The trip home

All winter we had been thinking of going to Tepic, the capital of Nayarit. Since we hadn’t found a pet sitter, we never took any overnight trips. We decided that we would go to Tepic, spend one night, then leave for Texas. Pretty much the most difficult part of the whole trip is the portion of road between Las Varas and Chapalilla, between Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. By going to Tepic first it would be smooth sailing from there.
We took the non-toll route to Tepic. We drove up the coast on roads that were mostly in good shape. We passed through several towns that had the usual speed bumps. The last section before Tepic is pretty mountainous but we were lucky and didn’t get stuck behind any slow moving trucks.
Some of our “internet friends” we have met live in Tepic. Cliff runs a bulletin board about life in Tepic. Alice, his wife, is a frequent visitor to Puerto Vallarta and contributor to the All Vallarta board. Earlier in the year we had met Alice in Puerto Vallarta. Cliff had made a reservation for us at the LaLoma Hotel. We easily found the hotel and got checked in. We called Cliff and Alice and they met us at the hotel.
One of the places Cliff writes about on his board is called Dutch’s. We went there for lunch. The menu mostly consists of sub sandwiches, salads and baked potatoes. It is a very nice, clean place with a small patio for outdoor dining. We all enjoyed our meals there and the service was good.
After lunch, Cliff gave us the nickel tour of Tepic. It looks interesting and we will surely return there in the future. One thing Tepic has that Puerto Vallarta is lacking is public parks. Our hotel was across the street from a park also called LaLoma. We walked the dogs all the way around that park. It takes probably 45 minutes to walk around the outside of it. In the park are tennis courts, a swimming pool, children’s playgrounds, a zoo and a small train. We didn’t get there early enough to use any of the facilities but the park itself was a great place to walk.
In the morning, we ate breakfast at the LaLoma coffee shop and hit the road for Matehuala. Other than a couple missed turns, one in Guadalajara and one near Lagos de Moreno, it was an uneventful trip. The dogs by this point are veteran car riders so they just sit and look out the window or sleep as we drive along.
In Matehuala we decided to check out a few other hotel options. We knew we could always stay at the Sol y Luna if there weren’t any other pet friendly places. We checked the Las Palmas hotel. It is very nicely landscaped, has a pool and a lot of open space. But they had a sign in the lobby saying no pets allowed. Also, at about 600 pesos, the price was a little higher than we were wanting to spend. Next we checked the Hotel Capri and ended up staying there. It sure looks like it is or was a “no-tell motel”. You enter the property through a gate by the office. There is a large center courtyard with plenty of room to walk the dogs. There were benches and hammocks, paths to walk on and plenty of trees. It looked like the place probably used to be pretty nice. In the courtyard there was a swimming pool that now looked more like a reflecting pool with a small fountain. The rooms all open onto the courtyard. There is parking in front of the rooms. The rooms had no window facing the parking lot, just a window in the back of the room. The bathroom was so small that when you sat on the toilet, your feet were in the shower. Even though the place was obviously past its prime, the room was clean, there was a TV with in the room, and it seemed very safe. We paid 275 pesos for the night. The Capri is located on the main highway through Matehuala, just north of the big arch. It as OK for one night, we give it a solid one star rating. They get the star because the dogs could stay there, too. Next time we will try another place.
We drove into Matehuala for dinner. There was activity at the square for Mothers Day. The last time we were in Matehuala there were very few people in the square. This time there were hundreds of people there. The usual balloon vendors, food stands and entertainment that go with a Mexican fiesta were all there. We decided to eat at a pizza place we had seen the other time. The pizza was very good and we even had a few extra pieces for the dogs.
In the morning, we ate breakfast at a hotel nearby called Motel El Pedregal. I took a look at their rooms. Similar set-up with the courtyard, but these rooms had windows and were a little nicer. Another notable point for a future trip is that some of the rooms are air conditioned. The desk clerk assured me that dogs were allowed. The rooms are in the 300 pesos per night range.
The trip from Matehuala to the border was also uneventful. On the trip down, we had never been stopped by any of the military checkpoints. This time we had to stop twice. Both times they wanted to know where we were coming from and where we were going. One time, they asked to look in the back of our car. One guard took a cursory look while the other guard played with Fox. Neither time were we asked for any documentation or identification.
We had a little difficulty deciding which bridge we should cross at Laredo. Bridge 2 was the correct choice. We waited about 20 minutes to cross the border. The border guard tapped on our car apparently looking for hidden compartments and we drove past a drug dog. Once in Laredo, we returned to the Family Garden Inn where we had stayed on the trip south. This hotel is a good value. For $50 we got a room with 2 queen size beds. The price includes an evening social hour. It is held in a large gazebo near the pool. For 2 hours, they have hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, lemonade and beer. You can also buy margaritas and steaks. This was a popular thing with the guests of the hotel. The clientele varied from traveling families to guys working for an oil company. We talked to a couple from Waxahachie, Texas who was traveling with 3 small dogs. A continental breakfast is also included so once we got settled in our room we didn’t even have to leave the hotel until it was time to hit the road.
We made a quick stop in San Antonio to drop our camera off at the repair center. 2 weeks later, we still don’t have it back or even have a verdict on what’s wrong with it. Last week, a person from the San Antonio repair center called us and said they were sending it to the main repair center in New Jersey as it was a new model camera and they hadn’t had training on it yet in San Antonio.
The smooth, wide highways in Texas made for a fast trip back to Waco. We got to our house and it almost seemed like we had hardly been gone at all.
The three months in Puerto Vallarta seemed to fly by. Since we have been home we have been making slow but steady progress in getting our house ready to sell. We have been continuing the almost endless task of going through all our stuff and deciding whether it is to be kept, put in the garage sale, given to charity or thrown away. Boy do we have a lot of stuff!
Today we are off for a vacation with my parents, brothers, sister and their families. Reports and pictures to follow (of course!)

The final week in PV

We delayed our return to Texas by a week for a couple reasons. We went on the trip to Quimixto with the RISE kids on Saturday and didn’t want to then have to drive all day on Sunday. Also, the construction on the cistern and roof coating weren’t down and we wanted to stay until they were done, and the last reason was that Luis’s birthday is May 5th and he wanted us to stay for his party.
You would think that for our last week we would spend extra time at the beach and pool. It didn’t turn out that way. Each day we went to Bucerias at least one time to see how the job was going. And each time we were there we had to make a trip to the store(s) for some part or another. When we left, the cistern was in the ground, the backfilling was done, the concrete poured over the top. The pressure tank and pump were working fine. There were only a couple small things remaining to be done on that job.
The roof was done, except for the sloping part over the bedroom needed the tiles put back on. And, Rafa had agreed to seal some cracks and paint some places on the outside of the house.
Meanwhile, Rafa had obtained two more jobs in Bucerias. One was repairing an incorrectly installed cistern and the other was sealing a roof.
Another thing that happened in our neighborhood that last week was the church fiesta. We noticed kids carnival rides, food stands and a brincolin arriving one day. The next night the fiesta started. Our street was packed with people. We were wondering how we would sleep with all that noise. Rigo assured us the fiesta would be over at 11 p.m. We sort of laughed to ourselves and said we’ll see. He was correct, at 11 p.m. a guy with fireworks strapped to his back (yes, you read that right) ran up and down the street about 4 times with sparklers, fire crackers and bottle rockets shooting off from a framework on his back. The church, which is named for Senora Fatima, will have the fiesta for a whole week.
The last night we were in Puerto Vallarta was the night of Luis’s birthday party. It was at the bodega/fiesta grounds in Pitillal. He has a friend who is a Spanish chef. Luis had him come cook paella for the party. We had a great time visiting with Luis, Monika, Monika’s parents and many of their friends. Many of the guests were kind enough to speak English with us. It was a fun thing for our last night there.
Saturday morning we finished loading the car, stopped at Gigante for a few snacks, stopped in Bucerias to say goodbye to Patricia and Joann and hit the road. First we were off to Tepic, then on to Texas.

Happy Birthday

Our friends Deb and Dave from Iowa have some friends who live near us in Puerto Vallarta. Deb told Harold that it was Maria’s birthday and she wanted to send Maria flowers. She was asking if there was an FTD type place so she could have them delivered. Instead, Harold offered that we could go buy them and take them over. We called Monika and asked where we should buy them. She suggested the Aramara market, so that’s where we went. We ordered a flower arrangement to be picked up the next day. We also bought a card for Maria and Rafael. We were pleasantly surprised when we went back for the flowers. An arrangement which cost 200 pesos would have easily cost twice that much in Texas. We delivered the flowers to a very surprised Maria. Both she and Rafael were shocked that Deb had arranged the personal delivery! We were glad to be able to be a part of this fun surprise.

Dia de los Ninos

Quimixto

April 30th is Dia de los Ninos, Day of the Children. For this holiday, a field trip had been arranged for the kids at RISE. Since she knows we have car –will drive, Chris Amo asked if we wanted to go to Quimixto with the kids.
We all met at the shelter at 8:30. Kids, madres and volunteers were piled into the cars for the drive to Boca de Tomatlan. There we loaded everyone plus all the supplies for lunch into 2 pangas. The water was fairly calm and the trip to Quimixto went quickly. Once in Quimixto, we carried all the lunch supplies to the house where the party was being held. One of the board members of the Children’s Shelter of Hope, Jim, has a small place there and was hosting the group.
After bathroom stops, a cold drink and a snack, the kids were ready to go. First Jim showed them the huge iguana that lives in his garden. Another, even larger iguana was also there for the kids to feed and touch.
There is a waterfall in Quimixto accessible by hiking or horse. Some of the group rode up on the horses and some hiked up. Once at the top, almost everyone went swimming in the pool below the waterfall. The water was really cold but felt great after the dusty walk up. Even though it is the dry season there was plenty of water in the waterfall. After swimming, everyone headed back down. Luckily, those of us who had walked up got to ride down!
Once all hikers and riders returned, lunch was served. Hotdogs, chips and fruit were popular with the kids. Poor Jim’s house looked like a tornado had gone through!
After lunch, we took the kids to the beach. It was almost like having a private beach. Two guys gave the kids kayak rides, the bigger kids swam in the ocean and the little ones played in the sand.
The kids all walked down the beach to get back to the boat while some of the adults went back to Jim’s house to get the things we were taking back. Amazingly, the house had been cleaned up and looked as good as new. There was a lot less stuff to go back! The boats were loaded and we returned to Boca. Once back in the cars, almost all the kids went to sleep on the trip back to the shelter.
It was a wonderful day in the little town of Quimixto. Quimixto is a step back in time, there are no cars and it is accessible only by boat. The kids all had a great Dia de los Ninos.

An evening in Bucerias

We went home after the Quimixto trip and took a siesta. After the short rest we headed out to check on our construction work in Bucerias. When we got there, the workers had already left for the day. We went to the main plaza to see what was happening. A show was being held for Dia de los Ninos. There were 3 or 4 clowns performing, handing out balloons and running contests for the kids. Apparently there had been a parade as we saw some floats parked on the street. After watching the clowns for a while, we decided to have dinner. El Lugar is located on the north side of the main plaza near the church. It is on the 2nd floor so we decided to eat there and watch the action in the plaza. We heard a band playing and there were many people in the plaza. Harold had a calzone and I had shrimp pasta. The food and service were both good.
After dinner we walked around the plaza. The band we had heard was now playing in another part of the plaza. It was a 16-piece band named Banda Perla Negra. It appeared they were playing at a family event. Some of the little girls who had been in the parade and show were there in their princess dresses. They had food, drinks and were dancing in the plaza. We sat and watched the dancing. We particularly enjoyed watching the kids dance. After about an hour, the band packed up and was headed to a nearby restaurant to play at a wedding reception.
We were worn out after the long day but we had a great time at the events.

What can you get for 100 pesos?

100 pesos
We have spent a lot of time in the area of town called El Pitillal. Monika and Luis live there and Luis’s bodega is on the other side of Pitillal. The central part of the town is just filled with shops of all kinds. Our dentist is also there about a block from the square.
You can find almost anything you need in Pitillal and the prices are usually good. Here are some of the things we have found there for 100 pesos (less than $10 US)
We had our teeth cleaned for 100 pesos each. Unlike the US, the dentist himself did the cleaning. Harold’s wedding ring had shrunk over the years and he couldn’t get it off his finger. So we went to a jewelry store to get it resized. They had to cut the ring off his finger, add material to it and resize it. This took about 45 minutes and cost 100 pesos.
Our camera stopped working while we were here. We took it to a shop that opened it up, examined it and determined we needed to take it to the Fuji repair center in the US. He didn’t have access to Fuji parts. The cost to check the camera – 100 pesos.
I had a pedicure at a shop recommended by several friends. It was a very good pedicure and the polish lasted for a long time. Cost – 100 pesos.
Harold got this hair cut at a shop near the dentist office. The cost – 35 pesos. He would have gone to the 30-peso shop, but they were too busy.

Cooking lesson
Until a couple months ago, neither Harold nor I had eaten ceviche. The thought of eating raw fish didn’t appeal to either one of us. But then we ate at Beto’s restaurant in Pitillal. They served a ceviche tostado with the meal. We didn’t realize what it was and ate it. Both of us liked it. We mentioned to Monika that we liked it. She said it was easy to make and she would show us how.
Sunday we picked up Monika to go buy fish. We went to the Aramara market. It is on the road that goes between Sam’s and Pitillal. We bought a type of fish called “bota”. They have a machine right there to grind the fish up for ceviche. We also bought some shrimp. They were headless large shrimp for 125 pesos/kg. That is about $5.50 US a pound.
Back at Monika’s house, we made the ceviche. We squeezed many limes on the fish, shredded carrots, chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumber and cilantro. A dash of Worchester sauce and some kosher salt were also added. It was all stirred up and put in the refrigerator to “cook.” We all enjoyed plenty of ceviche with tostados and avocado slices. Everyone ate so much that only Luis and I had any room for the shrimp scampi he cooked.
After lunch, Monika and I took the kids to the Krystal to the pool. Harold and Luis went to pick up a large round wooden table top for the fiesta grounds. It had been discarded by Carlos Slim in a vacant lot near ourhouse in Bucerias. It will now be used for parties at the fiesta grounds.

Construction work, etc

Construction work
Bucerias has a problem with city water. At times, demand exceeds supply so there is little or no water to the customers. As a result, everyone has aljibes (cisterns) and/or tinacos (roof-top water tanks). Our house has both, but the cistern is small so occasionally there is a shortage of water.
We decided to have a larger cistern installed. We got a bid from a Bucerias contractor and also talked to Rafa, the man who has been doing work on Luis’s bodega project. Since Luis was at a good point for the workers to go elsewhere, we hired Rafa.
The first thing to be done was to shop for materials. This entailed visits to several plumbing stores. The cistern, pump and pressure tank were selected. Next on the agenda was to dig the huge hole for the cistern. The plans were to dig the hole by hand. But as they got to the site, Harold and Cesar (one of the workers) saw a backhoe for hire. They went to see about it and found that the hole could be dug in about 2 hours so the man and machine were hired. 2 hours later there was a very big hole in the yard at a cost of 700 pesos, or less than $70 US. In the process of digging the hole the main water line to the house got broken. Luckily, the city water was not running at the time so the repairs were done before the yard flooded.
We had to go back to the plumbing supply to pay for the parts. The supply house allowed us to pay by check, which was good. It only took 2 tries to fill the check out correctly. You must do everything absolutely correctly. Speaking of that, we needed cash for the project so we got our bank account number from Joann and Patricia and headed to the bank. Well, without our checkbook there was going to be a 115-peso charge to get cash out. On the next trip to Bucerias we got the checkbook and returned to the bank. To get cash out, you write a check to yourself. Mexican banks seem to have a way to charge you for everything!
In addition to the cistern, the workers are installing a new roof coating. The roof is concrete so has to be treated for waterproofing.
So far, the project has been going well. The cistern is in the ground and filled with water. They have started backfilling around the cistern. The hole needs to be filled up, the plumbing and pressure pump installed and the whole thing tested. The roof work is also well underway. We have been to the worksite every day to check on the progress and pay the bills. Many times it seems like there would be a more efficient way to do the job, but the work is moving along. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion.

Juanito’s
When Kathy was here last month she brought us a bunch of Lance Armstrong Foundation “Livestrong” bracelets. The ones sold here in PV are pirated copies and are also expensive. Brenda wanted some, so we dropped off a bag for her. Another All Vallarta board member, Renee, wanted some as well. We had a plan to get together one day, which had to be postponed by our construction project. We decided to meet for breakfast and go to Juanito’s in Ixtapa.
We picked Renee p at the Villa del Palmar complex and headed to Ixtapa. At first it seemed she didn’t know where the place was, but lo and behold we found it. Juanito, the owner of the restaurant, used to work at Memo’s Pancake House in PV. The menu at Juanito’s is similar. The restaurant itself looks small from the outside. It has a very pretty garden location. You can tell the family is fond of gardening by all the orchids, cactus and other plants in the yard. We enjoyed a nice relaxing breakfast on the cool patio. Thanks, Renee, for showing us this cool little place.

You look familiar
People often comment on how vendors, hotel clerks and waiters remember them from ear to year. It is amazing that they can remember you a year or more later. Harold was on the street in town one day when he heard someone calling “Senor, senor”. He didn’t recognize the voice so didn’t respond. Pretty soon he heard the guy say “Senor Harold”, so he stopped to talk. The guy calling him was the OPC (off-premise contact) timeshare guy who works at the Alamo counter. It has been at least 2 years since he sent us on a tour. Not only did he remember Harold’s name, he said, “your last name is Sokolove, right?” Harold was very amazed!