 It’s hard to believe our three weeks in Mexico are almost coming to an end. We fly out Sunday and will be back home in Gold River on Monday. I’m sure hoping I don’t have to come home and shovel?
The weather has been perfect the last few days – nice and sunny, and not too terribly hot. We met up with our buddy Nacho again yesterday and he was our tour guide for a great day. He took us high up into the hills of Puerto Vallarta, and then down the south coast to Mismaloya beach (where they filmed Night of the Iguana) and then up into the jungle to where the movie Predator was filmed. I guess it was a movie theme day. We ended the day by inviting Nacho and his family to dinner at Senor Frog’s.
Tomorrow we are going out on the water for a day of whale watching, fishing and snorkeling. (Heavy on the whale watching.) We have been watching the humpbacks almost every day from our roof and they are putting on quite the show. I’m hoping to get some great pictures tomorrow up close and personal.
The wireless in the rental house appears to have gone the way of the Dodo, so we’re now frequent visitors (as if we weren’t already, haha) to Yo Yo Mo’s Sports Bar. The bar is owned by a guy from Calgary and he has this pub in Sayulita as well as the original in nearby Bucerias. A great place for pizza, beer and the Canucks game!
“Where is the toilet paper?” That is the question of the day around here.
I don’t know what happened yesterday, but it appears we have pissed our maid off royally. Maybe she was getting tired of our ongoing game of charades, or my terrible spanglish. Whatever the reason, she did the worst thing possible to a Canadian family of six vacationing in Mexico and eating copious amounts of fresh seafood, burritos and re-fried beans…….. she took all the toilet paper!
We weren’t here when she left on Friday, but it seems she didn’t appreciate us sneaking extra toilet paper from her secret hiding place. We arrived home to find that she had removed ALL toilet paper from the house and left us with one roll for the weekend. One roll! Good lord! There’s four females in this house – we go through one roll an hour!
On a positive note, we drove into Puerto Vallarta yesterday (while the maid was making off with all the TP) and managed to find the taxi driver we had met when we were here this past April. His name is Ignacio, but everyone calls him Nacho. We met Nacho on our last trip here and we hired him to drive us around for the day and take us sightseeing. He is such a sweet guy, and we were so excited to find him again! He was just as excited as we were and said he really needed a good surprise that day as he had only had one taxi trip all day. So we all piled into his old suburban and he took us to La Langosta Feliz (The Happy Lobster) in the hills of Puerto Vallarta for lunch. We’re meeting up with him again on Monday and he’s going to drive our rental car and take us on another day tour – this time to the area south of Puerto Vallarta.
Hopefully he’ll stop at the Mega for us so we can stock up on toilet paper! Ha!
 I’ve gathered from Facebook that the snow flakes are flying in Gold River. Maybe a white Christmas again this year? (although I must say I’m just a wee bit glad not to be there shoveling it right now  )
On Sunday we left the hotel in Puerto Vallarta, rented a car (Gecko Rent A Car in Bucerias – great prices and service) and drove about 22km up the coast to the town of Sayulita. Sayulita reminds me a lot of Tofino, or maybe the Tofino of old – surfing, camping on the beach, hippies, etc. It’s a very laid back little town full of friendly people.
We’re renting a private home called ‘Casa Quetzal’. It’s been an experience so far as we’re not used to the open air concept, which is pretty cool, but the creepy crawlies are another story. House spiders as big as my hand – I kid you not. And tonight I have killed two scorpions that were in the house – one was casually strolling through the living room as we were watching TV. Eeeek!
We can forgive all this because of the view – we’re on the top of the hill and have an unobstructed view of Sayulita and 180 degrees of ocean. The Bay of Banderas is the breeding/calving ground for Humpbacks, so we have a front row seat. The locals say the whales are late this year – they have only seen a few so far. We watched one make his/her way south yesterday and are keeping our eyes peeled for more!
Tomorrow’s agenda will probably include more whale watching, some sun, some pool time and of course a cerveza or two!
I just checked the weather network which says -6 for Gold River. Ouch. That’s chilly.
I can’t say the same for Puerto Vallarta – our hotel is full of Canadians who have escaped the cold snap. We had rain yesterday, but today was just slightly cloudy and nice and warm. I really should have had Wendy from Shear Heaven give me a haircut that would withstand this humidity, because I look like I’ve just had a really bad perm! No matter how much I straighten and hairspray, I get the frizz look within minutes. No matter – after a couple drinks you no longer care!
Annie C will be happy to hear that Santa was indeed good to me (seeing as I’m such a good girl and all), and brought me a brand new camera – a Nikon D5000 – which I spent the better part of yesterday figuring out.
The connection here won’t allow me to upload any pics, so I can’t show you the very (very) hairy man on the beach, or the pics of all the topless women…….awwww.
Since I’m not in Gold River, I’m not in the know, so please send an email with anything you think is news, or something you’d like posted. (info/at/goldriverbuzz/dot/com)
Salud!
 I’m up and at ‘em a good three hours earlier than usual today as we’re all packed and ready to hit the dusty trail. Or shall I say the frosty trail!
We’re leaving on a jet plane tomorrow morning to warmer parts for Christmas holidays. We’ll be staying in Puerto Vallarta for a week, and then heading about 45 min up the coast to the town of Sayulita for two more.
I’m told we have wireless in the hotel and at the rental house, so I’ll be bringing my laptop and checking in now and then. Posting on Gold River Buzz won’t be as regular, but I will try to write here and there. (In between margaritas of course!)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Yesterday was my birthday. And also day #2 of a wicked cold. I had planned on spending the day laying on the couch with my box of Kleenex, drinking tea and watching never ending CSI re-runs.
My husband came home for lunch, took one look at me lying in my own filth, and said, “well, I guess you’re too sick for a helicopter ride on your birthday then?”
I WAS too sick, but since I’ve been complaining for the past 15 years that I never get to go up in the helicopter, I figured I’d best suck it up and get myself ready!
We flew along the Heber River to the inlet, and then straight out to Friendly Cove. We couldn’t have had a better day for it – sunny skies, no wind, and you could see for miles!
 We flew around Nootka Island for a bit, and then headed back to town. I really enjoyed seeing the Gold River area from the air, despite all the kamikaze turns the pilot was doing! (I started looking for a barf bag at one point!)
Can you see your house in any of those? I can see mine!
 We had friends from Prince George visit a couple weeks ago, so of course we couldn’t resist showing them the beauty of Nootka Sound! It was a drizzly overcast day, but the water was calm and I’ll take that over rough waters and sun any day.
We had heard there was a humpback feeding in the Critter Cove area, but I wasn’t holding my breath. My bad luck with whales is legendary. (We lived on the ocean for two years and I saw a total of three whales – one of which I had to pay for on a whale watching tour!)
But the stars must have been aligned this trip, because did WE EVER GET LUCKY!
As soon as we rounded camel rock we saw him. He was feeding, but not diving for long lengths of time. He seemed to be corralling the fish into a tight ball and then coming up through the middle with his mouth wide open. It was fantastic to see – I only wish I had managed to get better pictures.
We watched him from a distance for almost an hour – I could have stayed all day
Camping at Muchalat Lake has been a favourite of ours since we first lived here in 2003. When we moved away, we still managed to come back each Summer to get our Muchalat Lake camping fix!
Since moving back to Gold River in 2007, we’ve spent a good majority of our summers out at the lake. It’s a nice, relaxing and cheap family vacation! Last year was a little on the (ahem) noisy side, but this year has been really good out there. Mostly due, I’m sure, to the fact that there is a proper camp host this year.
What I love most about the lake is the sense of community out there. Everyone helps each other out, takes turns picking things up for each other in town, etc. We’ve had a couple pot-luck dinners this year, and even a deep fry night! Of course the blended margarita’s are always a fav!
Speaking of which, it’s supposed to be a gorgeous sunny weekend so a margarita and a swim sounds pretty good! See you at the lake!
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It’s hard to believe our three weeks in Mexico are almost coming to an end. We fly out Sunday and will be back home in Gold River on Monday. I’m sure hoping I don’t have to come home and shovel?
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