Stone Island, Olas Altas, the Malacon

After Brenda and Basil left for the airport Ian and I hopped on a bus and headed down to Old Town. From there we walked over to Olas Altas and caught a pulmonia to take us to the ferry for Stone Island. In the end we decided to give Stone Island a pass and just had lunch at a little place with a beautiful view of the island. Ian had shrimp tacos and I had a shrimp salad. Both meals were really good. One of the best we had. We then took another pulmonia back to Olas Altas and got off right in front of the condos where our friend Georgina will be staying in March. From there we walked almost the whole length of the Malecon to the Golden zone. It’s a beautiful walk right along the ocean. They are starting to get ready for Carnival and so are erecting these huge colourful statues.
The following day was a shopping day with Kathy for jewelry. That was lots of fun. I bought a pair of gold earrings (compliments of Ian) at El Delphin. What a nice store. So much to choose from. Kathy and I had lunch at Pancho’s at the Beach. We both had shrimp salad and once again it was delicious. It’s called shrimp salad but the shrimp look like prawns. They’re huge!
The following day (our last in Mazatlan) we went back to El Delphin and Ian bought me a lovely gold chain and bracelet. Now I’m a golden girl! I also bought myself a silver chain and moon pendant    made by a well known Mazatlan artisan. Ian thinks he’s created a monster. Maybe.
The next morning Eric picked us up and took us to the airport. I had lost my Mexican visa so I was issued another one to fill out. Then the woman babbled at me in what I guess was her English. We went through security and waited for our flight for almost two hours. When we boarding the plane all hell broke loose. Apparently what the woman had said to me was that I had to go to immigration to get a stamp on the visa. So they weren’t going to let me on the plane. Said I had to spend another night in Mexico and rebook for the following day. I couldn’t believe it. After all, I was leaving the country, not trying to enter. So after Ian hollered, JESUS CHRIST! they started taking pictures of our passports, Ian’s visa and made a call downstairs to immigration. The woman said she had a friend in immigration who was going to do us a favour. So we went running to board the plane and when we got to the door she said “you know if this happened in any other country this would have cost you $50.00 each but in Mexico it is free.” That’s when we realized they were trying to make some money off us. So I thanked her profusely and got on the plane. Another lesson learned.
So after waiting over an hour for our shuttle bus for the Red Lion Inn we finally got to our car. We drove to the west side of Phoenix and took a hotel in Surprise. The following day we drove to Palm Springs where we met Barb and Bob Grundy, who are are landlords. After they showed us our new home we went straight to the bar/grill where we just sat looking at the pool and palm trees. The next two days were spent grocery shopping. Of course we are starting from scratch again. Only the groceries are much more expensive here than Mexico. Cheap wine though!  Day three I woke up with a sore throat and cold. Bummer! No pool for me just yet. The weather is perfect although a bit hot. It is unusually hot for this time of year. Over the next two weeks the lowest forecast temperature is 80 F. Yesterday was 90. I’m not complaining though.........the people at home would kill me.