Day 14

I finally got another morning run in! It was a beautiful morning. I did have to do some dodging of a group of nationals who were loading up on a big greyhound type bus to go back home. They seem to bring a lot with them on vacation, (I do too!) hand carts loaded with styrofoam coolers, pop, beer, water toys, wheel chairs, whole extended families seem to be traveling and leaving together. A little further I dodge another group of nationals that just got off of a bus! They all look like they are headed directly to the beach for the day, it is only about 7:30 am. It is the busiest I have ever seen it here.... Maybe the year we were here at Easter was as busy. Below are a couple pictures from my run, a group of people fishing:

The daily dog play group, loved the two dogs who were just being spectators, reminds me of Gaia who watches Birdie play ball, Gaia thinks ball is a spectator sport :)

Dave had to go get his antibiotic injection at the CMQ Hospital at around 1:00, you actually take the vial of medicine with you, it was given to us along with the oral meds. I told Dave I could just give him the injection, it has only been 30 years since I gave an IM injection, he said  "no thanks"! Well guess I couldn't have anyway, only the vial of med was in the box no needle. The charge for the nurse to give the shot was 30 pesos, about 2 dollars what a deal! We took a cab to the  hospital because Dave was not feeling great, but he insisted on walking home which was maybe about 1 1/2 miles. He took a breif nap then had a little late lunch of homemade apple sauce ( they don't sell it here so I made some) and toast. This is how you recover in PV:

I spent sometime at the pool reading and visiting with fellow guests. The beach below us is unusually packed.

Cole and Theresa went to the zoo today and reported that they had a great time feeding the animals especially the hippo. Also said the big cats were especially lively today. 

I went to dinner with Cole and Theresa to El Barracuda, it was very busy tonight but yummy as usual.

We walked back along the malecon. I attempted to get a picture of how busy it is.

Dave made himself a dinner of 2 scrambled eggs and some applesauce. He said he is feeling better! But he does not want to jinx it by saying so!!!

Day 13

Just realized today was our 13th day here this trip, now I am not normally superstitious  but......what a day!

Dave started to feel worse last evening and had a tough night, more nausea, so bad he just could not even drink. Decided it was time to seek medical attention first thing in the morning. I remembered seeing a trip advisor post about a lady (Pamela Thompson) who lives here who gives people like us medical direction, I emailed her and got a quick reply, she offered us an appt with a doctor at 3:00 pm or suggested we go to Mediasist. I went and knocked on Denise's door st 9:00 am and she said she would drive us right now to CMQ hospital, that is where she goes and sends others. She was a dear and insisted on walking  us in and get the process started at check in. After 5 hours and an IV, labs, IV anti nausea med, IV antibiotics the Doctor's diagnoses was a bacterial GI infection. He asked what all Dave ate, the red flag was either the pie on the beach or the homemade Christmas cookies he bought off a beach vender. The doctor said they (he and staff) do not even each from beach vendors or taco carts! Dave thought because it was baked it was safe.  Lesson learned! I avoid these items, who knows what their kitchen looks like and if they washed their hands!!!! But I suppose it could have been from the salad at a very reputable restaurant too. 

The doctor and the receptionists spoke English but our nurse did not. The place felt new and clean, the care felt good with plenty of attention, and we did get right in, no waiting to be seen but that could have just been timing. One odd thing was the nurse practiced like we did back in the early 80's, no gloves for blood draw and was done unlike I have ever seen? Insert IV cath then hold a lab blood collection vial up to it and let the blood just drop into  vial, then the doctor capped it and took to the lab...where are the computer generated ID labels and no hippa forms! Tomorrow and the next day Dave returns for an antibiotic injection from nurse Carmin and was sent home with anti nausea med. We took a cab back and Dave headed straight to bed. His stomach feels much better and said this evening that he is getting cabin fever but still tired and no appetite. 

Total was arround  675.00 US dollar, we will see how our trip instance works for this!

Late lunch for me at Sea Monkey,called for a margarita

Cole and Theresa headed off for a special dinner on the beach at La Palapa

Tomorrow will be a better day! So hope so for Dave's sake!

Day 12

Woke up to another cool, cloudy day, highs in the 70's. It is 70 right now at 8:30 pm and it actually feels chilly! This is the only year I did not bring capris, every year I bring them and never wear them. I do have the jeans I wore on the plane but not cold enough to put those on!

Jared and Margaret enjoying their last few hours in PV on the terrace in front of our rooms:

Pictures of room 501, the room Jared and Margaret had, their balcony/patio was a little more private than ours.

Dave was still not feeling great today but felt he was up to a walk to join us for Jared and Margaret's last lunch, he ate only a couple of fries :(  but said it felt good to get out, he then spent the rest of the day resting and reading, what a nasty bug!

We said our goodbyes to Jared and Margaret, hated to see them head home, their week with us went much too fast.

I spent the afternoon taking Cole and Theresa on my walking tour up to Gringo Gulch with a stop for 1.00 margaritas at Cheeky Monkey, since Theresa had not been there yet! 

Dave and I just stayed in for dinner tonight, leftover pizza for me, a cup of noodles for Dave, followed by pajamas and reading in bed, sometimes that just feels good :)

Day 11

Today was not a day in paradise...Dave felt worse than yesterday 😞, nurse Cindy's diagnosis-norovirus. I spent a bit of time trying to do the best infection control I could with bleach purchased from the mini mart. 

Dave spent the day sleeping in bed and sipping the electrolyte bottled beverage I picked up for him.

We had a breif down pour of rain this morning followed by sprinkles for an hour or so.

This has been the coolest day I have ever experienced here, think the high was around 77 with a slight breeze.

Cole and Theresa went on the Canopy River zip line complete with a mule ride back up the mountain. They reported that it was an excellent experience even in the rain.

Jared and Margaret went to lunch at Cafe de Olla then walked and explored the neighborhoods for a few hours, perfect weather for that :)

I went out to get a few groceries and picked up a slice of pizza to go for lunch (didn't want to leave Dave for too long) I spent some time reading until I got antsy then went back out for a walk.

We all, minus Dave, went to dinner at Fajita Republic for Jared and Margaret's last dinner.

Dave felt very bummed that he lost two days of time with the kids :(

But he is happy that he is starting to feel a tiny bit better, he did rally enough to watch the Seahawks game on TV in Spanish!

Day 10

I think it is day 10! Hard to remember when you are on vacation :)

This is what I woke up to this morning, last nights full moon setting! 

Poor Dave was a little under the weather today :( stated with a migraine last night, today he just felt yucky and tired all day, he has spent most of the day in bed :( what a big bad bummer!

All of us went to the farmers market today, not all together but everyone made it there at some point, even Dave drug himself down there to hear Bobby, he was the entertainment last year at the Rio  BBQ, we just loved him. I picked up some homemade bread, mini pie and homemade tamales at the farmers market. The tamales made for a very yummy lunch for me :) Dave ate a banana and drank Sprite :(

Bobby:

After lunch I went for a walk then spent time at the pool alternating between reading and swimming, am reading a great book right now "Where Did You Go Bernadette".

Went back out with Cole and Theresa to do some errands, then went to dinner with Jared and Margaret at Red Cabbage. Jared and Margaret started with peanut soup, Jared and I had 

Mole chicken, Margaret a vegetarian sampler plate. Great food and fun place filled with lots of artwork. Feel so bad that Dave was not up to going :(

Cole and Theresa went out for pizza, think they were ready for a break from Mexican food! 

A couple of fun things:

I ran into a couple we met last year Bev and Angus, they retired young last year (they are younger than I am) and will be here for four months!

Jared and Margaret have ran into and visited with a group of music educator friends that they know, small world!

Feliz Navidad

 I am a little behind on posting so am combining Christmas Eve and Christmas Day into one post :)

Had a nice morning run on the 24th then hurried and showered so we could go out to breakfast with Jared and Margaret at Cafe de Olla. 

After breakfast Cole and Theresa joined us to pick up makings for Christmas Eve dinner, fresh snapper, lobster from the fish market and steak from Carne Mart. I hauled it back to our place then headed back out to find a gift for our family gift exchange tomorrow ( Laura I made my purchase from the paper art man! ) back at our place I did a much needed load of laundry and hung out at the pool while waiting for it. Christmas Eve sunset:

We all pitched in to produce our lovely Christmas Eve dinner then played a new card game that Theresa brought "Exploding  Kitties" 

Christmas morning we made breakfast and all enjoyed it on the  patio, complete with mimosas :)

After breakfast we had a little gift exchange, rule was to purchase something in PV for less than 150 pesos, you could steal a gift or open a new one, they were all great gifts so there was no stealing!

Dave and my room has been without hot water since last night :( I had to boil water to wash dishes after our dinner, not fun! After a cold shower we let Denise know, she said our room and the next room (Linda this would be your room) are on the same tank, first they changed the battery (Weird?) still did not work then they decided it needed a new element, Linda think this explains your cold showers!

Cole, Theresa and I headed to the beach for a few hours, eventually we were joined by Jared and Margaret and Dave. We spotted Santa flying over the water!

Our waiter Sergio was in the holiday spirit 

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner at Casa Isabel, always so much fun to visit with some of the staff who we have come to know over the years :) 

Some of us had the traditional turkey dinner, so yummy :)

We were entertained with the wonderful music of Jose and Jose.

After dinner we went for a walk along the Malecon which was very busy tonight. It has been a wonderfully special  Christmas :)