March 7, 2023. Playa Royale, Nuevo Vallarta. Getting Ready.

I like to plan ahead and so does Anna.  We have been getting ready all week.   We all leave on Saturday so we must be ready.  Anna had been working with the food supplies.  Right now, the freezer is empty.  Tonight we ate  sausages, sauteed zucchini and baked egg plant plus cole slaw.  Tomorrow we will eat  the last of the chicken which we will eat for two nights.  Then on Friday night Anna will cook a stir fry with everything left over.  Then we will be out of food, except for oatmeal which we will eat Saturday morning.

The locker is now full of our stuff.  We will have one more trip before we lock it up for the year.  For the past several years, Wendy and Ken have been in charge of the kitchen and they bought many utensils which need to be left in the locker.  Wonderful Wendy took a picture of everything when they brought things in the kitchen.  Anna has the picture.  Now we hope we put them all away.  Kenny and Anne came for supplies we will not use.  We stayed on the balcony when they came yesterday.  They will come again on Thursday for last minute supplies.

My clothes are packed.  My Mexica clothes are again in the locker.  We are almost ready to move along.  Anna and I like to plan ahead. 

March 6, 2023. Playa Royale, Nuevo Vallarta. Walking.

 One of the pleasures of living here at Playa Royale  is the walking.  Ken and I had no car so we walked everywhere.  So getting your  exercise was natural.  Fortunately, there are many restaurants close by.  And the Plaza is a fifteen minute walk just down the road.  Anna and Abe walk on the beach every morning but the rest of the day they get their exercise just walking from one place to another right here.  For instance, they needed to get something from a drug store for after dinner they walked to the Plaza.  By the end of the day, I bet Anna had walked 10,000 steps, which is her goal.

Sara Lou has walked with Anna and Abe  several times on the beach but by today, she decided to stay at home because her ankles were hurting.  One of the problems of getting too much exercise is that a person gets injured.  So this afternoon, Sara Lou walked to the Plaza just to check out the prices.  Tomorrow all three will walk to the Farmers Market right across the street and Sara Lou wanted to be able to compare prices.  But she could easily take a short walk just down the street.

I on the other hand can no longer walk to all those places.  I walk on the balcony where I feel more secure.  But Paradise Village is a great place for walking.  Pretty nice.

March 5, 2023. Playa Royale, Nuevo Vallarta. Sea Shells.

Every day Anna and Abe walk on the beach.  The first day in one direction and the second day in the other, each day alternating.  And every day Anna picks up sea shells.  She likes the little shells.  And she likes the unusual shells.  Today she picked up three auger shells, each one smaller than the other.  She will keep those three auger shells for her own collection to take home to Nova Scotia.  The rest of the shells will be given to her grandchildren which will be their momento from Mexico.  Pretty nice souvenir. 

No one can walk on the shore without picking up shells.  As Anna and Abe always walk in the shallow water, the shells are few but she is able to bring back to the condo just a handful.  But over time, she has acquired a nice collection which Anna  will give away.  She has some timy shells which are beautiful.  Anna has no need to take a bag down to the beach when she walks.  He collection is quite charming.  And her grandchildren will be delighted.  Certainly, the price was right.

March 4, 2023. Playa Royale, Nuevo Vallarta. The Best Laid Plans.

 We were ready for a party.  Abe, Anna, Sara Lou and I were prepared.  Sara Lou bought a bottle of wine.  She brought a jar of pepper jelly from North Carolina and she bought cream cheese too.  We already had crackers.  So we were set for a celebration with Anne and Kenny.  They were successful in Mexico City.  Now they were back home at their boat.  Anna had made a special dinner.  So we were set for a happy hour with sunset food  followed by a lovely dinner, all while sitting on the balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

But plans change.  At 4:00 Anne called to tell me that she tested positive for Covid so she must isolate until she tests negative.  And Kenny had come down with GI distress so he could not come either.  So our party would not happen with the six of us.  At first w talked about keeping everything for another day.  But we decided to go ahead and have our party with just the 4 of us and we did.  We all leave next Saturday so we needed to eat up our food.  We were sorry to not hear the tales from Anne and Kenny but we might not be able to see them before we leave.  After all, Kenny could get Covid too.

We drank the wine.  We ate the pepper jelly and cream cheeseon crackers.  We watched the sunset and we ate our splendid dinner.  And we celebrated.  But we missed Anne and Kenny.  The best laid plans indeed.

March 3, 2023. Playa Royale, Nuevo Vallarta. Unfinished Business.

 We have only one week left in Playa Royale.  So today, Sara Lou and I are making a list of what we want to do before we leave town.  And we are having a hard time.  So far since Sara Lou arrived on Monday, Sara Lou have done nothing  much except enjoy the condo and walk the beach.  We can not think about anything that we need or want to do before we leave on March 11.

Today we went to the golf club for lunch.  Anna and Abe had never been there so we had a good time.  They had never been to a golf course in their life so we asked Anna and Abe to sit so they could watch the golfers come down the 18th hole to the green.  The first question Anna asked was what the sand was doing around the green.  Sara Lou explained all about the hazards around the course.  Fortunately for us, three of the four golfers hit their balls into the sand trap so we watched while they tried to get themselves out of trouble.

Tomorrow, SLC will walk down the beach where the vendors have a tent just to see their goods.  She will also visit the Farmers market tomorrow morning..  And we will eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant La Isla, next week.  But we will mostly be lazy and enjoy this place.  This is the third time that Sara Lou has visited here so she knows the drill, which is reading, eating and walking.  Pretty nice.

March 2, 2023. Playa Royale, Nuevo Vallarta. Lost Friends.

After breakfast yesterday, Sara Lou and I stayed chatting on the balcony.  The day was glorious.  The balcony during the day is perfect with the temperature not too hot and not too cool so we were enjoying ourselves.  Both Sara Lou and I have done a good job of keeping in touch with friends but we started talking about those folks who we have lost and who we never hear from so Sara Lou looked up a few people in her phone.

One person who we found was Adrea Brier.  Many folks we looked up had no phone numbers but we looked up Adrea's web site and found a phone number, which we called.  I have not spoken to Adrea for 20 years but I called her and she told me that she would call me in an hour, which she did.  She even recognized my voice.  So we had a long talk.  And we had fun.  She asked me about Gary D. and I told her that I had not spoken to either Gary or Diana for over a year.  So I called them and chatted with Diana.

At that point, we were weary of talking to people but we did look up more names.  We discovered that Glen B. lives in Florida on Marco Island with his wife Jane.  Sara Lou and I had a great time thinking of our lost friends although we both agreed that these folks were never really good friends or they would have kept in touch.  But at the time, they seemed to be friends.    Lost but not forgotten.  We had fun. 

March 1, 2023. Playa Royale, Nuevo Vallarta. Mexico City.

Kenny and Anne are in Mexico City.  They flew from Puerto Vallarta this morning in order to apply for a long term visa for the French Polynesian Islands.  In order to get the visa, they must both appear in person at the French Embassy in Mexico City.  And they must present all their documents.  They have a folder full of documents, including multiple copies of what is required.  It is unbelievable what is required.  All the documents are on line but Kenny and Anne were required to make multiple copies of everything that is requested in the application.

Their appointment is tomorrow at 9:00.  They are told that it takes 5 minutes with the official before you submit the application.  You also must leave the official with your passport.  Kenny and Anne must leave a paid package with the official so the visa and the passport will be returned, in 3 to 7 weeks.  Only then can they leave for the south seas.  They would have liked to leave earlier but they were unable to get an appointment earlier.  So now the process is underway.  And they are pleased.

After the appointment, they will enjoy Mexico City.  And their flight back home here is late on Friday so they will be tourists Friday morning too.  I will be pleased when they are home here and I am keen to hear all about Mexico City.  But I can't believe that there must be a better, easier way to apply for the visa. I will report back.