Jalisco

Buenos dias, amigos,

Frank and I decided we needed a vacation. Therefore, here we are in beautiful Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. This city is one of my favorite vacation spots, but I do have to say, that it is Hot! Hot! Hot! And humid. Perhaps August isn’t the best time to visit here.

We arrived Saturday night, so Sunday, we just spent the day here, getting acclimated to the time difference (they are one Central Time here) and the climate difference.

On Monday, we took a cab to town, as I wanted to see some of the local places, places I had visited before. I wanted to go inside the cathedral here; a wedding was taking place inside, so I had to bypass a visit that day.

Frank and I wandered down one block toward the Malecon, the walkway that parallels the sea. We remembered that we needed to find a Bancomat, so we wandered down another block or two, found what we wanted, got some Mexican Pesos, wandered some more. To me, it was enjoyable, just looking into the different shops (I cannot say “Window shopping”, for the merchandise was right there in the open. At the park, we watched some children at play; like children everywhere, one little boy was trying to escape from his mother, while his sibling went in another direction.

There were small grocery stores, shoe stores, clothing stores, electronic stores, and of course, many bars and restaurants.

We came to a restaurant that looked interesting. It was nearing lunch time, and there were no patrons in the restaurant yet. That made me a bit suspicious , but Frank looked at the menu, and he decided we could have a drink and a snack. We weren’t quite ready for lunch yet. The proprietor greeted us and told us that we could be seated and he would bring a menu. He told us that there was a cooking class going on in the back room, and soon it would finish, then the chef could begin making lunch for customers.

Cooking class? Oh, how did I miss that!! I told the proprietor that cooking was a passion of mine, so he invited me to watch the remainder of the class. I put that cooking class on my bucket list for my next visit to Puerto Vallarta. The chef was finishing a soup, where he had heated three large rocks, and put them into a pottery bowl of broth, with some diced vegetables and shrimp. As I watched, I could see the broth bubbling around the stones. Soon, right before my very eyes, the shrimp and vegetables were cooked without coming near a stove.

If any of you are planning a trip down here in the near future, look up http://www.gabyrestaurant.com.mx. That will give you information on the address as well as the cooking classes. Apparently, this chef is on a cooking show down here and seems to be well-known. He certainly knew how to make soup in an interesting fashion.

As Frank was eating his little snack, I mentioned to the owner of the restaurant that I was allergic to tequila. That man went into the back of the restaurant and came back to the table with a little glass of what he called a “medicina ” for allergies.

We left the restaurant and continued on our exploration walk of Puerto Vallarta. Only two blocks west was the Malecon, the long walk that parallels the sea. I love that walkway. It was cooler there, also, than it had been, for a lovely breeze was blowing off the water.

This walkway is about two miles long, and we only walked a small portion of it. There are shops on the left of us, trees and flowers are planted in the middle of the walkway, then sculptures are interspersed along the right side.

We walked, stopped to look at things, then walked some more. Sometime, after about two hours or so of this, I decided I was hungry. I wanted some shrimp tacos from my favorite Puerto Vallarta restaurant, La Fuente de la Puente.

This restaurant sits right at the river bank, hence the name, which means, the Fountain at the Point, as the bridge over the river is right there.

We found our way there, without any problem. Soon we had ordered our lunch, and were enjoying a cool drink while we waited for our food. Then, when we were eating, the same musicians that we had seen in Gaby’s, came into the restaurant. They saw us, and came over, as we were all laughing. Frank asked them to sing that same song again and they did. That was a fun experience.

Finally, our long day in town was finished. We caught a bus back toward our hotel, making a side trip to WalMart for some groceries. Soon we were back at our resort, and as I was bemoaning the fact that we were too late to make Happy Hour, one of the attendants told me that Happy Hour on that day was from 5:00 p.m to 6:00. We made it!!

I got a bell boy to help me take the groceries up to our room, while Frank got us a table at the open air restaurant near the lobby.

Oh, just as an aside, one reason that I love Puerto Vallarta is that it is not an expensive place to visit. For instance, at WalMart, I bought fresh fruit and vegetables for salad, cold cuts, cheese, some pastries and bread, a few other items all for 350 Mexican pesos, which sounds like a lot of money, but is the equivalent of about $19 US.

So we made Happy Hour, and relaxed after a long day of just enjoying being in Puerto Vallarta.

I have more to tell you, but it will have to go into another blog, for this one is getting too big. And it is almost Happy Hour time again.

Adios for now,
Dolly

Ciao for now,
Dolly

Good afternoon, Today was a day to just relax by the pool. Susan and I have had a week of relaxing, but we also learned about some of the culture of Mexico, and especially about the state of Jalisco. I am always open to learning new things. We took a trip up to two of the towns in the Sierra Madre mountains, Talpa and Mascota. Although I had been there before, I learned new things about these towns this trip. Both of these villages are listed as Magical Towns (Pueblos Magico). This is a designation given to the by the board of Mexican tourism. To qualify, a town must have: 1). A history of a significant event, either real or legendary, 2). A unique everyday life, and 3). The town must be well preserved. Once the town has this designation, it receives money from the tourist board to keep the town clean and in good repair. One thing one village did was put all the electrical lines underground, rather than have the unsightly mess so often seen, of lines running all over the place. Mascota also has a high school where students can elect to learn a trade, as well as obtain the usual high school education. The specialties of this school include cheese making and butchering, as the countryside has many farms. We also saw two woodworking classes, one for boys and one for girls. We could not discover why the classes were segregated. Both classes made furniture, cabinets for houses, and other practical wooden items. The products from this school are sold in town, or at the school, and all proceeds return to the school. The other town we visited, Talpa, has a lovely city center dominated by a church. This town’s historical event was a miracle where a statue of the Virgin that was made of leaves and grasses was converted into a beautiful golden statue. That statue now resides in the church. Pilgrims come from all over to pray to the Virgin. The area, despite being in the mountains, is very dry. It must be extremely hard to grow things in this arid climate; however, sugar cane flourishes, and several stores in this village are candy stores, making their treats from the sugar cane, as well as some of the tropical fruit of the region. Another town in Jalisco that has the Magical Town designation is Tequila. Yes, that is the name of the town. This town is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is known for the blue agave from which the liquor, tequila, is made. I did not visit that town, so I don’t have any pictures, but I did learn something about tequila. The true tequila from the blue agave is only produced in Jalisco, with limited amounts being allowed to be produced in other states. If the tequila is not made from only the blue agave, and is made with a combination of juices from other agave plants, the liquor is called Mezcal. Therefore, all you tequila lovers, the Mezcal with the worm in it is not a true tequila. That is only one of some well-known facts (to me) that was shot down during my cultural lesson. I also discovered that Mariachi music is not Mexican in origin, but Austrian, although it sounds more like German polka music to me. That makes sense, given that Maximilian from Austria, was a king here for a short time, before he was assassinated. Mexican beer also has its beginning with Austrians. Last night, we took a boat trip to the island of Las Caletas for dinner and a show, depicting the culture and some of the fables of the native Indian cultures. The show was more like a Cirque de Soleil, in that many acrobats, a flying butterfly who was playing a violin, a walking tree, along with the fire jugglers. A mermaid greeted the boat as we approached the island. Our dining tables were along the water’s edge. A harpist and a guitarist played soft background music. The lighting was torches and votive candles. It was truly a relaxing evening, with good food and wine. When we left on our boat to return to Puerto Vallarta, we were entertained by our ship’s crew, who did a tribute to Kiss, the 1980’s rock group. They did a pretty good job of singing the songs, although their guitars were made of wood and had no strings. To me, the epitome of the evening, though, was when the captain turned off all the overhead lights, allowing us to see the full moon overhead, with barely a wisp of a cloud in the sky. We could still see the Sierra Madre mountains in the background of the city of Puerto Vallarta as we travelled back to the Marina. The lights along the shore of the city lent an air of a place of festivity and holiday, but also a place of peacefulness. Today, I just enjoyed the quiet and solitude of Club Regina. Too soon I will leave this enchanted place and return to cold weather. Until I write again, Adios, Dolly]]>