Rocco
buy pre gabapentin Rocco staring down intruders
Little Ninfa on the left
I call him Rocco, even though male and female Colibri Canelos, Cinnamon Hummingbirds, appear identical. I intuitively judge Rocco a male. He’s a tuffy, and he guards the feeder on our terraza against all invaders.
buy clomid in uk online Starthroat
A relatively large Colibri Picuda, a Plain-capped Starthroat, is a frequent trespasser. When the Starthroat goes for the feeder, Rocco becomes so preoccupied with discouraging the bigger bird that tiny Ninfa Mexicanas, Mexican Woodnymphs, slip by Rocco and take a quick sip.
Together these speedy birds drive Rocco mad.
Time to Rise
Chicharrónes
The temperature in Puerto Vallarta has finally moderated, it’s still hot but not oppressive. The changes from Daylight Savings Time in Mexico and the US have settled up. Mexico and the US change on different dates. Things are sort of normal.
It’s 7:00 AM and the sun is still behind the mountains to the east of our apartment. I can smell pork cooking at Antonio’s Carnitas. I think Antonio’s serves the best carnitas in Puerto Vallarta.
As Antonio and his son pull out the chicharrónes, cracklin’s, to drain from their big cauldron, the sweet aroma wafts my way—from a block and a half away.
Street Art III
The Rooster/El Gallo
Pesky Rooster at Dawn
It’s been a long, dry winter in Puerto Vallarta. I’ve been sick with gripe, flu. We’ve moved across town to a much quieter place—except for this rooster.
He’s a really little guy and has a harem of just one little hen, but he’s extremely vocal. He starts his quiquiriquí, crowing, at 4:30 am, then again at 5:30, 6:30 and finally signs off around 7:30 as daylight breaks.
My landlord tells me he is una mascota, a pet, of our next-door neighbor. He told me to get a slingshot and pelt the little strutter.
I’d be afraid to hit him with a rock as I might badly injure or kill him. So, I’ve decided to embrace this particular noise and the soul currently inhabiting this little rooster body. And I determined to learn to live with him.
Camarones Gigantes
“The term Jumbo Shrimp has always amazed me. What is a Jumbo Shrimp? I mean, it’s like Military Intelligence – the words don’t go together, man.” George Carlin
Driving east from Papantla, we first hit the Gulf of Mexico at the Veracruz beach town of Tecolutla. It was an early summertime Friday and it seemed as if everyone in eastern Mexico had the same idea—let’s go to the beach. We found a small hotel and quickly joined the crowds cooling themselves in the soft breezes and inviting waters.
***
The following day we wanted to see more of the seaside village. So we walked over to the riverfront where the mouth of the Rio Tecolutla enters the Gulf and defines the southeast corner of the town.
The Angels of Ek’ Balam
Mayan Angels
Angels in a Mayan pyramid? Surely not Christian angels as we think of angels in a church or pictured in an illustrated Bible with pseudo-Renaissance prints…
No. Although they do look a lot like the kind of angels we think of seeing in a Christian context, I prefer to understand these angels as naturalistic people dressed up like birds.
***
The Mayan archaeological site of Ek’Balam, Black Jaguar, in north central Yucatán is not only home to angels, but also to a monster.
Motmots at Uxmal
In 1989 while working on a business venture in Belize, I took several days to look for wildlife around the Coxcomb Reserve.
I am interested in birds and was lucky to see Scarlet Macaws near the village of Red Bank. One dark night on a mountain trail I saw a small wild cat, a Margay, exposed by the headlights of our jeep. Also I saw some huge snakes, boa constrictors—locally called Wolas, and one aggressive venomous Fer de Lance—a serpent Belizeans call a Tommygoff.
One bird I was particularly interested in seeing was the Motmot. These birds have long ‘paddle tails’ and electric coloring. They are easy to identify. For me however, finding the Motmot in the wild proved elusive. After spending a good part of three days looking around the edges of the Coxcomb Reserve and adjacent banana plantations, I gave up and decided that Motmots were just not destined to make my list.
***
When Alice and I were driving around Mexico looking for a place to settle, we spent six weeks in Mérida—trying the city on for size.
Forty-thousand Flamingos
Ria Lagartos/Rio Lagartos
You don’t pass through the little fishing village of Rio Lagartos, Alligator River, going anywhere. Unless you intend it as a destination, you will never come upon it. The village is remote—at the end of a road in the middle of the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. However, it is a place rich in wildlife and natural beauty, the home of Mexico’s Reserva de la Biospera Ria Lagartos.
Alice and I drove from Merida to Rio Lagartos. Once there, we hired a guide to take us on a birding adventure. We wanted to see some of the hundreds of species of birds living in or migrating through this reserve. We understood very large numbers of Flamingos were the main attraction, and we were not disappointed.
Our guide, Roman Fernandez, was a gifted naturalist well versed in the life histories and habits of the creatures we saw—birds and others. He told us Flamingos weigh 2.5 kilos for females, 5.5 kilos for males. They may live for 20 years, have few if any predators, lay and incubate one white or green egg per year and mate for life.
The Tell
A Tell is what is demonstrated when a poker player, grifter or salesman—some person who wants to know something about his subject’s future—discovers a clue that enables him to predict whether a person is sincere or not—lying or being truthful.
Sometimes, A Tell may be delivered by a third party. For instance, in an old I Love Lucy episode, Lucy sees Desi’s poker hand and her big facial exclamations telegraph to the other players his great hand. Of course, the other players fold leaving Desi disappointed.
***
In January, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico is an almost perfect place to be. Christmas is over and the weather is sunny with a fresh light breeze blowing every day from the ocean. Humpback whales cruise around the protected waters of Bahia Banderas, Mexico’s largest bay. They are busy with mating and birthing their calves. And, the city is full of grateful refugees from the frozen north.
Formal Attire
Black-necked Stilts
Candelero Mexicano
Picture a busy business executive dressed in a tuxedo while grabbing a bite in a sandwich shop at the beach. There’s no reason to wear dull clothing even when eating a mundane meal.
Yelapa, a small coastal village accessible by boat on Mexico’s Bahia de Banderas, is where we first found Black-necked Stilts. Then living in Guanajuato, we had fled a cold snap. After taking a bus to Puerto Vallarta, we traveled by shuttle boat across the bay to Yelapa. Our room overlooked the lagoon formed where a river, Rio Tuito, meets the ocean waters. This was our week to warm up.
On our first morning, as I prepared breakfast while looking out over the lagoon, I was delighted to spot a group of unfamiliar shorebirds. They appeared to be similar to the American Avocets we’d often seen in coastal North Carolina—both with a slight upturns to their thin bills. Watching them forage along the alluvial banks, we noted a most striking difference. These birds were wearing full formal attire.
American Avocet
