The First Rains and other "hot" topics.

For those of us living here in the tropics, the first rains are always a welcome event. I woke up this morning to the refreshing drizzle of tiny drops out on the balconey and thought: the time has come once again. It's been so long since moisture has collected and dampened the earth and I can almost hear the plants whispering "thank-you" as the dust and dryness is washed away. What we have going on outside is comparable to a city wide greenhouse since the humidity combined with the temperature has literally caused steam to rise from the hot surfaces of roads and sidewalks. Want to test the effectiveness of your new anti-persperant? Try walking any distance in these conditons and you should be soaked right through your shirt in no time. It's great for the plants but rather uncomfortable for humans, so thank goodness for air-conditioning!!!

Good pal Jenny just left for Mississippi for 10 weeks. She's off to get her post graduate degree in Library Science. She'll be living in a dorm and had to take her own sheets, towels, blanket and even a lamp! She said the dorms are like Monk's cells stripped bare for the summer. In light of all this she is still excited about going back to "campus life" and we are all excited for her!

It's getting closer to that time when everyone will begin to drift off to distant lands for the summer and that distinct smell of adventure is in the air as the rains begin to fall once again.

Restaurant Week In Vallarta

It's Restaurant Week here in Vallarta which actually runs from the 15th to the end of the month. What it means is that lots of good places to eat are offering special menus at reduced prices. For example, a group of us ate at Archie's Wok last night and it was excellent! For a set price of $149 pesos you are served a three course dinner with a decent number of options. Our group tried a good variety of things and it was all superb. The best part is, the bill doesn't take much figuring out and is very reasonable for the quality of the food. A full listing of participating restaurants and their special menus can be viewed in the latest edition of Vallarta Lifestyles.

Enjoy!

Another Long Weekend!

It's at times like this that I really love Mexico. Once again we are celebrating a Mexican holiday/three day weekend better known as Cinco de Mayo. No doubt there will be parades and celebrations honoring the battle of Puebla in which the Mexicans defeated the French troops and sent them packing. They've been celebrating ever since and I'm glad of that! Bring it on!
The weather is spectacular, there are no crowds, heavy traffic or over-populated beaches. It's actually a great time to be here and there are quite a few deals to be had.
Our favourite couch jumper is here in town and I'm talking about Tom Cruise in the new Mission Impossible III which I'm quite sure is full of tons of implausible action and over-the-top hoopla but I still want to see it. Speaking of hoopla, the circus is STILL here which has to be a record. One of my friends went last night after managing to snag twofers in the best section, so I'll have to wait for her assessment. I've heard from others, it's really good but somehow I just can't get motivated to go to "Las Vegas" during my spare time. I've been burned too many times by sketchy acts involving shady characters in freakish outfits and sadly neglected animals reduced to performing humiliating acts at the crack of a whip--and those were the good shows! Don't get me started on "Barbie on Ice" and similar side shows from the depths of circus pergatory. I'll stick to Dr. Phil and Oprah for my entertainment, Ha!