California Burgers
On our walk
this morning we saw a caiman (a type of croc) on the golf course…. It was about
3 or 4 feet long…kind of small I guess, but an odd place to see one. We were
told they are in the water near the golf course.
Harlequin (or Halloween) land Crab
We regularly
see pretty birds when walking and even Crested Caracara and another kind of
Caracara that they have here that we didn’t have in Florida. We also see
iguanas and large lizards. We also have HUGE toads here. Around 4” to 6” tall.
I think they are called Cane Toads.
One day last
week we were exiting the gate of the villas and as we walked past the ocean I
noticed islands I had never seen before. I figured I was just unobservant until
Greg said “Have those always been there?” I guess depending on the visibility
they aren’t always visible.
Last night
we had a pretty good storm. It had rained pretty much all afternoon/evening with
some pretty good winds. Today, it was sunny and beautiful again. On the upside
of the storm, we didn’t need the a/c on as it had cooled off nicely.
We picked up
our car this week. Len met us at the airport where we returned our rental car
and he took us to the dealership to pick up our new one. They had it all
cleaned and ready. We had to wait a while since our insurance hadn’t been
finalized yet, but once they emailed that we were good to go. We stopped at the
Westland Mall to have lunch and to shop at the “Do It Center” for things we
will want at the condo when we move in next week.
On our daily
walks we came across an unfortunate squirrel that got fried on the power lines.
He has been there for a couple of weeks now, though he is getting smaller and
occasionally the wind has shifted him. We joke we should start a “pool” to bet
on when it will fall completely. Yea, that’s the excitement here…..
Another
pretty good storm last night, this one had lots of lightening as well as quite
the down pour. We had just gone to La Ruina Restaurant for langostinos in
garlic sauce when the sky opened up. (it is the rainy season after all) We ate
there several times last year when we visited and were anxious to go back now
that we live here. The owner has a parrot that he brings to the restaurant. They
close for July and August so we were glad we decided to go when we did.
Saturday we
did a day trip to El Valle de Anton. It’s in the mountains and is at the bottom
of a dormant volcanic crater. It’s about 10 degrees cooler there than the
beach. Lots of beautiful vegetation there. We stopped at the El Valle Market
(outdoor market with fruits & veggies and arts and crafts.) Got some fresh
pineapples, bananas, Dragon Fruit and tried some peewah. It is from the Peach
Palm and you can peel and eat the flesh after it has been boiled for around 20
minutes or so. Hard to describe the taste, but kind of like a nut, squash,
pumpkin combination. Texture was dry and grainy. A local there had us try one
of his and then we bought some (already cooked) and we had them with our smoked
pork chops. They were “interesting”. Maybe some olive oil or something to
moisten them would help…..
Dragon Fruit
Anyway, our
main purpose for the trip was to try a new pizza place there called Buon
Appetito. A couple moved from Italy around 6 months or so ago and opened it.
They had a wood fired oven outside and the pizza was divine!
We went for
our walk about the neighborhood after we got back and a dog adopted us. He
walked with us almost the whole way and at one point he “protected” us from
this other dog that he seemed certain might harm us and he got between us and
the dog and fought him off. (that same dog normally just ignores us…lol) We
were almost back home and he found a side road he recognized and he left us to
go home.
sites on our neighborhood walks
local mini mart
open air church
Fire Station
Gourmet Pizza
Picasso
Cable Onda ... cute little vans....
Today we
just did laundry and hung out at the pool. Lovely day with no rain! Here are some photos of the villa & property:
our car
Tomorrow we
should be able to move into the condo. Whoo Hoo!
