Traveling to Guadalajara, Mexico

Well we are on the move again. We just got back from a week in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was our first trip to a big city on the mainland. Guadalajara is the second largest city in Mexico. We went with our neighbors, Pete and Trudy, who live across the street from us here in Cabo. The trip was to celebrate Trudy's 60th birthday. We've grown quite close to them over the past year. They have helped us with adjusting to life here in Cabo. They have lived here seven years but are originally from Longview, Washington. So, technically we were neighbors when we both lived in the Northwest.

Here are some of the highlights to our trip:

 

Here we stand in front of Los Arcos de Guadalajara. The arch above reads:
Guadalajara capital of the Kingdom of New Galicia founded in this place on 14 February 1542.

 

This statue of Minerva (a Roman goddess) is surrounded

 by the Agave Cactus used in making Tequila.

 

 

Outside this cathedral the local venders set up their tables to sell jewelry,

scarfs, shoes, food and many more things. (This is not like the money

changers in Jesus' day. Just local families trying to capitalize on the tourists)

 

We took a side trip to a town called Tonala. This is where you can buy Mexican

 clothing, pottery, furniture, mirrors, wrought iron, just about anything for your house. 

 

 

We also visited the town of Tlaquepaque (pronounced Ta-lak-a-pakie) which has more upscale shops and restaurants. Many of these buildings were actually the homes of wealthy families which were turned into stores and restaurants. It's a very charming place. They have a pedestrian only street that felt European. Just as we were getting  ready to leave a big thunderstorm started and drenched anyone who was caught off guard by it's quick arrival. (There is a theme here and it's called rain, every afternoon, and lots of it!) 

 

 

We ate dinner at a restaurant in Guadalajara called Santos Coyote that

was a big hit by all but especially with Trudy. It had paintings, sculptures,

art, and many fascinating things to look at. It was like a museum dedicated

to all kinds of spiritual things from the American Indian to Buddha.

 

The food was an experience as well.

 

We ended the meal with cake and a happy birthday song.

 

When we returned to our hotel, we went up on the roof  for some fresh air only

 to be surprised and entertained by a spectacular lightning show that was amazing!

 

The next stop on our journey was to a place called Lake Chapala. It has a very large Canadian and U.S. expat community. What a beautiful place! The weather is moderate and the people are friendly. It's no mystery why so many North Americans call this place home.

 

This is the view from our friends balcony. It rains this time of year so that is why everything is so green. The thunder storms were a sight to see. They rolled over the mountains, onto the lake, back up the mountain lighting up the sky with bolts of lightning and tremendous claps of thunder. We sat and watched the show under the protection of the porch.

 

This was a precious scene. The farmer came to milk

his goats and share the fresh milk with his children.

 

The street market that takes place every Wednesday and Saturday.

Again you can find local food, jewelry, rugs, clothes, art, just about anything.

 

Our last stop was a hacienda style hotel right in the middle of the lake town

 of Ajijic. This is the kind of house you picture living in in Mexico. It was stunning!

 

The walls surrounding the house and courtyard we beautifully landscaped. 

 

The courtyard had many amazing features like the table on the right

 of this picture. It is made from a large tree trunk carved into exotic animals.

 

 

Trudy and I relaxed by the pool and remembered our fun trip. It was very special for all.

 

The close of another adventure...



A little more news...

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I better update you on the "little things" because there isn't much new going on here. The hot and humid summer came to a close around the third week in October. Everyone told us it's like a switch that turns the humidity off. They were right. One day you wake up to find the cool ocean breeze blowing (instead of the warm one) and the temperatures below ninety. Amazing!

We had our first Vancouver visitors (Bill and Joanne). They stayed at their time share but we were able to get together a few times during the week. They invited us to share their fresh catch (6 Dorado fixed 5 different ways) at their hotel restaurant. There was enough fish for 30 people. It was a culinary delight. We met the friends they traveled down with (very funny people) also from Vancouver. I think everyone had a great time.

Dinner on our back porch with Bill and Joanne

 

The day before they left we took them to Todos Santos (home of the legendary Hotel California). It's unclear as to whether this is the actual hotel that the Eagles' sing about but the folks in Todos Santos are convinced that it's the one and only!

We lunched at a "hippy" health food restaurant in Todos Santos

Happy couple enjoying Mexico

 

On our way back we stopped to show them a quaint boutique hotel on the beach of Pescadero (a surfer's Paradise). The owner of the hotel started this project as his private residence. Since then he's turned it into a hotel. It's very Mexican.

The Cerritos Hacienda (a luxury boutique hotel)

Northern bungalow's pool view of the Pacific Ocean. 

Bill and Joanne waiting for our fresh margaritas at the Whale Watcher's Bar.

The bartender used fresh limes, fresh oranges, and a splash of Sprite. Yummy!

Three Amigos

Warren and two cool chicas

A view of the front courtyard

 

Where we work and play...

Some of you are wondering what we have been up to lately. Well, really not much. We have been laying low because of the hotter weather and mostly playing golf as our activity. It's a stretch to play in the heat but we ride in a cart and drink lots of water. I thought you might want to see where we work and play so I've decided to include some pictures that show just that. I hope you enjoy.

Warren teeing off at Cabo Del Sol Ocean Course

Looking out to the Sea of Cortez

Beautiful views on the Ocean Course

Hole #17 from the black tees

This is a great beach

Spending time on the Pacific Coast

The weather here has finally gotten hot. Well, relatively hot. It usually starts out around 88 degrees and peaks out around 95-97 degrees. The humidity is around 30% which makes it feel a bit hotter. So recently we had a great opportunity to spend some time on the "cooler" Pacific side of the Baja. Another marshal that we work with at Cabo del Sol, asked us to house sit and dog sit for him while he took a trip to Seattle. His house is located 50 miles north of Cabo heading toward Todos Santos on the Pacific Ocean.This area tends to be 5-10 degrees cooler. It was a nice change.

I've included some photos of this amazing place. It sits right on the ocean. The mornings and evenings were fantastic. Because we are so far out of Cabo the stars were really bright. I walked the beach most mornings with Sofia. She was my constant companion. I couldn't go anywhere without her right at my side. What a sweet girl. The other dog is 14 and does her best but she has a hard time getting around. However, when it's time to eat, she's right there!

Sofia the constant companion

Ruby taking it easy in one of the bedrooms

Originally it was built to be a gourmet cooking school. The wonderful plants that would be part of the fresh cuisine did not do well in the salt sea air. That's not to say that there isn't organic produce near by. In fact Todos Santos has a lot of great local farms. It has a natural water spring that creates a great place to grow produce. Anyway, it was a fun week. The down side was having to drive back to Cabo to do our marshaling duties.

Just one beautiful sunset on the Pacific

The back courtyard

Dining and Living Room

Porch that overlooks the ocean

Sunset viewing and sitting area

More of the courtyard

The view of the Pacific

The gourmet kitchen

One of the 6 bedroom suites

Another thing that happened during this week was the water tank for our rental house, called a pila, started to leak. We had to turn off the water, drain the whole tank, fix the leak with a special concrete, and then fill it back up. This took about 5 days. Fortunately we had a place to stay during this fix. Everything went well until we turned the water back on. To our surprise there wasn't any water. Apparently, the water company periodically turns off the water to a subdivision as their way of conserving water. It is not noticed when you have a full pila tank but when the tank is empty it becomes a big problem. Warren had to order a truckload of water to fill up the 3000 gallon tank. On Monday or Tuesday the water was turned back on and all is well again. Welcome to Mexico!

Electical Storm

I wanted to share some pictures of the electrical storm we experience. I rained off and on for a few hours but the thunder and lightning was spectacular.

It started with big black clouds and lots of thunder

As the storm got closer so did the lightning

This strike was super close! WOW!

Cabo at last!

We just arrived here less than a week ago but I wanted to share some pictures with you. We are settling into our new digs and really enjoying the larger space. Plus it is located near shopping (Costco and Walmart) and right across the highway there's a fitness facility that I joined so I can get my "gym fix". Warren and I are continuing to walk most mornings and have even taken our bikes out for a spin. We need to set our alarm, though, and get going earlier so that it doesn't get too hot for us. So far, we are finding the days on the cooler side. There's been a lot of cloud cover and breeze so it's not gotten over 85 degrees for the last 4 days. We were a little worried when we first arrived because it was in the 90s! There will be plenty of time for that kind of heat, just not yet! Anyway, here are the photos:

This is our view from our back porch.

A trip to an area of San Jose that we haven't been before (great spot).

The front of our little abode.

Dining room

Kitchen (full size oven, yeah!)

Living room

Upstairs powder room

Guest Room (come visit us)

Our bedroom

The back yard

Stair well

The community pool we share with the neighbors

The street we now call home

The little house is a reversed living floor plan where the upstairs has the living room, kitchen and powder room. The downstairs is the two bedrooms and baths and an office space in the entrance. We really like the colors and the decorations. The owners left their artwork which is fun and colorful. The furniture is very comfortable and tastefully done. We've met a few of the neighbors and think that we will be very happy here.

Warren and I are applying for marshalling jobs at the local golf courses so that we can play golf for free (otherwise it's pretty expensive). It's looking pretty promising because most people who do this volunteer job leave for the summer months. It's a way to get our foot in the door and play some great courses that we wouldn't probably play because of the expense. I'll let you know...