PLAZA CARDENAS

Three short blocks away,  my street runs into a large plaza.  It is the largest plaza this side of the river, but I had never paid much attention to it until my coffee shop reopened on the square.  It always reminded me of a small Pershing Square because of the underground parking garage.  Nothing of any note surrounds the square..  It is where I saw the dance group led by the drag queen and where I saw the body of Christ being led up the street.  All of which I would have missed had I not been at my coffee shop.

A friend of mine who was visiting told me it used to be one of the most beautiful parks in Puerto Vallarta.  There were lots of trees and lush tropical plants.  Now it is mostly concrete with some planters.  Like all squares in Mexico there is a large gazebo and at one end is a small amphitheater.  Fortunately they managed to save the large trees from the old park, and I guess the large statue of Mr. Cardenas ( I have to assume that for their is no plaque on it)  The planters have grass and small shrubs now.  But the grass is dead and many of the small palms and shrubs are dying.

About five years ago, someone came up with the "brilliant" idea of putting a garage under it, so the old park was dug up.  Never mind that Mexicans won't pay for parking and most gringos either walk or take cabs.  The parking lot is almost always totally empty.  The one good idea they had was to put in public bathrooms; something this town could use judging from the smell of the side walks.   But alas the entrance to the bath rooms is locked.  You can see the signs giving you the times of day it is open, but you may not be able to see the padlock on the gate.  I have never seen it open.

Then someone (maybe the same someone) came up with another "brilliant" idea.,  Lets build a huge building with commercial and residential to create a need for parking.  So there is this enormous building that takes up the entire block facing the plaza and rising over eight stories high.  It too is completely empty.  You can see the condos with balconies that would either over look the park, of from the higher floors the ocean; none are occupied.  The story I heard is that the builder used beach sand in the concrete to save money and as a result the salt is already eroding the concrete.  The City says, it must be torn down to the ground.  Someone did not pay off the right person.

Whoever built that enormous structure must have lost a fortune, the garage makes no money for it is always empty, so no one will pay to water the park.  They city says it is the responsibility of the garage and the garage refuses.  So, the plants continue to die.

Then I came up with my own "brilliant" idea.  For some time I have thought of volunteering for some kind of charity work. Something to fill my time between going to the beach, the gym, Spanish class, shopping, and of course my "pub crawls".  But I can't stand being around old people (they are much too cranky);  children make me nervous, and I faint at the sight of a needle.  I do love animals, but the shelter is clear across town and I see enough dog poop on the side walks.  I have no real skills or talent (which made finding a job pretty iffy as well), so what could I do.  Then it came to me,  I will adopt a park!!

One thing I am good at is watering, but where would I get the water.  I can't even get bottled water delivered to my apartment, how could I come up with enough water for a park?  Then, I thought I will start my own charity to "Save the Park"  The regulars from my coffee shop when it was on Olas Altos certainly looked wealthy and when they find out that it is now located on this square I am sure they would be sympathetic.  But they all flew North (along with my hummingbirds) and won't be back until November or December.  Of course the rainy season will occur before they get back here.  The truth is I am basically lazy, so, I have decided just to pray for an early rain.

LOOSE ENDS

After more than twenty posts (I am as surprised as you are) it seemed like a good idea to go back over some of the Blogs that left some questioned unanswered. 

While I still enjoy my little apartment, I have decided to move when the lease is up in December.  I want a quieter street and something more suitable for guests.  I have had one guest and it worked out fine except for the sofa bed (which is a hassle to move and open) and the noise on the street was almost more than my friend could stand.  I am looking at some of the dead end streets off B. Badillo (but that will wait a few months).   Since I quit spending money buying stuff for my apartment I have managed to live within my budget.

 The plants are all thriving (those that I didn't kill).  The hibiscus is amazing with blooms over 10 inches across.  The yellow vine finally started along the trellis and had covered it almost completely from one end to the other.  Then one day while trimming back the mint I cut one vine off at the root (I was very unhappy with myself ,and NO I was not drunk.)

The clock on the bell tower has been started and restarted half a dozen times.  It runs for a few days, but has said 8:15 for over a month.  The bells still drive me crazy.  I guess during weddings they ring all nine of them at once.  Explosions (gun, fire crackers ??) are more frequent and oddly enough are almost always followed by the bells.   More of this later..

The baby "iguanas" turned out to be geckos.  They never got much bigger and remained the same ugly grey pink.  I now have a whole family of them up there pooping on the wall.  Now, I think they may be coming inside at night for I have found what look like "droppings". I no longer leave a light on for them to catch bugs,  I would really like to get rid of them. Since I live in a cage with no solid doors, dirt and dust freely flow in and also critters can freely come and go.  (But I don't want to think about that or I will go crazy).  Within one week the dozens of hummingbirds went down to two or three (maybe they fly north from here).  The feeder began to leak honey all over the deck so I took it down.  Next winter I will try again.

I thought I had the buses down to a science then got on the wrong bus on my way to pick up my money from Telecable (Yes, it took four months and dozens of calls and visits, but I did finally get it).  Half way there I looked out and did not recognize anything.  I realized I was on a different street so the only thing I could think to do was to wait until I recognized something.   It was the Sheraton Hotel.  I got off and started walking inland hoping to find a street or something I knew.  Finally a No. 3 bus came by that said "El Centro"  I thought it would take me back home, but it was headed in the opposite direction.  After four buses and two and a half hours I got to Telecable to collect my money.

Regular bottled water delivery still eludes me.  I have had maybe a dozen one time deliveries.  Each time I tip them more than the cost of the water and ask them to return next week.  NOTHING!!  Even the manager of my building is baffled.  One explanation might be that the leather goods store hangs a leather poncho over my street number, but that would not explain how they deliver the first time.  .

Of all the day trips, Boca remains my favorite.  (It was also the cheapest and the closest) but I intend to seek out more new places to visit.  The gym is going quite well.  The "smiling Adonis" (whose name turns out to be David) has spent hours teaching me new exercises.  Last week he said that next we would work on my legs.  I looked at him and said,  "My legs are the only good muscles I have got.  Do these look like 74 year old legs to you?"  He laughed.  The truth is I hate leg exercises (but I do have good looking legs).  I have just started my Spanish class (it may be my next blog).

I still go to the beach, but only about once a week.  I fear it may get too hot for me as summer approaches.  My fans run all day and night and I can't sleep with out air conditioning and it is only May!!  What will August be like?  I still enjoy it here, everyday is a new adventure.  I also solved another mystery.  Every evening a boy in green pants runs down the street banging on a gong.  He is announcing the arrival of the trash truck, so you had better bring your garbage to the designated corner.  It is a primitive system, but it works.  Kind of like Mexico.

It is still difficult crossing the "pot holed" cobble stone streets with out being hit by a truck or bus.  The urine soaked sidewalks are still an offense, but the new sidewalk on B. Badillo turned out very nice.  There are now four blocks of new wide sidewalks and planters.  Some of the small plants have disappeared (I think they are stolen) but the trees are all doing well.  In a few years it should look beautiful, but unfortunately the Mexicans have yet to figure out underground utilities. 

Mexican love to celebrate as much as they love noise.  Most remain a mystery to me like the one this week.  I was awakened about 11:00 at night by a series of whistling fireworks and cherry bombs.  It went on for a half an hour.  The street in front of the church looked like a bonfire was going on.  It ended with several blasts of what appeared to be shot gun blasts into the sky, followed by all 9 bells ringing.  The street between me and the church has been closed all week to accommodate a traveling carnival of kids rides.  It has to have some sort of religious connotation, but I am not sure.  David  (at the gym) said he thought it might be a celebration for the parton saint of that church.   It occurred on May 3rd, so it had nothing to do with Cinco de Mayo  (Unless their calendar is as goofy as their clock).  Nothing happened on the 5th of May.

We also just had Labor Day.  Just as in the U.S. it is to commemorate the plight of the working class and all banks, federal buildings, schools,  and most shops close for the day.  Only this year it occurred on a Sunday when they are closed anyway, so I don't know who it benefits unless they let the priests go home early.   Most of Mexico remains a mystery to me.  Ya gotta love her, like a lover, warts and all.

NOTE TO MY READERS:  In my Easter Week blog I only made a brief reference to the dance group that was led by a drag queen.  An organization sponsoring Puerto Vallarta as a safe and fun place to visit have released a video of the performance that I watched.  I think you will find it very entertaining.  Check it out at http://dai.ly/k2IQHD.

EASTER WEEK

The town was packed for the entire week of Easter.  You are thinking "Spring Break" where hundreds of college kids descend upon a town, get drunk and raise havoc.  No, in Mexico it is mainly family week.  Tens of thousands of families pile into pick up trucks packed with baskets and coolers (and lots of Mexicans) and drive to the beach.  This is one reason  that pick up trucks are called Mexican SUVs.  Every hotel is full (some sleep in their trucks) and the beaches are wall to wall people.

Besides the families enjoying the beach, there are some drunk young kids hanging out of car doors or out of the bed of a pick up and riding through the streets screaming and singing.  Some of the car radios are so loud the noise shakes the building.  (As I said Mexicans love noise).  But there is the religious part of Easter week as well.  Mexico is the most catholic of any country I have ever visited.  But here the religion is mixed with superstitions and strange symbolism (like the skeletons so evident in Mexican art).  When I arrived in December there were twelve days of festivities and parades in the streets.  It had nothing to do with the birth of Christ, but instead it was a celebration of the sighting of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  First each school had their kids marching in their school colors singing and banging on drums.  Most schools also had a pick up truck with a sort of back drop and a kid dressed either as the Virgin Mary or Juan Diego (the peasant who saw her).  Then all the kids marched and sang and all the boys were dressed as peasants and the girls as virgins.  Then the kids dressed like Indians and danced through the streets (not sure where the Indians came from)  It was a hoot.

I had heard about the reenactment of the Passion of Christ, but never could find any kind of schedule in English.  On Palm Sunday there were palm fronds everywhere (we have lots of them here) and people selling little woven crosses made of dried palm fronds, but I never saw Jesus entering town on an ass.

I was lucky enough to have been down by the Malecon when here came a bloodied Jesus dragging a cross down the street.  There were Roman soldiers with whips yelling something and pushing back all the sobbing Mary's.  The procession was backed up by a flank of black robed rabbis (not sure if they were for or against him)  Drums beat, trumpet blared.  It was quite a spectacle.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me.

I heard that they also did the Crucifixion where they tied Christ to a cross (I assume no nails) but Roman soldiers did poke at him while he hung there.  With no schedule or knowledge of where to be or when, I had about given up on seeing any more.  Then one day I was sipping my latte at my new coffee shop by Cadenzas Plaza near my apartment..  There is a sort of amphitheater at one end where there was a large crowd and I heard someone screaming something in Spanish, but I had just seen a dance club putting on a performance there (led by a drag queen, I might add)  so I didn't even bother to look up from my latte.  I might have missed the crudifixtion. 

Suddenly Romans on horse back emerged followed by six roman soldiers carrying the body of Christ.  Then more sobbing Marys and the black robed rabbis, but this time they added angels.  Young boys and girls in scant white costumes and huge five foot wings strapped to their back.  The processions march right through the streets so all traffic stops, but not even the cabby's seem to mind.  I think they went from plaza to plaza but I did not follow them. I must get into the habit of carrying my camera every day (I know my phone takes photos, but I don't know how to move them to a computer). 

The town is suddenly quiet now.  The Mexican families are not only gone, but the "snow birds' have gone back to their real homes (even my favorite martini swilling drinking buddies are gone).  It is getting warmer so I have the air conditioning on at night.  Summer is coming, we will see how I handle it.

BOTANICAL GARDENS

Ever since I arrived here, I have heard about the Botanical Gardens.  There are posters and signs about it all over town, so I wanted to go there.  One day on my way to the gym, I stopped at a little tourist stand and inquired about the cost.  He said it would be 500 pesos.  I started to walk away when he dropped the price to 400 pesos.  It still seemed to high since it only included the bus ride and admission.  So, I called my friend here and he said there is a city bus direct to the gardens for 20 pesos. (You must question the price of everything here).

The next day we were off.  The bus goes toward Boca then turns inland and up into the mountains.  The gardens are on 20 acres and according to the brochure has 3,000 different species of plants.  It only opened 6 years ago.   For 5 pesos I got a map.  The admission price is 50 pesos (I have no idea if the 500 pesos would have included the map or not).   The paths are not easily navigated as they are just dirt with lots of tree roots.  Sometimes the path consists of nothing but tree roots.  You walk through a jungle under a canopy of various trees.  Again I would love to go there after a rain, but I am not sure what condition the dirt paths would be.  Mostly it is just a jungle with a few flowers.  Most of the flowers are in sort of open air hot houses.

One building had a vine of long strange flowers.  It looked like a wisteria, except the blossoms are bright red and yellow.  The strangest was a hanging iridescent  blue green.  There is a beautiful flower covered restaurant that was highly recommended.  The restaurant was closed!  We think it was because the staff had been let off for the Easter Holidays.  After touring the gardens we were hungry so we decided to take a bus to a little town called El Tuito.

The bus ride was about 20  minutes up into the mountains.  As we climbed higher the palm trees gave way to pine trees.  El Tuito looks like a set from an old Clint Eastwood western.  I would swear that "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" was filmed there.  There are no tourist shops there (no reason for a tourist to visit, really).  There was a plaque that said the town was founded in 1525.  I am not sure by what.  I think the Aztecs were still around in the early 1500s.

We did find a nice restaurant and had a very good cheap lunch with a couple of beers.  As you can see from the photos, there isn't much to see there so we boarded a bus back.  It took over an hour to reach Puerto Vallarta on one of the worst bus rides I have had.  None of the buses have shocks, but I don't think this bus was driving on rubber tires.  Thank God we had padded seats. (maybe that is what the 500 pesos was all about - a better bus).

YALAPA BY YACHT

Okay, as you can see by the photo, it was not a yacht, but a canopied water taxi holding about 20 to 25 people.  Since the pier was torn down (they actually are working on the new one) you have to wade out to the boat (wear sandals that don't easily slip off).  One of my reasons to visit Yalapa was to find the "elusive Rita".  The story of Rita would take a book, so let's just say it was someone I knew over 45 years ago in Puerto Vallarta.

Rita ran a restaurant called La Margarita before the Burtons arrived.  Once Liz (she did hate that name) and Dick arrived they either dined there or stopped for drinks almost every night (lots of drinks).  When Rita was given 24 hours to leave Mexico (too long a story) I was the one who helped her move some of her stuff back to the US.  We put her to work at a business I was a partial owner of at the time (Designs of Mexico) and then after a few years,  disappeared in San Francisco forty five years ago.  I thought she was dead, but the owner of my favorite bar here, told me there was an American red headed character, who used to own a bar in PV now living in Yalapa.  I did find someone who said he knew her and he pointed out her house up on the hill but said, "She is now here now"  The same story every time, so I still don't know if it is the Rita I knew.

Now to Yalapa.  You can still only get there by boat and yet the town was founded in the 1800's.  When I first saw it there were no paved roads, sewage, and limited electricity.  It is now a village of about 2000 people with cobble stoned streets.  Actually they aren't really streets as there are no cars.  Other than walking, the main means of transportation are horses or donkeys.

I did walk up to the first waterfall (about a ten minute walk) and even after a recent dry spell, it is quite pretty.  There is another larger one further up, but it was about an hour walk and no one had really good directions to get to it.  Yalapa is still a sleepy little fishing village and quite charming.  Like almost all coastal villages, there is a river running to it (a real river, not a sewer).  There aren't a lot of touristy shops like Salulita. 

Fruit trees are everywhere: banana, papaya, mangoes, and lots of other strange looking fruits.  You also see lots of iguanas, but still no tropical birds.  There isn't much to do except to walk around the town, eat and drink.  Our boatman and guide told us that if we ate at one restaurant we got a free drink with our meal for taking his water taxi.  It seemed like a good idea so I had a cheviche and two beers.  When they charged me for the two, I had a fit (it seems I did not show them my ticket first)  I never walk away from a good fight and eventually got one of the beers off my bill.  I also had an encounter with a man carrying around a huge iguana.  I foolishly took a picture and he demanded 50 pesos.  A ridiculous amount so I deleted the photo, but the would not leave me alone.  I finally gave him 30 pesos (I don't win all my fights).

All in all, I would say that the boat trip was the best part.  It is well worth the $20 just for a round trip.  The boat hugs the coastline which is gorgeous.  It appears as if the hills are pure rock and yet the jungle grows right down to the water.  We stopped at Los Arcos, but did not go through the tunnel in the rock.  I think the boat was too large.  We stopped there to view the rocks and feed the fish (some quite colorful).  On the way over, we were all required to put on life jackets.  On the way back they never bothered to unpack them.  (I guess they thought we were sea worthy by then).  It is a nice day trip I will repeat, and hopefully find Rita next time.

THE GYM

Ever since I arrived here, I have thought about joining a gym.  Not just for reasons of health (and possibly help in firming up all this sagging flesh) but for social reasons.  I thought it would be a good way to meet permanent residents.  So one day on my way across the bridge to my bank, I noticed that a new gym was opening right on the river.

As soon as it opened I stopped by to inquire about rates and what help I might expect.  No one was interested in talking to me, so I just walked around.  It was quite large with beautiful new equipment and the tread mills were placed in from of large windows overlooking the river.  Later I went back to try again.  Two employees were talking to each other.  I waited patently for them to  finish their conversation.  The guy (who must have been a trainer judging from his body) just walked away.  The woman reluctantly turned to me.  She spoke little or no English and after handing me a rate sheet, she too walked away.  I was not pleased.

Then a friend told me about a gym that opened a year or so ago just a few blocks from my apartment.  As soon as I entered, a smiling young man (with a very large body) walked toward me and asked if I needed any help.  The equipment looked fairly new and the place was very neat and clean including the showers and dressing room.  The next day I paid him for one month.  I wanted to be sure I did like it and that my old body was up to the rigors of exercise.  After receiving a towel and locker, I did not receive any further help, but then I did not ask.  Many of the machines were familiar to me so after 15 minutes on the tread mill I did about 45 more minutes of exercises.  To my amazement, my only sore muscles were in my legs (the only good muscles I thought I had)  I could barely get up and down my spiral staircase for days.

Since then, I have figured out which leg machine caused the problem and continued pretty much on my own.
One day, the "not so good looking partner" was alone in the gym so I asked him for help. The first thing he asked is what part of my body did I want to work on..  Standing there in gym shorts and T shirt it had to be obvious that there wasn't any part of my body that did not need work.  He was very nice and helpful.  The smiling Adonis is still very pleasant but not very forthcoming with help.

I have yet to make any new friends there, and have not lost one kilo, but I have only been going for  a few weeks.  I have increased my time on the tread mill, and my number of exercises and repetitions.  I will persevere.

SAYULITA

Before I tell you about my last day trip to Sayulita, I thought I should tell you about my failed trip to Japan (you might have noticed, I am back in PV a lot earlier)  At the time I flew to LAX, my friends in Japan still wanted me to visit and assured me they were not near the nuclear plants (everyone else I knew told me I was insane).  Once I arrived at LAX I had four frantic messages telling me not to come.  There were no buses from the airport, the trains were infrequent and I would have to change trains in Tokyo (possibly stations).  My friend has been unable to buy gas and could not pick me up in any case and besides all the shaking, the electricity went on and off all day.  So after a few days of business and seeing friends, I flew home (yes, I do think that Mexico is going to be my home).

Puerto Vallarta is in the center of the Bay of Banderas (the largest bay in Mexico).  Sayulita is around the tip of the bay on the Pacific Ocean.  It takes almost two hours (yes, by bus) and you have to change buses.  I was anxious to see Sayulita, but was dreading the long bus ride.

The second bus actually had real cushioned fabric seats, so all the bumps and jogs were somewhat minimized.  After you pass the "hotel district"' you go through a few small towns and what looks like a Mexican Everglades.  Then the road turns into the mountains.  It is a jungle out there that I would love to see once the rains wash away all the dust on the trees and vines.  I was pretty much preoccupied with the passing view which made the long ride more tolerable.

The town of Sayulita resembles a small tropical Tijuana.  Some streets are just dirt and some of the cobble stoned streets are flooded.  They were building a new bridge over some sort of creek so we had to cross on a swinging bridge.  This "creek" was a muddy mess that looked more like a sewer.  Tourist shops line the streets and beach (they have the strangest idea what appeals to tourists).  Visitors are younger than usual, mainly because of the surfing.  Since it is on the Pacific, they get a good surf.  We strolled along the beach (stopped for a beer) then settled on Don Pedro;s for lunch.  It was the nicest looking restaurant I saw and sits just above the sand with a nice view.  Lunch was just okay.

After lunch we wandered around more of the town.  Check out the photo of the little lime green house.  It says it is a pharmacy.  One has to wonder what kind of drugs you might buy there.  The town has a decent square (with standard gazebo)  where street peddlers line up to sell you what ever they can.  It was a pleasant day, but much too touristy for me.  I prefer the tiny town of Boca (its cheaper) and doesn't have a sewer running through it.