Early January (Enero)

The weather here has been a lot colder than usual for the past week, (never getting above 65-70 degrees) although I know we have no room to complain.  A warming trend is starting up again, so we may possibly hit the beach later this week.

In the meantime, we started the New Year with a long walk to see the end of the pajama parade and ended up at Tortuga's for a margarita before heading home.

One of many strange looking pj parade participants

This guy cracked me up in his leopard skin pjs

Do you think Boo drank that margarita?

This is Boo's favorite bartender.  He gets down to his level!

One day it was cold enough that we decided to explore some of Nacapule Canyon.  We found a wonderful trail that was fairly flat and good exercise.

One of many organ pipe cacti

Some beautiful areas amongst the  trees

The mountains here look mauve most of the time.  The
grasses this time of year are golden.

This is the Rancho de Nacapule.  There are white painted
stones everywhere, like they are planning to do something big
out here.  I know they offer horseback riding but this looks like
they are planning for more than that.

And look what we found up in the hills.....

Back home again to entertain our beach buddies from Ketchikan, Alaska who just arrived in town.  We met Jim and Karen last year on the beach out by the estuary.  Our dogs are friends, too!  These three all worked at a logging camp on an island off the coast of Alaska in the sixties.  There are some real adventurous people here in San Carlos and these are three of them.

Jim

Karen

And their friend, Crystal

 Speaking of adventurous, meet these two ladies:

Susan King, who plays the steel pan drums with local musicians
here in San Carlos.  She travels alone (with her dog)
all over the country in her 32 ft motorhome.  She has donated
a set of drums to Azteca Esperanza and is creating a steel pan
drum group within the orchestra.  Her "day job" is working
privately as a geneological sleuth.  She's quite a lady!
Check out her website at www.susaneking.com

Meet Jeanne Socrates.
She is a lovely British 72 year old widow, grandmother
of three. She is the first woman to sail solo around the
world from North America!!!  And, she is the oldest
woman to sail solo around the world from any starting point.
We met Jeanne when she joined our table at Hammerhead's,
lured from her sailboat by the music.
Check out her website:  http://www.svnereida.com/travels

The Nereida, Jeanne's sailboat
I was thrilled I didn't hurt myself just navigating all the
ropes, let alone sail this ship, let alone-ALONE!

She just got alot of stuff out of storage and
is spending some time now, organizing.

Her sleeping quarters

The galley

Love the baskets in fishnet 

Her living area.  She sleeps here when the seas
are rough.

Command post

We went out to the Soggy Peso with Susan and Jeanne for a wonderful evening of music by Danny Moreno and the Guajira Son, watched the sunset.....

Does it get any better than this?!!

....and then went next door to the Sunset Bar and Grille for dinner.  It is now our favorite restaurant.  The food was delicious, the ambiance wonderful and the service fantastic!

I'm still emptying sand out of my shoes, but
isn't this grand?!!  And Boo is welcome!

Talk about service!  This is Pedro, our waiter, with
Jeanne.  We not only get hugs, but warm blankets, too!

Mi feliz Esposo