Every Day Life

I would have posted pics of us catching these fish but as much as I like my Lumix camera....it doesn't do so well when its dark thirty at the 4th point. As we pulled up to the spot and hour before sunrise the guys ahead of us already had a few corvina laying in the sand, so expectations are high as we silently and quickly assemble the surf rods. These 'chata' like I'm holding below are real school fish, its a bit like salmon fishing in that you seem to either do real good....or real bad. Our friend Stan caught a corvina on his first cast and I followed up with this one only minutes later. I've caught many of them but this was the first on the rubber swimfish and jighead that my expert Mexican friends prefer. I always seem to do better with the iron, it just go to show that what I tell the young guys all the time....what works for one guy doesn't necessarily work for the next guy.

The pic below is our mornings effort, a few corvina, a couple ladyfish and one snapper as well as a monster sierra that Ernie caught. For distance the guys seem to be going to lighter and lighter line so for Ernesto to get this spainish mackeral on 15 pound test is a pretty good trick, lots of civiche in that deal.



I guess you kinda know you're settling into middle/old age when you're out shopping for binoculars that cost more than you college education for bird watching. Who'd a thunked it, Jeff King...bird watcher. Well, its partly a concession to love, MP's crazy about the birds, and its partially something I can learn because its fun. And Mazatlan is a birders paradise, I'll post more pics soon but trust me, we have huge Egrets, Herons, Flamingos and the wildest colored Orioles I've ever seen....but...When MP spotted this Vermillion Fly Catcher the other day it was her days big event. I guess the closest thing we have in Alaska with such vivid colors are the Stellars Jays that run the bird world at Mile 14.

My Lumix has 7 power zoom so its trade off. Its a nice sized pocket camera to always have with you but even having got as close as we can and using max zoom, this pic is the best we can do. The good news is that we have lots of pixtels so when I get home and have time to mess around I should be able to turn this into a prety cool close up.

Yesterday I had to go to the dentist. Francisco's office  and home are near the Aquarium and maybe a 4th of the way down the malecon. The Aquario is one of my favorite things, we watch the seals splash the school kids then to the big tank and watch my favorite fish, the toro, swim nose to tail, the fastest fish in the tank. What I need to do someday is be there at feeding time so I can see the bite....so we decide to walk a mile or two on the malecon.  Yesterday we set a new record for this year, 17,000 steps on MP's pedometer, about 8 miles or so. This next pic is the view north.

Its one oclock in the afternoon, the temp is 80 degrees and theres nobody on the beach or even walking the malecon. Tourist related businesses here report that they're 80% down, well this day it might as well be 100%. The vibrancy that we're used to seeing is just not here, theres low energy everywhere and people just seem resigned to it all.

I stood in the same place and took the shot north and this one to the south. In the right of the frame you notice a fruit salesman, one of every body's favorites on the beach. He has melon, strawberry's, mandarins and my favorite, coconut with lots of the red peppery chili sauce. I watched him go, maybe a mile between potential sales. If I'm ever in his shoes I hope I can show the same strength, the same resolve, He didn't cause it, he can't fix it...he just does what he does, keep moving, keep trying, keep the faith.... I hope he knows some how that we notice, a guy true to himself.