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

A three-day road trip to Puerto Vallarta - but sans any appointments

PUERTO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - The Admiral and I packed up mid-week and headed north to Puerto Vallarta to see the kids (ok, they are in their 30s, but kids are kids) and granddaughter Sasha, of course, leaving the Pink Flamingo in the capable hands of CEO Laura Warner.

And for the first time in many such forays along Mexico's Highway 200, we didn't have medical appointments, dental work, car repairs or any other pressing engagements planned.

So why am I so tired?

We managed to fill in the hours with lots of quality time with Sasha and Dustin and Cami, and, of course, I made a couple of trips to Home Depot - but no new solar lights this time :-(  I also managed to stop by a marine hardware store where I bought, well, some marine hardware.

In the course of the trip, we also went out and looked at some property Dustin and Cami are considering purchasing, with the idea of eventually building a house there. Oh, now I realize why I am so tired. Even the thought of a project that size sends me right to a hammock.

Zzzzzzzzz.....


Grandpa Michael and Sasha enjoy some pizza at Paradise Mall

Tonight we head into La Manzanilla, where Admiral Fox has another performance with the Celtic Duo she hooked up with earlier this year. It's only a one-hour performance, but right now she is practicing the playlist, much to the delight of the neighbors who have, rather politely, turned down the ever-present banda music to listen.

Her violin is in need of professional attention, however and she said she is learning how to play around a string that lets out a non-musical noise every once in a while.

I can't hear it, but then, I play a ukulele and just sing louder when I don't know the chord.

Here's a brief video of granddaughter Sasha, who is learning the fine art of diving...

Shutting down for the season, just ahead of the heat

ARROYO SECO, Jalisco, Mexico - The weather has gone from balmy and breezy to humid and hot. Really hot. Really humid.

But it has its charms, like getting up and being able to water the grass and plants before dawn - standing in a bathing suit. Already the sun is high enough to make it as steamy as a novel set in a South American jungle and work has moved from outside to inside - or in the shade.

The Admiral and I made a quick trip to Puerto Vallarta Sunday to drop off amigos Randy and Karin at the airport and then a muy rapido overnight with Dustin, Cami and Sasha before heading back here to El Rancho Arroyo Seco. In about one week, the Admiral and I will head out to New York, via Phoenix and Philadelphia, just ahead of the rains that start here in June and go until November.

Last night, the forecast said chance of thunderstorms and it looked it.


Dustin's new puppy

Dustin's puppy from an Arroyo Seco litter, which he picked up a week ago, is doing great. At only four weeks old, the pooch is already eating solid food (mixed with milk) and has become part of the Dustin-Cami-Sasha-Max household.

Max? Max is a labrador-mix dog who doubles as a watchdog and pet for the house. Max is quite perplexed by the fact that this puppy gets to go inside the house while Max is banished to the outside.

It helps to be cute, I guess.

Also cute, of course, is granddaughter Sasha who is learning to play catch - sort of.



We are already making plans for this afternoon - which probably will include a quick trip (or long trip) over to Playa Chica for swimming (and possibly some cerveza imbibing for hydrating). When we arrived home late afternoon from Puerto Vallarta yesterday, we barely dropped off the bags before we headed out to the beach.

And on the beach we saw our vecinos (neighbors) Luis and Nena exercising their pooches. The brief movie below says Puerto Vallarta - a definite gaffe on the part of the cinematographer. It's Playa Chica, for sure.

The only other person around was a fisherman on the rocks, waiting for that big dorado to grab his line.




Sitting on the rock by the bay

North to Puerto Vallarta to visit family and get finance advice

PUERTO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - We left the safe confines of Arroyo Seco for a trip to the big city over the weekend, visiting with Dustin, Cami and Sasha at their palatial home in Nuevo Vallarta. Our projects had reached a point of stasis in the rancho and so we wanted to get in a good visit with the family before we go up for our final trip at the end of the month.

After that, we catapult to upstate New York where our pontoon boat, the Spirit of Louise, will be launched within days of our arrival.

Of course, in our haste to leave last minute for Vallarta, we forgot all the paperwork we needed to do various things in Puerto Vallarta - like register my motorcyle for the highway - and so it turns out we will zip up the highway again next weekend anyway.

Quelle dommage! (French)
Que lastima! (Spanish)
Oh! Crap! (American English)


Sasha with Grandma Sylvia

As part of our hiatus in Puerto Vallarta, we went for lunch at the famous Vallarta Yacht Club in the Paradise Village Marina, the same marina where we docked Sabbatical for several years..

OK, it's not really famous, but they have a great deck overlooking the channel and the food is very good. We were greeted by the same staff that has worked there almost since it opened and in some ways, it's kind of like going home when we visit there.

Across the channel, we watched a couple of fishermen throwing nets, after bait fish we figured. Given the number of boats that dump their toilets directly overboard into the marina, we hope they were after baitfish anyway. (NOTE TO CAPTAIN: Do not eat the fish sandwich special at the Vallarta Yacht Club - ever.)


Wading in the channel - with the crocs

We did watch one intrepid fisherman casting his net while knee deep in the water, right next to the sign that warns about crocodiles in the water.

Normally I would be skeptical about such signs, except that some amigos at the yacht club - dining at the next table - said they had seen about a 12-foot croc lounging on the rocks about a half-hour before the fisherman showed up and started throwing their nets.

No croc action during our lunch - but then we didn't stay all that long.


Sasha chows down some breakfast

After breakfast Friday, I decided to chat with Sasha about economics, how long she thinks the current recession will last and when we can expect an economic recovery.

Ok, she is only 8 months old, but her opinion might be as valid as the Council of Economic Advisers. I have been asking everybody and no one seems to have very good answers.

The Council

Here's a short video of what she told me.

Time with the grandchild in PV - and away from the dust

PUERTO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - The Admiral and I took a few days of 'vacation' from Arroyo Seco, coming to Puerto Vallarta to visit with Dustin and Cami, and of course, granddaughter Sasha.

Since we arrived, Sasha has mysteriously acquired a spiffy new high chair and a bouncy, jump thing that she sits in on the floor, getting lots of leg exercise.

She loves both, along with the 2009 version of what we used to call a Tommie Tipee cup, made for little ones to learn how to drink from a glass. As soon as she saw it, she grabbed it with the same enthusiasm as I do at Palapa Joe's when Willie plunks a Cuba Libre in front of me.

The Admiral came up a couple of days ahead of me, and in the interest of saving gasoline, I took a second class bus from Arroyo Seco to Puerto Vallarta.

The bus ride was fine, and very cheap (about $8 U.S.), but I forgot that I get extremely carsick when riding in buses.

Extremely.

Still, after an evening of recovery, it was good times again, even getting a little concert from Sasha and Cami.

A quiet Christmas Eve in Puerto Vallarta

PUERTO VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - The mimosas are being poured as I write this and Christmas Eve is a memory.

Little Sasha Fox - four months old today - was the star of the evening, of course, wearing her special Santa suit, until it got a little too warm for her. Her eyes were beginning to glass over from the camera flashes by the time we got down to opening presents under the tree.


Sasha with her mom, Cami

Later in the evening, Sasha got a present that is a little advanced for her, a book of family photos and narrative put together by Grandmother/Admiral Fox. The book has photos of the whole family and scanned copies of many family documents. Sasha's mom and dad said it will become part of Sasha's growing library of books.


Cami and Dustin look at the family history

And the Admiral and I got special presents from Dustin and Cami, too - signs for the Arroyo Seco property that lock in the flamingo theme as well as announcing the names of the residents.


The Pink Flamingo sign

Crocs and Costco - on the road to Puerto Vallarta

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - The past three days have been filled with, well, I won't exactly say, adventure, but...

Wednesday night, we had a farewell dinner with our friend Mario who was leaving his almost completed beach house to return to Portland, Oregon. Mario has been the occupant of the Grey Goose Express which will probably be moved in the next week or so to our beach lot - about a quarter mile away. And we will also be house sitting Mario's casa (a few days a week) for the next couple of months until he and his wife Sharon return in June. (Thanks Mario! Thanks Sharon!)


Mario and his beach dog watch the sunset

That night Mario, the Admiral and I and Pat & Sanders all went to a tiny taqueria in Rebalsito, a nearby village. The restaurant was next door to a local billard parlor and was kept busy with orders to go, put in my young guys carrying pool cues. The food, cooked on a grill right in the center of the place was very good. And the bill came to about $15 U.S. for the five of us (including several cervezas).

The next day we hit the road for Puerto Vallarta to do some paperwork for Sylvia and also to see son Dustin - and a brand-new Costco.

Yup, a Costco.


Inside the new Costco in Puerto Vallarta

We reverted to U.S. consumers for a brief time, loading the cart with stuff we just can't get to the south. I threw in a bottle of rum - certainly available in La Manzanilla - and a case of Coca-Cola so that we can have Cuba Libres at the house as well as at Palapa Joes. Sylvia bought an Ipod speaker system that had to be returned today. While the store is in good shape, the return policies - and system - need a little fine tuning.

In another nod to the Americanization of Puerto Vallarta, we had lunch at a Chili's restaurant, located in the swankest mall I have seen in Mexico. In fact, the department store (called Liverpool) really gives any Nordstrom's a good run for its money - all of it.

But while I have eaten in many Chili's restaurant's in the U.S., I've never eaten at one with this view:


View from Chili's in Puerto Vallarta

But you are still wondering about the crocodile reference, right?

The day before we left for Puerto Vallarta, Sanders and I had walked down the beach about a mile and came back along a road that skirts the crocodile swamp and the mangroves. The area is unfenced and crocs sometimes crawl up on the bank and sun themselves. Smart animals, even if they don't use sunscreen.

Very few people actually walk right next to the water there.

Regardless, we walked up to the water's edge where we had to turn to get back to the beach, only to see a croc give us a hairy eyeball and slide off into the water. (OK, crocs don't have hairy eyeballs. But he did look at us.)

I think we will not walk that road at night, no matter how bright our flashlight is.


Disturbed from his nap...