Company, cupolas, shrimping, art, and More

Winter is here at last! I have to put on warmer clothes now, and actually feel cool in my house. The temperature may be around 80 (but feels 10 degrees cooler up on the hill), and imagine me saying I feel cool. Am I acclimated? I think so. I am just so grateful to not be sweating. December, January and February will be my favorite months here for sure. But the upper deck level here with the breezes today is nearly too cool for comfortably sitting or lying in the hammock unless I have long sleeves on, or pants. Down one level to the ground level, it is warmer. Of course, in the sun I am much warmer.

Jacob and Shauna, his girfriend visited for 11 days in November (with a few sidetrips down to Sayuita to surf, and Punta de Mita area). They loved the view from our roof and spent enjoyable warm afternoons sunbathing up there, and romantic evenings sipping wine and taking in a lovely sunset and the nightlights of town. A boat trip to the island (top photo) is always one of the top activities on the list of things to do here. Snorkeling was fun, and being able to view the mountainous coast of the Bay of Jaltemba communities of La Penita and Guayabitos is something everyone should experience.

This is the time of year for much bigger waves in our bay. In fact, they were big enough for surfing recently. Too bad for Jacob and Shauna, to have missed this opportunity.




Shrimp fishing is big here, with up to 12 shrimp boats from up north (San Blas, Mazatlan) anchored near the island in the daytime, and they are out at night fishing. The shrimp industry is interesting....you can learn about the controversy over it in Mexico, and especially the Pacific Coast.


The big palm trees in our yard are fantastic, for they grow to be so very tall. Wish I could recall the name of this one that produces 'flowers' now which are very unusual.




Cupolas on houses are seen here a lot, and it makes me feel as if I am in the Mediterranean. Some are quite beautiful with the colorful tiles. Sitting on my deck overlooking the town with all the lovely tiled roofs, the variety of colors of painted houses, the cupolas and the immense amount of green foliage everywhere, and gorgeous bougainvillea flowers of brilliant pinks, reds, fuchsias just overwhelms me with the beauty surrounding me. Not to mention that giant blue ocean!


An interesting article on the towns of La Penita, Rincon de Guayabitos and little Chacala north of La Penita was written by a Canadian we met while visiting our friend Hala in her Hammock Shop. It is a pretty good description of our area.

The 12th of December holiday of the Virgin of Guadalupe left us tired! Sleepless nights due to fireworks, and very loud boom of canons, plus loud bands playing music all night makes us feel we should have been down in town celebrating with the locals instead of trying to sleep with earplugs in. One evening I went out in the dark to turn on the outside lights, saw a white flash and the boom was so loud it scared me enough to rid me of my hiccups! As usual, our neighbor up on the hill began blasting his music over his big loudspeakers at 5 a.m. To honor this dark skinned Virgin, in Mexico City the pilgrimage by Mexicans to the basilica ends with the people reaching their destination by walking on their knees.

The new art gallery and restaurant in town called Xaltemba, is really a special place. The food is excellent and a nice change from the traditional local Mexican fare. The gallery recently showed beautiful body sculptures by David Delgadillo.



This blog is long overdue. I don't feel like being wordy today (thus so many photos), so will close with a photo depicting winter on the coast of Mexico: me in a sweater and jeans trying to keep warm. It may be time to bring out the goose down comforter tonight! That way I can sleep with the windows open for the cold fresh air, just like I did on those freezing Minnesota winter nights when it was 20 or 30 degrees below zero. Except now I am feeling cold with night temps around 60 and day temps in the 70's with a breeze! Unbelievable.