Christmas in the Dessert

Definitely didn't feel like Christmas surrounded with sand and cactus, but was a good one none the less.

When we were here nearly three years ago we met two couples:  Robin and Miriam who have a real estate business in El Centenario and Chuck and Sherry who had just built a little house for their planned retirement.  We reconnected with both these couples our first week and they're just as nice as we remembered.

Chuck and Sherry invited us to join them for New Year's Eve celebrations at a nearby restaurant and to help at a Christmas Eve dinner some gringos were hosting to feed some needy families from a nearby pueblo.  Miriam and Robin invited us to a Christmas pot luck dinner in our little neighborhood of Colmitan.

The Christmas Eve dinner was good, although over staffed with gringos.  We tended to just get in each other's way.  Each family received dinner and there were gifts for each child.  There were also bags of groceries for each family as well as new blankets and pillows.  Everyone loaded up their plates with food, and took most of it home.

Sherry Dishing Up Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner was really nice as well.  It was good to meet our neighbors.  We shared stories on how we all ended up in this spot in Mexico and it's amazing to me the variety of people that decide to move here.

The day after Christmas, Matt and I played golf at the Costabaja course in La Paz - it was amazing!  There were ocean views from nearly every hole.  I struggled through nine holes and then decided to just drink a couple of beers and drive the cart.  I think we'll look into lessons for me when we return to Chapala.  Experiences like this one are just too good to miss, and would be a lot more fun if I could actually play!

One thing I think we'll really like about living here is the opportunity for some very cool day trips.  Matt and I took one this week when we drove to La Ventana which is about 45 minutes aways.  La Ventana is nearly always very windy and draws a lot of kite surfers.  We loved watching them; reminded us of Cabarete.  It is incredible the amount of vacant land with incredible ocean vistas.  I'm sure the developers will get here eventually, but thankfully for now it's still just a little Mexican pueblo.  La Ventana also has about six or seven RV parks and they were all nearly full (probably because of Christmas/New Years).  Love seeing all the families that come down here for the water sports and the little kids playing in the sand.  Much better than a visit to Disney!

Kite Surfers at La Ventana

The weather has definitely improved the past week.  Most days have been mid 70s or 80s - so nothing to complain about.  And we do have some beautiful sunrises!

El Centenario Sunrise

 From last blog I forgot to post a pic of Claudia and her kids.  Claudia was our housekeeper and La Cruz and she is such a sweet, beautiful lady - plus really good at her jobs.  She would often bring two of her four kids with her when she was working.  Matt loved to slip Tiffany and Christopher candy....or buy them ice cream.  On our last day, Claudia brought us a little gift of a sea shell painted with a La Cruz beach scene and her camera to take our picture!  We'll miss this sweet family.

Claudia, Tiffany and Christopher

The Trip to La Paz

Well, we're here!  It was a journey but we made it safe and sound with no real problems.

We packed up our La Cruz house on Saturday and had everything ready to load.  We hadn't made it to Roberto's Xocolat for dinner during our stay so we splurged had went there Saturday night.  It's perched on the side of a cliff with an amazing view of La Cruz, the marina and Banderas Bay.  Perfect way to end our stay - and dinner was excellent.  But dang, we forgot our camera!

Early Sunday morning Matt started loading the car.  He is an amazing packer.  He was watched over by this sweet sculpture.  I think it's St. Francis of Assisi, but I'm not expert on saints.

We have our own traveling angel that was given to us by Matt's mom.  This sweet face will go with us to each new home.  Here she is in the car, already to pull out.

We walked down to the Sunday market for one last visit.  Matt loves the marlin burritos that one of the vendors makes and he wanted those for his lunch.  And he wanted to say hasta la vista to Martin, his favorite La Cruz cigar man.

We left about 10:30 and had an uneventful drive to Mazatlan....although I think we definitely took the scenic route.  Matt forged his own way, rather than obey the GPS.  We saw a lot of little fishing villages along the coast and field after field of mango and banana trees, and still got into Mazatlan before sunset.  We found the hotel with no problem.  The malecon in Mazatlan is beautiful with some amazing sculptures.  Unfortunately it was too dark for pics.

Baja Ferries have two routes to La Paz.  The largest one is between Mazatlan and La Paz.  But this trip is 16 hours.  The other option is the route between Topolobampo and La Paz.  Topo is about a five or six hour drive north of Mazatlan, but that ferry trip is only 7 hours.  Because of Hermann, we decided to take the Topo ferry.  They allow dogs on both ferries, but there is no option to walk them or feed them and that's just too long.  But we wanted to buy our ferry tickets in Mazatlan so we could have that all taken care of when we eventually arrived in Topo.

On Monday morning we were out of the hotel by 8:00 and then went to the Baja ferry pier in Mazatlan.  This was definitely a situation where I was glad I had some Spanish!  No one spoke even a bit of English!  I explained to the guard at the ferry pier what we wanted to do.  He told us to join this line of semi trucks waiting to be weighed.....and quite the line it was.  We inched along, sandwiched between all these semis and finally made our way to the weigh station.  There the attendant measured the length of our car and weighed it.  Asked for our passports and some basic info from Matt (name, age, nationality), filled out a slip of paper, and then sent us off to the ticket office.

There were some people ahead of us in line, so we took a number.  They were serving #19 and we were #29.  Not bad we thought.  Well, it was 1 1/2 hours before we got to the ticket window.  This is a VERY slow process.  But the ticket agent understood my Spanish well enough to know we wanted two passenger tickets from Topo, plus the car and our "mascota" and that we wanted a "cabina".  I asked about where Hermann would stay, but she just told me that as long as he had a crate he would be fine.  She also told us we needed to be lined up to load our car in Topo by 9:00 p.m. - the ferry is scheduled to leave at midnight. The total cost was about the equivalent of $300 USD.  Not bad to save at least four hard days of driving!

The drive from Mazatlan to Topo was fine.  Good roads and not much traffic.  This is a huge center for agriculture.  We saw miles of fields growing citrus, nuts, tomatoes, squash, peppers and beans.  We later found out that it's not just and fruits and vegetables that are grown in this area; and that the cartel is very powerful here.

We arrived at Topo about 6:00, not long before sunset.  We located the ferry pier and then went into to Topo for dinner.  There is definitely not a lot going on in Topo!  A few stands on the street selling tacos, hot dogs and ceviche.  And that's about it....and we had three hours to kill here.  Luckily there was a Christmas program being held at the waterfront so we watched a Spanish version of Disney story re-enactments.  It was fun.  Then we had a hot dog and some ice cream....and we just waited.

A bit before 9:00 p.m. we headed to the pier.  We joined three rows of cars waiting to load, we were about six or seven cars from the front of the line.  All the semis were in another lot.  And we waited some more.  We did meet up with one other American who was waiting to board and he'd made this trip several times.  He gave us some idea of what to expect, and also verified that Hermann would need to stay in the car for the entire trip.  I took this opportunity to give him plenty of time out of his crate.  At 11:00 p.m. they started loading the cars onto the ferry.  Only the driver is permitted to drive the car on and off the ferry, so I put Herm in his crate, told Matt good-bye and went to join the other passengers waiting to walk on.  About 11:15 they started to board the walk on passengers and there was a big rush for the stairs.  I went as well.....not sure why.  They let a few passengers go past the stairs, but they were just standing in another line waiting to cross the bridge to the ferry.  The rest of us were still jammed in the stairs, and lots of crying babies!  Who could blame them, way past their bed-time!  I decided to go back to the waiting area, I was in no hurry to board.  Finally about 11:30 they started letting passengers go off the stairwell into another waiting area.  I gave it another five minutes for the crowd to clear and went up myself.  Well, I should have waited.  After you got off the stairwell, they divided the group into two lines, one for men and another for women.  The marina guards (in camo uniformes and armed with ak47s were searching some of the men's carry on luggage.  The women weren't searched, but a drug dog walked up and down both rows.  The drug dog had already checked out our car while I was waiting with Matt, and was especially interested in Herm.  He immediately picked up Herm's scent on me and stopped right in front of me.  Luckily his handler had remembered us from the car search, laughed and went on.

I finally got on the ferry about 11:50 and went to the reception desk for our cabin key.  Matt and I had prearranged to try and meet at the bar, or if he couldn't find me there to come to the cabin.  At this point I really just wanted to go to the cabin and collapse in the bunk, thought Matt could find me there. Well....in Mazatlan we had been assigned cabin 98, but the receptionist gave me keys for cabin 96 instead.  I didn't notice until I was nearly to the cabin.  So I through my bag in the cabin, and headed to the bar to wait for Matt.  I was sure he was already on the boat as they'd started loading the cars so long ago.  Well, the bar was closed and no sign of Matt waiting for me.  I sat on the sofa outside the bar....and didn't move even after it opened.  About 12:20 a very tired Matt Sullins came up the steps.  Our car had been one of the last few loaded, he had driven on just about midnight.

Manny the Mariner wedged in with all the big boys

We went to our cabins, took another dose of dramamine, and that was it for us.  We saw nothing else of the ferry, although what we did see was very nice, much like an older, simple cruise ship.  Our cabin was small, but very clean and all we wanted were the beds anyway.  Matt was out like a light; I slept about four hours but was freezing.  I managed to grope my way to closet and I grabbed his jacked to sleep in, but was still too cold to sleep.  In the morning after we turned on the light, I saw that there were two extra blankets in the room, I could have used both of them!

We docked in La Paz about 7:00 a.m. and I just took a seat and waited while Matt went down with the other drivers.  I knew I'd have a long wait as he'd need to go through customs before I could join him....but didn't realize how long.  Once again, he was one of the last cars off the ferry.  The customs in La Paz did a thorough search of our car.  He had to unload Hermann and some of the bags, but luckily nothing off the car top carrier.  The custom agent was very polite and friendly and admired Matt's cigar collection.  Matt actually offered him one but he refused it.  He also laughed about my stash of Absolut.  Matt eventually cleared customs at 10:00 a.m. and picked me up.  We took Herm to the first open area we could find and finally let him out of his crate and gave him water.  Poor baby, but he seemed find.

Found our new home in La Paz; it's actually in El Centenario.  So different from La Cruz, but beautiful in it's own way.  Sand and cactus everywhere.  Our house is right on the beach.  This isn't a swimming beach, but still lovely to look at.  Herm loves this big, sandy yard to guard and spends most of his days on our front porch.

There is a roof top deck where we can see the bay at night; and the full moon was beautiful rising over La Paz.

We settled into our new home, unpacked our things, and made a grocery store run on Tuesday.  And we slept so good that night after this long trip.  Wednesday morning I took Herm out and he was peeing blood and there were drops of blood around the house.  Of course I went into panic mode.  We took him to a vet in La Paz (English speaking thankfully) who gave him a thorough exam and decided it was a bladder infection from that long trip.  He tried to give him an IV treatment but Herm would have nothing to do with that.  So instead he got about four injections, we left with some vitamin C, pain meds, and antibiotics.  We also bought a months supply of a special food, six months of heart worm preventative, and one month of Frontline.   Total cost was less than $100.  Not too bad.  Herm was doing much better by that afternoon.

So now, we plan to spend just a few days doing nothing.  The hard packed sand along the beach here is perfect for riding our bikes.  I'm starting yoga classes today, and in a few days we'll find a Spanish tutor for me.  But no rush; we're ready to chill!

Time to Move On!

While I love the opportunities that the life style we've chosen give us, the one part I don't love is leaving.  La Cruz is the third stop on our retirement journey and, like Cabarete and Ajijic, very hard to leave.

This has been a short stay.  We were in Cabarete for five months and Ajijic for four.  Our stay in La Cruz has only been two months.  When we found our casita we fell in love but it was out of our budget.  The owner was very helpful and negotiated the rent to a point where we could afford it, but could only do this up until mid-December, which is when their high season kicks in.  I fully understand - with the hot, humid summers here she only have a few months of prime rental season.  But I'm sad to move on, our time here went too soon.  And right now the weather is PERFECT!   We have great pool days even though the water is starting to feel just a bit cool, unlike the nearly bathtub temperature the pool was when we arrived mid-October.  In the evening, you feel just a hint of cool in the air, but not enough to even bother with a jacket.  And the mornings are incredible!  The air is crisp and cool and so refreshing.  My yoga class is at 7:15 a.m. and I walk the six blocks in just my workout clothes.  But the Mexican ladies in my class arrive in thick sweaters or bundled up in warm hoodies.  While we're enjoying this, much of the US has been experiencing unseasonably cold weather, sleet, and snow.

So Sunday morning we leave.  We'll probably start sorting through our things the next few days to see what we can leave behind.  I have a massage scheduled for Saturday afternoon to get me in the mood to travel.  Sunday morning we'll stop at the artisans market behind our house.  Matt's favorite food item their is the smoked marlin burritos and they haven't had them the past several weeks.  But he put in a special order, and they're bringing just two for him.  Then we'll drive about five hours to Mazatlan and spend the night.  In Mazatlan we should be able to buy ferry tickets.  Mazatlan is one of the two towns that the ferry travels to, but the trip from Mazatlan to La Paz is about 18 hours -- too long for Hermann to be in a crate.  So Tuesday morning we're going to drive another five hours north to Topolobampo.   From there the ferry trip to La Paz is only eight hours.  The ferry leaves at 11:00 p.m. each night and arrives in La Paz at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday.  So in six days we'll be at our new home!

The visit with my sister was such a good one!  We had her to ourselves for six days.  We went to Desildoradas beach and had a great day at this beautiful beach.  There are always local men diving for oysters right off the beach and for 80 pesos they'll crack a dozen for you right at your table.  The water is clear and calm, and still very warm.  I did have my first encounter with what I believe was sea lice here.  I was in the water just up to my knees when both legs starting stinging.  I got out and rinsed off with bottled water but this didn't help.  The next days I had multiple patches of bumps that looked like poison ivy on both legs and MAN did it itch.  This went on for about four days before it finally cleared up.  But still.....well worth the experience and this is nothing that will stop me from swimming in that beautiful ocean.  Sue joined me for yoga classes, which we're her first studio classes, and she did great.  And she convinced me to go to strength training classes with her.  And then we had lots of good mornings watching the sunrise from her palapa apartment and hanging at the pool.

Syd and Sister Sue at PV Marina

Sue's husband Rodney arrived on December 2nd.  He booked a fishing trip and Sue and I decided to join him.  Guess who caught the biggest fish?  Yep, that's my bad boy and I pulled it in all by myself.

Syd's big catch

Oh, and here's Sue's big catch.  But she did reel it in without help.

Sue's big catch

 We also took Rodney back to Desildoradas and then spent another incredible beach day at San Pancho - and none of us had a camera!  Love San Pancho!

Matt, Syd & Rodney at Desildoradas Beach

Sue and Rodney wanted to show us the Puerto Vallarta Marina; Matt and I had never been there.  It's beautiful, if you can find a place to park!  Their favorite restaurant there is Victors where we went for breakfast.  At Victors, it's free tequila shots; any time of the day.  So along with our bloody mary's we had a couple of shots; good thing Matt was driving!

Monday we dropped off Sue and Rodney at the Hardrock where they'll spend a week before heading home to cold Kansas City.  Now, Matt and I are back to normal....just the two of us for a few more days.  We do love being on the beach if it means we can have visitors!

More Visitors!

We are having so much fun!

Last week Matt and I found Playa Desildorados!  It's a beautiful wide stretch of beach which you can almost have to yourself--especially on a week day.  There are a couple of shacks selling bebidas and comida but you can bring your own if you choose.  The water is warm and clear and the surf very gentle so great for swimming!  We'll be going back here a bunch in the next few weeks.

Matt at Desildoradas Beach

Two of our friends from Chapala came to spend four days with us.  Vern and Kathleen drove over last Friday and left Tuesday.  We really enjoyed showing them around and good for Matt to have some guy (a/k/a golf) time and Kathleen and I did a lot of shopping, sunning and drinking!  On the day the guys golfed, Kathleen and I went to Rancho Banderas, a resort about 15 minutes from our house. We bought all inclusive day passes and made very sure we got our money's worth!  Lots of food and drink along with some great  beach time.

A selfie of Kathleen and Syd

At Rancho Banderas palapa restaurant

The sunset at Rancbho Banderas

Syd, Matt, Kathleen and Vern in PV

 About three hours after Vern and Kathleen left, my sister Sue arrived!  She'll be here for six days on her own, then her husband Rodney comes for a week, and then they go into PV and stay at the Hardrock for another week.  Lots of beach time for Sue!

We took her to Bucerias on her first night to get an oyster fix!  Biggest dang oysters I've ever seen, but still very tasty!

Sue figuring out how to eat this monster oyster

Sue enjoying sunset in Bucerias

 Yesterday we spent  a lot of time at the pool while Matt golfed, and then I took Sue into Bucerias for a massage with my favorite therapist.  We had bought some beautiful, fresh mahi mahi filets and Matt grilled them for dinner.

And today Sue is fixing us Thanksgiving dinner!  Hope everyone has a great day and as many things to be grateful for as we do!

Visitors, Beauty Queens and Great to Come "Home"

Been a busy week or so!  My son Marshall and his new wife Alix arrived in Puerto Vallarta on November 10th for a belated honeymoon.  It was so good to see them at the airport!  This was Alix's first trip outside the US so I was very hopeful she'd have a great time....and want to come back.

Matt and I had earned a free weeks stay at the Hard Rock Vallarta resort as a result of referrals we've made through our vacation club membership.  That free week wasn't transferable so we stayed there and let the kids have our casita to their selves....oh and Herm, they kept him as well.  The week seemed to go well for all of us, just too fast.  We picked up Marshall and Alix several times to show them around but they still had plenty of time on their own.

I cannot say enough how proud I am of Marshall.  When he was younger, I always referred to him as "poor little Marshall".  Seemed like if something could go wrong for someone, it would be him.  But he has grown into an amazing young man:  kind, smart and self sufficient.  He and Alix make a great couple because she is so loving and supporting.

Dinner With Marshall and Alix in PV

When we checked in the Hardrock, this is the first thing we saw:

Dang Matt's luck!  The Miss Swimsuit USA International competition was being held at our resort the week we were there.  Sixty-four beautiful women in bikinis, tough life Matt leads, and you can see that from the looi om his face.

One day we had found a quiet spot on the beach and a photographer and a couple of the girl showed up for a shoot.  This was our view.

The photographer wanted the girls to take off their tops and squeeze into life jackets that were intended for four year olds.  I took this video of part of that process, Matt called the video "squeeze them real tight"  

Of course a few of the girl brought their very hot boy friends with them.  Unfortunately this wasn't the norm.  Most hung out with the fat, sloppy photographer.

And then I enjoyed this guy who had lunch at the pool with us one day.

Saturday, our last full day at the resort, and it was gray, rainy and cold!  We spent a few ours at the beach, but not much fun, so just had a lazy day with a long nap.  Then Sunday it turned out to be the most gorgeous day.  The sun was shining, but the storm seemed to have knocked out some of the heat we've been dealing with, and the sky was so blue.  We arrived back at our casita to spend some time with Marsh and Alix before taking them to the airport, and the view from our little patio seemed even more beautiful than normal.  I think we missed our little home.  So sad to see the kids go, but hopefully they'll visit again next year.

We've been very spoiled here as we've had the entire place to ourselves.  On our property this is also a three bedroom house and a studio palapa in addition to our casita but no one staying in either of those - until this weekend.  It's a Mexican holiday and about six college age Mexican "kids" arrived Saturday for a two night stay.  I can say this for Mexicans, they do have fun.  The music was blasting and they were singing along - and laughing!  I've never heard so much laughter.  We were concerned we might have to spoil the party and ask them to turn it down, but right at 11:00 the music went off and we didn't hear a peep out of them.  

And of course need to add an update about Lola.  Jan continues to send me pics and reports on how she's doing.  Sounds like everyone is adjusting well.  Lola is making friend with the other dogs, and especially likes to stick close to Jan.  Her incision is continuing to heal but there was a problem this past week with a UTI.  I was concerned her health issues were going to make it too hard for Jan to keep her but Jan has reassured me that Lola has a home there until I get back.  Here's the latest pic, Jan calls it "queen of the castle".

On the Edge of a Cyclone and Almost Legal

The gardener calls it a cyclone, but I think it's still classified as a tropical storm.  Looks like it went right over Matzalan last night, and we were just on the outskirts.  We got a nice rain last night and the wind really did kick up. There are always about four or five sailboats near the entrance to the harbor that just stay anchored there rather than pay for a berth in the marina..  Normally they have very calm water; last night we watched those masts sway like crazy.  Must have been a long night for those sailors.

No damage here in La Cruz, just a bunch of leaves in the pool.  The pool guy was here early today to clean it up.  And the clouds over the mountains made for a beautiful sunrise.

Sunrise from our Patio

I also walked down to the marina and took this picture.  It's quiet in the morning, although the pescaderas are there getting their stands ready for business once the fish start coming in.

When we crossed the border we only had a thirty day visa as we had started the process to become temporary Mexican residents while in Kansas City.  We started working on the remaining steps of the process about a week after we crossed the border.  So far this has gone very smoothly.  We submitted our paperwork and had a call last week to go to immigration to be fingerprinted.  Today, Matt got a call that his temporado card was ready to be picked up.  Mine didn't make it yet - hopefully tomorrow.  Being a temporary resident means we no longer need to leave Mexico every six months, and our car can stay in Mexico for up to four years without having to nationalize it.  So trips home will all be by air for the foreseeable future.  Plus when we fly into Mexico we can skip the long lines in immigration for aliens (which is where all the vacationing gringos go); we can go to the much shorter line for Mexican residents.

Saturday we tried once again to go to Puerta Vallarta.  Well, not much luck.  We can never find a place to park!  The first trip in to PV we did find a parking garage but we we passed it by looking for street parking  This time we decided we'd definitely park at the garage; but on this trip we couldn't find it  We decided next time we'll park at Costco and grab a cab into the city.  Should make for a much more relaxed visit.

Sunday was the first market day in La Cruz for this season.  Incredible!  200 merchants selling beautiful jewelry, leatherwork, pottery, glass works, baskets, breads, desserts and main courses to take home to enjoy later, and lots of food to nosh on while you shopped.  Plus our favorite restaurant had set up a bloody mary bar!   This will definitely be a regular Sunday event for us!

La Cruz Mercado

And we had our first run in this morning with law enforcement.  Matt has become just a bit too comfortable with driving between La Cruz and Nuevo Vallarta.  The speed limit is 60 kilometers, which I believe is about 40 miles per hour  Several times I've told him I thought he was driving too fast, but he'll just point out all the other drivers going faster than he is.  Well, that argument didn't fly with the policia who stopped us this morning.  He immediately asked Matt if he spoke Spanish, and probably was a good thing Matt can't.  He asked for Matt's license, and I believe he was telling us Matt was getting a citation and that he was going to keep Matt's license to ensure he appeared in court.  Matt kept pointing out all the other cars speeding by.  This didn't impress the officer at all; he kept repeating that the speed limit is "seisenta".  I tried to translate as best I could, but what I heard most was the officer telling Matt "no esta enojado conmigo!" which is "don't be made at me".  Somehow we got Matt's license back, no ticket and we didn't offer to pay a mordida or "the bite" which is a street side bribe to get out of a ticket.  And Matt's going to slow it down a bit

Now, the best thing that happened to me this week happened back in Chapala.  While I worked at the dog rescue last summer, a lot of those dogs worked there way into my heart.  But my favorite was Blackie.  Can't say he was the best looking dog there, he has this long black hair that seriously needed a good brushing.  I started taking him out of his pen so I could try and do something with that coat, after two days of brushing he looked much better - and that's when I discovered that "he" was a "she".  What kind of name is Blackie for a gal?  Turns out that wasn't really her name.  There had been another black dog in her run that moved on.  The dogs names are on their run and no one bothered to change it.  She had been in a good home and her name had been Pearl, but her owner died and she ended up at the ranch about two years ago.  I started a campaign to rename her, and I thought Lola was much more fitting than pitiful Pearl.  I decided that I was adopting Lola next April when we return to Chapala.  I just couldn't do it now while we're moving around so much;  When I was back in Chapala in October, Lola was in bad shape.  She'd had some sort of cyst that erupted and caused a huge open wound.  This was actually the second time she'd been through this.  Gudrun took Blackie to the best vet in Guadalajara and he operated and removed all the bad tissue.  Lola had a 14" scar.  If it came back again, the decision was she'd need to be put down.  I was at dinner with some of our Chapala friends and I was telling my friend Jan about Lola.  She and her husband Ron immediately offered to foster her if the wound healed.  They are an incredible, kind ane generous couple.  They have already adopted five or six dogs, two horses and I think a burro.  All were underfed and needed a good home; and now Lola is lucky enough to be with these sweethearts until I get back in April.  Here she is making herself at home on her first day!

Lola (on the right)

Nuestra Nuevo Hogar (I think this means our new home)

We've been here for 9 days and really starting to settle in.  La Cruz is definitely more of a little mexican village than Ajijic.  It does seem much more simple, and less geared for gringos  Lots of opportunity to practice my bad Spanish!  That being said there is a little pocket of gringos here.  There are a handful of nice restaurants and bars geared for us visitors.  We've tried several and they've been excellent.  But we're most excited to try the more Mexican restaurants here in town, just haven't had the opportunity as of yet.

Bedroom

Little Kitchen

Living Room

Entrance to Our Casita

Our Plunge Pool

Pool at the Casa

View from Our Back Door - that's the bay behind the trees

View from our front door

Happy Bday Matt!  Almost catching up with me!

For Matt's birthday dinner we went to Frascati's, one of the most popular restaurant for the gringos here in town.  It was good pasta (freshly made in-house) and a pretty little spot, but seemed a bit overpriced.  Not sure we'll be back.










Friday we decided to check out surrounding beaches.  We first drove to Punta de Mita and immediately were assaulted with vendors trying to sell us boat tours, and we hadn't even left our car.  We decided to move on.  The next stop was Sayulita;  I've heard this is a town favored by the young as it's a great surfing beach, and definitely a fun, funky little town.  First thing we saw when we pulled into town was a guy jogging with a water bottle balanced on top of his head - don't ask me how.  So definitely think the funky was going strong in this little pueblo.  There were lots of restaurants, bars and shop that looked like they would be fun to poke around in.  Well, we couldn't find a place to park.  Drove around and around and no available spot appealed to Matt.  So we decided to drive on to San Pancho (which sometimes is referred to as San Francisco).  This ended up being a lovely stop.  No problem finding parking and the beach is beautiful.  Maybe not a good swim beach, but it has some mild waves and a handful of beginner surfers to watch.  We had lunch and a wonderful bloody mary at a beach front restaurant and watched the kids surf.  Not much else was happening in this little village, just a few shops, but definitely worth the trip.

While I was going through pics, I came across a few good picks from our trip back to KC.

Matt & his Grandkids - that's the face of a happy man

Dressed up Marsh's wedding

Me & Marsh day before the big event

Ryan and his mom

With Bryce at Biltomore Mansion

Ryan and Brandee