Here we are on our way to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico. We are going
with our friends Charles and Agnes.
Charles being the funny man! We are still on the US side of the
border.
We have to cross International Bridge over the Rio Grande River to go
in Mexico. The cost to go over the bridge is $0.50 and to come
back in the US it is $0.35.
We are at the actual border between the US and Mexico. I am in
Mexico and Michele is in the US.
Behind us is theRio
Grande river.
We are in Mexico.
The Avenue Benito Juarez, it is the "main" street once you are off the
bridge.
Like Los Algodones near Yuma, you have dentists, glasses, drug stores
and small boutiques.
There is always something to see in Mexico!
A bar whit only about eight chairs!
The New Orleans hotel.
We are in the "Garcia's Canada Store". They have nothing Canadian
here! This bottle is way too much tequila, even for both of us!
We have never seen crosses like these two. At over $300 per
crosses, it is not for us.
They are very beautiful.
Who is giving a kiss to Michele?
Once we are done with the store we move upstairs to the restaurant for
our lunch. Our meals are the dame as Charles and Agnes. Two
Mexican platters.
Margarita and beer.
While we are in Mexico, we checked out the prices to changes my lenses
on my glasses because I scratched mine. The prices in Mexico are
almost the same as in Texas. I will get the new one in Texas to
support he local economy.
We also visited a few dentists to check the prices to finish my two
implants.
This young man promised us to have a bracelet done in less then two
minutes and for only $3. We got one made for our son Benoit.
It was simply incredible to watch him handling the threads really fast.
Benoit's bracelet is almost done.
Agnes got one made for her grand daughter and added some heart to the
bracelet.
The young also makes masks. Who is hiding behind the mask?
Just before we crossed over to the US, we stopped for one last frozen
margarita. We have to keep hydrated after all!
They are good margaritas.
On the international bridge going to the US.
A very good day and warm on top of that.
I found a dentist to do the second part of the implants. First,
he has to call the dentist in Los Algodones and find out more
information about my implants. They should be done before next
year.
Tuesday December 2, 2014.
Another cold front is rolling over us.
Last night it went down to + 46 F and the maximum for today is +54 F.
I know that people from up north would say, "This is nothing", but you
should see the locals! They are dressed as if it is - 40 F. It is
so funny to watch them shiver!
Instead of staying home, we are out chopping. The main street in
Weslaco.
The Walmart, Big Lot, Home Depot and the liquor store. We are
back home by three thirty.
Wednesday December 3, 2014.
Today is flea market next door of the RV Park. It is just like
last week!
We love walking in flea markets.
We are having lunch in the flea market. Now, you have to remember
that not all the rules and regulation about food establishments are not
the same here in Texas. I am not saying it is dirty or
un-safe. I am just saying the do not freak over the same
"cleanliness" as we do!
The till is with the woman sitting down on the left corner and the
kitchen is on the right behind the orange wall.
The dinning room.
Bifteck Quesadillas on flour flat bread for Michele.
The same for me, but my flat bread is corn based.
Once we are back home, I go out for a bike ride. Guess
what? Yep! Got a flat tire! Darn! Once home I
go to the bike shop and buy two more of those plastic protector and put
them in both my tires.
My stallion is ready for the next ride!
Weird weather we are having today. Cloudy and cool this morning and
warmer and humid in the afternoon.
Thursday November 4, 2014.
Out again for a bike ride in the little town of Alamo. I am also
looking for geocaching.
So far, I have not been lucky with finding any caches. I tried 5
or 6 so far and no luck finding them!
I have never seen a class "C" with the tag axle before.
Luck is coming my way! I finally found one in the valley!
Can you see it?
Now a little close, in the center of the photo!
This is the only one I found so far. All 4 others I could not
find!
After lunch, we went to get the tickets for the basketball game on
Saturday evening.
The name of the team is "The Vipers" and they are the development team
for the Rockets of Houston.
The stadium where they play.
Back home, we, I mean Michele, went to the pool for a dip and I stayed
on the sideline. We are asked if we want to play petanque
tonight. It is a fun night.
Both French and English play together, we sure has a great time.
I think we will come back and play again. We had a great evening!
Friday December 5, 2014.
Friday? What have we done today? Darn, nothing! Not even a
photo to support it.
Saturday December 6, 2014.
It is a special day today!
Happy
birthday my love!
Michele is adding a candle to her birthday cake, but there is still a
lot of room on the cake!
Today we are going to a basketball game with Charles and Agnes.
We are on our way to their place.
Here we are. They have rented this site from a friend who has not
been coming for a few years because of health problems.
The site comes with a little house...
After a social drink, we headed out for a walk around the RV Park.
That is if we can call it an RV park! Here is what I mean.
This is somewhat difficult to measure, but this lemon is big enough to
do four lemon pies!
They are as big, if not bigger then a softball!
What the heck are we doing? A teakettle!
Charles is the spout and me, the handle!
When you have a beautiful house, you have to have a beautiful "Mexican"
in your yard! It makes the gravel look good I guess!
On our way to the basketball game.
The State Farm Arena is where the Vipers play.
This is our first ever basketball game for the four of us. The
Vipers are the school team for the NBA team of Houston. They are
called the Rockets. The Vipers are just a step away from playing
in the NBA. Now, to attract fans they have a plan. After
all, this team is not about to make money! So, every Saturday
games, they have a free BBQ with Hamburgers, water or beer, did I say
free?
We got two burgers and two beers each and they were good!
On top of the free food and drinks, we got free Vipers T-shirts!!!
Here we are ready to support a team we have never seen!
Not even knowing we took this photo with the other teams mascot!
They are the "Stampede" of Idaho.
The arena can hold 5,500 sports fans either for the Vipers of the other
school team, the ice hockey team, the Killer Bees.
The red circle indicates our seats.
Ready for the game!
They also supply the BamBam.
Michele having a great time!!!
One of the many mascots.
The Viper's mascot, Fang!
An elementary school choir sang the national anthem and it was very
well done.
Game on!
At the end of each quarter, we have demonstration of the local
talent. I think it is great for the kids.
A moving moment like only the American can do it! They found a
military member in the crowd. They told us about his carer and
simply ask us to pay respect for his service to his country. Not
one soul was sitting. Very moving! Make you wonder about our
country?
At the half time, they had a little competition. He had to fill
the garbage can with ballounes not knowing what they were worth.
Each garbage can was worth between $5, $25 and $50. He left with
$200.
We did not know what that game was until they started to play!
The people in brown are burger buns and the crew is placing condiments
to pick up. The team that complete a burger first wins.
The Vipers won! Hurray! By a score of 135 to 123.
Because the won we have a free Wataburger each. On top of that,
because they won with a score over 120, we also have a free Tacos from
Tacos Patenque.
We loved our evening. Let us recap; our ticket cost $15
each. We got two burger and two beers free or more if we wanted.
Because the Vipers won, we also got a Wataburger each plus a Tacos
because they won with a score over 120.
Not an expensive evening!
We left the game under rain!
Back at home, we did the traditional birthday ritual for Michele.
Tequilas shooter! This is for Benoit, our youngest son (26).
The liquid!
We are ready for this!
I have to confess, we had to do it twice for the best photos.
That is bad!!!
Sunday December 7, 2014.
We woke up to a grey sky with a lot of humidity. Even with a +70
F, the sky make us want to stay home.
It is an indoor day for us. I review all the literature we got
for the Rio Grande Valley and make a list of what we would like to
visit. It does not mean we will do every single thing on the list.
A boring day weather wise!
Monday December 8, 2014.
Monday and another boring day weather wise. We hope in the car
and went looking for "Ropa" stores. I guess our tracking talent
is not that good because we had a hard time finding them! Michele
is still not sure if she likes it or not. Back home we started a
marathon of TV series. Michele with season 7 of Dexter and me
with season 3 of Hell on Wheels.
Tuesday December 9, 2014.
I am out on a bike ride this morning and doing some geocaching at the
same time. My first cache of the day is a success!
A little closer, can you see the pill bottles?
While looking for a cache in one RV Park, I found another type of
homemade bike rack. What a good idea.
A cute little Red-Bordered Pixie butterfly.
One more cache, this one is a magnetic one.
This is another day without the sun. I have to keep a positive
attitude towards Texas. I checked Florida and they are no better
than we are...
Wednesday, December 10, 2014.
We are back to Nuevo Progreso for my first appointment to finish my two
implants. The Christmas season is taking its hold.
The Rio Grande separating Texas and Mexico.
In N. Progreso we saw this happy dentist!
My dentist, Dr.X or Dr. Xavier Aguirre. The waiting room.
For those that do not like operations, skip the next few photos!
Today's procedure is to install a piece on to the "nut already in my
jaw bone. Once on the chair it took about 30 minutes and we were
out the door.
A little information about dentist in Mexico, they work on "TIM"
time. This simply means "Time In Mexico". We forgot about
that and we arrived early for the appointment but did not get in until
3:45. My appointment was for 3 pm. So, if you ever get
stuff done in Mexico, make the appointment early in the morning, less
chance of TIM. The dentist did good work.
Thursday, December 11, 2014.
Last evening I received a phone call let me know my glasses are ready
for pick up. First thing this morning I went to Walmart. While I
was there, I also got an oil change for the car. Every thing was
done fast so I decided to do some geocaching.
Today was very successful for geocaching. I found four caches
within 1 kilometer. Here is one of them.
This one is a micro cache and it was under the cover. inside the
cache, there is a piece of paper and you put your initials.
After I got back home, we have a good lunch and head out to Weslaco to
visit a few Thrift Stores. For me, more geocaching.
It is warming up.
I found this one with Michele.
With Michel happily in the Thrift Store, I set out to find some more
caches in the little town of Weslaco.
I like this cache because it has my brother-in-law's name...
It was hard to see, but I did find it!
The next cache was a little different. My Magellan GPS indicated
the wall and I looked and looked!
Until I finally remember the "Magellan Effect". Research it on
Google for fun!
Across from where the cache was suppose to be...
Yesss! Only 15 feet more to the east and under the stairs!
The Texas street in Weslaco.
Sadly, many shoppes are closed!
This is just a nice building at the corner of Texas St and Bus
83. It was a hotel, but now it is mostly boutiques.
Back home Michele goes to the pool and I sit outside of the pool!
Friday, December 12, 2014.
I am going by myself to Mexico for my next dentist appointment.
They are taking in-prints of my lower and upper teeth with the "posts"
installed so they can make the two new teeth to put on the posts.
Less than an hour later, I am back at the car.
My next appointment will be on December 26, yes right after Christmas,
it will be to put the posts and the new teeth!
Saturday, December 13, 2014.
Another cloudy day! It is not cold, it is + 25 C, but the wind
makes it feel cooler.
Off to the flea market in Weslaco. We are not impressed by this
flea market. On our way to Walmart to fill up the car, we drive
by this bank, which shows the time, the temperature in Fahrenheit and
surprise, the temperature in Celsius!!! They know a lot of
"Winter Texan" are Canadian!
Only $0.595 per litters, even with the exchange rate it is cheap!
I am trying the pool one more time, but I will skip the hot tub.
More to follow.
Sunday, December 14, 2014.
This morning I am taking the car and the bike to the little town of San
Juan for some Geocaching. Of course, I will park the car and used
the bike to go around looking. Sadly, it was not one of my best
days for geocaching. I found on one out of four!
It is a little depressing. This is one of the places I did not
find the cache :-(
As usual, on y way back to the car, I got a flat tire on the
bike! I think I have found the ultimate solution, no, it is not
not to bike anymore!!!
Off the tire comes...
I bought a new tire and cut the sides...
I place the new "cut" tire inside the tire from the bike. The
result is now I have a double thickness tire. The sand burrs will
not get to the tube!!!
Trials tomorrow!
I forgot! On our way back from the Walmart, a motorhome was
trying to back into an easy spot. Another gentleman told us that
the driver could not back up a tricycle!!! 15 minutes later, he
was in his spot!
Sunday evening is petanque. One of the French players teased one
of the English players with a new t-shirt. Wally was very happy...
My team lost one and won the other game. Michele's team won both
games.
It was a warm day, but very windy.
Monday, December 15, 2014.
Another morning doing some geocaching!
This time I am going to Pharr and park at the H.E.B. and bike to the
caches. I will also test my repair to the tires of the
bike. I am not careful of where I ride. Sand Burr, here I
come!!!
On my way to the first cache, I see this car. In the southern
U.S., car owners love this type of tires and wheels. You should
see this on a pickup truck!
One of the caches I found this morning.
An update on my "tire" fix, no flat tires today! Michele and me
spend the afternoon relaxing. Her in the sun and me in the
shade. The wind finally died down by nighttime!
This evening is our first bingo at this RV Park. Snow???
It is always interesting when you go to a new place for bingo.
Rules are different in every Park. Lucky for us, the rules are
not too different here.
