LOS AYALA MEXICO Monday JANUARY 10- Tuesday January 11, 2011 EXCELLENT BROTHER IN LAWS :)

LOS AYALA MEXICO Monday JANUARY 10 Sergio Returns:)


It was another great day in Los Ayala. My Mexicano friend Sergio finally was able to catch up with us.

We had a great visit with him and Sergio junior. We also did our phone session with our counsellors from Vancouver. In june we will have been with them 3 years. I has promoted alot of growth in our relationship. If you are in vancouver I strongly recommend them.

http://www.mortifeetraining.com/Mortifee_Training_Inc./Welcome.html


Later that evening I went over by myself to meet up with my brother-in-law Keith his partner Colleen a Belleville Ontario raised woman. Keith and colleen live on read island a remote island off the coast of BC and every year for the last two years Dave, Keith's boss, give them a 1 week Mexican vacation :)

Here is (L to R) Mark Hanslo, Colleen Carter, Keith Lezell, Veda, Kathleen from Sat. night at Pina Colada.

Orlando and Linda Vernon BC residents who  now owns a beautiful guest home in Los Ayala had invited us to the Pina Loca restaurant in Rincon de Guayabitos where every Monday Orlando plays guitar. We went and had a great time  singing along and playing with the tambourine and Maracas.

READ about Orlando and Linda
http://www.magicallosayala.com/linda_orlando.html

and se the awesome guest house they designed and had built in Los Ayala. just awesome!!!

http://www.casalindamex.com

It was fun getting to know keith better. I am grateful to have two great brother-jn-laws Wayne(my sister's husband) and Keith(Kathleen's brother).

LOS AYALA MEXICO Tuesday JANUARY 11 AL teaches yoga and we start Spanish lessons:)


Tuesday at 8:30 am I started teaching yoga again after 3 years to  everyone at El Delfin bungalows who wish to participate.

We started off with a round of Laughter yoga to get ourselves loosened up.

It was alot of fun. For some reason I prefer to teach outside only.

Then Kathleen Veda and I went to visit Orlando and Linda to organize us going out boogie boarding with Orlando. Orlando also  gave us a tour of their home... Well designed and beautiful.

We then had spanish lessons with a local Spanish woman named Cecy. We then ate at Pikkos again.. Juan the owner is amazed that I love eating coconuts.... Veda and Kathleen love the Tacos :)

Veda and I went snorkeling and we saw a sting ray that was about 6 inches across and black with white   dots..AWESOME!

We enjoyed the water and believe it or not AL got cold. the water temperature is much colder this year as La Nina effect is in full force.

We swam in the pool and had a great supper before relaxing by watching a show together.

I love this life:) gratitude :)

Hasta manana :)

Adios y Aloha Al:)

LOS AYALA MEXICO Sunday JANUARY 9, 2011 OH SO WARM :)

Sunday JANUARY 9, 2011


Well, it was another great day today. We have quite a community here at El Delfin. Saturday I did my Yoga out on the pool area. Afterwards People said it was good to see and asked about me teaching here.

so for the first time in three years i will be teaching yoga again on tuesdays and Saturdays at 9AM.
It wil be fun. I will start each class off with Laughter Yoga

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEfjVnYkqM

It is quite easy to learn because everyone can laugh :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EGTETc5oFU

We also started getting coconuts from our favourite beach Vendors Marie  and Pablo They are an older couple that we met last year and we try to get our Pineapple Megalopolises and coconuts from Them.

 Pineapple Megalopolises are a whole pineapple with a pineapple dome cut out and the rest crushed and juiced with sticks of papaya, jicama, watermelon and cucumber added with lime juice. It is really yummy. I came up with the name " Pineapple Megalopolis" last year because I wanted something grand to describe such a great fruit experience :)

Also we made arrangements to take our next set of Spanish lessons from a woman who is Mexicana and lives part time here and part time in Canada. itwas funny i use google translate when sending emails to Mexican. She thought my spanish was at a very high level... i laughed and replied that  google translate's Spanish is at a  high level. :):)

Did I tell you the owner of the building Alonso had a birthday party here for his 17th year old son Alex Saturday night Sunday morning. They played Karaoke music until after 3 am and they had a bonfire going until 6:30 am. Kathleen was kept up. I slept straight through it.

I went snorkeling again at Playa del Toro. I saw my first Mexican Mantra ray in the water along with fish. So cool as they glide along the sand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEpyLtRl0uQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batoidea

We spent about three hours on the beach and in the water playing in the waves.

Then we came home and had supper.

All in all a great day

Adios y Aloha Al :)

LOS AYALA MEXICO Friday and Saturday JANUARY 7-8,2011 TOTALLY RELAXED BEACH TOWNDAYS continued :)

OUR AWESOME TAXI DRIVER FROM SAYULITA TO EL DELFIN BUNGALOWS LOS AYALA ON JANUARY 6,2011 JUAN JOSE

LOS AYALA MEXICO Friday JANUARY 7, 2011

I started the day off by going snorkeling and swimming at 6:30 AM. I went to Playa del Beso(Kissing beach) the beach just south of Los Ayala. It is only 1000 meters to the south. The surf was still up so while clearer than the waters at Sayulita, it was still not the best visibility. I enjoyed being back in Los Ayala where the people are so relaxed and the beach is peaceful.

I forgot to mention that on January 6, Veda was tumbled by a wave while body surfing. Veda is an experienced bodysurfer so she knows to "hang loose" once tumbled. anyhow after that she had a shower and after was drying her hair when she heard a crack. Now she had a pain in her shoulder and neck.

when she woke up on the 7th it was still there. Luckily Kathleen found a chiropractor named Lenny Sugerman who practices in La Penita

http://drlennysugerman.com/

Well I call him up and made an appointment. We caught a Taxi to La Penita for 40 pesos. When we arrived at his office which is almost directly across from the bank, I decided to go try to cash 500.00 Canadian in travellers cheques. Well to my surprise when I got there, there was no line up at the bank. I handed my passport and the travellers cheque in. She took my bungalow info and then cashed it in less than 5 minutes. Total contrast to before.. I learned going to the bank at seista time noon on a Friday is the ideal time to do banking in La Penita :)

Back at the office Veda is just getting ready to be examined by the Doctor. I would be glad I made it back as I learned as he asked very detailed history questions to veda that he was a people sort of Doctor who used his knowledge to heal AND spread LOVE. Wow. He really was thorough in his questions and then before making any adjustments he explained patiently to Veda and us  what he was going to do.


In the true Mexican fashion of family his wife and Son Nathaniel age two were in the waiting area. Nathaniel would come in and out during our visit spreading joy and happiness.

He was very good at Adjusting and relieving Veda's pain.(a day later and she was still free of pain and back in the water.

I was so impressed I made an appointment myself to get adjusted next Friday. It did cost 1000 pesos or just slightly less than 100 Canadian. Many Canadian are use to paying less when covered. For me though I know blue cross will only cover a tiny portion of the visit, it is still worth it because Dr. Sugarman talks to patients as human beings and shares his knowledge freely that promotes better self care and body awareness with LOVE.

He also shared a lot of where he grew up in California, he own experience with a water sports injury.

Then it turns out he is into Germai and Siddha Yoga

http://www.siddhayoga.org/

Kathleen's adoptive Mom Wendy who passed away in October was into Siddha yoga.  we talk about that for a while. Overall the best Chiropractic visit ever and Dr Sugerman also has an awesome sense of humour. A real pleasure to get to know.

I will write more on this when I have my visit this Friday. We then went through town, We stopped at the local handcraft store and picked out a Mirror we wanted to buy and Veda and Kathleen had Fish tacos at a restaurant. We then went shopping at a local Fruteria grocery store and bought alot of veggies.

We caught a taxi home and met the Driver Manuel. I took his number and will be using him to get around over the next two months. We like to develop relationships and spread the limited wealth we have to the local community.

We then went home and prepared a great meal.

We really appreciate being a part of the El Delfin community here in Los Ayala.

see this Video clip(in spanish) . you will see the owners and his family :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcsUkQDVDQA

Every year in the first two weeks of January El Delfin fills up with Canadians mostly who have all been coming here for years  and know each other. Amazing fun and just the type of place Al loves to be :)

LOS AYALA MEXICO  Saturday JANUARY 8, 2011. Daunhauers reunited:)

Al started off the day going snorkeling at a beach about a kilometre south of EL Delfin called Paya del Toro(Beach of the Bull..appropriate enough for a Taurus:).....) I walked through a Jungle trail and also now a development company has pushed through a road to the beach. Even under less than ideal conditions I at least saw fish here. A relaxing swim.

We then did breakfast. We then walk the beach and I connected with Orlando who Veda and i will be boogie boarding with at Rincon starting this week. i wanted his assistance in buying a board. We then walked over to Rincon to connect with Kathleen's brother Keith and his partner Colleen. We miraculously found Keith on the beach and arrange to meet for Dinner at 7pm at their hotel. We decided to go to the Pina Colada restaurant which is where Kathleen and Keith's Mom and Dad Cheryl and Joe used to go to eat when they stayed in Rincon. We walked back to Los Ayala.  

We also ate Lunch at Pikkos the restaurant next door. Wow, beach sellers flock like crazy to you when you are at a beach restaurant. It makes senses because they know that you have money on you. i had two coconuts and enjoy lime and salsa on the fresh meat afterwards YUM. then We went out to relax on the beach.

 We met Kirk and Susan returnees to El Delfin who have not been here for two years, while we were all swimming in the water.they are neat. they are now from Oregon.  They used to own and run an "off the Grid"(no power company electricity) Organic Farm in Maryland. He was very interesting to meet and is an excellent body surfer. Susan does long swims and has amazing garden knowledge.

We then hung out at the pool. I did my yoga routine there and several people decide they would like to do yoga classes here 3 times a week.  My first yoga teaching in three years :)

We met Keith Colleen and Mark (their friend who we met up on Read island where Keith and Colleen live) at 7PM. We walked to the restaurant and Keith told the owners Estaban and Mina that Kathleen and Keith were the daughter and son of Joe Daunhauer and that  their mother Cheryl wanted  Estaban and Mina to know that Joe passed away and that they has great memories of their restaurant.

We all ordered. Holy moly the meals served were huge. We talked the night away. It was fun

WHAT A GREAT DAY
HASTA LUEGO! HASTA LA MANANA!
AL:)

SAYULITA MEXICO Wednesday and Thursday JANUARY 5-6,2011 BOOGIEBOARD DAYS continued :)

Wednesday JANUARY 5, 2011


Well this is our last full day in Sayulita. We have been enjoying the boogie boarding alot. I discovered that yesterday I had left the beach towel I borrowed from our host Sergio at the Restaurant Rollie's. I may not have mentioned that I really enjoyed the service at this restaurant. Rollie himself has a great sense of humour and he take an interest in each patron that comes to his restaurant.

So almost 24 hours later I go back to the restaurant and tell Rollie that I think I left my beach towel there. He smiles and say"yes you did, we just put it in the wash so if you come back around 1 pm it will be done.

Talk about exceptional service. If you are ever in Sayulita and the menu appeals I recommend Rollie's.

http://www.sayulitalife.com/rolliesbreakfast

it was also really easy to reseve a taxi for Thursday with our Driver Juan Jose. 300 pesos for the 40 minute trip to Los Ayala.

Kathleen has been cold since we got here New year's Day. I know you are wondering how that is possible. Well the water is colder than 2010 and so are the nights by5-6 degrees Celsius.

We decide she need to get  a rash guard or upper body partial wetsuit. We went to the Mexican Surf Mafia shop just up from Rollie's and Kathleen tried on a number of suits. In the end she decided to go with two and under garment that is 3-4mm and a 2 mm one over top. This means Kathleen can stay in the water now up to 40 minutes before getting cold instead of the 5 minutes or less she was able to do before.
Now Kathleen gets to enjoy boogie boarding:)

We spent 3 hours in the water Wednesday and we went out for lunch at one of dozens of awesome restaurants. The bill for the three of us was 140 pesos roughly 14 Canadian dollars for a great meal.

We were really tired after a day in the sun and we relaxed at our bungalow in the evening.

Thursday JANUARY 6, 2011


Well i went to sleep early around 9pm..i woke up at 2 am. kathleen was awake. there was loud music playing and people talking loudly. I thought it was one of the bars at first. After an hour though and then they played a song I really do not like "Tainted Love" Well that put me over the edge. I got up and put on my clothes and went outside to track down the noise to my surprise it was coming from up the hill. I walk up to the house and knock on the main door. The house walls were vibrating. they could not hear me. However out of a side door a Mexicano man came out and he said" OH I was really concern that someone was going to be disturbed and call the police" I said" I am not going to call the police i just want them to turn down the music." Well he said " They are friends of the owner and the owner would not like trouble." He seemed reluctant to go talk to them and said to me "The door is open." I said" I would not walk into someone house without them inviting me in,but he could lead me in." He then opens the door and then quickly disappears. the house has a two story wall around the front enveloping a pool overlooking the bay and forms an amphitheater for sound.

The sight before me is like the ultimate Canadian Beer commercial. there are 5 dudes and 5 women and one is holding a two wheeled cart in which there is a beer can pyramid on top. Well I shouted over the music" I got several people awake and it is after 3 am,can you turn down the music. Well one dude says "Sorry Man Sorry we didn't know.." and they turned off the music.

Then back down the hill I go and back to bed. Here is a picture of the 'noisy neighbours' house

In the morning I went and took alot of pictures around Sayulita including also La Playa los Meurtos and the excellent Mexican cemetery there.

Due to the strange way blogger sometime posts my pictures and the volume of pictures. I will include a link at the bottom of each post to all the pictures of the day :)

Here is the first one:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=348488&id=773104691&l=f36af2bb04

SAYULITA MEXICO Monday and Tuesday JANUARY 3-4,2011 BOOGIEBOARD DAYS

Monday and Tuesday JANUARY 3-4, 2011


Monday JANUARY 3, 2011


Well our gracious host here at Longboard Heaven Sergio took me into Bucerias some 20 km south of Sayulita to go to the Scotiabank branch to get cash.  Believe it or not using Traveller cheques got very hard this year. The exchange at theAirport would not cash Canadian dollar travellers cheques even though they were American Express.

So i arrive at the Scotiabank and get in line. The manager comes and takes my passport and takes a photocopy. The line is long and it takes an hour just to get through the line to a teller. Then it takes a half hour to for them to look at my documents andI guess phone American express and verify the cheques...

Then after cashing them I got in line for the ATM... I was using my Scotiabank visa.. it took several trys before i was able to withdraw cash there.

Then back to Sayulita and we went to the beach Boogieboarding for 4 hours it was awesome :)

We spent a quiet evening at home.

Tuesday JANUARY 4, 2011

In the morning i got up early to snorkel. The waters are still cloudy. i did enjoy getting close to pelicans on the rocks. I came home and did yoga then I meditated.

We then went to Breakfast and thought we would be taking a surfing lesson at 1130AM...Instead at the end of our meal I was telling Rollie the owner that we had a lesson at 1130AM. He said well you are late because it is 1210PM now..

We missed our surf lessons because this year Sayulita changed over to being on Central time from mountain time.... crazy but true. We will try again tomorrow.

We ended up boogieboarding again for 3 hours. It was amazing fun:)

SAYULITA MEXICO Sunday JANUARY 2,2011

Well today I was up to go snorkelling at 645 AM. I went to  Playa los Muertos (Beach of the Dead). It is called this because it it right next to the cemetery. It was a beautiful Sunny morning. It was not a good snorkelling day as the waves were large and the sand and silt was stirred up. I still went for an awesome morning swim out into the bay.

Last night was not easy for Kathleen as the music from the town below travelled up to our place on Gringo Hill. I of course slept straight through it. The music also goes until 4 AM in the morning.

Kathleen has renamed the place we are staying as "Mildew Heaven" instead of Longboard Heaven as the rooms smell mildewy even though none of the bedding etc smells that way.

I suspect because the place has a tin roof that somehow contributes to the mildew smell.

We use essential oils to mask the smell.

Sayulita is a very busy little town. The streets are narrow and the town is still recovering from the devastating floods in Sept 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gC76ARtKhM

Here  is a picture of the bridge after the flood. If you click next or previous you can see other damage photos

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=52656&id=100001554253650

So the streets are crowded with people and vehicle. Like in parts of Thailand, there are sidewalks but most people walk on the street because the sidewalks are filled with obstacles.

We went swimming all morning in the great waves catching quite a few fun rides.

We then went for a siesta and then went for a long afternoon beach walk which was fun

And we also saw the wild iguanas in a tree outside a house on a busy street. We counted twelve.

Here is what Michelle Quinn said about the Iguana tree.

"Looking at lizards

Perhaps the best thing about Sayulita, other than talking to the locals, is watching the local wildlife: the geckos on the ceiling of the restaurant. The gulls diving into the water after a school of fish. The sand crabs and their sideways walk.

On the corner of Manuel Navarrete and Marlin is a large tree filled with iguanas. ``The Night of the Iguana'' made Puerto Vallarta famous, but this tree in Sayulita should draw crowds. Instead, no one pays attention to it, and construction is happening all around it. The tree is protected, according to a sign, as a sanctuary for a bright green iguana, but other types of iguanas, including one the size of a golden retriever, inhabit the area.

At first, you can't see the camouflaged reptiles. After watching the tree for a few minutes, your eyes adjust and you see movement. First one iguana and then another. There could be 20 iguanas in that tree at one time. It's discoveries like this that make Sayulita still feel like a secret."

Here is a link to more Sayulita iguana,beach and town photos

http://www.google.ca/images?q=iguanas+sayulita+photos&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=pk8hTZISlLqxA4SviKAK&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCAQsAQwAA&biw=1279&bih=659

Well it has been another fun day :)

Hasta  Manana Amigos y Amigas

Al:)

AL KATHLEEN AND VEDA ARRIVE IN MEXICO SATURDAY JANUARY 1,2011

FELIZ ANO NEUVO (HAPPY NEW YEAR IN SPANISH)

WELL AFTER GETTING AN AWESOME DRIVE TO THE AIRPORT FROM JUDE WITH THANKS TO HANNAH AND HER MOM FOR THE VOLVO :)

WE HAD A VERY PLEASANT FLIGHT TO PUERTO VALLARTA.  THEN THE LAID BACK CONTRAST WITH CANADA KICKS IN. WE BROUGHT A WHOLE LOT MORE LUGGAGE THIS YEAR. 6 SUITCASES (3 LARGE) AND OUR OTHER SMALL CARRY ON. SO THE FIRST THING THAT HAPPENED IS WE GET TO A CERTAIN POINT WHERE WE ARE NOT ALLOWED CARTS. I STARTED UNLOADING THE CART AND KATHLEEN SPIED A BUDGET RENT A CAR GUY SMILING AT MY EFFORTS TO ORGANIZING AND DIVIDE UP OUR LUGGAGE FOR EASIER ROLLING AS WE STILL NEED TO GO TO THE CAMBIO TO CASH A TRAVELLERS CHEQUE.

WELL WE HAD TO GO THROUGH A GAUNTLET OF PEOPLE OFFERING TAXIS AND THEN TURN A CORNER AND BECAUSE OF A LARGE WALL OF GLASS HEAD BACK THE WAY WE CAME ON THE OTHER SIDE TO GET TO WHERE THE CAMBIO IS LOCATED.

WELL WE GET THERE AND WHILE KATHLEEN IS WAITING IN LINE, I GO CHECK OUT WHAT TAXI RATES ARE INSIDE THE AIRPORT. WELL TO MY SURPRISE I FIND THEY ARE THE SAME RATES AS GOING OVER THE BRIDGE TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY AS WE DID LAST YEAR.

SO TO SAVE US WALKING ALL THAT WAY WITH 9 PIECES OF LUGGAGE, WE  CAN WALK ONLY 100 BACK THE WAY WE CAME.

I WENT TO THE CAMBIO MONEY EXCHANGE TO SEE HOW KATHLEEN IS DOING. THIS IS WHERE LAST YEAR WE EACH CASHED 500.00 CANADIAN WORTH OF TRAVELLERS CHEQUES BUT THIS YEAR THEY REFUSED  SAYING ONLY IN AMERICAN FUNDS.

I JUST START LAUGHING BECAUSE THEY WAITED UNTIL THE CANADIAN DOLLAR WAS WORTH MORE TO STOP TAKING THIS. AND I LAUGH BECAUSE I REMEMBER IT IS NOT SUPPOSE TO MAKE LOGICAL SENSE.

WE ARE OKAY BECAUSE WE HAVE ALREADY PREPAID 50% OF OUR ROOM AND I HAVE THE OTHER HALF IN US DOLLARS. PLUS WE HAVE 1500 ODD PESOS THAT I BROUGHT HOME LAST FEBRUARY. SO WE HAVE ENOUGH TO PAY THE TAXI AND EAT UNTIL WE CAN GET TO A BANK WHENEVER THE BANK OPENS WHICH COULD BE MONDAY OR TUESDAY(WELL THAT IS CLOSER TO HOW THINGS WORK IN CANADA)

THEN AFTER AN HOUR IN HEAVY TRAFFIC WE ARRIVE AT LONGBOARD HEAVEN

http://www.sayulitalife.com/longboard

WE HAD THE LONGBOARD SUITE(SEE SLIDESHOW)

WHEN WE ARRIVED THOUGH, IT AS CLEAR FROM THE START THAT WE WERE NOT EXPECTED. OUR OST SERGIO ASSURED US THAT EVEN THOUGH OUR BOOKED ROOM WAS NOT VACATED WE WOULD GET IT LATER OR A BETTER ONE.

HE HAD US PUT OUR STUFF IN THE TREE BUNGALOW SUITE AND SUGGESTED WE GO TO THE BEACH UNTIL HE GOT IT ALL SORTED OUT.... TWO HOURS LATER AND IT IS MOSTLY SORTED AND WE ARE SAFE IN OUR SUITE.

LOTS OF GOOD LESSONS FOR ME IN BREATHING ACCEPTING DIFFERENT WAYS OF BEING AND TRUSTING THAT ALL WILL WORK OUT.. AS IT HAS...

VEDA AND I HAD A GREAT SWIM AND VEDA AND KATHLEEN DID A GREAT GROCERY SHOP AND WE DINED ON AWESOME GUACAMOLE WITH ORGANIC FLAX TOSTADAS.. YUM:)

AND THAT WAS OUR FIRST DAY

AWESOME FELIZ ANO NEUVO !!!!