So much to look forward to after this last year. Welcome 2021!! We are soooo ready for you!
Our family blog following the events leading up to and during our efforts to live in our ever changing pueblo of Sayulita, Mexico.
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Friday, December 25, 2020
Saturday, December 19, 2020
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Alex Turns 15!
Alex turned 15 this week and stepped up to make her usual crazy awesome birthday cake. It never matters who's birthday it is. She always produces something made to order and always delicious. This year it was 6 layers of rainbow cake with frosting in-between then topped with brownies and cookies with brownie/cookie sprinkles all over. This monster must have weighed 6 or 7 pounds. It truly was beautiful when she cut the first pieces and the rainbow colors were able to show themselves.
Some extra paddle time will be needed this week for sure. Pretty much anyone who comes over is asked to eat cake so we don't have to handle it ourselves. Sayulita has it's famous "Cake Lady" but we have our Alex. Feliz Cumpleaños!
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Summer Break 2020 - COVID, Kids etc
We really have nothing to complain about. Our family is together and healthy even though COVID-19 has made it's way into Sayulita. We have family up north who have tested positive and friends here in town who have tested positive as well. All of Mexico is a hot spot and we are seeing more masks where we did not see many masks before. Signs have appeared at the entrance to business basically telling people not to enter unless they are wearing one. Sorry all you "Karens" out there. Masks are required. Our state, Nayarit, is still shut down as far as beaches and ocean go but there are many days the town has plenty of tourists sitting under umbrellas or arriving before first light via tour busses from somewhere. Our neighboring state, Jalisco, is officially open for tourist business with some restrictions.
The kid's SUP Team is back at it and participation is strong considering the Team usually does not practice this time of year. No, officially we are not supposed to be paddling with the beach and water closures but a group of local kid's paddling around on 11-12 foot stand up paddle boards, maintain social distancing is a much smaller concern than a tour bus arriving with tourists for the day. No paddling since the beginning of April has had a big effect on all our fitness levels and we have all been sore as our bodies remember what it is like to paddle again and try to shed the added "quarantine weight" put on since March. So fortunate to have an activity like this down the street.
The response from the SUP race world to COVID-19 has been "Virtual Races". These are races and events where paddlers follow some basic race course guidelines and use a GPS device to time themselves paddling a particular distance. The kids have begun competing participating in these kind of races. It is fun and interesting to compare them to kids and other racers from places like Italy, the US or Portugal. They have not done many of these races just yet but as they get into better shape we will be putting the stop watch to their efforts and see how they stack up. Trace is particularly charged up since he is beginning to feel like his shoulder is feeling good enough to really participate again. Some of these races are held over the course of a few days, a week or are ongoing for several months.
Trace got the "ok" from his physical therapist to not come for treatment any longer and he feels good to go. We are stoked to see him happy again on his board. In June he also became a teenager. Yes, our Trace-man is 13. WTF? He is eating a bunch and growing but yet to really start getting taller in leaps and bounds. Slow and steady is just fine with us since we won't have to buy bigger shoes as fast.
Trace with ANOTHER surfboard! |
Ashley received her second voluntary "leave of absence" from Delta. This will keep her home until at least Halloween. Though flights are rebounding it just does not make sense yet based on the amount of hours she can work to go back north. As part of her taking a voluntary leave she qualifies for unemployment benefits and she is owed back pay of a full month so far due to system malfunctions. Getting any kind of assistance with the overloaded unemployment system has been impossible. She loves this kind of frustration and sitting on hold for hours only to be disconnected and told to try again later. This is her favorite way to pass the time. 😁 All in all she has been able to remain mostly sane and keep busy with house projects and her plants but the urge to travel has started for her. We were supposed to be off adventuring by now to cure that urge but here we sit. Just not a good time to go anywhere.
Alex has continued to do her horse program and the beginning of SUP again has helped her keep moving 5 nights a week. Something she needs. She has been doing lots of art lately and may actually have some interest from a local ice cream shop to paint some signs for them. She has done several for the horse stalls at her ranch and they get better every time she does one.
A while back we ordered a 14' race paddle board for her since it would be the next size up for her to train with as a 15 year old. It is an older model and previously used but the price was right and a shipment from our rep was coming this way anyway to join with. We have been trying to get it down here for a couple months now but anything coming across the border right now is a major challenge. If and when the board arrives we hope this helps spark her enthusiasm to train and compete in the virtual races offered that I mentioned. It will help her compete at an equal level as far as equipment goes. It is hard seeing your times go up against competitors efforts knowing you are paddling a shorter and slower craft than they are.
We have heard nothing official as far as school goes. Alex will be doing an online school program but Trace will be attending the same school, CVIS, here in Sayulita. We have no idea what that is going to look like and we have already seen parents starting to scramble and strategize for the beginning of the school year. Next month is the time when we would see new families come to town and CVIS would normally be the place where you would see the new faces. This year who knows. With the economy the way it is in the US and the virus situation being no better in Mexico we wonder if we will see shiny new first year families. These families tend to have younger kids but they bring new energy to school and other activities that is welcome as well.
I think that is about it for now.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Friday, July 17, 2020
A New Casa - Casa PŌNO Sayulita - July Update 2020
Earlier in the summer we completed the rooftop shade structure. Though still really hot it allows us to enjoy the summer breezes and the view from the top of Sayulita. Some of the projects we pushed to get done are small and just convenience things and others required a lot of thought and planning to get right.
For a couple things we enlisted the help of the former foreman who was the on site supervisor when the house was built, Antonio. A super nice guy and has always come through for us. He was the perfect guy to get back to the house to help us complete some things and repair some items that were causing problems for us. He knew how the house was put together and it was good to see him again.
Bypassing the roof drain. |
Redirecting water to front of house. |
Better than just dirt. |
The big project that took place recently was installing a deck in what we call the "garden" or the clear story area in the house that allows light and airflow.. Really nothing more than a dirt patch in our living room it sat neglected pretty much since construction. It never had a floor since it, at one time, was exposed to the summer rain, debris and iguana shit. We had the polycarbonate roof installed but we never really had the reason to do the deck project until Ashley got sick of looking it. I stopped really "seeing" it a long time ago so I was indifferent and was more concerned about cost.
Our dirt patch in the living room. |
Wood "sleepers" attached along side of the metal joists. |
The super cool Kreg Deck Jig. |
Ashley's books will find a permanent home eventually. |
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Alex Graduates Secundaria - June 2020
Alex is standing 5th from the left. |
Alex and her "sister" Ava. |
Monday, June 8, 2020
Solidarity In Surf - Worldwide Paddle Out
Sunday, May 31, 2020
A New Casa - Casa PŌNO Sayulita - Early Summer Update 2020
So, we decided to do something about it now that it appears being home is most certainly going to be the recommended routine for the months to come. We would delay any other plans for finishing other punch list items for the time being and we have always wanted to finish the rooftop. The view is hard to beat and a big reason we bought the lot back in 2007. We considered buying a bunch of plants but the transporting that amount of soil, mature plants and large pots just sounded like a lot of work. We considered rigging up some shade sails but we really didn't have good anchoring potential to keep the sails in place during the summer storms and high enough to be able to walk under them. We even threw an old area rug down to keep the heat off the roof above the master bedroom. None of the solutions really worked very well so we decided to get a proposal from our metal contractor who previously installed the metal/polycarbonate roof.
The goal was to provide shade for a seating area similar to our living room, a dining table area with chairs and the wet bar area which was already covered but was unfinished. About 30-40% of the rooftop would be left uncovered so anyone looking to sit in the sun someday could do that. We would also choose a polycarbonate that has a tint to it to help with the shade effort where we had chosen clear for areas allowing light into the house. We would also be able to use the area during the summer rains and stay mostly dry.
Some before and after photos.
Monday, May 4, 2020
Sayulita Scenes - The SAYULITA Sign
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Sayulita Scenes - Semana Santa 2020
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Corona Virus - Sayulita April 8, 2020
Check point entering Nayarit from Jalisco |
Sayulita residents received car windshield stickers identifying the car as a "local" and cars entering town with the sticker do not have to wait long in any check point lines entering town. This has become a challenge for anyone who works in town but lives in other communities as they have to prove why they need to enter town. Many houses are left empty as the tourist traffic is gone and many owners are from other places. The check points are a round the clock operation and we are thankful for the volunteers organizing this and have donated to the efforts to secure the town.
Our "official" car sticker designating us a residents of Sayulita |
The BIG news came in yesterday. There will be a mandatory total town lockdown for 5 days. This means that there will be no one in and no one out. All the streets will be washed during this time. This will be during what normally would be the busiest weekend of the year for beach goers. Ashley went off to be sure we had a few things in the house for the town being isolated into next week. No big grocery store runs. Our shelves are in good shape and we have not gone anywhere for pretty much three weeks anyway. A mandatory town shut down will not effect us all that much.
State police keeping an eye on things at the highway 200 turn off to Sayulita. |
Empty Sayulita Streets |
Quiet Sayulita morning with coffee. |
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Corona Virus - Sayulita April 5, 2020
Ashley is frequently checking on the airline world. Delta is offering early retirement packages and leaves of absences to try and thin the ranks a bit as the number of airplanes in the air has been reduced by a huge number. The flying schedule has been decimated and we are beginning to be nervous about the future with possible furloughs and pay cuts looming. She is considering a one month leave added on to her time off this month. That way she wouldn't be expected to be back flying until almost June. A decision will be made shortly on that but her staying home in Mexico is the best decision for keeping her safe and out of airports for now.
Empty jungle runs are great early morning. |
I have not heard of any kind of virus testing in Mexico so I am not exactly confident in what will happen when the numbers of infected begin to climb as they have in densely populated areas around the world. As in the States people are trying to get out of urban places like Mexico City and Guadalajara and wait this out elsewhere. People who offer nightly rentals here have not been open to anyone but people who have already been in the community for a few months but you can still see some new faces around once in a while. Our rental, The PŌNO Suite, is currently shut down totally but we have received a few requests for long term rentals.
Main beach Sayulita in the last week. |
Sayulita main beach Semana Santa 2018 |
Monday, March 30, 2020
Corona Virus - Sayulita March 30, 2020
A little over a week ago Ashley was up north working. She worked some flights and others were just outright cancelled. She had planned on being back for the Semana Santa holiday and for our spring break trip the first weekend in April. The two weeks of school leading up the holiday weeks had been cancelled and the schools were scrambling to get some kind of plan together to be sure the kids had some kind of structure to follow for their studies. Kid's activities were still happening but some precautions were being implemented to keep the kids safe.
Then things were about to change in a big way. Canada called back it's citizens from whatever international location they were at. The USA had already declared that International travel was going to be effected but now cross border travel would be restricted between Mexico as well. Suddenly everything got crazy. Mexico added an additional week of school closures which would give the kids 5 total weeks off including the 2 week holiday. Just about every tourist in the area or part time resident had to make an effort to get back to their countries. All kids activities were cancelled and the beaches were essentially closed in Nayarit.
People trying to leave Puerto Vallarta ahead of border closures. |
Monday morning but you wouldn't know it. |