Puerto Vallarta

Mar 10, 11, 12 PV

Tuesday morning we dropped into the Puerto Vallarta Spanish School (www.spanishschoolvallarta.com) during the coffee break and had a quick chat with Melchor, and made arrangements to get in touch later after he had checked with Marta, his wife. We also asked Melchor when his level 3 Spanish courses would be on in the fall. He advised that he had just finished the schedule and would be posting it on his web site shortly. He had it at home and would tell us when he next saw us.

It was also the day for grocery shopping and taking the laundry in. Later that day we ran into Bill and Margaret again as they were in the same park. They are interested in learning Spanish and we gave them the school information. They will probably return for level 1 in the fall. We will come for level 3 if the dated are reasonable. Who knows, we might meet them again.

Next day we called our old Canadian friends Bill and Anita whom we have known for some 25 years. They own Casa Anita ( www.mexdev.com ) vacation suites above the old town which they started building in I think 1964! They now are mostly retired having passed the management on to their daughter Sonya. On the phone Anita told us that it was their Margarita and bring-your-own BBQ night, so a trip back to the grocery store for some steaks, potatoes, cebollitas (very small white onions) and a bottle of wine made our dinner decision easy!

When we arrived we climbed the many stairs to the pool deck and visited with some of the guests, originating from Mexico, the USA and Canada. There was a barrel of Margaritas, the BBQ was hot, then the Mariachis arrived. Even Bill gave us a song which everyone enjoyed. It was good to see Bill and Anita again, they are always a lot of fun and very interesting to pass time with. Before we left we suggested that Bill get together with Melchor to put links on their websites to each other’s site. Unfortunately, Art managed to loose all the pics when trying to down load them from the card reader. Again. (One of our cameras (the "car camera") is broken and won't talk to the computer directly)

Thursday we arranged for Melchor and Marta and their two kids (almost grown kids now!) to join us in our motorhome for a pizza dinner.

To fill the day we went to the Vacas Grill for lunch and internet. While we caught up on our e-mails and checked that there was still money in the bank we had a good Mexican lunch, lemonade and a beer or two.

Art had to make a trip to the Men’s room and fortunately he had remembered the camera. We had visited this bar last year and regretted not taking a picture. The tap and drain are real as is the bucket. The rest of the character is paint on the wall. Art thinks the galvanized bucket has been replaced. It looks a little cleaner than it was a year ago. Imagine trying to get this past the inspectors at home!



Later that evening the family arrived. Yesi and Alex are in school (Preparatoria) until about 8:30 PM but since we always eat late this worked great for us. It was good to visit–we first met Melchor and Marta many years ago, even before they were married. Melchor was our very first Spanish teacher when we took a few hours of lessons during our very first trip to Mexico. We had invited him to the Wednesday Margarita and BBQ night at Casa Anita ( yes it’s a long tradition!) and he had brought his girlfriend Marta. Several years later we met the kids, when they were still babies; they are not really kids any more at 17 and 16 years old. Yesi will be going to University in Morelia next year–Marta I think is not looking forward to that! They are an extremely close and loving family. They all assure me that the kids have never fought or had angry words over anything! We know that Alex will miss his big sister, next year will be hard on them all but even though she will miss her family Yesi is excited about going and her parents are rightly very proud of her.

Melchor advised us that the level three Spanish course starts on November 3rd. We exchanged glances and Gillian said “well I guess that changes our plans for next year”. (We had planned to enter through Chihuahua again and travel more of the Colonial areas.) Within moments we told Melchor to put us on the list for November. Looks like we will be leaving Victoria around mid October again!

We made our goodbyes and quickly tidied up ready to go in the morning. Mazatlan is an all day trip.

Rancho Buganvila to PV

Monday morning we made to a leisurely start to the day, setting off at 9:40 for Puerto Vallarta. Two hours later we passed Manzanillo once again.

The road north was better than we remembered but was still quite narrow. There are many shallow rivers on this part of the coast, the bridges long and narrow, the river "valleys" almost always very beautiful. The bridge decks fequently don't line up exactly with the road surface so there is a bit of a bump at each end of the bridges, some very rough. This is pretty typical and we are quite used to it though Trekker is not at all happy when his house shakes and rattles. Along much of this coast the flat fertile land has been planted with acres and acres of corn and other crops including fruit and nut trees.



We passed right by Barra de Navidad, a pretty little town and San Patricio Melaque, very popular with snowbirds, without stopping. Usually this is a fuel stop but we don't have to stop so often with the diesel. Leaving Melaque the road becomes quite windy again, pretty much all the way to Puerto Vallarta.

We stopped for lunch along the roadside in front of the Biosphere Station, a protected area managed by the Federal Government and the University. We were beginning to feel the heat in the motorhome (89deg F) and realising that we wouldn’t be able to run the air conditioner in the Puerto Vallarta Trailer Park, we started the generator and ran the genset to have the a/c cooling things down a bit as we continued our drive to the PV, where we arrived at 5:30. Our friend Melchor had dropped in there several days before to reserve us a place–good thing too, the place was full.


We found our spot and before long we were all settled in between the palm trees. We couldn't quite get the bedroom slide all the way out for the trees but managed to get it out far enough to be able to open the cupboard doors. The awning on the right side had enough room to come out about half way, but as we were surrounded by trees it idn't really matter. The RV park was build some 25 or 30 years ago and was not designed for today's large and wide rigs. We'll be here for several days at least, visiting friends and doing the laundry.

Z to Rancho Buganvilla, Manzanillo

Once out of of Zihuatanejo we rolled past Ixtapa and through Lazaras Cardenas and held off our lunch break until 2:30 where we pulled off the road by a vacant lot next to a Pemex.





After a restful break we pressed on along the windy but beautiful Michoacan coast. Here the diesel pusher again proved it's worth, taking the hills and curves well, the exhaust brake doing a lot to reduce braking effort. That, and by limiting our lunch stop to less than an hour, we made good time, arriving at our destination, Rancho Buganvilia by 5:30.





This is a nice spacious park owned by an American couple; good services, friendly owners and neighbours, and a refreshing breeze off the ocean. We booked in for two nights and were quickly set up and Gillian took the dogs for a run on the beach. After a beer with the owners we returned to the rig to feed Trekker and Tia and finally sat down to our own supper, tonight grilled chicken salad, while the pups relaxed after a long stressful day.







While at Ranch Buganvilia we ran into new old friends Bill and Margaret from the Yukon whom we had met first in Huatulco in November and again last week as they walked through the restaurant at El Manglar. In Huatulco they had explained that they had had a few dings and dents in the rig and were considering getting it repainted here in Mexico. We were planning on having Juan Salazar in Mazatlan do some work for us, so we gave them his contact info. We realised that we would probably meet them again in Mazatlan as our travel schedules were close.



Sunday morning we waved goodbye to Bill and Margaret as they set of on their way north and after our breakfast and walking the dogs Art took a break from driving and watched the scenery go by as Gillian played chauffeur on our way by car to Manzanillo, a couple of hours to the north.

This city was just another city, the centro historico is pretty and clean though quite small and unprepossessing, really nothing of note other than a few monuments to its marine heritage. We walked around for a while with the dogs and Art got a shoeshine, then we drove out to the hotel area and more by luck that trying, found ourselves at the Hotel Las Hadas, where the movie 10 was filmed many years ago. The food was good and reasonably priced except for the beer–42 pesos per bottle. (The norm is 15 to 20 pesos.) The hotel beach was surprisingly small and uninspiring. After our late lunch we returned to the rig, getting back in time to watch the sunset from the front of the motorhome.


Art is quite annoyed with himself as he managed to delete the folder containing about a weeks worth of pictures from our "car" camera, including all the pictures of Manzanillo. No great loss, but annoying all the same.

Farewell to Zihuatanejo

El Mediteraneo

Wednesday night as usual we went out for dinner. El Mediteraneo is another restaurant we have meant to visit for years and one we now regret not visiting before. As you may guess from its name, the food is largely Italian. The owner has worked in many parts of Europe and the menu reflected his tastes-- fortunately, very similar to ours! It is located on the “restaurant strip” on Paseo del Pescador. We have passed by many times but somehow never dropped in.

Visit to the Ranch

Thursday we finally got the chance to visit the family ranch–not ours, but Edmundo and Gloria’s family ranch. Mundi and his dad, also Edmundo, arrived to lead us out to the ranch.







They set off the the pickup and we followed along in our own car. The ranch is located in Ixtapa and is no longer actively worked. It contains about 40 hectares or 100 acres. In it's heyday, there were 400 head of cattle, now only 20 remain, almost pets of Don Edmundo.










If you look carefully at the air roots of the tree on the right you can see what appears much like little men.








Besides the natural trees on the property there are acres of fruit trees--Don Edmundo picked several hands full of mandarines for us to savour as we toured. Besides the mandarins, there are orange, mango, papaya, starfruit and coconuts, many of which find their way in season to the El Manglar restaurant, owned by son Memo.







We climbed a small hill for a panoramic view then visited the old ranch house, still inhabited, where we quenched our thirst with fresh coconut water. (From fresh green coconuts, a light refreshing drink, not at all like coconut milk which comes from more mature nuts.)



Mundi says that many hundreds of the trees on the rancho were planted by his father. Don Edmundo himself admits to planting "hundreds" of Cedros that now line many of the old pastures as well as countless fruit trees.


Pangea Restaurant Again

Thursday night we returned for third time to the Pangea Restaurant for another wonderful meal. This time Art had the Tikka Masala while Gillian asked if there was a Special and Mal replied that he could do a stir-fry with chicken, prawns vegetarian--Gillian ordered the Chicken Stir-fry and was a bit startled to find it a Thai spiced meal! Fortunately she had a beer close to hand to quench the fire!

Friday March 6, our last day in Zihuatanejo for this season. We have already reserved our space for December 1st, and to ensure it will be ready for us we started a herb garden using cuttings and some dill seeds from Cal and Linda, our neighbours. Oregano, dill and maybe the basil will take–a cutting has sprouted 2 new leaves, but it is very tiny so far. Linda promised to water and care for it until we return.

Today we did not have a lot to do, we were pretty much packed up and really only needed to disconnect and go. Gillian was due back at the dentist for her crown and we had to return the Starchoice satellite remote control which we had borrowed from our good friend David, an American who has lived in Ixtapa for several years.

Art dropped Gillian off at the dentist then wandered down to the Zihuat Pancake House, owned by David’s wife Minerva, to have a farewell coffee and to leave the remote control. Then out to fill the car with gas, pick up copies of our driver’s licenses, (you never give a Mexican policeman your original) then back to Minerva’s to pick up Gill, and join her for an early lunch.

Back at the rig, Art took down the satellite dish, drained and flushed the black and gray water tanks, filled the fresh water tank and cleaned and stored the hoses and cables. Just have to remember to disconnect the AC Power cord before we pull out in the morning!

Even though we had already done almost everything, we were finally completely packed and ready barely in time to shower, change and join our Zihua friends in the El Manglar restaurant for a farewell supper.

On our way--eventually

Next morning we were up at a reasonable hour; for once we were going to get away as planned. At 8:15 as Art was relaxing with a second cup of tea he exclaimed “(use your imagination). . . . I forgot to pick up the battery hold down straps!”. . . . .

The batteries were not secured when we bought the rig, it had only half a strap with one metal clip hanging loose, so Art had asked Mundi if he knew where he could get some made. Mundi shortly after presented us with 5 new clips, exactly like the first, so off to the shoe repair shop to get nylon straps with plastic buckles attached.

The taller had to order the webbing and buckles and said that he would phone if they were ready on Saturday (a week before our leaving date) or else they would be ready Tuesday afternoon. . . .

Off to centro he went. The shop was open and the owner and his son were working away on something (stitching with awl and thread) when Art asked about his straps. “Ah. Si! Lunes.” (Monday!) was the reply. Art’s comments here should also be left to the imagination. Explaining that we were supposed to be leaving NOW, he waited for the response–which should have been expected: "Horita?" "Si, inmediatamente!"

The shoemaker began rummaging through shelves, boxes and under piles of stuff–old shoes, pieces of leather–with no luck. He asked his wife and son, but they were unable to help. About 15 minutes later he grinningly held up a small plastic bag, containing all the parts, still in pieces.
“Una Hora!” Una Hora? One Hour– we need to leave right away, can’t you do it quicker? Una Hora. OK one hour. Unable to understand why it would take one hour to sew on three buckle ends and 6 clips, Art nevertheless took the opportunity to wander down a couple of blocks to the Zihua Pancake House to fume over a coffee.

Minerva appeared a few minutes later accompanied by her 4 year old daughter Lara, who greeted him with “Hola Arturo” and a kiss. Art asked her what kind of book he should bring her next year, she replied “ princessa” (princess)! Mal (of Pangea) arrived shortly after, surprised to see Art still still in town, and laughed at the explanation. So they had a short last minute visit and Art went back up the street to see if he could hurry the process any.

Why the hour was required was quickly obvious; using awl and thread, binding the ends of each strap (12 ends) and sewing on the clips and buckles, 6 clips and 6 buckle ends, all took time. Art realised then that they had stitched on the free end of each buckle, which we would have to un-pick before we would be able to pull the traps tight. However. We were finally on our way by 11:05, 2 hours late. So what's new?!

Dentist, starting to pack

Our last week, winding up and winding down?

Monday morning Gillian was off to the dentist for a crown. She had the preparatory work done and the temporary crown and was booked in for Friday for the final work. Today was also Laundry Day. Even the dogs' beds and blankets got washed–a big tip for the staff at the laundromat who had to clean the dog hair out afterwards!

Tuesday morning we got up early to say goodbye to a couple of our neighbours who were moving north. At about 7:30 the power went out! Oh well, wouldn’t need that until 11:00 or 12:00 when we would start thinking about the air conditioner. After they had gone Art went to dump the black and gray water tanks and to fill the fresh water tank, which was completely empty. No water at the hose. The gravity feed tank was obviously empty, the two rigs that had left had filled that morning and when the power went out the gravity tank couldn’t re-fill. Darn! Now Art couldn’t wash the breakfast dishes!

There is frequently no municipal water flowing in Playa La Ropa during the day–it doesn’t get past the hotels on the hill. Also when the water supply is low Capaz (the local water and sewer authority) will shut off water to various areas of the municipality for several hours, sometimes for up to a day. Every home and business here has holding tanks or cisterns that fill overnight and are drawn from during the day. This is pretty well the standard in many if not most places in Mexico. When we were in Cuernavaca about 15 years ago while going to language school, the home we stayed in only had water from the street 2 hours a day.

When the power came back on the rest of the morning was taken up with internet; now that the 36 footer along side was gone we had wireless in the rig again! E-mails, Skype calls, blog, etc. Gillian emptied the fridge into cooler bags, the freezer items going in the restaurant freezer while our fridge defrosted. Amazing how quickly that goes when it’s 31 degrees C! (88 deg F.) A late lunch in the restaurant was a fine way to avoid the heat of the day.

Mid afternoon we started packing up the outside stuff; first to go was the “carport”. It was covered with dust, probably impregnated with salt. Using as little water as possible it was soon washed, rinsed, dried in the sun, dismantled and packed away. A quick rinse of the rear of the motorhome and the rear slide topper completed the days chores.

We didn’t want to do any more washing until we checked with Mundi, the RV Park owner as to the state of the water supply. He arrived later in the day and looked into the water tanks–almost empty. He advised us that there had been no water flow last night. If the tanks fill overnight then we will be good to go for washing the roof in the morning. Window screens and ground mat are scheduled for Thursday.

End of the day was to BBQ a steak. The BBQ will be scrubbed and put away tomorrow. Sorry, forgot to take a pic! New York steak, peppers and onions done in foil on the grill, baked potatoes, and a wonderful bottle of wine. For the oenophiles, EQUUA Cosecha 2007 80% Grenache 20% Petite Syrah aged in oak. A very robust wine with a huge nose. A bit of a sharp after taste–Gillian says pepper and chile! Figures, for a Mexican wine. (Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California) Worked great with the steak. Quite pricy though–about $30.00.
Next morning the water tanks were almost full, so Art got the go ahead to wash the roof. An amazing amount of dirt up there after 3 months. It sure dries fast at 31 degrees C!

Later Art was stiff and sore so he went for a massage. There is a walled but basically vacant property almost next door that last year opened for massage for a while, setting up a couple of massage tables on the sandy ground in the shade of the overhanging trees and screened with bed linens. This year the place was cleaned up a bit and the exterior of the wall painted. David, the property owner, does fishing charters and stores his boat here. He also provided horseback rides from another location. Since they are here all day he brought in a little grill, a cooler, some tables and chairs and a hammock. Being a good Mexican businessman and realising that his location was on the Andador (pedestrian street) to the beach, he also began selling Mexican snacks, soft drinks and beer. Horseback rides, Fishing and dive charters, Lunch, and Massage–All at one handy location!

We suspect that one of the masseuses has been trained as a Massage Therapist and she has taught massage techniques to her cousins! Their massage skills vary quite a bit–luck of the draw! This time Art got Mayabel, the professional, and returned feeling much better and ready for a nap!

Goodbye to February

It’s the Last week of February; by the end of this week we will have been here three months. In some ways it seems like we just got here, in others like we have always been here. We feel like we are ready to leave but we don’t want to go.

This penultimate week will be passed doing much the same and trying to get in a few things we have missed. Gillian has made a dentist appointment for next week to see about a crown. We’ll let you know how that goes next post. We also began a bit of packing up and the putting away of things that we could manage without.

Wednesday we went to Paul and Linda’s condo for a BBQ–trying out the much travelled BBQ which we had brought them from Texas. We spent a lazy afternoon visiting by (and in) the pool and later moved inside to their condo for a wonderful steak dinner. We had a great time talking and laughing and stayed far too late, but we’re all retired, who needs to get up in the morning anyway!

The next evening we decided to try a restaurant we have been meaning to go to for years, and somehow never made it, Don Memo’s, in Centro.

We arrived with no reservation to find to completely full–this is commonplace apparently–but Don Memo came out to tell us that he had a bar 2 doors up the street, but had taken out the kitchen. It had the same menu, the waiters walking over to Don Memo’s with the orders and to pick up the food!!!


La Campanela was moderately busy, the waiter teaching his wife the job as well. We ordered drinks, enjoying the ambiance of the place and chatting with a couple at the next table for a while before ordering. Art took a moment to go back to the car for the camera and caught a candid picture of Don Memo on the way back. The flash certainly surprised him!



When we finally made up our minds and the food came; we were not disappointed. No wonder Don Memo’s original restaurant was full.

Don Memo in his original Restaurant, Left; the Interior of La Campanela, Right

Playa La Saladita Feb 17, La Cala Restaurant and Pangea

Playa La Saladita

Today, February 17th, we took a run in the car up the coast about 40 Kilometers to a little beach called La Saladita (salty) We looked up our friends Keith and Yvonne and Brian and Arlene who had just left El Manglar, then went into a little restaurant and surf shop for lunch.


The food was inexpensive and very good, and the restaurant dogs Lobo, Luna and Pluto were very friendly. Lobo reminded us a bit of Wolf and Pluto looked a LOT like Trekker. The yellow Lab in the picture is Pluto. The other is Lobo.



While we were having lunch Tia decided to jump out of the car to play with the dogs! Trekker was not impressed–his barking alerted us to the truant Tia who was soon back in the car, this time secured with harness and leash.

We returned home via a 9 Km roundabout route over dusty dirt roads through the village of Majahua, then last 3 0r 4 kilometers along the waterfront towards Troncones. Along the beach front the road is lined with expensive summer homes but we quickly decided the area was not for us.

La Cala Restaurant

Wednesday was our usual night out and so in the “pursuit of excellence” we decided to try another high end restaurant, this one at the north end of town called La Cala, (The Cove) This restaurant is part of a hotel and sits on the cliff and goes right down to the water, in a very picturesque cove. The hotel complex we later discovered has a very bad name with many locals because of environmental issues. Many people believe that the pier built by the hotel has changed the water circulation pattern in the bay and is increasing the already significant pollution problem.

The food was adequate at best and expensive. The wine list was fair, but extremely expensive. A bottle of wine that we could buy in the grocery store for well under 100 pesos was 600 pesos on the menu. We ordered the Tournedos, which to our eyes appeared to be an enormously thick cut pyramid of beef. It was done to our liking, medium rare, and was very juicy and flavourful but that was the best of the meal. It was accompanied by a huge baked potato, one slice of very hard carrot, one small slice of soft bland eggplant and one slice of equally soft and bland zucchini. The service was fair–we had to ask for napkins and when the waiter brought our meal he had to go back for the cutlery.

We have pretty much decided to forego the so called "high end" restaurants for the foreseeable future.

Pangea again

With this in mind on Saturday we returned to the Pangea Restaurant for dinner, this time with a couple from the RV Park. Time is Marching on and we did want to visit Mal’s place at least once more.

Art went for the lasagne (no surprise here) with chicken liver pate as a starter–a portion that fed all four of us–30 pesos–less than $3.00! The margaritas were still only 30 pesos each. Art drank three and for some reason can’t remember the prices of the rest of the dishes or what the others had.

The four of us ate very well here for less than a quarter of what the two of us had paid at La Calla, and the food was better prepared and better served.