The Latest?

Our latest news?  We bought a house in Green Valley Arizona.  Our great experiment has gone well but one of us (ME!) just can't handle the extended hotel times.  I love to travel but I prefer destination travel rather than full time travel.  So Mike agreed.  We will stay to our travel plans through September 2017 which means this winter we will stay in Tubac AZ and then Hawaii May thru August in 2017.

True to our past, we purchased a fixer upper.  I'd love to have Chip and Joanna Gaines take it on but Mike and I will be making or overseeing the necessary repairs and upgrades.  Our place is a 30 year old slump block townhouse with 2 bedrooms and 2 full baths plus a den/office.   We figure with a townhouse we can lock up and go when the spirit moves us (summer travel with winter stays in AZ). 

Our work list, so far?  The house needs all popcorn ceilings scraped, kitchen drop ceiling removed, enlarging the kitchen entry, all new kitchen cabinets and appliances,  new flooring through-out which will be Saltillo tile, new bathroom vanities and toilets, new gutters, and a new HVAC unit.  We will be the demo labor and handle changing the landscaping to desert based and will contract out the rest.  Most likely it will not be ready for full time living until late 2017.  In the meantime, we'll be 'camping' there October this year and April next spring. 

Yes, I know we have taken on a lot but it is something we enjoy doing.  I will be haunting the consignment and second hand shops in Tucson to furnish it.  I think our one splurge will be a custom mesquite dining room table from a shop in Tubac we have found.

Wish us luck!

Post Mexico Travels

Since returning from Mexico, we've been on the road until this past week.  We drove from Houston to Galveston TX, Galveston to Livingston TX, Livingston to Tucson AZ, Tucson to Santa Fe NM, and Santa Fe to Keystone Colorado.  Poor old Sabine (our Toyota Tundra) is getting some miles on her!

We had fun in Texas but really enjoyed exploring the Tucson area.  It is where we built a house in 2005, which fell through due to lack of golf course for Mike.  We discovered a great little restaurant in Green Valley AZ call Arizona Family Restaurant.  Good plain food, just like Bob Evans.  The clientele is "over 55+" and we seemed to fit right in there.  Green Valley is a retirement area 20 miles south of Tucson.  It has a great climate as it is higher in elevation than Phoenix which makes it cooler in summer.  The area also has a monsoon season during summer which is strong thunder & lightening storms.  They are window rattlers and you would not believe how the rain just pours as if from a bucket.

Next we hit the road for New Mexico.  It was pouring monsoon rain as we left our hotel and a truck in front of us kicked up a 'boulder' into our windshield.  Hit us just right so that we had a big chip and starburst right in front of me!  Mike was VERY unhappy about this.  Our first night on the road we stopped in Truth or Consequences New Mexico.  We were lucky to get a room in a new Holiday Inn Express just off I-25 -- senior rates of course.  We went in search of dinner, driving towards town.  We did not find a restaurant but we did find the Windshield Doctor.  On our way back to the hotel we decided to chance dinner at La Cocina across the highway from our hotel.  Great dinner!  Excellent carnitas tacos.   At 9 AM the next morning we were at the Windshield Doctor and he was able to repair our windshield for $25.  Hooray!!!!!!!

We then spent 3 days in Santa Fe exploring and relaxing.  (I really need to begin using some of our hotel points!).  It has been about 13 years since I was in Santa Fe and it has really become a tourist area.  The plaza is still beautiful but the stores are crammed with junk souvenirs and t-shirts or extremely high priced art and jewelry.   We had a lovely walk though all the shops.  I love old pawn silver & turquoise jewelry so I had hit the mother lode; however, I am a gold jewelry person.   Mike bought me a new gold wedding band in a rare green turquoise.  I love it!

My new ring

Friday we took a day trip to Taos driving the "high road" up and the "low road" back to Santa Fe.  The scenery was beautiful...it reminded us of driving from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe.  When we found a parking lot near the Plaza, the owner gave us a map and told us some places to check out.  Most of the stores were similar to Santa Fe except for one antique shop.  It was gross with glass eyes and false teeth and all kinds of old medical equipment!  The saving grace was stumbling into Plaza Café in the La Fonda hotel lobby on the Plaza.  OMG!!!!  My lunch choice was the Green Chili Pork Stew and a mixed green salad with lemon, ginger, & sesame dressing.   I had to control myself from licking the bowl & plate.  Just the right amount of heat and spice with well seasoned pork and the salad dressing was so full of flavor.  I could eat this every day!  The chef came out to ask us how we liked his food.   We were surprised when he sent us out a sample of his Potato Leek soup.  He makes his soups fresh every morning when he arrives at 8 AM.  He recommended his coconut flan for dessert and we both had to try it.  Amazing!!

Coconut Flan with Caramel Sauce!

 

Our last day in Santa Fe, we met up with our friend Carrie from So Cal.  Carrie was my vendor at First Interstate and became a close friend.  She was also our Big Bear friend.  We spent many fun weekends at Mom and Pop's cabin in Sugarloaf.  She and her husband moved to NM many years ago and I hadn't seen Carrie in 13 years, since a Cardinal Health business trip to Albuquerque.   Mike and I were looking forward to reconnecting and within 2 minutes, it was like we had never been apart.    Great catching up with all that's happened to our families over the years.  At Carrie's recommendation, we had a wonderful lunch at Blue Corn Café.

Next stop?  Keystone Colorado.  See you there!

 

 

Last Day fishing East Cape and Good-bye

 

...Leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...

 

 

We had our last day of fishing on Wednesday the 20th aboard Scorpion panga with Captain Jorge.  We have had great days on the water with him over the past 2 months and Wednesday did not disappoint.  The sea was choppy by the hotel so we headed south to La Ribera/Punta Colorado where the water was totally flat.  The morning was slow as we trolled looking for any wahoo, dorado, or tuna who would join us in the panga.  Jorge and Mike decided it was time to move a little after 10 AM so we headed back to the spot that was very good to them the week before.  At exactly 10:30 AM we had 4 lines hit.   First tuna we lost, second I brought in, third Mike brought in and the fourth Mike and I tag teamed with Mike completing the catch.



 

Me with my tuna (sorry about those farmer tan arms but it was really, really hot!!)



 

Once all the excitement was over, we started trolling again but weren't getting any further bites.  As we were heading back to shore and packing up our equipment, we got another hit and Mike brought in our 4th tuna of the morning (literally a volunteer...).  We had stopped to reel in the lines and pack it in... and there he was!  A welcome surprise. 

 

Mike and the volunteer tuna

 



We head home to Texas tomorrow morning (July 30th) so this week has been all about saying good-bye to Los Barriles.  We have eaten at El Gecko and Tio Pablo's in addition to the Bay View downstairs.  Pedro, our building manager, is the beneficiary of our last tuna catch (15 lbs).  We really wanted to ship it to Rick and Carol but neither UPS, FedEx or the Smokehouse would either ship fresh fish nor guarantee it would make it past Mexico City  - so lucky Pedro!!  It has been so nice to spend an extended period of time here and get to know the people just a little better.  We will miss Gabby (head of housekeeping), Pedro, Eve at Tio Pablo's, Rafael at Chapito's Grocery, and Junior at El Gecko.

So after a few days in East Texas, we will be on our way to Keystone in Colorado.  Going from sea level to 9500 feet should be an experience, shouldn't it?? 

Fishin' with Jim and Jack and Kevin

 

This is our week to spend with friends Jim and Jack on the big boat Fin-atic.  ( http://www.finaticsportsfishingbaja.com/home ) . 

 

Jim and Jack brought their nephew Kevin, who will be 12 next month.  He has never been ocean fishing before so we told him he could catch the first fish.  Imagine our surprise when it turned out to be a 385+ pound Blue Marlin.  You can't really tell from the picture how big this fish was although you get some perspective from the orange & yellow lure you see (18 inches long).   He was HUGE and it was very exciting for us as it was our first Blue Marlin - not Jim's.  Took about 1.5 hours to bring him in.  Kevin reeled in the leader 3 times before he finally had to hand off to "The Closer", Uncle Jim.

 

350+ pound Blue Marlin

 

 

While Jim was busy on the stern (back of the boat) with the blue, Mike was heading to the front (bow) catching a shark!  Yep, we had 2 sharks show up while the blue was on the line.  Mike's job was to keep the shark away from the blue so we could bring him in. 

 

Mike's Shark - he was about 7' or 8' long

 

 

Jack caught a dorado for our dinner and then it was Mike's turn at another fish.  His was one of our standard 120 pound striped marlins.  Look how it is 'lit up' (electric blue stripes)!  Never saw that before when we caught one.

 

Mike's Striped Marlin

 

Second day out we were looking for tuna or dorado closer towards shore but nothing was biting.  So we headed out to where we'd caught the marlin on Sunday.  Captain Tony found the porpoises that travel with the tuna eating the bait they drive to the surface.  We were so excited that we'd get tuna for sashimi but that was not to be.  I was set to catch the first tuna when we hooked another Blue Marlin so I handed off to Mike.   The water was getting very rough as there was a hurricane off the mainland Mexico coast pushing wind in our direction.   Mike worked the fish for 30 minutes but his old golf injury (lower back) started acting up so he handed off  to "The Closer" for the final 30 minutes, resulting in an even bigger marlin.  He was over 500 pounds! 

 

As we headed back to shore, we were traveling with the waves and I didn't notice anything out of ordinary before we got close to the dock.  That is when we were told we had to quickly jump off the big boat onto the dock because the waves were dropping up to 6 feet.  I said 'no way' because I don't do quick and Mike stuck up for me (bless him!!!)  Then it got worse because it was too dangerous for our boat to get to the dock because it was too rough. They brought in this little dingy, row boat thing and told us we still had to move quickly from boat to dingy and then again from dingy to dock.  I said I am staying on the boat!  And everyone kept trying to talk me into it.  I should have stood firm and insisted on going back to the marina.  Mike could have come over to pick me up - it is a 45 minute drive.  But NNNNOOOOOOOO!!  Stupid me listened to them.  I almost did a face plant and went overboard getting on the dingy.  Luckily Mike and the guy driving the dingy grabbed me...water is 220 feet deep there and me still not swimming, ya know.  Then we get to the dock after bobbing around on the way, getting soaked by the waves.  I have no balance to speak of, no speed of motion and I'm supposed to stand up in a severely rocking dingy, stand on it's side rail, and pull myself up 6 feet on to the deck!  Ha!  If the big boat's owner, Warner, wasn't standing on the dock, hadn't grabbed my hand, and somehow yanked my hefty ass up very quickly, I would have been squashed between the dock and dingy.  Scared the crap out of me!!

 

Needless to say, I did not go fishing on Wednesday but did go back out on Thursday.  Again we found porpoises but no tuna were biting.  Captain Tony was sick so the boat's owner, Warner, was our captain for this final day.  We thought we hadn't caught anything but did hook a nice striped marlin in the final hour.  I should say Jack started reeling it in but Kevin was the one who actually landed it and brought it into the boat, this time without any help from either Mike or Jim.  He did a great job and had it all under control.  It was fun to watch this kid go from novice to experienced in a week. 

 

So Jim and Jack and Kevin have headed home to California and we are in our last 3 weeks at Los Barriles.  We are off of the big boat and back to our half day panga trips.  Next scheduled outing is  going out on Wednesday morning (July 13th) with Jorge.



Foodie Alert in Los Barriles!!

So I haven't written in a while.  Been busy?  Not really, just enjoying the peace and quiet and watching the fishing fleet come in every afternoon.

We have been eating quite well.  First, we are making our own burritos to take fishing.  Just marinate chicken or beef in ranchero sauce, fry up some bell pepper, onion, tomatoes with the saucy meat, add juice of 3 or 4 very small limes and wrap in a tortilla.  Yummy!  So we have been cooking more at home and only going out every other night.  I have found rice packets at the local tienda that are 1 Cup so it is perfect for us for  2 meals.  And last week Joe's Deli staff told us about a green grocer next door so we've shopped there twice.  They have fresh broccoli, peppers, onions, fruits, etc.  I did buy some "Safee" product to spray the produce, just in case, but it is much nicer and a larger selection than the local tienda (supermarket) has. 

 

This is how I mostly fish on the panga, looking for bait balls and marlin fins.

 

 

This year we have tried many new restaurants in the area.  I still want to go to LaRibera for 'linner' one afternoon before we leave but Los Barriles has everything we need. 

 

1.  Best tacos in town are at El Viejo.  Hands down the best.  Fresh, fresh, fresh!  They have a toppings bar where you decide what you want to add to your breakfast omelet or your tacos - things like fresh chopped salsa, pickled jalapenos, onion, cheese, etc.  Simple menu and you can choose grilled vs. fried on your tacos for N$2 extra (N$ peso = about 17 cents US) and well worth the cost.  Grilled shrimp and grilled scallops were just amazing.

 

2.  Herman used to be the fishing boat scheduler to see here at Palmas de Cortez.  About 3 years ago he left and opened a small family restaurant above street level on the "main drag" called Terrazzo de German (Herman's Terrace).  They have an open air kitchen and a very large wood grill.  Special is grilled fish which is very good.  Mike had his with cilantro sauce and mine was just grilled with lime on the side.  We buy the same tortillas they use at the grocery store, piping hot and fresh.  The tortillas have replaced bread in our diet...why by Oroweat 12-grain bread when you can have fresh maize (corn) tortillas?

 

3.  We went to La Casita, a very small patio totally surrounded by a stick, privacy fence.  They have actual stemmed wine glasses and cloth napkins, which is HUGE for this area.  The menu is very upscale and different from most every other dining option in town.  Can't wait to go back and try the grilled sea bass.  And you'd never know it could be this amazing when you see the small house beside the road.  In fact, we drove past it for almost 2 weeks before we realized it was the restaurant we'd been looking for...the map locator on Trip Advisor was WAY OFF!  This restaurant also has sushi!  We had salads, Mike had sushi roll, and I had coconut shrimp in a mango/jalapeño sauce.  And the best lemonade - fresh squeezed into mineral water (agua con gas).  That has become a new addiction and is so refreshing!!  We order it everywhere now.

 

 

Mike says I look happy.  I think I look goofy but the salad was soooooo tasty and fresh!

 

 

Mike's sushi roll

 

 

 

My coconut shrimp with mashed potatoes and veggies - delish!

 

4.  There are signs all over town about El Gecko.  We aren't telling our friend Jackie it is down a dirt road past a trailer park on the beach until she's here.  Our greeter was a very well groomed French poodle named Tiki...I'm usually very good remembering dog names, it's the people names I never remember!  So I got puppy kisses before dinner.  They had Don Julio anejo tequila and made guacamole at our table side (extra spicy, of course)

 

 

Yep, made table side!

 

And El Gecko had molcajete bowls!!!!!!!!!  Molcajete is generally used to grind up seeds or nuts, made out of lava rock.  These bowls have a red or green sauce (mine was green) with meat, cactus, green onions, & white cheese served with rice, beans and tortillas.  Mine was the grilled skirt steak bowl but could also have had pork, chicken or shrimp.  The bowls are heated thru so everything in them stays nice and hot throughout your meal. 



 

 

My happy face with my molcajete bowl

 

5.  Our old stand-by is Tio Pablo's.  It has been here since the 1990's.  They have great waitresses and  good, consistent quality, Americanized food.  Daily specials include:

 

• Thursday - Reuben sandwich & fries
• Friday - fish & chips
• Saturday - 50% off pork dishes on menu (and you have to have the pork filet medallions)
• Sunday - Angus beef Prime Rib. 

 

That Prime Rib is at least a pound of meat so we always split it and order an extra salad and potato.  It is our go to spot when we don't know what we want to eat. 

 

So we've gotten through our first month here.  I'm anxious to see what the second 30 days will bring. And I'll keep you posted on that!



 

 

 

Exploring East Cape

Last week we drove down to La Ribera and Santa Cruz just to the south of us.  Los Barriles is at KM 110 on Rt. #1 and the turn off to these two towns is at the KM 93 back towards Cabo.  There is a lot of traffic on both of those roads and we were just one of many.  

You first reach Santa Cruz about 9.5 KM down the alternate road, which is paved.  We like paved as most roads around here are dirt and sand.  Santa Cruz is small but an extremely neat and well cared for town on top of a mesa.  There was an old man working the center of the boulevard, trimming and watering all the flowers and plants between the lanes of traffic.  They have a grammar school and high school and also what looks like a junior college along the boulevard.  To your left and right are wide streets with approximately 10 houses down each side to the end of the mesa.  It does not look "Americanized" yet.

Another 2.5 KM down the road you come to La Ribera which is a larger town  with a population of close to 2,000 - about the size of Shinnston WV.  There are many new vacation/retirement homes on the hillsides.  We drove through town and down towards the beach.  They have a large marina under construction that currently has two houses with large boats docked behind them.  This area has a guard and it was fenced so we didn't go in to explore the area. Back up on the main road, we saw  huge hardware store and plumbing supply store along with the typical tendas (small convenience stores).  We headed further south hoping to get to Punta Colorado but it was off of a soft dirt road and we turned our little Nissan March around at the dump and headed back towards Los Barriles.  We will be taking this trip again.

We found a new place in Los Barriles for breakfast and lunch.  It is call El Viejo.  They have hibiscus tea!  This is a drink we found and enjoyed in Isla Mujeres and were very happy to find it here as well.  Their menu is simple but the food is well prepared and plentiful. 

Mike's chorizo omelet with hash browns

Hibiscus Tea

We have been checking Yelp and Travel Advisor looking for new places to eat in this area.  We did go to check out the menu at the Buena Vista Hotel and Spa and will be heading back there soon.  One of the new restaurants in town is La Casita. While the map shows it downtown next to Caleb's we actually found it on the north side of town just before the wash.  We were heading to El Gecko, which was closed, for an early dinner at 4 PM and Mike decided to stop at La Casita.  

La Casita is an open air restaurant with a mix of tables surrounded by a stick fence.  There are tarps for the roof and lots of fans around to keep the humidity down.  One reviewer said it was nice to have a restaurant in town with stemmed wine glasses.  So we didn't know quite what to expect.  As we didn't want a cocktail, the waitress suggested lemonade.  Mike's was made with sparkling water and mine with plain, purified water.  Both were delicious - quite tart - and served in glass rather than plastic cups.  Mike ordered the grilled tuna salad and a Darrell sushi roll.  I had a small house salad and coconut grilled shrimp.  The food was delicious and well prepared.  My shrimp came with a mango jalapeno sauce along with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies.  I can't wait to go back and try their seared sea bass.  It was my second selection on their menu.

Yesterday I wanted to head north to the mining town we'd seen on our trip to La Paz from 2 years ago.  It looked rustic with cobblestone streets and our driver told us it was good for tourists.  So we checked road conditions at the front desk at Palmas de Cortez and headed towards San Bartolo.

San Bartolo is quite a surprise.  You are driving across dried washes and riverbeds through the desert and look to the west and there is a beautiful green, lush valley.  There are mango trees everywhere and roadside shops selling tree ripened mangoes and guayana (guava), along with fresh produce, baked goods, dried fruits, etc.  We didn't stop but headed north into no man's land, or so it seemed.

After about 5 miles out of San Bartolo, we cut our explorations short.  The farther north we drove, the more Mike and I realized:

1. no one knows where we are going
2. we don't have a valid map
3. we don't have a cell phone
4. we are in a clearly marked rental car

We turned around, stopped in San Bartolo for what I told Mike were key limes.  Turns out they weren't limes at all but guayana.  The girl at the counter offered to let me taste them and we left with a bag full along with a box of mango empanadas.  Guayana fruit are small with a big pit but so very sweet.  Taste is something like a cross between a Granny Smith apple and a ripe pear.  I will buy them again.

Coming back into Los Barriles, we decided to have lunch at La Viejo.  The tacos are 24 to 26 pesos each.  I had one grilled shrimp taco and one grilled scallop taco.  Mike had 2 fish tacos and one scallop taco.  There is a condiment bar where you can add just about anything to your order including grilled onion, roasted jalapenos, radishes, lettuce, cheese, fresh chopped salsa and some killer habanero cooked salsa (my lips tingled for about an hour after having that on my tacos!!).  Lunch cost us about $9 with our tea.

Last night we ate the last of Mike's tuna he caught on Wednesday with steamed rice and a mango salsa I made when we got home.  I think this weekend we will drive north along the cliffs where the ex-pat Americans and Canadians are building their vacation and retirement homes.  Sadly, this area is growing super fast and now about 70% of the residents here are from North America.  It is becoming more populated and losing the charm of a small Mexican fishing village.

East Cape Fishing 6-8-2016

Wednesday we went fishing on a panga named Scorpion.  Our Captain was Jorge who we have met on previous trips.  And we had a great day on the water!! 

There was a panga tournament, of which we were not a part.  We were one of the first boats away from the dock (the first panga too!) and ran north towards the shark buoys.  We did not end up that far up the coast and stopped about Ensenada del Muertos.  Mike hooked a  3 to 3.5 foot, 30 lb wahoo and had it on board by 7:30 AM.  We kept seeing bait balls disturbing the water so we know there were other large fish in the area.  No one was catching anything so we moved a little farther from shore.

Mike's Wahoo

Eventually around 9 AM, with some trolling, we hooked a small female dorado which I caught.  When we saw her size, we chose to release her back.  This year there is a new conservation direction on what size fish you and keep and exactly how many.  We believe this is a great idea.  During the past few years, there have not been strict guidelines and the area may be getting over-fished.  Better to throw her back, let her spawn, and then catch her next month when she's 20+ pounds.

While we continued to troll, nothing was biting.  We decided to head to port about 10:45 but continue to troll on the trip back.  That is when Mike got to catch his striped marlin - all 175 pounds of him (the fish, not Mike).  It took him between 35 and 40 minutes to bring this bad boy to the boat!  He  put up a VERY good fight.  We released him after this photo.  He was as tired out as Mike at this point.

Mike's Marlin

We took 1/2 of the wahoo and gave the second half to Jorge.  Our 8 wahoo filets were prepared by Tio Pablo's Wednesday night -  half garlic & capers and half Veracruz (tomatoes, onions, peppers & olives).  The cost of our meal was $8 each and included our fish with rice, beans and tortillas.  Can't beat that.  We took the leftover Veracruz home and had burritos on Thursday.  Friday night the other 8 filets made it to Tio's as well for more Veracruz.  Their prep is AMAZING!!!  More burritos on Saturday.  Maybe tonight dinner will be beef. 

Next week we will be bottom fishing for snapper and grouper and maybe try for another wahoo.  I will have gills by the time we make it back to Texas!!