New Year's Eve Breakfast

We began the day by taking the kids to El Crucero in El Monteon for breakfast.

As usual, our meals were delicious.

While we were waiting to be served, I spotted a tejone who was obviously waiting for a handout.

Cass and Cole got all excited and Cass grabbed her camera and got a few good shots of the tejone.

The kids tore apart a couple of bolillos to feed the tejone.

It came right up to them and started gobbling down the bread.

When the tejone was full, he took off and then the chickens arrived to clean up the scraps.

Kids & Fireworks

We gave Cass and Cole some fireworks and really long sparklers for Christmas, but they've only lit two sparklers so far.

They are saving the rest to set off tonight down the beach with their three friends who've just arrived.




Fireworks are a huge thing in Mexico on New Year's Eve. 

There will be muchas bombas set off for the next 24 hours all over Guayabios and La Peñita.

You can't imagine just how loud these bombs are until you've spent a New Year's Eve in Guayabitos.

There will be very little sleep for us tonight.

Mucha Joyería para No Mucho Dinero

Once again the kids have had a lot of fun shopping for jewelry on their vacation.

And once again, everyone got  A Lot of Jewelry for Not a Lot of Money.

Arnie always does well when Jen's in town.

 And Jen also drops a few pesos with Benny when she's here.

Jen's mom gets spoiled because she looks after Cass and Cole's dog while they are here.

The opal pendant and earrings in next picture are for Jen's mom, but the rest of the bobbles are for Jen.

The necklace and earrings to the left, in the next picture, are for Jen's secretary, and the rest of the bobbles are for Jen.

And all the bobbles in the next photos are for Jen.

Jen got even more spoiled.  The beautiful opal earrings in the next photo were a gift to Jen from Cass this Christmas.

Even Cass and Cole got a little spoiled.  A necklace for Cole and a ring for Cass.

And I really got spoiled this Christmas.  Each of the square rings in the next photo were from Bruce, the rings (top center and bottom right) were from Cory, Jen and kids, and the large purple/blue and topaz rings were gifts to myself.

The square earrings, in the next photo, were a gift from Bruce, the starfish earrings were a gift from Cory, Jen and kids and the hoops were a gift to myself.

Cory, Jen and the kids still have 7 days and one more tianguis to go to before they leave so I'm sure there'll be a bit more dinero left behind.

Cory needs something for each of his "girls" back at the office and I'm sure Jen will find another bobble or two that she just can't live without.

Hundred of Buses Converge on Guayabitos

Every year more and more tourists flock to Guayabitos for their vacations.

 For about  ten days at Christmas, the beach in Guayabitos is absolutely packed as thousands of Mexicans arrive for a few days of fun in the sun.
 


Christmas in Guayabitos is always busy, but this year more people than usual have come to play on the beach.

 




































Yesterday morning I took Cory, Jen and the kids on a bus-counting tour in Guayabitos.

All the buses that bring tourists from San Miguel, Guadalajara, Tepic and other cities are jam-packed.

Each bus carries approximately 50 people and Cole counted over 160 buses in Guayabitos yesterday.

Rules in Mexico are often broken without consequence and when it comes to buses parking all over town, the rules are always broken without consequence.

There are lots of buses parked in every cul-de-sac in town.

But I didn't dare drive into any of these cul-de-sacs for fear of being stuck for hours.  As it was, we were stuck in several lineups because of the very large buses that were trying to manoever their way along very narrow streets.

160 + buses equals over 8,000 visitors.

Then there are the hundreds and hundreds of people who arrive in ATV's, cars, mini vans, trucks and cargo trucks.

All these vehicles are crammed  into every available parking spot.

Local parking lots are congested, on-street parking is non-existant, shops, taco stands & restaurants are filled to capacity and the beaches are over crowded.

Rincon de Guayabitos is a small town of about 2,000 residents so when all the huge extended families (and all their gear) converge onto little-old Guayabitos, it is quite the sight.  Luckily there are enough small hotel rooms and bungalows to accommodate everyone, although there may be up to 12 people in each room.

When we drove into Guayabitos this morning, we saw even more buses arriving.

Cory and Jen have two sets of friends arriving with their families today. They are definitely in for a huge shock!

Guadalupe's Quinceanera

Last week I snapped these photos of a couple who had hiked down the beach to have a photographer take some wedding pictures for them.  They had a little girl with them who looked like she might be the daughter of the groom.

Later in the afternoon I spotted this beautiful girl getting ready to climb into a truck just outside our casa.  She was removing her bulky crinoline so she could fit into the truck seat.

I stopped to have a look at Guadalupe (Lupita for short) and found that she would be turning 15 on December 28 (today).

The big fiesta will be held tonight to celebrate her Qinceanera, but they had arranged to have photos taken on the breakwater last week when I ran into them. 

The photographer, who was taking Lupita's pictures, was the same fellow who photographed the bride and groom earlier that day.

Lupita looked absolutely stunning so I asked her and her mom if they'd like to have some pictures taken by our pool and casa.

They loved this idea so Lupita put her crinoline back on and headed into our yard for pictures by the pool. 

This is a picture of Lupita and her mom.

Lupita's mom made her dress.  Every rhinestone, on the bodice of the dress, was hand stitched into place.  Her mom said she worked on the dress every day for 6 months.  

Here are a few more photos.