Week Six - 1/10/09

Week Six 1/4/09

Sunday the 4^th, stayed close to home, Church in the AM, then a long walk in the PM, a desert walk, Shari taking pictures of desert plants. Monday, the 5^th, our first “Clam Digging” experience. Another couple, more experienced then us, invited us to join them. Low tide around 2:00pm, so went out around 1:30pm. Clams just under the sand in shallow water. Got a good bag full, now need to learn how to process. Borrowed a rake from an RV neighbor, rake till you feel something, then dig down with hands and find. Now told to soak overnight in fresh water with salt and oatmeal added, clean sand off in the AM, transfer to new fresh water, then steam or boil till they open, then “done”. Clean out shell. Numerous ways to make, but clam chowder seems appropriate. New RV’s arriving daily now. Looks like we are going to extend another week here, so nice,

Tuesday the 6^th, steamed clams, bagged and froze. Not much meat for the amount of clams we had, so will have to do again to get enough for a good soup making. Was kind of fun watching them open as we steamed. Repaired a leak in the kitchen sink drain, turned out to be more work than thought, totally disassemble, clean, reseal, but done now.

Wednesday the 7^th, really fun day, joined a “tag along group” (about 10 couples), to Old Kino Bay, nice beach for shells followed by lunch at a local beach restaurant. Observed locals cleaning oysters and clams. We ordered Shrimp and Clam Tacos. Then went into the village proper for a self guided tour. Noted the living standards, many shacks at best. Small fishing village primarily. Stopped at the local bakery and picked up a couple of sweet rolls. Yum. Then out to the wharf to observe the fishing harbor. Pretty quiet this time of day. Parked truck and walked the village. Found good buys on Shrimp and Crab. Picked up 1 Kilo each. (2.2 lb./ kilo), $190 pesos or $15 prox., $3.45/lb, not bad. Crab we picked up on the way from the restaurant and were able to watch the whole family cleaning the crab. They were doing it right in their backyard, very small area. The shrimp we purchase at one of the Supers as they call them here, store, in town. Then went by a Tortilla factory and stopped for a picture, asked first. Where there is a business there is where the owners live as well. The Mexican people here are very nice and friendly. While poor, they are proud and work hard. We’ve never felt threatened or unsafe. On way home toured New Kino Bay, mostly beach condo community and larger homes. Dinner, shrimp scampi, really good. Fun Day!

Thursday the 8^th, 9:30am a fellow RV’er knocked on our door inviting us to go kayaking. Winds and seas looked calm, so off we went with two other couples. First time in water for our new kayaks, and a new event for us, so a little apprehension. Fellow RV’ers understood, coached us and helped. Once in, got used to and felt pretty good. Paddled up and down the coast for about an hour and half. Really felt pretty safe. Winds picked up with a little chop, but still felt good. Happy with kayak performance.

Back to RV for lunch, book reading and then 3:00pm off to the beach with a large group for claming. Neighbor RV’er loaned us his rake. WOW! What a harvest. Clams everywhere. Hardly any raking, just bend over and pick up. After an hour, bag so pull we could hardly carry. Everyone had a great time. Then came across our RV neighbor that was searching for Scallops. He found several and proceeded to show me how to find and clean them. Seems like such a waste. The scallop is fairly large, yet the morsel of meat inside is quite small, but very delicious. Maybe that’s why when ordered out, many times not “real scallops”.

No sooner back from claming, we headed up to the club house for Mexican Taco night. They were loaded with the “works”. Shari and I, two each, complimented with margaritas. Another great day!

Friday the 9^th, early morning “walk away the pounds” exercise, then jumped into the kayaks, beautiful flat seas, 2-3 hour trip up the coast with another couple. Winds started building around noon, so glad to be back. Pm, cleaned and steamed clams. Man, did we have a bunch. Found an “Octopus” in one large clam. Gave to neighbor for fishing bait. I would guess a couple of good clam chowder makings. Evening, winds continued to build, hot tub, then tucked in for the night. No TV down here, so watching videos or playing cribbage for entertainment. RV neighbor gave us two bags full of DVD’s for use. Pretty nice! Most here have satellite TV or Dish. Not us! Another great day, but tired.

Saturday the 10^th, very windy. Stayed close to home. Farmer / fish market guys here in the AM. Picked up a few things.

End of week Six