Lost and Found Puppies

Daniel and I woke up early and took a walk into town this morning. It's the only time you can semi-comfortably walk around town. After breakfast he went his way (work for Papa bear) and I went mine (window shopping). On his way back to our bungalow he found two puppies abandoned in the shade next to a liquor store. Someone put them in a paper bag and left them there. Daniel came here and asked Julia the owner if there was a shelter nearby. Not surprising, there isn't one nearby so Julia's daughter and Daniel brought them back here. They are so cute and so small. They can barely walk and can't be more than a few weeks old. One is black and the other one is brown. They were just given baths and now the owner is pulling fleas and getting them cleaned up for Guillermina, their maid. She is going to take them home and give one to her mother who loves dogs. So currently there are 3 dogs and 2 pups in this compound. I love it. It's a canine petting zoo.

Another day at the beach

So I didn't go to Vallarta Adventures today to meet my new dolphin friend. Instead I went to the beach and got slobbered by a puppy while i was reading. After the beach, came home and Daniel was working but took a "break" to swim in the pool with me. He continued working, I read and later we went to the beach together. Daniel knows way too many facts about sharks, which was enough to get me out of the water. The 1975 SHARK movie plus Daniel's uber knowledge of sharks sufficiently added paranoia to what was an idyllic afternoon.

This evening we drove to La Cruz, the neighboring beach town for a true german gem: 2 x 1 Schnitzel's. The special showed a pig sliding down a rainbow slide. I will never look at Schnitzel the same way. The owners have lived in this area since 1997 and recently opened their restaurant - The Black Forest. The food was great and they were very nice.

Maybe dolphins tomorrow. Not sure. We want to drive into Vallarta in the evening for dinner and visit *one* of our favorite bars in PV: La Noche. We'll see what happens!

pic 1: the beach at bucerias. EMPTY. It was great.
pic 2: schnitzel heaven.
pic 3: the pool at the bucerias bungalow.

hard day here in bucerias

NOT!!!!!!!!!

I forgot my camera cord so I can't download any photos to show you how beautiful it is here. Today I went to the beach and met a very nice family from Petaluma.
It's been the PERFECT day filled with beach swimming, lots of time in the pool and grilled cheese sandwiches . Daniel has been working on some directory tree and is looking for the perfect coding solution. Other than that, he helped me relocate a crab that was hanging out in our bathroom. Tomorrow, I think I am going to swim with dolphins. Vallarta Adventures offers all these packages and I think I'm going to go for the cheapest package. I don't know how I feel about experiencing a belly ride with the dolphin. I can picture it now: me freaking it while flipper takes me for a ride around the eco-friendly lagoon. I won't be able to suck in my stomach and pretend I don't have one because I'll be too concerned with death. And in the end, they'll try to sell me a $15 dollar photo that will look more like bloated meets fearful then "this was an awesome dolphin experience." So I think the basic, get to know a dolphin, make him your friend package sounds more like my deal. It'll be me and a bunch of 6 year olds. I will let you know how it turns out...

Vallarta Adventures if you want to swim with dolphins one day:
http://www.vallarta-adventures.com/

The casita we are staying at in Bucerias. Highly recommend if you are ever in the area. We got the bungalow for a DEAL since this is low season and we have the whole compound to ourselves:
http://www.vrbo.com/50938

We've got rain!

Thunder, lightning, rain....the whole water works.

Bucerias, Nayarit

Daniel and I drove out early this morning to Bucerias which is about 30 km from Puerto Vallarta. It's yet another beautiful place in Mexico. I am sad to leave....3 more weeks to go then we hit the road. We are already talking about how to come back for an even longer stay...

Well back to Bucerias, once we unpacked we went for a walk 2 blocks down the road to "Karen's" for fish tacos and a chicken sandwich. We walked on the beach and we hope a storm is a coming. CNN says so and so do some of the locals. So there. It must be true especially if CNN weather says so.

Please let it be true. I am looking forward to rain, even a storm, anything that will strangle the heat.

Photos to appear soon.

Also my mom really didn't like the Aztec table and was happy I didn't purchase it. She thinks it is ugly. I don't think it's ugly but tacky. Yes there is a difference.

Aztec Calendar Table

Here it is - the AZTEC table I was about to buy while in a birthday buying compulsion frenzy. I'm going to blame it on my mama who no longer plays Las Mananitas for me the morning of my "getting older" day.

So, the deal is the table is made from 14 different woods and according to Teo a very very special purchase. I wanted the table so badly I even said it was special. Vomit. The table plus 6 chairs came to $5,000 pesos which according to the currency converter is about $498 dollars. But then I was going to have to pay a shipper to take the table and chairs to Tijuana for another $200 dollars, then find a way to pick it up from there. Vomit. The table was really beautiful but I was so dizzy and couldn't hang. Too much shopping made me sick, literally. Some day, maybe I'll own an Aztec Calendar cheese board. That's the best i can hope for at this final hour....in Mexico.

P.S. Gwyn fixed it so that you can now leave comments on the blog. So tell me what do you think of the Aztec table?

Patzcuaro and Morelia....

We had a great time once again in Patzcuaro and Morelia. Patzcuaro is the perfect town. It has everything you need. Fresh air, great food, nice people, great shopping and lots of local artesian work. Plus just outside the town center is the lake and lots of natural beauty. We stayed at the Meson San Antonio and that place gets better each time we go. For budget prices, each room is decked out in every imaginable way. It's a beautiful hotel. On Sunday, Gwyn and Sarita returned to Guadalajara and Daniel, Karina and I went to Morelia.

Since we returned, Karina and I went to Tonola and I bought a few last minute gifts. Yesterday and today I've been packing and cleaning up our mess. We leave in 3 weeks and time is just flying by! Today I replaced the bathroom linoleum tile I ruined. Daniel has to help me replace the kitchen cabinet door that is falling off. My fault again. And I have to plaster pudy the nail holes from all the trinkets we've hung up since we arrived. The goal is to leave Sarita and Gwyn's house as if we were never here....(well except for the erotic banana picture in the living room).

Pic 1: Tzintzuntzan, outside of Patzcuaro where I ALMOST bought an Aztec calendar table but luckily came to my senses, or was just way too tired to deal with Teo the salesman. Don't ask. It was a long day and at the time I though the Aztec Calendar table would complete my collection of shit and trinkets. Gwyn didn't understand what the expression "shop til you drop" meant until June 2nd when he graciously lugged all my crap around. By the end of my power shopping day I thought i was going to vomit, well, I kind of did.

Pic 2: The cathedral in Morelia. It's beautiful. Lights up the whole city at night.
Pic 3: My healthy birthday celebration. See the carrots? See the olives? And the whole wheat sesame crackers? All part of the "get healthy thirty something" campaign.
Pic 4: Representing on the big day after eating lots of carrots at the Hotel San Antonio (healthy campaign people). Sarita and Gwyn gave me a bottle of Zin and colorful socks. Yea. I love crazy socks and how I love my zinfindel. Zin is hard to find in Guadalajara (most of Mexico I think) so this was a treat.
Pic 5: Just like this photo. Took it outside the lago de Patzcuaro at the market.