Food stories

As requested here are some pics of food. Readers may be aware that on this holiday the major way to spend hours is to eat. In Mexico eating is a major part of the day. Some meals are long, most take time due to waiters taking time between courses and then the is the custom of lingering at the table. It is a cultural crime to present the bill to customers without them requesting it. And, when the la cuenta is asked for it usually takes some time for the bill to be added up. All this takes time. So where you choose to eat is important, after all sitting in a greasy Mexican spoon is not as pleasing as sitting in a beach bar just people watching in the shade.

Yesterday we went to "FredyTucans Breakfast Bar". Arriving at eleven am on St. Valentines Day meant that we had to wait for a table in this very popular downtown restaurant. The success of a restaurant in PV can be judged in one way - does it appeal to both ex-pats and locals or just one of the two groups? Fredys clientele was evenly split. Evidently a lot of people were taking their sweeties to breakfast!

The Full Mexican, is a label derived from the label one sees where Brits holiday - Full English Breakfast. I called a full plate of eggs, toast, refried beans and sideorders the full Mexican. I had one yesterday. A plate of a Machacan omelette: beef jerky sauted in chile and onions and encased in an omelette with red and green peppers, mushrooms and onions. Accompanied by salsa and tortillas and toast and the price was very reasonable. Manon had a plate full of strawberry waffles topped with cream. Bottomless cups of coffee and complimentary pastries just made this an epicurian experience to be repeated, but next visit.

The day before we cruised downtown Bucerias for a seafood lunch, we were on the two meal a day plan - big breakfast and light dinner or light breakfast and big lunch. We were attracted to the establishment's special - five beers in a bucket for 20 pesos. Ordering a complete fish - red snapper I was not surprised to see it appear complete and BBQd. Mighty tasty.




Anyway enough of this, we leave tomorrow and this may be the last post. I hope is hasn't been too self indulgent and perhaps those of you who were not fortunate to get away have enjoyed the ramblings, I have enjoyed getting up early in the morning to complete each entry. Thank you Mr Blogspot.

Parasailing - riding in a harness attached to a parachute and going up in the air instead of coming down.
It's a great way to see the area as you sail around the bay behind a speed boat, however getting up is not as simple as strapping the harness on and hoping that the boat goes fast enough to keep you up.

Stage 1. Negotiating the price
Most things are easily negotiable in Mexico the rest take perseverance. The man on the beach, that sells the ride will tell you a price and you should counter with a lower offer. This week, especially if you were the first he will give you his spiel. "Normally Senor, it is is $45 but today for you I can take it to $35, I don't do commissions and I have to pay for my family!" It should be noted that the previous day the start price was $50 the customer had to ask the hotel to intervene as the hotel had told him it was $45.
Stage 2. the waiver
This piece of paper is something that the beach crew get you, or your companion to sign. Theoretically it is to protect the crew from lawsuits if you crash. But like all waivers it is probably not worth the paper it is signed on. However no sign - no fly!
Stage 3. ground operations
As you strap the harness on, leg straps and a shoulder harness with a seat that hangs down behind you as you stand, the crew is telling you about the commands you have to obey to get back down. In order for the parachute to rise it must be pulled at a speed that will cause lift. As you come down the boat slows and you lose lift and come down. But there usually is a prevailing wind that cause you to blow offline. So you, the rider, must steer it as you drop. Pulling on the ropes, either left or right will tilt the canopy and move left or right from the dropline. The crew on the ground will see you coming in as the boat slows and you drop. They will blow whistles and you then have to pull the left side ropes to ensure that you swing into the drop position. If you panic and "freeze" the ground crew will signal the boat to drop you in the sea. Asked if this happens, the crew chief smiles and answers, "Sometimes Senor!"
Stage 3 Mission accomplished
If you have obeyed the instructions you will drop at a leisurely rate and the ground crew will stabilize you as you land on the beach. The landing is as fast as a drop from about four feet - not much of a bump! What a ride, some may compare it to flying a plane - takeoff and landings are the only tricky parts. But although the ride may be a matter of just sitting in a harness six hundred feet off the ground and over the sea the view is fantastic.

Scroll down for parasail pics

	A vendor waiting for customers. The sails advertise beer - what else!
	A 'sailor waiting to go up, the wind is filling the sail, and being told how to make the sail go.
	Almost there!
	Liftoff

The House Tour Day

Every Wednesday, in Puerto Vallarta, the International friendship Club (IFC) hosts a "House Tour". This event takes as many people as they can, this week they filled four full tour buses, to tour four houses in the area. These houses are usually top end properties and are either for sale or rent and the owners lend them to the tour to get exposure.
Outside on the road waiting for the bus at eight, getting on the bus at 8.25 and downtown for the next bus at 8.50, on the next bus at 8.27 and arriving at the IGC sales booth at 9.15. Waiting in line to buy tickets one learned that it is "first come, first served" so get back early if you want a good seat on the bus. Now off to breakfast at the Cafe Tizoc. Fortified by a full Mexican we go back to the crowd and stand around for twenty minutes get on the third bus and head out of Town - I'm not going to bore you with all the details but a description of the first place should indicate just what we looked at for three and a half hours on a hot Mexican morning. Five miles out of Town sits the Villas Las Puertas. This seven bedroom (one bedroom in the pic on the left), 6.5 bathroom four level villa overlooks the sea, but isn't on it. You stroll through a lobby fit for the Four Seasons and pass the private pool on the way to the patio and sixteen seater jacuzzi. Pics of one of the seven bedrooms should show why this place rents out, with a maid and gardener, for $1950 USD per day.
The IFC, and its volunteers (one of them - Al, from Boston, is shown in the pic on the right), use the proceeds from these tours to run three valuable local charities: the Cleft Palette program for kids, the Children of the Dump programme and a programme to install toilets in schools. All very worthy causes and we were glad to support them in our quest to be entertained.
Naturally by the time the tour was finished it was time for a drink. With so many bars to choose from we headed for Cafe Roma, a second floor bar catering to locals and visitors alike. The reason I picked this one was that this is the hangout of "Fox" a fellow who runs the best website for Vallarta information. Beer was 15 pesos and the welcoming shots of Tequila free. But because the food being offered was Pizza, and we didn't want pizza (had it last night in the room), we set off to cash in the "Free Margarita" coupon the IFC had handed out with the price of the ticket. On our way to the bar a sign, in the lobby of the Santa Barbara Theatre enticed us in - Special: Hamburger Steak and Smashed Potatoes. Doreen has had a craving for mashed potatoes for the past couple of days, now was the time to satisfy it. Great meal, great price; $7.50 USD.
Now off to the Margarita place. The IFC must have had a sweetheart deal with the bar because the bar did not want to swap Ms for beer. Leaving, after taking a pic of the best Mens' facilities in PV, the four free coupons found a home with a very surprised tippler in the bar. Noticing a couple sipping Ms, approaching them and said, "Would you like four free Margaritas?" After figuring out there was no catch, they nodded, gulped and gasped - "Yes". Damn doing good feels good!!! BTW I couldn't resist posting this - a pic of the Men's room
Back on the buses and finally reached the resort at 7pm. A long day






Pic of the Day - remember the guitarguy on the bus, well they also have clowns that perform political satire

Laundry Day

Yesterday was the day that finally all of our clean clothes were no longer clean. This resort, despite spending millions on its build has no facilities so it's off the local Lavandria. As you may have learned from previous posts [stop padding the word count - ed] Doreen's brother and his girlfriend are staying at a resort 10 miles away, only 15 minutes on the bus. The plan, or so we thought was to meet them here (they catch the bus on its loop around to PV) and we would walk into Bucerias to find a laundry. Mixed messages led to a ballsup and we didn't get to meet them for two hours. At that point the bus arrives, Charles sticks his head out of the window and asks if we are getting on. Rapid decision making (My forte) clicked in - we got on and went to the laundry at the Marina. The Marina is another part of PV we intended to visit, just not yesterday. Lavandrias have their own way of doing things. Hand the laundry over, get it weighed and wait a few hours. So 3 kilos of laundrey were accepted and we were told to come back at 6pm, it was 11pm at this point.

Walked the Marina, renewed images of familiar sights, had lunch, walked some more and tried to get the laundry at 3pm. "Laundry finitio, Senora?" "No come back at 6pm", "Not ready now?", "No 6pm!" Then i saw the sign that gladdened my heart but doomed my chances for early pickup - a sign proclaiming that the workers were members of the laundry Union. Stil killing time we had a coffee and 30 minutes of Internet time, Mexico is the only place that I have seen profitable Internet Cafes. Then Doreen noted that she needed more money. Most unusually the best exchange rate is at the airport. So with two hours to kill we jumped on a bus headed North and hit the airport. Getting off at the stop at the pedestrian overpass, and the cheap restaurants, we headed into the airport.

The exchange rate this year is the best we have had for many years. The combination of the falling peso and the holding US dollar gives us 14.90 pesos to the US dollar, 12.55 to the CDN. Retail prices haven't changed much and the shopping climate is good.

Anyway with time to kill we succumbed to another bargain whilst waiting for the bus. A 325ml bottle of cerveza (beer) cost 13 pesos, however a 935 ml bottle of the same beer cost 24 pesos, a huge unit cost savings.
Back to pickup laundry, ride a couple of buses and back to the hotel for a a couple of hours TV. Cable is available but only a third of the approximately 45 stations are English. One is CNN, one is Headline News and the others are the Networks, But the Warner Channel must be mentioned as it runs "Two and Half Men" constantly. Anybody who had never heard of the "Harper's" before coming will leave knowing too much about them. Five episodes a day is a bit much. Charlie Sheen must be rolling in residuals from this channel alone!

Picture of the Day
Inside the Marina Mall

Eating out!

Sunday day 7
An eating expedition. Lazy day at the pool in the morning and then watched the sun disappear, at noon, for the rest of the day, a rare happening! But it made for a wonderful time for walking. The plan being to discover the Malecon ( thew seafront promenade) and then eat and get on the bus before the last one left at 9pm.

Getting the bus outside of the hotel I noticed a fellow fidgeting with a guitar and wondered if a local musician had boarded the bus. Musicians on buses are a common event. They sometimes stroll the aisle singing to the passengers but on the larger buses they stay up front and sing. The guitar guy started to sing as the bus hit the main highway for the fifteen minute run into Town. Sang about three songs and then moved up the aisle to collect tips. Most gave about ten to twenty pesos ($1-$2 US) not a bad haul but he has to split it with the driver. This guitar guy didn't sing traditional Mexican but chose songs that accentuated his warbling, but steady voice. A good entertainment value to break up the journey.

After sightseeing and then recuperating, on the beach, with the obligatory beverage, led to us looking for "restaurant row" - Basilio Badillo. We finally found it. Eating spots up and down the street. How does one choose where to eat? The ritual is the same; arrive, study the menu (pasted on the wall) intently and then size it up mentally calculating the permutations of price, selection and ambience - move on to the next one. After a few, distance to be walked is determined by the length of the street and number of restaurants. The point at which you break down is reached and you just say get me in here and settle. But the probably before that point you will be enticed by offers of a free round of drinks or a discount off the final bill. But these offers aren't automatic. One has to be reticent and show indecision to get the offer. It usually involves talking to the waiter on the street and then starting to walk off, he will then shout at your rapidly disappearing back (you should walk slowly) an incentive. We obtained, in the place we selected - we settled but it happened that we settled on a good choice, and inveigled a second round of free drinks, for four. "Robertos" was as good as its description in the free map - "A twenty year tradition in PV". Rushing to the bus in the rare spot of rain, which had finally arrived after threatening with severely overcast skies all afternoon, we travelled to the bus interchange at "WallyMart" by travelling thrrough a local "local sight" - the Tunnel. This stretch of road is a highway tunnel carved from the mountain - at the time of construction an engineering marvel. But the best part of the day was yet to come - a very short wait for the last bus!

Picture of the Day - Sand sculpting on the beach

Saturday Day 6
A trip to Bucerias, a small town to the north of the resort and only a two k walk and home to many Canadian residents and visitors. First breakfast at the Red Apple Place (made all of us who live on the Apple Route very nostalgic!). and then a walk around town. The flea market here has all the usual items at average prices and very friendly, not pushy, vendors. As usual the old, "buy one and then see a cheaper one" was in effect. The Mexican Folk Art painted ceramic tile was purchased for $20 - a very good price, only to discover that in another store two for the same price could have been obtained. Still the more expensive one was purchased at a booth where a real artist was working. This fellow - Francisco Pancho, was painting with his pinkie. He usually uses his pinkie or a very small brush to produce oil paintings in the bright Mexican style. Francisco's sister was the creator of the tile, he prefers to paint on wood. Browsing the streets I met a real estate saleswoman (who co-owns Bucerias Homefinders), she left Vancouver as a single woman with three kids twenty-four years, ago to settle in Bucerias, and has never looked back. Anyway she told me about local real estate conditions and things leading to things we soon in the back of her son Bernies's Land Rover to see a low priced three bedroom resale house in a local development. Leaving suitably impressed with both the price and the efficiency of this woman who claims to have a long term rental all ready to move in, instantly guaranteeing a ten per cent return: do the deals never cease?

All worn out by shopping and making deals it was time for R&R. Jump on the bus for an eighteen kilometer ride to Punta Mita. This place is one of those laid back places that immediately evokes images of Morgan Freeman (in the Shawshank Redemption - one of the classic movie happy endings) meeting Andy (Tim Robbins)on the beach. Properly seated in one of the many beachfront bars it didn't take long to suck down beers and pina coladas. A delightful way to spend the afternoon.

Images of Mexico

Yesterday's activity


The images below are in a table that will not line up properly, scroll the page to see them.

	This is the fellow who sells refreshments, out of a bucket, to travellers waiting outside Walmart for the bus. He shouts out the arrival of each bus.
	This is the guacamole guy at Pipi's. He makes each dish of guacamole individually for each table. He makes good guacamole!
	Health and Safety people will cringe at this one, a worker welding without a mask. It is a common practice.
	An intersection downtown, a Mexican urban scene

On the buses

Picture of the day - a sculpture I call "Nose to the grindstone" something we are not definitely doing today!!

Most folks are quickly finding that the cheapest, not the easiest in some cases ans definitely the not the most convenient way of getting around is the transit system. When we started coming here 15 years ago only the brave tried the buses. Most people were put off by the brightly painted people laden buses that ran like bats out of hell. They still run like bats out of hell- throttle/brake quick gear changes and more throttle/brake but the painted chicken laden buses have been replaced by 30 seater modern transitos and the drivers still aspire to F1 racing.
Determined to get from here to there we had our first full day on the buses today. The resort is 20 kms from downtown PV and to get there one has to wait for a bus that is supposed to be on a regular timetable, but at least every half hour. Go so far and then transfer onto another one that will take you downtown. The whole process will take a minimum of 90 minutes and up to a couple of hours. But if you want to save 80% of a taxi fare go for it. In our case we have to have a special bus as only one takes our route and that means setting aside up to at least 45 minutes for the wait for the bus. Once on everything is great. Travel in peaktimes means that half the bus sits in all available seats and the rest of the bus is standing in the aisle - crowded. But think of the money you save and the local experience you are getting.

So today something different

Day 4
Today was Timeshare presentation day. Timeshare ownership is one of the most hotly debated topics in the vacation world. Here's how it works for the average vacationer: arrive at the airport tired and confused looking for the taxi, tour bus or just what to do next. Immediately leaving the customs area swarms of people (called by veterans - sharks, leeches or simply parasites) will approach you with offers of help. "Would you like a free car Senor?". How many free trips would you like for the week?", and many other variants on the theme. These folks are the first wave of foot soldiers in the war by timeshare developers to get vacationers to buy a week in the sunshine or just fractional ownership in luxury resorts.

If you realise that the object of all this activity is too sell timeshare ownership, because there is more profit in the selling activity rather than the resort business, then all these come-ons make sense. Usually each Offsite Point of Contacts (OPC) have a budget of $500 US for each appointment that they make for the next stage in the process. This enables the targets, if they play the game, to make some pretty good deals. One TS developer has been reported paying 5500 pesos ($500US). So how do you get this huge amount of money for about four hours (the first lie - you are only asked to attend a 90 minute presentation, but that changes) of very high pressure selling? Firstly sign up on the street or anywhere these OPCs hang out. People will offer to help you when you are shopping, the maitre d' in the restaurant and even the concierge at the hotel will approach you and sign you up. At the appointed time someone will pick you up in a taxi and take you to the development for the second stage. After presenting ID and a valid credit card a salesperson will then take you into breakfast, and it will be a good one. This is where the games start, the salesguy, and it usually is a man, will schmooze you and put you at ease, find out your interests, tell you about themselves and so on. About an hour of this will lead to the tour of the property and then back to the salesroom. A large airy room filled with small tables, each with four chairs, and couples huddled with the salesperson. Now the pitch starts and it is a rigid formula. "How much do you spend on vacations each year?" "Where would you like to spend your dream vacation?""What if I show you how you can have double the number of vacation weeks for the same money?" With a plethora of pie charts, and tables of figures you are presented with the first top line. The top price for a two bedroom unit. When confronted with cries of "I can't afford that!" "I am not interested!" the sales pitch begins in earnest. The size of the unit will be dropped reducing the top line, bonus weeks will be offered for the same price, affiliations to other timeshare concepts will be given and of course the top line will be reduced, gradually. Just as you or the salesguy will be ready to cry uncle the second phase comes in, "Let me have Joe (Jack, Jill etc) come over and explain the finer points of this deal." The second guy comes in and tries to persuade you that this deal is only for today and it's such a good one how can you refuse it? It is usually about three and a half hours into the session by now and tempers and nerves have been aroused and the state of confusion and annoyance for the non-buyers is at fever pitch. Just let me out of here is the message the captives want to cry out - some do and are quickly hustled out of the room.

At this point, four hours in, the captives may be released and the buyers are now honing the bottom line. Finally, after a third or perhaps a fourth closer, you now have a deal or you are at the gift desk - gasping for air and demanding your "gift" for attendance. If you have a deal all kinds of paper will now flow, and most of it air tight. Just remember that under Mexican law TS buyers have a 5 day 'recission program' to reconsider and the Mexican even have a Government office - PROVICO - to deal with recissions.

So back to us: whenever an owner turns up at the home resort they are invited to "an owners presentation". This is a mini TS presentation but at least you can get a free breakfast out of them. his year the flag should have gone up when the appointment setter gave us a double gift when we hesitated about going. Yep four hours later we staggered out but this time we had OUR deal turned down. It turned out that as a result of a marketing strategy change we now possess something they want - weeks. As part of the inducement to buy, in 2002, we obtained "Award weeks" extra weeks available to us if we pay the maintenance fee. The resort now wants this inventory back to offer to golfers in special packages. The golfers will then be targeted as prospects to buy. So our haggling began and our bottom line was presented and then rejected. So we beat them! - we still get to keep our weeks and they still want them. In two years time they will have appreciated and they will still want them.

And that's Timeshare Day. Back to the pool and then a trip to the swanky Italian restaurant on their dime (one of the free gifts).

Photo of the Day

This is Pipi's restaurant, famous for its fajitas and fast service. Service is so fast they will clear the table almost before you have finished eating. No idling over a meal here! Quite disconcerting!

From this to this








3rd Day Tuesday - the car goes back
Arriving here a car had been arranged so that we could navigate the chores of moving between hotels and getting the groceries in. Sheer convenience ended when the car was returned, today at 4pm, and now it is back to the buses. The hotel is about 10 miles from downtown and the bus service is sporadic to say the least. A very efficient lady at the concierge desk gave us a bus schedule but it was immediately discounted - hey this is mexico. Sure enough standing at the correct place and looking for the ATM bus, as opposed to the regular bus, the supervisor of buses, whose job was to log all the buses in his school book and say something to each driver, asked where we were going and gave the standard response (with a knowing smile), "Ah Playa Del Sol - 10 minutes!" So 45 minutes later it arrived. But it's not snowing and we are not on any timetables. Si here's the drill for the buses _ arrive at a spot where you think the bus will come, usually marked by a sign. Wait until you see the bus you want - all buses have the route painted in marker on the windshield, wave it down, give a small bill to the driver and say where you are going, he will tell you the fare and then you try to find a seat. Get off when you recognise the place you are going to.
A walk around the old part of Town had been on the agenda before the car handover. First It was a coffee in the place that sells and exchanges books and then a visit to the flea market followed by a lunch special of hamburger with a 5peso beer. Cost averaging the normal price of 15pesos brought the total bill down to 10 pesos each (free market principles shall be applied whenever possible). The exchange rate for Cdn is 10.40pesos to the dollar.

Feb 1

A travelling day. We were scheduled to fly to Mexico City and change planes and then in to Puerto Vallarta. Wed did that with only one hitch. The connecting flight was delayed 90 minutes and in typical Mexican fashion we had to discover the details. "We announced it Senor." the man at the Mexicana desk explained - enough said!

Impressions of the day so far:
* Avoid the International side of Terminal 1 - it is not Air Canada and suffers in the lack of amenities. only a mini Tim Hortons and they had neither a full selection of goodies nor would they take a TH card. We only found out after being in line for 10 minutes.
* The plane to MC was full and appeared to be full of Canadian retirees staying for longer periods than the time offered by the tour companies. Thesefolks had rented villas and condos not an all inclusive crowd
* The plane to PV was run by an economy Mexicana subsidiary called "Click" half full and spacioius. BUT the big surprise so far, this economy line served free beer - a rarity in modern air travel.