Marge and Eric in Mexico: The Zippers, the Blonde Gypsies, Sauerkraut, Harem Pants and A Journey Ending at the Beach

Listening to The Zippers at El Rio!

I didn't know being retired would be so fun! Am enjoying myself hugely! So is Eric! We've been exploring nearby beach towns, including San Pancho (see pictures below) which we really liked! We went on market day and saw lots of great and interesting handmade items--from painted ceramic skulls to painted shoes to shirts with embroidery covering almost every bit of cloth (sadly not machine washable), and also stalls selling mangos on a stick and coffee made to order in tiny cups, and someone offering psychic readings. We also saw several people with long hair sitting on the steps of the market smoking what seemed to be grass (I know that smell!) and playing some kind of jazzy, reggae, Caribbean instrumental music! Loved it! Listening to it, you just had to feel happy! Great background music for such a beautiful, sunny day (actually, every day should have background music)!

I got carried away (maybe it was the music?) and bought two pairs of harem pants at a market stall. They looked great in San Pancho but lost their luster as soon as we left town (fortunately they shrank in the wash so I didn't have to decide whether to wear them)!

The town had one-lane streets and lots of little shops, several selling real estate, some selling secondhand clothes and some selling paintings that are still cheap; with lots of old trailers in big yards with car parts scattered around in the dirt and chickens scratching, mixed in with b&b's painted bright contrasting colors with cast iron gates and address numbers made of decorative tiles.

And then, after the market, as we sat at our table in the sand waiting for our lunch--shrimp fajitas (Eric) and chili-garlic octopus (Marge), two people wearing backpacks (serious backpacks meant for travel--not for using instead of a purse) walked straight out onto the beach from the road. They looked dusty (yes, dusty!), at the end of a journey that started someplace far away; and they stood looking out at the ocean for a long time standing side by side, still wearing their backpacks. Yes, OK, maybe they were weekend hitchhikers but I don't think so!

After that, a couple of days ago, we went to a restaurant by a river (see pictures below) in the jungle at the edge of a tiny settlement a few miles out from Puerto Vallarta, in a deep canyon with the river running along the bottom around big round rocks, and children splashing in the shallow water; with horses grazing picturesquely by the river, and palm trees. Stunningly beautiful!

The restaurant, El Rio, had wonderful Margaritas (Eric said) and also an astonishingly great band, the Zippers-who played Rock n Roll from the 60s, with such power and feeling and beautiful true notes! To be in that beautiful place with that beautiful music and the canyon walls rising up on either side and the river flowing by over those wonderful round rocks right by the restaurant in the late afternoon sunshine! If you get to Puerto Vallarta you must go there!! Remember: El Rio!

Just this morning we went to the Saturday market in Old Town and I purchased more naturally fermented sauerkraut. It's so good! And so healthful! We sat for awhile afterward on the steps in front of the stage in Lazaro Cardenas park, listening to a musical duo, the Blonde Gypsies (??), playing flamenco music and then went home.

After that Eric took Otto for a walk and I studied Spanish. Love the class! We are staying in Puerto Vallarta long enough for me to finish the next level too! So happy to be able to communicate better in Spanish! I am too outgoing to easily bear not being able to talk to people (though I love chatting with Eric, his capacity for conversation wears out before mine)!