Our breakfasts this morning. All the orange juice is squeeze right in the kitchen. Pat is having a fruit and yogurt thing, the rest of us are having real food! They make their own tortillas here too, hot, thick and wonderful!

A vendor selling small violins. He could play one pretty good. He only has one eye, but seems in fine spirits!

Preston is working on his Spanish. He'll be an expert by the time we get home!

This is the entry to our house, the Casa Bougainvillas. It's the nicest place in the neighborhood, at least that we can see. The neighbors are friendly, but there is a lot of noise. Lots of dogs, that bark, kids, chickens, turkeys, a couple parrots that live in back of us, LOUD music at times, but nice Mexican music. At 6 AM the vendors start coming by. They bring water, propane, and pick up garage. All have different signals..bell, horn, speaker, etc. We have a Tamale truck that makes several passes a day by the house too. It's all very interesting!

A young mother with her little girl. This is near our house.

This kids were having an afterschool Bible study class. I think the only schools here are Catholic, and they wear uniforms. I'm not sure what sort of class this was, there weren't any adults in sight.

Another busy lady. This street is a block over from ours, there are more little stores along here. This lady was busy sweeping her dirt porch.

You can see the tool where the man is working on the other side of the wall. He's done all the ones with the dark mortor since we've been here. Construction is everywhere, but doesn't seem to be too organized.

Flowers are everywhere, and so many different colors of Hibiscus! White, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, and combinations of them all.

One of the neighborhood mules.

This man was making brooms, just down the street from our Casa. He's showing Karen how to use one, this is all new to her! The people here are amazingly clean, they sweep the dirt streets and floors several times a day to keep the dust down.

This is right around the corner from our house. Note the little kitty in the doorway. There are several places to eat and drink in the neighborhood. Oh...don't forget if you want to see the picture larger, just click on it. Then use the back arrow to get back to the blog.

The street looking to the East from our house. It's leveled out here, it's a pretty good grade the other way towards the main part of town and the beach.

We don't know what kind of fruit this is, The red things are white and jukky tasting inside. They grow all over down here. This is in our courtyard.

Our house from the outside, and the parking place. It's the most modern one in the neighborhood.

We're in the process of trimming and cleaning up the courtyard. karen had to take a little rest before continuing on with the heavy work....

Preston in his reading corner. This is where he plans to spend his time reviewing his Spanish lessons. He starts school next Thursday.

Karen, the "Domestic Goddess". The maid won't be in the house until 3 PM today, it's noon now. Pat and her have been doing a lot of work making things look spiffy!

This is Karen and Preston's room. They are both large enough to be comfortable, has a couch, chairs and a table too. The books shelves are full of good books. Preston used an ice chest to get Karen's reading light a little higher.

This is the kitchen in our casa. We're really pleased with the whole set up, it's going to work out good, and we're getting at least 4 days free rent just to help make it more livable. There was a little mixup on maids and maintenance people, so we're doing a lot of it.

This place is right across the street from our house. They do a lot outside, even their refridgerator is out side. Most people don't have them here, so this is an "up scale" place. They have a profusion of chickens, turkeys, dogs and cats, and other animals that live there. One expecially cut dog that pay brought bones home last night from our dinner in town. The Papayas aren't ripe yet, but they grow all over down here.

This cute little puppy was right across from me while I was using the laptop here yesterday. There is 4 or 5 internet cafes here in this little town, but I've found 2 places where I can get on line without paying for the wireless. I don't even know where the signal is coming from, but it seems to work!

This is a mortuary, it on a back street, doors were open to the casket storage area. Pretty dusty, but some nice boxes. The probably clean them up before use

Third generation shoemaker. He stays busy learning the trade from his mother and grandfather. Check out his cool watch!

This lady had been making shoes here for about 10 years. He Father has been there making shoes for 59 years!

Unlike some places we've been, the people here are very friendly and like to have their pictures taken. And, don't expect to be paid for it like they do in the heavy tourist areas. This is a Happy Grandmother!

Egret and Mule. This little stream is a block from our house. Pretty slow this time of year, nearing the end of the "Dry Season". The rain will start in June, and usually comes in for about an hour a day in the afternoons. Hot and humid then.

A Mexican enjoying he sand and sea. A lot of the Mexican people from the interior come here for vacations. The tourists are about 15% Mexican, 5% US, and 80% Canadian, according to the local people that seem to know things like this.

This beach is near out house.

This is a "party boat", takes people out for rides and fishing.

Fishing boat off shore at La Penita.

Karen bought her hat in Nogales, Preston found one down here. They are busy eating a fruit cup .

The town square (Plaza) is usually busy with food and other vendors displaying their wares.

We were in the Plaza in La Penita, our first full day here. This is more like "real Mexico" than any of the other places we've been. There are tourists here, mostly Canadian, but they don't stay here, they come up from Puerto Vallarta or Vincon do Guaybitos. This is just a wonderful little town!

This is Terry. His wife, Lenor, is the lady that arranged for us to get the house in La Penita. Terry owns and operates this computer shop and internet cafe on the Plaze in La Penita. He's letting me use his bench right now to send these blog picturer. It's been a real pleasure to meet some of the locals down here, I'm sure that in a month or more, we'll get to know a lot of them.

The beach. 10:30 AM. about 80 degrees. Pelicans floating on the small waves lapping the sand. Not a bad place to be on January 26, 2006!

This is Jaime. He owns a bar and restaurant in La Penita, been here for over 20 years. A favorite place for locals and tourists. There are many Canadians and a few Americans here. The population is around 14000, not counting the tourists. We had a nice dinner here on our first night in town, and learned a lot about the area and people from Jaime.

Our motel in La Penita. We checked in around 6 PM. a good nights rest and just next door to Jaime's place!

A street vendor doing some needlepoint in her spare time.

This is an intersection in La Penita. Early in the morning. People start early, and stay busy most of the day. It's a wonderful town!

Looking down from our room to the office and courtyard of the Motel.

An elderly tourist! You're never too old to have fun in Mexico!

Outside showers at our motel. Not really sure why these are here, it's several blocks from the beach. Maybe when it REALLY hot, it nice to stand under the shower.

We were on the 3rd floor. This is a bridge on the floor below us that joins both side of the motel.

The pool in the place we were staying. The water felt a little too cool for us to jump in!

Our room for the first night in La Penita. We had to rent something since the house won't be ready for another day. Karen and Pat are checing out the beds. No blankets, only one sheet! It was nice and clean anyway.

This is a Yaki, heavy plant, you eat the seeds.

One of the dozens of fruit stands we passed. We ate some YaKa seeds, they were great!

We crossed the Tropic of Cancer just North of Mazatlan. It's warm now, and starting to have a tropical feel. We're really getting into Mexico now.

Pat wanted a Fruit Cup, so this lady chopped up some Jicama, watermelon, cucumbers, and I don't know what all. Added some chili and lime juice. It was good.