Lazy Daze, el 4 de noviembre, 2019

I had a great sleep and was up fairly early walking/running on the Malecon.  I’m only 7 minutes away and early in the morning there aren’t many tourists to fight with.  After, I read the paper in the courtyard in front of my place.  There was a nice breeze, thank goodness because it got up to 32 with 60% humidity and that’s hard to take  Sweat runs down my face constantly.  After breakfast I went walking looking for a dentist and can get an ultrasound cleaning/scaling and polish as well as a check up for $40.  That seems pretty good to me.  I checked out a couple of CrossFit gyms and if I were staying, I’d be going to one of them  I visited a tile factory where they fire the clay and then paint it-

They have lots of square tiles, sinks-

and pictures made of many tiles-

I kept wandering and found an antique shop full of...... junk-

It gave me the creeps.  I came across a juice stand and had a green one which I don’t like but I know it’s good for me:  celery, spinach, ginger, orange juice and other green things.  By the time I finished it, I wasn’t minding it.  I visited with a woman from Quebec who has lived here 6 years.  She loves it.  As I was sipping my not cocktail, another woman came along, Vivian, a New Yorker who was a journalist/photographer.  I had seen her at one of the gym’s I visited.  She’s been living here full time for 2 years.  Seems like it’s the place to be!

For lunch I had a tortilla with camarones a la plancha which was sooooo good, then wandered around until I found Pinocho’s, a bar that was hopping again (I’d walked past it yesterday) so I had a couple beer and some guacamole.  I’m sure this is meant for at least 4 people but I ate it all myself.  🐷🐽

I was sitting alone at a big counter and soon 2 couples from Dallas joined me.  They were more interested in their phones than each other or me so I moved to another table.  I don’t think they noticed. The waiter brought some interesting coasters to our table-

He said a friend gave them to him.  There are also many flags and license plates, including a personalized one from Saskatchewan.  I came back to my air conditioned palace and am just relaxing for the rest of the night.  I’ve decided that I will move on this Sunday and start heading north.  May as well!!

Zona Romantica, el 3 de noviembre, 2019

I said adios to Carlos and booked an Air BNB apartment for a week in the Zona Romantica which is further south from where I was staying.  Hostel Boutique Vallarta is the top red dot and the bottom red dot and blue arrow are where I am now.  I’m in the heart of everything Mexican and not as many tourists although there are a few walking around.  I’m also five minutes from the beach.  I have access to a washer and line as well as a small courtyard that I can’t see sitting in but we will see.  Initially I was going to book the suite above me but there’s a curvy steel staircase that I could see falling down so I opted for the main floor.  I rented from Sean who is from St Louis, just like Liar #3 the other day and was sure hoping that Sean wasn’t going to turn out to be Joe-

I have a living/eating room-

A kitchen-

A bathroom-

And a bedroom-

I paid $233 for a week and am going to look around for other places in case I want to come back for an extended period.  I spent the hot, humid day - it was 34, the hottest it has been so far, (Complain, complain.  First it’s too cold in Canada so I have to leave, now it’s too hot in Mexico.  Never satisfied!) enjoying the AC.  Later, I wandered around and had a fish taco for lunch, then beef tacos for supper.  Eye meat was an option so I had a taste.  Yuck.  Squiggly just like you might imagine.  While walking along I came to a bar that was just hopping with expats.  I didn’t stop in for a beer but later saw Allan at the same bar we were in yesterday.  I told him I have moved to the area for a week.  I sure hope he doesn’t think I’m stalking him!  I watched an art auction online from Calgary as there were five Allen Sapps for sale that sold pretty well.

I’m just enjoying relaxing and having my own place all to myself.  Looking forward to tomorrow and another day in paradise!  

Fishing in the Ocean, November 2, 2019

I had a horrible sleep, considering I was the only person in the dorm and couldn’t blame it on noisy neighbours.  The AC was too cold so I slept with my jacket on and used my towel as a blanket.  I just about always have awesome sleeps so when I don’t, I’m very unhappy.  However....

I had plans for a relaxing morning, then a trip to the cemetery, then on to the Escondido Bar to watch the game when Carlos told me we were dropping Karen off at the airport and the rest of us were going fishing.  Wow!  Carlos keeps his truck in a garage across the street and his boat in a compound north, almost in Nuevo Vallarta.  We stopped at an Oxxo for 10 peso ham and cheese sandwiches and beer.  We drove to the marina in Nuevo and unloaded-

It’s truly a fishing boat.  It can hold about a dozen rods at once-

It took a long time to get through the marina-

There were pelicans in the trees-

I also saw a blue heron.  There are a lot of sweet boats-

And this is a nice view of Paradise, where Jane, Nico, Andi and I will be staying in January-

The Bay of Banderas was as smooth as glass.  We caught 2 fish-

and Carlos kept both to give to the man who runs the storage compound where he keeps his boat.  We stopped at Yelapa to swim.  They were paragliding but one chute went up so high we could barely see him-

The water was dirty so we continued on to another spot, right beside a party pirate boat-

There were gorgeous king angelfish and another white fish about a foot long who floated with his belly in the air but wasn’t dead.  It was almost like he was suntanning.

Allena, Pablo and Carlos enjoyed the day-

After our swim, we headed home but the sea was quite rough although there weren’t any whitecaps.  As we were loading on the slippery launch, Pablo fell off the hitch and landed really hard on his tailbone.  He lay there awhile but managed to pick himself up and limp over to the side where he sat down. He was very lucky not to have hurt himself worse.

We got home shortly after 5 and unfortunately the game was over.  We won 23-13 against the Eskimos which means we get first place, a bye and a home game.  I had a quick shower and rushed over to the Escondido bar, just in case anyone was still around.  I met up with Alan Prout, a retired Sask Power lineman from Yorkton.  We had a beer and visit and then I wandered home via the Malecon which was hopping with food booths, music y muchos gringos!  Many people were dressed up or in costume celebrating El Dia des Muertos-

Tonight is my fifth night so I’ll have to decide what I’m doing in the morning.  Not sure I’m ready to leave PV quite yet.  

Puerto Vallarta, November 1, 2019

I had a much better sleep, thank goodness, and learned this morning that the big group who forced 6 of us out of the pigsty into the palace, left the pigsty last night for another place!  They were disgusted with the showers and toilets so now Canova Hostel is empty!  It’s really too bad because the two very friendly and kind men who rent it have got some tough decisions to make.  Here, I’ve been visiting with a woman from Brisbane who’s been travelling 3.5 months.  She started in L.A but moved to an Air BNB today because she couldn’t stand Canova.  Another woman named Karen is from Montreal and is a gambler.  She spent all day yesterday in the Casino.  I’m not sure if she was there for the opportunity to make money - she says she lost yesterday, or for the free beer!  Another couple from Germany spent the day at the airport trying to sort out their flight to Mexico City today.  Unfortunately they booked with Interjet who is now in financial difficulty and their flight won’t go until the 15th!  They’re not sure what to do.

The owner of Hostel Boutique Vallarta, Carlos, has spent the last few months gutting and redoing his place.  It costs $20 to stay here and that includes breakfast with eggs, but interestingly enough, eggs only cost 17 cents each, yet Canova couldn’t figure that one out.  There’s a gorgeous rooftop terrace-

looking towards the ocean-

and towards Vallarta-

complete with a well stocked kitchen-

workout equipment-

and great bathrooms!  The air conditioning is on from 8 pm to 8 am.  Carlos is a man of many talents- He spent 6 years working in concrete in Toronto before coming home to Guadalajara to look after his ill father.  He’s been to Johannesburg, South Africa hunting antelope and warthog which he has stuffed in his home and where he also has numerous mounted heads on the walls.  He’s currently getting his money from a barium min somewhere in Mexico.

Today, after a leisurely start, I wandered to the cemetery to see the celebration  The outside walls are decorated-

And there were vendors outside selling flowers for the people to put on the graves-

Only a few graves were decorated, apparently the big day is tomorrow-

El pan de Muerto is also for sale.   It’s like our Easter bread: yellow from eggs and nice and sweet-

Leaving the cemetery, i headed down another well decorated street-

and came across a restaurant where the woman was making gorditas in the window-

I couldn’t resist-

It’s a thicker tortilla stuffed with pollo, queso, creme fraiche and salsa.  So good! Gordo means fat and that’s what I’m going to be, actually fatter, if I keep eating at all these little hole in the walls!

From there I kept wandering and saw the modern way to make tortillas-

This street was decorated too-

The Malecon had more Catrinas, including one all about inclusion-

I spent a couple hours enjoying the view, oh ya and Mojitos-

Further along, I came to the Playa los Muertos-

and it seems everywhere has a sign now-

On my way home I stopped for supper at a street stall.  One taco has chorizo, the other cabeza - meat from the head of the cow.  I remember one time I was in Phoenix in a grocery store.  I heard a bunch of screaming so followed the noise to find women filling their shopping carts with Saran wrapped cows heads.  They said that for the $20 cost, they could feed their family for a week.  The meat is very tender and when cooked with Mexican spices, it’s awesome.  They both tasted great and only cost 41 cents each.  Besides the meat, there are onions, cilantro, queso and salsa-

Once back at the hostel, I learned we were all jumping in Carlos’s Ford F-250 and going up the mountain to see the sunset-

There’s a restaurant at the top but each person has to spend 100 pesos ($6.88) to take pictures.  Carlos got really angry with the waiter and we stomped back to our truck.  Meanwhile, Pedro, a German with us, tried to take some pictures but the waiter stepped in front of him to block his view. It was quite weird especially considering there were only 4 people in the entire restaurant and we might have spent some money there if they’d been politer about it.  Oh well, I got my pictures before all of this started.

Back at the hostel, I made contact with Alan, a friend of friends at home. He’s from Yorkton and spends 6 months here.  Tomorrow he’s got a Scrabble game lined up at 2 while they watch the Rider game in a local bar so that’s where I’ll be too. Go Riders!