Swine Flu

We received calls yesterday from both sets of my parents. I hope I have put your minds to rest. We are fine. We'll be staying home more, (if that's possible), and we'll be giving up our new Sunday ritual of breakfasting in Isla Paraiso at a little rinky-dink place called "Letys". Cheap and good and last Sunday while waiting for breakfast, we joined a large family watching a tv movie right there in the restaurant. We were laughing right along with them as the movie chimp, all dressed up in mexican garb, (sombrero and poncho), took a wrong flight and ended up in Colorado instead of south of the border. Just plain simple fun. It's the kind of stuff that makes you feel good. We've had lots of those moments lately. ANYWAY--

I also read that our State Government is monitoring our borders and checking everyone coming into Colima. Needless to say, we're not too worried and will take every precaution. So, don't worry.

Lost Puppy With New Home

This is for Anna G.

This is "Rey" (pronunced "ray") which means King in English. After talking with our nice neighbor, Luly, and after much talking with other people, we thought we might know who his family was. But, sadly that wasn't the case, and so we needed to keep him at our house. He is much bigger than our doggy and still likes to play like a puppy, and Ratzo was getting very nervous and upset. She's little and chubby and is not used to big dogs. This morning, with the help our our buddy Carlos, we were able to find a nice young family that wanted Rey. They live right down the street. This makes me very happy as a big doggy in the house is too much for us, and Rey has a very big bark. It is super, super loud!! This is not a good thing since Aunt Maria and Uncle Bob need to work from home.

We will be taking Rey to the Vet tomorrow to have his ears cleaned and then back to his new family.

Hey, Little Bro- so nice to hear from you. XX M&B

Lost Puppy

This past Wednesday, our family grew by one more.
I spotted a dog in the neighborhood since the weekend, sniffing around they way dogs do, and walking seemingly with a purpose. This guy seemed to be pretty much a loner.
By Tuesday afternoon, after a grocery shopping trip to Tecoman, I spot him again in front of the house, limping now and pretty exhausted. I run downstairs as we have cans of dog food out and ready to put in the car to feed the various hungry dogs we see now and then. So I grab a can, and run out to the street, and he's already passed, but he turns around to look at me and must smell the food. I use my high pitched doggy voice on him and he slinks over to me, and a foot away, flips over on his back and cries. Well... that just broke my heart. He ate 2 cans of Pedigree, a cup of kibble and drank some water. Now, I've fed other dogs before and they just move on. Not him. He was so tired that he plopped down in the shade behind the van out front.
Then, I was able to check him out. He's a rather large pup, has a lot of German Shepard in him, but he's a sweetheart. He looked a little beat up, was pretty smelly, and I noticed had a nasty wound on his left back paw. This dog was in distress.
Bob and I decide that the right thing to do is get him to the vet in Armeria. I call to let them know we're on the way. The Vet isn't there until Thursday, but I tell Assistant Veronica to check him out, attend his wounds, bathe him, and she says to return the following day. I go to pick him up on Wednesday afternoon, and he's looking better. BUT again I get stuck holding the pup so she can inject an anti-inflammatory. (He and I both yelped.)
I got him home, he immediately knew to go out back to do his business, and then he cried and cried out by the front gate. He would not come inside. We picked him up twice to bring him inside, and he'd go back out whining. Not even a nice meal would entice him in.
Now, my thinking all along is that some family left him behind from the weekend. I don't claim to know every dog in Cuyutlan, but I do get around town enough, and I certainly know the dogs that live in our area. I am almost positive I saw this pup out on the dunes over the weekend with a family. AND--- Sunday, I did see a family pulling out from the beach in a dark SUV and a dog running along side down towards town that looked a lot like this pup. (In case you're wondering... yeah, we have binoculars...) Anyway---I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.
Finally, we got him settled in for the night. He had a nice dinner, Bob shut the gates, I pulled out a comforter, and he slept downstairs and very soundly. I woke up a couple of times during the night to check on him, and he was sleeping like a baby.
Yesterday, he seemed a little better. And he finally ventured upstairs to hang out with us. He's still a little sad, he likes to sleep on his back, he likes to be petted, and he likes to lick people. AND--He and Ratzo have obviously been talking. When I'm in the kitchen, so is Ratzo. Well, yesterday, he joined Ratzo. I turn around and those two are sitting up at attention, side by side, just watching me. Oh brother. So I give each one a hot dog so they'll get lost, and then I realize how stupid that was...So, now I have two kitchen moochers.
Anyway, I took him back to the Vet last night, he got another shot, which the Vet took care of as I walked around the corner. The Vet agrees that he was not a homeless dog, that he may have been abandoned or may live in town, that there's no way of knowing. He's maybe 18 months. His foot wound is healing, and now he also has a terrible ear infection, so I will be back at the Vet Sunday morning as they will need to put him to sleep to clean his ears. He'll also be starting parasite treatment.
I've decided when his foot is healed enough, I will take him to the little Abarrote store in town and speak to the Owner who we call, "Don Perro". If anyone would know if this pup is local, it'd be him. I figure that if the pup does have a family here in town, we must give him back, and I'm prepared to do so. If not, we'll keep him and look for a family that might want to make him part of their family.
Well, he slept upstairs on his comforter last night. Again, he slept very well as I spied on him twice last night. Now---Ratzo seems to be handling his arrival quite well. She's not overjoyed, but she tolerates him and even shows concern when he cries. She did throw a hissy-fit when she saw him get into the car with me and she was left behind. But, she's our girl, and no one can replace her.
I will post a photo of him shortly. Later...

The Beginning of the End

This morning's photo made me sad.

I'm told that the real craziness is over. The hoards of campers have left, for the most part. The main exodus started Saturday late afternoon as the countless buses started pulling out of town.

ANYWAY, to continue... We strolled down to the malecon and beach early Saturday afternoon to check out the crowd.

This shot was taken looking back towards the house from the street. These neighbors were the best! They did not leave any trash when they pulled out on Sunday. They were a large family, including three dogs, and I even spotted Grandma holding the family bird.

This playa photo was taken about 4pm on Sat.

With the beach so crowded, Bob and I walked down to the Salt Museum. Real cool stuff in there, lots of history of the founding of Cuyutlan, the tsunami of the 1930's, and of course, the processing of salt. I even bought a bag of their salt, as a little pinch, goes a long, long way.

Thankfully, the beach clean up has started. What a mess, everywhere !!

This weekend will be busy but not crazy. Maybe we'll get some wave time in finally.

Later.

Invasion of the Campers

By Tuesday 4/7, we had some serious new arrivals in town. Eventually, the entire beach for as far as we could see would be jammed packed with campers. This is just to the east of the terraza looking towards town.

This is the beach just to the east of the house. The little building was being dolled up to provide banos,(restrooms). Ratzo and I strolled in there just before our PV trip. What a mess it was. This family built their own little brown wood home and worked day and night . They even rigged up electricity. Pretty amazing.

Then early Wednesday morning about 4:45 am, I'm blown out of bed by some awful noise. I walk out to the terraza and spot several buses parking along the road just in front of the house, to the side of the house, up the next half block from the house, and vacationers pouring out. They were an excited and noisy bunch unloading supplies, tents, food, etc. I just kinda sat there watching this all remembering back to my Spring Breaks in Daytona Beach and
thinking what all those retirees must have thought about a bunch of crazy, drunken teenagers invading their quiet hamlet for weeks at a time.

Well, I run hot and cold all the time, and by Thursday afternoon, my rose-colored glasses came off, and I'd had it with all the noise. It was continuous and started at first light and lasted until dark. The biggest offenders were the loud-speaker vendors: the bread man,(three different ones); the mattress man; the fish man; the circus promotions man; the tamale girls; the ice cream man and a few others I'm sure I've forgotten. I had to shut myself in the office with all the windows closed to work, and I could still hear the ruckus. AND THE BUSES AND PEOPLE KEPT COMING.

The evenings were filled with loud music assaulting us from from various locations. Friday night, I was awake at 3am, and music was still blaring from somewhere near the malecon.

Here's an idea at what our street looked like on Thursday afternoon. You can see on the bottom left our light blue & white balcony which comes off our bedroom.

Look at who else decided to join the festivities... This was taken right outside the front gate. She hung around all Thursday afternoon.

There is an end to all this, though it was hard to imagine by Saturday morning, all bleary-eyed and in a rockin' bad mood. That's later...

The Calm Before the Storm

This was taken Sunday 4/5 at sunset. We decided to head down to the Posada Del Sol for shrimp, with Ratzo in tow. All was good in our world. Doesn't get any better than this...

Semana Santa-The BEGINNING

For several weeks, we'd noticed the town gearing up for Semana Santa, (Holy Week, Easter Break, Spring Break, etc...). Store fronts were opening up along the main road in that never were, lots of cleaning up around town, lots of activity... I thought, Hum, what's all this about?
Well, no one prepared us for what was to come.

Sunday, 4/5 was another beach day for us, although we noticed more people in town and a few clusters of tents right on the beach. What fun to camp out on the beach for a few days, I thought. (I have wonderful memories of camping out in Red Rock Park with Bob, Freddy, and our dear friend, Dei.)

Also, the Government decided that more lifeguards needed to be stationed along the beach for the upcoming week and their numbers rose from four to maybe 24. I guess lots of people were expected in town for a few days, and I've always felt more lifeguards were needed on the weekends anyway.

This photo was taken early Saturday morning , 4/4 from the terraza. You can just spot a few tents and virtually no activity. We wouldn't see this peaceful sight for many days.

By Sunday, 4/5 more people were arriving and setting up housekeeping on the beach. I'm talking large families, many with their pets.

Even the Coast Guard was out. (I think this is a Coast Guard Cutter). They patrolled up and down the beach just behind the breakers for several days.

Three new lifeguard recruits: Mariano; our friend, Carlos; and Huesos, (Bones).

Even The Marines patrolled up and down the beach daily.

Like I mentioned, we weren't prepared for what followed.

The Puppy Mill Man

THIS POST IS FOR ADULTS ONLY:

So, I'm blown out of bed Monday morning at about 4:40am hearing puppies crying. I was up and out so quickly; ran to the terraza and told whoever was outside causing all the commotion to leave. I look over to my right under the street lamp, and I see a van and two guys. I hear puppies crying so I run downstairs and outside only to find several puppies on the ground, their "owner" glaring at me and some stupid SOB grabbing the puppies off the ground any way he can and throwing them up into a cage on top of the van, one puppy on top of another. There must have been about 40-50 puppies in all. I pick up a little bitty pup and ask how old they are. "Six weeks", Puppy Mill Man says. Bullshit, I think. Some barely have their eyes open. Then he says, "We sell very cheap for you, $1500 pesos..." (Well, that may be cheap for a pedigree pup as all of them were, but I'm sure they're probably sick, and I KNOW they are mistreated.) I say no and hand the puppy I'm holding back, and I tell these creeps to move on, that we're trying to sleep. (Actually, I wanted them out of my sight because I wasn't sure I wouldn't run upstairs to our bedroom for our wooden bat.) Well, then to make a point, Puppy Mill Man picks up a pit bull pup by the neck, the puppy cries out, and PMM slaps the baby on the neck. I had to walk away or else.
And then the following morning, I'm walking Ratzo, and I spot PMM down across from Luly's house, about 2 blocks towards town. I am recognized by the prick who was throwing the puppies in the cage. He gives me a third degree stare, and I stare right back.
You can't intimidate me, you pig. F U

(This is my third draft of this post. Bob suggested some editing was required as the original was liberally peppered with the F word and read very angry. I personally like my original better than this watered down version.)

Ratzo's Recovery

No pics from Dad & Wanda worth showing from PV. I look like a crazy goose, and Bob looks like something out of The Old Man and The Sea.

Here's Ratzo after her surgery. Pathetic and a tummy full of infection. She was at the vet for 5 days and after our return, she got 5 days of antibiotic shots. I took her for the first round of shots, and that was my last time. I asked Bob to do the rest as her yelps were too much for me.

Here she is...so yucky and

listless. Thankfully, a week later, she was like the same ole Ratty, a little more obnoxious, and with even more of an appetite. The vet said that she is very spoiled. How'd that happen???

On to the next...

Puerto Vallarta Part 1

We left for PV early Sat, 3/21. I prefer to drive as the time seems to pass more quickly- and it did, although it took us almost 6 hours as we got stuck behind a military transport hummer and a bus. For the most part, it's an easy drive on a two lane road, lots of curves and up and downs so it's not real easy to pass the person in front unless you have a straight shot. We voted for arriving in one piece. Once we got into PV, we drove in circles looking for the hotel. After some sniping at each other, Bob jumped into a cab and I followed. We were probably three blocks away.

We stayed across from Dad and Wanda at Dona Susana, an all-adult boutique hotel. It was lovely, quiet, and had a great roof-top pool. Our room was rather small and the bathroom, teeny-tiny. Yet it worked for us, and the best part was it had a kick-ass air-conditioner. My best sleeps are in chilly temperatures; Bob not so much. He thought it felt below zero. My thinking is you can always pile on more blankets, there's only so much you can take off. (My husband is so good to me.)

We spent lazy days on the beach. One of us would head down early am and scope out the perfect spot to plant our chairs and umbrellas. The added bonus to being the early birds is the empanada man starts cruising the beach at 8:30 am. We would snack on big flaky pastries filled with spinach/cheese, chicken/potato, ham/cheese, apple, apple/cheese, chocolate and many others. We're serious about our empanadas, and he knew it as he'd hit us again around mid-day.

We met a mother and daughter duo from Minnesota, I think. Yvette and Stephanie were a constant source of entertainment, especially daughter, Steph. This girl is in her early thirties, totally uninhibited, really lives each moment to the max. What you see is what you get with Stephanie, no game-playing, just pure going for the gusto, and a not a mean bone in her body.

(How nice it must be to feel so free and be so honest. I'd like a little bit of that myself.)

We had some great food. My favorite outing was to Marazul for dinner. It's a big, upscale palapa-style restaurant just a block down the beach. Boy!! the food was fabulous, and the service was impeccable. I don't know how Dad and Wanda do it. They always find that one fabulous restaurant where the Manager comes out to talk with us, and sends us complimentary desserts and drinks, and where the service staff treats us like VIPs. We had a table overlooking the ocean, and I caught a picture of this sunset.

Dad and I also ordered each a Herradura Anejo after dinner. Check out this presentation. The tequila is sitting in the chilled round bowl, accompanied by a sangrita, salt, limes and a jalapeno. It was smooth. This was not the rot-gut stuff you slam with a beer chaser. Excellent choice, Dad.

We headed out Tuesday morning. I always get real sentimental when I have to say goodbye to D&W. The drive home was quiet and quick.

Also--I had a lot on my mind, primarily Ratzo and her surgery. We wouldn't see her until Wednesday late afternoon.

That's next post.

Thanks for another excellent vacation Dad and Wanda. We love you.