Click on a photo to enlarge it.
Kirsten picked Helen up from Mazatlan airport at 10.30pm and we parked up near to the airport for the night. Helen had brought back some Christmas presents including
Domino sweets (German sweets that Kirsten is partial to) and four "killer" Su Doku books to keep Kirsten happy for the next few months!
The next day we drove to Teacapan and did the shopping on the way. We parked up at the campground for a month. Helen was exhausted after her trip and had come back
with a nasty cough.
Helmut came over and installed a new 12 volt plug for us because our old one doesn't work and we need it so we can run things from our battery when we don't have
power.
Klaus and Joyce, who normally come down to the campground every year, make sure that things that need doing actually get done and Joyce also cleans the showers and
bathrooms. But this year they weren't here and they were sorely missed.
As a result, the amenities at the campground were far below standard. We had to run our fridge off propane because the electricity was barely strong enough. There
were several power cuts on top which means there is no water because the pump needs electricity for the water to work and this means no showers!
At one point we couldn't use the shower for 8 days in a row. We were back to bowl washes even though we were paying for full hook up. Fortunately, the propane truck
came to the restaurant next to the campground and we promptly collared him to fill up the in-built tanks of the motor homes here. We were all using propane rather
than electricity for our fridges.
Finally, after numerous complaints, a new electric cable was installed to bring the paltry 70 volts up to 120 volts and even the showers were cleaned and shower
curtains installed!
One of the highlights were the fishing trips. For Kirsten, Helen and Agnes it was the first fishing trip where they actually had a rod in their hands and did some
fishing. So three absolute beginners plus Helmut. The beginners were surprisingly successful! (See video)
Helmut and his Ladies on a fishing trip
Kirsten had a bit of a bad hair day though. First, she was reeling in a fish when the reel fell off the rod and the fish escaped. Then on our way back, Helmut was
powering along quite fast when suddenly the boat came to an abrupt halt. We all thought Helmut had done this deliberately because there were dolphins or something
else that we needed to see. But the boats engine had completely died and then we couldn't get it going again.
The problem was that Kirsten had kicked the fuel pipe off the tank!! So it didn't take us too long to get going again. We managed to catch 16 fish between us and
Helmut and Kirsten filleted all of them when we got back.
Kirsten's bad luck continued when she went swimming with Edi and they got stung by jelly fish. Kirsten had some quite nasty red marks on her thigh which burned. She
rubbed fresh lemon on them and then had a shower which got rid of the pain but the marks were visible for a week.
Brian and Lily arrived for a few nights on the campground and Brian tuned our engine for us because Winnie was stuttering a bit. Brian is a real genius and can do
anything. He was the one who told us we needed to check our batteries every two or three months and has taught us a lot over the years.
The night before Edi and Jochen left, Kirsten was trying to dlete some software when the computer crashed. It took three days to sort it out with various
back ups and so on taking hours. We lost photos and Kirsten had to re-write reports for the website that were also lost.
The next video shows Helmut on the boat repairing Kirsten's rod after she lost the hook and the line. Of course she insists it was a monster fish she caught and the
rod couldn't cope!
Kirsten continues with her fishing desasters
We were invited to Mike's 60th birthday party on the 28th January. There must have been 50 people there. Mike and Holly have been coming down here for years and they
have been building a house. The party was a birthday and house warming celebration combined. Mike is a chocoholic so we gave him some of the chocolate Helen had
brought from England and he was really happy.
The final video shows another fishing trip, this time with Kirsten, Agnes and Helmut plus their two friends, Christian and Siegrid.
Christian, age 84, catches his first fish ever!
