Penguins, Pot & Other Stuff

Bought the tickets way back in September, the first day they went on sale.  March 29.  Brother Joseph, nephew Andrew & good buddy Paulo headed off to Toronto to catch the game.  Great day out; stopped for dinner & some drinks first.  Arrived about one hour before game time.

 

Met some interesting people and got some really good pictures.  Check them out.  The game: not a good one for Montréal fans.  No legs I guess-in Buffalo last night.  It’s such a tight race for first place in the Eastern Conference.  Hope the loss doesn’t hurt too much!

After many attempts, we finally got out on the resort’s wheelchair accessible boat for a "three hour tour".  We saw many things of beauty.  Didn’t take long for the local dolphins to start playing around the boat.  Sleek & fast-that’s the only way to describe them!

 

Then, it was off to Bird Island to check out the inhabitants.  Thank goodness, no one got bombed on!  Believe me, there were endless opportunities for that.

 

Check out the pictures-quite nice!

After Dickhead read my earlier post on going to play bingo, he gave me a call.  Wanted to come along the next time Trish and I got the itch.  Off we went yesterday to test our luck.  We made an agreement that if we won anything we would split three ways.  What wouldn’t you know it: Dickhead was a winner!

 

After his card was collected we sat at our table wondering how much money we were going to get and all the things we could buy with it.  After all, he had won a full card game and that payoff is usually impressive.  After waiting what seemed like hours, the bingo runner came back with Dickhead’s winnings.  $27!  Apparently, the game Dickhead won was a progressive game that runs over the weeks.  If you win the full card game under the minimum amount of numbers called, you win the jackpot: $14,000 in this case.  Unfortunately, Dickhead was over the minimum.  When the three of us saw what he won, we just burst out laughing.  Better luck next time!

We spent a day going to visit the Mayan ruins at the ancient city of Edzna.  While not as massive as those at Chichén Itzá, they are still awe-inspiring.  Construction began around 600 B.C.: absolutely amazing when you consider it was built in the middle of a thick jungle.  No iron or modern equipment; extreme manpower.  Unless, those aliens were involved!

 

Check out the pictures-you’ll be amazed!

One of the highlights of our trip was a walk-through the local fishing village.  You really get to see how the people live.  Boats coming in and out, little shops along the streets, rundown buildings beyond repair.  Lovely homes; almost mini mansion like.  Graveyards, animals, bright colors: they are all there.

 

I’ve uploaded a few pictures from our walk.  Accessibility is so-so.  There are curb cuts but some of them resemble small mountains.  Also, there might be a curb cut at one end of the sidewalk but when you get to the other end-no luck!

The lovely Trish & I were out and about in my van yesterday running some errands.  As soon as I got in the van I told her I think we need gas.  It was a cold day and Trish wasn’t wearing a coat so I said we can pull into a full-service station (quite a commitment from me considering the extra cost).  So, off we went.

 

Trish dropped me off to visit a friend in hospital and went to do her thing.  Somehow, she forgot to buy gas.  No problem.  Off we went to do some more running around.  "One more stop" as Trish needed to do some banking for her lovely mother.  Somehow, she forgot to stop for gas during all this running around.  When she got back into the van from the bank and tried to start her up, we both knew we were in trouble.  Sputter, sputter, sputter!  We were at a major intersection on Gage Ave. but Trish handled things like a pro.  Somehow she got us into the parking lot of a shopping mall before the van died.  From there we gave the Hamilton Automobile Club a telephone call and within 10 minutes-gasoline appeared!

 

When you are with Trish you just never know what’s going to happen next.  Quite a girl!

So many pictures-370 of them!  I will be putting groups of pictures up, hopefully everyday, to try to give you a feel of what we experienced.  This first set are shots from the place we stayed at (Freedom Shores) and the little Mexican fishing village the resort was located in (Isla Aguada).

 

I really felt like we had taken a step back in time.  Couldn’t help but think of Spencer Tracy in one of my favorite movies "The Old Man and The Sea" which was based on the book with the same name by Ernest Hemingway.  Cars were old and people lived at a different pace.  The entire village was completely shut down by 8 p.m..  Fishermen heading out every day from the docks to get their catch and then returning to sell their fish to local residents & restaurants.  Simply amazing!

 

Stay tuned-more pictures to come.  Trish, as usual, did a magnificent job as my photographer.  Thanks Trish!

We touched down in Toronto at 8:15 p.m. after a fantastic week in Isla Aguada.  So many stories, so many pictures.  Everything went well and no one got hurt (or arrested).  I’ve got 370 pictures to go through and believe me, some of them are very eye-opening!

 

The resort was a little more laid-back than we expected.  We were right in the middle of a small Mexican fishing village.  I kept looking for Ernest Hemingway and Spencer Tracy.  The staff were great and the accommodations good.  Everything is on Mexico time so it took a while to get used to long delays.

 

Keep your eyes open, there will be more posts and pictures to go through.  I’ll even tell you the story about Canada Customs and what they put us through last night when we landed.  They honestly thought we were smuggling in cocaine!  Three hours!!!  Too bad a great trip had to end on such a lousy note.  Dickhead, did you have anything to do with this?

Yes, one more sleep (if I can actually manage to drift off)!  My little entourage (Trish, Bev, Sandra) & I are all packed and ready to go.  Isla Aguada better be ready for us.  Can’t wait to check out the local scenery and partake of the many fun activities which, for a change, will not be out of reach for me because of accessibility.

 

I’ll be taking lots of pictures so get ready.  "Penguins, Pot, and Other Stuff" is going to get very busy!

Yes, 2 more workers from the March of Dimes were fired this week.  Reason-abuse.  Don’t know all the details; don’t even know who was abused.  What I do know is that the 2 workers that were fired were both on my list of terrible March of Dimes employees/people.  One was an open faced liar and the other just downright disrespectful.

 

For once the March of Dimes did something right.