Well let’s see, just where do I start? We’re still starting 5 or 6 mornings a week with an exhilarating bike ride. Anywhere from 3 to 6 of us bike down the highway through La Penita, take a left onto a cobblestone road (quite rough…) and cross over a river on a pedestrian cable swing bridge.
The bridge is about 3 feet wide with a wooden board floor, supported at each end by cables, and a battered screen to catch us from going into the water if we should falter while crossing. Across the bridge we pass from cobblestone roads to brick and from La Penita to Guayabitos. Just over a mile later we are peddling hard through the downtown area of Guayabitos and head for the hard peddle up and over the hill to Los Ayala. That’s the first 30+ minutes, now let’s return fast so that we can be ready for an exciting game of water volleyball. Louise is up early to join a group that heads out for an early morning hike through the hills of La Penita one day and an exercise class at the palapa next. We carried on one of the annual events at the park on Christmas day. The "International Water Volleyball ternament".
This year Mexico took the trophy with Canada and the USA settling for second. One morning as we were just getting back to the coach, I looked down just in time to see a large tortoise sitting right in front of the coach.
We have no idea as to how it found its way there but here he/she was… We didn’t want disturb it but on the other hand it had to be removed. With a huge open mouth that showed it meant business, we opted to call others (the staff manager) for help in picking it up and moving it down to the swamp below. We’ve also been EXTREMELY busy with being a part of the volunteer group for “Sunday Hamburger Night”. Sol, Carol, George, Lis, Louise, and me are heavy into the Sunday night feast by heading into PV to purchase most of the products for the night, recruiting more volunteers, setting up for the nights event, cooking and bartending, and then the clean-up. Hell it’s just like having your own business, it’s all volunteering.... We cancelled the Sunday after Christmas event in exchange for Wednesday evening hamburgers WITH karaoke. With all the Mexican families coming here for the Christmas holidays, we had a full house at the tables and the microphone. We doubled our sales and totally enjoyed the evening with song, food, and drink…lots of it. The 9th of January will be our last and we’re planning to celebrate. We also had a little “event” here…someone walked right up to George and Lis’s motor home and brazenly walked off with George’s bike.
George saw him grab the bike and jump over an 8 foot embankment in getting away. It didn’t make our day then but Carol came to his aid… George is now riding a new (to him) bike, thanks to Carol’s generosity by loaning George her bike. We’ve also been on the go at and away from the coach… At the coach, Louise hosted an outstanding Christmas Brunch.
She received so many compliments on the meal that it almost got to the point of “embarrassing” (just kidding honey, it was wonderful !!!).
Additional lunch and dinner trips into Guayabitos, PV, Punta Mita, and Las Varas, and driving out to find beaches and other sites we haven’t been to before. Cave Beach was one of those that we finally got too. The drive down to this beach was accomplished after picking our way down a very dusty, rocky, potholed very narrow and steep path. Just before setting our eyes on the beach, we were met at a very large gate by a very large and well armed guard… After writing down our license plate number he approached me and wanted my “papers” (driver’s license). This was pretty tight security for being so far off the main road and away from the populous. A little further down the same dusty path and we were soon on this beautiful beach. Within a smaller bay we found the same wonderful sand that we’ve followed all along the Mexican coast, but this time it was spotted here and there with black rock formations. We will soon make this place one of our kayak outings. Speaking of outings, Sol and Carol out bid others in one of the recent silent auctions and found themselves on a great ATV adventure.
This was just a sample of what they will be doing quite readily soon…Sol also WON a NEW ATV in another auction !!!