Feb 14, 2009 - Mid-Feb report

Well the remodeling is going fairly well. Aside from the architect and the designer not always agreeing, Amelia and I continue with our daily visits to the remodeling site. Life in La Floresta (Amelia's old house/Dawn and Sharon's new house)is as normal as can be with 4 adult women and 6 dogs + Maria and Lupe (our helpers.) When I was in Chapala today running errands with Amelia, I got this interesting shot in my side mirror...didn't want to be too obvious! Amelia and I are going to the beach for about 7-10 days...a little vacation before...

Feb 2, 2009 - February...

It seems ironic that having lived 35 years in San Francisco, a very Asian city, it was in Ajijic that I went to my first Chinese New Year's party. My next door neighbor Lea, originally from Indonesia, who is married to Marshall, and their 12-year old son, Joshua, invited us to their annual Chinese New Year's party. We had sooo much fun... Mandy, Mikey, and Darby @ their monthly grooming event...And, of course, it must be Wednesday, Carlo's day with his personal groomer, Dee, who comes to the house to do that weekly chore. Last Tuesday as we...

Jan 30, 2009 - A few things have happened since ...

Dawn and Sharon decide to go completely SOLAR! They meet w/JSun Mills who heads a company called Alta Energia to go over and sign the contract. Mandy discovers her own food source, avocados dropping from the tree in the yard. After a morning tennis lesson for me, a visit to the open market with Maria to pick up our weekly produce, pick up Carlo's meat at the butcher, a salon appointment for Amelia, a quick lunch, we set off to the Guad airport to pick Deb, our friend from Mass. After Deb settles in, meets all the dogs and the folks, has a...

Nov 16, 2008 - Punta Perula, Jalisco to Manzanillo, Colima

Today we headed to Manzanillo to spend some time with our friends Chris & Kent to have a condominium there. This will be a bit of a milestone for us as we we are about 8 months late. We were supposed to arrive last February but our little setback in Baja last year prevented it. The road from Puerto Vallarta to Manzanillo (Mex 200) is almost all a narrow, paved, winding road with lush tropical forest. It is such a pleasure to ride. We took our time, stopping a couple of times to take in the scenery and drink some water. Hydration is getting...

Nov 15, 2008 - Manzanillo

It was time to leave Guadalajara for our apartment in Manzanillo on the Pacific coast. We left Victoria in August and were looking forward to seeing the ocean again; more than ready to soak up the sun and relish the added humidity after weeks of dry air in Colorado and Guadalajara. But this Saturday morning was like so many of our other days; we couldn’t get out of the hotel much before ‘the crack of noon’, as Audrey so lovingly calls it. We hailed a taxi and struggled to put all our luggage and the three of us into one vehicle and not two....

Apr 21, 2008 - Pascuales and Zapote de Ticupan

Ok, so after eating lots of delicious chicken we made our way down to Pascuales. It is a well known mexican surf break and the town, which is a couple of hotels and restaurants on the beach at the end of a 10km road from tecoman, is crawling with gringo surfers. Some living there for extended periods and some just on vacation. We parked Panamared in the yard at the first hotel we found. The actual hotel was pretty run down, but the camping was in the shade and right infront of the surf. We spent the first afternoon watching the surf and...

Apr 18, 2008 - Arroyo Seco

On to Arroyo Seco! This town is only remarkable, because i happened to have visited there on a surf trip a few years ago. Rachel has listened to months of my bemoaning about a certain guy that sold pollo asado on the side of the road that was one of the greatest gastronomical triumphs of all man kind. Not to dissapoint the same guy was there serving whole grilled chickens, with tomatoes, onions, salsa, and cucumbers. Although the prices have increased slightly the meal was as good as ever, and I am already excited for the next time that i...

Mar 23, 2008 - on the move

3-10-08 We arrived in Paradise Village Marina, Nuevo Vallarta. WOW, what a place, (www.paradisevillage.com). Most of our time was spent cleaning, washing, filling fuel and water tanks, and shopping in the local market that was stocked full of good old gringo food. We wished we could have stayed longer but time seems to be getting away from us. Once again proof that this old world is small. While in our slip a guy from two boats down yelled over and asked if Dreamweaver use to belong to Mike and Julie Bassler. We acknowledged, and was...

Dec 25, 2007 - Manzanillo - through Christmas!

December 23, 2007 arrival at Manzanillo resort - Las Hadas Las Hadas resort is beautiful moorish influenced resort, known for its remarkable architecture of spires and arches adorning a nearly vertical maze of white adobe walls and red tile roofs - all overlooking beaufiful Manzanillo bay. With the hillside chocked full of residences and little real estate unused, it reminded me of what I thought a typical Greek hillside must resemble. Las Hadas is a renowned resort, that not only boasts pristine beach front amentities, but also is complete...

Dec 4, 2007 - Mexico Resort (day 1)

Tuesday December 4th...10:15pm Sure enough, the alarm went off at 5am. It didn't take us long to get ourselves ready to head to the airport. Seems like forever that Sherman has been parked at this casino...yet it's really only been 3 days. We made it to the airport by 6:30am...with lots of time to spare for my 8:40am flight. I have very mixed emotions about this trip. On one hand, I look forward to getting into the consistantly warm weather...on the other hand, I wish I were driving down the coast with Ruth. I'm also slightly nervous about...

Apr 17, 2007 - Leaving Ixtapa

April 9 - Left Isla Grande for Caleta de Campos but the boys got on the radio and found that we had high winds coming up later today and they should last at least a few days. We decided to pull into Lazaro Cardenas instead. We're a little apprehensive because this is a major commercial seaport and the power plant stacks spew out a lot of nasty looking smoke. But we have no choice - so we're goin' in. As we get to the breakwater, we can see 20' waves breaking along the coast. Huge walls of waves, but the entrance is smooth and we have no...

Mar 18, 2007 - Good-bye Pacific Ocean!

Today we are hitting the highway and heading to Guadalajara. We will be on the Cuota (toll) road which is rumored to be excellent. The locals here in Malaque/San Patricio have been wonderful, the vacationing Guadalajarans interesting. Loud, drunk and a bit crazy about sums it up. Friday night we put the kids to bed and went downtown for a few hours, leaving the kids with Jaques and Denise next door. Sure enough, it was the one night that Peter woke up half an our after he went to bed. Of course Peter wasn't too happy to wake up and find...