Feliz Ano Nuevo

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Bob & I spent our afternoon with the neighbors playing Hearts. Later we grilled shrimp, beef fajitas, stuffed jalapenos and potatoes. We did enjoy a very nice dinner for Christmas Eve. One of the restaurants "Olas Atlas" advertised Cajun Fried Turkey and say no more...we're there. We went only to find the turkey over cooked. But the rest of the feast was wonderful. Ham, prime rib, dressing, roasted potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls and desserts. All was fabulous but yet I was still disappointed. I really wanted my turkey seasoned and juicy. O'well.... Tonight is the Eve of New Year's. Happy New Year to everyone! We wish the best for everyone in 2009. We'll be spending our evening with some friends at a place called Canucks. Dinner, dancing, open bar & party favors at midnight to be enjoyed by all. Canucks is offering free shuttle service to & from their restaurant at no extra charge. How nice! We live a few blocks away so it shouldn't be a problem. We are winding down our time here in Mazatlan. We leave for Puerto Vallarta this coming Sunday the 4th. We played our last hands of Texas Hold'em on Tuesday. I did win one of the rounds but fell a little shy of taking 1st place for the month. I was a little disappointed but had a great time and met some fantastic folks during our months here playing. We also sang our last karaoke song at Puerto Viejo and said "good-bye" our friends there. We've spent 3 months here in Mazatlan and friendships were formed...a little difficult to say Bye. Here's a good laugh for you. I've been teaching Spanish to 2 of my neighbors, Jeanette & George. Don't laugh too hard! I'm only teaching Spanish 101. The basics only. Both of them had signed up & paid for classes with a Spanish teacher. Their teacher only taught them vocabulary words. Hell, I've had Spanish Classes way back when and I know the 1st thing we learned was the alphabet in Spanish. So, they asked if I would teach them. George even had a workbook that I could follow which made my job very easy. These guys got their money back and paid me. Now, I'm proud to say they know the alphabet, numbers(time & money), months, days of the week, colors, how to ask questions of what they want or need, basic directions and feminine vs. masculine words. Not too bad! Plus it was a great refresher course for me. Tomorrow I'll be attending a Salsa/Salsa/Margarita Class. We'll learn to make 3 types of salsas, 3 different kinds of margaritas and Salsa dancing to following. Bob has no interest in joining me so I'll be attending solo. The rest of our time here will be spent surfing destinations in Belize and Guatemala. It's only logically one of the two will be our next country to explore. We do wish everyone a safe evening and we'll talk next year. Lots of love - Bonnie & Bob

Merry Christmas

To all our Family & Friends.... We are wishing each of you a very Merry Christmas. We are missing everyone dearly during this Holiday season. I'm missing my Aunt's tamales... But fortunately have wonderful friends who remind me how good they are. Thanks Trechell & Cindy for rubbing it in. And I know we will be missing a great time at my Mom's yearly Eve party. Who's going to be making all those Pomegranate Martinis? Hopefully my cousin Kris can pick up the slack. I will be calling in on Christmas Eve. Mom make sure you have your computer near by so you can hear the computer ring. Can't wait to hear ya'lls voices. We had been without Internet for 4 days now & it was driving me crazy. We've been pretty busy doing things around town. Bob's played a few rounds of golf, poker tops our list of activities. In fact my luck has turned around (hope I'm not jinxing myself) I've pulled into third place this week with our league play. A few more weeks left...wish me luck. Lots of concerts going on around town. In fact, we had the pleasure of listening to one of the top rated Mariachi bands in the world. They are called Mariachi Vargas. Wow, they guys were amazing. I've had my share of listening to mariachi music (not normally my thing)...but these guys were awesome. I kept thinking about my Aunt Luz and Uncle Ramiro...I know if they were with us, they would be belting out every tune. Well it definitely feels like Christmas around here. Not the shopping crap but all the lights, Christmas trees and parties. Our Christmas will be spend here with the neighbors. We'll be firing up the pit and having a potluck dinner. Plus a few of us plan to attend Midnight Mass. We are 2 blocks from a huge Cathedral and they have been ringing their bells and singing Ave Maria everyday. Sounds really nice except the chimes are starting at 6:00 a.m every morning. I had a painful experience yesterday. I finally had to go back to the doc for my heel problem. Next course of action was a Cortisone shot. O'My God that was painful. I actually screamed several times and I have a high pain tolerance. I sure hope this round works. They told me it could take a day up to 12 days to know if it works in reducing the inflammation. If it doesn't they want to do another round of shots. Not sure I want to go thru that again. But, today the pain was minimal. I'll be laying off of it for a day or two before walking for exercise. Alot of birthdays going on this month. I want to wish my cousin John, my cousin Kim, my cousin Gilbert, my nephew Bret, Kristina Lemieux, Deena Colburn, Ginger Hughes, Shirley Jones, Julia Urbanek, my Aunt Sylvia, Thuy and Chris Walters a very happy birthday. Always thinking of you guys. Lots of love to all - Bonnie & Bob

Early morning today

What a beautiful morning! Ask and you shall receive. I had mentioned out in the courtyard that it would be nice to have a bike...my bone spurs are still killing me and I want to exercise. I'm out walking but I'm paying the price too. My neighbor, George says he has an extra bike I can borrow and if I want to join him on a bike ride in the morning; I was more than welcome. Sure, I said, "would love to". His morning time and my morning time are very different. 7:30 works for me but not for George. He likes to be out there by 5:30. O' Boy...5:00 a.m. came early! (Why do I make commitments after a cocktail?) It was still dark and I'm pretty sure the roosters were still sleeping but I got up. I hadn't been on a bike since "island living" and we all know how that turned out. But today would be different. We were riding our bikes on the Malecon. I didn't have to worry about pot holes or dirt trails. But I did have to worry about those damn spiked peddles. Aye, I was trying to be so quiet for my sleeping beauty, Bob. I ran the bike into the front door and caught my shin on the peddle. That was painful. George was ready at 5:30 and ready to roll. How far are we riding today, I asked? (Why didn't that question come to mind yesterday) He said, "to Valentino's". Humm...by my calculations that's approximately 18 miles. I swallowed and smiled..."cool". Let's go! The first few yards were hard but once we reached the malecon it was beautiful. Not too many folks out at that time but the waves were doing their thing. I could listen to them all day. George is fast on a bike. No way could I keep up but I took in the sites and really enjoyed being out there. He would wait every so often for me to catch up but then I would feel bad. Go on, I told him. I know my way around. I caught up with him when he was on his way back. I turned around and started to head back too. So, my 18 miles was cut to approx 16 miles. Not bad. The Malecon was full of folks by 6:00 - 6:15. I now know why George likes being out there early. By the end of the ride we were dodging people walking their dogs, runners, or roller blader's. There were lots of people running on the beach and several swimmers in the ocean...now that's ambitious. Bob is still sleeping and will be till about 9:00. I'm heading to yoga now. Hope all is going well for everyone.

Change of Plans

Looks like we'll be spending a little more time in Mazatlan. We were planning to head south to Puerto Vallarta from here leaving Dec 4th and then on to San Miguel for the Christmas Holiday but that plan kind of backfired. We didn't make reservation in time. We looked everywhere (San Miguel, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Ixtapa & Zuantenejo) for a hotel over the Christmas week and all decent places are booked. Fortunately the place were we've been living had one apartment available thru the holiday season. We took it. We did have to move apartments; so now we are in a 2 bedroom apartment and paying a little more rent. But it will be nice hanging out here for the holidays. We know the area and look forward to the festivities that will take place at the plaza. We are hoping my Dad & Esther come to visit us soon. Of course anyone else needing a vacation...come see us. Continental flies non-stop here from Houston. Hope everyone has a wonderful day. Miss you - Bonnie

Monday Night Football

Are you ready for some football? We're back on schedule...on Monday nights we normally hang out at a place called Army Wings. Great wings, 2 for 1 beers, nice large screen TV's and fantastic music afterwards. Tonight just happened to be my Houston Texans. WooHoo. They finally looked great. I'm still a little disappointed in the offense but defense showed up. Mario Williams is on FIRE! This is one time where I wouldn't mind being at work and talking a little smack at with the guys....especially with Danny Conner. Danny said over & over, "That the Texans made the absolute worst pick in NFL History". I know he is choking on his words. He needs to leave the NFL draft to the experts and stick to trading. He's much better at that. And Ken Dewey is a huge VY fan...where is he at these days? On the bench! Crying! Reggie Bush well...not bad; but no Mario Williams. We called our tailgating friends tonight...Ina, David, Sonja and Jeff. These guys never disappoint me. They were still tailgating an hour after the game. I love them and miss them very much. Hope everyone has a great evening. Miss you - Bonnie.