Month: October 2022

We’ve only been here less than two weeks and the place is turning into a menagerie.

There is the inevitable cat that likes to sleep on the chair cushions at night. It leaves a cat smell so I have to do something about that. All our property is mostly surrounded by iron bars so anything can wander in. I’ve ordered some plastic mesh from Amazon so that should help a lot.

The other evening, the lot next door was invaded by eight cows wandering through. We have no idea where they came from or where they were going; it was fun to watch though.

I had to chase a tiny frog from off the patio as he would have gotten stuck there and died of dehydration.

There is a herd of turkeys that lives somewhere on the street and we often hear, and sometimes see them gobbling up and down the road. There may be one less soon as Christmas is coming and I’m sure they’ll wander into the yard sooner or later.

We get the odd dog wandering in too, so I think we really need the plastic mesh.

On a different note: After the sad circumstances of our landlady’s husband being killed, there was a brief rumour that her nephew, who owns our house, wanted to sell it to save her the responsibility of managing it. We had a nice conversation with Blanca and she told him to hold on to it and that she would manage it fine. Phew! we really didn’t want to move again.

Blanca is a very tough and courageous woman. Her husband was murdered in Oregon last year and she now has to handle things alone. When she came down here, two of her suites were badly damaged by water leaking in somehow. She has help from a neighbour and I’m sure when her tenants get here they will help also. Two of the couples are Jim and Ylda as well as Art and Linda. We also offered to help if she needs it.

I fancied a steak so on the way into town for groceries we stopped at the new butcher shop that had opened up a few years ago. We ordered two Angus t-bones. They were huge and costly. I lit the BBQ and cooked one of them over charcoal; it was delicious. It was way too big for just one of us so we shared it and still had some leftovers for a stir fry the next day.

The roads are still wet from the rain storm the other day but are drying up rapidly. We almost got stuck trying to go to the store the other day.

Papa Gallo’s isn’t open just yet so we found a very nice alternative that makes great margaritas. We don’t go every day but it’s tempting as there is a nice breeze blowing in, off the ocean, and of course, there are the margaritas.

It feels as though things are starting to open up here. We enjoy this quiet time before the tourists come. We have been meeting up again with all our Mexican friends and a few norteño friends also.

The temperature has been 30C every day so far but it’s not as bad as we expected. We manage it with a fan on the patio and one in the kitchen that we move to the bedroom at night. It’s very pleasant in the mornings and evenings. We won’t be getting our palapa this year but I asked for a shade cloth, so we will wait to see where that goes. If we don’t get one by the time Blanca goes home in a few weeks, we’ll buy one ourselves and put it up.

It’s Interesting how different people see the latest category-four hurricane, ‘Rosalyn.’ I tend to think of it as ‘Rosalie’ as she’s a bit of a whirlwind herself. The general consensus was to hunker down and expect the worst. There were going to be 160km winds as well as torrential rain. It sounded quite scary so I decided to do some fact-checking with windy.

From my first look, and after running the projected track it appeared to me that it would miss us by a fair margin. However, I did keep hearing that it was going to be devastating, so not having too much experience with this sort of thing, we decided to wait and see what happened.

Sure enough, the morning brought some light rain. There was only one half-hearted and soggy attempt by the bugler at the military base to try and annoy us this morning. It’s hard to tell if it’s really half-hearted and soggy as they are so bad, it sounds like a cat being run over by a lawn mower; or even worse me singing. I’m sure by the time we go home they will have sorted it out. In the meantime, it provides us with some entertainment.

The rain continued through the day as Windy predicted. The howling winds we were expecting to get were gusts of just a few knots or more. The eye of the hurricane was 130 km west of us, headed North and certainly not coming in our direction. It came down heavier in the evening and the deck got a good soaking but we were fine. No heavy winds at all though.

This is what we expected

I sometimes think that people love the drama of the whole thing; I know I do. It’s exhilarating to think that we may be living through a huge disaster that can be talked about and exaggerated for years to come; provided we survived of course. Please no tsunamis though, we’re too close to the beach.

There have been some great, but very scary stories about the latest earthquake a few weeks ago. John and Ronda said they had a three-foot wave in their pool. There were similar stories from other folks. I, of course, will pretend that we were here, just for the drama, and lived through it all. I bet the bugler sounded even odder that day.

Good grief, we’ve been here a week. Settling in has been slow as I’ve been a bit under the weather. I’m feeling a lot better now though.

Our weekly market visit started on Wednesday and we bought a few things. After that, I was craving a beer on the beach but we had a hard time finding anywhere open at this time of year. So we called John and Ronda who met us for a couple of drinks in Barra at Sunset Bar. It was good to see them again after six months.

There was an arrangement to go to Coco Beach on Saturday but a new hurricane is going to sweep up the coast on Saturday and Sunday. The road is often washed out there when it rains so we won’t take a chance. Melaque will be on the edge of it but we’re expecting a few inches of rain each day.

The locals say to battery down the hatches, tie everything down that’s loose, hide under the bed and make sure we have enough supplies for a week at least. I checked Windy and it looks as though the worst is going to pass us by. However, we will watch and be alert. I hope it’s not too bad as we can’t get under our bed, it’s on a concrete base. I support there is always the closet. I don’t think it would be a good idea to spend too much time in there with Rosalie; she may want to get into my T-shirts.

Our next big decision is whether to get StarLink or not. It’s pretty expensive but we’re finding that although the WiFi is relatively fast (for here) it drops off a lot which can be frustrating.

It took me two washes to get the car even a bit clean. I still plan on getting it done in town but that will have to wait until next week. It’ll cost about $10 Canadian to get it done inside and out.

The price of gas has gone up to 22.87 pesos or $1.57 Cdn. Fortunately, wine, beer, and tequila are still about the same. What? food? Hell, I don’t know, ask Rosalie.

Rosalie Got her manicure, pedicure and haircut, all for about $35 CDN. In Canada that would cost about $130 plus tip.

The bakery in Barra was open on Thursday. Rosalie had already placed an order online so all we had to do was pick it up. Their food is delicious. I love the bagels so Rosalie gets six and freezes them so I have one for lunch each day.

Off to the dentist for our inspection and cleaning. After, there was a nice restaurant open on the beach where we had a couple of margaritas. The waiter, El Luterio, was an old waiter friend from a few years ago.

Okay, this starting to sound too much like a Facebook personal diary so I’ll end it and come back after the hurricane…if we haven’t been blown away.

Well, we finally got here. The bus took just about five hours and pulled in at 6 pm. After a short taxi ride, we were home again. All our stuff had been well cared for and there were no signs of flooding so that was a bonus. Both of us were so tired that we wandered down to Tito’s restaurant for a quick bite to eat and turned in early.

I was a bit disappointed when I got up the next morning, it was Sunday and the bugles weren’t playing to wake us. It was good to hear all the different bird songs again though.

After our morning tea, I started to take down some of the stuff that Castalo had put up high in case of flooding. Two totes and two suitcases were emptied and we started to discover a bunch of stuff that we had forgotten about. It was like Christmas all over again.

The car had to be retrieved so walking down to Blanca’s we met them coming our way. Apparently, there were no problems with flooding per se, but their roof leaked and wrecked two suites in her building. She also told us that our casa had had a leak as well. It’s hard to tell as they had already cleaned up and re-painted.

After a bit of bother and a hand from Castelo, the car finally started. The thing was so covered with dust I could hardly see out. It was decided to get a full wash inside and out but of course, it was Sunday and nowhere was open.

After eating lunch at one of our roadside restaurants, Rosalie having pancakes, eggs, and beer, we went in search of supplies. Water was the main thing to get, after beer and wine that is. Again, it being Sunday, there wasn’t anyone to sell us some. The jugs were in the back of the car, so after getting the rest of the essentials (beer and wine) I started to drive home. Lo and behold, coming the other way was a water truck so I stopped the car in the middle of the road and got two 20-litre jugs.

By the time we got home, I was exhausted and still had to unload the car. I was feeling a little groggy and nauseous. I went for a nap after unloading and slept for about two hours. I was still feeling a bit off so I had Rosalie check my temperature. Sure enough, it was up. I took a Covid test that came up negative then decided to just wait it out.

I think the heat got to me: I had hauled two 20-litre jugs of water plus a 10-litre jug, a case of beer, a case of wine and a heavy bag of groceries. The temper at the time was 35 C. So no wonder I felt a bit off. As the evening wore on Rosalie fed me chicken broth and I slowly started to recover. I was even okay enough to wash the worst of the dust from the car. I think it was heat frustration!

Where else could you sit drinking wine, listening to little kids play, watching the odd bikini go by (believe me some of them are odd) and watching a hockey game, all at the same time? I love this country.

Even coming in on the plane I watched a really lovely navel display. Three young Mexican ladies stopped right by where I was sitting and reached up to put their carry-ons in the overhead bins. I got a great show and felt very patriotic. (I did have the urge to poke one just to see the reaction but common sense prevailed.) I delayed our departure when we landed to try and see the reverse of this wonderful action. Unfortunately Rosalie, for some reason, was anxious to get off the plane and pushed me to get up and do my duty with our own luggage. Heavy sigh!!

Since arriving, I had been sniffing for the true smell of Mexico. We ate at the Marina several times but didn’t smell it there. Even in our room, I couldn’t smell it. I knew I would find it eventually.

Grabbing a taxi we went to the bus depot and reserved our seats for the ride to Melaque. On our way back we got the driver to drop us at Soriana (a grocery store) to get some wine and an ATM machine as funds were running low. As we walked back through the mall I caught the whiff of the true smell of Mexico…Fabuloso. This awesome floor cleaner has a distinctive smell and always reminds me of Mexico. My quest was achieved.

Later in the day we finally decided to do what we had come here to do. So a taxi to the Malecón was ordered and the fun began. When we got in the taxi, the seat belts were a bit of a mystery, so we decided not to bother. That is, until he crossed himself, then we figured we better plug-in. Halfway there, he pulls out a small towel, that he used to dry the sweat off his face and neck, puts it in his hand and travelling at 100km an hour sticks it out the window to dry off.

The first stop was to a bar/restaurant called The Zoo that we had been to before and ordered two-for-one mango margaritas for Rosalie and wine for me. The local monkey was behaving himself so we had our drinks in peace and after paying our bill we moved on.

Walking the Malecón is always fun. There are lots of shops to window shop and we love checking out the Katrinas. We were approached several times to buy solid silver bracelets for one dollar. We soon found out that it was one dollar a gram.

After a while, it was obvious that we had to eat. So, we went back to The Zoo and after ordering, had a word with the monkey. I asked if he was a monkey or a gorilla. He said a monkey so now I know for future blogs.

He was behaving so we agreed to have a picture taken with him. Rosalie, unfortunately for me, took a video.

I gave him a huge tip and promised to meet up with him before leaving next April. He was great with the kids and I was getting quite envious. After I had cooled down we went back to our room, but somehow I couldn’t get that monkey out of my mind.

Tomorrow, Melaque.

Everything was ready for our departure on Wednesday afternoon.

The picnic table had been wrapped with a tarp and tied down, and so had all the deck furniture. The hydroponics have been picked clean by Rosalie; I had covered everything that needs to be wrapped, even a few things that didn’t need to be, but I had fun doing it anyway. I did hear a muffled voice at one point and realized I’d wrapped Rosalie by mistake. Well, I was on a roll. She’s lucky she didn’t get stuffed into the suitcase; well, we would have saved an air fare.

Several friends dropped by to make sure we left. They were welcome as it made a break from our stowing, wrapping, and packing.

The final packing arrangements were made without too much shouting and disagreeing. It was decided to take a checked suitcase this trip as there were a lot of bits and bobs that can’t be bought in Melaque. Believe it or not, I’m even taking a small water pump.

The last day was the busiest. The car had to be put to bed, the water turned off as well as the propane, the holding tanksneeded to be flushed, everything had to be put in the shed that needed to be stored, as well as a dozen other minor chores.

All went according to plan and Mike picked us up at 1:30 for the trip to Qualicum airport. We started things off right by having a snack and a glass of wine while waiting for our flight. Our flight was on a small twin-engine plane and there were only ourselves and one other passenger on it.

The shuttle bus got to YVR at 4:00 and only hadseven and a half hours before our flight so we found a restaurant and ordered a bottle of wine. Wooo! $50. After sititing for a while, we ordered another snack while waited. Our one bag was eventually checked and so to security where they were somewhat disorganized, not the usual efficiency we’re used to.

We found our gate and once more waited.

rying to board, we were told that our carry-on was too big and had to be checked. This is the same bag that has been on six previous Aero Mexico flights. I was ticked as I had to grab Rosalie’s meds and cram them in the backpack. 

Mexico City airport was more of a gong show than usual. The immigration area was packed with people but we managed to get through fairly quickly thanks to our Residenté Temporal. The system is a little weird as you don’t get your gate number for PV until half an hour before boarding.

We arrived in PV okay and took a taxi to our hotel where, of course, they had no record of our reservation. Finally, it was all figured out and were given a very nice room with our own patio overlooking the pool.

The first thing to do was go to the marina to get a glass of wine and something to eat to calm us down. Our phones also need to be re-activated while there. We were feeling a bit groggy as the whole journey took almost twenty-four hours and there was little sleep on the flight. But, we’re here now and look forward to yet more adventures.

A heat pump is an excellent idea for our trailer so we ordered one. Well, it sounded like a good idea at the time.

I decided to do most of the installation myself and then get an HVAC guy to come to hook it up, test it all out and sign off on it. Wrong idea! After I did my part of the installation I started phoning around to get someone to do the job, with absolutely no luck! They only wanted to work on it if they had sold us the unit. One guy said he would look at what I’d done and give me a price for cash. He said he would call me back, but after several days with no callback, and after several calls from me, I gave up.

I was getting very frustrated, so after checking out the installation instructions, doing some YouTube videos and consulting with Rosalie, we decided I could do the job myself. It would void the warranty but that was better than seeing it sitting there and slowly rusting away.

The next day I got on to Amazon and ordered a bunch of specialist tools that I mostly sent back when they weren’t needed, and then went to see the guys at pub day trying for a little sympathy. Yeah right!

The electrical wiring was a challenge. I envisaged running conduit under the trailer and up through the floor to the electrical panel where I had a spare breaker. Unfortunately, because of the way the trailer is built I couldn’t get through the floor. So I had to find another way. I got lucky because when the guys screwed up the wiring when we first got our rig, they left an unused circuit right above where I want to put the outdoor unit.

One of the things I needed was thread glue for the coolant pipes. I ordered from Amazon for two-day delivery and later I checked the tracking and it said delivery from 1oth -11th October. I cancelled that one. In the meantime the guy who said he would call me back, finally did. He was very helpful and when I said I could do it myself, he gave me lots of advice and encouragement. He’s English of course. According to him, the warranty isn’t that good anyway.

After consultation with my plumber brother-in-law Gordie and visits to several hardware stores, I finally got some sealant from Andrew Sherritt in Parksville. And so the rest of the installation began.

There are two parts, the inside unit and the outside unit. The most difficult was inside because we have very little wall space to put it. I eventually solved the problem and as it happened the location we picked made the piping easier.

The outside unit was much easier. The only danger through the whole thing was if I managed to put a kink in one of the pipes. I got lucky; that didn’t happen.

Then I had to hook up the vacuum pump that I’d ordered, which was a bit of a mystery until I really got into it and finally figured it out. Again, with help from YouTube.

Initially, it looked as though I had a leak so I took the fittings apart and redid them. On the next attempt, the pressure held and I was ready to go. Now for the really scary part. I released the coolant with a baited breath and waited. Nothing, which to me sounded good.

I went back into the trailer and holding my breath, turned on the power. Beep! So far so good. Next, I ran through the testing procedure and everything worked just fine. I did a final leak test and declared it installed.

At first, I thought it wasn’t working as it runs so quietly. Even the outside unit has just a slight hum.

Anyway, it’s done now. But remember, if you need help installing a heat pump, please don’t call me.