At last a post

OK the partner in crime, the other half of the publishing team has shamed me into action. Yep Deb O was right I did email and tell her a post was coming and the lack of a decent connection was stopping the publication of the diary.

As mentioned before this trip may be repetitive to readers if they scroll down to the entries of 2009 and compare. It appears to be the same stuff - driving around and looking at familiar sites. but there are differences. Here is one of them:

But there is a solution but it can't work all of the time  for obvious reasons. The best connection is in a Sports Bar around the corner. This pub - just the kind of place Merk would find idyllic in his quest for a foreign vacation - is operated by a couple from Edmonton and the place is fabulous: cheap beer and great food. Best of all a free wi-fi connection - as long as you keep drinking! So the question is - just how much time can one spend in the bar drinking beer and wi-fiing?

But the last couple of days, geez is it Friday already, have been spent just driving around, we have to use the car while we have it - it goes back on Saturday after a hotel move, and choosing places to eat. Last night we went downtown on the Bus (prices for a one-way trip are now 6.5 pesos - 50cents). After a look around to see the changes since our last visit two years ago. If Mr Flaherty wants to see how a stimulus package should work he should come here. The sidewalks and streets are being ripped up for water and hydro installations. All the work is being done by hand - not a backhoe in sight and all of the guys are earning good money to boot.

Ended up in a place called Anandales (anandahlays) for dinner. As we left one of the party noticed a Rotary Banner, one of the little ones that visitors bring to clubs they visit. The banner was from Cobourg, complete with a little Vic hall on it. Just guessing but the good money is on Tom Copeland, our pal from Eagle.ca, leaving it behind in December when he and Elenoar visited here. A nice touch.

Today we are off to do a Jungle Tour. On our first visit here in 1987 this tour was the first one we did and was memorable for two things - the activities of a horny monkey and the peculiar seafood plate that included starfish. Let's see if it has changed much. Probably not - jump on a bus, drive around to the local river, walk upstream to the waterfall, have lunch in one of the local watering holes, jump back on the bus, go to a local store and sample the free tequila - all in the name of "tasting". A pretty good way to spend a day and the tickets were free, not really free, we earned them at the hotel "presentation" that we took just to get the hostess off our backs.

Impressions so far:

• Tourism is down, Americans are staying away and the Canadians have taken over the place. So the place will be "nice" and everyone will be polite to each other and queue for everything!
• The local tourism industry is hurting, not so many establishments in business and "Se Vente" signs all over the place, especially in commercial areas.
• Timeshare salesmen, the scourge of tourists - as they continually interrupt you wherever you walk, are numerous and hungry. Their commissions are being cut and business is down. One can still find that $500 US is still being offered for a couple of places that want to inflict a "presentation" on you
• Prices: A good meal will cost $20.00 and a cheap beer is 15pesos, sometimes 12 pesos. A bucket of beer at the Sports Bar, on special - 70pesos five in a bucket.

This was written as the first post but still a good story.

Meeting Officer Pedro
One of the hazards of driving in PV, especially with a car with foreign plates or a rental car sticker on the back, is the peril of the local "Transit Police". Always on the lookout for 'mordida' - the bite - the bribe - the extra money they can extort and tourists are the ones with the cash.

So driving out past the airport, in the absence of traffic,  an obstructed red light came up fast - we ran it and the cop saw it. Lights flashing he got us to the side of the road, to be fair we had seen him at the side of the road dealing with another matter but the chance of a really big fish - us, was too good to pass up. Big smiles, "You went through a red light."
"Yes Officer"
"Wait here" as he played the game and delayed the enevitable by going back to his cruiser. He came back with his ticket pad and again stood at the window.
"You missed a red light, the fine eIghteen hundred Pesos ($180.00), Senor."
 With my license in his hand and despite the illegality of him keeping it being pointed out to him he continued to tell us that we could get the licence back the next morning. "Why not now?"
"Because the paper does not get filled out until 7pm."

So now the dance begins. "Can we pay the fine now - to you? How much will you take?"
"How much do you want to pay?"
"$20.00 dollars (that was what we paid last year in a speeding sting)
$20.00?" he repeated in a tone of astonishment, obviously wanting to raise the ante.
By this time Doreen was waving a $50.00 bill at hime (it was the smallest US bill she had at the time), he was looking at it.
"Here it is." she said.
"No, no this is between you and me." he said obviously well into the tango by now. "Between you and me."
It sunk in and I quickly folded the bill into the proferred traffic ticket and hid it from any possible videocam that may be either in his car or on a nearby streetlight pole.

As he quickly concluded the transaction I then asked him his name - "Pedro" he said. We wondered what the chance were of ever making a complaint to the authorities by starting the enquiry with - "Do you have an Officer Pedro in your command?" and the casual reply would be "Si Senor which one, I have four hundred!"