February 28, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. The Pope.

The Pope has retired, for the first time in over 600 years.   It has been interesting to observe the palaver.   But what has become apparent to me has been the difference of the population toward the attitude of the Catholic  faith.   My sister in law and brother, Irene and Dave,  gave us for Christmas, the series of Murdock Mysteries, which takes place around 1900 in Toronto and Hamilton.   A major theme throughout the stories has been the anti catholic attitude in Toronto.  The detective was denied promotion because of his catholic religion.   Thankfully, times change.   Maryland was started as a state because catholics needed a place to live without being harassed for their religion.  That is why it is called The Free State.

My grandmother Houghton tells the story in a diary telling how her family, the Bowlers, left the Catholic church when the church declared that the Pope was infallible, so they left the church and joined the Anglican Church.    She was a child but she recalled that their own family was ostracised by the rest of the family.   Imagine.  I could have been a catholic!  

I moved to Toronto in 1953 and The Orange Lodge was still important politically.    In the hot tub this afternoon, a lady who was born and raised in Timmins, Ontario, tells of the divide between the protestants and catholics in her town.  They went to different schools and they certainly did not play together.  But not any more.   Fortunately, we have made progress.  Perhaps I am naive but it seems we all get along.  I certainly have enjoyed the Pope departing his task.  

February 27, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. A Job.

I watched him for about ten minutes doing his job.   He did not see me...at least not at first.   It is so much fun to watch a person performing a boring job and turn that task into a game, thus enjoying the job.  He was unloading a box of liquor bottles and placing them on a shelf and putting a case of beer in the fridge.   At the small Mexican restaurant we like,  this young man works the evening shift.   He cooks at the outside grill and he works as a bartender.   When he first gets to work, he sets up the bar.  I watched him.   The reason I watched him was because when he was cooking at the grill the last time we were there, he was dancing by himself the whole time.  Clearly, he likes to amuse himself.

Every bottle he picked up,  he spun high in the air then caught it.  Next he flipped the bottle into his other hand where he spun it in air again.  Finally, he put it onto the shelf.    These full bottles of liquor are expensive and here he is, flipping and spinning them two feet in the air before he catches them.    Bottle after bottle he had fun with no one looking.  He did the same with the beer cans.  It was amazing to watch.  Finally he spotted me watching and grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.  But he did not stop until he was finished, just playing his game.    It probably took him twice as long as if he just put the bottles on the shelf but it certainly was more fun for him and for me.  His task gave him great joy. You could just see how a boring task can turn into a game.

February 26, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. A Walk.

It is interesting how often a simple walk turns into a major event.  Late this afternoon, Ken and I went for a walk.   We had spent the whole day reading and working on the computer and i pads so it was time for some exercise.   The weather was glorious.  Perfect for walking.   We walked on the sidewalk, past the mall and along the marina and watched all the tour boats leave for the evening cruises.   The grounds of this place are very well kept so walking through the area you see lovely bushes and blossoms.  Ken especially enjoys all the well tended shrubs, none of which he must trim.

As we walked through the hotel, we decided to have a drink at the bar, in honor of Robbie.   This bar is his favorite.  This year, the bar has opened a sushi bar so while we sipped our drink, we ordered Japanese food.  It quickly turned a walk into an occasion.   It was delightful.  While we munched and drank, we talked about how to get home from New Zealand.  By the time we had finished our two drinks, we decided to take a cruise ship home, ending in Vancouver.  Now we must figure out how to get to Texas.   One thing leads to another, even on a walk.  

February 25, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Repairs.

People have been staying in this condo all winter.  Ken and I moved in on Saturday from our own unit. We have needed the repairman for two issues, both which were ignored by the past owners.   I wonder if people just don't notice that things are not working or do they just not want to bother because they are on vacation?  Maybe at home, they put up with things not working properly?  Not Ken and me.  We want everything working and working properly.  I think it is in our DNA.

The first time I showered here I discovered that the drain was working but very slowly.  By the time I finished my shower, I had four inches of water in the tub.  The repairman found three big mats of stuff in the drain.  No wonder it did not work.  And the filter light in the fridge showed red, meaning that the filter needed to be cleaned.  Now both small items have been repaired and repaired promptly too.

Real Estate agents are often told by sellers that the switch has never worked or that one element on the stove doesn't work.   The good agents recommend to sellers when the house is going for sale, that all items be repaired.   I am always surprised why people put up with these non-operating items just as I was surprised to find a drain that did not work.  After all,  it takes only one phone call to the housekeeping department and it will be repaired quickly.  It makes no sense to me.  All OK now!!

February 24, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Weather.

At least ten people have commented to me today about the weather.  When you consider that I have only spoken to ten people today, you will see that the good folks in Nuevo Vallarta are not pleased with today's weather.    They all want perfect weather, where the sun shines and the sky is a clear blue and the temperature is 80 degrees F.  

Today is overcast.  The sun is not shining.  The temperature is 70 degrees.  People are not pleased.  Of course, many people are only here for a short time, like a week, so they really really want that sun to shine so they can sit all day in the sun and go home with a deep tan.  Sun worshipers all.

I displease them when I point out that any day here that does not bring snow and ice is a good day here in Mexico.   They don't want to hear it.  They want sun.  It is interesting though,  how relative temperature is to anyone.   It feels chilly today.  Everyone says, even though it is 70.   It seems fine to me.  Great for walking.  No sunburns.  Perfect.  I am not complaining a bit.

February 23, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. 3904

We are in a different condominium.   It is actually a bit spooky  because the units are so much the same.  The dishes are the same as are the bed spreads, towels and glasses.   The cabinets are identical along with the appliances.   The kitchen is just a mirror image of our kitchen but the granite counter tops are the same as are all the pots and pans and kitchen equipment.   The owners of this unit have added mugs and a colander but other than that, everything is the same.

I am sitting on a bar stool in the small bar.  This unit has  two bedrooms and one den along with a small area off the living room.   And it has two full baths.   The washer and dryer is in a separate closet off the kitchen.   #3904 is a very livable  unit.   It is exactly the same as the one purchased by Joyce and Robbie, just on a different floor.   We will enjoy living here for two weeks.  Actually, by putting the computer in the little bar, our dining table will not be such a mess.   In our unit, we put both computers on the dining table right at the end.  Fortunately, the table is large.  Here in 3904, we will not be so messy.

But I miss the extra light we get out the end of the building in our 3701.  And being in the middle of the building I can over hear conversations from the other balconies.  But all in all, we are delighted that we extended another two weeks at Playa Royale, even though we are not in our own place.   We have two more weeks of 80 degrees and we will enjoy every minute.

February 22, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta. Mexico Food.

Our system for food has worked quite well this season.  Ken suggested it and I agreed,  Much to our surprise, it has worked.  But only if you wanted to lose weight.  Don  lost ten pounds when he visited us here in Mexico and Doreen lost five pounds.   Gill has just gone home but she survived our system and in fact enjoyed our system for food.   "It was very easy", she said.

Our system is very simple.  We have very little food in the house.  The freezer is empty.  The fridge has only a few items  on the shelves.   We keep milk,  bread,  yogurt,  cheese, fruit and coffee in the refrigerator. In the pantry we keep cereal,  crackers,  peanut butter and tea.  And that is all.

Our system is to eat breakfast at home.   We eat out once a day, generally for a late lunch, thus making our biggest meal mid day.  In the evening, we just snack and each person gets their own food.  It has been fun and it has been easy.  And we have all lost weight.   I am really surprised that I could keep myself from taking a taxi to the Mega store to stock up on food.  It is certainly a first.  It remains to be seen about subsequent years.

February 21, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Condo.

We own ten weeks of unit 3701 at Playa Royale.   Our unit is an end unit, so we have windows out the side as well as the front.  It is a lovely three bedroom unit, with three full bathrooms and a living room, dining room and kitchen all open to each other.   A ten foot balcony covers the front and side of the condo so we have good light and good breezes from every room, with big doors opening onto the balcony.   We like it here, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.   We have been here for seven weeks.

On Saturday, we must move to another condo in the same building.  We own a Fractional Ownership to this condo, but other folks own other weeks too, so starting Saturday, some other owner will take over and we have arranged to stay two weeks in another unit.  Our plan is to move stuff into the locker and just take a limited number of clothes into our new place.    It is still not really warm in Mississippi so we will stay here another two weeks until Spring arrives in the South.   Tomorrow I will organize and by Saturday morning we will be ready to move to 3809.   The view will be just a bit different and it is a two bedroom, but it will be fine.  We will enjoy our last two weeks in Playa Royale.

February 20, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Again.

It seems like yesterday that Gillian arrived.   Tonight we were celebrating the last supper.  It started by drinking two for ones at the restaurant by the beach, always a dangerous thing to do.   Three different groups of sky divers landed right in front of us so we had an entertaining hour.   It is so exciting to watch them fly from the sky and whiz right past us to land on the beach right beside us.  

To continue our celebration of the last night, we three walked to the small outside Mexican restaurant down the street.   Gill likes the ambiance of the place and so do we.   We dined like kings and the bill came to $40.   Of course, we drank only water.   We drank our fill on the beach watching the sky divers.   Flan and ice cream for dessert made us all happy.

The owner and her husband were busy working at a computer right adjacent to our table.  We three hope they stay solvent for another year.  Every year the place has gotten better but they have more staff now, yet the prices remain low, so we worry about their over head.  But tonight we enjoyed our dinner and Gill hopes we can eat her last supper there again next year.  She likes it.

February 19, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. People.

The people I saw this afternoon would have been aghast had they seen themselves through my eyes.   I even asked myself the question, "Have they ever looked in the mirror?"   My own answer was clearly "Obviously not."

After lunch, a lady about 55 was waiting for the shuttle at the golf course.    She was under five feet tall and about 50 pounds over weight.  In other words, she was round in every direction.  The first thing I noticed when she walked up was her top.  It was skin tight and showed cleavage.  We chatted with her as she lit a cigarette, while she told us all about her ailments.  We three were polite but she looked ridiculous.

When I was walking away from the hot tub this afternoon I spotted two people asleep on lounge chairs.  Both were asleep with their mouths wide open.   They would have hated to see themselves looking like that in broad daylight.

One lady took the cake.   She was 60 and wearing a hair style suitable for someone twenty.  And it was bleached almost white.   She was not fat but certainly had about twenty more pounds than she should have been to wear the bathing suit she was wearing.   She wore a skimpy bikini bottom.  For the rest,  she wore a skin tight white transparent top,  that showed every part of her anatomy.  It was stunningly ugly and made you avert your eyes.   I wondered if she knew it was transparent when it was wet?

It was a day for people watching and I found some doozies.

February 18, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Art Galleries

Bucerias has a large and active art scene.   Today, Gill, Ken and I toured as many galleries as we could take in at one time.    Thursday evenings they have an art walk, when the galleries give out wine and goodies as the patrons wander from gallery to gallery buying art.   We prefer to see the art in the daylight.  Today, we three just looked and looked and did not buy a thing.   We saw much variety in quality and style.  In Mexico, the silver objects are beautiful. The same for the glass work.  Our artist from Liverpool, Hugh Crosby is spending January and February in Bucerias but he was not known to the gallery owners.  Several artists have open studios, where a visiting artist can work,  then sell their work in the gallery.    This simple little town of Bucerias has become a hotbed of artists working in many different modes.    We enjoyed out time there.

After lunch,  Gill walked all the way home along the beach,  which takes her about two hours.  Ken and I came home by taxi and both took a nap!!

February 17, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Gillian.

Sometimes Gill takes her self off duty, such as her visit to us in Mexico.    But the relaxation only lasts for a short time.   For instance, today we spent the bulk of the day down by the pool.  The weather today was glorious.    For a while, Gill sat in a lounge chair, reading some piece of classical trash.  But soon I saw her working on a fancy numbers game, followed by a word game.  She says she is not good at word games so she tries hard to solve them.   Next she walked on the beach to the rock groin down by the hotel.  Finally she swam four times around the big pool.   By 1:00, Gill went up for lunch and returned to bring me half a pear.

The afternoon was a repeat of the morning.  Puzzles followed by the walk followed by the swim.  And finally, the book came out.  We talked on and off through the day but mostly Gill kept herself working on one aspect of her life or another.  First her brain then her body.  It was so much fun watching from my chair in the shade.

Tonight after dinner from the restaurant, we put on our night clothes and chatted in the living room.  Gill came out wearing a long sleeved floor length flannel night shirt.  Ken and I roared with laughter and reminded her that she was living in the tropics.   Gill laughed too.  Her excuse is that she did not want to bring a dressing gown, so her long flannel gown she thought would fit the bill.  And it does but it does not get cool here at night.  In order to keep cool I wear a short sleeved night shirt that comes to my mid thigh.  Life is never dull when living with Gill and it is always lots of fun.   I don't even get tired watching her work her puzzles!!

february 16, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Ski Diving.

With no warning at all, they came down from the sky and landed on the beach.  One after an other.  Some were graceful,  while others came down on all fours.  One actually landed right on his back.  Not all landed in the area outlined by purple flags and had to be picked up by the ATV.   A boat was anchored just in front of the target area, ready to pick up anyone who landed in the water.   For twenty minutes, they descended from the sky, one after the other, wearing gaily colored parachutes.  Then an hour later, another group would appear, high up in the sky.

Evidently, they start by jumping out of a plane, someplace where we do not see them.  Eventually, they drift down, swaying back and forth.  Then with a whoosh, they land right on our beach.  They come into land very quickly.   It was the first time we have seen this activity right here in front of our eyes and very close to us.  If you were walking on the beach,  it would behoove you to move out of their way before they bowl you over.

I think it is called sky diving.   It looks exciting.  I hope they do it again tomorrow.  The target area is just beside our Playa Royale on the beach, so we have a perfect view.   This is a first but I hope not the last.

February 15, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Gillian.

Gillian arrived this afternoon.   When she arrived, she looked weary, but not any more.   She has come for a vacation and so far, we have talked a lot about her one year vacation in 2014.   With both Ken and Gill on their iPads, we three have been exploring all her options.   She is renting her condo in Toronto for the full calendar year, which means she is forced to take a full year away from Toronto.  Actually, she will take a sabbatical from York University and will spend three months in New Zealand writing a paper or two.  We will visit her when she is there.  The first three months of the year are set in New Zealand.  And of course she will be in Nova Scotia for the summer months.

Now is the hard part.  She has so many options.   We three were exploring all the different ways to go on a ship from New Zealand, perhaps ending up in England, where she will do more work at Cambridge where she spent her last sabbatical.   But it takes sixty days by boat to get to England and she is not sure she can stand that long on a boat.   By the time she leaves us here, she will have even more choices, thus making her life difficult.  She will figure it out and we will help her.

She loved dinner at the outside restaurant down the road.  The sunset was magnificent and the food was good.  It is an unpretentious place which is perfect for the first evening in town.    Ken and I will enjoy her visit.

February 14, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Valentine's Day.

No chocolates for us this Valentine's Day.   We are all trying to get rid of our excess belly fat.   Instead, we four walked over to the Mall for breakfast.   There we saw a new table of goodies for sale, all Valentine gifts.  We saw bags of cookies and boxes of chocolates, all wrapped in red and white.   No one batted an eye at the goodies.   We passed right by on the way to the Mexican restaurant on the second floor.   By then it was ten o'clock and we were hungry.

The breakfasts served at that restaurant are excellent.   Typically we order from the Mexican food section.   Even the omelet  Ken ate was different from others,   One thing for sure we know.  When Don and Doreen go out for breakfast tomorrow in Toronto, they will definitely not order the same food as they ate today.  But this morning,  our Valentine's Day breakfast hit the spot.  It was a great way to celebrate.

February 13, 2013. Nuevo, Vallarta, Mexico. The Last Supper.

Three of us voted.  Ken did not care where we ate,  so would not vote.   Our decision was to eat our last supper at the little restaurant down the street, called La Isla, the same one that was called Rosa's and before that it was  called the Taco Place.  Every year it has gotten better.  It has evidently gotten trendy.   Today we went for dinner at 3:00 and by the time we left, every table in the tiny outside restaurant was full.  Of course, they have only seven tables but they were full the whole time we were there.

Rosa is the cook and owner and her son was our waiter.  He is very sweet and helpful.   I felt sure that the restaurant was run by a family so I asked our young waiter if the cook was his mother.   He grinned and said, "Actually, she is my boss".    After he took our order, he proudly said , "and she is my mother too", and smiled.

We three voted to eat there because the food is excellent...and it is inexpensive.   Sitting outside is also always a plus.  Tomorrow, Don and Doreen will return to the land of ice and snow.  We will miss them.  Our last supper together was a  pleasure, with wonderful food and good company.  We voted well.

February 12, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. People.

The people here at Playa Royale come from all over North America.   But what interests me the most is the story behind how they got to be where they live.   Each person has a different story.  This afternoon in the hot tub,  I listened  when two older men were discussing the therapeutic value of the hot tub.    One man had a strong accent and lived in Vancouver while the other man lived in Winnipeg.  He had no accent but he speaks Spanish.   In conversation between the two men, the one man mentioned that he learned English when he went to school in Winnipeg at age ten.  Up until then, I was not part of the conversation but I just could not be still.

I asked the man what he spoke before English and he said German.  Of course, I asked him where, and I was surprised to hear that it was in Paraguay.   It got even more interesting.  His grandparents lived in Russia and were Mennonites and lived to themselves and speaking German.  There was famine in the land and their town was ruined and they were forced to leave.  This was in the late 19th century. Canada took in some of the family and Paraguay took the others.  The Canadian group settled in Manitoba on farms.    His mother, when he was ten and still living in Paraguay, urged the family to move to Canada as the opportunities for the children would be greater, so they did.  They had relatives still living in Manitoba so were able to get their papers.  And he has lived there ever since.  I thought it a fascinating story, but I had to dig a bit to get the whole story.

February 11, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. A Sunset.

It was Ken's suggestion.   He has a brain for coming up with good ideas.   It was 5:15 and he thought it a good idea to watch the sunset while sitting by the beach instead of from our balcony.  so down we went,  all four of us.   One reason for sitting at the restaurant by the beach was due to our lack of anything to drink except water.   The night before Ken had brought me a drink, consisting of water and honey and lime.  It actually tasted pretty good.    From 5 to 6, the restaurant serves two for the price of one, so soon we were sitting with eight drinks on the table, waiting for the sunset.   Fortunately, the waiter brought us two big dishes of nuts.

No one else was there except us,  but the four of us enjoyed watching the people walk along the beach in the never ending parade.  It is our non scientific observation that there are fewer fat people this year than in years past.  I don't know what we talked about to tell the truth but we had a spirited discussion or two and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.   No green flash last night and not much of a major after glow sunset but the big red ball went behind the horizon yet again...and we all four cheered.

February 10, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Cleaning.

Marbella is her name.   Every Sunday she visits us in our condominium and she cleans the apartment. Now I have seen lots and lots of cleaning people over the years,  but none has done a better job than our  Marbella.     As I write, she has moved the furniture and rugs to sweep behind and under each piece.   And she mops the whole floor including the balconies.  The fan is cleaned too.   It is unusual in a large building to have the same cleaning person each week but we have been fortunate in having Marbella each week as she is thorough and exacting.

Of course, she also follows the orders she has been given,  which is to return every object to it's proper place.   If we are in the apartment, I stop her,  but if we are away,  she does her job well so that  upon our return, I am forced to move furniture,  and put the objects back to the place where I like them to be.  Normally a very ugly object resides in the center of the large dining table.   The first thing I do upon arrival is to move the fake flowers to the corner on the floor and every week, Marbella returns it to it's proper place whether or not it looks awful.   I know that she is required to do everything exactly the same way.  In fact, the supervisor will come and check to be sure all is done properly but when I am here, I stop her moving furniture and I have told her not to touch the dining table as it is covered with computers and paperwork.

Marbella is a treasure.  Oops.  The supervisor has arrived.  I will tell her all about Marbella and hope she does not notice all the furniture that is out of place so Marbella will not get in trouble.

February 9, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Ginger.

Why would anyone  open a restaurant in a small community in Mexico, serving Thai and Vietnamese  food?..  It amazes me that someone would open a restaurant in a busy affluent community such as Bethesda, but to do it here in Nuevo Vallarta is beyond belief.  But I am glad Ginger is here.

This afternoon we ate a late lunch .at Ginger.  The trolley was coming right down the road when we crossed the street, so we got lucky.     For the first hour, we were the only customers so we had personal service.  And the food was excellent too.    We four wined and dined to our hearts content.   It was a wonderful meal in lovely surroundings,  sitting outside in the shade, shared with our good friends, Don and Doreen.

During our time at the restaurant, we had seen the trolley pass by three times.   At 4:15, we left to wait sitting on the bench.  But the trolley never did come so we finally took a taxi home.   You just can not depend on the trolley!!  But we did not care after such a festive meal.

February 8, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Life.

A friend sent it to me and of course I tried it out.  It is the Northwestern Mutual Life Expectancy Calculator.   In other words,  it will tell you how long you are likely to live.   Now,  I am prone to reading the last chapter of a book so trying to look into the future is just up my alley, so I took the little test immediately because we all want to know when we are likely to die if for no other reasons that to spell out the money in the retirement account.

Now I may be in trouble because the little test says I will live until I will be 100.   I also took the test for Doreen and she will live even longer, to 101.   Ken refuses to take it but I will do it for him.  Also Don.   The problem with the chart is this.  If my healthy sister Carol had taken that same test a year ago,  they would have said she would live to be 100 too, but we all know that she died in June of this year at 77.  And my healthy cousin Diane in Vancouver would have come through the test with flying colors but she died suddenly at age 82 so I can see that the chart is not a guarantee.  But I am going to tell the boys and their spouses to  be sure they keep a bedroom ready for me.  At some point in my life, perhaps at 95, I will be ready to stay in one place and I will most assuredly be out of money!!

February 7, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Waiting.

Sometimes our behavior is ridiculous.    For example,  Don and Doreen came up to join us for a late lunch.  It was my suggestion to take the free trolley across the canal, to walk along the shore and then find a place for lunch.   We walked to the bench to wait for the trolley, but the trolley did not come.   When we first left our condo, we asked the gate keeper whether or not he had seen the trolley that morning.  He assured us YES.  So we waited.  Then we asked a taxi driver and he said NO.  But we still waited.

Here is the crazy part.  For $3.50, we could take a taxi over to the other side of the canal, but we are all too cheap.  We wanted the free trolley.   After 35 minutes of waiting, we concede defeat, but we do not pay for a taxi.   No.   We wait for our free shuttle to pass by and we hail Victor, the driver,  to pick us up and take us to the golf club for lunch.   So we enjoyed a delighted lunch, overlooking the 18th green and we did not spend a dime getting there.  Of course, our lunch cost $75.   We are so irrational it is funny.  And of course, we tipped Victor $2.00.

February 6, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. A Book.

The Garden of Evening Mists is everything I love in a book.   Characters are well formed and the story line is not obvious.  Plus the book takes place in Malaysia, an area of the world I know almost nothing about.   In addition to the main narrative, another theme is remembering and forgetting, something as we age is vitally important.    This book is the second by a man Tan Twan Eng.   He was born in Malaysia and spends his time also in Cape Town.

I don't recall who told me about this book but I am grateful they did.  I loved every minute.   There are not many books telling of the cruelty of the Japanese during the war mainly because almost no one got out alive.  This recounts part of the story, as well as the period of Communist insurrection after the war. The facts are worth repeating even when told in a fictional form.   This book is wonderful and well worth the time and money to buy it.

February 5, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Bucerias.

At first, when we arrive in Bucerias, it appears that nothing has changed.   Everything appears to look exactly as it did a year ago.   The town square is crowded with small restaurants and stalls and the tiny cobblestone streets are lined with vendors all trying to entice you into their shops.  "Almost free today", is what they say.    The vendors reduce their prices as soon as it appears we are walking away.   We have done this before so we just say no, gracious, and keep walking.  It is all very good natured and fun.

But once you leave the main square, you can see that progress has been made.  The hotel that was under construction a year ago has been completed up to the fifth floor.  In that building, which is under construction on floors six, seven, eight and nine, also has a functioning swimming pool on the tenth floor.   The hotel suites can be either rented or purchased and clearly,  people are living in floors one to five.    And an old school has been demolished and awaits permit or zoning, just down the road..

But one thing did not change.  We ate lunch at the same Italian restaurant as we did last year.   I am so grateful that some things do not change as that place has good food and a wonderful view of the sea.  Whew!!

February 4, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. The Internet.

Until Saturday evening, all has been well on the communications scene with us In Mexico.   The cell phones worked easily and the wifi in the condo had been quick.  Ken and I could access the Internet at any time of the day or night.   The signal came into the apartment on a phone line and then our own small white box plugs into the wall and sends the signal all over the place.   The system worked well for over four weeks.

Saturday evening, when we came home,  I was not able to access the Internet,  which means I could not write my daily report.    It was too late for the concierge to do anything about it but by Sunday noon the powers that be understood what had happened.   Unfortunately,  the problem could not be solved until this afternoon and even then, the system is slow.  Evidently, someone arrived on Saturday and plugged in their own wifi, which took down the buildings router.    A new system has been established but it is clearly not acceptable, at least not for us.

It is very interesting to note how quickly we accommodate  to new technology.   Not only do we want it running but we want it to be fast.    I must have spoken to the head man ten times this morning.  I hope I was polite.  But at least, now both Ken and I can do our work!!

February 3, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. A Spouse.

I shamelessly eavesdrop conversations.    If I am sitting by the pool just watching the people walk by,   I  listen to hear what they are saying.   Yesterday I was floating in the deep water not making any noise and from the exchange between the man and woman, I felt sorry for the man who was married to the lady.

What I heard was a couple walking by the pool and calling to the two in the water, asking them to come for lunch.   By now I am watching them but they have not noticed me.   The man in the water came over  to ask his wife and she said  "No, I am not hungry."     After their friends left, the husband asked his wife  and asked  why she did not want to eat as it was already 1:30.    Her response was priceless.   "I did not want to interrupt our routine".     The husband asked "What routine?  We have only been here for four days."    I kept quiet but it was not easy.

She explained to her husband that their routine was to do their exercises in the pool, which I could see they were doing, followed by a walk on the beach and  then another swim and hot tub.  Finally  she said, "We go to lunch together sitting by the  beach".   The husband just shook his head.

I, on the other hand, feel blessed that I am married to someone who can switch our schedules at the drop of a hand.    After several months here, we still have no set routine.  I am certainly fortunate not to be married to someone like that lady in the pool whose routine is set in stone after four days.  Amazing.

February 1, 2013. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Elise.

Modern technology is wonderful.   It all helps to keep us connected.    My great niece was born and raised in Vancouver, so I have only seen her every now and then.  With her parents and brother she attended our 50th anniversary in Nova Scotia but I have not seen or spoken to her since then.  I know about her from my brother and sister in law, as they see her fairly often.   But I have never known her well.    At least, not until now.

http://elisesurseine.wordpress.com/ is her blog.   She is a university student at the University of British Columbia.  This semester  she is studying at the Sorbonne, in Paris and at her Mother's suggestion, she is writing a web log.  So I read her blog and now I am getting to know her better.   I love it.    I am delighted to hear that she is surprised and a bit irritated with the rude service in Paris.   Someone should have warned her.   She speaks fluent french but often the Parisians can't understand her.  I am sympathetic.  Every country in the world has people who are delighted when you try to speak to them in their language...except the French.  They merely criticize your accent.   Now Elise knows that first hand.

It is interesting to learn how a 20 year old attacks a new place.   It is very impressive.   I am delighted to be part of the journey.  Now if she would try to have a regular schedule I will be really happy.