Mexican Dancers

Yesterday evening a group from the park went to Garcia's in Nuevo Progreso.  We went to see the Mexican dancers.  You pay $5.50 and that includes all your drinks, a dance to live entertainment and the show.  I had seen these dancers on my last Texas trip, but they are worth seeing many times over.

 

When they completed their routine they chose people from the audience to dance with.  They then passed a hat around for tips.

I had told Brenda how good they were, but you have to see them to believe it.  She was impressed.  Last time I was there the place was packed.  This time there were quite a few empty tables.

My friends said it was expensive to eat there.  I ordered filet mignon.  It came with a salad, vegetables, stuffed baked potato and dessert.  It cost $8.45 and I thought that was very reasonable.  The others ate lonches after we left Garcia's.

It was another enjoyable evening!

Final Arriba's

Yesterday we went to Arriba's as a park.  It was the last time we will all be together for the season.
After dinner and dancing we all spread out to do our shopping.

This man made beautiful beaded jewelry and animals, but his items were quite expensive.  A lot of work went into the beading.  I love his costume.

The fellow he is visiting with does paintings on saw blades, bottles, light switches, etc.  He just uses spray paint and a piece of cardboard to paint with.  His paintings are very good.  So much talent in Mexico. 

Yesterday was very windy.  There was dust blowing down the streets.  The merchants attempt to keep their street clean.  I passed a couple of people washing down their sidewalk. 

They set their stalls up every morning and take them down every evening.  By 5 or 6 p.m. a lot of them are closed for the day.  Tourists only stay until dusk.


After shopping we all met at the Rose Garden.  Well, the men were there already as they are not shoppers.  I tried to get a photo of this little girl several times and finally got a good shot.  I gave her a hand full of coins.

Perhaps 3 years old

 

 

 

 

 

She is so cute.  These children wonder in and out as long as there are customers there.  I don't know if their parent(s) are close by or not.  The women end up with bracelets half way down their arms as they can't refuse the children.

Shy

This shy little fellow was selling gum.  I bought that gum once.  The colours in the gum make your lips and tongue the colour of the gum.  I give them a quarter and let them keep the gum. 

The flower lady was there so perhaps he is her little boy.  Often you see children with their working mothers.  Here at the park the chambermaids for the motel often have little ones with them.  The children help. 

My friend, Amy, and I were discussing how we would prefer that to having our children sitting in front of their computers and video games all day. 

I have never heard any of these children crying or raising a fuss.  Often you see a child looking after littler siblings.  They carry them around and kiss and hug them and make them laugh.  They take care of each other.

We had a great time at the Rose Garden.  Of course there was music and dancing. 

Patty and a Mexican

There wasn't much room to dance, but the aisle was full of dancers.  There was a musician playing the keyboard at the entrance of the Rose Garden.  He brought his tip jar around.  He had quite a nice voice, I thought. 

The man dancing with Patty has 10 children.  His adult daughter and teenage granddaughter are often at the Rose Garden.  I don't know if they work there or own it or what. 

His granddaughter is very friendly.  She was combing Bills hair and giving the women shoulder massages.  Many around our table gave her a dollar.  She was so excited.  She put the money in her wallet and said that tomorrow at school she would be able to afford tacos for lunch.  A street vendor goes around to the school at noon.  I don't know if the children have to buy their lunches, take their own or what.  This evening a group of us are going back to Mexico to watch the dancers.  I saw them on my last trip and they were wonderful.

Spring....make your way to Alberta!

Rio Grande Valley Cook-off

Today we went to the cook-off.  We arrived about 9:45 a.m. and decided we would be judges in the first entry, which was fajitas.  We sat 5 people to a table.  There was a cache of forks and knives on each table.  There were also crackers, pickles and water.  Our instructions were:  we were each given a sheet of paper with the rules to judging on it.  There was a column of numbers from 1-20.  A man passed a numbered box of sliced beef down the table.  We were to rate the beef according to colour, aroma, and taste.  After we tried one piece we were to rate the beef from 1-10, 10 being the best overall.  We were to eat a cracker or pickle to cleanse our palate of the beef, take a clean fork and then rate box number 2.  We were not to discuss the taste with each other or we would be disqualified.  We had to rate beef from 19 boxes.  Of course, I kept my slices as small as possible as 19 pieces is a lot of beef. 

There were several different judged items.  There were beans, chicken and pork ribs.  Each product was cooked by a team that was sponsored by a business.  It was interesting to walk around the grounds and see the various set-ups.  They were required  to cook with a  wood fire.
 

 

Chicken

Roast Pig

We met our friends, Carol and Bob.

Bob and Carol

We were supposed to go to S. Padre Island and spend the rest of the week end with them, but we decided against it as it is supposed to be chilly on the island tomorrow.  One really likes a hot day to go to the island.

We were up at 6 a.m. as we thought we would have to do some ironing and packing.  It was chilly here in Donna this morning so we emailed Carol and suggested another day there.  As it was it turned into a hot day in Donna with a high of 26C.  But it is supposed to rain on the island tomorrow according to this morning's forecast.

I had my photo taken with Miss Cover Girl, 2013.

We match!

She was gorgeous and very nice.  We had home made ice cream made with this machine.

Ice Cream Maker

And we listened to live music for a bit.  We met friends there from other parks.  It is always good to run into friends.  When we felt we had seen it all, and smelled like B-B-Q meat we made our exit.

Good-bye

Mexico Again

Today a group of us went to Mexico.  I had some shopping to do.  I hate shopping, but what are you going to do?  I want to bring special things home for my children.  The little ones come by.  They are so small and yet they are selling on the street.

Muy Benita

This little girl was selling bracelets for $1 each.  I don't know how old she was.  She loved having her picture taken.  They wander in where they see the "gringos" and hope to make a sale.

This little fellow was selling flowers.  Hard to imagine our children doing this, isn't it?  These children come from families of 8+.  Their mothers are also on the street selling whatever.

This woman was selling flowers.  They are beautiful flowers and I bought quite a few for my mother.  My friend across the table attempted to get them for cheap, but I always pay the price and often give extra.  I know they are hungry in Mexico.  I always feel that if I can afford a drink and a meal, then I can afford to help someone else.

While we were at the Rose Garden one fellow said it was his friend's birthday.  He told us "cumpleanos" and having a scattering of Spanish I understood "birthday".  In Mexico, if you have a birthday, people pin money onto your shirt or dress.  I just happened (as always) to have a few different origami dollar bills and I gave him a heart and wished him "Feliz Cumpleanos".  He was so excited.  He gave me a big hug and had me watch him put it in his wallet.  He thanked me and said he would save it.

Birthday Boy

It is good to have folded money in your purse.  There are always special times.

He gave me a dollar and asked me to fold another heart.  I showed him the ring and he wanted one of those instead, so I made him one.  Then his friend gave me a dollar and wanted a ring and I made him one as well. 

Our group went for supper.  When we had eaten all we could eat a woman came by and asked for our left-overs.  I really should have bought supper for her and her family. Next time.  I  could really do without a meal or two, or four or five, or six........

Don-Wes Flea Market

Yesterday Brenda and I went to the flea market to shop.  It was very, very busy.  They have some good deals there, but we couldn't find anything we really wanted there for the price we were willing to pay.

Flea Market

Across the street is a smaller market, but we couldn't find anything we wanted there either.  Brenda bought a flexible cutting board for the motor home.  She was tired of using my small one, and she does the cooking around these here parts.

We were invited to a block party at Snow to Sun.....a different RV park.  It is quite a bit bigger than our park and has a lot of facilities, such as a pool.  It is also more costly to stay there.  There are quite a few rigs for sale there and one could get a good deal, but then you would have to know that you are coming back year after year.  The cheapest route is to leave your RV there all year long and just drive down every year.  I have a big family so hate to make that kind of decision as you never know what could transpire.  Also, I don't plan to come to Texas every winter.  There are other places in the world I would like to travel to.  I would love to go to Greece and perhaps I will make it there sometime.

We had a small two piece band to play for us last evening, and had karaoke.  Brenda and I attempted

Block Party

to sing a Hank Williams song together but the key was wrong for us.  It was just too low.  A woman from Nfld. sang quite a few songs and did very well. 

It was extremely windy yesterday so the party wasn't as well attended as they thought it would be.  It was the windiest day we have had so far and the noise kept me awake most of the night.  I woke up tired, which is rare for me.

A couple from our park left yesterday and I was concerned for them as it is no fun driving your RV in the wind.  I hope they did not have any trouble. 

A group of us are going out this evening.  We will be doing a lot of dancing.

Keep warm.  Spring is not too far down the road!

Leslie

Last evening a group from the Dolphin went to Alamo Palms to hear Leslie perform.  Supper was included.  Alamo Palms is a beautiful RV park.  I don't know how many sites they have but it is big.

Leslie won the Rio Grande Valley Female Singer of the Year Award a few days ago.  Not only can she sing, but she has a great sense of humour.  She is a real performer.

Leslie

She had us all in stitches several times during the show.  At one point, she sat on a piano bench and braided one side of her hair.  She then held her nose and sang like Willie Nelson.  (Seven Spanish Angels).  Then she put dark glasses on and sang like Ray Charles.  She alternated back and forth between Willie and Ray.  We laughed until the tears rolled down our cheeks.

She has been singing on South Padre Island for 18 years and anytime we are on the island we make sure we go to her gig. 

When you go to one of the bigger RV parks they usually have a board dedicated to soldiers.  Most American men of a certain age have been in one war or another.  I don`t know if the photos on this

Servicemen

board are photos of residents of the park in uniform or of other men, but I think it is good that they acknowledge their servicemen.  Most of the men in our park are veterans.  

When I went for my walk this morning, a few people stopped to ask me to tell Brenda ``thank you``.  Brenda arranged the tickets for the show, which meant running from RV to RV to ask who wanted to go and then phoning in the ticket requests.  Although we had heard Leslie several times, many from the park had not even heard of her.

Brenda could be Leslie`s PR woman!

We are attempting to organize a group to go to South Padre Island for a night.  We would like to return to the island at least once more before our time is up in Texas.  We will see how it goes.

I see it is a bit colder in Alberta again.  Spring is slow to come to the prairies.  Have to keep telling myself it is only February! 

Bar-B-Que

Today was our end of the season bar-b-que.  It is put on by the owners of the park, Connie and Alex.  It began as a chilly morning, but the sun came out and it became down-right hot.  The owners and

The Cooks

their groundsmen did the cooking.  The chicken was cooked over a wood fire and tasted delicious.  There was bean soup, coleslaw, sausage, rice and pico de gallo.  Pico de gallo is a salad made from chopped tomato, onion and chili peppers.  Sometimes it is made with jalapeno peppers. Various other ingredients can be added.  Ours had cilantro in it.  It was quite hot, but not as hot as some I have tasted in the past.  Pico de gallo means "beak of the rooster".  I don't know why it is called that.

Pico de Gallo

It is a very nutritious dish, but takes some getting used to.  One could use it as a salsa substitute.  You can buy it at the H.E.B. grocery store already made up.

After the main meal we had our choice of either chocolate cake with strawberries between the layers or white cake with pudding between the layers.  Of course, I had chocolate.

There was live entertainment on the patio just outside the rec. hall.

Husband and Wife Team

And where you have live entertainment you have dancing.  One just goes with the other here in Southern Texas.  The musicians played some line dances and I think Brenda danced to each one.  Our lessons are paying off!

Sadly people will be pulling out this week.  I made many new friends and some were old acquaintances that I became even firmer friends with.  But, fortunately, with today's technology we can all keep in touch.

Line dancers

Brenda and I will be planning our route home soon.  We will be scouting out free parking places for the way home.  We have another month here and even then, will be keeping an eye on the Canadian spring.  We have been invited to stop in Gun Barrel City (a good Texan name) on our way home and also in Tennessee.  We will have to make some decisions on that soon.

It was a good day....like so many of the days at the Dolphin Motel and RV Park.