Bye to San Miguel, Hello to Denver

Palm Sunday in San Miguel

We haven’t blogged for over a month.  Last we wrote we were in San Miguel, and, probably had about two weeks left there.  We wrote then about Sayulita where we had gone for a Pacific Coast break.  It was great and remains a very special memory.

 Back in San Miguel, we had a couple of farewell experiences.  The most memorable and most missed was our last couple languages classes with our sweet students.  We hated to leave them and hope we will see a few again when we return in November.

Altar created for Dia de La Delorosa 

We also spent one last glorious day at “La Gruta”, the hot springs.  How we love lounging there for a day.  One last lecture with Javier and a couple last dinners with Martha and John,  dominoes with Barbara and Dave, as well as saying goodbye to some of our favorite people in our usual haunts…Omar at Companio where they make the best croissants ever, Mario at our local liquor store, the guy at the carnitas (roasted pork store) downstairs and Marilu,  our landlady, at her beautiful silver jewelry store.

While there, Larry told Marilu that he wanted to buy Sue a ring.  After trying several on, we selected one.  Marilu took Sue’s hand and said, “A gift from the store.”  What a surprise and what a confirmation of the total kindness of Mexicans.

Sadly, we repaid her by leaving both doors to the street open in the apartment when we left.  She wrote and said the police came after several hours and told her.  We were and are mortified.  How absolutely stupid of us !  We hope never again !!

Larry & Carole with Albert Einstein

We traveled to Mexico City and had several fun days with Carole Reedy and confirmed we would like to spend more time in that entrancing city.  She has moved to a new apartment in the Zona Rosa, which is full of great restaurants and beautiful homes.

Of course, we had a couple of fun taxi rides with Rosalio, Erin’s “Mexican Dad”.  Always a treat to re-unite with him.  We are always amazed at his promptness and professionalism and the fact that he can seem to find us in any big crowd.  How does he do it?

View of the Front Range from our Balcony

We flew into Denver on April 3^rd,  to occupy  our new and permanent address:  1020 15^th Street, Unit 20-L.  On the 4^th our POD with all our belongings that had been in storage for three years arrived at Bryn’s house.  That moving day story would take a whole blog to relate.  

Home Sweet Home (finally)

Suffice it to say that everything that could go wrong did go wrong--lost PODS key, inept locksmith, keeping the moving crew waiting for three hours and then having to have them reschedule.  What a totally frustrating day !!  

We finally got into our condo at 9:30 PM after starting the process at 7:30 AM.  As Larry often notes, it was a true "C F" And cost us a bundle, but, hey, we’re “home."

Our building is located at the intersection of 15th and Curtis.  We really like being downtown.  There are a lot of restaurants and shops nearby, all within an easy walking distance or reachable on public transportation--we have become really quite keen on using the local bus system.  The airport is just a 45 minute bus ride and costs $5 for seniors so it is really convenient.

Our new apartment/condo is a two bedroom/two bath unit--about 900 square feet.  We are on the 20th floor and have a great view of the mountains from our balcony.  It is in the same building where we have rented a studio in the past.  The first high rise in Denver, it was initially built as apartments in 1968 and then converted to condos in the 1980's.  It really is perfect for us. The Denver Performing Arts Center is a block away--we have been here a month and have already seen two very good shows--one a local production and another a traveling broadway show.

Most of our time, however, has been spent unpacking box after box, making almost daily trips to The Container Store, disposing of tons of trash, and working with a young woman who is an organizer/de-clutterer. But best of all, we are having so much fun with Charlie, Bryn and Grant.  We have had a couple sleep-overs and afternoon fun with Charlie. 

Charlie & Opa

He has changed so much in the last six months.  “Why” is his constant word; he is so easy to engage in play, reading and coloring and when boredom ensues, we just have to turn on “Guardians of the Galaxy” and he finds any straight, long object to be a “shooter” (think wooden spoon) and jump around with the actors on TV, slaying any monsters who might be dumb enough to be anywhere near us.

Baking with Oma

We are not yet totally settled in.  Still boxes to unpack, still stuff to get rid of or store, still a sofa bed to buy (anticipating visitors which we hope will materialize as time goes by…friends and relatives are always welcome).  

Reading scary fairy tales

But, we are very happy here:  the size is right, having our own stuff is comforting, and we have a view of the Rockies which changes daily with the weather and gives us so much joy.

We love Denver and would love to show it off.  Come on UP !

Sayulita

Downtown Sayulia

Sayulita, Nayarit, Mexico

Our driving trip from Ajijic (central Mexico) to Sayulita (on the Pacific coast) was thankfully uneventful; the highways, especially the toll roads, are well maintained, and not that heavily traveled.

We were surprised, however, that the last 75 miles of this main highway to the Nayarit Riviera and Puerto Vallarta, two huge tourist attractions luring millions of visitors every year, are a two lane, twisty mountain road, where it is almost impossible to pass--except the Mexicans seem to enjoy trying.

Shade Bathers

Sayulita--is certainly a tourist town--but not at all like its high rise, Miami-like neighbors, especially PuertoVallarta. With only about 4000 permanent inhabitants and an equal number of tourists, it retains much of the 1980's hippie, drop out ambience. Flip flops and shorts are the norm.

Many of the streets are dirt or, at best, cobble stone, one-way lanes, with the preferred mode of transportation being electric golf carts, although there are far too many cars, like so many other places.  It definitely caters to tourists--with equal portions of young families with children, senior citizens, and surfers.

There are a wide variety of beaches, within walking or golf cart distance.  Several we visited are nearly deserted. The town's main beach is fairly crowded, but never overwhelming so.

The terrace of our AirBNB rental, Casa Calibri, (Hummingbird)

It is somewhat protected, with more of a gradual drop-off and gentler waves.  The water temperature was just about perfect.

When in January we decided to visit the coast, we were able to find an apartment described as comfortable and spacious and close to town, just a five minute walk, with a nice view of the ocean. It had good reviews, so we agreed to rent it.  We were not only not disappointed, we were enthralled.

Garden at Casa Calibri and view to the Bay in the distance

Always wine and dominoes at night

Casa Calibri was all that it was advertised and more.  It sits on a steep hill, overlooking the town with a great view of the Pacific.  The gardens are beautiful and attract all kinds of birds and butterflies. Several mornings we were awakened by a giant woodpecker!

The bedrooms were large and comfortable and the showers were great.  The terrace, where we practically lived, was inviting at all hours--mornings and evenings. Many afternoons we watched the sunset and changing light and then finished with a couple of rounds of dominoes.

Dave and Joan, our hosts, were attentive, but non-intrusive.  Their suggestions for restaurants and activities were all spot-on. Restaurants in town run the gamut, with a few even offering a white table cloth, upscale experience.

Giant margarita

Bob at El Costeno

But we tended to like the smaller, funkier places.  Our favorite bar/restaurant, to which we returned almost every afternoon, was El Costeno.
Known for its reasonably priced giant margaritas and micheladas (beer, lime juice and clamato juice--you have to taste it to appreciate it), El Costeno was always a welcome destination after a few hours on the beach or exploring the area.

An open-air palapa roofed and seemingly flimsy structure, El Costeno sits right on the beach, just 100 feet from the water. The daily happy hour (4:00 to 6:00) means the drinks are even more affordable and the bar is very popular.

Buying hammocks after a couple margaritas

Bob, Mart and Sue sipping margaritas

There is always a constant stream of customers and vendors.  Several of whom, we couldn't resist--including a sweet older couple who were selling handmade hammocks--both Mart and Bob and we ended up buying one, even though we are not quite sure what we will do with it in our condo.

Many of the vendors were children selling toys and other handcrafts.  Since you see them at all hours of the day and evening, you are pretty sure that many of them unfortunately do not attend school.

El Costeno's food could be good to excellent--one night we had a wonderful grilled red snapper with garlic sauce; the second time we ordered it, however, it was overdone, well, almost burnt--but we still ate it all.

The Alley Cat

 We really enjoyed our entire stay in Sayulita.  The relaxed environment and near perfect weather makes it easy to while away your days, and if you wanted to be entertained, there was plenty to see and do.

Mart getting her drink from the head of the Cabin Boy

Our favorite excursion was an all day catamaran cruise aboard the Alley Cat, in the Bahia de Banderas, said to be the 7th largest bay in the world. Our trip began with a short bus ride from the town to a nearby port, Santa Cruz.

Sue, ready to dive

Once aboard, we were waited on hand and foot (literally) and treated to a delightful and interesting day of water activities, including snorkeling, swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding.

You are served both breakfast and lunch; drinks are free and bottomless. It was a great treat just to sit on the front of the boat and watch the water and the horizon as you sail along.

Our jumping Mama whale

Sea birds of all kinds often flew around us and many times we came across schools of fish, roiling and churning up the water--which of course attracted even more hungry, squawking  birds.

Perhaps the highlight of the cruise, however, was on our way back to port when the captain was able to bring us to within 100 yards or less of a mother and baby humpback whale.  The mother was teaching the calf to breach and jump out of the water--a truly spectacular sight.

The calves are born in the bay during early spring and the mothers and babies stay there for several months until the calf is strong enough to make the arduous trip back to Alaska.

How silly can you get???

Sailing into the harbor, the crew break out funny hats and distribute them to willing passengers--then they lead everyone in the Macarena as you come into port--to finish what for us was a near perfect day.

Sayulita was a wonderful interlude in what has been a tremendous five months stay in Mexico-- we are already planning our return next winter, who wouldn't be?   We always welcome visitors, so join us in paradise !

Sue saying goodbye to Bouy, so named because he floats easily

Guadalajara and Ajijic

During our first four months in Mexico, we have been content to stay close to San Miguel, but we always planned to travel a little.

Lake Chapala

 Along with our friends and frequent travel buddies, Mart & Bob Larson, we rented a car for two weeks and embarked on a trip to Guadalajara; Ajijic/Lake Chapala (central Mexico), and Sayulita (on the Mexican Pacific Coast).

The drive from San Miguel to Lake Chapala took us about five hours; we stayed mostly on the toll roads, called "cuotas" here in Mexico. They are well maintained and lightly traveled, but can be expensive.

Expecting to see a dry, brown, sere desert, we were surprised by the varied and often green landscape; this was especially true the closer we got to Guadalajara.

Bob L., Harper, Bob J., Larry, Sue and Mart at dinner

Lake Chapala which is about an hour south of Guadalajara, is the largest lake in Mexico--we have been told that it is 50 miles long and less than 10 miles at its widest, and averages less than15 feet in depth.

Ajijic on the northwestern end of the lake is home to a large expat community and is an interesting mixture of American and Mexican cultures.

The expats have created The Lake Chapala Society, a library and charitable organization, to give back to the community by running programs for adults and children.

Sculpture at Jocotepec Park

Lake Chapala offers a climate somewhat warmer than San Miguel.  Ajijic seems a much more laid back and "mellow" experience than San Miguel as there are lots of aging hippies and snow birds.

We enjoyed walking along the new malecons or boardwalks, both in Ajijic and Jocotepec, especially the latter, where we were able to see a lot of birds, including a colony of white pelicans, ducks, coots, avocets, stilts, etc.  (Larry, the perpetual nerd, was able to identify these thanks to having participated in several bird walks with the Mexican Audubon society in San Miguel)

Larry relaxing at Harper and Bob's house

Our hosts, Harper and Bob Jones, whom we met a couple of years ago through our mutual friend, Carole Reedy, moved from San Miguel to Ajijic last year because the climate around the lake is milder and health care is provide by the US VA (Bob was one of the first Navy deep sea divers).

Though they have only been in the Lake Chapala area for a few months, they were very knowledgable and full of helpful hints and recommendations. They also invited us to their lovely new home, with incredible views of the Lake and a large and comfortable patio, complete with a great hammock that we all enjoyed.

Angel Mart in Tlaquepaque

Mart and Bob at the Library entrance

One of the attractions that the Lake Chapala area has for expats is its close proximity to Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city, with its airport, shopping, historic and tourist sites.

On our second day, we took a bus tour of Guadalajara and had a super lunch experience in the Tlaquepaque area of town. This neighborhood is noted for its varied shopping, featuring Mexican handcrafts and products, but none of us were really interested in shopping, so we mostly contented ourselves with strolling, admiring, and saying no to lots of street vendors.

Lunch on the patio at Cafe Fuerte

Presented with a confusing variety of eating choices, Sue decided to ask a kindly woman standing on a street corner for advice.  It was a fortuitous decision and she was happy to offer up information on a nearby restaurant as well as other touring advice.  Seems that she is an expat who has lived in the area for more than 20 years and when she comes to Guadalajara for shopping, she always eats at Casa Fuerte. We had a two hour lunch, complete with a live Cuban band.

Larry, Bob and Mart on the Cathedral Plaza

Guadalajara is somewhat of a mixed bag; lots of traffic and noise, but nothing to compare to Mexico City. The historic center has some lovely plazas and buildings, including the impressive Cathedral, but on the whole it seemed, at least to Larry, kind of an unattractive city (not all agreed), and a one day visit was really sufficient.

Moonlight in the street

All in all it was nice three day interlude, especially thanks to the kindness and hospitality of Harper and Bob.

Moonlight on the Malecon

They found and booked our hotel; took us to a wonderful restaurant, La Una, on our first night, invited us to their home for a wonderful home cooked American meal of chicken and dumplings, and served as terrific and knowledgable tour guides.  Besides, both are great company !

We were sorry to say goodbye to them, but feel pretty sure we will be back again, in the not too distant future.

Sue and Bob  Jones kibitzing at Jocotepec

A Nice Week In San Miguel

Helping to cook

 Larry has been pretty regular in attending his Spanish conversation class (five days a week for one hour), and has really enjoyed it.  His fellow classmates have changed over time, but his teacher, Marco, has been the constant.

The class is pretty free form and unstructured, but is usually fun and it has helped to improve his Spanish. Marco really enjoys eating out and sharing favorite restaurants with his students, and he always makes sure to invite spouses, friends, and others from the school.

Folks at the party

Last Friday, Marco organized a trip to a new bar/restaurant a few minutes outside of town--a botanero, something akin to a Spanish tapas restaurant.  One of his Mexican students, Susie, works at the restaurant.  What a fun experience.  We were the only clients, but everyone at the restaurant made us feel most welcome, including Paco, the owner, and his right hand man (and Susie's husband), Sergio.

Paco, Sergio and other partiers

We were treated to a special house tequila and chaser upon our arrival, and then all who wished were invited to the help in the kitchen with the preparation of the chiles en nogades, a traditional Mexican dish of stuffed poblano chiles, smothered in cream sauce and topped with pomegranate seeds...a close to two hour operation, but worth the wait. While we waited for the chiles, we were served with two different caldos or soups, chicharron (pork rinds) with salsa and more beer, wine and water (can't take too much afternoon alcohol).

Our English language students

After the the meal, Paco and Sergio who also sing and play in a mariachi band, feted us with traditional Mexican ballads, accompanied by the karaoke jukebox. Our Mexican colleagues often sang along with them.

A few of us also felt comfortable dancing along with the music as well, but come three o'clock, we had to leave to get back to town as we had to be ready for our English class at 4:00, which meets every Monday, Wednesday & Friday afternoon.

We have so enjoyed this class; our lack of teaching experience is evident in every class, but our students--both young people and more mature adults have been so much fun to teach and get to know. We laugh at their struggles with English and our struggles with Spanish, but "poco a poco", or little by little, they are learning a bit of English and they are teaching us more Spanish.

We have even gotten them to understand how important it is to do your homework. Unfortunately, we will be unable to continue with the class after next week, and we have not yet been able to find someone to take over from us, but we are still hoping.  The students have made a lot of progress, and we want them to continue.

Boveda Mason

Sunday we joined one of the Library or Biblioteca's regular Sunday afternoon house tours, which can attract 75 or more participants, mostly American and Canadian visitors.  The Bibiloteca is an expat social and service magnet and offers lots of cultural programs.

The house tours, which include two or three houses of some architectural note, are offered every Sunday. The proceeds from the tours and the Library's other programs are used to fund after school activities and scholarships for hundreds of children and adults in San Miguel.

Boveda ceiling under construction

Our friends, Mart & Bob, love the tours and go almost every Sunday--we  go only occasionally, like this past Sunday when they were featuring homes with "boveda" ceilings and providing a demonstration of the building process.

Boveda ceilings are almost gravity defying, arched roof constructions used in many homes in and around San Miguel.

It was a lot of fun seeing one being built and listening to the builder and the mason explain how they do it.

Our table at Paprika

Returning from our house tour, Mart & Bob and we joined some other friends, John and Martha Birney, Paige (a language classmate) and  Jackie, a lovely woman from Atlanta whom we just met on the house tour, for a great jazz lunch at Paprika, a sweet restaurant that has recently become one of our favorites.

We like going to Paprika on Sunday afternoons because, in addition to the great food and nice garden setting, we can enjoy jazz performed by Mary Gouty, a young woman from Canada, and her combo. They play mostly American songbook selections, just our kind of music!

Mary sings and plays the trumpet--an unusual, but very effective combination. Unfortunately, she has decided to leave San Miguel and return to Canada--we ask ourselves why, especially in February. We will miss her and her music, but are so grateful we stumbled upon them a few weeks back, and hope she will be here again when we return next winter.

One outdoor hot spring pool

Larry lunching at La Gruta

Wednesday, on a lark, we decided to visit, La Gruta, a hot springs spa, that is about five miles outside of town.

The low key, but very relaxing resort, offers a number of pools for swimming and relaxing, including the "grotto" for which it is named.

The grotto (cave) or "la Gruta" features a very warm pool and a four inch pipe that delivers a stream or shower of even warmer water on the hour.  You can stand under the stream and let it cascade on top of you.  It is like getting a water massage.

Wednesday was a perfect day with clear blue skies and temperatures in the 80's. It was more crowded than usual--there might have been 50 people of so soaking in the pools.

But how nice it was to lounge in the warm water and then sit in their lovely garden restaurant and be served drinks and delicious food. The excursion, including taxis there and back, entrance, and lunch, probably cost us $30--an affordable luxury.

In a Cantina with the owners

Just last evening, we participated in another Library sponsored tour--this time, a Cantina Crawl.  For three hundred peso each ($20) we were provided a guided tour to four local cantinas.

There are perhaps more than 50 cantinas in the city--many of them more than 50 years old and steeped in history and legend.  The cantina was traditionally a saloon for men only--no women or dogs were allowed through the swinging doors.

Today, men and woman, but still no dogs, are welcome in any cantina.  They serve mostly tequila, mezcal, and beer--no white wine spritzer, please. Our tour included a beer or a shot of tequila or mezcal at each of the cantinas we visited.

 It was a nice way to finish the week, and we know we will want to return to some or maybe all of them.  We have come to really appreciate tequila, which can be as smooth and mellow as any fine whiskey.

Charlie turns three

Bryn, Auntie Erin, Charlie and Grant at the Casa

We left Mexico on January 22nd and spent two weeks or so in Denver.  Our AirBNB apartment was nice this time, and we stayed very busy. 

Charlie's family birthday was sweet--at home; and then his official party was at Casa Bonita, a Denver landmark.  Kind of  like Chucky Cheese on steroids.  It was loud and crazy,  and Larry got sick from the food. 

The cake:  ribbons, balloons and candles

Charlie and buddies loved it, of course, especially the guy in the gorilla suit.  We bought them "light sabers" which were sold there and they ran around bopping one another.  When the saber came home it was totally obnoxious, but thankfully broke within 24 hours.

Our own Star Wars hero

We flew into Denver with a huge snow storm, had an instrument landing which was perfect (on an ice encrusted tarmac).  It was scary, but it was amazing.  While there we had two more, very pretty snow storms. Both were beautiful and both melted within about 48 hours in bright sunshine.  

In between the snow storms, we had some lovely, almost spring like weather with temps in the 60's--but that's the way the weather is in Denver.

Larry, Bryn and  Grant went skiing one day while Sue and Erin kept Charlie.  With Erin along for the Birthday weekend, we had a nice family reunion.

Sue and Carole outside her new apartment

We flew back to Mexico City on February 6th and stayed there one day, visiting with our friend Carole, who just moved into a really great new place.  Her previous apartment, though very strategically situated, was dark and chilly; her new place is very sunny and charming.

Our return bus trip to San Miguel was peaceful and quiet, just the way we like it.

Larry and Carole inside her new apartment

Now that we are back, we are still teaching our English class at the library.  Mart and Bob (bless them!) did it for us while we were gone.  Getting back we had to prepare lessons again and that takes a while.  The class meets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4:00 pm for an hour.  We have about nine students who have stuck with it.  

The class make-up shifted quite a lot over the weeks we have been here, but settled into the nine who seem to make it regularly.  We have four young people and five adults. All are so sweet that the class is a lot of fun.  We think they are learning, but it is hard to tell. We've certainly learned a healthy respect for teachers--which we aren't.

We've been back in San Miguel for awhile now and have been trying to settle in here.  Here's one big difference:  in Denver we had to stock the apartment for a couple weeks and it cost over $300.  Here we did the same (although we did have some staples already) and it cost about $100 counting booze.  It is tempting to live here. 

But San Miguel isn't the real world.  Full of "retirees" like us, some have described it as an extended spring break weekend for seniors.  You are as likely to hear English as Spanish in some areas.  There is so much to see and do, sometimes we can't decide and sometimes we just have to stay home and rest.  It's inexpensive for us, but for the average Mexican, it can be very expensive. 

Most of the restaurants, and there a lot of them, are full of expats, because your average Mexican probably can't afford it and would not be interested in Thai, Indian or Italian food anyway. But you are still in Mexico, with all its charms and idiosyncrasies. The streets need repair; the paint on many buildings could be refreshed.  Beggars are to be found on most every block, but most Mexicans are working hard to make ends meet. Good paying jobs are hard to come, but the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well as exemplified by the number of food trucks and carts and many small stores and stalls.

Selling cascarones

This past weekend was the lead up to Lent.  A large number of people make "cascarones" and puppets and sell them in the Jardin. The cascarones are dyed like our Easter eggs, but they are hollowed out and the egg is replaced with confetti, then sealed with tape and tissue paper.  

You can buy 10 shells for five pesos (65 cents), and seemingly every child in San Miguel (and many an adult) buys a bag or two and chases friends and strangers around the plaza trying to crack an egg on someone else's head, while avoiding having it done to you.  

Using cascarones

It makes for a pretty riotous time, with lots of laughter and shrieks.  It is all really quite harmless, but fun to watch.  According to some Mexican friends, this seems to be the only place in Mexico that they celebrate Carneval like this.

We have had some fairly unusual weather these last couple of weeks, with a big rain storm last Thursday and then a chilly and gray weekend.  It is not supposed to rain this time of the year, but no one seems to have told Mother Nature.  But now finally, the sky has cleared and it is a bright and beautiful cloudless blue, and the temperature has warmed to near 80.  We are hoping that this means that Spring is here to stay. Hoping you are staying warm, and that Spring is not foo far away for you.