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