Taking the morning to go surfing at Playa Chica

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - No, I didn't actually climb aboard a real surfboard today. I left that duty to a new amigo, Ricardo, who hails from South Africa by way of Ashland, Oregon where he and his amiga Amy live.

Amy and Richard arrived yesterday bearing gifts from the Admiral's cousin Lynn and her partner Suzanne who had seen the couple in Yelapa, at the memorial service for Isabel, the woman who died earlier this year after falling off a staircase in La Manzanilla.

What were the gifts? A set of pink flamingo glasses and stir sticks. Amazing! We celebrated the gift with a round of Cuba Libres - in the flamingo glasses, of course.


The Admiral and Amy at Playa Chica

What I did do - instead of surfing - was jump on one of our boogie boards to go out and challenge the waves.

The cross currents were pretty strong, knocking me over several times when I lost my footing. So after just a few rides I decided to take it a little easier today. I can always head back to the beach.


Richard comes in from the surf

The waves were better for surfing than for boogie boarding and Richard is hoping to get a repeat tomorrow of today's good surf before he and Amy make their way back north.

Here's a very brief video of our amigo Max (from France) followed by a short clip of Richard getting a ride.

Yet another sojourn to Arroyo Seco to check out progress

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - We mounted another expedition to Arroyo Seco Friday, this time with a full entourage of the Admiral and I, Tom & Mary Jo (La Manzanilla residents) Tia and her daughter Macy (and dog Coda), as well as two Spanish teachers from Calgary, Canada - Laura and Christina - who we hope might come back next year and put on some English classes for los ninos in the village.

We swooshed into town like a motorcade and were greeted with a nearly completed lot and lots of smiles from the local residents who are all curious about what we are going to do.

We wonder what we are going to do with the lot ourselves.


The flattened lot - and a lot of room it has

After looking over the walls, however, we realized that what we thought was a relatively cheap and quick fix in the back is going to turn into a major bricklaying operation - probably about three times the amount of work (and $$$$) as we had initially estimated. The back wall needs to be a lot higher than originally thought. One side needs raising about six feet. And one side - 125 feet - needs an entire new wall, eight feet high.

Anyone interested in a little concrete and brickwork?


The Admiral explains her ideas for the site

Still, it was exciting to see it so flat, the buildings gone and how much space we have to work with. We measured off a footprint for a building about the size of Palapa Joe's restaurant in La Manzanilla and discovered that it would fit neatly a one corner, leaving enough to build three more buildings of that size on the lot.

And still we would have plenty room to park, and even add some other small places.

No trip to Arroyo Seco is complete without going to the beach, where the waves were sooooo much better then when we were there two days ago with Dr. John and his amigos, who have returned to the U.S. but who might make another pilgrimage before we leave this summer for New York.

Some local surfer dudes were there, enjoying some good rides. We just enjoyed the scenery and the wind.


Laura and Coda contemplate some surfing


A great beach for children, dogs and grandparents


Macy & Coda - after a long morning at the beach