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Dec. 13th & 14th
Saturday was another quiet day without much going on. After bringing over Sandy and Cynthia's large umbrella
to see how much shade it would provide, we decided that getting one of a similar size would work. Now we just have to find
a large one of about 10 or 12 ft in diameter.
Cynthia had her first restaurant dinner Saturday night. Chicken tacos.. very good.
Sunday was market day and after getting our supply of fruit and veggies, we looked for Christmas decorations
for a little tree we planned to buy for the motorhome. At another store in El Ranchito we found a small tree
about two feet high that would fit on the steering wheel table of the motorhome. Diane decorated it with the lights and little
bulbs we bought at the market and is going to try stringling sea shells we find at the beach and put them around
the tree for added local color.
Sandy and Cynthia drove up to Manzinillo today to pick up Cynthia's parents who will be here for the next
month or so.
| Little Christmas Tree in the Motor Home |
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Dec. 15th
Our neighbors George and Paulette left this morning after being here since we arrived. They're heading
for Acapulco but may stop here on the way back.
Cynthia's parents didn't arrive yesterday as planned and she and Sandy will be driving up to the Manzanillo
airport tomorrow to pick them up.
The fellow selling fresh shrimp came back to the park today. We bought a couple of Kilos when he was here
a couple of weeks ago and had just about finished them so we were happy to see him again. At 110 pesos per kilo for extra
large shrimp, you can't beat the price. They come with the heads on and fortunately I don't mind cleaning them.
After the manditory beach time with the pups, I got out my drill to put some holes in the sea shells we
picked up along the beach. Diane is making Christmas tree decorations but only about half of the shells survive the drilling
and don't break apart.
Dec. 16th
Today was maintenance day. Seeing that we depend so much on our solar panels, keeping the dust and dirt
off them is important if they're expected to give peek performance. So up on the roof with a bucket of water and soft brush
I went. It's surprising just how dirty they can get just sitting here.
The other component of our solar system is our batteries so their fluid levels need to checked
every month. The four 6 volt batteries needed almost a liter of distilled water.
The Jeep was also overdue for a cleaning. The outside was filthy with dust from the gravel road coming into
the park and the inside was full of sand and water spots from the dogs when coming and going to and from the beach. There's
an Auto Bano in La Placita where they do a great cleaning inside and out for 50 pesos. Can't beat that price.
| Getting the Jeep washed at the local Auto Bano |
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Dec. 17th
Diane and I decided to take a drive to El Faro today. El Faro is a little beach town 14 miles south of Rancho
B. It has a natural break water that provides a small calm bay perfect for swiming as well as launching fishing boats.
We had driven to El Faro a couple of weeks ago but at that time the little river that you need to drive
through to get to the beach was too high. Today however it was low enough to get through.
| El Faro Beach |
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| Natural Break-Water at El Faro |
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| Little Bay at El Faro |
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| Fishing boats on beach at El Faro |
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Dec. 18th
Because of its position relative to the path of the sun, the motorhome gets direct sunlight
coming in under the front of the awning. We had bought some screening material last year with hopes that if it were
extended from the awing tract to the ground it would help shade us. However this only reduced the amount of our pateo
space, restricted our view and really didn't block the sun from coming in under the end of the awning.
Today we had two posts put in the ground 20ft apart and out from the awning with a 4x4 cross piece. After
the concrete holding the posts has set, we'll stretch the screening material from the outer edge of the awning to the 4x4
to increase the shaded area. We hope to solve the problem of the sun coming in and under the end of the awning with a large
beach umbrella. A trip to Teoman tomorrow to the the grocery store will hopefully allow us to find the umbrella we want.
| Posts and 4x4 for awning |
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| Another view of the awning posts and 4x4 |
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| View of the sunset from our site at Rancho B. |
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Dec. 19th
Diane and I took a trip to Tecoman today. We needed to do some shopping at a large super market and I was
also looking for a large umbrella and hammock.
We left the pups in care of Cynthia and were on the road by 10:00am. Cynthia also needed a few things and
gave us a small shopping list.
The first stop was at the ATM in La Placita and while there a person selling hammocks on the side of the
road gave us a price for one but we thought it was kind of expensive and felt we could find a better deal elsewhere.
We found everything we needed at the super market and before leaving Tecoman, stopped at the store that
sold the large umbrellas. They cost 1,250 pesos (about a hundred dollars) but these are the large 10 ft diameter commercial
size that you see at beach side restaurant tables.
On the way home while going through one of the little towns, we also came across another person selling
hammocks and were able to buy a nice one for 150 pesos.
By then we were getting a little hungry but remembered a beach side restaurant we had gone to last year.
We drove to the little beach town (I can't remember the name) where we each ordered a small order of ceviche (marinated
seafood) but the servings were so big, neither of us could finish it.
The pups were glad to see us and because it was so hot we all went to the beach. The afternoon temperatures
have been in the mid 80's lately with lots of sunshine.
For supper we ate at the park's restaurant where Cynthia served a nice chicken dinner.
Dec. 20th
We finished putting our screening material over the patio today and Diane strung lights to make things more
festive. The hammock also got strung and although I was planning to sink a pipe into the ground to act as a sleeve for the
umbrella post, Sandy found a large cable spool that we can use. The spool is better in that we can move it if necessary and
also gives us an additional small table. The wind came up pretty strong today so the umbrella wasn't put up. No use having
a disaster the first day.
Later in the day we looked out on the ocean and saw a pod of whales go by. You could see their big
tails rising out of the water and splashing down. Too bad they were too far out to get any kind of picture.
| The added awning material over the patio |
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| Diane stringing lights |
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| Hammock is put up |
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| Me trying out the new hammock |
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| Me and Hayley |
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| Leo in the flowers |
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