From The Land Of Haw

Sunday, March 16, 2008

February 25, 2008

Today has been another leisurely day with nothing more than shopping and visiting, very relaxing - how am I going to adjust to home???.

If you should ever have the experience of visiting South Padre Island you must take the time to stop at K’s Jewelry. The owner has been here for years and makes awesome jewelry. You design it she will make it or you can purchase items she has already made. People pick shells and parts of shells along the beach, take them to Kay and she turns them into a piece of art. Many bring the necklaces home to family and friends as souvenirs of South Padre – one lady had 35 made, she came by to pick them up when I was at the store. They were just beautiful!

Anne

Men - doing the guy thing

Miles of shrimp boats are docked due to high fuel costs - residents are afraid they may loose the shrimp boats and the delicious shrimp they catch entirely!

Yucca

Who can find the Pelican?

The Padre

The causeway bridge between South Padre Island and St. Isobelle

They have a swing bridge - small scale but operates similar to the one on Manitoulin

February 24, 2008

Today we traveled to the NABA International Butterfly Park in the Rio Grande Valley near Mission, Texas. We did not see the number of butterflies we had hoped; however it was interesting to see the park, the various shrubs and flowers they have planted to attract the butterflies and how the park was designed to allow walkers to view the flitting butterflies as they travel from flower to flower. We were about a month early to see the Monarch Butterflies; they are still hibernating in the Mountains of Mexico. Another year I would like to take the 5 day tour from Brownsville to the butterfly sanctuaries in the Michoacan forests in the mountains of Mexico. This year’s coach tour is not going until March which was too late for our plans this year.

We had lunch at the WHAT A BURGER chain in Rio Grande City then traveled to Roma Texas on the Texas/Mexico border. We walked the streets of Roma in 90 degree F temperatures – gosh it was HOT! Roma was rather quiet with little going on; however the community of Ciuda Aleman in Mexico directly across the Rio Grande River was alive with music and people singing. Somewhere over there was a party.

The area surrounding Roma is well known by birders as there are several different kinds of birds passing through. We met a couple of birders from Thunder Bay; they have retired and volunteered their time to work with the birding association in the area.

The community of Roma has been used in many of the older western movies. There are many historical buildings still standing, some are still being used – not necessarily for their original purpose.

We had to take a detour from the main highway just outside of Roma on the way back to South Padre Island due to a automobile accident, this gave us the privilege of traveling through another quaint little town. These Texan’s are so close to the Mexican boarder they seem more Mexican than Texan. They speak Spanish and live as Mexicans.

Another very interesting and enjoyable day!

There were fluorescent cones with notes "watch for rattle snakes" - just a few days before we arrived here there had been a 5 foot long snake which struck at the gardener - it missed him thank goodness!

The Sugar Hackberry

February 23, 2008 Day 20

Squeegee Kids - you find 'em everywhere!

It just doesn’t seem we have been away 20 days – I could get used to this quite easily!

I have been finding it difficult to update my Blog on a daily basis now that we are with friends, we are always talking and doing fun things there just isn’t the time, so I do hope you will be patient with me – I will get it done. Saying this, it sounds like I am making it a task that must be completed regularly – A Job! Not ‘a! It’s a journal - we‘ll get the updates when we get’em!

This afternoon we visited the “Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site” which is about 5 miles north of Brownsville, Texas. Some history I am interested in – like family history, early settlers and their hardships – that sort of thing – but wars and battles NOT! After 40 years of marriage though you realize it is a give and take world so I tagged along. The only thing I found really interesting were the watch for rattle snake signs, and to my amazement there were many signs. I didn’t see any snakes but that could be denial – you know mind over matter. I certainly didn’t hear any so if they were near they weren’t afraid of me – they probably knew I would freeze still and they could get away easily.

Here is Allan’s synopsis on the battle field excursion.

Not having had any previous knowledge of battles between Mexico and US Troops, it was interesting to find that in 1846 the United States used this small battle as a chance to provoke Mexico into a war to defend their land. Mexico lost to the United States which later caused them to negotiate a peace agreement giving up New Mexico, California and Texas south to the Rio Grande River to the Americans.

The Americans won this battle against Mexico because their troops were better trained and they had modernized cannons which shot cannon balls that exploded when they hit, mortally wounding many the Mexican soldiers of their enemy.

It was a very hot day but the breeze made it a pleasant walk throughout the field. As in other historical sites there was various written historical information boards which helped fill in the information on the battle

Many artifacts have been taken from the field over the years, before it was declared an Historical Site people were able to walk the field with metal detectors and take their finds off the property. What a great loss in historical value to the site.

If you are interested in finding out more about this battle and the site look on www.nps.gov/paal

Have a good day,

More updates to follow.

Anne

Following Photos are of the Palo Alto Battlefield

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

February 22, 2008

These two little ones are your regular pet store land turtles, someone found them on the street and brought them to the rescue centre

Today we took a more leisurely approach to the day – we slept late and in the afternoon visited the sea turtle rescue center here on South Padre Island which was founded in 1977 by Ila Loetscher, the Turtle Lady of South Padre. Would you believe at that time she was 73 years old? Proves it is never too late to do something you enjoy, and perhaps become famous in the endeavor.

When she first retired here she nursed injured sea turtles back to health from her home just a few doors down from where we are now staying. She took an interest in the sea turtles and the organization grew from there. The turtles presently in the facility are injured resulting from floating fishing nets, fishing lines, sharks, consumption of plastic bags mistaken for food, human hunters and other predators. The on site guide gave a very informative presentation on sea turtles, their live and their predators. Would you believe it takes 3 adult sea turtles to make a pair of adult size boots?

Many of the turtles in the turtle hospital will be returned to the ocean, others will never be able to return to the wild because of the extent of their injuries. Fred, one of the sea turtles who lost a flipper due to a shark attack, was found on the beach here in South Padre near death suffering from malnutrition. He was admitted to the turtle hospital where his wounds healed and excellent health returned, after which he was returned to the wild. A month or so later he again washed up on the shores of South Padre Isl., he was again taken back to the Sea Turtle sanctuary where he was examined, found to be in good health and again released to the wild. Fred had found he liked the 4 star turtle sanctuary and returned to the Island 3 more times before the turtle hospital staff realized he was never going to willingly return to the wild, he loved the rescue centre so much he wanted it to become his permanent home. You guessed it Fred is now a permanent resident.

One turtle was found at the jetty upside down and wedged between 2 rocks in early January of this year- he looked dead. The man that found him called the coast guard who in turn called the turtle hospital, today he is still alive but very sick with a bad kidney infection. It is unknown how he picked up the bacteria but he is definitely having a difficult time getting better.

Before any of the turtles are sent back into the wild a computer chip is implanted under the skin on a flipper and a visible tag is attached through the skin where the flipper joins the body. None of the turtles this organization on South Padre Island has returned to the wild have been reported as dead which leads them to believe the turtles have survived. Saving sea turtles is a world wide project so they are confident that any found would have been reported.

What an informative and interesting excursion this turned out to be! I did not know only land turtles can draw their head, legs and tail into their shell. Because the sea turtle is unable to do this they are unprotected from many of their predators.

If you wish to learn more about the South Padre Island Turtle Rescue Centre or sea turtles in general visit www.seaturtleinc.com

Farewell until tomorrow,
Anne

February 22, 2008 pics of interest

This little one has lost his back left flipper from a shark attach

This one has lost one front flipper and both back ones, the spot you see on his back left side is the location they have chosen to attach an artificial flipper - yes they are testing the attachment of prosthesis on turtles - amazing eh?

This is one of the Atlantic Green Sea Turtles mentioned in the write up below

This one is missing a front flipper

This is Fred - the permanent 4 Star Resident

If this is difficult to read you may be able to click on it to enlarge or increase the % of your screen size down in the bottom corner

This one appears to have all of his body parts so he may be one that was found washed up on shore due to digestive disorders caused from plastic bags. Apparently plastic bags are mistaken by the sea turtles for jelly fish, once eaten it is impossible to digest the plastic causing blocked digestive tract and infections.

This one is missing part of his left flipper, it had to be amputated because fishing line had wrapped around it cutting off the circulation causing death to the tissue of the distal end of the flipper.

Monday, February 25, 2008

February 21st

Day 18!

Today we made a one hour drive to Prospecto, Mexico which is a border town on Texas/Mexico boarder and is commercially dependant on the Winter Texans ( those vacationing here from the North) We visited this community on our last visit to this area and undoubtedly there have been many changes since then. This time I noticed a lesser amount of poverty on the streets – I don’t expect it has been reduced that much but rather it is hidden now to give a better image of the area. The bridge on which we walked over the Rio Grande River that separates this part of Mexico and Texas now has continuous cement waist high barrier with small open sections for air movement, from the top of this barrier to the roof cover on the Mexican side there are louvered steel blinds opened slightly with the intention of circulation. There is no cover over the American side between the cement barrier and the roof. When we last visited this city there were beggars under the bridge on the Mexican side calling up to you for money as you passed by, the current bridge style does not contribute to this type of pan handling. There were very few beggars on the streets this time as well??

The boarder crossing has had several smuggling problems (from drugs to humans) causing it to be heavily guarded. In the boarder control area we saw army trucks and personnel heavily loaded with ammunition, soldiers were carrying AK47 rifles and grenade launchers. People in the street walked past them pretending they weren’t there. I couldn’t pretend as you will see – I had to stop and take photos.

On Feb 13th of this year in mid afternoon several people saw a group of Mexican Soldiers escorting a Mexican man with this hands handcuffed behind his back and a blind fold over his eyes. The man was crying and yelling but no one could understand what he was saying, the soldiers were not speaking to him or among themselves. They marched him to the division line between the two countries on the bridge (I have a photo showing this location), next they took the hand cuffs off their prisoner, sat him on the waist high cement barrier with his legs facing the river. One soldier had an inflated inner tube which he threw into the Rio Grande River, and then the prisoner was pushed in as well - immediately after shots were fired. No one knows what happened to the prisoner – the news papers have only speculations.

Within the next few days there was a bomb threat on the bridge which caused it to be closed for a while, but nothing was found so it was reopened. Life continues in a state of normal in Prospecto. How many of us actually realize how fortunate we are to live in an area of peace and safety. I like most others take it for granted – this should not be the case

The streets of Prospect are densely lined on both sides with venders selling their wares; prices continue to be less than that of the tourist areas of Cancun and Playa De Carman. I purchased dresses for 2 of my Granddaughters in Prospecto at a cost of $9.00 US each – in Playa del Carmen they were asking 25.00 US each for the same style and quality of dress.

Just a note of interest – when shopping in Mexico remember they love to barter prices – you can usually always purchase for 1/3 less of their originally asking price. If they don’t agree to a sale that means they are doing good business that day – move on, someone else down the street will be selling the same thing for the same price. The secret is to ask what they want for the item then offer less than 1/3rd the price allowing yourself space to negotiate up to 1/3rd less the asking price. Allan will not barter with them, he would much rather pay their asking price and move on. However, he does love to watch me do the negotiating , he chooses something he wants then comes and tells me so I will go and barter – I let him carry the money and once I have come to a final figure for payment I then tell the seller I have to check with my husband. He and I converse in low voices (about the weather/the number of people on the street etc.) and if the price is not what I want then I go back to the seller and negotiate more. Sometimes I find myself enjoying the bartering more than I actually want the item I am bartering for – go figure!

Another day enjoyed by the both of us and we had long time friends to share it with!

Until tomorrow,

Anne

The bridge between Texas and Mexico at Prospecto

The signe entering Prospect0

The Armed Services at the Boarder Protection Area

The Mexican Soldiers pushed the blind folded man over the bridge here just to the right of this sign - it could not be done on the Mexican side as you can see because of the upright posts. These posts do not continue on the American side. A note of interest here is the bridge is not owned by either the Mexican or American governments - it is privately owned and you pay 30 cents american to cross in one direction and 25 cents american to come back.