So yesterday I went to a Ham Radio convention in Seaside. I went to a couple of sessions and understood about half of what they were talking about. Then I went to the exhibit floor and couldn't believe the amount of "stuff" for sale! I searched around for handheld radios for awhile and finally settled on an Icom D-Star radio. I could have spent another $180 for one that survives under water but I decided that would be overkill.

OK. I'm an officially licensed Ham Radio operator now. I got my license yesterday in the mail and my call sign is KE7UDI. I downloaded the Mac version of Echolink which is a way for the computer to connect to radio repeaters or other Ham operators. After 24 hours I've talked to people in Japan, Canada, Australia. OK-even the US.

We went on a cruise down the Mexican coast for Christmas. My idea of a White Christmas was the sand on the beach. Here I am in Puerto Vallarta.

Hi. I uploaded a few pictures to my flickr account the other day so take a look if you want. It takes awhile to load the pictures so there are only four right now. I`ll upload more when I get home.

Went to a birthday party up the street this afternoon for Istella`s daughter. We walked up the "callejon" (alley) to the house and I thought it looked a little non descript from the outside. Inside was part of an old hacienda with boveda ceilings (brick domed) and arches on three different levels. Istela told me that the bedrooms used to be the pool where they would clean the ore after it came out of the mine.

I don`t know if I`ve mentioned it but since Guanajuato is a "World Heritage Site" they try to keep it just the way it was about 400 years ago. That means that there are no stop signs or stop lights for traffic. It also means there are no walk and don`t walk signals for pedestrians. But that`s not really a problem since the cars are going so slow trying to avoid the other cars that it`s almost faster to walk than drive.

I did take a bus to Marfil which is the city just outside Guanajuato yesterday. The bus took about 30 minutes to the other side of town and I visited the three different churches in the area plus a museum that was a former hacienda. It was bought by a Canadian artist in the 1950`s and is now a museum of her work and the restoration of the hacienda. Right after I finished my tour the director of the museum came up to me and said "I`ve seen you in town. Here`s my card if you want to buy a house. I`m a real estate agent too"

Here I am in Patzcuaro. Last night I spent the night in Morelia. It was a great city and I felt very rich because my hotel was across the street from the cathedral. I arrived at 10:30 AM and went right to the hotel hoping that I could leave my pack there while I looked around. They had a room ready for me so I dropped of my pack and walked around the city. Most of the tourist sites were all located within walking distance of the cathedral. Last night I went on a "Legends of Morelia" walk. I understood about half of what was going on. When I bought my ticket the fellow said that the stories would all use "complicated" Spanish with a regional dialect. He was right!
The hotel was a Best Western in an historic building and my room was an interior room with about 15 foot ceilings. The restaurant was on the sidewalk in front of the hotel so I had dinner and breakfast there. 64 pesos for dinner and about the same for breakfast. Speaking of dinner! I was sitting at the sidewalk table and a woman with two children sat at the next table. They were speaking both Spanish and English and finally at one point the lady said to the kids "Enjoy it here it was 108 degrees in Yakima" I jumped a little and said "Did you say Yakima?" We had a nice chat about her background here and the kids growing up in the US. As the little boy was running around the sidewalk and up and down the street a little she said "I would never let him do that in Yakima. It's so much safer here" So there you go.
Since my room was an interior room I slept late this morning and my plans of taking "combis" (vans) to different cities along the lake got bashed. I finally left the hotel after noon (check out time 1:00 PM can you believe it!) and took the bus to Patzcuaro. I arrived with the rain to what the guidebooks call "the most beautiful square in Mexico." It is pretty nice but I´m sure it would be nicer with the sun. I did look at a real estate office and decided that I would have to find another city in Mexico to retire to. Tuxtla is looking better all the time!