Back Home Again

Dale and I are back home after heading off in different directions this past weekend. Dale went to Arizona on his bike to the Copperstate EAA Fly-In and I headed to Fort Worth to visit my friend, Pam. It was good to get back home today.
We are heading out in the morning on a guided fishing trip, hope they are biting.

Adios Huatulco

Our trip to Huatulco and Villa Pacifico has come to an end, it is time to head home. Rebecca and Hugo have taken great care of us and we have enjoyed spending time with them. Carlos is picking us up after an early lunch for the trip to the airport for our flight. We enjoyed the drive up to Pluma Hildalgo, snorkeling at St. Augustin and La Entrega, walking around La Crucecita, and seeing old friends. The weather didn't cooperate, we had one day of rain, but it was still a great trip. October is a great time to visit, everything is green after the rainy season, the temperatures aren't terribly hot, the water is usually warm, and there aren't any crowds of crazy tourist.
We felt a small earthquake the morning we were leaving, I think Huatulco was saying goodbye.
We leave counting the days until we return, hopefully in the fall of 2008.

Last Day in Huatulco

Dawn came to Huatulco after a stormy very windy night, a few clouds dotted the sky, but the sun was shinning. Rebecca and Hugo arrived on Rebecca's scooter and prepared a light breakfast for us. We decided to try La Entrega again, since it sits in a protected cove. We packed our gear and called a taxi for the trip. We arrived to find calm water and not much of a crowd at the beach. We picked a table at one of the local restaurants. I decided to try snorkeling, got my snorkel gear and camera hoping to get some pics. Dale decided he would hold down the beach and catch up on his reading. I found the water ice cold as I entered the water, wow was it cold! It was so cold it almost took my breath away. I swam out , made my way into the cave to try and get pictures. The tide was high and the wave action made it hard to get a good shot. I swam over the reef, but didn't find anything exciting, besides I was beginning to turn blue. Swam back into shore and was eager to tell Dale how he missed the cold water. I guess the storm that had been blowing stirred up the currents and made the water so cold.
We ordered lunch, fish for both of us, I tried a margarita..............................thought it would warm me up. After lunch we just laid around the beach, read, watched all the families that had arrived and talked with some young folks from Colorado. We stayed at La Entrega until four and then grabbed a taxi---driven by a NASCAR driver I'm sure, back to the Villa.
Rebecca greeted us with some fresh guacamole and chips. Of course we had to eat again.
We had time before dinner to lay down and rest, I cleaned my camera and downloaded the photos.
Tomorrow we head home, as another trip to Huatulco comes to an end. Carlos will take us to the airport for our flight to Houston. Rebecca will prepare a light lunch before she sends us on our way, she always takes care of us. Hope the weather is good tomorrow for our flight.

Exploring Huatulco

Cloudy skies, no rain today, so we grabbed the car and took off after breakfast for a day of exploring the area. First, we headed up to Santa Maria Huatulco, then onto Pluma Hildalgo for a scenic drive into the mountains. We had a little problem finding the road, even with Rebecca's directions, but after stopping we were on our way. The paved road wound through the mountains, across a river, as we continued to climb leaving the coast off in the distance. Pluma Hildalgo was once a major trade center, and sits above 4,500 feet, and is still home to some coffee farms(fincas). Pluma Hildalgo has a well known reputation for its organic coffee. We stopped in the town zocalo to have a brief look around, went into the church, and walked to a great lookout point. We headed back down to Santa Maria Huatulco and were stopped at a roadblock by the military. We had to show proof of the car registration, they did a brief search of our backpack and little ice chest, no problem. We drove back to La Crucecita and decided to walk around town, we ran into our old friend Juan, his son in law, and grandson. As we were walking around the town square we heard the sound of a chain saw and saw several men working at cutting up a large tree that fell during last nights high wind. A few seconds later, we heard a funny sound and another huge tree fell over, nearly missing a lady selling her goods in the square









We left La Crucecita and headed to Santa Cruz, which was pretty quite with no cruiseship in town. We walked around, went to the chapel, took a few photos and left. Then we went to La Bocana, a favorite spot for the local surfers, no surfers today, the surf was to rough. Finally we headed back to the Villa, Rebecca whipped a bowl of guacamole and fixed a great margarita. We sat around the kitchen and told her about our adventures.
Rebecca fixed another wonderful meal and we decided to turn in for the night. I did manage to get some great photos of a beautiful sunset.

Rain in Huatulco

We awoke this morning to rain, clouds and the sound of the thunder, so we decided to postpone our day of exploring in the car and instead will rest, relax, read and lay around the villa. We will probably grab a taxi and go out for dinner tonight. Rained off and on most of the day.

Grabbed a taxi and went to one of our favorite restaurants in Huatulco - Cafe Vienna.
The food was fantastic and we finished the meal with their famous hot apple strudel with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Hope to take the car and go out exploring in the morning.

A day at the beach-St. Augustin

Another great day draws to an end in Huatulco. We decided to get our friend Juan to take us to the beach at St. Augustin for the day. He picked us up after a delicious breakfast served by
Rebecca. The road to St. Augustin is dirt, and is usually in very bad shape, so it was good to have Juan doing the driving. He dropped us off at a restaurant on the beach that he recommended.

We decided to put on our snorkel gear and explore the reef near the shore. We spotted some rays swimming along the shoreline as we walked down the beach to enter the water. Almost as soon as we were in the water we began to see rays, they came very close and didn't seem to be bothered by us. I did manage to get a couple of good photos with my underwater camera.















We snorkeled over the reef for a while and then returned to our table under the giant palapa. Lunch included Dale's favorite fish tacos, guacamole, shrimp cocktail and of course a margarita. The food was excellent and somehow we managed to eat all of it. We lazed around the palapa in the shade for the rest of the afternoon, getting in the water to cool off. Juan showed up around 4 pm and we discussed the problems of his government and ours, a very deep conversation. Juan will soon be opening a restaurant in La Crucecita called The Crystal Rose. We enjoyed hearing about all his exciting plans for the future. After loading our gear we headed to the Villa with Juan at the wheel. We grabbed a quick dip in the pool before dinner and another margarita. Rebecca served us her wonderful steak, baked potato, grilled peppers, mushrooms, and onions with melted cheese.............................delicious! Ice Cream from Terra Cotta awaits us for dessert in the freezer, if we find room.
Tomorrow we are going to take the car and go out exploring Pluma Hildalgo, Santa Maria Huatuclo and maybe a stop in Santa Cruz................all small towns in the area.

Arrival in Huatulco

Dale and I arrived in beautiful sunny Huatulco Saturday after a short pleasant flight on Continental. Carlos sent his son, Daniel to pick us up at the airport and take us to Villa Pacifico. We arrived to be warmly greeted by old friends Rebecca and Hugo, who showed us to our favorite suite in the Villa. Hugo surprised us with beautiful floral arrangements in our room.
Rebecca quickly prepared a light lunch of shrimp and avocado salad. Very tasty as usual!
Rebecca and Hugo had just finished a busy week with a crowd of eleven at the Villa, so we told them we would go into La Crucecita for dinner and that they should take Sunday off...................we would manage on our own since this is our fifth stay we pretty much know the place.
Saturday night we took the car and went in to La Crucecita for dinner at The Cactus, near the town square. After dinner we stopped by the local panaderia and picked up some fresh baked goods for breakfast the next morning. Since we were both tired we headed back to the Villa for a hot shower and a good nights sleep.
Sunday morning I prepared breakfast and then we headed out for a day at the beach at La Entrega. The beach was great, the water warm and lunch at Celito Linda was great as usual.
We stayed at the beach until around 3pm we drove back into town, stopped by Pollo Imperial and picked up a grilled chicken with all the trimmings for dinner. We enjoyed the pool and the jacquzzi late in the afternoon, took a siesta in the hammocks under the palapa and had our dinner on the veranda at sunset. A end to another good day in Huatulco.

Cowtown Week-End

Dale and I went up to Burelson to visit Pam and Tim for the weekend, had about a 5 hour drive up, traffic wasn't to bad. On Saturday Pam and I took off for some serious shopping, the guys headed to Cabelas to check it out. Pam and I found some good bargains on some summer stuff, had lunch, and got back about 5 pm.
We dressed and took off to hear Tim play with
his old high school band in Keller. Dale and
I did get in some country and western dancing
at Judge Roy Beans. We didn't get back
home till almost 1 am. Sunday we enjoyed
a great lunch that Pam fixed before hitting
the road home. Ran into some rain, but the
drive wasn't to bad. Had a great time with
good friends!