Hello from Yakima

We are making plans to fly up north in July. We will be arriving in Portland on Friday, July 13th. Just in time for the Smith Family Picnic on Saturday, July 14th. We are so happy we will be able to attend. We are planning to purchase a car while we are in Portland and then drive to Tri Cities to visit Jake and Jackie, then on to Yakima to visit my Mom and Al and then up to Seattle to visit with all the other kids and grandkids. We will be leaving for Maz on Sunday, July 29th out of Portland. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone during this trip, as well as, a relief from the hot/humid weather down here for a few weeks. We will be returning in September to drive our new car back to Maz. You can certainly get by with the public transportation, ie buses, cabs and pulmonias but having a car will be more convenient and allow us to do some leisure traveling into the interior of Mexico. Lots of interesting towns we would like to visit. On June 30th we will be retired 1 ...

We had a wonderful visit with Jake and Jackie who left last Thursday and Jessica and Serena who left last Saturday. The temps/humidity were quite high during their stay so they spent alot of time cooling off at the beach and in the pool. Jake and Jackie really enjoyed early morning walk/runs along the malecon, soaking up the rays around the pool and just relaxing with a good book. The jelly fish warning was still in effect but they were able to spend sometime at the beach and even in the ocean, trying out boogie boarding, without any incidents with jelly fish stings. Jessica and Serena enjoyed their visit to the orphanage even though it was quite hot there. Serena also enjoyed Senor Frogs and dancing on the stage. It was a little too warm for Jessica and she plans to come back earlier in the year next time. Maybe in March during Serena's springbreak. We hope so. We also took them out to some of our favorite restaurants, even celebrating Jake and Jackie's 1st anniversary at one ...

We are busy getting our air conditioning adjusted just right for our next guests that will arrive on Friday, June 15. Just three more days and Jake and Jackie and Jessica and Serena will be here. It has really warmed up here in Mazatlan. Daytime temps in the mid 80's with about 75% humidity. We have starting using our air conditioning and trying to figure out what the best temp overall should be. We don't have central air down here. We have a thermostat in the living area, one in the master and one for the 2 guests rooms. This type of air helps with the cost of electricity which is very expensive down here. It's a little tricky to get it comfortable throughout. We've tried to just use it at night but finding we're using it more during the day now. So we're hoping that the temps won't be too uncomfortable for our guests. Another potential problem for our guests is the arrival of the jelly fish. Lots of them on the beach and in the water. So we'll have to ...

Today we went in search of massage spas here in Maz. We found an Aroma spa in El Centro (Old Mazatlan) just a block from the Plazuela Machado. It was quite different from any spa I have been to but thought what the heck and we both made appointments for 1 hour, full body massages. The price was quite reasonable $150 pesos each. (That's $15 US). The place is named "Aroma Spa" but the only scent we detected was in the air when you entered the spa. Sort of a pepperminty aroma. The spa rooms (air conditioned) were very interesting with tree trunks from floor to ceiling, draped with fabric and ribbon and strange things hanging from the ceiling. I tried to take a few photos but the spa rooms were quite small so they didn't turn out very well. Hopefully, you can get an idea of the decor. The photo with Greg in it is where they give manicures and pedicures (no air conditioning). Don't think I'll be going there for that. All in all, the experience was not too bad and...