Hola Amigos,
We have a new baby burro in the barrio (neighborhood), and they are hanging around here most of the time. The other day, Mama and baby followed me home from my daily walk, and I called Ben to ask him to bring them out some water. Mama drank 3 buckets full! Since then, our neighbors, Brian and Hope, have been giving her water, too. That baby is SO cute! You can see the video I took of them following me in my April 2023 photo album.
You will see several garden produce photos in our April album, too. Ben's tomato crop has been fantastic, and it is finally winding down a bit, although our cherry tomatoes are still producing like crazy. We eat those like candy! We pop them in our mouths and enjoy the burst of flavor. Yum! The big tomatoes have been used to make a very delicious salsa for use with Huevos Rancheros. Ben has a real keeper of a recipe with this one! I've also canned tomato sauce, so I'm hoping I can use those jars of sauce in his recipe. The beans are done; we've canned more beans this year than in many years past. We quit canning them when we ran out of jars!! Ben is still waiting for more beets to mature. He's done one batch of pickled beets (not my favorite!), and will probably do at least one more. We also like them oven roasted...they're quite good that way (if you like beets!!) The corn is just about ready to tassle, so we hope to have some delicious corn cobs by late May.
A fun thing that we weren't involved in personally, is that Rebecca's family got to go to Hong Kong to visit Ryan's family! They haven't seen each other since 2017, so it was a long over due gathering. They had a grand time touring Hong Kong, eating, hiking, swimming, taking all kinds of transportation around the city, eating, visiting galleries and museums, and eating some more! It did our hearts good to see them all together and having a good time. This is the first time Rebecca's family got to meet Charlotte and Olivia, and vice versa. So it was very special for everyone.
This photo is from their last night in Hong Kong, enjoying a light show that is put on every night to music!
Here's another pic of everyone on a bus or a tram or no... I think maybe a double decker bus!!! Anyhow, they had a grand time together. Right now, Rebecca and Tim and family are in Thailand having a fantastic vacation there. (See the album!!)
This time of year is when people start migrating north, and town is already a lot quieter. Our friends Mel and Katie have gone (later than usual for them), and my cousins Tom and Karan are leaving tomorrow. They have really enjoyed their time here in Baja, and came to visit us often to go to church and enjoy the simple life here in Buena Vista! They are building a new house in Centenario, a suburb of La Paz. Hopefully, they'll be here even longer next year! Tom and Karan like to go on walks with me when they visit, and Tom and I did manage to get up to the Flag Monument at least once! (You can see the monument reflected in Tom's sunglasses!)
Oh, and Easter week (Santa Semana) was a typical Mexican holiday on the beach. People come and set up tent cities and enjoy time with family, parties, music, fishing, etc., during the week before Easter Sunday. There were probably thousands of people camped on the beach in a 10 mile stretch near our neighborhood, and from Los Barriles to south of Spa Buena Vista. It is good to see so many people enjoying themselves. The picture below is of the beach where I normally walk, and there were even more tents set up a few days later!
The Lack Family (https://www.thelackfamily.com/ )has been here in Los Barriles area since early March, and their last concert on April 21 was also a fund raiser for Feeding the Hungry, the program that Ben and I and others run here in the community. We had donation jars set up at the entrances, and people were generous. We also had a 50/50 raffle, and we made enough with the donations and proceeds from the raffle sales to help support almost 2 families for a year. We give the families 4 vouchers a month from the local grocery store, each voucher is worth $300 pesos (exchange rate right now is about 18 pesos to $1US.) Anyhow, we were successful, everyone enjoyed the music, the food was great, and we'll do it again!
Our Nopal cactus is starting to bloom. The yellow blossoms are amazingly bright!
FYI, we will be here through May, and plan to leave mid-June. If you get an urge to come down and visit, let us know! We have two lovely guest rooms to share with you! Otherwise, see you later; maybe in Oregon this summer. BTW, May is my favorite month here. Weather is warm, the wind isn't blowing, the water is getting warmer, and it's less crowded in town. Can't find anything wrong with that!
Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben & Zoey
