Part 3…What an exciting location…Weight loss update…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 21, 2023 with 0 Comment

The bar at Luna Rossa, where drinks and dinners are served. This looks fun!

Tom reminded me to mention that the boulevard outside our building is not the same as, or associated with, the Villages in Florida. Instead, The Village in Lake Las Vegas is located outside our unit in this beautiful building, Viera, that we can easily access only steps away.

It’s not so far that it’s hard for me to walk to explore all the shops and restaurants. We walked to the UPS store five minutes from the building this morning. The longest walk was down the long hallway to the elevator to the main entrance, one level up, and then to the store. This morning, I had to mail an envelope, and it was a piece of cake when we didn’t have a stamp or envelope. Less than $2.00 later, the letter was on its way.

This is the interior of Luna Rossa, one of many restaurants in The Village.

Tomorrow, I’ll explain what I was mailing and how it impacts me in the future, which may provide some valuable information for other travelers like us. More and more seniors are choosing to live a lifestyle similar to ours by selling all their belongings and making the necessary changes to live a home-free life.

It has been great with Tom back here after his one-day trip to Minneapolis to attend the annual Railroad Union Christmas party. Much to my surprise, when he returned from his 26-hour time away, he only napped on the sofa for about 20 minutes, while I made a special effort to be quiet and not disturb him. Otherwise, he was his usual upbeat self, and we had a lovely afternoon and evening.

The patio at Luns Rossa which is surely frequented by locals in the warmer months.

Gosh, we love it here. It has everything we could need or want. We can order our groceries online with the order being delivered directly to our door; we can shop for essentials by walking out the door to this building; we can dine out at any of about ten restaurants only steps away, and we can handle anything we may need without using the car.

Today, we will look at the possibility of canceling the upcoming rental cars, after which we’ll Uber to any other locations we may need to visit while we’re here. We already paid for the next month using points accumulated on a credit card. So we’ll keep those reservations since getting the rewards points back is tricky, and we’ll make a point of using the car as much as possible.

It appears this company was no longer in business. We are surprised so many of the shops and restaurants are still in business after the pandemic.

Had we known how easy life is living here, we’d never have rented cars when they are so expensive in Nevada, especially during the holiday season. Since we don’t gamble, we won’t be going to the Las Vegas strip unless we plan anything special.

There are no words I can use to explain how different life is here at this fabulous location than it was only a little over a week ago when we were in Ecuador. We are both cheerful and upbeat, practically giddy, especially during the holiday season. We’ve both caught up on sleep. I now have my refill prescription, and the two meds I am taking for Afib are working well. I couldn’t be more thrilled.

In the past several days, I have been heading to the fitness center down the corridor and doing a short workout to improve my strength and stamina gradually. I do a little more each day and hope to regain my fitness level after failing to do much over the past few years.

This establishment looks fantastic, with a wonderful menu. We’ll try this place soon.

As for losing weight to improve my health, as of this morning, I am down 20 pounds with only five more pounds to go. It’s slow going, but if I can lose one pound a week, that’s fine with me. All I did was cut my portions of low-carb foods down by about 40%. Other than around meal times, at 11:00 am and 6:00; I am not hungry and don’t think about food.

I don’t snack during the day, but shortly after a somewhat light dinner, I have one cup of Greek yogurt mixed with ½ cup cultured cottage cheese and about ½ cup of unsweetened mixed berries. What a treat this is and a perfect way to end the day! I am doing everything I can to improve my health, and the results are already providing benefits.

Of course, good sleep and the low-stress lifestyle we enjoy now are factors in achieving my goals. I bet many of our readers are busy getting ready for the holiday season. Although we don’t decorate the house with a tree and other decorations or bake Christmas cookies and treats, the Christmas season is in our hearts, and we revel in this particular time of year.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 21, 2013:

On the way to Nelspruit with our driver, Okee Dokee, she stopped to buy lychee nuts from this adorable girl, who was selling them on the side of the road with her mom. For more photos, please click here.

Part 2…What an exciting location…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 20, 2023 with 0 Comment

We are thrilled to be so close to the little grocery store, which is very well-stocked.

It’s 8:20 am, and I have been awake for a few hours. For the first night since we arrived, I finally slept for seven hours, feeling fantastic today. Tom should be here in the next hour since his flight took off a little early and is expected to land at 8:22 am. Since he has no luggage other than a small carry-on backpack, he should be able to grab an Uber in no time at all to make the 25-minute drive from the airport.

Although he’s been gone only a little over 24 hours, I missed him. Undoubtedly, he’ll be exhausted and may need to go to bed for a few hours. If he does, I’ll continue to work on today’s post and do the prep for tonight’s dinner. We’re having one of our favorite dinners: homemade “unwich,” breadless subway sandwiches with the quality, gluten-free meats we purchased at Costco and a crispy salad on the side.

Seasons Grocery is easy for us to access, only a few steps from the bottom of the stairs close to our unit.

With all the warnings on bagged lettuce and spinach, I hesitated to purchase romaine for the sandwiches. In the past week or so, I watched a documentary on Netflix called “Poisoned,” which is terrifying about getting sick from everyday groceries in US grocery stores. Since watching that movie, I have been washing and re-washing vegetables more than ever. Unfortunately, washing won’t remove much bacteria. Only cooking can do that, and I can’t imagine dunking lettuce in boiling water before eating.

When I turned on the news this morning, the first news story was about listeria found in bags of fresh spinach. Do we stop eating nutritious greens and salads altogether? I can’t imagine dinner without a salad on the side. Tom eats salad but doesn’t love it. But it’s a perfect side dish with many meals.

There are several streets in the VIllages. This is not the main street but a side street with fewer businesses.

While we were in Ecuador, the only salad I made was coleslaw. It was easy to wash cabbage and peel and wash carrots. But I wasn’t confident about other salad greens not being exposed to tap water and bacteria. I wasn’t so concerned about pesticides there since I found insects on the produce we purchased from Raphael. In the US, finding an insect on a lettuce or cabbage leaf is a rarity, even if it’s labeled as organic.

When shopping at a market in the US, the produce almost looks too perfect to eat. It’s that appearing perfection that may result in toxic situations. None of us can be too careful. I strongly recommend watching “Poisoned” on Netflix. It opened my eyes to be more cautious than ever when preparing produce; even then, there’s no certainty.

This is Mimi and Coco’s Bistro, which we’ll visit in the future.

Today, we’ve included more photos from our walk on the streets in The Village. One of the shops that we found most exciting was the “Seasons Grocery.” It’s a small market. but the ideal spot to stop in for a few items, such as wine, beer, spirits, produce, and a wide array of miscellaneous grocery items. They have a comprehensive deli with a seating area for eat-in breakfasts, coffees, and deli-type lunches.

To gain access to Seasons Grocery, we only need to walk down two flights of steps from the door down the corridor from our unit, and it’s right there, around the corner. This unique area reminds us of quaint shopping areas in Europe and other parts of the world we’ve visited over the past 11 years.

The marina on Lake Las Vegas has many boats, including a large yacht.

Tom is back! It was so good to see him. He had a good time seeing his family members at lunch. He enjoyed the party, returning to the airport shortly after 1:00 am. After dropping off the car, he found a spot to lie down and took a short nap. Security hadn’t opened yet, so he had to wait to check in for his flight.

His flight was full and uneventful. He arranged an Uber, and by 9:20, he was back in the building and on his way to our condo. It was great to see him. He’s not yet ready for a nap, but maybe later in the day. He’s chipper and in good spirits. Me, too.

Another restaurant on the main street in The Village.

We’ll be back with more new photos tomorrow. Have a fantastic day!

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 20, 2013:

Yesterday morning, we spotted this white mass in a tree hanging over the pool, only 15 feet, 4.5 meters from where we sit each day, waiting for visitors. For more photos, please click here.

Part 1…What an exciting location!…Tom is on his way to Minneapolis…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 19, 2023 with 0 Comment

Looking over our veranda one floor down to ground level, we can see shops and restaurants. It is referred to as “The Village” in Lake Las Vegas.

When the owner was here a few days ago, Zoltan explained that our condo is located one floor above what is referred to as The Village, a series of roads (no cars allowed) with restaurants, shops, and various businesses. All we have to do is exit a nearby door to an outdoor stairway to take us down to The Village.

A bar and restaurant are directly below our unit, and rows of various other restaurants and establishments make this an ideal location for us. Tom was concerned it would be too hard of a walk for me to navigate. Yesterday afternoon, after returning from the mailing service, we decided to try it.

We’d expected restaurants but had no idea there would be clothing stores and other shops on the boulevard.

The smooth, even streets were easy for me, and I made it all around the area without thinking I couldn’t easily walk. The only tricky part was after we were done checking everything out, we walked up a very steep hill to make our way to the main entrance of our building.

After speaking to the reception desk staff member, we discovered an easily accessible door to reenter the building using a code on the keypad of an exterior door. This way, we could avoid the steep hill most people our age would struggle to navigate without getting out of breath.

It was an easy walk on the paved roads (no cars allowed) in The Village.

Over the next week, we’ll dine at one of the restaurants and have dinner. We’ll retake new photos at that time when the area is beautifully decorated with pretty lights and Christmas music playing in the background. We looked over our veranda at night to see the lights and hear the music. Lovely.

Although it is cold here now, requiring warm clothes both during the day and at night, we’ll each bundle up with the clothes we have on hand. Many don’t realize that the weather in the winter in Las Vegas is rather chilly. On a few occasions, it has snowed here, but it melted right away.

There were even some offices, a salon, and a spa along the boulevard.

As I write today’s post, I’m a little tired. I’d set the alarm on my phone to awaken Tom at 5:30 am. Tom’s hearing loss prevents him from hearing a phone’s alarm. I put the phone on my nightstand, thinking it would surely wake me in time to wake him—no such luck. At 3:30 am, we were both wide awake and got up for the day.

Neither of us slept much, but it will be much harder for Tom, who has to wait all night at the airport after he leaves the Christmas party around 1:00 am, waiting for his. I can always take a nap this afternoon. He won’t be so fortunate. Perhaps he’ll nod off a little on the outgoing and returning flights. It’s hard to nap while waiting at the airport. He’s flying in and out at Sun Country Airlines, a smaller, quieter airport a few miles from the main Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.

A beauty center is located in The Village.

As for me today, there’s not much on the agenda. I am working on health insurance stuff and other paperwork. I spent most of the morning ordering Christmas gifts online for the grandchildren and have completed that task.

It’s odd for me that Tom is gone. I will not pester him with texts or phone calls, leaving him to think only about his day and evening with his old friends from his railroad days and adult children.

We were surprised to see so many restaurants. We checked out the menus and will visit some soon.

That’s all for today, dear readers. I’ll be back with more news and photos of the beautiful Village here in Lake Las Vegas. We’re delighted we chose to stay in this lovely location.

This restaurant is located directly below us. We need only to take a stairway down to The Village.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 19, 2013:

Of nine members of this warthog family, there are two moms; one has four babies, and the other has three. From watching this family almost daily over 18 days, we believe the mom shown above is the mom of the three babies, who are all nursing if you look closely. (It’s hard to see the third). Thus, the baby on whose chin she rests belongs to the other nearby mom, who seems comfortable with this situation. We couldn’t have laughed more when the fourth baby, whether hers or not, provided this chin-resting spot. For more photos, please click here.

Tom’s flying out tomorrow without me…Tom’s Irish Cream recipe once again…Exciting new photos coming tomorrow!

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 18, 2023 with 0 Comment

This is the ground floor lobby we hadn’t posted yet.

Note: Today, after completing the post, we ventured out on an exciting walk in the area and encountered one surprise after another. In tomorrow’s post, we’ll share those photos and the story that goes with it. Please check back!

Tom decided to head to the annual United Transportation Union (UTU, Local 1000) Christmas party in Minneapolis. The last time he attended was in 2011 while he was still working, and we’d yet to plan our years-long world journey. At these parties that he always attended in our old lives, he had an opportunity to commiserate with retirees and current workers. It was always an enjoyable time for him, always hosted by law firms representing workers when injured or disabled.

For the past 11 years, he often talked about attending the party, but we were always too far away for him to make the trip. This time, while already in Nevada, he found a great flight with Sun Country Airlines, and the best price was if he returned around 24 hours later due to higher-priced holiday travel flights.

As a result, he’s flying out at 8:45 am tomorrow, December 19, and returns at 8:56 the following day, on December 20. Surprisingly, as a Platinum member at Expedia on our site, he arranged a rental car for that short period for only $1. That was a shocker! Having a car will allow him to see his kids for a few hours in the afternoon if they can work it out with their busy schedules.

Our current rental car contract doesn’t allow me to drive, which is probably for the best. I am not a good driver, nor did we want to pay an extra $30 daily to add me to the contract. It just wasn’t worth it. He’s taking an Uber to the airport and back on his outbound and return flight.

Sure, he could have left the rental car at overnight parking at the Las Vegas airport for a lower cost than an Uber. But, at times, convenience supersedes cost. The party starts at 6:00 pm, and he’ll only have one or two drinks and stop drinking alcohol by 8:00 pm to ensure he’s safe to drive to the airport around 1:00 am. He’ll have a long wait at the airport until his flight at 7:15 am, but he’s used to that.

He’s bringing our portable phone charger to ensure he always has power for his phone, which he’ll surely use to entertain himself during the long wait.

I’ll be fine at the condo, working on tomorrow’s post and making phone calls to family and friends, which I haven’t done since we arrived three days ago. Most likely, I’ll see him on Wednesday morning around 10:30 am. He’ll most likely need a nap when he returns after being awake since Tuesday morning. We’ll plan for an easy, laid-back day.

This morning, I did our first load of laundry in the washer in our unit. Oddly, our unit has a washer but no dryer. Our floor has a huge laundry room with plenty of washers and dryers. But since we are used to drying our clothes on a line for less wear and tear, we didn’t want to haul wet clothing down the long hallway to the washroom. Yesterday, we received the clothes drying rack we ordered from Amazon for $20, and Tom quickly put it together.

The rack will pay for itself in two weeks since it costs $1.50 to dry each load in the washroom. We have about seven loads a week, which would have been $10.50 weekly. We’ll have recovered the cost in two weeks when we’ll be here for another 15 weeks.

Do we sound like tightwad? Perhaps, but we always make an effort to save every penny, especially when we’re in the US. This time, we’re paying more for this condo than any other holiday home in the past 11 years. We don’t mind penny-pinching to save a little here and there. It’s so much more expensive to be in the US than any other country we’ve visited in the past.

We can use plenty of coupons here and certainly take advantage of those opportunities when possible. Soon, we’ll drive to our mailing service to pick up my prescription and a few other items waiting for us there. I’m thrilled I was able to make the pills last long enough to receive the prescription. It all worked out well. I worried for nothing until I came upon a good solution to order the drug from ProgressiveRX to arrive when we got here, which it did after I reduced the dose to one pill a day for a week while we were in Ecuador.

That’s it for today, folks. More will follow tomorrow after Tom is on his way to Minnesota. See his Irish Cream recipe below:

Tom Lyman’s Irish Cream (Bailey’s)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 pint half and half cream

3 pasteurized eggs (important for safety)

1/8 teaspoon coconut extract

1 T. chocolate syrup

1 cup Irish (or other type) whiskey

Blend in a blender for 2 minutes, then add the 1 cup whiskey. Blend for another 30 seconds.

Pour into a clean glass bottle with a tight-fitting cork. (Use your empty wine bottles after they’ve been washed in the dishwasher).

Make 1 1/2 wine bottles, enough for sipping while making. The recipe doubles easily.

It must be refrigerated. Keeps fresh for 30 days in the refrigerator.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 18, 2013:

With no Poinsettias for us this year, we revel in the beauty of this flower that we encountered in Marloth Park, South Africa. For more photos, please click here.

A pleasant weekend at Lake Las Vegas…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 17, 2023 with 0 Comment

Note: Today’s photos were from a few websites promoting the property. After today’s delivery of our final batch of groceries from Smith’s Marketplace to get us through Christmas, we’ll be done shopping for a while. It’s always quite an ordeal to settle into a new place when we must buy many staples and ingredients we regularly use in cooking, along with meats, cheeses, eggs, cream, sour cream, Greek yogurt, butter, and tons of vegetables.

Adding soaps, cleaning supplies, laundry, and paper products, we had quite a lengthy grocery list. It took shopping at Walmart and Costco, eventually finishing with an online order from Smith’s. As for today’s arriving order, we’ll be in great shape for the next few weeks.

With that project almost entirely tackled, we can relax and enjoy our time in this lovely location. I have unpacked all the clothes and miscellaneous items I will use here, but Tom is unpacking now and will be done soon. Right now, the condo is looking neat, clean, and orderly.

Speaking of the clean condo, I hoped to find a house cleaner for every week or every other week. Yesterday, I contacted the cleaner the owner uses, but we were shocked when we heard the prices. The cost is $125 a week for weekly cleaning and $150 for biweekly cleaning. We are not willing to spend $500 monthly for weekly house cleaning or even $300 monthly for biweekly cleaning.

Tom assured me that we could do this ourselves. He’ll do all the floors, and I’ll dust, clean, and do the bathrooms. We are very good at cleaning the kitchen daily, so there’s nothing to do there other than wipe the glass shelves in the fridge every few weeks.

Of course, we didn’t expect the rates to be comparable to what we paid in Ecuador, $20 plus a tip for three hours, cleaning an entire two-story house. But, here, we were expected to pay $65 to $80 for cleaning this two-bedroom, two-bath, one-story condo. Thus, we’re on our own. It’s good exercise for both of us!

Today, around 1:00 or 2:00 pm, the owner will stop by to change the kitchen’s reverse osmosis water dispenser filter and bring us a microwave. We are appreciative of him doing this. He and his wife don’t use a microwave due to their choice for health reasons.

I told Tom that I’ve never been without a microwave since the day Elvis Presley passed away in August 1977. It was presented to me as a gift from a guy I was dating then, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled amid my tears about Elvis. Since that time, I’ve never been without a microwave. Every holiday home we’ve rented in the past 11-plus years has had a microwave; some were old and worn, but many were newer models.

Most recently, our first microwave in Ecuador bit the dust, and Sylvie brought us another used model. That second replacement model, which was also old, had the wrong glass turntable that didn’t sit properly. Whenever we turned it on, with whatever we had inside, it caused the glass turntable and the food container to bang on the sides. I do not doubt that Zoltan, our landlord, will bring us a lovely new microwave.

After all, since we’re the first tenants to occupy this lovely unit since it became a holiday home, everything is new and of high quality. We’d highly recommend this place if you ever decide to come to Las Vegas for a short or long stay. The information regarding the rental may be found here at this link.

It is only a 33-minute drive to the strip and 28 minutes to the airport. There are many restaurants here in Lake Las Vegas, many of which we can access right outside the building. We can see a vehicle-free boulevard from our veranda with shops and restaurants, which we’ll soon explore. That will be fun, especially after the holidays are over.

Last night, after dinner, I walked down the long hallway to the fitness center to find an excellent facility, as shown in the photo above. I will start slow since I’m not in the best shape right now, and I look forward to improving my gait and stamina for longer walks.

That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for your patience while we didn’t post for a few days. It’s terrific to see many of our readers with us again.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 17, 2013:

This photo was taken a few years ago by Louise and Danie. But the house’s condition has remained constant, and this photo is exactly as we expected. For more photos, please click here.

One day and counting…Yeah!..Almost on our way!…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 13, 2023 with 2 Comments

A giant tortoise in the Galapagos Islands was heading back out to sea. Check out the pattern on the sand.

I’m done packing except for a few items we’ll use between now and tomorrow morning when we depart at 8:30 am. I feel organized and accomplished. It was relatively easy packing this time. Besides Tom needing to pack, which he’ll surely get started soon, we are in good shape.

I’ve gathered most of the things all over the house. A few minutes ago, Tom weighed my bag and the supplies bag, and it looks like the weight on those is within the 23 kg (50 pounds) maximum allowed by Copa Airlines. The laundry is done. Tonight’s light lunch and dinner are ready to go.

My new computer will be ready for pickup at Costco by Friday. I am looking forward to getting everything set up on the laptop. It should be ready to use after a few hours of work loading my files on the Windows 11 desktop. I’d used a Chromebook when my Windows laptop died in India, and I ordered a Chromebook for the first time. It was shipped to our hotel while we were in Udaipur, India.

When we left Marloth Park last April, I gave that laptop to Vusi, one of our excellent housekeepers in the bush. The only thing wrong was that the letter “t” wasn’t working. Vusi didn’t care about the “t.” He and his family would use it to stream Netflix shows.

Using Chrome, it took a long time for me to get used to not being able to place folders on the desktop and constantly subject to keeping folders on Google Drive. It was more work for me, and I was continually mindful of how I named and where I placed folders. It was cumbersome and time-consuming.

This current broken computer has served me well over the past two years. Our laptops generally last two years based on how much we’ve traveled and the subsequent wear and tear. Another hindrance to the life of our laptops has been determined by the humidity in any given location. Over the years, we’ve lived in many locations with extremely high humidity.

Yesterday afternoon, I spent a few hours assembling an online grocery order with Albertsons Market in Henderson, Nevada. We intend to pick up the order at the market on Friday afternoon after we pick up the laptop at Costco. However, after carefully going through their system and placing almost 100 items in the cart, I couldn’t process the order. (We needed many food products to start at a new location. Their system wouldn’t allow me to use our VPN, nor would they allow me to process the order without using the VPN.

Their system picked up that we were out of the country, and they assumed it was a fraud. Why would someone in Ecuador order 100 items from their market? This makes a lot of sense. Their staff could spend considerable time gathering almost 100 items, and no one shows up to pick up the order. Their system could have assumed we’d be using a stolen credit card.

One of my credit card numbers was stolen only a week ago, and now, a new card awaits me at the mail service in Nevada. A replacement card arrived in a few days. I was notified by the credit card company that they suspected fraud, and they were right. It was for a purchase I hadn’t made, and then the card was declined without using a proper PIN on the back.

This has happened to us almost a half dozen times over the years. I’m grateful we aren’t responsible for unauthorized charges and that the credit card companies are on top of detecting such issues and not making us accountable for those charges. However, they state that it’s also up to the customer to check their purchases to ensure there hasn’t been any fraud.

Due to this condition, I have it set up to get notified for most purchases on our cards. We only have to click “yes” when a text arrives asking if we made the purchase. This is not an inconvenience unless the card is declined if we don’t acknowledge the request for a “yes.” This has happened only a few times.

That’s why I have all of our credit cards, Tom’s and mine, set up for notifications to go to my phone since he doesn’t pay much attention to texts, let alone phone calls. Nor does he use his phone for email, shopping, or anything other than playing games. He explained that after 42½ years working on the railroad and having to be near a phone or getting beeped on a pager, he has little interest in using a phone other than for calls to and from family.

My phone dings when I get a text, so if we’re shopping, I can quickly say “yes” and proceed with the transaction. It may sound time-consuming, but given the difficulty of receiving a new card via snail mail, it is the best way to keep our cards secure. Nonetheless, fraud still happens every so often.

Tom just meandered upstairs to pack while I stayed on the main floor working on this post. He doesn’t need me to help him other than occasionally neatly folding his shirts in a closet. I’m not good at folding button-up shirts, but I am better at it than he is. He helps me by weighing and carrying the bags up and down. It is a joint effort in some ways.

As mentioned, I will write the post on my phone in the car tomorrow. When we get a signal, I will upload it. I may not get a signal until we reach the airport in Guayaquil sometime around noon, drop off the car, check our bags, go through immigration, and get settled at our gate with working WiFi.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 13, 2013:

This was our first photo of the dung beetle in action. The female often sits atop the ball of dung while the male moves it along using his back feet while his front feet grasp the ground for stability. The female lays eggs in the ball, so she tags along as he rolls. They search for an adequate hole to bury the ball. The ball is used as sustenance for both of them and the maturing larvae. Nature is amazing! For more photos, please click here.

Two days and counting…The power came back on…We got lucky…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 12, 2023 with 0 Comment

This was the adorable “cria,” alpaca that the owners named after me when Tom and I attended to her birth while they were away. They presented her to me on my birthday when they returned. Wow! What a delight!

When the power returned yesterday, 11 hours after it went out, we finally opened the refrigerator to see the status of the remaining food. We had defrosted beef tenderloin and fish, which I worried about the most. The meat and fish had been defrosted the prior day.

Much to our shock, everything in the refrigerator was still very cold. Even Tom’s leftover cubed watermelon was iced cold in the metal pan. The temperature on that fridge was set low, most likely because everything stayed cold for so long. We decided to eat our leftovers.

I made another batch of chow mein for Tom using the tenderloin, leftover green peppers, celery, fresh ginger, and garlic. We had enough spices left to make it flavorful, and Tom enjoyed it last night and will again tonight and tomorrow. I ate the fish, cole slaw, and broccoli. Tonight and tomorrow, I’ll make myself a ham and cheese omelet using the eight small eggs we have left. We’ll have used up all the remaining food except for a few condiments.

When the power returned, we were thrilled to be able to entertain ourselves by streaming videos, although my “on-its-last-leg” laptop is having a sound issue where the sound cuts in and out. Last night, while Tom and I were still in the living room and he was watching football games. I ended up watching a series on Hulu on my phone.

As I write this, the power has gone out again. We aren’t complaining this time. I had our last load of laundry in the clothes dryer. Surely, we hope, it will be restored in time for us to dry this last load. If not, we’ll hang it around the house until the power returns.

As mentioned above, I purchased a new laptop at Costco yesterday using the $215 balance on the shop card (gift card) we got from cruising in August. The Acer laptop with all of my preferred features was initially priced at $799, but after a $200 holiday discount, good until December 15, and using the shop card, our out-of-pocket cost was down to $384. I couldn’t place the order quickly enough.

During the checkout process, which wouldn’t allow me to use our VPN, their system picked up that I was purchasing in Ecuador, and I couldn’t complete the purchase without calling Costco for assistance. On their end, their system suspected fraud from a foreign country. Once I called, a highly competent rep helped me complete the process. I requested the computer be sent to the closest location to Lake Las Vegas, a mere 3.4 miles from the condo.

They will notify us by email when it has arrived for pickup, which could be as late as a week from now. If I close this laptop with its broken hinge, I may never be able to open it again, or after traveling, it may finally quit working. (I’ve saved all my folders on an external hard drive). If that’s the case, I will only be able to post using my phone, which is slow since I am a lousy typist on the phone, picking at the keys one at a time.

Unlike the younger generation, we cannot hammer out a text in seconds. We are single-digit pickers. However, I will continue to post each day. Since we leave on Thursday at 8:00 am, I will write the post on my phone during the 3½ hour drive to Guayaquil airport and upload it once we are checked in and have WiFi at the airport.

It was a relief to get the purchase resolved, and now my next focus is watching for the prescription drug I need arriving from Singapore before the end of the month. I will run out of the drug one week after we arrive, around December 20. If it doesn’t come by then, I’ll head to a Minute Clinic at a CVS pharmacy. I called to confirm they’d help me out, and they will. So, no worries there.

Instead of shopping for groceries at Costco, since it’s quite a hassle during the holiday season, I will order groceries online at Albertson’s Market, which is about 12 minutes from the condo. They have a promo with a $30 credit for ordering online and picking up the groceries at the door. Since we don’t know the procedure for receiving a grocery order at the condo, we jumped all over this promo.

I downloaded their app, and in the next day or so, I will prepare the order and then submit it the day before we arrive to be able to pick up our groceries the following day, December 15. That way, we won’t have to shop in another busy store. We’ll take our food back to the condo to unload it. Tom is thrilled with this plan since he doesn’t like waiting for me while I decide on purchases at the market. It’s a win-win.

That’s it for today, folks. Although the power was out, I could still write the text and save it on the offline app, Notepad, in case the power didn’t return. It did. We are fine.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 12, 2013:

Various groups of kudu males came to call throughout the day. For more photos, please click here.

Four days and counting…Disappointing error on my part…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 10, 2023 with 0 Comment

We went to dinner in a town square at The Villages, Florida, every Friday and Saturday night. This was in June, 2023.

Today, I had almost finished the post, and somehow, most likely due to my hitting a delete key in error, the entire post was gone, and I had to rewrite the whole thing. I’m frustrated with myself. Here I am, starting again, trying to remember everything I wrote. I can’t recall the last time I did this, but this was not the first time.

Since writing posts is so spontaneous, which I often start without a topic in mind, it’s not easy to piece it together once again. I tried everything to find my trash in WordPress. It is nowhere to be found.

This morning, I continued packing, taking everything out of the cupboards in two of the three bedrooms. There are no drawers in the bedrooms of this house, and cupboards are often the only option in many holiday homes for storing clothes and other items. Using cupboards makes it challenging to find specific items and often makes a mess when digging through everything.

Few holiday homes have a chest or drawers or a dresser. That was something we loved about the well-equipped house in The Villages, in Florida, where we stayed last summer. That was the most well-equipped holiday home we’d rented in the past 11 years, and I think of it often for its ease of living.

We don’t expect owners of other holiday homes to go to the lengths that the Florida owner did to ensure we had every possible accouterment we could imagine. The only item I had to buy was a large stainless steel bowl, as mentioned in a prior post a few days ago. I left that bowl behind since it was too large to fit into a suitcase and carry on our travels.

I’m curious about what amenities we’ll find at the new location. Each time we enter a new holiday home, it’s of great interest to both of us to see what they have on hand. Most often, there’s almost everything we need. Since we stay for more extended periods than most travelers, there may be a few items we need to purchase.

Here in Mirador San Jose, we managed with everything on hand. However, there were no mixing bowls (other than one medium serving bowl), no grater, no can opener, no large stainer for washing vegetables, or an electric mixer, which comes in handy occasionally. Nonetheless, we managed quite well.

The bed pillows have black mold spots on their covers and were misshapen and uncomfortable. Luckily, I have my Tempur-Pedic memory foam pillow with two satin pillowcases. Tom slept well on the lumpy pillows. Enough about this place! We’re moving on in only four days.

Five days from now, I will sit in the living room in our new place, working on that day’s post for December 15 and getting ready to head to Costco to buy my new laptop and groceries. We’ll most likely be a little tired from the prior day’s long road trip and nine-hour flight, but we’ll be elated to be in our new home for the next 107 days.

Tom is cutting up the last watermelon in big chunks that he eats daily at lunch with ham and cheese rollups. We’ll finish most of the food and leave any extra unopened items for Maria when she cleans the house again after we leave on Thursday. Now, I’ll head to the kitchen to cut the large watermelon chunks into bite-sized pieces and be done prepping food for today.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 10, 2013:

We wrote a story about Vic’s Royal Kruger Lodge, and he invited us to dinner in his boma. The place settings for dinner were pleasing to the eye, and the food was excellent. For more, please click here.

Five days and counting…Packing and cooking…Fun chat with friends…Awful offal…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 9, 2023 with 0 Comment

At first, when this huge platter arrived, we anticipated it would be divine. I tasted almost everything, but I didn’t care for it.

Note: Today’s photos are from the post on January 14, 2018, while we were in Palermo, Buenos Aires. See the story below for details.

Before I meandered downstairs to start my day this morning, I packed all my clothes. I left out a few items for the next few days and a little pile of clothes and compression socks I’ll wear when we travel to the US. I didn’t pack as neatly as usual, but I will put everything away in neat piles once we arrive and settle in the condo.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll start packing the miscellaneous items upstairs, toiletries, etc.. Then, by Tuesday or Wednesday, I will finish everything upstairs and begin to work on the items on the lower level. There’s not a lot on the main floor, just odds and ends we use each day.

These stuffed pig intestines, “Chinchulin,” were the least desirable items on the platter.

Tom takes care of all the adapters and cords for the digital equipment, packing some in his suitcase and others in the leather computer backpack in case our luggage gets lost again. We don’t want to go through that again after those two incidents we had a few years ago.

When I came downstairs, I made my decaf coffee, adding thick unsweetened coconut cream, and took a moment to sit down to load my failing laptop to savor my coffee before I got to work in the kitchen.

Tonight, we’re having beef tenderloin stir fry with large chunks of green peppers (so Tom can pick them out), celery, onions, mushrooms, fresh ginger, and garlic, seasoned as well as I can with my limited supply of seasonings. I’m making a huge batch, which should last for three dinners, taking us to Tuesday when I will eat my remaining frozen fish, and Tom will have steak for the last two nights.

The few pieces of beef ribs were fatty and chewy.

On Thursday, we depart. It’s great we’ve been able to use most of our food on hand, but we will leave a few items for Maria, the house cleaner when she does the final cleaning after we’re gone. As always, we’ll leave the house in good order.

Yesterday, we chatted on WhatsApp with our dear friends Rita and Gerhard. They are in Buenos Aires right now, staying in the same wonderful area where we stayed for a month in December 2017 and January 2018. We loved hearing they were staying there after our fantastic time in the Palermo district. As we did, they can walk to any of the countless restaurants and pubs and savor the delicacies of Argentina.

We told them not to go to any restaurant that advertises “Authentic Argentinian food” since they usually offer the most unappetizing dishes, mainly consisting of offal. When we tried such a restaurant in Palermo, every item on the menu was offal, with almost every body part of a cow or pig stuffed with something fatty and greasy. We left without eating our meat, besides the few tastes I tried and didn’t like.

I cut the blood sausage in half for this photo. I could tell it contained some grain, but I wouldn’t have cared for it anyway if it hadn’t. You should have seen Tom’s face when he took a tiny taste!

I am much more adventurous with unusual dishes but couldn’t stomach (yes, that too) the feel and look of the dishes in my mouth, as shown in today’s main photo. I took a few bites of everything, but Tom gagged when he took a few tiny tastes of the offal. He did eat the bread, but they served margarine instead of butter. After staring at his plate, he lost his appetite and didn’t bother to eat the fries.

We paid the bill and left, our plates still full of the gross-looking meat. The total bill was $45.72. That was one expensive loaf of bread. Rita and Gerhard got the drift, and they won’t be trying a restaurant offering such foods. They were glad we had an opportunity to warn them!

The bread was dry without butter, and this little pat was definitely margarine, which we don’t eat.

The delightful phone call continued for over an hour. We were thrilled to hear they are taking a 22-night cruise to circumnavigate the partially South American continent in the opposite direction of a cruise we took in 2017, ending in Buenos Aires, where we waited for our next cruise, the Antarctica cruise on Ponant Cruise Line. What an adventure that was! Please see our photos of this stunning expedition cruise if you’d like to see our archives on the ride side of our home page for January 2018.

We are so happy for Rita and Gerhard. As mentioned in the past, we met since they’d been reading our blog and ended up in Marloth Park while we were there. Instantaneously, we became fast friends. After our time in Nevada, we hope to meet up sometime in 2024.

That’s it for today, folks. Have a fantastic weekend, and be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, December 9, 2013:

As we entered the bush braai site, Danie was on the left with a raised arm, and Louise was on the right. They worked hard to host this event, cooking, setting up, and cleaning. Everything was to perfection. To top it off, they appeared in our driveway this morning to inquire about anything we may need. Their hard work and dedication are evidenced in every activity they host and property they manage. This photo and the next were taken before I realized I needed to clean the camera lens. For more photos, please click here.

One week and counting…

Posted by worldwide-admin on December 7, 2023 with 0 Comment

Male tree frogs fertilize a foam nest that a female frog made overnight. Nature is amazing! The photo was taken in December 2013.

A week from today, we’ll be on the road to Guayaquil Airport, 3 hours and 22 minutes from our location. We’ll likely head out the door around 8:30 am for our 2:53 pm flight to Panama City, with a 1-hour 33-minute layover, and then on to Las Vegas. Our flight arrives at 10:40 pm, and after going through immigration, getting our bags, and picking up the rental car, we most likely won’t arrive at the condo until around 1:00 am or later.

Of course, we won’t unpack that night, only taking out toiletries and clothes for the following day. I hope we get at least six hours of sleep since we’ll wake up to a busy day. First on the agenda is the trip to Costco to purchase my much-needed computer and pick up a few groceries, enough to last a few days.

Once we’re settled, most likely, we will do an online grocery order from Smith’s, where we’ve shopped in the past and been pleased with their products and service. Initially, I’d planned to buy a lot of food at Costco, but I have found some of their prices on groceries are not necessarily better than prices at a grocery store. Plus, Smith’s will have a better selection of miscellaneous items we use. Large sizes of many products don’t work if they end up spoiling.

Then again, how much we buy at cost depends on how we feel if we don’t sleep enough. Costco is not fun when one is exhausted. It may be challenging to recall prices on items that may or may not be a good deal, especially since we haven’t grocery shopped in the US since we were in Florida last summer.

With inflation, prices have crept up over the past several months. We are in for a rude awakening of increased costs since we left Florida at the end of July. And most likely, prices will be as high in Las Vegas as at The Villages.

If my medication arrives, we’ll head to our mailing service the next day to pick it up. This morning, when I checked the tracking number, apparently, the package had arrived in the US from Singapore, where many prescription drugs are manufactured. Often, Americans assume their medications are manufactured in the US, and many are not.

Here is an interesting article about where prescription drugs are manufactured worldwide. It’s a fascinating article that may surprise you. As for the world’s manufacturing countries, here is the list and percentages:

The USP Medicine Supply Map analysis (Chart I) counts the number of active API DMFs by location.

India accounts for 48%
China accounts for 13%
U.S. accounts for 10%

We are deluding ourselves by assuming that most drugs are manufactured in the US. Surprisingly, buying them from a US pharmacy costs so much. The cost for the blood thinner I must take, Eliquis, buying from Singapore through ProgressiveRX is $95.49 for 56 pills (almost enough for one month), compared to buying it at a pharmacy (without a pharmacy plan) is $599.97. Who can afford this?

I realize I’d mentioned this in a past post, maybe more than once, but if one of our readers sees this after missing that post and is paying these high prices, it would have been worth posting it one more time.

We’re bracing ourselves for higher prices on most things in the US. But, while we’re in the US, we look forward to a broader selection than most other countries.

One reader wrote and asked how long we’ll be in the US. If all goes well, we’ll likely return to Marloth Park in June as planned. However, we won’t stay more than 90 days this time. According to many reliable sources, South Africa’s immigration department still cannot process extensions due to a lack of staff. We won’t be applying for an extension again.

We’ll be back with more tomorrow. Be well.

Photo from years ago today, December 7, 2013:

Tag: nomads

Tom Lyman’s Irish Cream (Bailey’s)