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

First Visit NOB, Border Crossing and Arrival in La Cruz

We just spent six weeks north of the border, our first real visit back since our retirement.  Boy, were we busy!  Our from Chapala to Kansas City was uneventful and safe - which was always toog.

Matt drove like a mad man out of Mexico and had us about an hour into
Texas on our first day.  I didn't think that was possible.  We spent our second night in Austin so we could see Matt's brother Shane and his partner Ken.  Then our last day was from Austin to Kansas City.

We were able to spend a lot of time with family and friends and enjoyed that very much--but ate way too much.  Matt spent lots of time with his grandkids, but think he wished he could have had even more.  We traveled to Lake of the Ozark area for Marshall's wedding, which was beautiful!  Wonderful couple and so happy they have each other.  Ryan and Brandee came to the wedding so I was able to spend some good days with them.  Bryce couldn't make it, but I went to North Carolina to see him and Jennifer.  Had a great visit and I enjoyed getting to know Jennifer.  We also got caught up on our medical, vision and dental care, got our South Dakota plates for the car (makes it much easier to have a car in Mexico if you ave SD plates), and started the process for our temporary residency permits at the Mexican consulate.

Marshall and Alix on their Wedding Day

Ryan and Brandee

Our New "Chapala Plaes"

We left Kansas City on October 11th and took Matt's mom for a visit with his brother Scott in Dallas.  We stayed at Scott's that night and left about 6:00 am  We made it to the border at 2:00 p.m. and despite acting like stupid gringos we were able to get our passports stamps, tourist visas and car permit in just over an hour.  When crossing at at Laredo, you turn left in Nuevo Laredo to get to the aduana office.  The signs are very small and hard to spot but we were going the right direction.  After several blocks there was a guy waving us to turn left.  We ended up making a U turn and headed back to the border crossing, what we should have done is cross over into the side road that runs just north of the road we were on.  So here we were, heading back over to the US.  We stopped at the gate and luckily the attendant spoke some English...enough to tell us we weren't where we should be (although we already knew that).  He called for his supervisor who cleared out the cars that were waiting behind us so Matt could back out (meanwhile all the Mexicans waiting to cross the border were honking at us and remind us how stupid gringos can be).  The supervisor moved some traffic cones and motioned for us to drive through, then he walked by our car and opened two gates for us to get us into the back entrance into the aduana office.  We felt dumb, but lucky that they were all so helpful to us.  When you get a vehicle permit that allows your US car to be legal in Mexico, you need the original title and a copy, proof of Mexican insurance, and copies of your passport.  It helps if you have copies of all of this made in advance.  They'll also need a copy of the tourist visa, which you'll have to pay to have made in the aduana office  And know your tag #.  If we'd had all of this in advance, we could have seriously cut our time in that office.  But still, less than an hour so not bad.

We were able to continue on to Saltillo to stay the night.  Very nice city with lots of very familiar options for overnight stays:  Holiday Inn, Hampton, DoubleTree to name a few.

Then our third day was about ten hours in the car to get back to Chapala.  Hermann had stayed with his second mother Nila so he didn't have to make the long trip and we needed to pick him up.  Our friends Joe and Sharon offered us the use of their casita for the two nights we were there so we were very comfortable.  We were actually to see almost all of our Chapala friends during these two days so good to check in.  Sunday was my birthday so I was serenaded at our favorite restaurant in Chapala.   I also was able to spend some time at the ranch, although that was sad for me.  We'd lost two dogs since I've been gone and my personal favorite, Lola, is having some serious health issues.

Celebrating my Birthday Chapala Style

We also looked at some housing options for next Spring when we return.  Think we've found the place we want, but Matt is going to try and negotiate a bit on the rent.

So Tuesday morning it was off to La Cruz.   Matt drove the first half of the trip and it was truly a beautiful drive.  We were on four lane cuotas (toll roads) most of the day.  There were some hills, but not too bad - although any hill is too much for Matt.  We took a break about three hours into our trip and I drove the final two hours.  This was a good decision as Matt would have had a total melt down if he was behind the wheel.  We had about 50 miles of winding roads and nearly hair pin turns.  That I could handle, what freaked me out were the idiots that were passing or trying to pass.  The double yellow line meant nothing to these jerks.  When we got behind a caravan of cars slowed down by a very slow moving truck, I was actually relieved.  I felt like this offered some protection;   But the good news is that we made it in about five hours, we had expected at least a six hour drive.  The casita we're staying in is lovely but small.   Trying to figure where to stash all our things.

The road to La Cruz...before it got scary!

Plunge Pool at our Casita

More on our new home soon!   But no pics except this one of our plunge pool until we get it organized!