All Vallarta arrives

The invasion has begun! Members of the AllVallarta.com bulletin board are arriving for the annual get together. There are many activities planned for the next few weeks.
Board members pvdeb and Wills came to visit us in Bucerias on Thursday. The took the bus from the south side to Walmart, then another bus to Bucerias. We gave them the grand tour of our house. Deb looked at her room and gave it the seal of approval. We promised that it would be decorated properly before she comes to visit again.
We gave them the 2-peso tour of Bucerias then went to eat lunch. We decided on Adauto’s Beach Club. It is on Avenida Pacifica and is the furthest north restaurant in the row. Lunch turned out to be lots of fun. Adauto himself was our waiter. Deb and I had grilled fish with butter and garlic, Wills had chicken fajitas and Harold had a grilled fish fillet with shrimp sauce. Fresh, hot garlic bread and tortillas came with the meals. Everything was really good. Deb even took the leftover bread home. After we finished our meals, Adauto asked if we wanted desert. Deb is a flan fan, so she couldn’t resist. She told Adauto she was from the International Flan Association and would review his flan. Actually, his wife makes it and uses cream cheese. Deb prefers the denser version of flan and this was perfect. We all had a taste and it was delicious. Next thing we know, Adauto was there bringing us ice cream cones. They were also great and we were stuffed. When he came back and asked if we wanted anything else, we all shouted “no more food!” We left the place absolutely stuffed. Besides the indoor restaurant, you can get beach service there. It would be a nice place to spend an afternoon.
Another board member, Island Girl 317 (Stephanie) and her husband Kevin are staying in Bucerias. We met them for appetizers and a dink at Sandrina’s. We had a great time talking about kids, work, previous vacations and the like. They have stayed in Puerto Vallarta before but since they came without the kids, they decided to veg out on the beach for a week.
Stephanie told us that a local restaurant was doing a turtle release the next evening. After we got back home from taking Deb and Wills into town, we rested for a bit then headed to the square for the turtle release. It was fun to watch the tiny little turtles scramble towards the ocean. Migel Angel’s Restaurant in Bucerias will be doing this every Thursday evening until December.
Friday evening we went to CyC. Many people had gone to Pipi’s for dinner so it was a small group.
Harold and I gave Stephanie and Kevin a ride into town. We had to stop at the Marina to get our big water bottle refilled, then stop at Splash to get our laundry back. We eventually got to CyC and joined Marsha and ChiTownLoca (Michelle) and her husband Beto. After a couple drinks, Harold and I decided to walk over to Los Arcos to watch the drawing of the Mexican Lottery. We watched for a while and were totally confused!
We walked over to Marisco Polo and joined Marsha, Kevin and Stephanie for dinner. It was as good as I remembered.
I think tonight we will go back to CyC as a large group is expected.

Setting up housekeeping

We are now in total electronic communication. Our studio/TV room rivals the Bat Cave. We have our Star Choice satellite TV and now we have computer central. I got the modem from Prodigy that only hooks up one device since we already had a wireless router. At first I could only get the laptop to work with Prodigy. After a phone call or 3 to Infinitum, I was able to get the desk top computer to also work with the modem. Packet 8 worked fine, too, but the problem was we could use one or another, but not more than that. I tried fiddling with the Linksys router and made no progress.
I got the name of a computer guy from 2 different folks. He came to the house and worked for 2 hours and couldn’t get it to work. He suggested returning to Telmex and exchange our modem for the wireless / multiple port one.
We went to Telmex to talk to Juan Pablo. He told us that we could not exchange the modem, only buy a new one. We explained the problem to him and he gave us the name of another computer guy. Juan Pablo assured us that the guy could help us. So off we went to Bucerias Net to find Omar. Omar came to the house and an hour later we had computer central! Desktop works, Packet 8 works, even the laptop wireless connection works. All that for 150 pesos!
We were happy with Omar’s work and took him over to Patricia and Joann’s house because we knew they were having problems, too. 15 minutes and 50 pesos later their problems were solved.
Once a person enters Mexico for the first time on their new FM3, they have 30 days to register it at the Immigration office closest to their home. We went to the office across from San Javier Hospital to register. We were pleased to find out that the office does have A/C and that there weren’t too many people waiting. We did have to go downstairs to the pharmacy to get copies made of every page of our passports. We now have a receipt for our FM3s and have to return Monday to get them back. Altogether we were there less than an hour. Everyone warned us to get it done in the low season unless we wanted to spend all day there.
We just found out that our trailer full of household goods has cleared customs in Laredo and is on the way to Guadalajara. With any luck, it will get here next week.

Our first week in Bucerias

We have been getting settled in to our house. Despite the fact that our car was stuffed full, the vast majority of our household goods will arrive in a few weeks. We have been sorting out things we brought for others. A steering wheel for our neighbor’s Ford Explorer was the most unusual thing we brought. We met Brenda, Dave and Linda and Ira Horowitz at CyC Friday. We had sugar free pancake syrup and other goodies for Brenda and a book for Ira.
Denny and his wife Barbara came over Friday and Denny worked on our Star Choice satellite system. It hasn’t been working and he had to come look at it. It had to be taken away to the receiver and dish hospital. Long story short, one part was shorted out and had to be replaced. Denny came through with flying colors and we were able to watch Desperate Housewives, which almost made up for us missing Boston Legal.
On Wednesday we went to Telmex to sign up for high-speed internet service. We already have a phone, so this was an add-on. The first employee we spoke to did not speak English. She had the guard help translate, but that wasn’t overly helpful. I did talk to the one person there who does speak English to make sure we had signed up correctly. We were told that it would take 3 business days to be ready, which would be Monday. They gave us our modem and away we went.
On Friday, I got a call from Prodigy. After asking to speak to an English-speaking tech, it was unclear why they had called us, but I did find out we were ready to go. I first tried connecting with the desktop computer but need a new driver for it. We did get online with the laptop. I will now figure out how to get the correct driver and also how to get my wireless router to work.
We don’t have a washing machine yet so we took our clothes to a lavandaria. Last winter we used Splash, near the Sheraton. Probably we went there 10 times total. We dropped the laundry off Thursday with one of the employees there. On Friday when we returned to get it, Leticia, the owner, had my bag of laundry out before I even got into the store. She not only remembered us, but remembered my first name as well.
After reading on the All Vallarta board about Brando’s at the Marina, we decided to check out the ribs there. On the menu, ribs were 79 pesos. I was glad I knew to ask about the special, which was the same plate of ribs for 49 pesos. The ribs and fries were very good.
Another day we ate at Vikingo’s Hamburgers on Madero. They sell 3 different sizes of burgers. We got the medium, and it was huge!
We have managed to get to the beach and also to the Krystal to swim. The weather has been hot and humid, but apparently cooler than it has been. We have been trying to get by without air-conditioning. The dogs are getting settled in as well. They like to walk up our street. There is little traffic there so they can just wander in the street. They don’t like being in the backyard very much, especially when we close the iron security gates.
Altogether it is very quiet in our neighborhood. The trash truck comes by Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. One in a while a water truck or a gas truck goes by. We haven’t seen many vendors yet.
Today we ventured down to Fidencio’s and met Deb, Jennifer, Ira and Linda for a nice visit on the beach. Tonight the weather seems to have cooled off just a little so maybe we won’t need the AC tonight.

Lagos de Moreno to Bucerias, we are home!

In the morning, I decided to walk the dogs while Harold made sure everything was secured in the car. Because we would be in Bucerias in the afternoon and expected t to be warm there, I wore shorts. It was fairly cool in the morning when I was walking the dogs. We went to the nearest area with grass. This also turned out to be in the area of two bus stops. There were probably 40 people waiting for the buses, mostly men. So here I was, the only gringa in sight, wearing shorts, with 2 dogs on leashes. Needless to say, I really stuck out in that crowd.
Once we got going, it was off to Guadalajara. On the way through the highlands Los Altos de Jalisco) it was extremely foggy. When you see the road signs for fog zone, they aren’t kidding. Once we got through Guadalajara we stopped for gas and at a 7-11 for coffee. It got sunny as we were crossing the mountains between the toll road and the road to Puerto Vallarta.
We arrived in Bucerias about 2:30 p.m. Joann and Lucila were at the house to meet us. Patricia arrived soon after and they helped us unload the car. Finally after all the planning and organizing, we are here!
We put away some of our things and divided out what we have brought for others. Harold and I went by Luis and Monika’s house to see if they were home but they weren’t. We stopped at Gigante for some groceries then went to La Fabula in Pitillal for pizza. After putting away the groceries and eating our pizza it was time to end another long day.

Saltillo to Lagos de Moreno

The Holiday Inn website said we would get a free breakfast. When we checked in, we got a card for 2 breakfasts, and it said “cont” on the card. We figured that meant continental breakfast. When we went to breakfast, the waiter took the card and made no mention at all as to what we got. There was a breakfast buffet with fruit, cereal, yogurt, eggs, pancakes and Mexican pastries. We ate a decent breakfast then got going.
The Holiday Inn is closer to Saltillo than the turnoff to Matehuala. We were told that doubling back to the cutoff was the quickest way to go. I think if we had turned sooner and followed the signs we would have been fine and saved some on the tolls.
The drive from Saltillo to Lagos de Moreno was fairly uneventful except for the couple times the things in the car shifted and fell on the dogs. They started getting pretty nervous and as soon as we got on rough pavement they both wanted to jump up front with us to avoid the fallout. Eventually Harold tied everything in place and it all stayed put.
We knew in Lagos de Moreno we had a reservation at the Hotel Paris. Our friend Luis had called around to find us a hotel that allowed pets. We asked him to get directions to the hotel. The best he could get from them was that it was next door to the police station. Someone else told us it was right on the square.
Once in Lagos de Moreno we headed for Centro. As we were trying to decide how to locate the square, Harold noticed we were right behind a police truck. Since we were at a traffic light, he suggested I go ask them where the hotel was. So I asked them and they directed us to the hotel. Harold and the dogs waited in the car while I checked in. I knew the place was different than other hotels we have stayed at when the desk clerk gave me a roll of toilet paper and 2 bars of soap when I checked in. They gave me the choice of two rooms. One had a window into the interior courtyard, the other a window overlooking the street. I chose the street side so we could get some fresh air. We were right across from the police station.
We got to Lagos de Moreno about 3 p.m. We walked to dogs near the river and then we took the dogs back to the room and Harold and I looked around the town some. After a short nap, we took the dogs out for a longer walk. We passed a nice looking restaurant and decided to see if they would let us eat on the patio with the dogs, or if we would have to walk the dogs back to the hotel then go eat. They said as long as our dogs were quiet it was fine. The meal turned out to be very good. I had a chicken breast wrapped in bacon with a sauce, and Harold had arrachera. They gave us an octopus ceviche appetizer and we ordered another appetizer which was puff pastry with a creamy cheese filling and a rich cream sauce. Everything was very tasty. The restaurant was attached to the cultural center and had a very nice setting. We enjoyed our meal which came to 250 pesos including tip for a big meal and two beverages.
After dinner we saw a crowd gathering in front of a church. We waited to see what was happening. It was a performance by a traveling Polish singing and dancing troupe. This was part of a series of cultural events called Otono en Lagos.
We returned to the hotel where I went to the desk and paid my 20-peso deposit for a towel. It had about the amount of cotton contained in a normal washcloth! But the hotel did have hot water and the towel worked fine.
Once we went to bed we figured the street noise would quiet down soon. It did, but we weren’t counting on the police officers hanging around outside the police station most of the night. First they were working on the hood latch of one of the trucks. This involved opening and slamming the hood many times. Later on they were laughing and telling jokes and playing with their police radios. It didn’t make for a real restful night but we survived.

Waco to Saltillo

We intended to leave Waco at 8, but ended up leaving around 8:30 instead. Our estimation of how much stuff our Mazda Tribute would hold was a little off, we had to really stuff the stuff in.
After stopping at the ATM and topping off the gas, off we went. Our first stop was on the south side of San Antonio for gas. We could easily been in Mexico already we got to the gas station on Flores Ave. On one side of the gas station was a taco truck, on the other side was a little flea market. The bathroom had the ambiance of the one at Ernesto’s. The gas price was surprisingly low. It was just north of Crossroads Mall.
The plan called for us to cross the border at Colombia Solidarity Bridge. There is a toll road ($2) from I35 to the bridge. The exit form I35 is at mile 24. The hours the toll booth is open are 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. At night, only prepaid cards are accepted. If you take that cut-off, you completely skirt around Laredo/ Nuevo Laredo. Just as we got on the Camino Colombia Tollway, one of the ropes on our roof rack came loose, so we stopped to fix that.
After crossing the bridge, you go to the customs red/green light. We got green and went to the parking lot. We were greeted at the door by the immigration official. He stamped our FM3s for our first entry into Mexico. Because we didn’t turn in our FMTs last trip and the Austin consulate didn’t take them, we had our old FMTs stuck in the back of or passports. After answering questions as to why they weren’t turned in (we said they didn’t take them), we were good to go. The official looked at our car permit and said we needed a new one. We had been told that as long as our immigration status was good, so was our car permit. Te official explanation as to why we had to get a new one was that since we left Mexico and were re-entering on an expired permit, we needed to get a new one. Apparently, according to them, as long as we reman in Mexico the permit is good. There really was no arguing with them, when we said the consulate told us we don’t need a new one, they said the consulate was wrong. So we canceled the old permit and got a new one. This all took a little longer than we planned, but actually went very quickly.
After getting our permit, we stopped at the Pemex. It used to be that you wanted to fill up in the US, now gas is cheaper in Mexico. We paid 6.12 pesos/liter for the green.
Once you leave the customs/immigration building and get to the end of that road, you turn left and head toward Monterrey. The turns are well marked. There is a second checkpoint where you get the red or green light. Again, we got green. But as we approached the checkpoint and went over a speedbump, the things in the car shifted and started falling on the dogs. Right after the checkpoint we stopped at the Pemex to repack. We had one other small load shift incident on the road to Monterrey.
Instead of turning south on the Matehuala cuota, we headed toward Saltillo where we had a reservation at Holiday Inn. I made the reservation on line and the website said they accet pets. The rate of $63 plus tax includes a continental breakfast. We got settled in our room and decided to just eat at the hotel restaurant. Harold had a pork and apple entrée and I had spinach-stuffed chicken breast Both came with rice, potatoes and vegetables. Each of us had a limonada as well. The food was very good and our bill including tip was 148 pesos.
After dinner we watched Desperate Housewives on TV, walked the dogs and then were ready for bed. I was going to check my email but the network was down. There was a short thunderstorm while we were watching TV. It was a pretty long day and we were too tired to go out and look around any.
While we were in the lobby before dinner, Harold was talking to a woman who noticed his Puerto Vallarta Tshirt. She and her husband were also driving to Puerto Vallarta. Her anme is Kathy and she is a wedding planner. We really weren’t surprised to find out that she knows Brenda.

Movin' right along

Our household goods are being moved to Bucerias by Lake Chapala Moving Company (LCMC). They work with a company in the US called Pack Pro. Leon, at LCMC, makes all the arrangements and he is the one who you send your inventory to, he arranges the border crossing, etc. Pack Pro arranges for a trailer to be dropped at your location and picked up. They also arrange the insurance coverage for the shipment.
We had made all arrangements with LCMC, Pack Pro, the storage company where our things were being stored, and some guys to load our trailer. All was arranged for Tuesday, October 4. The trailer was to come in the morning and be loaded in the afternoon.
The company hired by Pack Pro was Roadway. On Tuesday morning, the Roadway driver called to tell us that he would be there in 30 minutes to pick up our trailer. Only problem – he was supposed to be dropping off a trailer to us. So, a few phone calls were made to Pack Pro and Roadway. The driver made some calls and found an empty trailer and had it delivered. Nervous moment #1 solved. Harold and I had some things at my parents’ house that were going to go in the trailer. We loaded up our car and truck and took them over to the trailer.
At the appointed time, our loading guys showed up. Our friend Deanna, who works for a moving company had strongly suggested hiring loaders and she was right. The two guys went and got all the stuff out of our storage unit, put it in their enclosed trailer, then brought it to where the moving truck was parked. The assembling of the jigsaw puzzle began then. The fee for moving is charged by the linear foot used in the trailer. We had been told the trailer was 8’ x 8’. It really turned out to be about 8 ½ feet by 9 feet. Robby, the main loader, looked at all the boxes, tubs and odd shaped things and then packed the trailer to the top and got all our stuff in about 11 linear feet of space. It took them about 3 hours to load it, if Harold and I had done it, it would have taken at least twice that long, amd we probably wouldn’t have gotten it as compact. It helps that Robby is about 30 years younger and 8 inches taller than Harold, too.
Next nervous moment – Roadway had not dropped off the load lock kit to keep our things in that 11 feet. I made numerous phone calls to Pack Pro and Roadway before finding out that Roadway couldn’t deliver them out that day, they would bring them in the morning when they picked up the truck. So of course all evening and until we met the truck driver for the pickup, I had visions of our nicely stacked trailer shifting and all the boxes and other things scattered everywhere.
No worry, the load looked fine, the driver came and put in the sealed divider. It was mych lower-tech than I was expecting. Basically, there is a track at the bottom made of 2 2x8s that span the width of the trailer. Two pieces of chipboard plywood stand up in that track. So at that point there is a chipboard wall dividing off our stuff. Expandable load bars are put across the trailer in 4 spots to secure the wall. Time will tell if everything gets there without the wall falling down!
We signed the forms with the driver and off our stuff went. To Dallas. The driver told us that Roadway hubs all their trailers through Dallas, so our south-bound trailer headed north to Dallas to begin it’s journey.
Here’s how the whole LCMC / Pack Pro thing works. Instead of a full service move where someone comes and packs your belongings, loads the moving truck, delivers the goods and unloads the truck, this is more self-service. You pack everything or hire someone to pack. You load your household goods into a 28’ trailer, taking as much space as you need. Earlier in the process we had estimated 10’ of space would be needed. LCMC bases their estimate on the aount you tell them it will be. From what I have heard, what Leon tells you it will cost is exactly what it costs. Obviously, he priced ours on 10’ and we have 11’, but he gave us a price per extra foot, so we know what our total cost will be. Once the divider is put in place, other freight is loaded in that trailer to be hauled to the border. In Laredo, the additional freight is removed. Your household goods cross the border in the same trailer you loaded them into, by themselves. LCMC handles the border crossing and customs. You provide ahead of time an inventory of the contents. They have your inventory translated into Spanish and do all the paperwork.
Once the trailer clears customs, freight is loaded on in Nuevo Laredo and hauled to Guadalajara. We will have a slightly longer wait, and our cost was slightly higher because the trailer will be delivered to Bucerias. At that end, the driver will deliver the trailer and wait while we unload it. We plan on hiring unloaders as well. We have been told by LCMC that the delivery time will be 2 or 3 weeks. I’ll let you know.