We are back in Saskatoon for Christmas. 2200 miles to get home for Christmas in the car seems a bit excessive but that is what we did. The weather was good for us and we made it in under 4 days. The trip was worth it to see our kids and granddaughter. And our friends too!! We hope that the weather is as good as we head south again at the end of the month.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Drugs, birds and turtles
We have just been enjoying the southern lifestyle. We did not go to the Welcome Winter Texans Day as we had originally planned. We heard that it was poorly attended. We did go again a few days later for a quick shopping trip. It is dead in Progreso and I feel sorry for the people who are not making much money from tourists. Crossing the bridge over the Rio Grande is like moving into a different world with the American lifestyle on one side and Mexican poverty on the other. I don't think that I mentioned before that people beg from under the bridge. You can't really see the people but they stick ball caps through the bridge openings. In Progreso, there is not much begging but lots of entrepreneurship. Aggressive entrepreneurship! Wanna buy a necklace lady? Cheap, just for you.
The whole drug thing down there has really taken a toll. Both the American and Canadian governments do not recommend travel to Mexico. The resorts might be OK but along the border, the drug trade is a constant concern. In Texas, they are worrying that it is moving north into their larger cities. You often see the police vehicles on the highways that are the border patrol. Several times we have seen rest areas used as areas for the police to flag down transport trucks to check them. Recently we heard that the cartels are now using smaller vehicles to avoid this. Every day the news has at least one item about drug activity.
On a more pleasant note,we went over to South Padre island yesterday. It is very small (You can see from one side to the other.) and set up for tourists almost entirely. They have a lovely bird sanctuary though. Open only 2 years but getting a reputation as a tourist destination, it is on 50 acres of land right near the Convention Centre and of course on the ocean. South Padre is a first landfall for birds flying from Southern Mexico and northern Central America over the Gulf of Mexico to their northern summer grounds. There is a long boardwalk system at the centre with blinds along waterways that allow up close viewing of many birds.
Although this is not the best time of year for viewing (Spring is when the birds are flying north.), we saw quite an array of birds as you will see from our pictures. Here are a few pictures. I wouldn't live long enough to download them all! Is this ever slow.
Roseat Spoonbill
Little Blue Heron
Tricoloured Heron
Snowy Egret
Turtle (Don't know what kind)
We were fortunate to see an alligator as we walked the boardwalks. He/she didn't move but just blinked. I think he was enjoying the few minutes of sun on a somewhat cloudy day.
They weren't kidding.
Before lunch we also went to the Sea Turtle Rescue centre. They had tanks of turtles which had been injured or found with deformities. Some can be released as they recover but others will never be able to survive in the ocean again. The biggest turtles are wonderful to see up close. The centre appears to be privately funded and looked as if it could use some serious financial help. They have a small area for public education as well as the tanks for the turtles.
We went for lunch at a place that features live parrots. What colours they are! Although the day was partially cloudy, it cleared as we sat on the deck and we had a nice sunny time watching brown pelicans. They are a threatened species so it was nice to see so many. Although the ones near the bird sanctuary were sometimes hunting for fish, these seems content to float with the breeze.
Access to the island is over a causeway. You have to yield to pelicans. From the causeway you can see people fishing. We gathered that the fishing is very good.
Causeway from Port Isabel
Brown Pelican
We checked out the RV parks while we were there. They looked quite nice but we were warned to book early since they fill up. Everything here seems to fill up in the New Year. Maybe not so much this year since the drug wars seems to affecting the number of Winter Texans coming to the whole Rio Grande Valley.
The whole drug thing down there has really taken a toll. Both the American and Canadian governments do not recommend travel to Mexico. The resorts might be OK but along the border, the drug trade is a constant concern. In Texas, they are worrying that it is moving north into their larger cities. You often see the police vehicles on the highways that are the border patrol. Several times we have seen rest areas used as areas for the police to flag down transport trucks to check them. Recently we heard that the cartels are now using smaller vehicles to avoid this. Every day the news has at least one item about drug activity.
On a more pleasant note,we went over to South Padre island yesterday. It is very small (You can see from one side to the other.) and set up for tourists almost entirely. They have a lovely bird sanctuary though. Open only 2 years but getting a reputation as a tourist destination, it is on 50 acres of land right near the Convention Centre and of course on the ocean. South Padre is a first landfall for birds flying from Southern Mexico and northern Central America over the Gulf of Mexico to their northern summer grounds. There is a long boardwalk system at the centre with blinds along waterways that allow up close viewing of many birds.
Although this is not the best time of year for viewing (Spring is when the birds are flying north.), we saw quite an array of birds as you will see from our pictures. Here are a few pictures. I wouldn't live long enough to download them all! Is this ever slow.
The Great Blue Heron
The Great Egret
Turtle (Don't know what kind)
We were fortunate to see an alligator as we walked the boardwalks. He/she didn't move but just blinked. I think he was enjoying the few minutes of sun on a somewhat cloudy day.
They weren't kidding.
Before lunch we also went to the Sea Turtle Rescue centre. They had tanks of turtles which had been injured or found with deformities. Some can be released as they recover but others will never be able to survive in the ocean again. The biggest turtles are wonderful to see up close. The centre appears to be privately funded and looked as if it could use some serious financial help. They have a small area for public education as well as the tanks for the turtles.
We went for lunch at a place that features live parrots. What colours they are! Although the day was partially cloudy, it cleared as we sat on the deck and we had a nice sunny time watching brown pelicans. They are a threatened species so it was nice to see so many. Although the ones near the bird sanctuary were sometimes hunting for fish, these seems content to float with the breeze.
Access to the island is over a causeway. You have to yield to pelicans. From the causeway you can see people fishing. We gathered that the fishing is very good.
Causeway from Port Isabel
We checked out the RV parks while we were there. They looked quite nice but we were warned to book early since they fill up. Everything here seems to fill up in the New Year. Maybe not so much this year since the drug wars seems to affecting the number of Winter Texans coming to the whole Rio Grande Valley.
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