Any Port in a Storm

Craig joked today he wants a bumper sticker that says I Survived Arlene since the tropical wave that made the last 3 days of our Isla trip soggy has now become the first named storm of the year. I think he's still jealous that he missed out on my 2009 battle with Hurricane Ida at the Rocamar. Ha!

The tropical wave from our vantage point.

After spending too much time hanging out on the front porch at Luna Turquesa on Monday watching tourists getting drenched in golfcarts, we decided to taxi into town and eat.


We know from our experience last June that there's nothing more miserable than riding in a golfcart in drenching tropical rain.


Once we got to town, we decided to check out the flooding in the streets. Hidalgo didn't fare too well after a few days of drenching rains.

After wading around in the rain, we decided on lunch at Bally Hoo since they have the drop down tarps on the sides. Everything at Bally Hoo was soaked because the waves had sloshed up through the floorboards, but the staff was busy drying off all the tables and cushions and ready to serve food.

We decided to share the fish and chips and an order of guacamole for our last lunch on the island. It was all fantastic!

After lunch, we took advantage of the brief lull to walk around and do some shopping. I snapped some quick last day photos.

After a quick trip to the supermercado for more snacks, we managed to hail a taxi just before the downpour started again!

We arrived home late last night to discover that one of the two A/C units in our house is not working properly. It's a dry heat! I wish I had that rain to walk around in now. The first service call appointment we could get is Saturday morning. It's always an extreme heat wave (a high of 117 expected) when our A/C goes on the blink!

Junk or Art?

I see a ferry in my future in a few short hours. We're all aboard the HMS Ultramar for the 12:30 sailing. Thanks to all the old and new wonderful friends who made our Isla trip so very interesting!

Looking out my window, the waves look bigger than yesterday. Can that possibly be? I think Tropical Wave Number 4 has stalled over the Yucatan?

We were wading down Guerrero towards the supermercado yesterday when I saw this interesting collection. Art or junk? It looks like a very artsy collage to me!

Happy trails to us, and we'll see the island again in November!

History from M & J's Isla Gallery

When we were at Soggy Peso for those tacos on Friday, Fredy, the bartender, was telling me a little bit about Isla history. For instance, he said the salinas at one time were one large lagoon, and most people lived north of the Navy base in El Centro until about 40 years ago. He had some cool photos of the old Isla on his cellphone and showed me the shots he'd taken at M&J's Cazuela. Craig and I both decided right then that we needed to eat breakfast there before we left.

Sunday morning, we took advantage of a lull in the rain squalls to walk into town for breakfast. I know I've already seen posts of these photos online, but I thought they were worth sharing again. Wouldn't you have loved to see the island back then?

Craig looking at M & J's historical photo gallery.

Breakfast at M&J's, as usual, was wonderful! I'll be posting more photos of that later this week. We were very impressed with the new location. To be continued!

Friday = Crispy Beef Tacos

A friend just happened to mention this past week that on Friday's, the Soggy Peso has the best Crispy Beef Tacos. Why didn't I know that? Craig and I marked it on our calendars and anticipated the event for days. By Friday afternoon, we were dying for those ground beef tacos. I'm not sure why, but after being on Isla for a couple of weeks, I was crazy for something that tasted like home!

The cab dropped us off around 2 p.m. and sure enough, there was a sign out front that said Crispy Beef Tacos! After taking a quick look around and deciding on the coolest spot (it was mucho calor!), we ordered drinks and our crispy tacos.

The Soggy Peso's palapa perches right above a sand beach next to a marina on the bayside.

The palapa bar is decorated with assorted signs and hats left by the regulars -- sort of Jimmy Buffet/Key West style.

I quickly consumed my plate of crispy beef tacos and they were the best I've tasted in a long while!

I really wanted to order more, but some nice people from Oregon soon distracted me and saved me from gluttony. More of the gang arrived and we spent a few more hours at the bar.

We leave for home on Tuesday, but I have a feeling we'll be eating Crispy Beef Tacos every Friday afternoon for a month in November/December!

Photos From Heaven

Our days on Isla are quickly winding down, so when we awoke to blue skies this morning instead of the predicted rain, we threw on the swimsuits and headed to Playa Norte. Here are some photos from Heaven!

Our timing was impeccable! We managed to get another beach day in by noon. Shortly after we got back to our home away from home and took a dip in the pool, the skies opened up and dumped buckets. It's all good since we love rain!

Red, White, and Blue

This, my seaglass hunting friends, is a windfall! A beer bottle that will provide all that dark blue to die for seaglass we search high and low for! Light in calories for imbibers worried about their girlish figures. Tired of those ugly Dos Equis greens and Sol browns?



Coming soon to a Mexican beach near you -- perfectly tumbled deep blue! Woo hoooo!

By the way, we've been spending a lot of time at Bally Hoo this trip. It's hot, Bally Hoo is the coolest restaurant on the island, and the food is great! Not to mention the views and people watching from the table are fantastic! What's not to love?

A red, white, and blue boat.

Fish Tacos

The Mayan Salad

This trip, we also discovered breakfast at Bally Hoo. My favorites is the BLTA Baguette. That's bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado on a toasted baguette. Craig loves the Mexican Scramble or Omelette. It's all good!

Frosty on Isla

Some very inventive person left this on a stoop in El Centro for me to photograph last week. Christmas in June?

All in a Day

A walk into El Centro along the airport strip.

Lunch at Qubano and some of Vivian's Hungarian Potatoes.

A walk out to our favorite seaglass beach and climb down the cliffs. I wonder how many more years my knees and back will put up with this haul.

Turtle tracks on the beach.

Queeee-so, Oa-xaca. Finally scored a photo of the Cheese Man!

A walk along Salina Grande to the bakery in La Gloria.

A stop at Emmanuel's in La Gloria for breakfast pastries.

A dip in the pool to cool off and sunset clouds from the rooftop.

Dinner at Mocambo and home by nine.

Almost forgot the nighttime cocktail of two ibuprofen. OMG -- my dogs and back were barkin'!

Away From the Beach

What does one do on a rainy Isla day? Spend way too much time burning up the newly acquired WiFi signal and downloading photos? Lie around reading a Stuart Woods' paperback -- Palindrome? Take a walk in the rain to the Mango Cafe and meet newbies pleading for a couple more days in the sun before they go home?

Craig and I love the rain. Our dry Phoenix skin is soaking up the humid air, but seriously, two days is enough!

Rain, rain, go away! It truly IS our time to play!