Coddiwompling*

A quick bus trip to Ontario from Norfolk VA saw us braving one of the earliest winter storms in years and temperatures that plummeted to -20C. The Ontario sojourn confirmed our feelings that one has to be insane putting up with those temperature variations and snow storms. With temperatures fluctuating wildly; one minute the weather is forcing me into a snowsuit and the next day making me put on my rain-gear and slush boots of which I don’t have any. Despite it all I loved every minute of the weather in Ontario. It was such a change for us. After spending the better part of 9 years in the tropics the sun and humidity is pushing the body into a slow rot! Nothing to say about what aging does! The old harsh winter-like weather was like a spa to us. Although we know we couldn’t live in it permanently we had fun in the temporary break from constant sunshine and humidity. After 4 weeks we’d had it with the cold and beat a hasty retreat south to Mexico via Washington DC. The mad shopping spree of ‘Black Friday’ was over but then it was time to get ready for Christmas. Washington DC was milder than Ontario but politically as hot as ever. Twitter diarrhoea was flowing down the steps of the White House, the courts were full of people going to trial for all sorts of shenanigans and the legislative bodies locked into a time warp turning the clock back on health care, the environment and anything else the corporate-military conglomerate wants. In other words a CEO’s wet dream! We spent our time in Washington DC catching up with our friends Amy and Arthur and heading to the Saturday market. Christmas is creeping up  and the theme of that weeks market was the crafty holiday season but there was so much great food to see on the tables. 0 We had only a few nights in DC (Falls Church) before hopping on the plane to catch up with our favourite weather patterns – i.e. 22-28C, sunshine and water, not frozen other than that in our drinks. We were truly back to familiar territory. We’ve sailed here in the past, we’ve vacationed many times in Mexico and we love the pace of life in the area. Yes, we’re in a touristy area but it’s not a gringo area but rather a Mexican resort town (Rincon de Guayabitos) that is now only just starting to get busy. The Mexican kids are out of school on Tuesday and by the time we fly out on Christmas Day the beach will be total insanity! So, before it gets too insane we went to Chacala for a day at a quiet beach and the following day off to the Hot Springs not far north of us. *Coddiwompling (learned from a friend Fred Bailey)- travelling in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination