Sunday, April 29, 2012

From Then to Now

It seems impossible that we have not blogged since leaving Canada last fall.  It has been a delightful and busy winter.  Shortly after making the trek south to Olympia, we packed our bags for Mexico for a trip with Doug's sister, Debra and brother-in-law, Ralph.  First stop was Mexico City.  It took us no time to acclimate and we traveled everywhere on the subway.  (We were never afraid and had no difficulties what-so-ever).We visited Teotichacan which is an Aztec ruin north of Mexico City as well as Xochomilco which is the historical agricultural area that supplied the Azteca capitol.  Xochomilco now is a maze of waterways and plant nurseries. We spent the day aboard a private boat, the Maria Isabel, being poled through the canals.   The next day we were joined in Mexico City by our good friends, Denise and Jim Brennan.






After  fun days in the city seeing the Folklorico Ballet and the National Museum of Anthropology we headed to Valle de Bravo, a cultural heritage town to the south. Thanks to Debra's friendships we rented a lovely lakeside villa (sleeps 16).  There we joined the most wealthy Mexicans and had our first experience at hang gliding.












After a short week Jim and Denise returned to the states we flew on to Puerto Vallarta for a bridge tournament.

It wasn't long before Doug and Jan realized that they had truly fallen in love with Vallara. 

It could have been the spectacular sunsets over Banderas Bay.



Or it could have been the visitors like Maria after her visit with her mom.
Or it could have been the Festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe where each village pays homage to the Patron Saint of Mexico in a 12 day fiesta.
Or it could have Mardi Gras with characters like Bill.

 
Or maybe the warm ocean waters.


Or maybe the wonderful friends that we made through the months
 we spent there.

So a slight change of plans.  On the boat in Canada for five months and then Vallarta for six months.  Life is Good and we are blessed. 

MAY YOU BE BLESSED AS WELL.