Puerto Vallarta Saturday, 10/31/15

Today is moving day. We have to leave our beautiful Vista del Sol condo in Old Town for lovely Lindo Mar, a timeshare south of town a bit in Conchas Chinas. Lindo Mar is our original "go to" place in PV. We love the small, sandy beach and the rocky outcroppings. In the morning you need to wait for the tide to go out before you can find a spot on the beach.

The pool is very crowded this year since no one can sit on the beach. Hard to find a spot.

This picture is actually from last year. The beach is nowhere this big this year. I hope it comes back later!

Tonight is Halloween. We brought 36 dozen decorated pencils for the kids. They like them more than candy, it seems. Went to the Dollar Store, so the haul only cost us $36.00. We also have 300 little plastic skull and spider rings.

We are meeting our Vancouver friends Kathe & Jurgen at Sol's Bohemio Cafe for dinner and Trick or Treaters.

The kids stream into the restaurants in Old Town for treats. They chant, "Queremeos Halloween!"

 Here's Sol, the crazy owner of Bohemio Cafe.

Bill & Rick looked dapper.

We ended the evening with a Spanish Coffee at La Palapa.

Puerto Vallarta Friday, 10/30/15

It rained all night and is lightly raining today. The Cuale River has again brought so much debris and sediment into the ocean, that it is a muddy brown. Looks like the Mississippi River. The Sea Monkey did not even set up the beach tables and chairs today.

Rick I did our laundry this morning, so we are all set for another week.

Dinner tonight as Encanto right up Aquiles Serdan from our condo. This is our all time favorite place.

They gave us the free corn appetizer and then they brought out the brie and peach quesadillas. Very yummy. We always love the Garbage Salad that our Canadian friends Geoff and Linda told us about.

Rick ordered the coconut shrimp and it was not nearly as good as in the past. Quite a step down. After dinner they brought us a free banana flambee desert.

The best part of the evening is that Enrique (the grandfather) was our waiter. We brought the Beanie Babies and asked him how many he needed. He said four and then changed to five when I put them all out on the table. I ended up giving him all of them - like 12. I know he will find a good home for all of them. As we were getting into our taxi in the rain, there were two boys running through a water geyser in the street. We gave Piano, the owner, two Beanie Babies to give to them.

Puerto Vallarta Thursday, 10/29/15

Today the Cuale River, which was flooded inland from Hurricane Patricia. brought lots of sediment and debri into the ocean. Since we are just south of the mouth of the Cuale River, we sure can see the results. The ocean is brown and they have spent hours raking up big chunks of wood and plant life.

I had another massage this morning at the little place a few blocks from our condo. Selena does a good job and it is such a great way to start the day. 

I bought a few Beanie Babies to give to the kids in PV. This year a woman gave them to me for free at her garage sale when I told her what I was going to do with them. Got to get busy! 

Here are a few pictures from last year's Beanie Baby crop.

Bill arrived this afternoon. Barb can't make it this year as her son is producing her first grandchild in a few weeks. We are going to miss her for sure!

We had an excellent dinner at Takos Pancho. Three tacos al Pastor plus an avocado stuffed with chicken, pastor pork and beef plus one beer per person. $8.00 each total. Love it!

Puerto Vallarta, Wednesday, 10/28/15

Today we are hanging out en la casa. Rick's ankle is swollen from walking, so we need to take it easy. Our plans are playing cards, going to the pool and reading. Not a bad way to pass some time at all.

This morning I went down to see Jose, the Muffin Man. He has been selling his pastries along the city for years. We see him here at Vista del Sol early each morning. When we stay at Lindo Mar further south, we find him there in the afternoon. Today we gave him a Bronco's beer coozie with a little cash gift inside. He is such a sweet and happy man who works so hard every day. When he heard Rick had such a big operation, he made the sign of the cross up to the balcony where Rick was sitting. Good guy!

We tried a new restaurant tonight with Pat & Don. Tre Piatti is a PV newcomer that features three choices of everything (appetizer, main course, salad, dessert, etc.) Very nice little spot with two huge trees growing inside. We found the food to be so-so. Not bad, but not special. Fn to try a new spot, though.

Puerto Vallarta, Tuesday, 10/27/15

I started the day with a massage that I had purchased on Cupocity (Mexican Groupon). Great way to begin a day for sure. Rick began his day on the balcony enjoying the great view of Los Muertos Beach!

I returned home to meet Lillian (Zebralb from the PV Tripadvisor forum) and her husband Joe. They are renting at Plaza Mar next door and we wanted to check out each others' digs. They have a lovely one bedroom penthouse that is beautifully decorated with modern leather furniture. So pretty. We still like our very spacious condo which has served us so well for the past ten years.

We really love the huge rooftop pool and go there every afternoon for a swim and perhaps a siesta. Today we met some of the other guests. Tony and Elaine are ballroom dancers from Chicago. Tony is an instructor and said he would teach us to Salsa and Meringue. I need to bring my ipad and little bluetooth speaker up there today. There was a group of three playing their won version of Bananagram. They make up their own words and then explain them to each other. They let me play a few words with them and I have to admit, it was pretty fun. There were also three girls who had sun dancing on the bar last night at Andales.

Our friends Pat and Don from Chicago checked in today. They stay two doors down from us every year. Pat and I met on Tripadvisor several years ago (she is Mexicomomma).

Tonight we went to the Tripadvisor Meet and Greet at Pour Favor together.

Beautiful vegetation taking over a building spotted on our walk to Pour Favor.

JR, a local who posts on TA a lot, organizes this little event every Tuesday. We had fun chatting with JR and putting faces with online names. We met Spotcat, George L. and Tansandy and his wife Sandy (who is tan). Very fun little get together.

Spotcat, JR & Ruth at Pour Favor

Pat (Mexicomomma) & Tansandy's wife, Sandy

We headed over to Bohemio Cafe at 7:00 to see Sol. He made a soup for me today ~ Thai Chicken Coconut soup. It was delicious. Rick had his Portobello Mushroom soup that was equally amazing. We split the red snapper special with an orange sauce. Great food and great company. Got to talk with Sol and his partner, Chris, sat with us a bit to chat. Also saw Skinny, the waiter, and Mitzi, the manager. Nice crew there!

Veracruz, our favorite mariachi group came by. We had brought all four of them a little gift of Broncos beer coozies. They sang my two best songs for us ~ Paloma Cucurucucu and Malaguena Solerosa.

Ruth & Manuel of  Veracruz

Puerto Vallarta, Monday, 10/26/15

What a nice treat to not only sleep in, but to actually get a great nights sleep. Something about the crashing waves right outside your window!

Today, however, was a busy day. We took a cab to Walmart to buy the necessary food and beverage items for our three week stay. We were in a long line to check out and a sweet clerk came and motioned for us to move to another single lane. Looking up I broke out in laughter. I wish I had my camera so I could take a picture of the sign. It had icons for three types of folks who could use the lane. The first was a pregnant woman. The second was a wheelchair. And the third was a person with a cane. Apparently we fit the bill according to the young clerk Ai yi yi!!

Came home ~ hit the rooftop pool ~ happy hour on the ocean front deck with shrimp from the fish market.

Then we were off to El Patio de Mi Casa for dinner. Last year we discovered this cute little spot in El Centro. While dining al fesco, a torrential rain began. All three couples eating ran into the covered area and we had a great time dining together. Well, tonight we arrived in a rainstorm again.

Being the only customers, we received great service. We ate up in a little "living room" overlooking the restaurant. Very quaint. We made reservations for next week on one of their live music nights. We ended our evening listening to a jazz duo at La Palapa.

Puerto Vallarta, Sunday 10/25/15

Okay, atomic clocks, we are not happy with you! Back in 2007 Daylight Savings time was changed from the end of October to the first weekend of November. Our atomic clocks apparently did not get the memo! We woke up to our 7:15 alarm with plenty of time for our 8:50 airport ride. Well, turns out it was really 8:15! We did speed showers and were out the door in a half hour. Whew!!

Puerto Vallarta looked wonderful.

No damage at all. It was a calm, but VERY hot and humid day. The last time we were here when it was so hot and humid was for Bob Degraw's 50th birthday. How long ago was that??

We made it to our beautiful Vista del Sol condo and crashed. We were so tired from the "Are we going?", "No, we can't go." "Yes, let's go." We were even too tired to have our traditional Cafe de Olla First Night Dinner. Even though it is just a few blocks from our condo, we opted to eat at Sea Monkey in our building. Great Coconut shrimp for Rick and Ruth liked her fish tacos. Then, off to bed sleepyheads!