Our Time at La Casa de Gagliardi

We had a great time and the six weeks we spent with Frank and Anna just flew by. Thanks for the fantastic hospitality!

One of our many get togethers with Elio, Silvia, Bianca and Perla as well as Anna's sisters during their visit from Italy.



Our weekly oyster feast


Casa Gagliardi taking shape


Is this Stan Zappata?


Mexican dancing lesson from Elio


A little plumbing work


Anna doing a little barbecuing - isn't this a man's job? Where is Frank? Oh yes, the doctor told him to take it easy...


Guess he only listens to the doctor when there is work involved, hey Franco???


Where there is wine you'll find me...


View of the main living area

Morning routine - coffee on the front porch for Frank and Anna

Snapshots of Pitillal

Another litter of puppies...


Boy going up a field on his horse on a Saturday morning


Benson the Second


A young family living near Frank and Anna


Roosters and hens everywhere


Schoolgirl waiting for bus in the morning - using her mother's chair (she's a bus checker)


White egrets hanging around with the cows


Woman doing her laundry outside her house; her horse is standing nearby


This pinto horse was tethered to a tree nearby for most of the time we were there - he was often visited by the mare and her foal


Another puppy sight in the morning


Bougainvilla in full bloom everywhere


Roman catholic church in Pitillal


We found many dogs on roofs in the mornings


Streetscape


Mare and foal on side of the road, also wandering the streets


Container garden


A herd of horses roaming through a playground


This burro woke us up throughout the night for the 10 days or so he was tethered in a nearby yard - hee-haw hee-haw!


One of the many cows roaming through the streets but always coming back to the milking station in the morning


Boys waiting for the school bell in the morning


Someone from the county comes around to a local corner store and innoculates dogs against rabbies for free. It was very hard for me not to beg for one of those puppies!

Antonietta and Franca's Mexican Adventure

Anna's sisters, Antonietta and Franca came from Italy for 10 days. They are great gals and we had a blast.

The three sisters


Franca relaxing on the back patio


Getting a temporary tattoo at Los Muertos Beach


Antonietta and Waco, the parrot


With Perla


The four Graces...


On the beach at Boca de Tomates - pretty much deserted during the week


The tree sisters at the base of an enormous Banyan tree on the way to Boca de Tomates Beach


Franca and Franco dancing up a storm - Click on the play arrow

Elio, Silvia, Bianca, Perla -and Carlos the eldest) and family

Hanging around the family truck - Elio yet fixing something...


Carlos, his wife and new baby, Morgan


With Bianca


Bianca


With Perla and Lupo, their little dog


Elio relaxing after a hard week's work


Silvia and Perla with Waco in the background (those are bananas from one of their trees)


Waco, the parrot. She has a great vocabulary and she sings too; she was a great part of our entertainment in PV! Here she is singing the praises of Mexico - I couldn't get too close as she would stop singing...

Dinner with the Gang in Phoenix

We had a wonderful dinner at a chinese restaurant, the name of which escapes me, before leaving for Mexico the next day.

Dot and Mack's New Winter Home

We visited Dot and Mack at their new place in the Good Life Park in Mesa. The bought it a few months ago and have totally transformed it. It looks wonderful. Unfortunately they had forgotten to order hot and sunny weather for the visit and we had to tour the park by car due to the downpours!


Weather is sunny today but still extremely cold for Phoenix - 6 degrees. We're leaving for Puerto Vallarta tomorrow morning very early. We're hoping to make it in two days but could be three. Somewhere along the way we should be able to change from jeans to shorts.

Phoenix At Last!. .

The third day of travel was no better than the first two but we made it to Ellen and Kathleen's safe and sound in time for the second quarter of Super Bowl. A cold beer and some appies and we had forgotten all about the road! What a great game.


Dakota got in the spirit of the game.

Second Day on the Road!

Well, we were hoping for a better second day - after all we were in CALIFORNIA and on the Coast! It started out with torrential rain and just kept on going for about eight hours with some slushy snow for comic relief. The long and the short of it is that we probably won't make it to Phoenix for the start of Super Bowl. We will however try very hard for half-time! We're spending the night in Delano on Highway 99 and still have about 500 miles to go to Phoenix.

First Day on the Road

We left Vancouver bright and early on the 1st of February. Due to the very bad road conditions over the mountain passes in south Oregon, we opted to veer off towards the Coast just south of Eugene. We had forgotten just how spectacular the scenery is on the Oregon Coast - even more so in the winter when the waves are so much bigger. We encountered all kinds of weather over the 1,100 kms that we drove today - from showers to snow to hail with some sunny periods here and there. It felt like a weather rollercoaster. We stopped for the night in Crescent City, CA. Early to bed and, hopefully, early to rise as we have some distance to cover tomorrow if we want to be in Phoenix in time for Super Bowl.