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!
Showing posts with label beach La Manzanilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beach La Manzanilla. Show all posts
Monday, January 10, 2011
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile
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.
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.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Day at the water park
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.
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.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Guadalajara 4, June and Rick ZERO!
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!
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!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Blogging and Playdates.
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!
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!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Holy Guacamole, there are lots of people here!
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, drunk
s 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.
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, drunk
s 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.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Well, what do you know. I'm speaking Spanish.
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."
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."
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturdays La Manzanilla Style
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 Manzanilla is still undeveloped, there are a couple of campgrounds and some beautiful beside lot
s 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.
s 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.
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