Hollis Got Sick

Monday - Liz followed through on her commitment to have her hair cut by Zena this morning. She learned that Zena has decided to move back to Canada, so Liz' plan to justify semi-annual trips to Mexico in order to have her hair cut has unfortunately fallen through.

Liz had some spare time afterward and went to do a bit of shopping. She spied a very cool item to take home in one of the coolest shops in town. The art plays off the idea of revolution, which only a year after the end of centennial and bicentennial celebrations of the two big revolutions in Mexico's history still has a lot of resonance here. Images of various revolutionary folk heroes have been re-imagined as current cultural symbols with lots of Banksy-esque graffiti art.

Hollis, who had started not feeling well on the boat tour, stayed home for the afternoon while the rest of the family headed to the beach. We finally followed through on the promise that had been made to Bowen to try paddle boarding, and two boards were rented. It proved to be much harder that it looks to be able to balance on one of those things and propel oneself about on choppy water. And forget about surfing!  At least on the first day.

Hollis was feeling well enough to come join us on the beach for happy hour at the end of the bathing day, but was definitely not firing on all cylinders. We did manage to foray out as a whole family to return to Mangia Fuoco, the Italian restaurant that Liz and Bowen had patronized on the evening of Remy and Hollis' ill-fated attempt to catch the bull fights earlier in the trip. The food was awesome (again) and the final bill cheap (which strums the strings of Remy's heart), and the dessert of nutella pizza was enjoyed by all.

We arrived home and began the usual night routine. Remy happened to move a shoe by the door and noticed what initially appeared to be a squashed bug underneath. A closer examination proved that what had appeared to be the bug's head was actually its tail, and that while very flat, it had not been squished- the fact that it moved proved that! We took a souvenir photo (useful as well in the case that you have to show a doctor what actually had bitten you) and Remy shooed it outside. A bit of searching on the internet seems to indicate that it is a type of, or is at least related to, a scorpion. The same research also revealed that we are in the area of Mexico that reports the highest number of scorpion bites (50,000 per year!) of any in the country. Other than the cockroach that Hollis found in the bathroom and the few gigantic ants that visit our livingroom at night we haven't had any real issues with creepy crawlies. In fact, we keep the windows wide open at night and have yet to be bothered by even a mosquito. The dengue fever fumigation truck we've seen buzzing around on two occasions seems to take care of that. Although it makes being outdoors delightful we can't help wonder what that technique is doing to the population that lives here full time.

Remy and Liz, the new-agers that they are, actually set the alarm for an early wake-up on Tuesday morning and went to Om Yoga to take a class. We met Josh from St. Louis, who sported about 15 lbs of dreadlocked hair on his head. He led us through 1 3/4 hours of kundalini yoga which, as Kekine described it, involved lots of "fire breathing and flapping of arms". All we know is that it was a workout which, after a week and a half of daily happy hour sessions at the Breakfast Bar after a hard day of laying on the sand, kicked both of our respective butts! The studio at Om Yoga, which is set in a wholly Mexican barrio on the south side of Sayulita, is beautiful, with a pleasant breeze blowing in under the palapa roof. Only occasionally was the tropical bird song drowned out by the roar of some badly out-of-tune Mexican heavy truck roaring by.

That night was a long a long one for Hollis, who ended up paying our portion of the white man's debt to Montezuma. He was so strung out and dehydrated the next morning that he had no energy to join us on the beach. We met Caroline from Canmore (which sounds like an Air Farce character) on her next-to-last day in Mexico. She and Liz traded contact information so maybe we have a new set of friends in that mountain town. We think it was pretty cool that she brought her 13 year old son, Luke, to Mexico on her own and spent time taking Spanish lessons and surfing with him as a means of connecting with her teenager. We certainly appreciate the value of such things!

We kept another long-standing promise to Bowen and rented a couple of regular surf boards. Well, actually a couple of beginner soft-top long boards. Of course, Bowen with his lower centre of gravity and long experience with skate- and snowboards, was able to stand up right away and surf smaller waves right into the beach.

 Remy, on the other hand, took a while mastering "paddling with two arms while lying flat on the board in calm water". The photo below shows the apogee of Remy's abilities on a surf board- the Special Olympics technique, which dogs and chimps can also be trained in.

 Liz, soft-top notwithstanding, managed to bash herself really well and bruise her leg. For a while, we were the people that normally we are afraid to be around when playing in the surf.

The rest of the day was rounded out with more purchases from vendors on the beach, boogie boarding and general horsing around in the water. Remy and Liz celebrated happy hour (again!) on the deck in front of The Breakfast Bar, which has now officially joined the Remy's panoply of "happy places" on this beautiful planet we all call home. Sitting on a plastic Adirondack chair on a coco lumber deck in Mexico, sipping an illicit margarita has become one of the favourites even among favourites. 

-Remy

A typical few days

We usually rise about 8am and have breakfast in the back yard way before the boys wake up. I hate to sleep away the morning even if we are on vacation. We drink strong coffee, eat fresh tropical fruit that has never seen the inside of a refrigerator or a massive delivery truck and watch the grackles build their nest in one of the two coconut palms on the property. If we are lucky we will see the green parrots as well. A walk through our neighbourhood of Tamarindo into town means we pass by Luna, the butt ugly white pit bull that insists on sleeping on the sunny side of the road ALL day. She is there every single day and we wonder how she hasn't fried to death by now. She never moves or ever raises an eyebrow as we walk by at various times of day.

There are many "beach dogs" here that don't belong to anyone but who crave attention all the same. They aren't called "mans best friend" for nothin'. It makes me sad to see some of them just aching to be loved and eating up whatever affection they can generate from the transient population here on the beach.

The mexican families are so friendly and always say "buenos dias" to us as we walk by. They are getting their kids to school and heading to work while we head to the beach!

We can feel it getting hotter every day as summer approaches. Not sure what the temps are but I was very comfortable in the water for the last few days so it must have been at least 30 degrees. We walked to Los Muertos beach a few days ago and loved the quiet and the fact that the really great beach vendors brought us everything we needed at this slightly isolated spot. We ate some awesome shrimp tacos, cold cervesa and even managed to buy a chair hammock for Bowen!

Yesterday we splurged and took an all day trimaran trip to Mariettas Island. The island is a nature preserve so is home to several species of birds including the blue footed boobie! The island had a beach in the centre of it which makes it look like a donut if only you could view it from above. We had to either kayak, swim or snorkel to the centre of the island then we were able to walk through some caves that led to the outer edges of the island. A harrowing experience with Bowen who was very worried we would either hit our heads on the top off the "cave" or would be swept out to sea from the force of the incoming waves.
 We spotted some whales on the way to and from the island which always gets everyone on the boat slightly hysterical. The craziness always ruins the potential  tranquillity of the experience for me and I get caught up with everyone else trying to capture the experience in a brutal photograph. I met Caroline, the wife of the screenwriter for Gorillas in the Mist on the boat who just happens to live in Canmore. She is here spending some one on one time with the eldest of her 6 children while her husband brings home the bacon from their second home in Los Angeles. We keep running into them in town which is pretty fun. It makes us feel at home somehow.

Our day at the beach usually comes to and end around 6pm when Remy and I head the The Breakfast Bar for a cocktail and to watch a game of beach volleyball played by the bronzed surfer dudes. Not a bad way to live, not bad at all.

Liz

Tuesday, hump day, Thursday in Mexico

Tuesday - with heavy hearts, we escort Kekine to the "bus stop" to begin her journey home. Remy gains the cool points of carrying a surfboard through Sayulita, which may be the closest he actually gets to the real thing. 

We decided that it would be better to begin the boys' driver education here, figuring that if they can master the rules of the Mexican road then winter driving in Calgary should be a breeze. We rented a golf cart for the afternoon ($50 Cdn per 4 hrs) and both Hollis and Bowen had turns at the wheel, with only one minor scrape suffered to our jalopy. We careened through the jungle (Remy driving now) to visit remote Playa Carricitas where we shared the beach with only one other Canadian cart-driving family.

We finally managed to connect with Zena, Liz' hairdresser from Calgary, who is now an expatriate resident of this dusty burg. Kekine, who had heard so much of Zena prior to and after our arrival, had begun to believe that Zena was a mythological creature, and Kekine had added her to the list of other exotic fauna that she wanted to see in Mexico along with monkeys and crocodiles. But no, she really exists, and appeared mere hours after Kekine's departure! Kinda like Snuffle-upagus... Liz has traveled a long way to have her hair done, and I suppose we can rationalize the cost if it is only once (or twice, says Liz) a year.

While we walked the streets, we could not help but start when the sun blanked out momentarily and we saw the reaction of others. We made a bother of ourselves and approached the tallest man we have ever seen, who would tower even over Liz' brother Robb. Shawn Bradley, who is 7'6" and played 12 years in the NBA, is used to being approached and was quite gracious about letting us have a photo with him. Of course, his wife is 5'4" tall. We cannot help but think about all the things that must be so difficult for him to do, like fly, ride in a taxi, use the washroom in some of the broom closets that pass for toilets here, sleep in a regular bed, etc.

Wednesday - a plain old beach day in Sayulita. Like total tourists, we rented a couple of chairs and a couple of boogie boards and let the shopping come to us. From the itinerant beach vendors we ended up buying: sunglasses, a map of Mexico, fish and shrimp on a stick, fresh oysters, three scarves, a temporary tattoo, cocadas (coconut macaroons), and bracelets.

Remy and Hollis let early to catch the bus to Puerto Vallarta for the Wednesday afternoon bull fights. A hot, crowded bus got us there slightly late and we rushed around trying to find the bull ring, only to find that there were no bulls this night! Remy asked of the bartender about the bull fights, and was told that they happen in "high season" and that the season was no longer high enough. Remy had researched this prior to the trip so the boys were able to throw back at Dad that "you can't believe everything that you read on the internet ". Liz and Bowen, on the other hand, had a perfectly wonderful evening in Sayulita, with time spent at the wifi cafe and a great Italian dinner at Mangiafuoco, a quaint little place that made all their pasta by hand and cooked their delicious pizza in a wood burning oven. 2 glasses of red wine, 1 large pizza, a greek salad, one lemonade and dessert for $32! Live music provided by 3 talented hippies made for a terrific evening under the palapa.

Thursday- market day in La Penita. Hollis haggled for his hammock and got a good deal, while Remy got a replacement pair of huaraches from the huaracheria. We walked to Rincon de Guayabitos and reacquainted ourselves with pellizcadas for lunch (large corn disks covered in melted cheese and topped with your choice of meat and salsas for just a few dollars each.) We walked the beach to the Flamingo Trailer Park where we had camped in the Rusty Cougar on our Big Trip and met Tony and Lorraine, who remembered us as the couple that had been re-married on the beach. It was nice to know that we had made an impression! Unfortunately the massive tree that we had parked under had been removed. It was sad to see such a large and wonderful organism gone, but proof that change is the only constant.

An evening at the beach, followed by supper and a pirated movie on the DVD player, rounded out another busy day. We are getting used to this- again!

Remy

Say Hi to Sayulita

We have arrived in and acclimated to Sayulita already! The trip to Mexico is a cinch when you are flying. After having driven here, and having flown to South America, a five hour direct flight and a thirty minute cab ride to get from Puerto Vallarta to Sayulita is a breeze. Plus, we do not feel the need to "see it all" while we are here, since we have already seen so  much before, and it is easier to more quickly relax.

The flight was remarkable only for the fact that we shared the plane with a wedding party, headed for an all-inclusive in PV, along with a birthday party of which the birthday boy had discovered at the airport that his passport had expired. He and his friends had been drinking since 10 am that day so poor drunk birthday boy had to go home alone while his friends poured themselves onto the plane and laughed about their friends bad luck the whole way to Mexico.
Landing in Mexico is always a thrill for us and makes us all feel right at home. We are very excited to get to our destination and hook up with Liz's cousin, Kekine who is in Sayulita for 2 weeks surfing with friends. We have no way to reach her  and we're hungry for tacos so off we go to town and put it out to the universe that we need to meet up with her. Not 20 minutes later we see her curly haired head walking down the busy cobbled street!!

Traveling with family is fun! Kekine has quite a sweet tooth especially when it comes to the stuff they sell out of the back of the pick up trucks. This makes her even more popular with our boys.

This is our home for the next 2 1/2 weeks! It's located about a  5 minute walk from the centre of town but is very quiet at night and the rooster farm and barking dogs live way down the dirt road! We are having great sleeps.

We spend the next two days exploring, eating and thinking about surfing. Kekine likes to go early in the day before the water gets busy and Liz likes the afternoon heat so for now Liz will just pose with the board.

Monday was  a Mexican national holiday, so things were still hopping in Sayulita with lots of Mexican nationals here on vacation. As the weather was overcast and Kekine had been wanting to do it as well, we hiked from Sayulita to San Pancho (San Francisco). Part of the way was through town, part was through the jungle, and part was along the beach. we had many adventures on the beach, including the rescue of some baby turtles that had washed up on the surf. Remy rescued a very large beetle as well. The route to San Pancho was blocked at one point by the ex presidential palace so we had to do a major trespass to get past- very exciting for all of us! We spent the afternoon eating one of the best burritos yet and sipping margs and tequila sunrises while we watched the sunset. A great day.