Puerto Vallarta: Triumphs and Topes - Eric

You've never lived until you've seen a Puerto Vallarta sunset

We've been in Ajijic in the central highlands of Mexico for almost a month now but I want to record a final farewell to Puerto Vallarta.
When we first arrived in Puerto Vallarta in February, I suggested we call this blog "Triumphs and Topes."
Topes are speed bumps in Mexico--some are small, others are humongous. Some are well marked while others sneak up on you.
Triumphs and Topes is an apt metaphor for living in Puerto Vallarta.
Trying to make an expat life in Puerto Vallarta, or anywhere in Mexico, brings speed bumps you have to figure out how to navigate.
Our first big tope was when we discovered that the condo we had rented, sight unseen, for four months was not within practical walking distance to the ocean or other major attractions. That was the top feature we wanted. We felt isolated on top of the hill.
Eventually, we found the road out front stretched for a long ways, allowing us some walking exercise and good views. But it was not the same.
The only way to the beaches or other scenic spots was to drive down tope-strewn rough roads. Otto needed his daily exercise so I would pick my way slowly down to Shrimp Beach or other beaches 10 minutes below us. They weren't Otto's favorites but they were OK.

Picture-perfect San Pancho beach

In our final month, I discovered the public access points to Gold Beach in the hotel zone and the beach in front of the marina hotels. Since it was no longer high season they were not crowded. I could let Otto run free. He enjoyed that immensely.
In addition, the sand was much better. The drive took 20-25 minutes but the main road was a smooth arterial.
So, for me, the original speed bump of not being able to walk to the beaches turned into the triumph of realizing, "Hey, with a 10-25 minute drive I can be on a tropical beach!"
And the isolation of the mountaintop meant we had a sweeping view of north Banderas Bay and the almost nightly fireworks shows.
Of course, the biggest tope was not being able to speak the native language. Marge was great. She signed up for three levels of intensive Spanish lessons--three hours a day, three days a week with massive homework. As for me, I dropped her off at class or left her behind to study while the dog and I had fun.
The tope hardest to overcome was not the heat but the humidity. I know! I know! Everybody says the trick is to go out early and siesta inside from 11-6. But nobody contemplating retirement says, "What I really look forward to is getting up earlier."
Our original plan was to stay in Puerto Vallarta for four months and that's what we did. We beat it out of town before the really bad humidity began.

For this reluctant draftee to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta wore down my resistance with so many great experiences. Among them, the beaches, Rio (River) Cuale and surrounding neighborhoods, the malecon (boardwalk), restaurants on and off the sand, strawberry margaritas, the marina, music in the bars, towns to the north like Bucerias and San Francisco/San Pancho (" I Left My Heart in San Francisco"), the mountains, the jungle and the sunset. You've never lived until you've seen a Puerto Vallarta sunset

Giant strawberry margarita

There's something about living in a place that other people travel distances to visit. I got a little bit of that feeling living at Alki Beach and above Seahurst Park. But people never booked airlines or cruise ships to Alki or Seahurst.
Now we are in Ajijic, whose own triumphs and topes will be the subjects of further posts.

A Puerto Vallarta beach during Easter Week

Here We Are in Ajijic! - Marge

Our House in Ajijic

Here we are in Ajijic! Have been here 2 1/2 weeks! After a few initial issues, now resolved, am very much enjoying being here! We live a few blocks from the central plaza, on a cobblestone street, 1½ blocks from the lake and the malecon (wide concrete path by the water)! Love to walk out of the house and be able to go places on foot!! Every place is nearby. Even the places in other towns are nearby! And the roads are narrow and charming with lots of color everywhere! Really love that!

Our Street

Our house has 4 bedrooms—only 3 bedrooms were mentioned in the rental listing! There's a fountain wall with a concrete angel and a scalloped shell and a blue-tiled pool, and green bamboos on either side of the fountain in front of an orange wall by the stairway, with cast iron railings, that circles up to the second floor and then up to the mirador. Above it all is a huge glass skylight large enough for a train station (maybe exaggerating slightly).

View From the Second Floor Balcony

I love the mirador, with its tiled floor and cast-iron table and chairs and huge rainbow striped umbrella shading us as we sip our coffee in the morning. The lake is visible above the red tile rooftops, between palm trees, to the west, and to the east, rising up behind the town are high hills, dark, somewhere between brown and gray. They will be emerald green, I've been told, when the rains come.

The Fountain

There is also a cupola at the top of the house, a balcony on the second floor, a tiny gated yard for our car in front and a large jetted tub in the master bath-with a crack in it, sadly. Someone cleans the house every week and there is also a gardener.

A moment ago, as I sat here in the living room writing, with sunlight streaming down from the skylight, I heard a horse clopping by on the cobblestones! Just looked out the open door and saw it passing. Almost every day horses go by. At night, too, as I lie in bed, I often hear the sound of a horse's hooves, loud, now that all the music and dogs and trucks with loudspeakers calling out Agua, Agua as they drive down the street are finally quiet.

The Skylight,
the 3D Mural of the Sun

We also often see horses by the lake. Saw three of them, including a foal, grazing by the beach a few days ago. Behind the horses, just offshore, long-legged white birds waded or stood still with one leg raised, and birds that might be herons stooped in the shallows, staring into the water fixedly, heads cocked, beaks pointed, like a weapon. Little black scoters bobbed nearby, their bodies rising and falling with the movement of the water. It was another National Geographic moment (one of many we have experienced here in Ajijic)! 

View of the Lake From the Mirador
With a Storm Cloud Overhead

I ordered an inflatable kayak online (on Amazon Mexico!) last week for not much more than $100 (US)! Has 922 positive reviews. If we like it I’ll order a second one! It's a 2-person kayak but the reviews say more comfortable for one. Plus, sounds much more fun to paddle along in two kayaks side by side than sitting in front of or behind someone.

Horses by the Lake

So much to do here! Eric and I are registered for Spanish classes, and I am attending Spanish conversation groups. Eric has joined the film group (saw Inherit the Wind a couple of days ago). I am joining the arts group next week. We are both joining Democrats Abroad and have bought tickets to their picnic. Went to the Lake Chapala Society fiesta yesterday afternoon where we ate, talked with new friends and danced to rock and roll music! Thirty years without dancing once and in the last 4 1/2 months, since we arrived in Mexico, I have danced so many wonderful times!  

Eric Looking Happy-He Really is Happy!

And it's not just dancing! I also, love being here because the world is so much brighter! The deep blue sky, orange, lavendar, and fuschia walls, gates and doorframes all different colors; and the reddish roof tiles, and the gardens! The trees with their blossoms that never seem to fall: amber pink, and deepest purple; and bouganvillas with their cascade of lipstick red flowers and cacti with a single salmon or white or butter yellow blossom. A feast of colors!

And so much life! Birds, butterflies, geckos on the walls of houses. Also a lizard, living in our house-under the stove. It's much larger than a gecko. Actually, it's a larger reptile than I am comfortable with, as a roommate. Every now and then I forget to make a loud noise before entering the kitchen and then I find the lizard staring up at me from the floor, a little too close to my bare feet. Besides that, many insects and spiders and the most enormous cucarachas I have ever seen hurrying down the hall toward our bedroom! I step on them all without mercy. Hope there isn’t such a thing as karma or I am doomed! No scorpions so far! And many dogs – 3 of which I plan to invite into my car for a trip to the vet and then to a rescue organization in the near future. 

Now that we are here, settled down for awhile, I find myself thinking about art again, at last! Can hardly wait to get started making pictures! So much to do! So much time to do it! Love being retired! Love living in Mexico!

The Lake, the Beach, the Mirador and the Hills, with
Someone Wading.

Looking toward the Main Street of Ajijic.
Not a Very Large Town!

Lake Chapala at Dusk, Showing the Very Edge of the Boat Launch
We'll Use For Our Kayaks