2 Birthdays and a Busy Week

Some weeks are just busier than others! Our friends Kelly and Deanna from the Dallas area came for their annual vacation. Every year they come around Thanksgiving, and hopefully are here through early December. They had asked if we needed anything brought down from Texas so they had a bag of goodies for us. We offered to pick them up at the airport and take them to their hotel. The first couple days they stayed at the Tropicana on the south side so we dropped them off there. Then it was rushing off to another obligation, we didn’t even have time to join them for a beer. Looking back, that is terrible. Won’t happen next time, guys!

A whole week went by, I was busy helping get ready for the Christmas bazaar and helping Rita get ready for the library party. I kept thinking we needed to stop by the Villa del Palmar to say hi or to joint he group on the beach. Again, bad priorities, no beach time this week.

Finally we did catch up with Kelly and Deanna at the processions for the Virgin of Guadalupe. We wandered around trying food from several different vendors, watching the groups and just checking out the scene.

Saturday was the Christmas Bazaar and I needed to be there all day. Harold went to take pictures of the kids from the Bucerias Children’s Shelter being creative painting the new trash barrels. After that, he went to the Villa del Palmar to get Kelly and Deanna. They had stayed a week at their timeshare and weren’t flying home until the next day, so they were staying one night at our house. The three of them toured around some and went to lunch. Just about when Harold had to leave for an Amigos de Bucerias meeting, I got home from the bazaar. It was a very successful event, raising about $4,200 US for our sorority to use on things for the School for Exceptional Children. It is a special-ed school in Bucerias.

We had what at first glance was a scheduling conflict for the evening. One of our friends in San Jose was having a birthday party for their 2-year-old. His name is Alex, but he is called mini-Alex so as not to be confused with fireman Alex who lives next door. His party was to start at 5 p.m., but we know Mexican parties never start on time!

The other party was at Playa del Sol on Los Muertos beach. This birthday party was for Ira, a friend of ours who moved here from Dallas. His party was set for 7 p.m., and we know gringo parties usually start on time. The travel time between the two places is about 45 minutes.

So, we decided the thing to do was to get to mini-Alex’s party 5:30’ish and stay for an hour. The plan almost worked, we got there about 5:45 and the party was getting rolling. We watched the kids do the piñata. The littlest kids went first, barely touching the piñata with the bat. As each kid had their turn, the other kids sang the piñata song. All of them knew that when the song was over, so was their turn. Nobody was whining or crying that they wanted more time. As the bigger kids got their turn, the guy holding the piñata rope made it jump more and more. After all the kids had a turn and the piñata still wasn’t demolished, the candy was dumped out on the street. The kids each got some candy. Next was some thing involving balloons. A big bag of balloons was turned over and some of the kids were stomping n the balloons, some were picking them up. We didn’t really know what the deal was, but it was fun to watch. Of course, while all this was going on, some of the adults were drinking beer, kids were drinking Jamaica, and most of us were sitting in plastic chairs in the street. Two cars were used to block off the street.

After the piñata, several of the ladies served us all some little sub sandwiches. Then we all had cake. The party was not breaking up, but we decided we better get over to Ira’s.

We arrived at Ira’s party fashionably late. Ira and Linda live in a condo with a beautiful ocean view and with a lovely balcony overlooking Los Muertos Beach.

We were late-ish, so many of the guests had already come and gone. We arrived at the party just as a few folks were leaving. But since there weren’t many so people, it gave us a chance to visit with Linda and Ira.

Linda, being the smart lady she is, had gotten the food catered by Sol at Café Bohemio. His food is always delicious! Linda had also purchased plates and napkins with “racy” pictures on them. Harold took one look and said “Mamacita!” Sort of bachelor party type of napkins. Ira, you dog, you!

After the Ira party, we came back to the house and called it a night!

Kelly and Deanna had a Sunday afternoon flight back to Dallas. In the morning, Harold and I went to look at our neighbor Jose’s condo while Deanna repacked the suitcases. We got to the airport around noon so they could check in early and dump off their luggage. Then we went to Isla Maria for lunch. The menu says their ribs are “better than Texas.” We all disagreed with that, but still enjoyed our food. Lucky we allowed plenty of time to eat as the pace was quite leisurely. We dropped them off at the airport, did a little grocery shopping then came home for a siesta!