site layout and I spend a good amount of time marketing it.

I have, on a few occasions, seen my copy on other people's sites and those people never offer to link back to my site or to give me credit, can you believe it?

Once again, someone has pilfered my work. They have set-up a website using a URL that is so close to mine I'm sure it was done purposefully to take advantage of the brand I’ve promoted. Wonder if they will contact me and ask permission before they borrow my copy. I’m guessing not. What do you think?

Updating my Blog list

2009-07-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

As I peruse the blogs about living in Mexico I see several about living in Mexico with kids…it’s not all about you retirees out there.

I have to expand because my favorite blog- Moving the Kids to Mexico- is coming to end. American Mommy, is moving back to the States. They were in Mexico for only a year. She is a remarkable writer, so engaging and open; it’s been a pleasure reading of her family's adventures in a small town on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

So I’m expanding – there’s Que Madre!- a new mother, married to a Mexican and living in Sayulita. Her writing is passionate and quirky.

Then there is One Mexican Time- she’s young (27)- no children and lives the young newly wed life.

Limon Family Blog and The Rosas-Standring Family- through another blog I just found these two. I’ll try them on and see if they can match up to Moving the Kids to Mexico….

Summer, American Style

2009-07-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Not sure what I was thinking. From La Manzanilla I made arrangements for Lyle to have gymnastics and karate classes this summer. Didn’t seem like a big deal, 2 nights a week a couple of fun classes to pass the time.

I’m so organized that I thought he might enjoy a couple of weeks of day camp as well so I booked a week of “mad science” and a week of “adventure quest.” I forgot that he is used to the La Manzanilla school day, 9-12, 3 hours a day 4 or 5 days a week.

US day camp starts at 8:30 and ends at 3:30 and then heap on top of that karate and gymnastics.

We made it through the first week of camp but the weekend was all about banking sleep. Lyle rarely naps but Saturday and Sunday saw afternoon naps close to 4 hours each.

Second week of camp- forget it. He was too tired for karate and gymnastics and by Thursday so grumpy that we had a skip day the last day of camp, opting for an Avatar marathon on the couch.

Poor kid. I wanted to try to fit in lots of experiences he won't get in Mexico, but all I did was wear him out.

Tropical Storm Andres

2009-06-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well, the first named storm of the season is heading towards La Manzanilla. I’ve been in contact with a few people in La Man but the fact remains we are here in Denver and our house in Mexico is all alone and very likely getting wet. That lovely 12 x 12 opening that is the back of our house is probably seeing lots of rain and water rushing in as I type.

After the storm passes we’ll just have to rely on the kindness of others to go over and check on the house and report back to us. I’ve received emails telling me the electricity is currently out….old time year-rounder’s have generators for these types of occasions.

Next year we need to stay through at least part of a rainy season.

Signed, Nervously awaiting news….

Hellooooo From Denver!

2009-06-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yikes, what a couple of weeks. We left La Manzanilla on a Wednesday, arrived Denver on Saturday...after a 12, 12, 9 and 6 hour driving day...moved out of our 2400 sq ft house into a 650 sq ft house, went to a fundraising event and closed in the big house all in a week. And of course, I'm still working!

I'm just now recovering from the whole thing and getting my US legs.

Lyle, after begging for months, is enrolled in a karate class. He also has gymnastics once a week, nice activities for an energetic 5-year-old.

We left La Manzanilla two months before school is due to end. Not sure if Lyle is actually going to “graduate” from Kindergarten but we ran out of time at the end and will have to deal with it in September when we get back.

I think I’m going to go ahead and keep blogging over the summer, what started as a promotional thing for La Manzanilla has turned into blogging about being a mom. So I guess it doesn’t matter where we are living, I’m always a mom.

Next week- Sea World- that's right on a plane taking a trip!

Play time…

2009-05-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

It’s been nearly 3 weeks and still no school in La Manzanilla, Jalisco!

Thank goodness we live across the street from a family that has lots of kids coming and going. Lyle spends a good part of his school-free day playing with the neighbor kids.

I spend a good part of my day refereeing fighting- “No pelando!” (no fighting) is something I yell out more than a few times a day.

I’ve also discovered that it’s important to always have jicama and cucumbers on hand and a bag of corn for popcorn. You have no idea how much Mexican kids love jicama and cumbers with lime and chili and/or popcorn. Around 3 pm everyday they start asking for “comida?” “do you have anything to eat?” I take out a pitcher of water, glasses and some slices of cucumber and jicama or a big bowl of popcorn and all is good.

Yesterday they were playing “shoveling” and they played for nearly an hour. That's a big pile of sand they are rearranging. Ah, to be a kid again.

Blogging and Playdates.

2009-05-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

American Mommy and her family have decided to brave the swine flu come to La Manzanilla. I have really enjoyed meeting her family and, as luck would have it fellow blogger Steve has recently arrived in Mexico and was able to meet us for dinner.

Because we all blog about our lives and families and felt like these were old friends. Such a strange thing to have happen over the internet….although now that I think about it isn’t that how it works for Match.com?

American Mommy’s youngest son and Lyle are really two peas in a pod and they hit it off immediately, when I saw the box of army figurines and the Star Wars Clones Wars movie belonging to AM’s youngest I knew they would be fast friends.

Yesterday, in the afternoon we went over to have a playdate. The boys headed off to watch a movie, I pulled out a book and sat down on the couch, American Mommy’s hubby offered me a glass wine, American Mommy had a conference call after which we chatted about travel adventures with kids in Mexico. Pretty darn similar to our playdates in Denver with parents I’ve know for years.

Tonight we are going a jungle tour together….If you don’t hear from me again it’s because I fell overboard and have been devoured by a Croc!

FM3 at last!

2009-04-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

After 2 phone calls to the Manzanillo immigration office, 3 trips to the office, mailing Lyle’s birth certificate back to the US to get an apostil, having the birth certificate and apostil translated, and two months later…..We are now legal!

Yeah, happy dance.

Only problem, when we started the process we lived at one address, we’ve since moved. Supposedly you have to notify the office within 30 days of a move and show them the last bill from your old address and the new bill from you new address. If the two bills are more then 30 days apart they can fine you up to 50 pesos a day per person.

We are still thinking about how to handle this issue. For now we are just celebrating our new status!

Holy Guacamole, there are lots of people here!

2009-04-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

Holy week is upon us and the beach and town are full of Mexican visitors.

This is our first Holy Week and I have to admit given what we've heard about it (from the gringos who all left last week) we've been expecting the worse, loud music, drunks and noise.

It hasn't been bad at all, I like the music and it stops by 11:00. It's nice to see so many Mexican families here having a good time.

Top photo is regular day at the beach. Bottom photo is yesterday.

Freedom for a 5-year-old

2009-03-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

Lyle: “Mom, can I go across the street and see if the kids can play”
Me: “Yes”

Lyle: “Mom, can I take the plastic bottles to recycling, by myself- (two blocks)”
Me: “Yes”

Lyle: “Mom, can I ride my bike to Juan’s house”- (two-blocks including a street to cross)
Me: “No, but you can walk”
Lyle: “Ahhh, why can’t I ride my bike?”
Me: “Because you still don’t get the hang of stopping and if a car was coming you might be able to stop or get out of the way.”
Lyle: “Ahhh, I’ll stop, I promise.”
Me: “You can walk or you can stay home.”
Lyle: Just a little petulant. “Fine, I’ll walk.”

Lyle: “Mom, can I go to Chona’s and by a bag of Doritos?” (5 blocks)
Me: “No, that’s too far to go by yourself.”
Lyle: “Ahhh, no it isn’t.” Explaining in detail the route.
Both: “Discussion” ensues ending with Lyle not going to the store by himself.

Freedom is limited to 2 blocks, by foot.

Let’s take a trip...

2009-03-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

We just met the most interesting couple from Austria. They are on a “holiday”…for two years!

They have a conversion van that they shipped from Europe to the East coast of Canada. Then they drove across Canada to Vancouver, up to Alaska, back down through the Rocky Mountains and are now in La Manzanilla.

Next stop, the port of Manzanillo where they will put the van on a ship and send it to Santiago, Chile. They will travel overland to Venezuela and then fly to pick up the van and continue to the southern tip of Chile, back up through Argentina and Brazil and then put the van on another boat back to Europe.

Wow, what an adventure! I wish they had a blog.

Went fishing, got sick, had a blast!

2009-03-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

There's a local expat, Steve, who offers 3.5 hour fishing tours so we decided to try it. Steve’s fun to talk with, he’s lived here in La Manzanilla for 30 plus years, his mom and 2 brothers are also here.

It was a beautiful morning although I spent most of it on my back at the front of the boat trying not to “toss my cookies.”

The boys, on the other hand, had a marvelous time reeling in fish. They caught about 25 Spanish Mackerels and I was well enough to snap a few photos but not well enough to capture the event on video.

I did end up hurling over the side, which made me feel better and I even managed to bring in one fish myself. We’ve been back for 5 hours and I still feel like I’m on the boat.

Next time I’ll take the Dramamine before I start feeling queasy!

Our new house in La Manzanilla

2009-03-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

After 7 months of living in a one-bedroom apartment we finally found and moved into a house!

It's perfect for us, 2 bedrooms/2 baths and 3 blocks from beach.

We've been here about 3 weeks and have already hosted friends from Denver. We have a plastic table and 4 chairs but hey if it's good enough for the locals it's good enough for us!

We just bought one of everything from the vivero (garden store) in town and are now busy planting the backyard, which was several large trees and otherwise dirt when we moved in.

A few pictures of the back- including our resident rooster and a photo of the Primavera tree in front of the house.

Who needs to go to an expensive salon?

2009-03-02T17:48:00.001-08:00

Here in La Manzanilla there is one Salon de Belleza- beauty salon.

Rick and Lyle have been at least twice since we moved here in September.

I started covering my grey hair about 3 years ago. I have a friend who has an Aveda salon and every time I leave her salon I’m $120 poorer but my hair looks so natural and wonderful that it’s worth every penny!

Recently a friend here remarked, “wow, I love that you let your hair look so natural, the grey looks great.” At that point I was so obsessed about my hair I didn’t hear another word she said.

I’m just too afraid to try the local salon. I don’t want to be red or blond!

So the last time I was in Manzanillo I bought a package of hair color that seemed to close to my non-grey color…..and I waited.

My good friend Connie was here last week to visit and I mentioned the grey hair dilemma. “June, back in the day when I had no money I did my own hair.” That was
all I needed. Connie did a great job with my box of color from Walmart!
Photos for your amusement. That’s wine I’m drinking. Last pic sin grey!

You say goodbye, I say hello

2009-02-24T16:57:00.000-08:00

This is just an observation.

When we in the US pass each other on the street we smile and say, “hello.”

Here in La Manzanilla when you pass someone they say, “Adios” or “goodbye.”

I think it has to do with the eternal optimism of the Americans. Where as Mexican history is not one of optimism but more of oppression.

“Hello” or “goodbye” as a greeting. What’s the significance?

Well, what do you know. I'm speaking Spanish.

2009-02-15T13:53:00.000-08:00

It happened on Friday.

The phone company called to tell us the repair guy wanted to meet us at our new house to transfer the line.

We were expecting appliances delivered around the same time so I had to quickly call the appliance company and tell them we were heading over to the new house, if they called and no one answers the phone come anyway that means we are there already.

After the two phone calls I was running out the apartment door when I realized that both conversations happened in Spanish and I didn't start out by saying, "lo siento, pero no puedo hablar muy bien Espanol."

La Manzanilla kids don't like carrots

2009-02-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

Every 24 days we are responsible for bring "Refugerio" or lunch for the 24 kids in Lyle's kinder class.

We've done Spaghetti- big hit.

Chicken and rice- not such a big hit-we didn't cook the rice correctly and is was mushy.

This time my husband and I thought we'd do PB&J sandwiches on whole wheat, apple slices and carrot sticks. Yes, before you gasp about the peanuts, I talked with the teacher peanut allergies, she'd never heard of such a thing as an allergy to peanuts.

We show up with our lunch and served it up. Only 2 of the 24 kids opted for the carrot sticks and one was our kid!

Conclusion- Kinder kids in La Manzanilla don't like carrots and you are not going to make any friends by serving them.

When I shared this story with a client, her advice, "Twinkies, baby!"

That gringo kid speaks Spanish

2009-01-31T16:56:00.001-08:00

Yes, it's true. My little gringo speaks Spanish. We had a babysitter last night and I overheard him telling her all about his adventures as new bike rider.

The other day we were walking through town and we stopped to chat with some friends. I was explaining that we had all been sick and how Lyle had a bad cough and we hadn't been to the beach in a few days. She said something to me and I didn't quiet get it so I responded, "como?" Lyle turned to me and said, "Mom, she said it's ok if I go to the beach but I should not get in the water."

Rick and I are coming along nicely, but Lyle is rocketing along.

Futbol with 5 year olds!

2009-01-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

The kinder hosted a futbol turny today at the campo and about fifty 4-6 year-olds took part in the national sport, soccer or futbol.

Lyle had a grand time first running after the ball and second as the goalie. I have no idea where he learned the rules of soccer but he knew not to pick up the ball, when the tall guy with the whistle blew the whistle it was time to stop kicking the ball and the point was to kick the ball between the goals.

His team managed to score and as goalie he blocked a dozen goal attempts.

All in all very cute to watch.

Cállete perro! Sounds of La Manzanilla

2009-01-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

It’s 9:00 pm and I’m rocking to the grooves of some techno trash music…as I sitting in our apartment. It’s coming from the neighbor’s house behind us. These neighbors have a cacophony of sounds emanating from their location.

Around 6:45 am the music starts, usually not very loud, and I find it pleasant.

We return from dropping Lyle at school around 9:15 am. That’s when the pet bird starts doing its thing. The parrot whistles, like the whistle steelworkers give to passing women. Then when he’s bored of that he switches to his cat imitation and begins meowing loudly.

Around 10:00 am the family leaves the house for the day….but they leave a big black dog tied on very short rope in the backyard. Our bedroom/office window looks down into their backyard. 10:10 am the dog starts barking.

My husband and then spend the next two hours taking turns going over to the window and yelling, “callete perro!” in between conference calls and emails, that is.

12:00 we pick Lyle up from school, neighbors come home for the afternoon meal, dog stops barking and music comes back on.

Oh- it’s 9:15 pm and all is quiet.

Wow, we've been busy

2009-01-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

Just realized it’s been almost month since I posted. Lyle’s last day of school was Dec. 19 and the following Monday we left for San Miguel and Guanajuato for 10 days, returned to make an offer on a house, I started Spanish lessons, work ramped back up, Lyle started back to school, VisitLaManzanilla.com (that’s me) is working on the 2nd La Manzanilla Art Walk and Friday I poured wine at a gallery opening and it’s January 10th!

If you get a chance go to San Miguel and Guanajuato, both lovely colonial cities with lots to see and do, churches, artisans, museums and Mexican history.

Want stress? Buy a house in Mexico.

Want to get to know the locals? Take Spanish, oh but I forgot about the studying part. So and hour class and 2 hours of studying- I’ll keep you posted about how it goes.

Want to get to know the gringa locals? Work on the Art Walk- Talk about personalities and opinions. Good grief, it’s an afternoon of walking around and looking at art. Let’s not take ourselves too seriously.

Ok- I have to go and help cook dinner!

It's Pinata Time!

2008-12-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

Last week at 4:00 all the mommy's and 2 daddys got together to make pinata's. Lots of laughing (at us from the moms) as Rick and I cut, wrapped, glued and fringed our first pinata.

We used glue but many moms brought the traditional paste made from flour and water.

There is also a trick to cutting and crepe paper, luckily we had a lesson on the art of cutting from one of the moms, or we could have ended up with a, "feo pinata."

The moms were talking, (very fast), laughing and "complaining" about making the pinatas but they seemed to really enjoy themselves. Start to finish it took Rick and I nearly 2 hours to finish!

Colima for the weekend- some culture -oh my!

2008-12-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

We went to Colima for the weekend. Wow, I was so excited to find bookstores, library and museums! We’ve lived in La Manzanilla for 2 months and it was such a treat to have all these “city” benefits.

Each night Thursday-Sunday there is free music or dance in the main plaza so we enjoyed a classical music concert and a performance by the local dance folkloric dance troop.

With a 5 year old you never really know how the day is going to go, but we did manage to visit one museum and as luck would have it- luck is on the side of the best prepared – my husband always says- there was a preschool group visiting the museum and they were getting a hands on demo of the art of clay figure making. Lyle spent 30 mins with the class making clay figures and left with a clay whale and snake. It was the highlight of his weekend. When the demo was done he asked the teacher- A donde van, puedo ir con ustedes? “Where are you going, can I go with you?” Part of me thinks he needs a sibling- but that’s another post!

Highly recommend Colima, it's beautiful!

Vive La Revolution- and Papa's too!

2008-11-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

Thursday Nov 22 we celebrated Revolution Day here in La Manzanilla. All the school kids participated in a parade and ended up in the central square (jardín), where they did various dances ranging from waltzing to hip hop.

As part of my PTA duties I got up at 6:30 am that day and walked over to Lupita's restaurant and started making taco's with 3 other moms to sell at the festival. All the money raised from the sale of tacos went to the kinderschool.

Bottom line is I need to get a Spanish tutor! One of varieties of tacos we were assembling was a mixture of chorizo and potatoes. So, potato in Spanish is papa and daddy is Spanish is papá. Imagine the laugh the other mothers hand when I asked how much we sell the chorizo and papá (chorizo and daddy) tacos for.

Here are some pictures of the kids on parade.

Hey, I'm not on vacation!

2008-11-14T19:41:00.000-08:00

My great friend of nearly 20 years just came to visit my here in lovely La Manzanilla.

Guess what? This is my life and I’m not on vacation. She asked me how much money she should bring. I told her she couldn’t possibly spend more then $25 a day. I buy a ¼ kilo of tortillas every other day, a few eggs, some cheese, fruits, and vegetables every day, eat out at the taco stands a couple nights a week, drink a beer or two every night, no more than $25 a day.

WRONG! When you’re on vacation you drink margaritas at the beach, snack on shrimp ceviche, and have eggs Benedict at Café Risa. - $25 a day ain’t gonna cut it. Who knew?

And, we have school, homework, oh and did I mention I work! It was a great visit but I have a lot of catching up to do.

Duh, when people come to visit they are coming for a vacation. Not sure why I didn’t get that…but now I do.

Presidential election from 2200 miles away

2008-11-03T17:43:00.000-08:00

This is like an out of body experience.

I've been through enough elections in my life to understand what is happening on the US airways at this moment. The talking heads of CNN and Fox news are like rabid dogs in frenzy over exit and early return polling, commercials are full of negative ads and the candidates are running to every state with any electoral vote that might be sitting on the fence.

But I’m in La Manzanilla….and we don’t have a TV. It is so strange, it’s so quiet here.

I’ve already cast my vote, thanks to the mail in ballot and a husband who had to return to Denver for a few weeks.

I guess on Wednesday I’ll just fire up my computer and google the election results. Until then…did I mention it’s quiet here?

Saturdays La Manzanilla Style

2008-10-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

We were walking home along the beach yesterday in the late afternoon and the fishermen were out in force. Some leaving by boat and some walking along the shore with net in hand.

North along the La M anzanilla is still undeveloped, there are a couple of campgrounds and some beautiful beside lots for sale. We have some friends who have a trailer under a palapa on the north end of the beach. It's very basic but lovely. We've gotten into the habit of hanging out with them every Saturday.

It's great because they have a son Lyle's age, so they spend the day eating coconuts, climbing trees and playing in the ocean.

PTA meeting in La Manzanilla

2008-10-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

It's the same everywhere. I went to my first PTA today. Last year it was a playset for the Kinder, this year it's a sun shade because the dang playset gets so hot the kids are burning themselves when they try to play on it.

We need $4000 pesos for the materials and then the parents need to build it. $4000 pesos, approximately $400 USD. Last year for the Denver International School it was $30,000 USD for a bus.

Sunshade or bus, doesn't matter it all equals fundraising. So, the parents have donated items for a yard sale, there is a movie planned and we all have to sell 3 tickets and donate food or drink to sell at the movie, there is halloween party, a dance in the jardin and few other activities planned to raise money.

After the meeting, conducted under a palapa in the sweltering heat, I approached the "PTA President" you can always tell which mom is the head mom even if you only understand 60% of what was said. So, I approach her, say in my broken Spanish that I know we need money and I know there is work to do so please just tell me what to do!

Come see me Tuesday, in front of the Kinder, where I will be setting up and selling other peoples junk trying to raise money.

I've been on a nonprofit board and headed the pr and marketing committees for various Denver nonprofits, and I have a handful of nonprofit clients, I'm not stranger to fundraising. $30,000 or $400, in the big picture funds is funds!

Mom, this is harder than I thought it would be...

2008-10-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

Words from a 5 year old who Monday came home from the Kinderschool with a fat lip and yesterday came home with a small, but still bloody, cut on his head due to a rock throwing incident.

Prior to our move here, Lyle was at The Denver International School in the Spanish program. Full immersion, led teacher from Spain and only spoke Spanish and French, assistant from Mexico, 14 kids in the class, all the kids native English speakers.

The kinderschool here in La Manzanilla has 3 classes of 30 kids each, one teacher per classroom and no one speaks English.

When I asked the teacher about Lyle's fat lip she remarked that it was probably an insect bite. Lyle later told me it was from getting punched in the mouth.

When I asked Lyle about the rock incident he said after the boy hit him with the rock one of his friends went and told the teacher about it. I asked Lyle, "what did the teacher do?" - it's hard to get exact details from a 5-year-old- but my conclusion is the teacher did nothing.

Poor kid says to me, "Mom, this is harder than I thought it would be." I just burshed it off and told him, not to worry and to just ignore those mean boys, but inside my heart is breaking for him.

I'm sure in a month or so he'll have the lay of land and a better command of the language.

La Vena- Playa Los Angeles Locos

2008-09-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

This Sunday our landlord, at the lovely Jardines Tropicales, invited Lyle and I to go with he and his partner to La Vena. La Vena is a beach about 25 mins of La Manzanilla. You take the exit for Los Angeles Locos and follow it to the end of the road.

The beach here is gorgeous! The water is crystal clear, a river meets the ocean in this lovely spot. You’ll find lots of small shells on the beach and a small outcrop of rocks provides some interest if snorkeling is on your agenda.

Lots of locals in the water but I wouldn't go too far up the river, it quickly turns to mangrove and that means you could, theoretically, meet a cocodrillo. The water is moving pretty fast, not a favorite of cocodiles, but something to ponder.

The locals say two more weeks of heat in La Manzanilla!

2008-09-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

So, I wouldn’t call it “sweltering”, well ok maybe today I’d call it “sweltering
I checked the weather and it reported 94 degrees, feels like 101, that was at about 3:00.

I’ve been working in my landlord’s outdoor kitchen so I can be as close as possible to the wireless router. It’s a pretty great “office”, nice concrete breakfast table to work at, on the second level so it’s breezy and I can reach out and grab a mango off the tree if I want. But alas, I had the ceiling fan and a standing fan both going and I was still sweating.

The locals say only 2 more weeks of heat!

Our routine is to hit the beach everyday around 6:00 for the cool breeze and sunset. It’s a nice routine, the water is very warm but cooler then the air, the rocks washed up during the rainy season are settling back into the ocean and the long flat, clean beach is on it’s way back.

At sundown- around 8:30 we make our back to the apartment, have a shower, snack and then off to bed. It’s now 10:00 PM- I have a fan about 3 ft from me, my hair in a pony tail, a beer on my desk….and I’m sweating. Oh well, what’s a couple more weeks!

Tipping the police in Mexico

2008-09-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

After 5 days in the car we are here in La Manzanilla. Crossing the border was easy, took about 40 mins and the border patrol guy insisted on filling out the paperwork. We crossed the border and made it Navajoa the first day.

We were feeling so smug that we decided to start out very early in the next morning (just before daylight), get a head start and all.

We completely forgot that we are driving a white subaru with a thule on top that just scream's, "tourist". Not 5 mins out of the hotel parking lot and the lights of a police car are behind us, we pull over, cop walks up and say's "hola", shakes my husband's hand, smiling and tells us we ran a light, and then says, "un ticket you pay $300 dollar and bye, bye." We start protesting that we don't have $300 dollars, he comes back with "$200 dollar and bye, bye", we continue the protest and finally he agrees to "$100 and bye, bye."

So we pay the "ladron" and are on our way, upset and $100 poorer...here's the kicker, 5 mins later we get pulled over by another one!

At this point I'm mad, the cop walks over, friendly, hola, handshake, starts down the "too fast" line of bullshit and I start yelling that we just got pulled over and the other guy took ALL our money. The cop is looking at me like I'm crazy and my poor husband is now offically upset. The cop waves me off and walks back to his car and other cop gets out. I tell him the same story, "we were JUST pulled over and the other guy took ALL our money." He smiles and say's no problem, steps away and waves us off. Rick and I wondered if maybe they share the take?

The lesson here, no need to get upset. Be friendly, negoicate down as much as you can, keep smiling, pay the ticket and move along.

The next day we felt better about it all, enjoyed the last day's drive and arrived saftely in La Manzanilla to a beautiful day, sunny, not too hot, nice breeze.

I have a Facebook page-who has time?

2008-09-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

Ok- so due to a work thing my research lead me to a facebook page I wanted to view, only catch was I had to sign-up, become a member, whatever it is. So I fill out the information and low and behold there are several people from my high school who are facebook members. So of course I invite them to "become my friends", then they respond inviting me into their inner circle so I view their pages, send comments, update my page....good god, who has time to blog, facebook, move to La Manzanilla, work, call your mom because she thinks moving to Mexico is like moving to the darkside of the moon, and all those other things that make up a life!

BTW- I have a meeting with a client tomorrow at 10 and then we are packing up the subuaru and driving out of town.

Two more night in the US and the Mexico all the way baby!

Hang time

2008-09-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well everything is a blur. I had to fly to Seattle due to a death in the family. I left Friday night and Rick had to meet with the renters on Saturday morning to turn over our house. Unfortunately they did not arrive together so Rick had to go over everything twice. Then he had to move into short-term housing.

I just got back to Denver last night. It's Tuesday and we are trying to work in what is basically a glorified hotel room. With only 4 more days until take off it's drag to be in this limbo.

We plan to pack-up on Friday- need to go back to the house and get everything out of the garage. I kept adding things to "go to Mexico" pile and I'm not exactly sure what will and won't fit into the Subaru and Thule. We are trying to concentrate on our office equipement, books and supplies for Lyle, medication we might have trouble finding, a few clothes, not like you can't buy most things in Mexico.

Book Club in La Manzanilla!

2008-09-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to report that there are plans for a book club in La Manzanilla! I've been lamenting the lose of my book clubbers here in Denver, although I think I've convinced them to come down to La Manzanilla for a visit. Seven days and counting until the 5 day drive south. It's cold and raining here in Denver, and hot and muggy in La Manzanill.

Looking forward to seeing the new road into town.

3 weeks until the La Manzanilla move

2008-08-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've been thinking a lot about writing but alas I've been too busy! Only 3 weeks and we will be leaving Denver for La Manzanilla. We've taken our house off the market and have found renters. Not the ideal situation as the money from the house sale was supposed to be what we were going to use to build the La Manzanilla house. Guess we will just rent for awhile and see how things go.

Lyle is all set for school thanks to my friend Maggie from the Alegria Language Institute, she sent me all the paperwork and thanks to email we were able to get all the necessary documentation to the school.

We've decided to take the tried and true Nogales route along the coast to La Manzanilla. El Paso seemed just a little too adventurous i.e. dangerous of a crossing.

Still trying to get the php side of the VisitlaManzanilla.com website up and running so that the site has some additional functionality.

Denver is hosting the Democratic National convention this week. We are going to try to go and see Obama's acceptance speech on one of the many giant screens around town on Thursday.

Streets Paved in La Manzanilla

2008-07-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, I just received an email from Paul Zúñiga with the attached photos! I can't believe it, the roads are actually being paved. I recall in 2007 when we were in La Manzanilla there was talk of paving and from what I gather the talk had been going on for some time. So let's see Paul identified this area as by the crocs, so that means they would turn south and have about 5 or 6 "blocks" to get to the jardin (garden) and that would get the main part of town.

Wonder what the plan is and how far they are thinking of going. This is all very exciting.

Book Club in La Manzanilla

2008-06-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to my monthly book club meeting. I love my book club, I've been with this group for nearly 7 years now. The members are great and interesting people, working, raising kids, married, divorced, retired.

We have a few rules:

Anyone who suggests a book must have already read it. We had a couple of disasters early on with reading a book based on a book review and the entire group hated it.

We talk about life and catch-up with each other for the first half hour and then we talk about the book. Sometimes get back to the catching up pretty quickly. But not always. The Book Thief was a long and interesting discussion as was Infidel.

We have lots of wine.

We've tried downloading discussion questions to facilitate the discussion, that rarely works for us.

Most of the members HATE to read non-fiction, this causes a little bit of strife but we work through it.

Did I mention the wine?

I'm really going to miss these monthly meetings!

I'll have to get a book club going in La Manzanilla

Ah, but it won't be the same....

Why leave the US for La Manzanilla- Living abroad is not for everyone.

2008-06-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

Why, why, why? My parents think it's because we hate the US. My husband and I have traveled enough to understand the blessing of being born in the US. My hope is that the US reaches its full potential, I believe we have a long way to go but I also believe we have the ability to get there.

A few weeks ago I was reading my favorite column from the Sunday Wall Street Journal- For Love or Money. If you are not familiar with it I recommend it, he writes about family money issues such as, Should you give your kids money for good grades, The importance of understanding your future partner's spending habits.

Anyways the author had just been giving the chance to move to Hong Kong and work as a foreign correspondent. You can see the full article here

He talks about giving his kids the chance to view the world as more then just vacation destinations. The chance for his wife to spend more time with the kids and just a different life then the one they have in the US- and their in the US is great as you know if you've ever read his column. It really resonated with me, so I sent it to all my friends and family.

The next week, after returning from an apartment hunting trip, they had a change of heart. No move.

Leaving the US- especially as a working family with school aged kids is not for the faint of heart!

I'm glad our process to move to La Manzanilla was nearly two years in the works and that we've spent enough time there to understand what it is we are getting into....to a degree! More on that later.

Only 3 more months until the move to La Manzanilla

2008-06-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

Ok- now I'm starting to get freaked out. Only 3 more months until the move to La Manzanilla and we still are working on our bathroom remodel, I've just taken on a new client (what am I thinking?) and we have just now started going through our "stuff" to decide what gets sold, stored, tossed or makes the trip south.

Wow- we have a lot of stuff. I'm amazed, 5 years ago we moved into this house after spending a year traveling around the world with nothing but a couple of backpacks. We sure managed to accumulate a lot "stuff" in 5 years. Of course having a 5 year-old son increases your collection of things!

I think to myself- well if I don't want to take it to La Manzanilla then is there really any need to keep it? Certainly photo albums and meaningful mementos of our travels and family we will store, but do I really need 5 serving dishing, 3 sets of dinner plates, 7 sets of sheets, a litany of wine glasses- for both red and white, 5 different fry pans....you get the idea.

Part of the reason to move to Mexico is to reduce and use less.

Ok- back to sorting through all the stuff.

Something New in La Manzanilla

2008-06-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

Ok- This is my first attempt at blogging. Just giving it at test. Thinking about adding it to my website www.VisitLaManzanilla.com.

We are getting ready for a big life change, moving to La Manzanilla Mexico. Along with my husband and 4 year-old son we are heading south, we'll be building a house, Lyle will be starting school, we'll all be working on our Spanish.

Biggest question we get is, "why." My answer, "why not."