Some great news!!

We finally got a call from the moving company today and our household goods have cleared customs and are on their way to us from Laredo, TX. They are scheduled to be delivered on Monday, October 2 at 10:00 am. This was great news and we will be very happy to have this concern behind us.

We were invited to view one of the 3 bedroom models today. They are selling all the furnishings at discount prices and we were the first to view them. We have found a nice mexican handmade entry piece and a few other items that will work nice in our new condo. So it is paying off to be here this early before we take possession on October 9th. So things are starting to come together regarding our condo.

Just had to share last nights sunset

Keeping busy photos

Keeping busy......

Well, still no news on our household goods so we are still trying to keep ourselves busy until we take possession of our condo on October 9th. As we can take the hot days here in Maz, we have been scouting out a few interesting places.

We went to the Freeman Hotel today. From atop this hotel, you can view the cruise ships as they sail in and out of the port. I have attached a couple pictures taken from the Sky Room of this hotel, the 11th floor. Quite an incredible view.In this area of Mazatlan, we watched the divers diving for oysters. They take inner tubes that have nets attached to them and collect the oysters from the rocks below. Attached is a picture but you may not be able to see it very well. They then take the oysters to the beach and shuck them. We also went to the Mazatlan Art Museum and went to an arts & crafts store (Mexico by Design) owned by an American couple from Longview, Washington. They are also opening a restaurant right next door to the store that will serve American style breakfast and lunch entrees. Also, took a tour of a beautiful mexican style Bed & Breakfast (Casa de Leyendas) owned by an American couple from Phoenix.

We have been spending Friday and Sunday evenings at happy hour with the international expatriates here in Maz. Enjoying people from Canada, all over the US, France and even China. Some very interesting backgrounds.

Sunset this evening.....

Just hadn't posted a picture of the sunset here in Mazatlan for a while. It was really beautiful this evening, as it is almost every night, so thought we'd share it with you. Enjoy!

While I was posting about the colors...

As I was posting about the colors of our new condo, Greg was chasing a gecko around the condo. Here are a couple pictures he took. Don't mind these little critters, just don't want to find them in my bed. So as you can see, while we wait for our household goods to arrive and to take possession of our new condo, we are keeping ourselves busy.

Corresponding rooms......

We wanted to choose bright colors since we are living in Mexico.

The orange will be on the wall to the right of the kitchen pic. It will be the wall that runs the length from the bar, through the dining room and living room. We will also use this color to do some stenciling around the alcove on the opposite wall near the dining room.

The green will be on the wall to the right of the pic with the slider - that is the master bedroom. The other pic is one of the guest rooms and the green will be on the left wall. This color will also be used in the alcove in the living room.

The blue will be around the mirror over the sink in each of the 3 bathrooms. We plan to do some stenciling around the mirrors.

This will just be so much fun! We just hope we haven't chose too bright of colors. Don't think that will be the case for Mexico though.

As we wait......

We are still waiting for our househould goods to arrive from Laredo, TX. As far as we know, they are still hung up in customs. We are sure hoping everything makes it to Mazatlan.

In the meantime, we are busy picking out accent wall colors for our new condo. Here are the colors we have selected and in the next post you will see pictures of the corresponding rooms. Thought you might find this interesting.

Back to paradise in Maz

Today we are back to paradise in Mazatlan after Hurricane Lane on Saturday. Here is a picture of the ocean this morning and Greg relaxing on the terrace with his Sudoku puzzle book. It is a beautiful morning with sunny skies, a cool breeze off the ocean and a very pleasant temperature. We don't even have the air conditioning going. The temperature is supposed to be 87 degrees today.

This week our household items from Seattle are due to arrive. We are hoping the direction that the hurricane went doesn't cause a delay in the shipment. The truck was to cross over Laredo, Texas last Wednesday and travel probably down through Durango which is where the hurricane hit after leaving Mazatlan. Oh well, we still have 3 weeks until we can move into our condo so it will be okay.

More photos

Today is very overcast and has been raining off and on all day - about 75 degrees. Very pleasant for walking this morning but with all the standing water we are sure when the sun comes out it is going to be extremely humid. From what we have heard and seen, the hurricane has caused much flooding and many downed trees and signs. We were lucky, not much to be concerned over here but others, we are sure, will spend some time cleaning up the water and debris. The ocean has been very frothy with very large waves this morning but this afternoon it seems to be settling down some.

Aftermath of Lane along the malecon and streets behind

Here are a few photos we took this morning when we took a walk along the malecon and streets behind it. (morning after Hurricane Lane)

Mazatlan newspaper article

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldemazatlan/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DEl%2BSol%2Bde%2BMazatlan%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

More on Hurricane Lane....

Well it is now 4:00 pm and the winds are still very strong but have let up a bit. We are hearing that alot of people are experiencing much flooding. Las Gavias seems to have weathered the hurricane quite well. These are pictures around the property. The ocean is still churning and huge waves. The visability is very low - cannot see the islands. We think the worst has past but hear another is on it's way but should head towards Cabo. This is life in the tropics this time of year in Mazatlan.

Hurricane Lane!

Here we are in the middle of Hurricane Lane. Started getting really strong about 4:00 am this morning, Saturday, September 16th (Mexico Independence Day.) The winds are about 80 - 100 miles an hour and it is a category 3+ hurricane. Raining very, very heavy. We have the storm shutters down and they are rattling and the sliders are shacking but we can't see what is really going on out there so that is a little disturbing. Just have to wait it out. So far so good though.

Visit to the Dentista!

Today we experienced our first dental appointment here in Mazatlan. We went in for our dental cleanings.

The dentist was located in the main mall near our condo (La Gran Plaza.) His office had a small reception area with a 5-point mule deer head on the wall with a display of bullets and hand guns, as well as, drawings of ducks. His actual exam room had a three-point mule deer on the wall, his desk, the exam chair and all of his equipment. There was one dentist and an assistant. The dentist performed the cleaning and it was a quick 15 minutes. He used the same water pick method as in the states but didn't do the normal picking and scraping. So we didn't feel like we got as thorough a cleaning as we are used to. To say the least, it was quite an interesting dental office.

Not sure if we will go back to this dentist. May try another. He spoke English so that was nice and was very professional. The fee was $500 pesos a piece. We don't think that was a bargain from what we have heard.

And just a couple more......

Salud, Salud Salud from us to all of you!
Wish you were here.

The Beach Bums!

Just a few more pics of us enjoying our retirement here in Mazatlan.

Just bumming on the beach as we wait.....

We have been spending much of our time relaxing and bumming around on the beach and in and around the pool. Also, of course, enjoying the beautiful sunsets off our terrace. Here are a few pictures of us doing just that. Double-click on the image and it will enlarge.Our household items are due to arrive here in Mazatlan the week of September 18 and we just got the great news that our condo is complete and we can move in October 9th. Now we can get busy scheduling dates for the painters (paint the accent walls), maintenance to install fans, curtains hung, our new furniture delivered, etc. It will be so nice to get moved and settled into our new condo. It will then feel more like we live here rather than being on vacation.

Shrimp Ceviche lesson

A few posts ago, we told you about the ceviche appetizer we found at a restaurant down the malecon from us and how we were enjoying it so much. Well, our maid, Olga, gave us an informal ceviche lesson this weekend at our condo. She went to the market and picked up fresh shrimp for us and showed us how to prepare it. The ceviche consisted of these ingredients:

1 kilo (2.2 pounds) of fresh shrimp (about 3 inch size)
Juice from about 10 very small limes (found out the large ones are only used here for such things as lemonade – they are much sweeter than the small limes used for ceviche and other Mexican dishes and drinks)
Salt to taste
2 medium diced tomatoes (very red and firm)
½ medium peeled/diced cucumber (cut off ends of cucumber and rub cut end with the end that was cut off – they say it takes the bitterness from the cucumber – remove seeds too.
About ½ cup white onion
Pepper to taste
Peel and devein the shrimp. Cut into 1 inch pieces. Sprinkle salt on shrimp before you add the lime juice – if you don't add salt first the lime will keep the shrimp from absorbing the salt. The shrimp will turn opaque in color after the lime juice is added.Add tomatoes, cucumber and onion. Mix ingredients. Sprinkle with pepper and more salt if needed for taste. Serve with tortilla chips or crackers as an appetizer or can be served as a tostado salad or many other variations too. There are many recipes for ceviche and it can be prepared with other fish such as mahi mahi and chicken too.

It was just delicious. Olga and her 9 year old son, Louis, enjoyed it with us. Here are a couple pictures of Olga and I having fun preparing the ceviche. This will definitely be a dish we will be preparing for our guests. Very easy, healthy and just delicious.

Still hot, humid and stormy

Just wanted to give you an update on things here in Mazatlan.

It is still very hot and humid. You are probably getting tired of hearing about that huh. Just can't describe these thunder and lightning storms we seem to get every evening though. They are just incredible. Here are a few more photos. We are still trying to figure out the correct setting for taking photos of lightning at night with our new camera. So again, these were made from a video that is why they are so grainy.

The first photo is of the community swimming pool here in Mazatlan. Thought it was quite interesting.

Gringa "Pretty Woman" household shopping spree

Well just had to tell you about our shopping experience yesterday and how it felt like a Mexican "Pretty Woman" shopping spree.

We have been spending a few days figuring out where and what we wanted to purchase for our new condo. We decided to go with a store here in Mazatlan called Fabricas de Francia, much like Macy's in the states but they carry appliances too.

We had an interior decorator in yesterday morning to take measurements of our condo and then at 5:30 last evening we went back to the store and started shopping.

We had the whole store (every household department) involved in helping us select items. We ordered living room furniture (couch & loveseat - the color is much brighter lime green than the photo shows), refrigerator, washer & dryer, ceiling fans, bedroom set (photo shows queensize - we ordered Kingsize - this is not the comforter set we chose either) with headboard, night stands, dresser w/mirror, mattress & box springs, sheets and comforter set, pillows, dishes, center piece, dining room set (glass table with 4 chairs). It took us about 4 hours and approximately $96,000 pesos when the store was closed and we finally walked out. All of the Mexican sales clerks were so helpful and patient with our gringo/gringa attempts to speak and understand Spanish. It was so much fun!

Our color scheme is going to be terracota orange and lime green. Can you believe that!! Here are a few pictures of some of the items we ordered. We are resting up today because on Monday we go back at 1:00 pm to shop some more for items like, living room; end tables, coffee table, lamps, entry table, curtains etc. So the shopping spree isn't over yet. :)

Hurricane John

Many of you have probably heard about Hurricane John that has been hitting the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Thursday night, August 31st, about 9:30 we got some of the weather as John was heading up the coast and due to hit Cabo on Friday, September 1. The winds, rain, thunder and lightning were very intense. Can’t imagine what it must be like in an actual hurricane. The wind was coming from every direction and the torrential rain lasted for about an hour. The thunder was a loud clapping sound and the lightning lit up the ocean and sky just like daytime. The ocean was swirling and churning from every direction. It was quite a storm. For the past two days now it has been overcast and raining with a little thunder now and then. The Mexican people have told us that sometimes these hurricanes can turn around and pass through again. Don’t know if that is true or if they were just trying to scare us Americanos.