El Chapo(Again) and Yet Another Trip

Life In Mexico

After three+ years living in Mexico you would think that nothing could surprise us.  But, c'mon....El Chapo  escapes AGAIN?  Via a TUNNEL?  In his SHOWER?  I mean why did he even bother with the tunnel?  Clearly there were those complicit in his escape who would have just pushed him out in another laundry cart (see first escape) with a lot less fuss and bother.  Although he does love tunnels. In his bathrooms.  A lot.  Now there is a popular movement to draft him for President.  It is a strange and intriguing country.

Well, we have been a bit silent since our plethora of blogs concerning our trip to China.  We spent the month of June reacquainting ourselves with Village life and hanging out with pals.  Nothing happened.  It is so strange to say that, since it may be the first month since we started this blog that nothing happened of note.  It was rather nice. Well, actually, one thing of note occurred.  On July 4th, Siam (our cat for those not in the know) turned 21.  Yes, the cat that the Vet said would not live to see her 18th year. What do they know... Here are some photos of the Village because we haven't had any recently and don't want you to forget what you are missing Northern friends.

A piece of colorful ceramic work spotted recently while walking through the village.

It is fascinating to walk through the village to see the latest murals that appear on the village walls...

or to see the new sculptures that have been added to the plaza.

This gentleman was raffling off this Frida chair in the plaza.

These people (including the young boy) were preparing for an indigenous ceremony & dance.

The blowing of the conch shell indicates the beginning of the performance.

The young boy joins in the performance.

It is also interesting to see which house have recently been painted with new colors.

This picture was taken in San Juan Cosala during the fiesta for their patron saint (John the Baptist). Note the gorilla in the parade.  There seem to always be gorillas.....

The statue of John the Baptist is taken from the church and paraded through the streets.

Vamos a La Boda

We seem to go to a wedding every July-- which is kind of neat.  This one was for our nephew Jay and his new bride Marta and was held just outside of Seattle on an Indian reservation.  Having a vivid imagination, I had mentally framed the festivities based on 1950s Westerns involving many Native American flourishes such as beating drums, teepees and a bison or two.  Regrettably (because an all- out retro movie Western wedding would have made a really super blog entry) everything was extremely beautiful and there were no bison to be found.  Actually, I don't think bison ever lived there.  But I digress.  It was grand to see the Searles clan again and to meet Marta's very fun and very funny (in the good way) family.

The flowers at the venue for the wedding were spectacular, both in the gardens and...

in the hanging baskets.

The bride and groom before the wedding.

Mary, the mother of the bride...

and Dian, the mother of the groom.

The most unusual guest was the man with the unicorn head.

Jay, the groom, escorts his mother to her seat.

My brother Brian, father of the groom, herds the ring bearers, while Tom & Mary Langland, parents of the bride, look on in the background.

The maids of honor and the incredibly adorable flower girls.

Tom & Mary Langland escort their daughter together.

This flower girl loved to stop and smell the flowers again,..

and again.

Now husband and wife...

as they leave for the reception.

The Fowler faction of the Searles clan (we missed you Mary and your girls).

Northwest Passage 

We took the opportunity of the wedding to do some traveling around the Northwest.  We stayed on Bainbridge Island, which is just a short ferry ride out of Seattle, for the weekend of the wedding.  I had prepared for the trip by rereading Snow Falling On Cedars which is set "on an island in Puget Sound".  Why must they be coy?  Why not just tell us WHICH island?  I spent over a week on multiple islands trying to find out which one it was.  Everybody had a different answer.  It was a bit like being back in Mexico.  Quien sabe?  I think it was Lopez Island in the San Juan's. But who knows.

Usually, when we travel, odd things happen to us.  Usually, very odd.  But, in keeping with our current vibe, everything went somewhat smoothly on this trip.  We kept waiting for a Killer Orca pod to upend our ferry or the long overdue 9.2  San Fuca Straits earthquake/tsunami to occur but everything proceeded as planned. It was unsettling.

The gardens and ...

the view from the place we stayed on Bainbridge Island.

Deirdre all dressed up for the wedding.

We stayed in the lower level of this house (the accommodations were excellent).

This Great Blue Heron was patiently fishing for breakfast one morning as I walked out.

From Bainbridge we went to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands.  It was our favorite stop.  They have a park there which is an official Orca watching site.  We spent multiple hours sitting on rocks and picnic tables waiting for the suckers to appear but NO.  No Orcas.  One seal. But it was very scenic.  And the people watching was good.

A Goldfinch and a House Finch at the bird feeder where we stayed on San Juan Island.

We spotted numerous deer on our travels around the island...

as well as birds (this California Quail was perched on top of this bush).

This was the American camp (established in the 1800's during a dispute with the British over ownership of the island).

The wildflowers and the scenery of the coast almost made us long to be near the ocean again (at least during the warm summer months).

Deirdre among the lavender at the lavender farm.

Roche Harbor where we enjoyed drinks, the view and the sunset.

The lighthouse at Lime Kiln Point State Park, where we went to try to see the orcas.

In Roche Harbor there was a sculpture garden, This one was titled "Rapunzel".

This colorful sculpture turned like a Buddhist prayer wheel.

This one rotated as well.

The McMillin Family mausoleum in Roche Harbor.  The broken column represents the broken column of life and that death interrupts man's work before it is accomplished.

The family members were cremated and each member was placed in the base of the chairs around the table.

The backs of the chairs detailed information about each family member.

This describes the significance of the construction of the mausoleum (including the broken column).

On a trip to the alpaca farm, we spotted this alpaca, who obviously loved the cosmos flowers on the other side of he fence.

I had to stop to capture this amazing field of wildflowers.

People in the Northwest appear to be far more mellow than in the rest of the United States.  They also seem to like to grow beards.  Not like the  two-day-stubble-Tom Brady beards but like the beards grown by hermits who have been shut off from civilization for several decades .  They are everywhere.  It is possible that all these beard people moved from West Virginia, but I doubt it.  And then there is the tie-dye thing. We spent a couple of days at the end of the trip on Vashon Island (home of the sweet Marta and her clan) and had the good fortune to arrive during the annual Strawberry Festival.  They used to grow huge amounts of Strawberries on Vashon and other islands off Washington.  Not so much now -- but vineyards and lavender are big.

The festival had many booths which were very eclectic.  From food vendors to Bath Fitters to Pain Relieving Pillows and the usual Sun Glass hawkers. And  I haven't seen so much tie-dye since 1970. Acres of it.  In line for the ferry to Vashon we were in back of a woman driving a mini-van (which SHOULD have been a hippie painted VW bus).  She was dressed in a goth-like outfit and when she opened the trunk, the trunk door boasted a lush black feather boa. There were mattresses, pillows, tie-dye outfits and fairy wands strewn through the back. I'll tell you with a few stanzas of Purple Haze and a bottle of Boone's Farm we could have been rocking through our hippie days once more.

This was the Point Robinson Light on Vashon Island.

An example of some of the tie-dye available at the Strawberry Festival.

Deirdre spotted a Bald Eagle in the water that perched in this tree for a while...

before taking off in search of better prey.

We were also entertained by a family of barn swallows at the place where we stayed on Vashon Island.

We did get a glimpse of Mount Ranier through the haze from Vashon.

We spotted this amusing poster on Vashon.

Vancouver or Beijing ?

We had never been to Vancouver so decided to drive on up and take advantage of the plunging Canadian dollar.  Upon arrival, we realized that our trip to China had been unnecessary as most of China has apparently relocated to Vancouver.  Our first stop on the first morning we arrived was Queen Elizabeth Park.  Imagine our surprise when we saw the park bursting with Chinese doing Tai Chi, Qi Dong, Line Dancing and  more.  I don't know what percentage of Vancouverites are Chinese but it is really significant.  We had heard that many Chinese nationals were buying homes in Vancouver but, as with most China-related issues, you have to see it to believe it.  Home prices are astronomical and everybody is kind of holding their breath to see how the slowing of the Chinese economy will impact the housing prices there.

Practicing Tai Chi in Queen Elizabeth Park.

A bridge in the park with the scene below.

The gardens in the park were magnificent.

I won't bore you with a travel guide of Vancouver.  We'll throw in some pictures that will give you an idea of what went on.  I will say that the food in all of the Northwest was outstanding and Vancouver was no exception.  There is NO Salmon like the Salmon there.  We went to this one restaurant called Salmon and Bannock (Bannock is a Native American bread) which prepared a Salmon sampler that included Candied Salmon which sounds sort of hideous but is delicious.  They also served Cedar jelly which smelled as good as it tasted.  The fruits and vegetables were also outstanding (and I think our Mexican stuff is really good-- but not as good as theirs).  Michael and I felt we had reached nirvana at the Granville Market where we purchased far too much very expensive cheese, pate and other cardiac event inducing treats. And the wine was fine.  But enough of gustatory delights.  Let's get on to the phobias.

A visit to the Vancouver Aquarium led to this interesting series of photos.

This was a harbor porpoise.

Deirdre was ecstatic when we saw the sea otters, especially this one sleeping with this on his stomach.

Interesting totem poles were also part of the Vancouver experience.

A view of the Vancouver skyline. We never did figure out what the structure in on the river that looks like it has a turf roof. If any of our blog fans knows, please let us know.

We spotted this on Granville Island...

as well as these large colorful characters at a concrete plant.

No, No, I Wonnn't.... 

Day 2 in Vancouver was dedicated to the Great Outdoors which I find frightening in general. However, specifically, the Capilito Suspension Bridge is the thing that my worst nightmares are made of.  Phobias #1 (acrophobia) #2 (claustrophobia) and #3 (touristaphobia) all collided in a near nervous breakdown of epic proportion.  I had made perfectly clear to Michael that I would, under no circumstances, traverse the 450' long cable bridge.  I would sit quietly, and without complaint, with my Kindle and try to never look over the edge into the 230' abyss that the bridge spans.  And he agreed. And then we were walking hand in hand along a fir tree lined path and Michael was quietly speaking of immaterial things while he lured me to the edge of the bridge where I was caught up in the frenzied crowd of bridge walkers and....hyperventilating now...I was ON the bridge.  Along with about 350 other people....Oh God..even recounting it is elevating my pulse rate.  It would have been bad enough if I could have hoofed it across staring straight into Michael's back with never a downward glance.  But no, of course not.  There were many Japanese tourists on the bridge.  They do adore pictures.  And bouncing the bridge.  And making it wiggle. And giggling in an annoying manner.  And they block the whole thing so you can't pass.  I was whining badly. Michael seemed almost contrite.  But we made it to the other side.  Then I looked at the map and realized there was only one way back.... Yes.  Upon our return, Michael was extremely congratulatory and praised my effort.  I would like to say that made it all worth while but, of course, it didn't.  I sat with my Kindle while he conquered the Tree Top Walk and the Cliff Climb which were just as horrific as they sound. Then we left.

Deirdre very bravely crossed the suspension bridge both ways, despite her many phobias.

But walking out on the cliff walk was a "bridge too far".

And walking out on this platform with the see through grate was not even a consideration.

Had Deirdre not crossed the suspension bridge, she would have missed this Harris Hawk.

Then we went to Horse Shoe Bay which was staggeringly beautiful and not in any way scary.  We have photos to prove it.  And we had a good lunch.

The view of the ferry with the mountains in the background at Horseshoe Harbor.

This Great Blue Heron in flight was captured at Horseshoe Harbor.

So, that's about it.  We endured the hardships of travel in our modern age of airline collusion with overcrowding, center seats when we ordered aisles, six hour layovers and mechanical delays with the grim humor developed by economy class travelers.  And then we were home to the Village.  Oh, one more thing.  Everybody talks about the drought in California.  You wouldn't believe how bad it is in the once rainy Northwest.  It is totally fried.  But not here.  We're in rainy season.  Normally we get about 33" of rain per year.  So far this year, we've had over 30" and we're only a little over one month into our 3-4 month rainy season.  The Lake is looking good and it is unbelievably green. Maybe we can throw in a photo of our green world.  We'll try to get at least one more blog out before we take off on our next trip.  Have a great rest of summer.  And let us know what is up!

P.S.   Let's end this blog with a strange Mexican note much the way we began it.  I was reading the Guad Reporter today and they covered the Senior Beauty Queen of Jalisco.  Mexican's revere older people (unlike SOME countries we know) and so they have Beauty Pageants for the Elderly which leave me conflicted on many levels.  Anyway, here is Yolanda Pascencia Sanchez's answer to an interview question which MUST have won her the crown.  "Mexico needs women with balls and Senior Citizens have these".  I rest my case that this is a strange and intriguing country.  Come visit.