Vallarta at Christmas--The Pros and Cons

As in any situation, there are plenty of pros and cons to living here during the Christmas vacay and since we were just "out on the town" last night, a few things come to mind.

No parking! We drove around like teens looking for a place to "park" last night even though we were just trying to ditch the car so we could go up and have a cocktail with our friends that live in the Olas Altas area. Fuhgeddaboudit. Definitely a CON.

The sunset from our friend's balconey was nothing less than spectracular and I mean that! It was brillant shades of pink and blue and just got better as the sun dropped below the horizon. A PRO!!

Huge crashers towering toward the shore. Surfers pro.

Out walking last night on our way to the restaurant we almost tripped, stumbled or busted an ankle thanks to those crazy "sidewalks" all buckled from ancient tree trunks or dark construction zones where the sidewalk is non existant but maybe some rebar lies in its stead. Or worse yet, the dreaded open manhole! No lights to see by, so just cross the street and hope for better conditions. Dangerous Con!

Having arrived at our final destination there was a waiting list! Con. Hey, chairs and beverages on the sidewalk while you wait for a table, Pro! Food? Pro. Service? semi-con.

Friends visiting for the holiday? Pro!

Time off? Huge Pro!

Line-ups at the super? Giant Con.

Weather? Giant Pro! We were actually cold last night! That's just novel. Gimme that comforter!

Having a good book or two to read? Pro!

Screaming ninos in the pool? Con.

Traffic? CON!!!!

By for now...

'Tis the Season to be Hunting for Crabs?

Merry Christmas to you!

Just rode the cruiser to the mall to exchange some pesos into dollars Americanos for daughter Steffi who is off to L.A. this evening to visit a friend in Mission Viejo. Trust everyone had a prosperous Christmas and got all you ordered from the man in the sleigh. So far it's been an interesting vacation which involved a crab dubbed Princess Penelope.

We were at Plaza Caracole the other day getting some last minute items and the girls introduced me to the new pet store called ¨Mascotas¨which is really something! They had quite the assortment of creatures including black scorpions (we had plenty of those during our years at the Rancho!) all manner of parrots, ferrets, a chinchilla and of course lots of puppies. If you pay $25 pesos they'll put you in a room where you can play with the little guys. I was tempted when I saw little ¨Scottie¨who is too cute for words! Anyway, Jacqui thought it would be fun to by her current squeeze a pet crab since they are very economical and easy to care for. A few crabby pellets and some water and voila! Easy, right? Apparently not. Once we got home we set ¨Princess Penelope¨in a large tupper dish with the pellets and the water and put a cookie rack on top to keep her in her temporary ¨hotel.¨ All seemed well and good until the next morning (Christmas morning) when I discovered our little guest had escaped! For the next half hour the entire family scoured the pad looking for the little nipper, but to no avail. Not a very illustrious beginning to the day and we have no idea how she got out of the apt. or if in fact she IS out. At any moment we could come across her unexpectedly, but in the meantime we have given up. Oh well, it's the thought that counts.

Going Organic.

Yesterday I received my first delicious sampler from a new organization called "Organic Select." A large paper bag arrived overflowing with the freshest of produce from local farmers and organic producers from as far away as the valley of Tomatlan and delivered right to my work place! How great is that? Upon closer inspection I found the following: tiny, perfect cherry tomatoes, fresh cheese wrapped in a banana leaf, a mini loaf of flaxseed bread, a jar of guayaba cream (sort of like applesauce), eggplant, baby squash and some perfect zucchinis. There was still more! A large bag of baby greens, a bag of arugula, two free range hen's eggs, a small bag of coffee, two oranges and two limas rounded out the selection and I can say that having used some of these ingredients to prepare a late lunch yesterday, there was approval from all involved.

According to the info tucked inside the bag, a group of six women, (five Mexicans and an American) have spent the last two months locating growers and putting together the business. "This is a relationship between farmers combined with cottage industries which grow organic fruits and vegetables and local members of the public who want to support their efforts and enjoy the benefits of eating the freshest, most wholesome farm produce avaialable." Personally, I'm all for it and will do my best to support them and their efforts since having fresh produce brought to your door is a great thing! The other exciting thing is that depending on the growing season, the selection will vary and they even mentioned eventually introducing free range roasting hens, turkeys, lamb, beef and ostrich. I say, bring it on.

The Smoldering Burrito.

MIL DISCULPAS to those of you that tune in from time to time for the protracted absence from this BLOG. A friend from Toronto wrote me this morning with a justified "What Up?" and put me back on track. Thanks Jeff!

This is our last full day of work here at the old Colegio before heading out for the holidays. (Can we say Christmas anymore??) Tomorrow will be a short day in which we wrap up a few morning classes and then gather in the courtyard to give out gift baskets to all the maintenance staff who do such such a good job keeping this busy place orderly and functioning. The tradition is that students from each class bring in cookies, pasta, flour, oil, cereal, oatmeal and many more items which are collected into giant baskets and gifted out. It's just a way to say "thanks!"

The teachers already had their Christmas Posada one evening last week and it was a great success. We enjoyed piñatas and ponche, tamales and pozole, fragrant mandarinas and plenty of cachuates--oh, and an open bar. The D.J. (aka "Chuy") whose day job is to man the door and do a bit of gardening blew us all away with his ability to spin the rockin' tunes and get people up and shakin'. Who'da thunk it? Anyway, there was also a table full of gifts to be raffled off and even though I was eye-ballin' the nice new color TV, I ended up winning an electric screw driver. Hmmmm. I guess it beats a rubber biscuit.

I promise to be back on soon, so stay tuned for further news from this burning (smoldering?) burrito.