BBB at Casa Majahua

The 20th annual Booze, Bears and Broads was held at Casa Majahua from November 11 - 18, 2008! These women are good friends from Pacific Bell and they normally camp... but this year they went international!



Not only did they relax, we did a day trip to Isla Ixtapa with Fred Bouchet of Mero Adventure. We loved it and we love Fred so we highly recomment his trips! Check out his website:
Mero Adventures

Here are some pictures of our trip, which included snorkeling then a lunch on Isla Ixtapa (at a restaurant that will not rip you off!). I highly recommend getting a fresh fish done "a la plancha".

On the road from Troncones, Part II - San Miguel de Allende

Left Mexico City on Monday around 10am and got to San Miguel at 2pm. I booked a room at a very fancy hotel... I decided it would OK to splurge! We ended up changing our room... and our new room was great!

We had a late lunch at the hotel restaurant then took their shuttle into el centro. We walked around for a few hours. What a beautiful city. Pictures speak a thousand words, so here you go.

On the road from Troncones, Part I - Cuernevaca & Mexico City

We left Troncones bright and early on Saturday, September 27th. Denni got her FM3 in the nick of time on Friday... which enabled us to leave.

We got out around 6:45am... and took Hwy 200 South to Acapulco. This road is a 2 lane road through countryside. We didn't have much traffic so that was good! When we got to the outskirts of Acapulco we weren't sure exactly which way to go... but we asked a couple military men and they pointed out the way.

We skirted around Acapulco so we didn't get a chance to see much. We hooked up with the toll road to Mexico City... and then we had a smooth ride (uphill) for 4 hours to Cuernevaca.

Pamen met us at a McDonald's so she could escort us to her house. Her house is great! She had the same architect as Alberto (in Mexico City) ... and he built quite unusual houses! We had an early dinner then went to see the symphony... then drinks at a gay bar in downtown Cuernevaca... then drinks at the Hacienda de Cortes (part of the symphony celebration). Wow, what a beautiful night.

When we got back to Pamen's at 12:35am, we decided to drive to Alberto's in Mexico City. Two hours later we arrived at his palace... or should I say castle? Either way, the place is amazing. It's taken him 12 years to build (and he is still building...).

We all slept in the next day... then Alberto drove us into downtown Mexico City to see the sights. It is a large city... some say the largest in the world (24 million). We walked through a art gallery... walking down old streets... ate tortas and beer at the Salon Corona... walked to the Zocalo... and took the metro back to where we parked the car. Quite a lot in 3 hours!

That night we had friends of Alberto's over for a dinner party. What fun it was to sit around and talk to these wonderful people from Mexico City!

Our last day - Yikes!

Can't believe it. We are leaving tomorrow. There is so much I feel about this moment. Mostly, I feel that I have bonded with our new home... and bonded with the people and culture of Mexico.

We have been frustrated at times... Only because we wanted to do so much and well, time moves a little differently here. But we have worked closely with our electrician, plumber, carpenter (etc.) .. and we understand them more and I believe they have learned a few things from us as well. And we are women! And they listened.

And of course, there are the people we have befriended. Some live here year-round, some are passing through. All are wonderful. Some we'll know for a long, long time.

Since we have two other partners in this property, I put together a list of all we accomplished this summer. I think everyone should do this because even if you feel you didn't get enough done... when you step back and look at what was done... it feels good. Real good.

So now we head to Cuernevaca and Mexico City to visit friends. Then to Austin, TX to visit a friend. Then to Provincetown, Cape Cod for a friend's 5oth birthday. Then back to San Francisco. Whew. We will be back in November with friends so ... I don't feel too sad about leaving.

We'll be back.

Pozole - a must do...

Pozole. If you're in the state of Guerrero on a Thursday night, you should definitely eat Pozole. It's unique to this state in Mexico.

In the Troncones area, our favorite place is a small little restaurant in Buena Vista (turn right just past the first tope). And the tamales there are AMAZING. One tamale costs $12 pesos and Pozole chica (the small one... you don't need the large one trust me!) is $24 pesos. A beer is $12 pesos. So it is a cheap and tasty dinner.

Here are a couple pictures. First of the pozole and fixings (toppings you can add to the pozole... my favorite is lime juice, radish, cabbage and avocado). There are two types of Pozole - Red or White. The red one is spicier (my favorite).

The second is of our group (we've been eating together for the last 5 weeks). We will really miss Pozole!



Posted via Pixelpipe.

Fishing, Snorkeling, Diving - our man Fred!

Juan's brother, Fred, is a tour operator in Zihuatanejo. Check out his website: www.meroadventure.com.

On Tuesday morning, Denni and I got up early, early to meet Fred at his boat at 7:30am at the Zihua pier. We went fishing with Pierre & Gigi (new friends from Ixtapa). We didn't catch any fish but we are definitely looking forward to doing some snorkeling with him when we come back in November!

More critters

Just had to add more pictures of the critters we have seen. Enjoy!

A Housewarming (or should I say Condowarming?)

Juan invited us to a party being held at Pierre & Gigi's new condo in Ixtapa. We don't know Pierre & Gigi but Juan explained that they wanted to meet people... So Juan invited us!

We had a wonderful time and met wonderful people. And their condo is beautiful. So a good time was had by all. Yes, I'm the one looking very Irish and very pink in the front!

Mexican Independence

Mexican Independence Day is September 16th, but most Mexicans start the celebration at midnight (and lead up to that the night before).

We thought our house would be torn up with various projects, but alas, it wasn't. So we had a spur of the moment Mexican Independence party.

It was a potluck... and we thought we'd have about 6 people over... but it turned out to be around 30 people. A third of them were folks who heard about the party day of... and people we didn't know! But luckily, they were very nice and well behaved.

It was a wonderful party and mother nature cooperated. The full moon made a showing! It was so moving, I even swam in the ocean ... at 1am. It was an amazing experience. Here are some photos.

Traditional Mexican Dances

On Sunday, September 14th, Majahua Palms had a fiesta of dancing, eating and drinking. They had a group from Zihuatanejo come and perform traditional Mexican dances. A good time was had by all. They will be having this dancing once a week during the high season. So contact them for more info if you want!

Check out this YouTube video and pictures from the event.

Reflections

Every day is an adventure here. I haven't done a very good job of pointing out what makes this location special. And I mean special in both a good and bad way. The good definitely outweighs the bad. And the bad... I now just laugh at.

For example, yesterday we received a couple of voltage regulators to use with our refrigerator and freezer (both very expensive ... and electrical parts are not covered under warranty... and well, given the issues with electricity here, the repairman highly recommended the regulators).

Denni plugged in one regulator for the frig... and I was in the process of plugging the other one in when I decided to pick up the first regulator ... just to look at it. Well, I had my left hand on the freezer and picked up the regulator with my right hand. In doing this, because the outlet was reverse polarized, my body actually "closed the circuit" and I got a good 110V jolt through me.

I felt the current from my hand through the bottom of my left foot. Not an experience I wish to have again. I must admit, I did curse very loudly once I dropped the regulator. You see, this is the 2nd time I have "caught juice" (as Denni likes to call it). The first time was right after our electrician installed a new metal star light fixture. He was done (and elsewhere) when I wanted to check it out. I turned on the light... very pretty ... then touched the bottom of it to see how much it moved and zzzzzz...another shocking experience. When we brought the electrician back to fix it, he mocked us by holding on to the light himself and saying "What's the problem?".

Luckily his assistant touched it and got the juice as well. I'm starting to think our electrician might not be right in the head for all the juice that has probably gone through him.

So that is the bad. It's like, can't some tradespeople do it right the first time? Or at least, not do it half-assed. I must admit, before living like this (in a new house...figuring out what works and doesn't work)...and really scrutinizing everything every day... I would have never known what I now know about "things". House things. Electric things. Septic things. Water things. Pool things. Bug things. Gas things. Floor finish things. The list goes on and on.

Denni and I are living in paradise but we do obsess over these things.

And to not obsess to the point of frustration, we try to talk with each other about all the good things. And guests and friends who come over remind us of all the good things as well. So by no means do the bad outweigh the good.

What are these good things? Well...

Watching the...
Dragonflies, Praying Mantis, Walkingsticks, Butterflies, Fireflies, Pelicans, Egrets, Herons, Sparrows, Iguanas, Geckos, Burros, Horses, Cows, Dogs, Cats

Admiring the...
Flowers (too many to list), Trees, GREEN hillsides, Shells

Reading in a hammock
Swimming
Eating good food
Listening to music all day (if you want)
Talking with friends about everything

Lastly, everything about...
The SEA
The WAVES
The SUNSETS
The CLOUDS
The PEOPLE

There you go. But alas, I must go now. I need to call the Electrician to come and fix the freezer/frig outlet to be grounded. Ho hum.

The Final Stretch

We're back from our four day shopping trip to Patzcuaro and Morelia. We obtained all of what we needed and ended up with more stuff that we just wanted. So it goes! Denni and I are already planning a return trip before we leave.

Speaking of leaving. We can't believe it's September already. This is our final month at Casa Majahua. It is kinda freaking me out! We had so much we wanted to do while here... and granted we've done a lot ... I just can't get over the feeling that we need to stay to get MORE done!

So it goes...

We will do what we can and also try to remember to enjoy ourselves at the same time. We both agree that we need to remind each other each day to appreciate our beautiful house and more importantly the beautiful surroundings. Mother Nature has not disappointed us this summer. We have seen so much. Amazing sunsets, fierce storms and more incredible, all varieties of flora and fauna.

I will continue to blog if something special happens, but if I don't, you'll know why. We're just busy! Here are some pictures from last night. And speaking of Praying Mantis'... maybe we should have called our house "The House of the Praying Mantis" or "Casa de Mantis Religiosa".

Morelia

We left Patz around 10am on Friday... got here about an hour later. They are that close! Instead of going straight to the hotel, we stopped at Home Depot to get some shopping done. And we did. Shop, shop, shop! I think we are actually getting tired of it. This time, though, it was stuff for our landscape lighting and irrigation projects. Not as fun as art. Ho hum.

We got to our hotel near el centro around 2pm. Wow, it was crazy traffic! And one of the main streets downtown was blocked off for a political rally so we got our first taste of Morelia via sitting in the car. But alas, as soon as we valet parked at our hotel, Mansion San Francisco, we felt much better!



We put our stuff in our room (we got probably the smallest room at the place... we will live... the hotel has a great location and parking ... so more good things than bad) and then we hit the streets. Wow, Morelia is so beautiful. OK I said the same thing about Patz and it is true, they both exude charm. Morelia is just more grand. It has a huge cathedral surrounded by more churches and plazas and colonial buildings... most in a pinkish hue (because of the stone that was used to build back in the 1800´s). It was quite tiring to fight the crowds, so we went back to our room and took a siesta from 4-6pm.



Friday night we left the hotel around 6:45pm and stopped at the Hotel Los Juaninos for a drink at their terrace bar that overlooks the cathedral. Wow! What a view from there. Then we walked to our diner destination, Mirasoles. So Romantico!!! They specialize in Michoacan cooking and it did not disappoint. We also had a great Mexican wine - a Kerubiel 2005 from Adobe Guadalupe. It is a meritage. So yummy!!!



After all that drinking, we strolled home... and it was such a beautiful evening. The cathedral was lit up ... and we ran into several groups of Mariachis pimping themselves out on a street corner. They were so cute!



Today, first order of business was to go to Costco to get items on our list. Unfortunately, some things they used to have, they did not have right now. Ugh. Oh well. We went back to Home Depot after that.

I think we are indeed, DONE, with our shopping now. So now we will just enjoy Morelia for the rest of the day and head home early tomorrow morning.