Day 19

Woke up to Dave saying he was hungry and was going to eat while he could :) That woke me up so I was up and out for a morning run once again a few minutes early and beat all the construction workers walking up the hill :) not a big deal to pass them but there are LOTS of them and I have to dodge them.

Dave thought a trip to the marina sounded fun. We walked down to catch the bus, saw one that said Walmart so we asked the driver if he was going to the marina he said yes, well not really! We rode it to Walmart where he told us to get off for the marina, there we had to catch another bus to take us all the way to the marina. I know the bus said Walmart but most buses continue on to the marina,  lesson learned-make sure it says marina, oh well not a big deal. 

We have never seen the marina as busy as it was today, usually feels a little like a ghost town. We also noticed more shops and restaurants opened as well as a huge new hotel/condo/time share (not sure) called Nima, looked very nice! 

We had lunch at our usual place, Victors, shrimp tacos and fries for both of us and a margarita for me, they always serve it with an extra shot :) might be a bit watered down (the shot) One was enough for me. We noticed a couple at the next table who had their suitcases and we're heading home.....after lots of these margaritas, think he had 4 by the time we left, I wondered if they made their flight!

Along the way we saw Santa 

And a couple boats with great names :)

And some kids playing monopoly 

We caught a bus back and headed to the pool for a quick swim before a dinner of left overs.

We had to eat early to catch a seven o'clock play. Last night we purchased tickets to A Tuna Christmas. It was a hoot so glad we went! The actors are brothers and they were great, lots of laughs! Last year I screwed up when I bought tickets to A Greater Tuna when my mom, sister and sister in law were here, I had the dates wrong, we showed up and it was for the next night and they would not be here. The  theater was nice and let us into the music group that was performing that night. Now I am so sorry they missed it last year!

 

Day 18

Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning :) we have had a fair amount of cloudy/partly cloudy days this trip. The day stayed wonderfully sunny all day! Dave wanted to go our to breakfast. Had to take this picture of the huge pile of garbage on the corner waiting to be collected that we passed on our way to breakfast. Garbage pickup seems to be almost daily and for some reason they do not use dumpsters or even large garbage cans. Garbage is just put out on the street corners!

We went to our favorite breakfast place Cafe De  Olla. The sign above our table says it all :)

The prices are amazing here and right now with the exchange it is "almost free"!

I had my usual hotcakes with banana, Dave thought simple scrambled eggs would be good on his not so good tummy, a few bites was all he could do :(

Dave wanted to go for a walk along the Malecon after breakfast. We visited with a group of ladies who were in port off a Princess cruise ship, they asked us for helping on getting wifi, we told them to go to Cheeky Monkey just down the block, free Wifi and dollar margaritas,. We have noticed many more cruise ships in port this year, happy to see this for the economy here. Last year the locals were complaining about the lack of cruise ships, seems like it was only about two a week last February. The local paper posts ships in port for the week. This is the amount we have seen each week so far.

Along the wall we ran into this two month old pug, had to stop and pet :) what a cutie!

We then happened upon some very whimsical paintings, the artist was set up on the sidewalk along the malecon and was painting. We like to get a peice of art from places we travel and we did not pick up anything  here last year so we were due! Had a tough time choosing! We probably drove the artist crazy, really liked the larger pictures but not sure how to get home so settled on a smaller one that will fit in a suitcase :)

We stopped by the Church where a bilingual service was going on and we heard some very familiar litergy.

We made our way to Leys grocery store where we picked up a few things, by then Dave was feeling yucky so we took a cab back. Sure wish he would get back to 100%, I know he wishes for this even more than I !!!

We had lunch at our place, peanut butter and applesauce for Dave and I made a burger for myself. Dave is now out of applesauce, one of the few things he can get down easily so I had to whip up some more after lunch!   We looked for it at Leys, it is a big store but they don't carry it either, guess they don't eat applesauce here!

I went out after lunch to walk around more, then hit the pool after I got back to cool off. Made dinner tonight, a very low fat easy digest able  chicken rice dish hoping it would hit the spot with Dave! 

Our host Denise stopped by and I mentioned that Dave still has no appetite, she asked if he had taken the probiotics she gave him to take, he has not, she REALLY encouraged him to take them and came back with some aloe Vera beverage. I agreed with Denise that he really should try the probiotic, so he had two nurses ganging up on him, Denise was a nurse for 19 years before coming here to run her sisters hotel. He took a dose of probiotics :)

Tonight's beautiful sunset:

Day 17

I should come up with better titles than "Day 17" sounds like I am on some cleans or something! I need to get more creative :)

Started the day with an early run, early by maybe 10 minutes, it stays dark until the sun goes over the mountains which is around 7:15.  By being out a few minutes early I missed the throngs of construction workers walking to work that I usually pass/dodge in the morning. 

After breakfast and shower Dave and I went to the Saturday market, they were starting to get it set up as I ran past earlier, it was all hands on deck setting up canopies, sweeping, ect, Fun to see the transformation. Bought some coffee, mini pie and an orange roll and let a vender tell me all about his natural sun block (not sunscreen) only ingredients are coconut oil, jojoba oil and vit D.... Hmmm not sure how that works! He did show me that at his age of 59 he had no "liver spots" on his hands and he is in the sun all the time, hmmm, may have something to do with his naturally dark skin :)

We went straight to the beach after the market to claim a spot, there appeared to be open spots at La Palapa so we inquired if we could get a beach spot (10:30) oh, of course not....I give up on that place! Not sure what is up there, we use to be able to get in, we have even tried to get reservations for a beach spot like we use to do but now are told they are booked out.

Oh well, back to our good old favorite Fedencios :) I realized with Dave being sick that neither of us has had a beach day for a whole week!  Happy to report that Dave is feeling at 75% now :) one day it will be 100%! Today was the first day he has felt like doing anything.

My view of Dave from my spot in the sun, he in the shade :)

Our lunch 

We both went for a swim in the pool and read after returning home. I headed out for a couple hours to walk and gather makings got dinner. 

Decided to whip up peanut butter cookies when I got back to help fatten Dave up, and to use up the extra peanut butter a neighbor gave us when they left. Easy recipe of 1 cup PB, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg,  only had to purchase sugar.

Met a new neighbor who traveled to here by himself, his wife did not want to come. He is from Sweden but had been living in New York City for 1 1/2 years. Felt like we should ask him to join us for dinner but we didn't know what we were doing.

Decided not to make the nice dinner I had planned because Dave's tummy  was not feeling great, decided to go for a walk and see if something appealed to him, nothing did so we went back to our place to have a late dinner of cheese, avacado, tomato, cucumber sandwiches. I think I have had more than enough cheese lately!! Ugh!

Tonight's sunset :)

So glad Dave is feeling better, he is too!

Day 16 New Years Day

Dave woke up with a little energy and went for a little walk on the beach while I had coffee, breakfast and got ready for the day. He came back feeling tired but I was antsy so I then went for a walk. We do not like to coordinate our activities, it is each man for himself in our house!

Cole and Theresa got packed up and dropped off their suitcases in our room, then we all headed off for their last meal before heading home. I had noticed on my walk that many of the restaurants were closed today, I was surprised because most all were opened on Christmas, guess New Years is a big deal here! Their first choice places were closed but the places on the beach were all opened so we went to SiSeñor on the beach.

Goodbye Cole and Theresa, we will miss you! We have had a great time with our kids, so glad we all got to spend this special time together :)

I went for another walk about. I had to take this picture to prove to Dave that some of the small beach front restaurants must not have a plumbed in water source. I saw this truck delivering water last  year and he didn't beleive me so here it is!

The river is packed with locals swimming and picnicking.

I came back and went for a swim, we played some cards and cooked dinner here, grilled burgers and oven roasted potatoes, maybe some red meat will give Dave some energy! 

Our sunset tonight and a beautiful flower on a plant on the patio:

We ended the day with a few rounds of Kings Corner, think we were tied!

 

Day 15 Happy New Year

Started the day with a hot muggy morning run doing a little more people dodging, boy is it ever busy here! I have decided that it is busier than Easter the crowds have grown since Christmas. This is obviously a very popular New Years destination for gay men and Nationals.

I could tell Dave was feeling better, he was singing while getting ready for the day :) After breakfast and coffee on the patio, which is what we do every morning we headed out with Cole and Theresa to tour the new Signature condos that are up off of Olas Altas. To get to the entrance you can either climb a huge set of stairs or ride a tram, we chose the tram. This was Daves first outting so we had to be easy on him! He still does not have much energy.

We check out the beautiful lobby bar but find out the sales office is closed until Saturday, so much for the tours 7 days a week!

We walked to the glass shop with the kids where we parted ways, Dave was ready for a rest. A stop for a popcicle was the boost he needed :)

Beer delivery for the pharmacy:

The kids and I took the beach walk to La Playita for lunch, we had to wait for a table then told we had to wait 45 minutes before we could order lunch, we did not understand why other than they might have had a breakfast buffet until one, oh well margaritas, chips and salsa, all is good!

The beach and playing in the water after lunch in front of the restaurant:

While we were gone  Dave went back to the CMQ hospital for his last antibiotic injection. He is feeling better but is so tired. I think the anti nausea med has something to do with that. 

I ran some errands then came back and took a refreshing dip in the pool. The owners grandkids were swimming and quickly got out when their mom arrived with these cute treats :)

We decided to have take out pizza at our place for dinner since Dave just isn't up to going out yet. I made Dave more applesauce and a bacon, cucumber, tomato, avacado sandwich for dinner, he ate every bit, his appetite is finally coming back... Six days later!!!!  

We managed to stay up for the midnight fireworks, we watched from the pool deck along with all the other guests, the fireworks were going on all over the bay along with lots of lanterns being released the fireworks went on forever! Happy New Year!

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!!!