Winding down

There are a lot fewer Nortenos here as the season is coming to an end and people are heading home. There are more locals trickling in as the days leading up to St Patrick’s day become less. The festivities last from 8th March until the big day.

Each night, during this period there is a firework display in the main square. They start at 10 pm and continue until something burns down. We attended the St Patrick’s day display several years ago and have been trying to get the courage to go back again. The other problem is that they start at 10 pm and Rosalie is usually in bed by then.

We only have a month left and are trying to sort out our storage needs. There isn’t a big problem but we may have to face a few inconveniences. We have lots of choices so we will know better after talking to Blanca our new landlady. We also have to think about packing as we have a whole load of crap that we have collected over the years. We’re starting to give stuff away and also trying to use up our foodstuff and have less stuff in the pantry.

We just heard from Blanca and we can store our stuff in the new location before we leave, Phew, what a relief.

Us on moving day.

Winding downtime for us is great because there are fewer people in the restaurants. We lost our special table several times because of the tourists. We complained but they ignored us. (They know us too well.) However, the beach people and the waiters are starting to feel the pinch. We Nortenos tend to tip well but the Mexicans only leave a few pesos so the waiters miss us.

Some of the things we have to put up with during happy hour.

For some reason, although we are looking forward to being back in Canada, we aren’t feeling the urgency to leave that we did last year. Perhaps it has something to do with the covid restrictions becoming less. It’s certainly more relaxed this year. We just found out that we don’t need a test to come back to Canada; about time!

They decided to finally do something about the road around here. They started by dumping huge piles of sand ready for levelling. The problem was that they blocked up our usual way of getting to the main road so we had to use a different route. It was touch-and-go as we bottomed out badly a few times. We made it out but I dreaded coming back too soon as they may not be finished, so we went to Papa Gallo’s for a while. They weren’t finished, but we managed to find another route home anyway.

This family was trying to make a few buck so we gave them 50 pesos. Some tourists gave them a few coins as did some Mexicans it looked like to be about 5 pesos each.

While at Papa Gallo’s I was drinking Corona Cero as I was still on meds and Rosalie was having a beer. When Rosalie went to the baño I heard one of the waiters say something in Spanish using the word ‘Rojo’ (red.) I was curious as he was looking out toward the ocean. Then the penny dropped as I saw one of the other guys with a pair of binoculars watching a chiquita in a red bikini. He said, “Hey Chris, wanna look?” I politely declined and told him he was a dirty old man, he knows I am too, that’s why he offered. Besides, I was closer to the beach and could see perfectly well. I’m going to miss all this fun.