A Day at the Beach and then.... Not a Day at the Beach

Following the Doctor's Orders 

As we emerged from our lingering lung issues the doctor said that going to the beach (altitude 0) would aid our healing. I'll take the beach over an IV any day. So off we went to the little beach town of Punta de Mita near Puerta Vallarta for three weeks. As usual, getting there was NOT half the fun.  All was going well until our GPS told us we were a mere 14 minutes from our lodging.  Then the traffic stopped, many emergency vehicles rolled past with sirens blaring.  And we sat.  For an hour.  Finally a nice police woman told us that a gas truck had overturned and it would take 4 hours to remove it.  Of course, the Mexicans were taking it in stride.  Out of their cars, turn on the music, dance in what shade they could find.  We were less mellow.  We followed the police woman's directions and finally arrived via a dirt road to our villa. 

People out of their cars seeking shade, conversing and trying to determine what is happening.

Traffic was stopped in both directions and quite a number of cars and trucks were lined up behind us. It was only later we were told why the traffic was stopped in both directions.

 Once at the beach we learned several things:

1) We are not "beach people".  I mean we like the beach and the waves and the ambiance but we cannot/will not and should not sit in the sun for 6 hours a day.  A week yes, three weeks no.

2). That said you are now in the situation of finding out what to do with the other 18 or so hours per day.  The options include drinking (seemingly a lot), zip lining, horse back riding ($100 USD per hour), shopping, kayaking or whale watching. Not being 20 somethings or people willing to pay what it would cost to BUY a horse in Ajijic we opted for kayaking and whale watching -- oh and a botanical garden.  More on these later.

3) We are not resort people.  We didn't stay at one but visits to two of them convinced us we never would.  For my birthday we went to a snazzy resort (the W) where we became lost amidst a jungle landscape with scattered unnamed or numbered buildings while searching for the fabulously (not in a good way) priced restaurant.  Our second foray was to the Four Seasons for lunch.  We arrived at the security gate (one of two) and stated our desire.  We were asked if we had a reservation. No. 'Well you need one.""Oh, can we make one?' No, you have to be a client."  The Four Seasons and the St. Regis have these posh buses that whisk "clients" to the resort where they appear sealed in for the duration.

So What We Did Do... Or Tried to Do

Flowers et al

Having ruled out zipping, riding and heavy drinking as pursuits we headed to the Puerta Vallarta Botanical Gardens.  It is a LONG drive to get there from the North of Banderas Bay to the far south but it was worth it.  The grounds and plants are marvelous as Michael's photos will show but equally spectacular was the variety of birds and butterflies.  The preserve also serves as a home to jaguars, ocelots, foxes, deer and boa constrictors (really? boas are indigenous? seems weird).

A statue of Alexander Von Humboldt, an influential German naturalist, explorer, and geographer who visited Mexico in 1803-1804, traveling from Acapulco to Mexico City, Vera Cruz, and Guanajuato while documenting his observations graced the entrance to the gardens. He was even granted honorary Mexican citizenship for his contributions. 

A coleus surrounded by elephant ears of a very unusual color. The elephant ears are known as "Blue Hawaii".

More interesting coleus - - - you can just enjoy the photos or read the captions to learn more about the types of plants and flowers.

This is a boat orchid.

A Chinese evergreen.

 

A Guzmania bromeliad.

A moth orchid.

A "chocolate" anthurium.

An Indian Peafowl (peacock)...

and an Indian Peafowl (peahen).

This smiling stone cat was part of the garden.

Cockscomb (Plumed Celosia).

Monkey's tail cactus.

There was a poster showing birds of the botanical garden...

as well as a poster of the butterflies of the garden.

We were fortunate to be there when it was feeding time for the birds of the botanical garden. This bird is a West Mexican Chachalaca.

This is a Yellow-winged Cacique.

A Great-tailed Grackle.

In addition to the Yellow-winged Caciques feeding, there were also San Blas Jays.

The West Mexican Chachalacas, San Blas Jays and a solitary Great-tailed Grackle, all feeding at the same time.

This is a Green Jay.

A cattleya orchid, also called "Queen of Orchids" and the "Corsage Orchid".

A cattleya hybrid orchid.

A dendrobium orchid.

A tail flower anthurium.

A lavender cattleya tranae orchid, which is the national flower of Colombia.

A white "semi-alba" cattleya orchid.

A hybrid Brassocattleya orchid - "yellow bird".

A polka dot begonia.

A phalaenopsis moth orchid.

This Ruddy Daggerwing was the only butterfly (mariposa) to pose for a photo.

We could see the whales from our villa, but they were very far away. I did capture this whale's fluke.

The sunsets on the coast are very special, as can be seen from this series of photos.

This common black hawk was perched on a pole across from our villa.

This snowy egret was posing by the water...

as was this neotropic cormorant...

and this sanderling when we were lunching at a restaurant on the beach.

This willet was walking on the beach when we were walking.

This magnificent frigate bird was one of many we spotted flying over.

Deirdre at a restaurant in Guayabitos, where we stopped for lunch.

Across from Guayabitos is Isla de Coral with a sand beach to the right. A panga will take you there to enjoy the beach.

Also off Guayabitos is Isla Cangrejo (crab), which is a bird sanctuary where you can spot blue-footed boobies.

A view out to the Pacific and the headland from the upper level of our villa.

The villa only had six rooms located in three towers...

On the upper level there were two wooden walkways leading off the center tower.

The upper floor rooms have balconies, but we preferred a ground floor...

because the upper rooms required climbing the stairs, which on this tower led to the upper level.

On the upper level there was this shared "living room" with great views of the beach and the Pacific Ocean.

The center tower had a very well furnished shared kitchen, but since for the majority of the time we had the whole place to ourselves.

Since we are not "hang out at the beach" all day, or even part of the day, we would go exploring and found the Cochesa Farm to Table restaurant. These views are of the Rancho Orgánico el Edén in Mezcales where the restaurant is located.

Without GPS we never would have been able to find this magnificent place.

Kayaking

Michael was itching to get back in a kayak after his enforced hiatus of four months.  True, caution would have dictated starting out on our placid lake but what is the fun in that when you can take on the Pacific Ocean.  While I stared vacantly out to sea Michael made arrangements with the renter who asked him (out of my hearing) "Waves are up. You OK with that?"  Of course he said yes.  I assumed my usual useless position and we headed out to the breakers.  There was only one that prompted Michael to yell "Hold on hard."  He had a great time.  I had a time. As we came in through the breakers and hit close to land the renter yelled. "Out now.  Fast.  Really fast".  I was astounded to notice that I can move fast when in peril. 

Where, oh Where, are the Whales?

There are a billion whales off the coast of Banderas Bay.  They come here (orcas, humpbacks and grey or blue (forget which) to have their babies and cavort.  Our lodgings were directly across from the beach and the whales were visible (to some) from our porch.  Not so much for me with my macular degeneration.  Michael would yell: "There!  See the spout!   Oh, it just breeched."  I would squint and ask for headings (10 o'clock etc) but to no avail.  Coming from New England we have seen buckets of whales but never ones with babies.  So, we decided we should go on a whale watch where my vision would be less of a problem.  Here we encountered typical Mexican marketing -- read no marketing.  Each purveyor we approached had the same tune: "Sure, a boat costs 3000 pesos (roughly $175 USD). This seemed steep but they explained each boat could hold 6-8 so that seemed fine.  We said:  "So how many do you have on the list for Monday or Tuesday?"  "Oh, we don't have a list.  You just show up."  So you show up and you could pay anywhere from $20 to 30 per person or the whole $175.  I guess if we'd never seen a whale up close we'd have just given in and paid for the whole boat but the lack of marketing effort vexed me.  We think they get all their business from the resorts and writing down names on a list is just, just too much effort. Maybe next time.

Getting out of Dodge

Things were calm, verging on seriously boring, in and around Puerta Vallarta while we vacationed.  We left on February 11 and all hell broke loose on February 22.  As you probably know the government killed the head of the Jalisco cartel in a charming little town we have visited many times.  That set off the bus and car burnings, gunfights and Oxxo and bank burnings which accompany any major cartel killing.  Guadalajara (capital of Jalisco) got a pretty good hit.  Ajijic and Chapala were realtively unscatherd but everything was closed down on the 22nd and 23rd.  It is the 24th as I write and, unless the cartel has a navy, Michael is probably safe kayaking out on the lake.  It is hard to tell how this will go.  If the line of succession is clear in the cartel then they will only be fighting the government.  Although that is disruptive it is usually pretty straightforward.  If the fighting is also intra or inter cartel that is when it gets really, really ugly with hangings, mutilations, etc.  I feel obligated to explore all these gory details with you since we have bragged for almost 13 years about how tranquil things were at least in our little part of Mexico, so full disclosure demands that things are less so now.  We, or The New York Times, will keep you informed but honesty we don't feel in any danger.  But it is a bit unsettling.  At least we don't have a blizzard

So, take care and we promise to do the same.   We head to Portland and LA in late March so, unless something dramatic happens, we probably won't blog for a little while.  So don't worry.....