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Bruce and Li's Wanderings Bruce and Lee Manage a Beachfront Guesthouse in Mexico

Final Day Apr 30, 2012

Movie Clips - Playback Requirements - Problems?

Last night massive waves continued to thunder into shore, crashing on to the beach but it's really odd because the weather is fine. As I sit here on the patio close to the shoreline it's warm and 'soft' - no wind - but there are these massive waves. Quien sabe, as they say here. Everyone agrees there have been very strange ocean and weather conditions lately.

And speaking of ocean conditions, when we first got here the water was warm, there was lots of bait fish out there, therefore lots of pelicans, boobies and other fishing birds and some great fish were being caught here. Then the water turned colder, the bait vanished, the birds, porpoises and whales left and there was nothing for the fishermen to bring in but tiny little fish that are hardly worth the effort of preparing them. A few days ago it all changed again: the water has warmed up (albeit with massive wave action), the boobies and pelicans have returned and the fishing boats are back in action. The sky is dense with diving birds - we wonder that they don't crash into each other, but the only fatality we have seen is when the banana boat towboat driver ran into a boobie at high speed. Check out my short piece of video of hundreds of birds plummeting from the sky to catch fish. This has been going on all day long for the last three days! (By the way, "music" in the video is courtesy of a an unanticipated special appearance by Marco, a precocious 5 year old who has been staying here for a few days.

It's another holiday weekend here in Mexico (tomorrow, May 1st, is Labour Day) so the beach has become crowded again and we've had all kinds of walk-ins looking for a place to stay. I really have only more thing I want to say about how much fun it is on a Mexican beach on a holiday weekend and that is that I wish I had a dollar for every sand castle we've seen built, every moat that has been dug and every person that we have seen buried in sand and had a whale or a woman with huge boobs built above them. Mexican people really know how to "do beach".

The owner of this place, Betty, is now back (arrived Saturday) but she's only here long enough to do some palapa repairs and close the house up until November, so we're not taking in any more guests. Except, that is, for two Canadians who have stayed here before and who showed up unexpectedly last night. They had flown to Venezuela to bring a 130ft boat up to Canada for its new owner, but they left the boat (and its "incompetent crew" at Manzanillo, came here for the night and are flying back to Vancouver today. It was fun talking to them - especially for Bruce, as he knows a ton of the people they know. When Betty and her partner returned Bruce and I moved downstairs into a lovely one bedroom suite (Casa Estrella) so as to give Betty and Glenn their own space upstairs. I really like it down here! The upstairs house, while very nice, is very large and I felt as though we were rattling around up there. I'm guessing we have about 800 sq ft down here, though, with a nice living room, kitchen, dining area, pantry, bedroom & bathroom and a walk-out patio on to the beach.

I've been making my own bread while in La Manz which I prefer to anything we can buy - and so, it turns out, do the maid, the gardener and the handiman here. I gave them each some of my bread and it was "muy sabroso" and "just like you can buy in Guadalajara", etc., so on Saturday morning I made my last batch of bread, showing Jaqueline (the maid) how I make it, then I gave her my bread tin and mixing/storage box (I do the 'Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day' thing - you can look it up on-line) and I think she's thinking entrepreneurial thoughts about selling it to Americans and Canadian next Season.

Today we have been packing and working on the contents of our fridge (shrimp for lunch along with some nice, chilled sauvignon blanc) but there'll still be a lot left over tomorrow for the maid, Jaqueline, to take home.

Tomorrow morning we'll take the bus from Melaque (20 minutes south of here) to Puerto Vallarta, which will take around 4 1/2 hours, then our flight to Vancouver (via Phoenix) departs around 6pm. We'll stay in Vancouver overnight then get out early the next morning (per Bruce's wishes) so as to get back to Gabriola on the 12:30 Horseshoe Bay ferry. I can tell Bruce can smell the barn and is ready to bolt for home but for me, after being gone for nearly two months, personally I think that getting up at a civilized hour and having a decent breakfast first would be more in keeping. Oh well....... It's been a great experience and I think Betty and Glenn would be prepared to let us do it again next year, which I would certainly be up for - in case you couldn't tell! :)