This blog post has been a few days in the making. We haven’t done a whole lot of interesting things this week, so bear with me for a few odds and ends.

Well, officially Saturday marked one month since arriving. So far, we’ve enjoyed our time, the weather, the relaxation, the weather, and the trials and tribulations of learning to surf. I am, however, a bit disappointed with our integration in the Mexican “community” and I realize now that perhaps my expectations were a little far fetched. Things are coming along slower than I had calculated from home, thinking we’d take a few days to hang out before diving into volunteering at PEACE, surfing several times per week,  speaking at least conversational spanish, and going out on the town in the evenings, mingling with the locals. It doesn’t happen like that, at least not this fast. Silly me. So, realistically speaking we’ve done quite well. I guess the longer you’re here, the more you chat with people by chance, you find out more, BBQ’s, charity fundraisers, good places to eat or surf or shop, as well as volunteer opportunities.

This week we’ve really noticed how our bodies have adjusted to the heat, and how cold 24 degrees feels on those cloudy days, or first thing in the morning. I know you’re all thinking “oh boo hoo” as you sit inside hiding from the cold. I don’t forget for one second what that cold feels like, and the other day in the movie theatre there was a winter scene, and my feet suddently felt icy cold and there were groans in the audience, echoing throughout the entire theatre. We are not the only ones lucky enough to escape. Sometimes at night, I’m almost tempted to search for some calcetines (socks), but decide to take my feet of the cold tile floor instead and wrap them into my lulu joggers. The hoody comes out but only for the nighttime dog pee. Nixon has REALLY adapted. His fur has gone from dark golden and an inch long, to very pale almost blond in areas and about 1/4 inch long. If it weren’t for his pool obsession, which has earned him quite the reputation, you’d think he’s a different dog.

I’ve been collecting a series of critter photos over the past few weeks, and you’ve already seen a few (the crab, and some beach dogs) below you will see a few more. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera to get the scorpion, as we were walking Nixon by the edge of the development. He was transparent orange, about 1.5 inches long, and with BIG pinchers. I did a double take, followed by a shudder, as I’d almost stepped on him, and nixon was almost as close.

We’d heard about this infamous Bucerias Sunday market, and today, after picking up some yummy-looking muffins (that were disappointingly dry), we decided to check it out. It was down under the bridge to the east side of the highway along a dusty dirt road (actually dry river bed). It was quite exciting actually and I haven’t seen anything like that since Asia, and although it was considerably smaller, they still had just about everything. Hot food, fresh fruit and veggies (and some not so much), clothes, baby stuff, hair things, kitchen wares (minus measuring cups, and muffin tins that were too large for my oven), car parts, spare bike tires, dry goods, jewelry, garage sale items like used hair dryers, car stereo’s and even PUPPIES. It  was a site to be seen. We even bought four healthy green bananas, and a half kilo of strawberries for 26 pesos (about $2.00).

Let’s talk a bit more about those muffins. I’ve been hunting for my favorite lunch time bite for quite sometime. I’ve tried to buy ingredients, but that’s more difficult than you’d think. There is no brown sugar, the flour is “special”, the sugar is strange, and I can’t find anything to measure with. No spoons or cups of any type. We ran into some neighbours at the pool yesterday from Winnipeg, and she’s been baking cookies for the orphanage in town, and she said she had the same problem, so she brought all her baking goods from home! Well, if i’d only known. A few weeks ago in Sayulita I bought a couple muffins, but meh, they were dry and cost me 20 pesos each. Today I hear about a new coffee and muffin shop that opened in Bucerias, so we check it out. They have muffins for 25 pesos, I get some, they’re okay, doable, but not as good as they looked or as I had hoped. I’ve had better, heck, I MAKE better; from banana chocolate chip, to pumpkin, to bran, blueberry and carrot. But here, I am starting to think its a tough thing to come by, whether its the ingredients, the recipes, or the climate. My suggestion is apple sauce.  I don’t know, except, it almost makes me want to be a muffin shop owner. You could make a killin’ especially if you have cinnamon buns. The gringo’s go nuts over those here. They sell out at all the coffee shops we’ve been too. I am not saying they do a better job of making those versus muffins, as I have no basis for opinion, but for some reason they’re a hot commodity. We also bought a brownie! It looks super tasty, and I’ll keep you posted, its the closest thing to a chocolate chip cookie I can find. And, I’d be selling those too at MY shop. : )