Jan 21st to 25th - San Carlos

Jan 21st - Mon - San Carlos
We spent some time going up to the office for wifi as we could not get it at the site and we needed to call our banker. Then we realized that it was Martin Luther King Day and banks in the US were closed. I called Marg instead (no wifi on Sunday evening) and had a nice chat with her.
I figured that with busy days planned for the week, I better do a couple loads of laundry while I could. We met some new neighbors across the road (from near Puyallup, WA) and chatted with them for a while.
We went golfing with Rick & Pat. Pat put in a roast to cook while we golfed so she made a lovely dinner for us and then we played Canasta.

Jan 22nd - Tues - San Carlos
We went clamming today south of Empalme. Rick & Pat, Geri and Linda went in one vehicle and Terry & I and Cathy were in another. There was a negative tide so we figured clamming would be good. We decided later that we did not need a negative tide as we did very well before the tide was all the way out.
The beach is sandy but shallow so stays kind of muddy when the tide goes out. We rolled up our pants and started raking. You only have to rack a few inches down to find the clams. It probably didn’t take us much more than an hour to get more clams than we thought we could eat in one meal - 3 half buckets and 1/3 bucket for Geri who was working alone. Terry walked way out to get clean water to rinse the clams and to change the water later. We had taken lunches so ate and sat around for a bit. On the way back, we stopped at the estuary to do more rinsing and get more clean water. It was a really fun day.

Jan 23rd - Wed -San Carlos
Dentist appointments again this morning. I went in with Rick & Pat for a 9 o’clock appt. The dentist was late and then Pat took longer than her ½ hour so I didn’t get in until 10. Pat told Terry that I would be about 2 ½ hours so he could come pick me up. There was road paving on the main street in Guaymas so Terry was a bit late and thought I might have given up. So he parked in a no-parking zone and came in to make sure I was still there. By this time, Terry is really fed up with traffic and trying to find a parking spot. After 3 hours in the chair, I went out and found him and we started back. I wanted a few groceries and Terry needed a restroom so we stopped at the Ley. When we came out, the traffic was all rerouted to one narrow exit and we ended up in a minor fender-bender - unfortunately our fault. Luckily, there was a young man next to us who spoke Spanish & English and agreed to interpret. But we (and a truck who pulled out and caused Terry to back up) were causing a bottleneck which attracted the attention of a policemen who was directing traffic around the construction. To make a long story short, it took 2 hours to get things settled with the insurance that we purchased paying for the damage. Steve & Linda were driving past and I motioned them in. They were a great help in communicating with the police (all 3 from the construction zone followed us to another location!) and getting in touch with the insurance company.
For some reason, we did not feel like cooking the clams tonight and instead I ended up making an easy dinner to share with Rick & Pat.

Jan 24th - Thurs - San Carlos
It rained this morning so we thought we would have a day where we could catch up on email & such. But Pat & Rick asked us to join them for a late breakfast. There were going to do laundry and eat at Barracuda Bob’s but too many other people had the same idea and the laundry and café were packed. So we went to Rosa’s Cantina for breakfast and then Pat & Rick did laundry at the park.
I made some salsa and did some prep work for dinner which was the clams that we dug. Pat & I steamed clams and Terry cooked some on the barbeque so we could compare methods. We all preferred the steamed clams so won’t do any on the barbeque again. Bill & Geri joined us and we ate a lot of clams which were excellent. Unfortunately, Rick was not feeling too well so he did not join us for dinner. People stopped by to chat after dinner and the evening flew by.

Jan 25th - Fri - San Carlos
Pat & I took the bus this morning to Guaymas for a dentist appointment for Pat. Then we walked a long ways looking for an interior decorating store which we did not find. However, we saw a lot of interesting places that you just pass right by when driving. We had Chinese food for lunch followed by fresh cooked churros for dessert. Had a wild bus ride home - I think the driver must have been making up time.
Terry & Rick had gone out for lunch while we were gone. Terry had done some chores and Rick enjoyed a book and the internet.
Terry, Pat, Craig & I went golfing shortly after we got back. Neither Pat nor I had a good game but the weather was lovely so can’t complain.
After dinner, Rick & Pat and we played Canasta and the guys finally won a game.