Feb 4-9

Feb 4 - We packed up a lunch and our beach stuff and had a beach day. It has been almost a week since our last beach day!

Big waves at the beach today

Unique home we look across at from our balcony

A couple units to this unique outdoor living apartments 

Dinner was at one of our new favorite places, The Seahorse. Such a nice family that runs this place, the sweet girl waiting on us didn't speak any English, but still had great service, and chef Raul came out and greeted us!

View from the Sea Horse

Chicken Marsala

Lasagne

We walked around taking in the evening festivities.

Yearly book fair

Feb 5- We went to the botanical gardens, taking a taxi to get there then took bus back home.  The gardens just keep improving every year, so beautiful. We took the Vanilla trail and enjoyed the various gardens before lunch. 

Jungle lunch view

After lunch took the Jaguar trail, which is a bit more challenging. A group asked us about its difficulty and I said there are a lot of ups and downs. We followed them and they should not have done it! We were not sure one of the men was going to make it.

Dinner was left overs on the balcony enjoying the sunset.

Feb 6- Dave had a couple of work call/meetings today so we did a big morning walk, saw a group of horses going down the busy road!

I spent some time off and on at the pool, reading and visiting with my new friend and her daughter, they are from the Winnipeg area, very friendly. 

We ate all meals in today, made delicious beefy bean tostados for dinner. We did wander out for the evening to walk around and finally made a stop at the churro man getting a small, 3 piece bag of churros.

We have been playing cards or working on a puzzle in the evenings.

Feb 7- We walked the beach to La Playita for lunch.

Bought produce from the back of a truck that was parked right outside of our condo, so fun and convenient!

Had dinner at Cafe Bohemio.  Owner Sol sang a few numbers, waiters are a lot of fun here.  Sol makes the best soup that is included with all dinners, tonight was lentil. I had meatloaf, Dave had chicken enchiladas.

Stopped by Eulos bakery for a piece of carrot cake to share, not great but we managed to eat 1/2 of it anyway!

 Feb 8- Had breakfast at Eldorado, we love breakfast here, not only delicious but an amazing view!

Had lunch in then packed up for an afternoon on the beach. We are both getting a lot of reading in, I take breaks to go walk and search for sea glass, my collection is growing.

Dinner was at Archies Wok, always delicious!

Kitty cat greeter at Archie's Wok

After dinner walked around. 

Boat lounge chairs!

Have been seeing this cute dog for years, reminds us of Scout. Well tonight Dave snapped this picture of him...... 

then dog proceeds to walk into the shop of his owners, lifts his leg and pees on this shirt!!!!

Feb 9- Went to the Marina today taking the bus to Walmart then walking the rest of the way. We walked around  and checked out Velas Vallarta where we stayed with the kids last year and have reservations for next year, it is a great place, looking forward to returning. 

Velas Vallarta pool, can't wait for next year to enjoy with the kids!

Had lunch at Victors. They brought us beautiful complimentary kalua and cream drinks, felt bad but neither of us drank any, me I hate milky drinks and Dave has been abstaining due to a headache cycle. 

Lunch view

Drinks we didn't drink!

We took an uber back to town, guess there was a 5.1 earthquake that happened while we were waiting for the uber, never felt anything.  Then we walked up the river to the El Rio BBQ, now called La Huerta, to listen to a Reggae band. They were a lot of fun. We walked back, by then we have put on many miles, over 12, my knee was hurting! We stopped and picked up a pizza to go from Mia Mia to have for dinner.  Got home and iced my knee while eating cheap pizza :)

Walking up the river

Dave always makes new dog friends

Cute restaurant along the river

Brimstone Reggae Band

Dancing from my chair!

Enjoying the music!

Jan 31-Feb 3

 I by accident double booked us for the night of the 31st. It made our move to the new condo we are staying in easier. I had texted the host of the new place and asked her if we could store our beach chairs, umbrella, Dave's guitar, etc in the building as I was planing to book a unit there for next winter. She said we could, they have a big storage area. We walked over with a load to drop off after check in time. I continue to have lower GI issues so this was my first outing. Luckily I now feel fine other than that.

Checking out the new place at Bella Loma

View from our balcony

The unit feels a little bigger than ours at Villa Olivia, but only a peek a boo ocean view, we will miss our old view. The roof top pool area is nice with a great view, appears not a lot of people use it,  this condo building only has 17 units. 

Sunset from new place, we walked over after dinner

We will miss  the nightly fireworks from our balcony at Villa Olivia!

Feb 1- Chatted with our neighbors and Denise before leaving Villa Olivia, getting their emails, we will miss them but we are returning to Villa Olivia for a Super Bowl Party so will see them all again. 

My intestines were starting to feel like I could possibly go out, so we went and had lunch at Los Lirios before our move over to the new place. I made it .....

1/2 of a shrimp stuffed avocado

Dave tried out the new pool.

Had dinner in at the our new location, grilled cheese for me, left over chili from the freezer and grilled cheese for Dave. The balcony is not as private as we are use to.  Then went for an evening walk.

Unique place that is visible from our balcony

Another unit visible from our balcony 

Feb 2 - Felt great and a great sleep so I got out and walked a few miles, felt so great. Then Dave wanted to walk to Ley's for a few groceries so I went with him.  That was another  4 miles! Had lunch in then pool time. So excited to feel like dinner out, we wanted to try a new place, Martini en Fuego, have read great things about it. They brought out a complimentary salad, and ended dinner with a complementary pear tequila. I enjoyed my coconut shrimp, Dave's mahi-mahi while flavorful was dry, over done. Most fun part was a waiter who ran out to us giving me a big hug and Dave a handshake! It was Tomas, our favorite waiter from Cafe de Olla, we had been looking for him there. We are always surprised he remembers us! His brother owns the restaurant so he decided to go to work for him. 

After dinner we walked around and watched the sunset from the beach, then the second most exciting thing happened! We ran into my cousin and husband, who live in NYC, they are usually here for a week around this time. We had a nice long chat, so good to see them! Funny thing my cousin pointed out we ran into each other in this exact same spot several years ago.

Feb 3 - Well shoot, I'm not over the GI bug yet! Feeling a bit depressed, no going to Farmers Market and the Botanical Gardens as planned, can't leave the room! Finally feel I can leave so we walked to Freddy's Pharmacy hoping Freddy was working, otherwise it would be off to urgent care, 5 days is enough! Freddy was there, he asked me lots of questions, said it is bacterial, gave me an antibiotic to take for 5 days and mexican brand Imodium. Freddy is well know here for helping out the tourists, I hope this takes care of it. Maybe having a glass of wine at dinner and 1/2 of the tequila shot didn't help...... Freddy's is very much like a small town pharmacy, he has a little of everything packed in there, some groceries, gift items, toys, shampoo, paper products, and best of all he actually works there. 

 Dave went out on an adventure looking for lunch, taking him all the way up to Costco, eating at Basillo, a favorite lunch spot for us, while I'm home having another grilled cheese and water he is having a beautiful lunch complete with margarita! Sob!

My lunch at home :(

Dave's lunch!

Chickens in the neighborhood

Had dinner in since I am still trying to recover, I made a pot of pinto beans for Dave and then he made some guac, pico, and slaw, while I had a boring cheese quesadilla, I did add a little pico, trying to be kind to my belly is not a lot of fun.

We went out for an after dinner walk about. The town is very busy, restaurants are packed, sidewalks packed, it's a Saturday and Bear Week!