TRIP TO MEXICO

Yesterday had a low of 18C and a high of 20C.

We were invited by our neighbours (Ron and Janet from Burlington Ont.) to go across the border with them to experience Progresso Mexico. So why not, it is done by many people in the area. The town and parking lot weren't that busy yesterday according to Ron. But there were quite a few people checking out the area.  You park on the U.S. side for $2.00 and pay 50 cents to walk across a bridge over to Mexico. Coming back, you pay 25 cents to walk back on the other side of the bridge and go through Customs.

This is the wall/fence on the U.S. side to prevent illegals. They monitor the openings in it. 

This is the Rio Grande River separating the two Countries. I would have thought it was wider and harder to cross. The fence is just off to the right side of the river.

A lot of people go across the border to get dental work done at a fraction of the cost here in the U.S. or Canada.There are lots of Dentist offices, all have been trained in the U.S. and they only deal in cash. You can make an appointment or many have a walk in service. There are many vendors on the side walk selling current movies, cd's, food and trinkets. The store employee's are at the entrances holding posters with the prescription drugs they have available and asking you to come in and look. You need to shop around for the best price.

Other stores sell clothing, leather products, sterling silver (not sure of the quality?) ceramic pots and pewter products and the usual Mexican stuff.

                                                                      Pewter

The liquor is a really cheap here but you need to shop around. I bought two, 1 litre bottles of Crown Royal for $38.00 and a bottle of Baileys for $18.00. A bottle of Sheridan goes for $22.00.

We had lunch at one of the restaurants on the main road and ordered a Chicken Fajita which we split. They first came with a bowl of  Taco chips and 3 different dips, one of which burnt all the way down. Then came a bowl of fish soup and it was pretty good.  Then came a small dish of onion rings for us to share. Finally, the plate of chicken and toppings and some warm tortillas showed up and it was more than enough for the two of us. All of this plus a Margarita for Cathy and a Lemonade for me for $10.00.

Crossing back into the U.S. we needed to show our passports and had to pay duty on the liquor which was $3.75 per bottle. Cathy bought some prescription creams and was not even asked about them. They were only interested in the booze.


 It was an experience!!

  

Grocery Shopping

Last night it was warm, very windy and humid enough for us to turn on the a/c.The day was partly cloudy but hot with a high of 32C.

We needed to replenish the cupboards so we left early to go to H-E-B to beat the hot noon temperature. The prices are quite a bit cheaper here.

                                                       A great buy at 59 cents a Ib.

                                           Check out the prices of Butter Ball Turkeys

                                                                Regular turkeys

                                                              Fresh sugar cane

When we arrived back at the Resort we ran into Harley and his chauffeur. Not sure, but I think he wanted to check out if any new poodles arrived today.

 Things are getting a little quieter around here as a lot of people are returning home or visiting relatives for the holidays. We are told it will fill up completely after the holidays.

In the pm. we went to the - you guessed it, the pool then happy hour.

Till tomorrow... 

A QUIET DAY

Today was sunny with the usual wind and a high of 31C.

We sat out for the am. and enjoyed the weather while listening to the radio.

We also made some phone calls to Canada and actually switched over to skype to talk to Janice and the twins Paige and Owen. We had a good talk with Paige who mentioned she wanted a puppy for Christmas - a pink and white one. Owen could care less about talking, he just played in the back ground. 

 After lunch we took the bicycles  over to the recreation hall to check out the sewing machines. Cathy needs to shorten the shorts we bought yesterday. We took the long way back checking out the various licence plates and the units up for sale.

                                                No activity on the shuffleboard courts.

All for now.  

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

Monday was a sunny day with a low of 18C and a high of 31 with no breeze.

We started the day off by going out for breakfast in the near by town of Weslaco with a group of neighbours. It was busy spot and we were encouraged to try the pecan pancakes made with chips of the locally grown pecans. Cathy went with the #2 and I had the #6 breakfast.

After breakfast Cathy and I rode over to the "Dickies" store, it was located in more of a warehouse and was huge, selling work clothes, school and nursing uniforms. We picked up a pair of shorts for me.

Cathy was able to get us tickets for this Saturday's dance with a rock and roll band, "The Cruisers" which are quite good they say and tickets for the New Year's Dance where we have been invited to join the neighbours who are going to be here. There are a few people leaving this week to go back home to their families for the holidays.

The park provides modems to use for a $5.00 deposit and they came and installed ours today. They provided the cable to connect into the coach and splitter for no charge which they say we can keep.

In the afternoon we saw a local maintenance man trimming the trees in the neighbourhood, the property owners can also hire him. It takes him about 2 hours to do a tree at a cost of about $20.00 a tree. He mentioned ants and cockroaches can climb up into the trucks and make nests.

Last night we went to "The Festival of Lights" in Hidalgo with Rick and Connie from Wiarton Ontario. This is about a 40 minute drive south west of Mercedes and is close to the Mexican border. This festival is put on by the town in the area around City Hall and the area around it including the parks and near by houses.  This is all sponsored by local businesses and most of the people working are volunteers with all monies raised going to the local charities. They have trolley, train and horse drawn buggy rides which take you around the area with a narrator. There are have a few rides for the kids as well. They start installing the lights the beginning of October.

Hope to post again this evening.

ONE HOT DAY!

Last night it dropped to just 19C for a low and today it was 31C with no breeze at all making it even hotter. We noticed it is usually windy here in Texas which we find out is a good thing, since it keeps the bugs down.

 For breakfast I bbq'ed bacon and eggs so not to heat up the coach. We sat out in the shade for the rest of the am. and just took it easy. I talked to a neighbour who just connected a water softener on his coach which simply has two wires that are wrapped around the intake water line and plugged into a 110 outlet on the coach. There is no salt required, it just creates an electrical charge that ties up the calcium and magnesium and causes it to be flushed out with the water. It keeps the pipes, water heater, ice maker, etc. cleaner and makes the water softer. He is the third fellow on the street who has bought one of these units. So Cathy and I are planning on buying one as well. This would eliminate the drinking of salt with the water which is a good thing.


In the pm. we hit the pool again and made it back in time for the neighbourhood happy hour. I am thinking I may have to go into detox when we return to Canada.


Til tomorrow.....  

SATURDAY'S BLOG ON SUNDAY

It was hot yesterday with a high of 31C and the low Friday night was 19C.

In the am. we had to p/u our tire covers at the flea market and Cathy had her hair cut at Wal-mart. In the pm. we headed for the pool, staying cool there and returning in time for happy hour with the neighbours.

                                              Custom made tire covers - a great fit.

                                                              More flea market pics.

 After dinner we attended the Saturday night dance with a country/western band. You bring your own booze and can buy the pop there. They provide ice and popcorn. Everyone there had obviously taken dance lessons at the resort so Cathy and I did our own thing. The dance runs from 7-10.


All for now, going to cook breakfast on the BBQ.

THIS AND THAT!

There was a low of 11C last night and a high of 26C today with it still being cloudy.

We did a variety of things today. Cathy was off to an exercise class first thing this morning while I worked on some things on the coach. I helped a neighbour move sofa bed from his home unit so he could trade it in for a matching recliner to the one they all ready had.

After lunch we went for a motorcycle ride and saw some countryside. We ended up a Walmart, bought a couple of things and while we were in the meat section Cathy noticed these nice hams. I flipped one around and said they were not hams but a complete pork head. Sorry, no picture. We thought it was pretty cheap at 98 cents a lb. I was thinking it would be a good meal to have the next time we have the whole family over for dinner. It would definetly be a change from turkey!

After dinner we were invited to go on a park tour to check out the park  Christmas lights. Some of the displays were quite good. In some areas the whole street did the same theme for their showings.

                                                         Street with cactus theme

 
                                             
                                                                  Tractor theme

                                                                   Sleigh theme

Till tomorrow.

CHECKING OUT THE PARK AREA

It was a little warmer last night with it reaching 11C. Today was cloudy with a high of 21 and a slight risk of rain, but it didn't happen.

We sat out in the am. and went for a bicycle ride to p/u some more drinking water. This is giving us some exercise and gets us out to talk to other people. We continue to run into other people from Ontario. Today it was a fellow who drove a bus for the City of Mississauga and now spends the winters here doing work-camping. Meaning if they work 3 days a week they get their camp site free.

This afternoon we did another bicycle ride to explore the campground area some more. We found a small pond in the first area of the campground to be developed that added a little more scenery for the area.

                                                                  Lake inside park.

                                                   

There is also a longer lake called Llano Grande Lake running along the one side of the campground with a levy/berm. We were able to ride along the top of the levy and look down at some of the adjacent sites and the lake. We heard some loud banging going on and discovered it was a guy on the other side of the lake shooting his guns. It sounded like shotguns and he later switched to a pistol. A few feet away from him were a couple fishing in the lake with no concerns it seemed.

                                                 Lake Llano with levy we were riding on.

                                                          Cactus display on front yard.

                                   They also have a dog washing station beside the dog walk area.

On our journey we also found a orange tree on a camp site and picked a couple which will be used for tomorrows juice.   

This evening we hosted the happy hour and had 14 people over with their lawn chairs and drinks to socialise. They are a great bunch.

CHECKING OUT THE FLEA MARKET

It was cool last night reaching 6 C. Today's weather was sunny with a high of 22C. It is gradually getting warmer each day.

This morning we cleaned the motorcycle as it still had sand on it from the Corpus Christi area - the sand is so fine it sticks to everything.

In the afternoon we decided to check out the area flea market, about 15 minutes away and occurs on Wednesdays and the weekends. It is your typical market with a lot of junk but is very popular. They have a few vendors there with fruits and vegetables, tools (new and used) trinkets, RV supplies, etc. We ended up ordering a set of tire shades for our coach to protect them from sun and UV damage. These guys are Mexican and they make there own products which are heavier and cheaper than the ones we would buy. They will have them ready on Saturday.

We have been told in Jan/Feb you can barely get down these aisles due to the number of people attending the Flea Market. 

                                                                       A Texas t-shirt.

 

There is an orange grove just outside our Park's entrance and they look like they are ready for harvesting.                

We have noticed these large smoke clouds and have found out they burn the sugar cane fields after they are harvested to burn the leaves that are discarded from the harvester. It creates an ash that will drop to the ground and they call this Black Snow. If you have clothes out to dry and it gets on them you have to rewash them.

                                               This is a shot of the Resort Golf Course.

The Park Manager is having a small multipurpose shed on their site build. It will have a 3 piece bathroom, washer/dryer and can be used as an spare bedroom when people stay over for a visit. A lot of people do this here once they buy their site.


Til tomorrow...

CHECKING THE AREA OUT

Last night was cool with a low of 11, it reached about 24 as a high and remained cloudy today. Sorry, I keep bouncing back and forth from farenheit and celsius.  It depends if I go by the TV temps. or our outside thermometer we brought from home.

We were up early to check out the fruit/vegetable vendor who brings their goods to the fountain area near the east gate to the resort. They had a wide selection and it was recently harvested. A sign indicated the walnuts, pecans, almonds are from a new crop. The prices, Cathy says were comparable to home but fresh.

                                                                 selection of nuts

                          These are daikon or Japanese radishes, the grower says they can grow to about 2 ft. long. These are about 1 ft. long and are generally used in stir frys in oriental restaurants.

After putting the recent purchases away the neighbour across the street (here from Burlington) asked if we would like to join them as they are going grocery shopping. This was an errand we had planned on doing after lunch but we were happy to join them. Along the way to the H.E.B. grocery store which seems to be the only store providing competition for groceries to Walmart here, we were shown the locations for the local liquor store (important), the way to Walmart, how to get to the border, the area where they have a big flea market and a RV supply store. We had lunch with them and returned home. It was a great time and very informative.

We covered many topics for those few hours we were with Ron and Janet. One topic was on the TV channels we receive at the resort. They used to show 3 Canadian channels CTV, CBC and Global but a message just recently started indicating they are no longer able to provide them due to Canadian regulations.

I was craving a good bbq'ed steak and that is what we had for dinner along with the corn we purchased this am. It was not peaches and cream, that was a treat.

All for now.