It never rains in February

Well, that's what all the locals say.  I say "never say never" as it has rained three times already this month with a whopper of a thunder storm in the middle of the night Wednesday.  It poured down for almost two hours.  It has also been overcast between storms.  I don't mind because the overcast sky provides another prospective to the great views.

Bill invited me to join him and some friends on a whale watching excursion.  There was a heavy mist in the air when we arrived at the home of Gabriele (Gabi).  Gabi is from Germany and lives here year round.  She rents a very nice duplex right on the beach just a few kilometers south of Aticama.  She had coffee, pastries and guayabita.  As we enjoyed the snack, we came to the conclusion that it would be better to postpone whale watching for a better day and decided to hop into Bill's Volkswagen and take a trip into San Blas.

We were joined by Delia, a friend of Gabi.  Delia speaks little English but Gabi is fluent in Spanish so we had someone to translate.  It seems strange to me but I can understand Gabi's Spanish much easier than Delia's.  I think it has something to do with the speed with which they talk.

About half way to San Blas we turned off the highway and took a beach road to some territory that I had not visited before.  The road went through a bunch of beach side palapa restaurants that were all empty because it was a weekday and also poor weather.  There were stretches where we went right across the beach and other stretches where the rocks were so large that the VW rubbed on the higher ones.  Just when we thought we would be able to follow the road all the way to San Blas, there was a large tree that had blown down blocking the road so we had to turn around and go back over the rocky road.  This time we left Bill in the car alone and walked back.

Bill, Delia and Gabi

Next we headed to San Blas and enjoyed a lunch of fish and shrimp tacos that were delicious.  In San Blas if a restaurant (or taco cart) does not serve beer you just walk to the corner mini-super, buy your own and drink it with your meal.  I like this because cerveza is only 70 cents at the store but is about $1.25 in bars and restaurants.  

After lunch we walked around town and I took advantage of having Delia and Gabi along to translate.  We were able to locate the best place to buy seafood: jumbo shrimp 10 dollars a kilo (2.2 lbs),  langosta (lobster) 7 dollars a kilo and dorado (mahi-mahi) for 7 dollars a kilo.  At the vet's we found out that I can get all of Sarah's shots and medications for $10. per series.  At the bus terminal we got info about bus fares to Nogales and Tijuana.

Delia got a new puppy that morning to take home to her son (a 20 year old dental student).

Delia and "No lo se"

"No lo se" means "I don't know" in Spanish and when we asked what the puppies name was Delia replied "No lo se".  We had such a good time together Friday that we have scheduled a repeat for next Friday when we will evaluate the weather and decide whether to go whale watching or on another excursion.  Also, Delia is going to cook a meal for us at Gabi's and I am really looking forward to that.