Ahoy! Welcome to Marina Arroyo Seco... really

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - A few weeks ago, graders, tractors, dump trucks and pieces of huge earthmoving equipment descended on the dirt and gravel road leading into the village.

After years of government promises, the 3-kilometer road from Highway 200 into beautiful downtown Arroyo Seco is being paved.

If I didn't see it happening, I wouldn't believe it, either.

But this week I received some other news either much more exciting or quite depressing, depending on your perspective.

It appears a master plan for El Tecuan, just south of Arroyo Seco, is about to be implemented, a plan that will include construction of a marina at the extreme south end of Arroyo Seco's Playa Grande in what is now a natural lagoon filled with birds and fish.

Playa Grande is the Arroyo Seco beach dotted with about a dozen and a half houses and now home to three excellent seafood restaurants, by the way.



PLAYA GRANDE, FACING NORTH.

About a quarter mile past the last house there is a huge land outcropping which provides a great natural breakwater. And apparently that will be where the plans show the entrance to the marina will be. The marina will be built specifically to allow for ocean-going yachts to berth there, using the lagoon behind it as the actual place to moor vessels.

I use the word 'apparently' because this all comes third hand. A village amigo talked with an Arroyo Seco resident who attended a meeting in the Chamela area about a week ago at which state and local government officials announced a plan for a major development in the area of the old Tecuan Hotel and along the beach. Part of that meeting was to get the various stakeholders: ejido members, fishing cooperativa people, and everybody else, to sign documents assigning a variety of rights to the developers and the development so that things could get rolling.

Some folks apparently declined, because they didn't agree and/or the formula for sharing the benefits of such a project wasn't favorable enough.

Note the 'apparently' there. How that will shake out is way beyond my pay grade to analyze.



LIKELY PLACE TO DREDGE A CHANNEL THROUGH TO THE OCEAN
Besides the resort or hotel or whatever development - and the marina - the plan calls for opening up and deepening the lagoon and waterway that runs from Arroyo Seco to Tenacatita. According to the person at the meeting, La Veina (the river flowing into the anchorage where many yachts hang out) will be dredged, too, to allow for people to boat along an inside passage from Arroyo Seco to Tenacatita Bay.

The Mexican environmental agencies might have something to say about that.

Might.



LAGOON ENTRANCE AT SOUTH END OF PLAYA GRANDE



VIEW OF THE LAGOON BEHIND EL TECUAN

And how this relates to Tenacatita is anybody's guess. The beach and much of the land formerly occupied by Mexicans and gringos (many with federal titles) is still in the grip of the Guadalajara developer who seized the area at gunpoint and still holds it hostage like East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell.

I haven't seen the actual plans for the development and marina, though they have been described to me in great detail and are the talk of the town. It could be that when we return in November of this year, not only will we speeding in on a new paved road, we will head out to the beach and perhaps see even more earthmoving equipment dredging the lagoon, building breakwaters and perhaps putting a light atop the land outcropping as a navigational beacon.

And down the El Tecuan beach, some big hotel/resort/development will be going in.


ATOP THE PROMONTORY, EL TECUAN BEACH BEHIND ME

The irony is great for Admiral Fox and I.

We sold our 48-foot sailboat Sabbatical six years ago and decided to stay on shore, choosing this small, agricultural village as our home. We have a four-wheel Honda quad (with a trailer for beach toys or cargo), a motorcycle, two bicycles and a palapa/hacienda-style house right in el centro.

And inspired by Rick, June and Lyle of La Manzanilla, we have even been considering putting in a small garden next fall.

In the terminology of people who travel the world aboard sailboats, we 'swallowed the hook (anchor)' when we moved to land.

Now there might be a harbor with space for boats the size of Sabbatical within walking distance of my house.

If they build the marina quick enough, I might just buy another boat. Though this time, I think a panga would make more sense. Or at least as much sense as buying any boat that will spend its life in saltwater does.

Or, perhaps it's time to launch the Arroyo Seco Yacht Club.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Seeing Angels right here in Nuevo Vallarta

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - Admiral Fox and I barreled up Highway 200 today, leading a two-car caravan with Sasha and her mother right behind us all the way into Vallarta from Arroyo Seco.

Sasha and Camelia came down for a long weekend and by all measures, had a great time.


Sasha sleeping in the hammock with Grandma.


Sasha and Grandma head out to the beach on our quad.

We have a handful of errands to do here in the big city, including getting new photos for our Mexican visas (called an FM3).

We have been to two Walmarts and a Sam's Club (all of which normally do these photos). But no joy. Both Walmarts have machines not working and Sam's Club pleaded total ignorance that the photos were ever done in their shops.

Que lastima! Santo Crappo.

We did make it over to the aeropuerto just in time to pick up Ginny French of Boston, an amiga of Sylvia's from Corning College and who is coming to Arroyo Seco for a week of fun in the sun. She will be joined by our other amigos, Karen and Mike Schamel on Tuesday.

But we took Ginny right in for lunch from the airport - to Napolitos, of course, in the Paradise Village Mall. And yes, that's a margarita in Adm. Fox's hand...


Adm. Fox and Ginny at Napolitos in the Paradise Village mall

In our quest for photos today, we did have one quasi-miraculous encounter - at a Telcel cellular store of all places.

I have been reading an Anne Rice book about the life of Christ (she does write some things that don't have vampires in them) and also having an ongoing dialogue with a writer amiga from Sayulita about everyday miracles and the likelihood that angels really do exist.

I am not sure the young ladies in the photo below qualify exactly, but still, it was fun getting my photo taken. Angels, right there in the Telcel store.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

At the Arroyo Seco Internet cafe, waiting for Sasha Fox

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Sasha Fox and her mom are visiting here for a few days and Sasha just went toddling off with Grandma (Admiral Fox) to visit a neighbor who has a two year old.

I am posting - again - from the internet cafe here, but over the weekend we will be picking up a DSL modem in Puerto Vallarta so we don't have to rely so heavily on this tienda.

The people who own the store and internet service are nice enough, but at times it seems have the entire village is here, and the bandwidth simply can't handle any more wireless connections.

This blog is also being written using a different software package. The BlogPress software simply refuses to function anymore - kind of like my washing machine now in the repair shop in Melaque.

The repair shop has a new main circuit board 'on order' to fix the machine.

On order. In Mexico.

I hope we get it back in time to put it back in storage.

In the meantime, today is a beach day with Sasha and dinner tonight in La Manzanilla with amigos Joanie and Greg from El Tuito at the famous Martine's restaurant.

(NOTE TO CAPTAIN: Limit yourself to two margaritas...)

More on how that works out tomorrow.

A visit with granddaughter Sasha at Paradise Village

NUEVO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico -- Adm. Fox and I zipped up the highway from Arroyo Seco Friday for a visit to Puerto Vallarta.

We wanted to visit granddaughter Sasha, but also had to pick up a few dozen things to fix hurricane damage and also simply get supplies for the season.


With Sasha on the Paradise Village beach

Until we were on the ground in Arroyo Seco for a day or so, we weren't sure how much time we were likely going to spend, Now it seems we will be there most of the remaining eight or so weeks we expect to be here south of the border.

One of our treasure hunts has been to find replacement toilet seats. Yup, toilet seats. In the hurricane last fall, both were smashed by falling roof tiles and need to be replaced.

In the U.S., simple. In Mexico, not so.

The toilets we bought are fancy, lo-flush units that are environmentally friendly in water usage but a big carbon footprint to try to replace. We checked three likely places in the area, none of which had anything that would fit.

It would seem crazy to have to replace a toilet to get a toilet seat, but, well, it is Mexico.

Beyond that, we need yellow, bug-light light bulbs, hardware for doors and some specialty foods that we can't get in Arroyo Seco, like good refried beans. What? Refried beans not available in Arroyo Seco? Well, some are, but the amount of lard in the cans makes them delicious but less than healthy.

No matter how the treasure hunt turns out today, we head back down the highway this afternoon. Sunday is lunch on the Arroyo Seco beach and perhaps a trip to Playa Chica where the Admiral and I spent a nice afternoon two days ago - the only people on the whole stretch of beach.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Floods in New York, damn hot in Sacramento, cool in classrooms

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - In Sacramento, except for the damnably hot afternoons, the weather is barely a factor in life.

Quite a change from New York. There, you could walk outside in bright sunshine and get splattered with rain before you got your car door open. It happens.

Schenectady is under water

And right now, upstate New York is experiencing wild flooding, apparently from the tail end of yet another hurricane passing by.

Two hurricanes in, oh, a couple of weeks? And others forming out in the Atlantic. No climate change going on at all. Zip.

In the meantime, Adm. Fox and I plug along at our classes with one hand, the other working on getting staged to pull out of California (as legal residents) in December. It's weird making all these arrangements to change health care around, move cars, pack up offices we've had for 20+ years. Weird doesn't really cover it though, I think.

My students are getting an interesting ride this fall, as my patience is, well, maybe a little thinner than normal when it comes to putting up with the B.S. One student skipped the first night session of magazine writing and had the gall yesterday to be upset that I dropped him from the course. There were four people waiting for his seat that first night.

Ironically, I added all four  of those students and said, "What the hell, it's my last semester. Hang on tight, amigos."

Tonight it's off to Elk Grove for dinner at a Mexican restaurant with Chief Engineer Scott Noble and Counselor Jen Noble - part of a program to get in culinary shape for our return to Arroyo Seco.

Training can be soooooo hard.

Restaurant Las Brisas in Arroyo Seco

All eyes on the Banderas Bay Regatta in a few weeks...

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - Mike and Karen Schamel zoomed off on a Friendly Skies flight to Chicago this afternoon after two weeks of Mexico, staying both here and in Arroyo Seco. From the Windy City, they have another flight that takes them into Rochester, NY, tomorrow, then home to Hector and back to, well, chilly winter weather.

We capped off their last night in town with a dinner and drinks at Victor's in Marina Vallarta, joined by Laura and her amiga Wendy. Wendy was headed out today on a flight to Canada. Too early to go north, amigos. Months early!

Victor's restaurant is, well, an area icon. The food is good, the margaritas dangerous and Victor himself, a real character.

 (L-R) Karen and Mike, Adm. Fox, Wendy, the Captain, Dustin and Laura

Just remember this Golden Rule: Do Not order a second margarita if you go to Victor's.

But the wheels were barely up on Mike and Karen's flight today when I realized that the good ship, Lotus, driven by Captain Clarence, is back in Banderas Bay and ready for the Banderas Bay Regatta in a few weeks.

We are putting the crew from last year together again, this year vowing to make sure we fill the beer cooler at least an hour before each race to ensure proper temperatures for our hydration supplies

We have other goals, too, I am sure, but they escape me at this moment.

Before the race, Adm. Fox and I expect to get back down to Arroyo Seco and spend a lot of time out on the beach at the hotel where we have rented a room. Mike and Karen stayed there last week and we all ate at both of the beach restaurants several times.

And, of course, we will go into training so we are in good shape for the Regatta.

Maybe we will run back and forth between the restaurants to build up our cardiovascular systems.

Photo of the hotel taken from two miles out in the ocean

Warm weather returns to Arroyo Seco - and we buy a house

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - With amigos Karen and Mike Schamel from Hector, NY in tow, we arrived in Arroyo Seco Sunday, greeted by much warmer days and the normal Mexican winter that brings us south.

Mike and Karen are ensconced at the hotel on the beach, an 11-room manse where Adm. Fox and I have rented a room for a couple of months so we have a beach place when we leave the Pink Flamingo. It's opulence, Mexican style.

While we were gone for just a week, our neighbors Chena and Chon - along with most of their extended family - opened a beach restaurant just 200 yards from the hotel. We had dinner there last night - a celebratory event for finally closing on our new house.

Mike, Karen, Adm. Fox and el capitan

Um, new house?

Yes, Adm. Fox and I just purchased a three-bedroom, two-bath casa in beautiful Watkins Glen, New York.

Watkins Glen, NY?

Yup.

The house became available at the end of last summer and after some machinations this fall, we flew into Watkins in December, checked it out, and decided that when we fully retire (Dec. 10 of this year), it would be our base camp. We will have a two-way split that way - Seneca Lake and Mexico, instead of the Seneca Lake-California-Mexico trifecta we have done for four years.

We will wait out the upstate New York winter before flying in to take possession this spring. Given the severity of this year's weather there, it's very had to predict when we will see our new house on North Glen Avenue.

But while we wait, our Mexican adventures remain steady at warp 10. Each day takes us to the beach for a long walk (a video of surfers is at the bottom of this entry).

And this afternoon I will go to Tenacatita Bay to hop aboard the sailing vessel Di's Dream to help Captain Roger Frizzelle pilot the ship to Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta. It probably means a bus ride back to Arroyo Seco in a few days after a an 18-24 hour voyage.

That means I can get motion sickness in both directions.

Hoo-boy!

On the trail of sea turtles and roof tiles in Arroyo Seco

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - It was a doubly monumental day today for Admiral Fox and I in Arroyo Seco today.

First, we found four baby sea turtles struggling to get to the sea - and helped them reach their goal.

Second, we sold our heavy roof tiles from our palapa to the owner of Las Brisas Restaurant, a doubly good thing itself because it also means that the scorpion condominum (the stacked tiles) is off the property.

The baby turtle adventure started out as a simple walk on the beach and ended up with helping the wayward turtles to escape into the surf. We hesitated to do anything, until our amigo, Surfer Dude Martine, told us that the last hatch he saw was eaten entirely by a flock of free-wheeling frigate birds.

Tiles ready to be moved

After hearing his tale, he and Adm. Fox gave four little creatures a slight assist. And at last viewing, the baby turtles were on their way out into the sea, where other predators probably await. But at least they made it off the beach.

The great moving-the-tiles-project ended a long saga at the Pink Flamingo.

When the palapa was originally built three years ago, the tiles were used for the roof. But the fellow who built it didn't realize how heavy the tejas were and for two years, we watched the beams sag and our neighbor Chon told us when it rained heavily, he feared the entire structure might collapse.

Last summer, Chon and a work crew removed the old roof tiles and replaced them with relatively lightweight plastic laminate tiles. The new plastic tiles look great, by the way.

Tiles in the trailer on the way to the beach

And so today, the rest of the story is that local restaurateur Luis wanted the tiles and so we worked a deal - he could have the tiles, but instead of paying me, I would take my payment in food.

And his food is excellent!

He's happy, the Admiral is happy (scorpion condo gone) and I am really happy.

Having a tab at seafood restaurant that serves fabulous shrimp meals is pretty amazing, even in a land of amazing things.

Below is a brief video of the sea turtle adventure.

Arroyo Seco beach coming of age: hotel, restaurant, RV park...

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Having dinner last night at Luis' (Restaurante Las Brisas) on Playa Grande in Arroyo Seco - in the company of 14 people staying at the Hotel across the street - it occured to me that suddenly Arroyo Seco might be coming of age for tourists.

The single biggest drawback for out-of-town visitors in our few years living here has been that there is no commercial establishment for people to spend the night. So anyone interested in coming in and spending time wandering (or surfing or swimming) could only come in for day trips.

And the restaurant scene mostly consisted of small family run taco stands on the main street, which opened well after dark, long after most day-trippers were headed back to La Manzanilla or Careyes or Melaque.

View from the lower patio area of the hotel

Then the hotel - really an 11-bedroom home with a large central kitchen - came available for people to rent. It's not the Four Seasons, yet. And the owner would prefer to sell it and make it someone else's responsiblilty. But for now, Jim Monaco, owner/operator of the Monaco PV real estate company, has taken the place over for the owner and is renting out rooms.

He is also working like crazy, fixing the place up.

And there is an RV park now, too, that had guests about a week ago from the state of Washington.

Last night, the gringo population swelled as most of the rooms were taken by visitors from Barra and Melaque - a group of friends and people from as far away as the Mexican state of Michocan. And in addition to spending the afternoon and evening (and this morning) enjoying the beach scene and the small heart-shaped pool at the hotel, the entire assemblage walked across the street to Luis' restaurant, where a special meal had been prepared.

Luis and his wife Nena put on quite a spread, and most of the items we ate are available on the normal menu for the restaurant, open nearly every day.

Their son Luis and two young amigos acted as the waiters and kept all the diners happy.

Group from the hotel at Restaurante Las Brisas

Three years ago, when Adm. Fox and I bought the lot on which we now live in the winter and spring (aka, the Pink Flamingo), it was partly because we thought someday someone might want to open a restaurant or school or ? in the center of town.

Maybe that time is getting closer.

Perhaps a subsidiary of of Palapa Joe's?

Here's a brief video of from last night...

In Arroyo Seco, catching some rays on the beach - sun rays, that is

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Admiral Fox and I decided to come down to Arroyo Seco for a week to check on things and decompress from life in the big city of Puerto Vallarta.

It's been, well, great... We are spending days at the beach, afternoons at Luis' restaurant eating shrimp filadelphia and evenings (after puesto del sol) usually reading before turning in. Yes, I am still reading the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1. And I will be, into the summer.

View from hotel deck

Our amigos Jim and Vickie are helping the owner of an 11-bedroom house/hotel on the beach rent out some rooms this season. The place is for sale, if you have a spare $350,000 U.S.

Did I mention that the place comes with a heart-shaped swimming pool?

This is the first time in our years in Arroyo Seco that there has been actual overnight accommodations for out-of-town folks.

Adm. Fox and a I grabbed a room on the second story right away and will keep renting it for the season. It has a fabulous view of the entire beach.

In about a week or so, we will move all of our surf and beach gear down there. The place has a big kitchen downstairs and a new refrigerator to keep my hydration supplies cold.

When we have guests in the coming weeks and months, we will put them up down there, instead of having them stay in the Gray Goose Express II here in El Centro.

Over the weekend, Chief Education Officer Laura McCartney Warner dropped off her pooch Mia to spend a few days here in Mia's old stomping grounds. Mia was rescued last year by Sylvia and Laura and eventually went to Canada to live with Laura.

Vickie, Sylvia and Mia

Today, she and several of her former compadre dogs in the village went with us to the beach where they ran, jumped, and, of course, rolled in whatever dead things they could find. A short video of the huge surf - and Mia playing with her amigo pooches - is at the end of this blog.

And the sunsets! Madre mia! In the last few nights, the sun and moon have been putting on spectacular light shows. The first photo below was taken in La Manzanilla, the other here on Playa Grande.

Sunset in La Manzanilla

Arroyo Seco, Playa Grande

Restaurant Las Brisas in Arroyo Seco - the new beach hangout

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - The new location for Las Brisas Restaurant in Arroyo Seco, on Playa Grande, suits it well. Very well.

Under a large shady palapa roof, the restaurant has space for maybe fifty people in a crunch (or who might not be crunched,  there's plenty of chairs and tables...). The entire interior of the former house seems to have been given over to a huge kitchen with plenty of room for the fresh fish and shrimp that are the house specialties.

Las Brisas Restaurant in Arroyo Seco

In fact, don't go looking for a hamburger there, just yet. It's a seafood place - and everything is fresh, sometimes caught from the freshwater laguna out back, sometimes the ocean in front.

The place is operated by Luis and Nena, longtime Arroyo Seco residents who ran the restaurant in a much smaller facility across the street for several years. But that restaurant was really open only on weekends (and Semana Santa, of course). Luis and Nena's son, Luis Jr., along with some of his pre-teen amigos, act as the waiters and are close to professionally attentive.

Sometimes they might be wet after just getting out of the pool when they walk up, but they won't make you wait for your food.

The new place is serving meals every day and has become my new Arroyo Seco hangout.

Luis (standing) taking an order

So, um, where is it?

The Arroyo Seco turnoff is a left from Highway 200, a few kilometers north of Agua Caliente and the turnoff for El Tecuan.

The Arroyo Seco signs put up last year seem to have weathered the summer nicely.

Once in Arroyo Seco proper, the turn to Playa Grande is at the end of the main street. If you turn right, you go to Playa Chica, where there are no services, but frequently plenty of surfers.

Playa Grande is about two kilometers from town and Las Brisas is near the south of the beach. It's very close to the new RV park, too.

My favorite dish - so far - has been camarones filadelfia. Yup, they mix some Philadelphia cream cheese in while cooking the shrimp and peppers. It can be a little picante, too. (I have been getting the half order - plenty of of food - for 50 pesos...)

On a recent outing with amigos from La Manzanilla, the shrimp diablo got rave reviews as did the fresh fish filet, cooked in garlic.

All this writing about the restaurant is pushing me out the door to my quad for a quick spin to Las Brisas for some camarones filadelfia and a cold Tecate.

Oh, and a swim in the pool, too, if it's hot. I haven't seen any adults in the small pool, but, hey, it's Mexico. Jump in...

I will try to remember to take some photos of the food this next trip, too. The last few visits it disappeared before I could get my camera out of my bag.

Online, offline, Internet here, there and everywhere

NUEVO VALLARTA, NAYARIT, Mexico - The on-again, off-again, Finnegan of Internet service has been wreaking havoc on posting here and on the Tenacatita Bay Bugle (Tenacatita Bay Bugle link).

On the other hand, it has made it possible to ignore the keyboard, swim and generally enjoy the balmy weather that is Mexico this time of the year.

Admiral Fox and I made a quick foray to Arroyo Seco, where we opened up the place, which had been spit shined by our village amigos Chena and Chon. Somehow in our brief stay of a few days (which included runs to La Manzanilla and Melaque for food, gasoline and more dinero) we neglected to take any photos of the Pink Flamingo, though I did take a short video out on Playa Chica.

Arroyo Seco express to Dustin's

The trip was short because we went through various lockers in both trailers and the bodega to pull out items Dustin (and us) want/need in his new poolside casa.

Last night we barbecued steaks - only the third time our barbecue has been pressed into service since Arroyo Seco friends Jim and Vickie dragged it all the way from Texas for us.

What also came north was about six huge bags of dirty laundry, currently simmering in six washing machines in the laundromat here at Paradise Village.

Actually there are two more sacks sitting on the floor, too, but after dragging it all in, running back to the truck for the soap, buying the tokens for the machine, et al, I decided to take a break and head to the Vallarta Yacht Club for hydration.

Back at the house, Adm. Fox is patiently waiting for TelMex to arrive to hook up the telephone so we have reliable (?) internet service at Casa Dustin. He has been waiting for two weeks, with postponement after postponement.

And so it should come as no surprise that Sunday - when we left for four hours - someone showed up to install the phone. A Sunday. In Mexico.

Good grief.

But now, it's back to the washers. Arriba!

Sunset in La Manzanilla (at Figaro's restaurant) Friday night

In Mexico for the winter: Swimming pool, cerveza, beaches ahead

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - It took two days of travel, but Admiral Fox and I are safely ensconced at son Dustin's new casa, looking at the pool and plotting a day that includes a trip to the beach and a potluck dinner at the Vallarta Yacht Club.

Ah, Mexico!

Pool at Dustin's new casa in Nuevo Vallarta

 The trip began with a US Airways farble at 6 a.m. A lightbulb was out over one of the emergency doors and because there was no replacement bulb in the airport, the flight was delayed until about 10 a.m.

And so that meant instead of a 6:30 a.m. flight to Phoenix, followed by a 10 a.m. flight to Vallarta and arrival at 1:30 p.m., we spent a leisurely morning in the Sacramento airport - and eventually an overnight at a Courtyard Hotel on the edge of Phoenix's Sky Harbor.


As part of this trip south, we had to purchase one additional suitcase to carry all the assorted paraphernalia, clothes, and gifts we wanted to bring. But another black suitcase seemed, well, soooooo pedestrian.

Pink suitcase ready for loading in Sacramento

And so two days before liftoff, Admiral Fox went on the search and found a shocking pink suitcase at a Marshal's store that is bright enough that you might consider wearing sunglasses when you look at it.

The suitcase did yeoman service for the entire trip, each time popping off the conveyor belt, signaling the arrival of the three checked bags.

We knew the suitcase was going to make it to Phoenix, because we saw it being loaded in Sacramento.

Today we are already set to do some serious pool time, (serious pool time?), maybe head to the beach to make sure the sand is still there, and later tonight, we will go to the Vallarta Yacht Club for a potluck dinner.

The yacht club should be humming with cruisers and folks we know from other seasons down here.

And Arroyo Seco? That's on tap for later in the week after we sort out all the details of telephones, internet modems and various other details that make life in Mexico muy divertido...

A view of the coast north of Puerto Vallarta

End-of-the-semester shuffle starts for this year's Mexico adventures

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The last term papers and projects have been turned in, graded and returned, leaving only the avalanche of portfolios from my students, compilations of their work from the entire semester - kind of an academic legal brief as to why the student should get a good grade.

When those portfolios all show up early next week, it's time for me to dig through the pile and assign grades - a process that usually takes me right up until the day we leave for Mexico.

With four full classes, it looks about the same this year, too.

What is different about this year is that because we have been the guests of Steve and Pam, the packing up transition is less problematic - and less traumatic. When we get close to departure day, we live within two miles of our storage unit.

And even at that, we have very little to even stick into storage, thanks to Pam and Steve's letting us stay in their nicely furnished guest quarters.

I think I will be able to get everything in a single pickup truck load - and that's using my Nissan with a camper shell.

As the temperatures in Sacramento have started dropping down to the freezing level at night - and warming up into the high 40s during the day - those warm days at the beaches in Arroyo Seco and La Manzanilla are the stuff that dreams are made of.

And in this case, dreams set to come true.

Just a 100 or so portfolios stand in my way.

La Manzanilla beach

Getting out of the U.S. to Mexico, just ahead of the snow season

CAMP CONNELL, Calif., USA - The news from amigo Sanders Lamont this morning was that he already has 3.5 feet of snow on the ground at his house - and more falling all the time.

Welcome to the Northern California mountains, the place where surfboards are replaced by snowboards every fall about this time.

Sander's house in Camp Connell

This whopper of a winter storm dropped plenty of rain on the Sacramento Valley floor over the last few days, brought in gusty winds and generally reminded Adm. Fox and I why we head to Mexico every December.

Brrr.... Donde esta mi flip-flops?

In anticipation of that sojourn south, we spent part of Saturday at our down-sized storage unit, shifting clothes and getting ready for several upcoming trips.

But the storm also suggested that we should not try to drive up into the mountains to the town of Arnold, where a fiesta will be held Monday night for amigos Randy and Karin. They sold their mountain home and are headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We will also see them in Mexico this winter - they own a prime lot in Arroyo Seco, two blocks from the Pink Flamingo.

And there will not be any snow on the ground there. Dust? Of course.

California being California, the rain seems to have passed and the sun is out bright this morning, a harbinger of a sunny day perhaps. The thermometer is not having none of that, however. It seems to be stuck at just above 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Here, that seems damn cold. In Hector, New York, it would close to balmy.

Somewhere else, though (like Mexico) the surf's up and ready.

Me, too.

World's biggest surfboard

The ukulele on its way to La Manzanilla for winter and spring

Captain on the uke

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - My ukulele - which hasn't had a workout in weeks - is now safely in the back of the Nissan Pathfinder being driven south by amigos Beth and Roy.

The couple stopped by last night, had dinner and spent the night, then catapulted off this morning with stops planned in Yosemite, San Francisco and many parts between here and La Manzanilla.

They are carrying my uke as well as a couple of boogie-boards given to us by Dan and Lorraine Olsen, currently cruising on their sailboat somewhere in the Caribbean.

How to get the ukulele to Mexico became a minor crisis because of my new video camera. No way that piece of electronic gear is going into checked luggage. Ditto for the ukulele. It would arrive in three pieces, maybe four.

As it is, Admiral Fox and I are heading out to storage Friday (or Saturday) to check out what we need to pack to take to Mexico. All of the relatively cold-weather clothes we are wearing now need to be packed up and boxed in favor of the shorts, T-shirts, sandals and flip-flops that are the uniform of the day in La Manzanilla and Arroyo Seco.

I can see the ocean from my window right now. Or at least I wish I could.

In searching for the photo of the uke above, I ran across this classic ukulele video - one of my favorites.

Careening to Mexico - but to exactly what, we'll see when we arrive

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Parts of Mexico would appear to be imploding or exploding, depending on your perspective. Not a day seems to go by without a published and/or broadcast report that more bodies have been unearthed somewhere along the U.S.-Mexican border, or some travesty involving violence has happened somewhere to the south. The New York Times has been doing a credible job of reporting on all the nastiness. I'm trying to skip over some of the stories; they are too gruesome.

Even in our little corner of the Costa Alegre, south of Puerto Vallarta, a developer has grabbed arguably the most beautiful beach on the west coast of the Mexican mainland (Tenacatita) and now threatens to shoot anyone who tries to go to the beach, beaches which Mexican law proudly declares belong to the people.

People with guns, apparently.


Tenacatita Beach, May 2, 2009 - all empty now, except for guards with guns

Still, in a little over a month, Adm. Fox and I will head south (by plane, not driving across the border this year, thank you very much) and check out how things are in Arroyo Seco, our village where serenity has reigned for the few years we've lived there in the winter.

We hope it's still serene, but given that it is only a few miles from occupied Tenacatita Beach, we are braced for some tension there, too. And the village might have some new residents, some of the 800 or so Mexicans who were booted from their homes and businesses so unceremoniously (and viciously) August 4. Most of the refugees are clustered in and around the small village of Rebalsito, a tiny town on the highway into the beach, though some of those folks have family ties to Arroyo Seco.

Earlier this year, the evicted people blocked the major north-south highway as a protest - and in since August, have been trying every legal avenue possible to get their property (most of it federally titled) back.


Protesters on the highway in August

Still, I have started to pack my new camera gear, new hats (my dermatologist has insisted), and warm-weather clothing for the Mexican winter. And, of course, presents for granddaughter Sasha Fox in Puerto Vallarta have started stacking up likes planes over Denver, around our suitcases. My greatest dilemma is how to bring down my eight-string ukulele. My new camera gear has to be hand-carried on the plane. With my other carry-on - my backpack full of important Mexico papers - I am at capacity.

But sans the uke, there would be no participating in open mic nights at the newly renovated Palapa Joe's.

That's a sobering thought.

Mexico, prepare for incoming.

What's summer without a nice summer cold to cap things off?

VALOIS, New York, USA - After a three-day weekend that included a great beach party Friday, attending the Cardboard Boat Races (and party) Saturday, and then Jenn and Carl's wedding (and reception) Sunday afternoon and evening, I was about as hydrated as I could be, and felt great. Three parties in three days and ready for more lake fun.

Woo-hoo!

And feeling great lasted right until Wednesday morning when I woke up at 6 a.m. with a sore throat, a cough - and a head cold - one of those cement-head-type colds in which everything you see and hear seems to be going on behind a heavy gauze curtain. After talking with Hector amiga Karen Schamel, I learned that the cold was making the rounds of all of Schuyler County.

And here I thought I was patient zero.

But on this second day of the cold, I feel a little better, perhaps a combination of yesterday afternoon's boating, ample hydration, and warm sun to bake the cold out. I wish today were as warm. Maybe it will be soon.


Jenn and Carl's vows on Sunday


Entry in the cardboard boat race



Yesterday, Admiral Fox had to barrel off for appointments, leaving me (and my cement-solid head, no comments please) alone at the house for the day. After doing some dock improvements, I decided the best thing for my cold was a trip across the lake (by pontoon boat, of course) to the Showboat Restaurant and Bar, about five miles away on the east side of Seneca Lake.

The place has good docking facilities, excellent cold beer,  passable hamburgers and fries, and occasionally waitresses who could be aspiring to work at a Hooters restaurant. It seemed the perfect place for a destination cruise - and to sit around for the afternoon.

Alas, when I arrived shortly after noon, ready for a beer and a burger, a 16-year-old fellow - wielding a power drill in the bar - told me that the restaurant might be opening this coming weekend. "I think they'll be open then," he said.

I think I will call ahead before taking a voyage there again.


The Showboat's outside bar - closed until further notice

It was nice to return to our dock, however, and see how my handiwork from earlier in the day looked from the water.

I added white bumper strips to the pilings so visiting boats - and the Spirit of Louise, of course - could moor without having to reach into dark boat lockers to find fenders, and then tie them on to protect the vessel. I got the idea for the strips from Eric and Tina Hazlitt's dock, though I should have spent a little more time asking around how to actually install the pieces.

(Ever dropped an electric drill into the water? How about a box of screws? A screwdriver?)

Still, Wednesday morning, even with a head that felt like it was full of slow-drying cement, I was able to install the strips and now we are ready to inaugurate the Valois Point Yacht Club.

Or at least as soon as I get the bar built on the end of the dock.

On Facebook, I put up a photo of the dock and sunshade, indicating that all I needed now was a bar - and barflies - to complete the picture. I immediately had volunteers for the barfly positions.

This should be fun...


Valois Point Yacht Club dock

From Mexico, there was some good news (even if expensive) in the last week: Our palapa's new roof is almost finished at The Pink Flamingo in Arroyo Seco.

The original roof - covered with interlocking ceramic tiles - was so heavy it was cracking the support beams and making strange creaking noises. Conventional wisdom said it would not last another rainy season. The monsoon rains can add tons of weight to the roof during downpours.

Our amigo and neighbor Chon took on the project (along with a crew of Arroyo Seco workers), stripping off the tiles and replacing them with an attractive laminate material that looks very similar, but weighs about 10 percent of the original roof.

Admiral Fox and I will sleep better knowing the palapa will still be standing when we go home to Mexico in December, even if we are many pesos poorer.

We'll drown our sorrows (about how many pesos we had to lay out) down on the dock at the VPYC - when I get the bar built ...


Chon hard at work replacing the roof

Brace for impact! Getting ready to head back to the U.S.

PARADISE VILLAGE, Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico - We shut down the Pink Flamingo in Arroyo Seco Sunday in a flurry of last-minute items from a much longer checklist:

Close slider on Grey Goose Express II

Empty black water tank and rinse (ugh!)

Turn off electricity to both trailers

Disconnect internet modem

Hook up Mexico telephone

Put Honda(s) in bodega

Turn off water pressure

Close windows tight

and

and

and...

But we still left before noon (my deadline) and were rocketing up the highway to spend three days here in Paradise Village Resort before boarding our flight Wednesday to get back to the wilds of upstate New York and Seneca Lake. Here in Paradise, we have pools, restaurants, a beach, and the best boogie-boarding in Mexico.  

Really.

The sojourn takes us by air from Puerto Vallarta to Phoenix, Ariz. (better double-check my immigration papers quick), then to Philadelphia, Penn. (where the airport staff in the City of Brotherly Love has lost touch with that sentiment), then on to the Elmira, New York airport and then a short drive to Valois.

We leave Puerto Vallarta at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and will arrive in Valois the following day at about 1:30 p.m.

Yup, a looooong trip. And if we are lucky it will be 60 degrees when we arrive at the lake house. If we are extremely lucky. Fire up that hot tub, rapido...


Paradise Village hotel, beach and marina

The few days here are partly to decompress, partly to watch some American television (i.e. Fox News) so my blood pressure can rise slowly to the level of an Orange Alert, but also to spend some time with Granddaughter Sasha Fox (and her parents, of course). If we can wrest the nearly two-year-old away from her parents today, we will take her to the beach where she and I will build some sand castles and perhaps do some boogie-boarding.

OK, she won't boogie-board, but she loves the water. And I am teaching her how to splash people. Hey, someone has to be in charge of her education.


Sasha at the beach

Still, it is very hard for me to leave Mexico, even knowing how many friends and family we have waiting in New York in California.

The last week in Arroyo Seco - shutdown issues aside - was great, with trips to the beach, trips into La Manzanilla for lunch and Palapa Joes and Figaro's, and a fabulous welcome home party for our amigo Jose Cuevas, better known in the village as Chapon.

As we departed Sunday, our neighbor and amigo Chon closed the Pink Flamingo gates for us and I could tell he was ready to start cleaning and clearing the mess we left. I hadn't trimmed a bougainvillea or mowed the grass in weeks.

He promised that next season life would be mas tranquilo than this season and that we should not worry about anything (Mexico-wise) while we are in the U.S.

Except, he said, we should be very careful in the U.S. (his exact word was cuidado!) and be sure to come back home safely to Arroyo Seco.

Lo prometo, mi amigo, lo prometo.


Chena, Chapon, Brianda and Consuela


Sunset in La Manzanilla

Time to leave Arroyo Seco for the season, just as a new baby arrives

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - Our time here in Arroyo Seco for this year is over already, and Sunday we head north to Puerto Vallarta to spend a few days lounging by the pool before boarding a U.S. Airways jet to take us to Elmira, New York (and from there we drive to Valois on Seneca Lake...).

But after a long winter and spring of dealing with a property dispute - more on that another time - the last few weeks have given us great joy, and a reminder of why we like it so much here.

-- CEO Laura Warner headed north this week with her rescued dog, Princesa Mia, who is already adjusting to life in Canada. Mia - and a shaggy village pooch named Canela - were the stars in this year's efforts by the Admiral to help the dogs in the village. Getting a dog rescued from the highway (Mia) and having her actually adopted (by Laura and us...) is as good as it gets. And the best part is Mia will return with Laura next fall.

-- Jose Cuevas Sr. (better known as Chapon) is back in the rancho this week after nearly a year's absence. There's a long story with that, too, also better told another time. But his family and friends have been celebrating since he came back and now he has a new granddaughter to bounce on his knee.

-- That granddaughter, Elina Lizbeth Cuevas Hernandez is the child of Chapon's son Jose Antonio (better known as King Kong in the rancho) and Veronica. Veronica came home today with her baby (born Friday) and Veronica looks like she was on a vacation - not in a hospital having a baby.


Proud mom - with her new baby

Here is a short video of Veronica and her baby, Elina Lizbeth. Veronica wanted to send a video message to her mother, who is living in the U.S.