Dear friends,
Rafael's apartment in San Blas
provided a much needed respite from our routine need to find food and a place
to stay in remarkably new circumstances every day. Each town in Mexico
has its own character, and what works well in one place may be entirely unavailable
10 miles down the road. Steve slept for the first two days we were there,
and recovered from his flu. Isaac immediately hooked up with a big gaggle
of kids, so alternated between mother-enforced resting and hanging with is gang,
a system that somehow allowed him to recover as well! Rafael was a lovely
landlord - he came by every day to give me a Spanish lesson. He spoke
slowly so I could understand him, and encouraged my pathetic attempts at communication.
A beautiful walled garden and courtyard surrounded the apartment, and as Rafael
kept saying, it was truly tranquil. At the same time, it was a short walk
to the village plaza, where something is always happening. We never even
made it to the beach, which was also a short walk away (2 blocks) - lame,
eh?
South of San Blas, the coast becomes
more tropical. We drove through jungle and mountains on the left, and
breathtaking views of the ocean on the right. Occasional villages with
lots of palm trees, and simple huts with stick walls and thatched roofs.
Farm animals wander everywhere. We stopped at one little ranch to see
some ostriches, which they had penned by the road. What amusing animals
they are! The dominant male filled his long neck with air and honked at
us. Apparently they are raised for meat, feathers, and leather.
We had seen at least one person in Chihuahua wearing fancy ostrich skin cowboy
boots. Go figure.
We stayed for the next three nights
in Puerto Vallarta, a tourist destination with lots of gringos, big hotels and
evidence of rapid development. However, we found a lovely little hotel
with a swimming pool and a balcony up on a hill in the old section. I
love the way Mexicans live their lives so much in the open. Sitting on
our balcony, I can watch people hanging laundry on a roof, cooking in an
outdoor kitchen, playing in a courtyard. Everything is open. And
roosters crow all over the city beginning at dawn. Every house has flowers
blooming, and bright colors abound.
While in P.V. we connected with
a long lost relative of the Maple Corner Foster/Bachman/Davis family - Robert
Foster lives in Nuevo Vallarta in the same bay. He is building himself
an amazing concrete/stucco house on a lovely lot right on a canal which connects
to the ocean. He took us for a boat ride through the canals and into the
bay. Robert was full of good advice on where to go and what to see, and
of interesting stories as well. We also got grabbed by a 'body
snatcher', who conned us into going through a time share presentation at a big
development right in P.V. called Playa del Sol. It was indeed a beautiful
resort, with pool and a pretty piece of beach. They gave us a delicious
lunch and a hard sell by 6 different salespeople. Every time we said no
to one, another would show up. Wow! However, we left with tickets
to a free all day cruise in the bay, a bottle of kahlua, and cab fare back to
our hotel but no time share. We learned later that the 'body snatchers'
make US$500 for every couple they drag up there. We met a couple later
who made $800 in one week by getting a cut of the body snatchers take instead
of all those free gifts. They went through sales pitches at five resorts.
Pretty shady business, if you ask me.
Our cruise was a gas, though.
We decided it was worth the misery of time share sales. The boat was clean
and well staffed, and we got breakfast, lunch and open bar all day. We
went snorkeling by some big rocks, which was fun even though the water was murky
from storms the day before. Then we went to a beach community that can
only be reached by boat. The locals had quite a tourist trade happening
there. You could rent jet skis, parasail or ride an inflated banana
behind a speed boat. Isaac and I went for the latter - yippee! Then
back to the cruise boat and another couple of beers for Steve, cokes for Isaac
and margaritas for me on the way to the final stop. This was a hike in
another village reachable only by boat up to a big waterfall. Horses were
available for hire, but we figured we'd better stay closer to the ground at
this point! Isaac and I swam under the water fall. It was all fun.
As we drove south
the next morning, the road curved inland through mountains, then emerged near
the coast in drier country. We had lunch in Barre de Navidad, one of our
candidates for settling. However, we did not fall in love with it - beautiful
bay, but the town itself seemed really quiet and not so charming. Not
that we stayed long enough to really know, but we get a feeling for a place
pretty quickly by now. We pressed on, trying to find a place Steve camped
years ago with George and Marge Morse. (They dubbed it Pig Beach for the wild
pigs all over among the palms.) We never did find it, and in fact ended
up renting a funky cabana on the beach for a couple of nights. While we
were there, a Canadian family showed up, and we enjoyed hanging out with them.
When we started out
next morning, we passed the 7000 miles from home mark! By now we were
traveling down the coast of the state called Michoacan. This is the prettiest
place we have seen yet. Wild things crossing the road in front of the
car included a long tailed beast - an ocelot, maybe? Looks like a cross
between a monkey and a raccoon. Two times we saw big hairy tarantulas
in the road and Steve had to brake to prevent running them over (he later
wondered why he did that) They were as big as squirells. And we saw a
pair of huge iguanas fighting in the road and swerved around them too.
The beaches here are just phenomenal, and the country is completely undeveloped.
Houses are almost all of the stick and thatch and mud variety. We
stopped at a beach in Las Pinas at a little palapa (thatched roof on poles)
restaurant. We had a feast of fresh shrimp deep fried with all the fixins
- avacado, salsa, hand made tortillas, tomatoes, onions. Mmmmhmmm.
They let us camp there under their palapa for the night.
On Dec 8, aware that the time
is flying by and we want to have a house to live in by the time our family comes
to visit, we turned inland to the colonial center of Mexico. And like
it or not, you will hear all about our adventures there in our next installment!
Lots of love to you all,
Sarah, Steve and Isaac
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