Wow- haven't written in 6 days, but that's because we've been gone in Morelia to see Everardo's sister & brother, and old aunt, and some cousins. I thought I'd be writing here every day; after all staying in a nice hotel with internet. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! it was a very nice hotel- Villa San Jose- the president of Mexico stays there when he visits Morelia. Beautiful grounds, up high in a hill overlooking the whole city. Gorgeous views nite and day. But the internet was a joke- if you can believe it- worse than here! aarrgghh. I was able to post photos, but it would take all evening and it's all I would do. I'll write about the trip cause it was pretty cool, but probly in a couple of posts cause I noticed that sometimes when I write alot and then go back to look at it, it's scrambled up in some places. Anyway I'm pretty tired too. It's about 10pm; we got home about 6:30 I think after an 11 hour drive.

So the hotel (villa) is really nice. We picked if after going on this website called Gringo Dog to find places that accept dogs. The rate was great online, beyween $60-80US. We weren't able to book it online because of our lovely internet, and the phone was working at all, so we just decided to show up and check it out. We actually went to another one first, and luckily they had no room cause there was no parking and no view. So we couldn;t find Villa San Jose with Garmin (our GPS for traveling), but Everardo had a great idea and he asked a cab to take us there. He drove, we followed. Charged us $35 pesos...fine, after driving for 12 hours (longer to get there than get home), 35 pesos was nothing. So we go in and they have space but only thru Friday nite, we had planned to go home on Sunday, but really it all worked out and we came home today- Saturday. But at first big problem! The cheapest room was $164 a nite.

We said no no online it said for 6 nites was $325 total.She answered she was sorry but those were online rates. I told her that her website wouldn't let us complete the trabsaction...finally I said ok how about we go out to the car and reserve online. She replied we could do it right there. Then-- their internet wouldn't let me process the transaction cause it was so slow. After about a half hour, she said ok ok...and she went in on their other database, not the one for clients and it was much faster so we got the better rate, well I upgraded so it was only a little better, cause I chose $95 a nite, nicer room and breakfast. Then after all was said and done, she upgraded us to a small suite so that was nice.

The coolest thing however was about Sam! A couple of days later Everardo was chatting with someone there and told them we only chose them because they accept dogs, but we didn't see any other dogs the whole 6 days we were there. Everbody there loved Sam- ha ha that happens wherever we go. Anyway they asked if they could take his picture for their Facebook site, to encourage people looking for a place to stay with their pets. So now he will be famous! They took a few shots of him and he was wearing the purple bandana, my personal favorite.

Morelia is at 6000 feet and I got out of breath easily there. I knew I had trouble at 10,000 feet, but not 6, anyway it wasn't bad, I just didn't go with Sam and Everardo in the mornings to run up and down the 300+ steps down the hill. He said that the steps were packed in the morning with people getting their exercise. I went down them, once, and said ok I'm good. ha ha. It's a beautiful city, dates back to 1541. There was this huge cathedral we visited and lots of other old buildings. There was a site that's now a college that was this beautiful place with murals and serene grounds- nice place to study.

There was also a huge protest the whole time we were there, something about the schools and what's being taught but I was never clear on the specifics. They had their protest on church grounds so the police couldn't break them up. Anyway I wiped out, so more to come on our little vacation. It's nice to be home.

It's been a beautiful weekend. And the internet has been up for most of it! No phone though. Remained static-y thru yesterday and dead today....Yesterday we decided to do our vegetable shopping up in Cruz Grande just to do something different. Haha I know I complain about the gas, but hey we gotta do something fun sometimes. Poppi got a haircut while we were there and it looks great. We went to the Super Precio and the open market. Got nice veggies. It's an hour each way, and a nice drive. I saw baby piggies crossing the road following Mom- so cute. And an iguana; well I always see iguanas crossing the road, but this was the first time I saw one speed up- normally they walk very low to the ground, and pretty slow. This one kind jacked up on his legs and ran...it was pretty comical.

We also came thru the tiny town of San Francisco which always makes me smile since in Ca we lived about 35 miles north of SF, so I took a picture of the sign saying San Francisco and then some shots on each side of the road. It's a town that if you blink, you will miss it. It's a short stretch of shady road, tables set up all along it with watermelons and other fruits and vegetables piled high and bunches of bananas hanging down. The trees are big and close together in this spot so it makes a shady lane. It's right after Copala going north, across a wide river and up a hill, then you come around a corner and there it is. I like it. Sometimes we stop to get a cold drink there, but usually simply drive slowly thru since it's either right after we left home or right before we get home. We stopped in Copala on the way home to hit the atm since we owed Chela 50 pesos for the balance of our check from Everardo's birthday dinner, and 150 pesos to the guys who gave us the dirt. Something else to but I can't think of what it was now..oh yeah..gas- of course! Where we spend the most...

After we got home and relaxed a little and had a snack, we went swimming. This one pool that forms always had big rocks on the bottom, not big like boulders but big enough to scrape your toes and knees on... but I guess they've been carried out to sea cause that spot is perfect now. You walk out a few feet and then the sand drops off just a few feet and is in front of some rocks so the waves hit there first. It's my new favorite spot. We just float around right there and Sam loves it too. Vasically Sam loves anywhere on the beach, but here he can stand up a little ways closer in so he doesn't get tired as fast. Then we went home and had a beautiful tri tip dinner with potatoes, meat from Costco or Wallmart in Acapulco...

Today I was sitting out on my boulder talking to the universe, still thinking about our upcoming trip to Puerto Penasco- it's a huge decision- and Poppi and Sam came back from their walk down to Casa Piedras and beyond. He said hey let's go! He was gonna dive for oysters out there, so we left Sam behind and drove back out there, way past where i had ever walked or been before. We picked up 3 guys who were walking out towards the same place and they had their stuff for the same thing. The had sticks to pry the oysters, and nets connected to truck tubes to float out there. But the sea was kinda rough out there. Then Gume came driving by from further out, and he told Everardo not to go in, that it was really rough. So we decided to go back as far as Casa Peidras and go swimming.

They have restaurants and hammocks and shade there, so we picked  a table at the one where we know the guy, had a cold drink and went in the ocean. It was amazing! (of course). It's a very popular spot, people come from all over to swim and relax there. Then Everardo drove back to the house and got Sam and some dinero so we could buy lunch. We had snacks with us, but it was nice to have a seafood meal; shrimp and fish and octopus in a salsa type concoction. Truthfully it was a little spicy for me- the spice wimp, but I picked out the bigger pieces and kinda wiped them on a cracker and ate it. We were chatting with some people there from Taxco where all the silver comes from. They were a group of about 8, and they gave us a plate of the tortilla chips they brought with them. This was before we ordered any food so I said Gracias! and shoved a handful into my mouth, before they said...oh they're a little spicy...aarrggghh..but I found out something new- a green apple cuts the heat right out of the spice. And everybody had a good laugh.

They drove 5 hours to get to the beach. we noticed that most of the people there were all collecting shells so we knew they didn't live here ha ha. One guy was walking along the beach but not coming in, one of the guys from Taxco...poor guy didn't know how to swim. We notice that a lot of adults only play at the shore, maybe if they don't live near the beach and maybe a pool is expensive, they don't learn how to swim. And it's funny, on our strip of beach, betwen us and Chela, we hardly ever see anybody in the water...Poppi says because they've lived here all their lives, they just don't think about it. Kids mostly go in, and visitors. And the kids went in alot in June & July, but not much since. But I bet now that the weather is finally changing and the sea is becoming calmer, we'll see more people in it....I'll have to report back on that ha ha.

So I took lots of pictures today andput them on facebook and then we took naps. Sam was snoring ha ha. Now he's had his dinner so a qucik beach walk is next for him to do his business- I'll do that while Everado makes us a couple of quesadillas.

It was a beautiful day. Again. I love this place!