Good-Bye to All That

Gaetan is an artist in my class from Quebec. He's drawn all of his life, but never picked up a brush until this class, and he's turned out three professional quality surrealistic paintings this quarter. He speaks French and Spanish and enough English to communicate with us quite well. After our Show and Tell program Gaetan disappeared and the word was that he accompanied a sick friend back home. Last Thursday he reappeared. His friend is in his 80's, and when the friend became sick, his rich friends just disappeared, so Gaetan paid for his and his friend's ticket to Montreal, and Gaetan's back to PV. Gaetan suggested that if he can, the friend could help pay for the tickets, but he's on a pension and may not be able to do so. However, Gaetan has another 92 year old friend who will help out. Gaetan helped this friend when the friend was in PV and needed a transfusion or he would die. The hospital explained that they didn't have blood to give him, so Gaetan went from cafe to cafe asking for donors until he found two women who would give blood, and so saved his friend's life. Can you imagine going into that many cafes for anything, let alone for donors for blood, but he did. Gaetan has now found his way onto my list of People I Admire. He's one of those folks who help other people and seem to enjoy themselves doing it. How can I help but admire people like that?

We are finishing up doing the things you do when you are getting ready to go home. We're packing, no Richard is packed, I'm packing. We've cleaned out the kitchen and given most of the stuff to one of the workers who really is happy to get it. It makes me feel like the Rich American, but I'm glad we could give the stuff to someone. We changed our money back into dollars and of course found some that we forgot to change. We saw our friends last night and then ran into one of them again today. Friends are the best thing about PV, that and the weather.

I found that I can send photos to my techie sister, Vandana, and she puts them on the blog. I'll send some different ones to her as soon as I figure out how I did it the first time. Thanks so much for sharing this blog with me. Hasta la proxima!

Roosters, Barns and Boats

We´re on our last month here, which will go fast. I´m beginning to realize that Nevada is still in the 50´s while we happily bask in the low 80´s. (Those of you in Canada will just have to mentally change that to centigrade, but 80´s are really comfy). Richard made a list of everything that was wrong with our apartment when we came right up to present time, put on his best
Grouchy Richard attitude and got almost $300 knocked off our last month´s rent. There´s a lesson there. And since Arturo, our landlord, built the protective fencing on public property, surprise, suprise, we are in danger of losing said fence at any time. If it goes, we go. No fence, no us. We´ll find something else, it´s just the hassle of moving. We´ve made quite a nest here. Which reminds me that so have the termites. We keep finding a new place where they´ve nested down and we chase them out. This morning it was the kitchen and the computer table. Earlier it was in the bedroom. Do you ever win against termites?

Last weekend we were invaded by another sort of being. It was an 83 year old lady who landed next door in flight from a bipolar friend who she´d come to visit and who turned out to have a boyfriend already visiting. So Stephanie landed in Arturo´s studio apartment, totally unhinged, in a strange country without contacts, not knowing the language, the money, or anything else. But she had Arturo and she had us. Right away she found out the stove and microwave didn´t work, and the refrigerator froze everything. We could have told her that because the fridge was a refugee from our apartment. By the time the other things were working, more or less, she was getting sick from the verathane that Arturo had put on the floor, so Richard and I looked around and found her a very nice place in another hotel. She talked to Arturo and he even moved her. The last time I saw her she was yelling at the folks at the desk there, and I began to think it wasn´t the friend who was crazy, it´s Stephanie. But I think she´s relatively happy where she is now.

Tonight we´re having a show and tell art show for my art class, just like we used to do in school. All of my art class will be there, as will be all the friends I could round up and talk into going and of course, food. My sister told me she went to see an exhibit of the old masters in Seattle, but I ask you, which would you really rather see, art from a bunch of dead people or roosters, barns and boats painted by real live gringos? I painted a photo I took of Dina and Sara Lou, my sister and niece, when we were traveling together in China. Of course it´s not a masterpiece, but then don´t you have to be dead to be considered to be that good?

Richard and I will celebrate our 39th anniversary here next week by going to Archie´s Wok, a resturant that was started by Archie, of course, who was John Huston´s chief cook and bottle washer on his private island here when Huston was making ¨Night of the Iguana¨that put this place on the map. Huston stayed here afterward and Archie was his man until Huston died and Archie started his resturant. Archie has since died but his family keeps the place going and so we´ll help keep the place alive by going also. Along those lines, did you know that Elizabeth Taylor wasn´t in that movie? It was Ava Gardner and Liz just tagged along to keep Richard Burton company. Her house is still here, but his has been allowed to fall apart. But the bridge between the two is still there to run across.



Gringo Rita

Give Unto Us Our Daily Seafood & Cheese

I firmly believe something my techie sister told me several years ago, and that is that calories you eat outside your own country don`t count. I would add that fried foods don`t clog your arteries and Clorox used overseas doesn`t hurt the environment because these are all things I`m doing now that I wouldn`t dream of doing at home. My clothes are dingier, my food is never fried and I hardly ever eat things made with cheese at home. Here, what isn`t made with cheese, and darned if I`m going out with grey looking whites next to all of those spiffy looking tourists on the beach. I`ve even bought a box of Mac and Cheese, which I don`t think I`ve ever done, period, let alone in Dayton NV. I`ve not gotten up the nerve to actually cook it, but I will.

We`re eating a lot of seafood, and I mean fresh seafood. It doesn`t smell at all, so you know it`s fresh. I got some little scollops for some silly price the other day, which made me smile. When I run out of seafood, then out comes the Mac and Cheese.

I`m really enjoying my art class. It`s outside, under the portico roof, which is so enjoyable. I think I´ll try and get some plein air, or outside painting classes going when I get back. People come through selling very good cookies, we can buy tea and tacos from the resturant next door. Mark, (my Carson City art teacher), why can`t we expand our menu to include some cookies as well as popcorn? Not that there`s anything wrong with popcorn, you understand.

It`s time to climb the 78 steps up the hill home. I`ve found a place to get my hair cut and now I just have to get up the nerve to do it. Richard keeps making comments which make me believe it`s past the time when I should take the big step. That`s 65 steps and another hill down the other side so maybe I`ll make that appointment tomorrow. Mañana, you know.

Rita

Economy Accomodations in Paradise

It´s strange, but the longer we´re here, and the more comfortable we get, the less I think things are funny. I guess I get used to what struck me as strange before. However, we did get our ugly rug cleaned in a round about way this week.

Our landlord is trying very hard to make the place nextdoor rentable without spending hardly any money, just as he did with our place. So he was water pressure cleaning the floor next door when we realized that we were getting the dirty water from next door into our "living room" via the door that connects us. Naturally it got our ugly rug all wet, which turned out to be the silver lining because then Arturo cleaned it and behold! It´s not such a bad looking rug, for an ugly rug. Little by little our apartment is getting liveable. Or more liveable at least.

We took our dead computer to the Toshiba people and they cleaned it up and pronounced it well. We took it home and it´s still as dead as it was before. The curse of Valent machinery, although the Nook and the phone both work now. The Nook just hated it´s little pink holder and the phone needed more minutes. It´s mainly a phone for local stuff...I´m not sure it will work for out of country calls, but if you want to try, 52 is Mexico´s number, I don´t know what PV´s # is, but ours is 322-156-6934. I´ve memorized and I´m so proud.

We´ve been here a month, and I realized yesterday that we have 2 more to go. It seems like a long time to be in Paradise, but it certainly could be worse. Maybe in NV in below zero weather?

Love from she who is stuffed full of refried beans and rice, Rita

Walking On the Mexican Side

Last night we had an evening out at a Mexican home of a woman who cleans apartments for folks who don't live here year round but still want their houses clean. We know her as Patti, but turns out she's better known as Angelica at home and Clara to the couple next door for a reason that no one understands. I really really didn't want to go because I was sure I'd say something dumb in Spanish but I decided that everyone makes dumb statements so I might as well face it and go. I'm glad we did.

January 6th is the Day of the Kings, when those three kings finally made it to the Christ child and gave away those presents, so that's when Mexican kids traditionally get their presents. The other part of it is the big cake made in the form of a wreath, with maybe 8 little plastic Jesus babies in it. If your slice of the cake has a baby Jesus, you have to foot the bill for the tamales at the NEXT fiesta on Feb. 2. That's the last official fiesta of the Christmas season. Of course I got a baby Jesus and of course Richard didn't. However, the good part is that now we're part of the next fiesta, no question.

When we walked through Angelica's house I could see where Arturo is coming from with his apartment decorations. We're living in an apartment that's right on the cusp between Mexican and American and we're paying the sort of money where it should be more American than Mexican. At least in our eyes. But Arturo is trying very hard to keep us happy. Rick, the guy who did live next door, just left us his keys and found a new and nicer place. Technically he could be taken to court because he and Arturo had a contract, but I doubt Arturo will because that place is really pretty bad. We're more optomistic than we were, although it's interesting to see what will quit working next. The electricity went off last night for awhile and I thought that maybe that was the next big thing, but it went back on, so we're still in the 21st century.  
 
Hair is another thing, and if you're a male you can just skip this. If you're female, you'll understand. Richard's hair is made for heat and humidity. He never has to use the hairdryer. Mine starts out nice and fluffy but by the time we're to the bottom of the hill I look like a 30's movie. Remember those waves that stuck to the heads of the women in the 30's? That's me. If you're old enough to know who Mimi Eisenhower was, you know those waves. I hate those waves, but there you are. I never give up, but so far it's waves 30 Rita 0.
 

Roughing It In An Internet Cafe

Today we found out our computer is deader nor a doornail. We didn´t expect that one, so now we have to decide what to do. Right now I´m in an internet place, but that´s not the best place to be for the internet. I´m sad. I loved our little laptop.

Otherwise things are pretty good. I thought for a hot moment I had shingles around my waist line. I was trying to explain this to a pharmacy when a gringo told me there was a Dr. next door. She cost me all of 79 cents to tell me I had hongos, which literally can mean I have mushrooms, but it can also mean a fungus. So I´m being treated for that. I felt guilty only paying 79 cents until I got the bill at the pharmacy, which she owns. That was for $31 in American so she´s doing alright.

Our New Year´s Eve was spent down at the Malecon, which is the board walk, where we watched the fireworks along with a LOT of gays and Mexican families. PV has become a big gay draw. Two years ago it was just an area called the Blue Chairs but now it´s most of downtown, so we had front row seats to a lot of happy gays. The Mexican familes were fun to watch because they take the whole family with them. None of this baby sitter stuff. Everybody goes to the resturant and then they all walk up and down the Malecon and oooh and ahhh at the fireworks together. I like that. The dress for the night, for those young enough and of the right gender was short, short sparkly dresses and high, high heels. I could only feel smug knowing what their podiatrist bill will be like in the future but right now, they looked great.

New Year´s Day was spent inside because it rained steadily for about 16 hours! The stores that were smart enough to have umbrellas and ponchos did a bang up business.

The guy next to me is coughing, so I think I´ll get off before I´m writing from my sick bed.
Have a happy 2013!

Carefully, Rita
 
 

The 75 Step Program

Today is Sunday so I got on my best, and only dress and we went down the hill to Contempletive Sunday. It´s the sort of thing people like us can do if we don´t want to go to church but we like the people. This time we all talked about forgiveness, about which everybody has something to say. It was fun, we got a cookie and we always come out feeling good, which is the whole idea I think. Then we went off to our favorite Mexican luncheon place on the river where every middleclass Mexican family was, all sitting around eating and listening to the local musicians seranade us, and the local donut and chocolate vendors sold us dessert. I´ve never before been in a resturant where they allowed vendors to sell you sweets to finish your meal. I like it because it gives them a way to make money too.

Yesterday I had three high spots to my day. The first one was when we went to pick up our computer, walked to the market and got our week´s fruits and veggies and taxied back and I wasn´t tired. That was a surprise, however the computer still doesn´t work any better than it did before we paid the guy $20 to fix it. But we now have a lead to a real computer person from a friend who knows a woman who runs two tatoo parlors and who has computors. It´s who you know down here. Then we went down the hill again and WALKED BACK UP THE 75 STEPS to go home and I wasn´t tired again! And my dinner I made from scratch turned out well, but Arturo, our landlord was shellaking our bedroom door so to get away we fled down the hill and had an icecream cone on the local strip and walked up the 75 steps again! I couldn´t believe it. When we came just walking down was enough to do me in, let alone walking back up three times.

However, once we got home our ceiling fan doesn´t work. Win some, lose some.

Rita

Hasta Lechuga

Now we have a fridge, but the computer is in the hospital. One down, one to go. If you don't count the phones and my Nook. We caught the landlord when he came back from his Christmas trip and Richard informed him that we'd leave tomorrow if we could. That made Arturo see $$ signs, so he got on it right away. We got a lot of things done yesterday that normally would have taken many, many days to do. By the end of the day, while we waited on the refrigerator man, (he was only an hour late), we all played cribbage and promised to play badgammon another day. Arturo is actually a sweet person, he just doesn't want to part with his money, and he's on Mexican time. You have to jolt him out of it.

We're living half way up one of the big hills surrounding PV. The last time we were here we were in the Mexican section, this time we're in the tourist section. I much prefer the Mexican part...it's more fun and you never know what you'll see around the corner. Here you can pretty much bet it's a resturant or an art gallery. Nice people, it's just not as interesting. There are so many ways to get down off the hill. They have these paths with stairs going down, (and back up, oddly enough), all over the place, but we found a bus that takes us right up the hill so of course we use that most of the time. I may be lazy, but I'm not silly. When we came I could barely make it up the hill and now I can make it up pretty well. I'm thinking I'll probably live another ten years or so.

We found the bus to COSTCO today and ordered new lenses for our glasses, which means I see things the way Monet saw them...fuzzy, and I'll see things that way for 9 more days. I should start painting now, because I'm noticing the colors and flowers much more than I did.

However, we're in a much better frame of mind than we were the other day. I still don't know if I should buy more veggies because I don't trust that fridge. People we know gave us the history of Arturo and fridges, and I imagine we've got the one that they had several years ago, and it didn't work then, either.

Hasta lechuga, which is literally, until lettuce which is much more interesting than hasta luego.
Rita

Puerto Vallarta

We've lost our internet connection in our apartment, the computer is down, our refrigerator died, and our landlord is out of town, so we're downtown in an internet place and I don't want to stay on longer than I need to. Oh, and our phones don't work. But hey, it's warm and I'm getting so that the hills don't bother me as they did. That's good...I may come out in better shape than I came in. We are seriously putting the option on the table of coming home early. I don't know if we'll do it or not, but the idea is out there.

On Christmas Eve we went down to a place called the Paradise Community Center, which had a very nice little ceremony. I'd just swallowed my Vit B the wrong way, so my throat wasn't up for singing a lot, but I could mouth the words. Then I went down the hill to watch the kids beat up a string of piñatas and leap on the candy. They started at 9:30 and would end at midnight. That's when Christmas day officially starts. It was fun. Christmas day we ended up on the beach, drinking margaritas,(me), eating calamari and then going off for fish and chips. A very Christmasy day. We're eating at home and creating things that don't need refrigerating, and things that you don't need to leave out because if we do, these tiny little ants descend upon whatever's there...rather like tiny little pirannas. Turns out our landlord, who's actually a nice person, has a real reputation for being very very tight, and hard to get anything fixed. So, we look forward to standing in line and beating him over the head gently but firmly. Sort of like a human piñata, I think.

We're meeting interesting people, though. Vandana, you know that utube thing with the sheep that have lights on their backs and make different designs? The guy in the next apartment had six sheep dogs that responded to 3 different whistles each, 2000 sheep, and now he travels all over the world judging shows with dogs like that. Even he is impressed with those sheep on utube.

Then we met a woman last Sunday who was raised on one of the tributaries of the Amazon, and she had wonderful stories about it. Clarksville sounds rather slow in comparison.

I'll hopefully have a working internet, refrigrator and phone the next time I connect with you. I've talked to quite a few folks who say what we're having happen isn't that unusual, the first time you come down here. Of course this isn't our first time, but at this rate, it may be our last.

Much love, Rita