Category Archives: Mexico

We have been home safely in Canada for a week now and in self-isolation. During our last week in Nuevo Vallarta we were self-isolating as were many others. It was quite easy to do there and not an imposition. Here are some pics of this. Enjoy your self-isolation too and stay healthy.

Update March 31. Received word from our next door neighbour in Nuevo Vallarta about the closure of Dreams Villamagna Hotel until June 1, the building of a wall along the beach front (hopefully temporary!) and how trying their return to Toronto was on March 21 at the PV airport. Click here for the story about similar chaos at the Cancun airport for Canadians trying to get home. Really feel for the laid off staff as many have little or no savings and there is little their government can do for them.

Fireworks every Saturday night, a wedding by the beach every second week or so, warm sea temperatures, endless sun, friendly people, visiting good friends, weekly Mass with Padre Miguel at the Paradise Village Parish, Salve Regina following, great food, eating out, drinks, Marachi bands.

We are absolutely enjoying our stay in Mexico! 

But the best part is that our son and family were here for a week to help celebrate Marie’s birthday. We all had so much fun together.  From beach time, boogie boarding, zip lining, lot’s of bonding time with our grandson, the iconic Pancho’s Tacos, long walks, pool time, Fajita Republic, family dinner on the beach – it does not get better than this!

The only disappointments are how fast the week went with Kyle, a day of rain (hey they went zip lining that day anyway) and for Dave at least, no golf yet.  We welcome Michelle and her family here anytime soon too.

We are truly grateful for our time here and all God’s gifts to us. Hope you saw the super moon too!  God bless and hope to see you soon.

The forecast was bad – freezing rain, snow and cold – on the very day we were to fly to Mexico. Darn!  More than 19 fl​ights out of Ottawa were to be cancelled that day including ours to Toronto. So we called Air Canada the day before after they had declared a travel advisory. They put us on a flight to Toronto the day before we were to leave for Puerto Vallarta. Thanks AC. We spent a short night at the Hilton Garden Inn at Toronto airport rather than at Ottawa. However it was hectic, bags checked, off the plane, on the shuttle, off the shuttle at the wrong Hilton, back on the shuttle, off at the right hotel, back on the shuttle, off the shuttle and finally checked in on AC to PV. Travel is not for the faint hearted! lol!

Checking into our condo a little early, we surprised the cleaning and maintenance staff. Our property manager Jesica arrived and took us to Mega to do a grocery shop. The Scotiabank ATM was out of money! Hey this is Mexico, the credit card free society. Luckily, Mega takes credit cards. And we were able to sign up with Telcel – 26 days, unlimited North America calling, 4 gigs of data for only $11 for each cell phone!!! After hiking to the nearby Oxo store for some jugs of water, we spent a pleasant evening watching the Dreams Villamagna Hotel guests party hardy on New Years Eve. Our condo being part of the same complex.

A couple of days later we did a Costco run. This involves taking the bus ($1.5 each) into PV, walking about 2 km to the Costco and taking a taxi back ($15 with tip), with all our stuff to Nuevo Vallarta. Then we have to find a couple of shopping carts to take everything up the elevator to the 7th floor. It takes a good half day, but now we are all set.

Before you know it, it is Sunday. We walk the 3 km to our local church which meets in a large hall for Mass. An Oblate, James Holland, OMI and another Canadian have donated the Sunday Missals again this year. Our priest arrives early and the Mass proceeds, mostly in Spanish. A Canadian woman reads the gospel in English and gives us a synopsis of the homily. It is packed, over 400 people, most of them Mexican.

Then it is off to our favorite breakfast place, the Riviera Grill. The food is fresh, the service great and you can help yourself to a free orange on the way out. Huevos Mexicanos with some hash browns, black beans, toast and coffee. Yum.

After a pleasant day on the beach in 30 deg heat, we catch the perfect sunset in Banderas Bay. Ah, we have settled into Mexico again, thanks be to God.

I would like to start a series on Understanding Mexico. They seem to have some serious problems down there. Not sure how far I will get with this as I am not knowledgable about Mexican history, their culture or language. However we do spend winters there and I would like to learn and share more about this beautiful place and people. I am part way through Paul Theroux’s On the Plain of Snakes, A Mexican Journey, and will be using it as my road guide.

The socio-economic problems in Mexico are primarily due to political ones. According to Paul, Mexico was bankrupted in the 19th century due to three major conflicts:

• the long war of Independence from Spain ending in 1821
• the Mexican-American War from 1846-48 which resulted in the loss of 40% of their territory
• the War with France from 1861-67 which Mexico eventually won
• as well, conflict continued in the 20th century with the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War.

With a bankrupt nation, the only way to sustain political and security institutions is through corruption ie. instituting an inbuilt bribe tax. What this means is that in Mexico, you cannot distinguish the good guys from the bad ones. For example the police are paid very low wages in Mexico and some are known for “shaking people down” – namely insisting on a cash bribe or you will be locked or roughed up. Hence some police are not there to serve and protect as we know it in Canada, but rather perhaps, to line their own pockets to pay their bills. The other side of this is that if you have or will be committing a crime, you can pay some police to look the other way. Frightening, isn’t it?

The next part of the equation is that America criminalizes drugs like cocaine, heroin, even marijuana. This creates a huge market for illicit drugs that Mexico is happy to supply. Drugs flow north, money and guns flow south. The drug gangs referred to as “the Mafia” by locals control this trade and are not willing to give it up without a fight. Hence the extreme violence between the drug cartels and anyone else caught in the middle.

Bring in the military to a region and the killing rate goes up. This is exactly what happened in Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso, TX a few years back. The military are expert killers and not accountable for who they target. In fact, Theroux says the drug cartels hire ex-military staff precisely because they are such good killers.

So what is good about Mexico other than the weather? Why even risk going there you might ask? It is because the average Mexican you meet, faced with all this institutional dysfunction, becomes very self-reliant, family focussed, more religious, entrepreneurial and charitable, willing to help others, since they can’t count on the police or government for assistance.

As the saying goes within the expats community “Once the dust of Mexico settles on your heart, you can never go home.” We too have found this to be very true.

To be continued. Saludos, Dave