Photos of a Beautiful Butterfly Taken In Our Garden

This is a Monarch Butterfly. Monarchs spend their summers in Canada and the US and every fall migrate about 2500 miles south to the Western Sierra Madre mountain range in Mexico where they will mate in the spring. The Monarch goes through four radically different stages of reproduction. Initially eggs are laid and then during the final stage, a new batch of Monarchs will emerge. Countless millions of tiny butterflies will get lifted into the air by pairs of colorful wings. And then they'll drift slowly back to earth and settle on anything in their path. Everything in sight gets cloaked in a mantle of orange and black. When all these Monarchs are on trees and bushes, the branches bend from their weight. And the population becomes so dense that the sound of the flapping of their wings can be heard as they take off. Every year thousands of people take trips to the state of Michoacán in Mexico to marvel at the beauty of the Monarchs' shimmering colours and delicate movements. The fragile Monarchs who flew all the way from Canada and the US to Mexico, are not the ones who will return. . Their offspring will be the ones who find their way to back north in the spring even though they’ve never been there before. And then in late summer, these same Monarchs will make their back to Mexico. Each round trip is made by a new generation, yet each new generation knows to return to the same mountain range where life began. I can't figure out why this Monarch is hanging around here and is not in Michoacán with the rest of its buddies.

Huachinango (Red Snapper)

Huachinango is a favourite fish of both the locals and the gringos. Although Huachinango grows to about three feet in length, it is more common to see them anywhere from 7 to 18 inches long. When the Mexicans prepare Huachinango at home or on the beach they like to cook them when they're still really small. Then they eat them like finger food. Nearly every large and small restaurant in Mexico has Huachinango on its menu. The fish are usually fried or deep-fried whole and served swimming in garlic butter. Another popular dish in Mexico is Huachinango a la Veracruzana. In this recipe, the fish is marinated in a mixture of garlic, lime, water, clove and pepper for about 30 minutes before searing it. When it's nearly cooked through, a touch of broth, finely chopped onion & roma tomato, chiles and tomato puree are added to the pan. After simmering the mixture for a few minutes, the fish is transferred to a plate where it's topped with some sauce and a sprinkling of sliced green olives and chopped parsley. These guys are part of the "river people" family. In this picture they are busy cleaning, scaling and scoring a mess of huachinango for last night's dinner at Casa Que Sera. These huachinango are no more than 7 or 8" long. I don't think there are any rules about the size of fish the locals can catch, but if there are they don't pay any attention to them. Bruce cooked these babies on the barbeque, and just before they were done he basted them with a little of my homemade teriyaki sauce. JJ's Teriyaki Sauce 1 cup light soy sauce 1 cup brown sugar 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger 6 or 7 cloves of garlic, crushed Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and cover it with cling wrap. Nuke the mixtue for two or three minutes, or 'til it comes to a boil, and then allow it to cool before storing in a glass jar with a lid. This sauce keeps forever in the fridge so I usually make a double batch. There wasn't much meat on these little guys, but they sure tasted good !! They had much the same flavour as freshly caught baby trout.

Similar, Yet Miles Apart

The sunset picture below was taken from our deck in Guayabitos. While this picture was taken from our deck in Qualicum Beach. Casa Que Sera and our home in Canada are about 3000 driving miles apart. Isn't it amazing that the views and sunsets from our two homes are so much the same?

Sarandeado

Sarandeado is a Mexican-style grilled fish. The fish is marinated in chiles and lime and then cooked over a wood or charcoal fire . When the fish is partially cooked it gets slathered with a special sauce. Last week I decided it was time to try preparing Sarandeado myself. I didn't have a wood or charcoal fire, but grilling it on the barbeque worked well. The lady above, in blue, is the mama of all those "river people" I talked about. She works right alongside the men every day hauling the pangas across the sandbar. It’s also her job to do all the bartering for fish so you regularly see her packing a load back to the palapa shack. When I spotted mama with this beautiful big dorado, I decided it would be perfect for my first attempt at making Sarandeado. You can't get fish any fresher than this. She agreed to sell it to me for 120 pesos. What a deal! . Before I knew it, papa had cleaned, de-boned and butterflied the fish for me. A large huachinango (red snapper) or other mild, white fish can also be used to prepare Sarandeado and most often the fish is cooked whole with the head and tail left intact. So I decided to grill my whole Dorado. After it had been on the grill for a few minutes I smothered the fleshy part of the fish with a thick sauce made with mayo, hot sauce, garlic, Worcestershire, mustard, lime juice, capers and salt and pepper. When it came off the grill it was crispy skinned, moist and delicious. It was also delicious served cold the next day. Whenever Marie, our maid, works for us I send home a couple of meals for her and her hubby. This day she was thrilled when she saw the extra large portions of Sarandeado being shared with her.

The River People

Once again the river has filled with sand and the fishing boats can’t come and go without the help of the “river people”.

This year's crew is a motley looking bunch, but they get the job done. There’s a great grandma, a son & daughter-in-law with several of their grown sons and a pregnant daughter who has two small children. They all run back and forth all day pushing and pulling the pangas from the ocean, across the sand bar, and over to the river.

The extended family has put up a sad-looking, palapa-roofed shack which is quite the sight! They use it to hide from the sun when they’re not busy, but there’s a fleet of at least 20 pangas coming and going from morning 'til night so the entire family is kept active.

Every boat that comes in has to forfeit some fish to the folks in exchange for their help.

There’s a large cooler sitting under the palapa that gets filled daily with Dorado (mahi-mahi), Dorado caviar, Huachinango (red snapper), Sierra (a small pointed nose fish), Tiburon (mini shark) and whatever else the fisherman feel like parting with.

Frequently I wander over with my camera and have a visit with the motleys and occasionally buy some of their fish.

Every member of the family has a job to do.

It seems that each time I go for a visit, the old great grandma is frying up another mess of fish or whipping up a new batch of ceviche for the crew.

It's the little girl's job to rake garbage from the estuary. While the little boy gets to throw rocks at the pelicans and other birds that are forever swooping by to steal a fish or two.

The pelicans have no fear and wait around all day to be fed some scraps or sneak some fish from an unwatched bucket or pail.

The pelicans even hang out on the roof of the shack waiting for a chance to grab an easy meal.

Are These Clothes For Sale Or Just Hanging There To Dry?

As the economy in Mexico weakens, more and more people are forced to hold garage and used clothing sales to earn a few pesos. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if the articles dangling from the barbed wire fences are clothes being dried in the sun or if they're actually being sold. Today our Sunday drive took us to the outskirts of La Peñita where most of the poorer people live. We saw many interesting sights, but what stood out the most was the huge number of fences that were strewn with laundry. The clothes in the next picture look surprising bright and clean! It has always amazed me how the Mexicans can get their clothes so clean considering the derelict condition of so many of their homes and streets. The majority of these families do not have automatic washers or dryers so the women are compelled to rely on old-fashioned wringer washers or scrubbing boards to wash their clothes. And many families don't even have an indoor kitchen - let alone a proper stove or dishwasher. Their meals are cooked on outside grills, over open fires, and their dishes and laundry get scrubbed in sinks which are set in free-standing frames of concrete blocks. To make matters worse the streets, in front of their homes, are nothing but dusty dirt roads. It must be a never ending, up hill battle to get the laundry dry before it needs washing again. You can’t help but feel sorry for some of these people when you see how they must live.

The Perfect Ball Of Fire

I've found that my new camera takes pretty good pictures, but this one blew me away.

This spectacular picture was taken from our roof terrace three nights ago while we sat sipping our evening drinks.

It's also been a great year for capturing wonderful sunrise pictures.

Our exposure at Casa Que Sera is just about the same as from our home in Qualicum Beach so we are fortunate to get fabulous evening sunsets and morning sunrises from both places.

These are pictures of the colourful morning sunrises we get to enjoy down here. These pictures were taken from the back of our terrace where we look over the river and back to the hills.

Amapa or Madre de Cacao

The Erythrinea Berteroana tree is more commonly known as Amapa or Madre de Cacao and is primarily planted to shade chocolate, coffee, tea and vanilla plants. It is also grown to provide windbreaks and makes a beautiful high hedge which can reach up to 30 feet.

In rural Mexico these trees are also used as “live” fence posts. They are found in barbed wire fences all over this country because they are more durable than traditional fence posts and are less prone to attack by termites and fungi.

The Amapa trees in the above picture were planted as live posts on the vacant lot adjacent to our casa. They were cultivated simply by removing a branch, about 3” in diameter from a mother tree, and sticking it in the ground. Within weeks the posts had rooted and leaves began to appear. In the past year the posts have grown into large trees.

The blooms on this tree are just beginning to burst forth.

When I look out my kitchen window towards the river, I feel like spring has sprung. The brand new flowers of the Amapa remind me of apple blossoms back home.

As the flowers get larger they look more like those of the wisteria plant. The leaves also look very much like wisteria leaves.

The wood milled from mature Amapa or Madre de Cacao finishes smoothly so is often used to build furniture and cabinets. It is also strong enough to be used for railroad ties and heavy construction.