PJ & Shelly San Carlos Bound

Christmas decorations do go up and we even got in the spirit stringing lights across the front of the trailer. Shelly made 3 varieties of Christmas cookies, two with Mexican themes; masa shortbread cookies and mexican chocolate spice (these have cayenne, chile, ginger, clove, and cinnamon in them) cookies, and one because she finally got her hands on some lemons (VERY rare in Mexico); lemon refrigerator cookies. It is unusual to see poinsettias along side cactus. We watched the annual boat parade of lights on Christmas eve.

PJ has been going out fishing and has been quite successful - our trailer freezer and portable freezer are now both full of fish; dorado, bonita, yellow tail, and yellow fin. It's a good thing we love fish. On his recent trip he saw a pod of 30-40 whales.

Some friends invite us on a beach picnic to Playa del Sol (south of Empalme) where one of our hosts grew up near and frequently visited with her family. Our hosts are very generous in providing a carne asada taco meal with all the trimmings. They improvise a BBQ on the sand and everything is delicious. There is a shrine to lost fishermen up on the hill above us that we hike to. It is a lovely day.

We drove to Puerta Vallarta the day after Thanksgiving to meet up with Shelly's dad and step mom and friends. It took 10 hours to get to Mazatlan for the first night and then 7 hours to get to Puerta Vallarta the second day. The road tolls are outrageous; 650 pesos on the way down and 900 pesos on the way home. This was our greeting into town when we arrived. We then spent 4 days seeing the town, walking a ton, boondocking on the beach right next to hotel row and not getting hassled, shopping, and drinking; tequila tastings, etc., and eating. These shrimp on a stick were sold everywhere. We also ate at a street hamburger stand where the meat and buns were about 8" in diameter and yummy. Our walking excursions. Puerta Vallarta is all large cobble stone streets, walks and beaches, and hills and it is hard to walk there. At times we had to walk under the streets . The local wildlife; iguanas in trees and the beach crowd. We even found a place to boondock in Mazatlan. Hunter was

For living here For glorious San Carlos sunsets For PJ catching bait fish so he could then catch yellowtail tuna (finally......SUSHI) and Hunter getting his sea legs For PJ catching yellowfin tuna (this time......SASHIMI) For being able to dress like this and have the Jeep top off in late November For Hunter showing us the path up Nacapule canyon For crazy Mexican drivers not hitting us For the local greek restaurant serving traditional American food today; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie.....YUM! HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!

The space shuttle passed right over us this evening. It appeared on the horizon at 6:24 p.m., traveled over our heads, and was out of sight approximately 4 1/2 minutes later. It was a very dim light at first which became larger and brighter with a red hue which then diminished as it got out of reach of the sun's reflection.

Yep, PJ has left Shelly for his 'true' love. It is 4 liters purchased at a wine (liquor) store in Hermosillo and it has not left PJ's side.

The sign on the way into Guaymas indicates that the population is 70,000 people so it is quite a big 'town'. It is now one of the stops on the Holland America cruise line. Here are the locals waiting and watching the departure of the cruise ship from 'town'. The Bellagio Hotel from Las Vegas has infiltrated 'town' as there is now a fountain/light/music show that goes off nightly. The music was the theme from Mission Impossible, Star Wars, and the live version of Hotel California. This is the 'town' square with local vendors.

There will be more added to this list but here it is so far (listed from best to worst). Unfortunately most margaritas here are made with Mexican Controy which is a very sweet orange liquor that comes with a wicked hangover (this is why Shelly's search has been delayed, she can barely stand to drink this stuff). La Generala Fiesta Hotel Bananas Mar de Cortez Los Arbolitos Soggy Peso Froggys Charleys Rock La Palapa Embarcadero San Carlos Plaza Tequilas Marina Cantina Xtreme Sports Bar

Today the deceased are honored and celebrated in Mexico. Families visit cemeteries and party and drink to their loved ones no longer with us. We traveled to Empalme (the next town South of Guaymas) today for their Sunday swapmeet (tiangius). We then headed further South to sightsee and came upon a cemetery. We stopped and took these photos amazed at all the flowers and decorations placed at the tombstones. These three gentlemen approached us, them speaking a little english and us speaking a little spanish, and they were very thankful and grateful that we would take the time to visit their deceased. They had 16 siblings total. They were pounding Tecate beers and introduced us to their children (one had 5 of his own) and they were very proud that their children all spoke some english. These are figurines set up in Guaymas. We then drove back through Empalme and bought a kilo of large blue/white shrimp for 100 pesos (about $8) and 1/2 kilo of white crab meat for 60 pesos (about $5) from t

She is his neighbor and her name is Blackie. She is just a little sweetie and has much of the same mannerisms as Hunter and is just a bit smaller than him. She has been joining us on our morning walks and she responds well to us. She and Hunter follow each other around; sniffing where the other one sniffed and peeing where the other one peed.