Christmas in the Dessert

Definitely didn't feel like Christmas surrounded with sand and cactus, but was a good one none the less.

When we were here nearly three years ago we met two couples:  Robin and Miriam who have a real estate business in El Centenario and Chuck and Sherry who had just built a little house for their planned retirement.  We reconnected with both these couples our first week and they're just as nice as we remembered.

Chuck and Sherry invited us to join them for New Year's Eve celebrations at a nearby restaurant and to help at a Christmas Eve dinner some gringos were hosting to feed some needy families from a nearby pueblo.  Miriam and Robin invited us to a Christmas pot luck dinner in our little neighborhood of Colmitan.

The Christmas Eve dinner was good, although over staffed with gringos.  We tended to just get in each other's way.  Each family received dinner and there were gifts for each child.  There were also bags of groceries for each family as well as new blankets and pillows.  Everyone loaded up their plates with food, and took most of it home.

Sherry Dishing Up Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner was really nice as well.  It was good to meet our neighbors.  We shared stories on how we all ended up in this spot in Mexico and it's amazing to me the variety of people that decide to move here.

The day after Christmas, Matt and I played golf at the Costabaja course in La Paz - it was amazing!  There were ocean views from nearly every hole.  I struggled through nine holes and then decided to just drink a couple of beers and drive the cart.  I think we'll look into lessons for me when we return to Chapala.  Experiences like this one are just too good to miss, and would be a lot more fun if I could actually play!

One thing I think we'll really like about living here is the opportunity for some very cool day trips.  Matt and I took one this week when we drove to La Ventana which is about 45 minutes aways.  La Ventana is nearly always very windy and draws a lot of kite surfers.  We loved watching them; reminded us of Cabarete.  It is incredible the amount of vacant land with incredible ocean vistas.  I'm sure the developers will get here eventually, but thankfully for now it's still just a little Mexican pueblo.  La Ventana also has about six or seven RV parks and they were all nearly full (probably because of Christmas/New Years).  Love seeing all the families that come down here for the water sports and the little kids playing in the sand.  Much better than a visit to Disney!

Kite Surfers at La Ventana

The weather has definitely improved the past week.  Most days have been mid 70s or 80s - so nothing to complain about.  And we do have some beautiful sunrises!

El Centenario Sunrise

 From last blog I forgot to post a pic of Claudia and her kids.  Claudia was our housekeeper and La Cruz and she is such a sweet, beautiful lady - plus really good at her jobs.  She would often bring two of her four kids with her when she was working.  Matt loved to slip Tiffany and Christopher candy....or buy them ice cream.  On our last day, Claudia brought us a little gift of a sea shell painted with a La Cruz beach scene and her camera to take our picture!  We'll miss this sweet family.

Claudia, Tiffany and Christopher