Well, here we are back with another installment of our Monthly Musings…. Or maybe that should be Bi-Monthly Musings? At any rate, we are so happy to be back on a somewhat regular schedule of posting in our blog again.
Sometimes when the weather is so nice, it’s hard to be disciplined enough to do things indoors, but our spring weather is quickly turning out to be more like an early summer with the temperatures starting to rise and it’s just so much more comfortable to be inside with the AC on these days.
Anyway… Here’s what we’ve been up to for March and April:
Daylight Saving Time
Most of Mexico (except for a few specific border towns) officially ended Daylight Savings Time in October 2022 and returned permanently to Standard Time.
Although Lorne and I have totally enjoyed not having to “spring ahead” and “fall back” every year, it still presented some issues for us as our family still went through the twice a year time change. This meant that for part of the year we were an hour ahead of them, and the other part of the year we were at the same time. We constantly needed to clarify “my time / your time” to know exactly when planning something, as it was too easy to forget if we were the same time or not.
And then, much to our surprise, early in March it was announced that the province of British Columbia would “spring ahead” one last time on March 8 and then permanently remain on Daylight Savings Time.
Finally, we are at the same time as our family back in Vancouver year-round. No more trying to remember if we are ahead or they are behind, and we couldn’t be more excited about it!
However, this does not explain why my phone here in Mexico suddenly advanced one hour ahead on March 8. That was a bit weird!
Earthquake
On March 23 at precisely 9:59:57AM while standing in the kitchen pouring a cup of coffee, I had to suddenly stop and hang onto the kitchen island while a 4.1 magnitude earthquake shook our entire building. The epicenter was located 26km (16mi) northwest of Cabo San Lucas. Then approximately 30 minutes later a 3.6 magnitude aftershock was recorded, but luckily, we did not feel that one. No major damage was reported.
This is the second 4+ magnitude earthquake we have had within six months and the third recorded in the last 18 months. For the past two years, constant seismic activity has been recorded in the area, which is linked to the reactivation of the San Jose del Cabo fault.
It appears this unusual swarm of activity is the result of the ongoing separation of the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland. Up until recently, most earthquakes in this area occurred out in the ocean, however they are now occurring more frequently on land.
Staycation
Lorne took a few days off at the end of March for another break, which we had timed to coincide with the Easter holidays, so he ended up with a full week off.
We scheduled our week to have some busy days (going out for a casual drive or strolling through some stores we don’t get to very often) and some home days (where we sit out on the patio reading and enjoying the breeze). The week felt long, which was good, so that meant we were both ready to go back to work when our staycation was over. It was a good break. We tried some new recipes, got take-out twice, watched a few movies, did a couple of minor repairs to our place, and mostly just chilled.
March and April are always very busy here, as over 50,000 partygoers arrive to fill the resorts and the downtown area for Spring Break. Then in addition to that, for Easter, nearly 100,000 more visitors arrive to celebrate Semana Santa (Holy week). This is the peak vacation time for most Mexican families, and many flock to the coastal resorts and beaches.
To put these numbers into perspective, the population of Cabo San Lucas itself is around 116,000 people, and roughly 350,000 people across the greater Los Cabos area (which encompasses the two towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, linked via a 32km highway). So, the influx of an additional 150,000 people for Spring Break and Holy Week is huge for us.
Passports
Our Canadian passports were set to expire in October this year, so we made the decision to renew them early for a few reasons. The first being that some airlines can and will refuse boarding if your passport expires within six months. Some countries like Canada and Mexico typically require your passport to only be valid for the duration of your stay, but we always defer to the “just in case” theory, and felt it would be better to just renew early (you know, just in case we get the sudden urge to fly off to Aruba for a weekend… LOL!)
The second reason for renewing early is because September and October are usually busy storm months and chances of flooding or damage may prevent us from getting to the Canadian Consulate to do the renewal on time.
The third reason was that passport fees were set to increase as of March 31, 2026. So, after taking all three of these things into consideration, we felt it just made sense for us to renew early.
Renewing our Canadian passports from Mexico was actually a very easy process. We first found the necessary information about “Renewing from Abroad” on the Canadian government website. We downloaded the forms, filled them out and printed them off.
We then found a little photo place downtown that will do the required Canadian passport photos – ready in 15 minutes, cost of $300MXN ($24CAD)
We then booked an appointment at the Canadian Consulate to drop off our applications/photos to them. The appointment was set for Monday March 30 at 9:30am. However, prior to attending the appointment, we were required to pay the processing fee online through the Canadian government website.
The cost of renewing was a bit of a shocker for us… renewing a 10-year Canadian passport within Canada would be $160CAD each, but renewing a 10-year Canadian passport outside of Canada was $260CAD each, which meant $520CAD for both of us! That was a bit hard to swallow… considering that back in the day the cost for to renew passports for a family of four wasn’t even close to that much. Wow!
We dropped our completed applications, passport photos and payment receipt at the Canadian consulate on March 30, and the following Monday, on April 6 received an email that our passports were received at the consulate office and we simply had to book an appointment to pick them up.
In contrast to the price, we were pleasantly surprised at how quickly they were done, and happy that we are now good again for another ten years.
Where we share some of the little things we’ve been up to….
We had a surprise heat wave come through the middle of March with temperatures climbing over 36C (98F). Too hot to eat lunch on the patio! It took over a week for the temperatures to finally drop a bit to a more manageable 30C (86F).
Lorne got new glasses!
While getting ready for bed one night the hinge on the left arm of his glasses broke and couldn’t be repaired. The next day he went to the optometrist department in Costco to book an appointment and luckily they had an open spot for the next day due to a last minute cancellation.
He had a (free) full eye exam and then spent a good while picking out frames, finally landing on these ones. They promised they would be ready in a week, but only four days later they advised they were ready for pick up. He’s pretty happy with them!
A somewhat common thing to see in our neighbourhood – a Road Runner checking things out! Coyotes are native to the Baja Peninsula, but sightings are rare as they avoid the urban areas (unlike back in Vancouver where we would often see coyotes near our home). So the Road Runners here have nothing to fear!
Where we give you a glimpse into what we are doing currently…
TV Shows
New shows, new to us, and old favourites that we’ve enjoyed watching…
- Beyond Paradise
- Big Bang Theory
- Big Mistakes
- Fringe
- High Potential
- Leverage Redemption
- Matlock
- Shrinking
- The Closer
- The Crown
- The Rookie
- Tracker
- Watson
- Wonder Years
Books
What we’ve been reading on the weekends….
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella (Shari)
Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they? When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie—a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance—mysteriously appears, she has one request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, because Sadie cannot rest without it.
Review: This was my second time reading this book and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time I read it. What began as a chaotic, cross-generational partnership ended up exploring family bonds, grief and the realization that no matter how old you get, you still feel like a spirited 20-something on the inside.
I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella (Shari)
Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill, but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders’ keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect! Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.
Review: This fast-paced romantic comedy explored how intimacy can grow through a screen (via texts and emails) in a highly amusing way. The “opposites attract” dynamic resulted in many hilarious laugh-out-loud moments. The charming part of this book was the use of footnotes at the bottom of the pages which gave more insight into Poppy’s anxious overthinking mind.
Earth Song (Earth Song Series Book 1) by Nick Cook (Lorne)
Lauren Stelleck is working at Jodrell Bank radio telescope observatory when a fast radio burst signal is detected. In this signal is a message from an alien intelligence warning of something bad heading this way. Lauren meets with a skeptical archaeologist in the Orkney Islands where they uncover a long-buried ancient artificial intelligence who can help humanity, but needs help itself to uncover and re-activate other AIs around the world who were disabled long ago by an alien virus. Lauren and her team are hunted by The Overseers – a clandestine group wanting to exploit the AI technology for personal profit and world power.
Review: Not quite as “science fictiony” as what I usually read, but an interesting premise and fun enough to want to carry on with the next book.
Earth Cry (Earth Song Series Book 2) by Nick Cook (Lorne)
A direct continuation of the story following Earth Song. Lauren and her group team up with Sky Dreamer Corp, a very high-tech philanthropic organization whose goal is the advancement of technology for the good of mankind. With Sky Dreamer’s help, the team receives covert ops training and assistance in decoding the clues leading them to search for the next AI entity in the vicinity of Machu Picchu. The team races against The Overseers to recover and re-activate the next AI artifact before The Overseers can beat them to it.
Review: Less “science fictiony” than the first. The premise of the ancient AI artifact seems to have become the MacGuffin (an object the plot revolves around but whose intrinsic nature or value is actually irrelevant to the story). The story has become all about the chase, the paramilitary tactics, etc. A bit like a mashup of Indiana Jones and James Bond. I probably won’t carry on with the other books in this series.
Food
Tried and true as well as new….
It took a few tries, but Lorne has finally perfected air fryer french fries using real potatoes. He says the secret to perfect fries is to lightly oil the fries before cooking and cook without seasoning. After cooking, he tosses the fries in a small amount of oil, then seasons well and tosses again. This makes them feel like they came straight out of the deep fryer.
We tried a new (to us) banana bread recipe from Recipetineats and it was so delicious! The best part of this recipe is you don’t need over-ripe bananas to make this. It still comes out super moist even with just ripe bananas (yellow with a few brown spots). The addition of allspice was perfect to round out the flavours. It’s a keeper!
With grocery prices soaring, we have been using more inexpensive cuts of meat and saving time with the “cook once, eat twice” plan. Brisket first cooked for 75 minutes in the instant pot, then brushed with bbq sauce and grilled. For a side, a big head of cauliflower, first roasted, then tossed with a simple cheese sauce and baked until golden.
