Greg's Birthday, Loma del Mar and Shopping

On Wednesdays at the Captains' Club, a group of older musicians play their guitars and sing.  Greg and Diana are members of that group and we have enjoyed going over there to wile away an afternoon.  We were invited to celebrate Greg's 57th birthday party at the Palapa Griega last night.  They had reserved a table in a wing of the restaurant and about 35 people attended.  The band below performed for us.  It was great fun.

Mariachi-style band at Palapa Griega

Greg, the birthday boy, with a plate full of lobster

Rachelle and blissed out Gary

Our table-Gary at the right

We took a drive up to the canyons this morning and on the way back checked out Loma del Mar, an amazing little trailer village.  Everyone there has bought some kind of RV to which they then add on whole little casitas, outdoor kitchens, etc.  We had seen something like this in Puerto Penasco.  Check it out:

Boo cooling off 

We stopped by this place to buy shrimp on the way home.  This is how you buy it really fresh and wild around here.  They catch them that morning, put them in coolers and you buy them, heads on with long whiskers right on the side of the street.  Beheading was left to Jim.  They were fabulous!

You can even have it cooked for you and eat under the palapa.

Another family's much more modest business front

Next was a quick stop at our favorite supermarket where the beef is all grass-fed and fresh, the produce good and there are lots of little extras like homemade tamales or empanadas.

A rare moment when the parking lot is not full

However, they don't have everything, so we usually shop at the bigger Ley's down the street for some things and Wal Mart or Sam's in Guaymas for anything else.  We also heard recently that there is a natural foods store here.  We will investigate that.  We usually look at Casa Imports for things like organic products they bring down from Tucson, but it is more expensive there.  So far, that is the only place we could find decent coffee.  I am looking forward to going to some of the bigger mercados in Guaymas and Empalme which are apparently like huge garage sales.  It is amazing how much more we have to explore down here!