Category Archives: Mexico

Marie and I spent 3 wonderful days in San Miguel de Allende, a 16/17th century Spanish colonial town located a few hours NW of Mexico City. A world heritage site, San Miguel is St. Michael the Archangel and Allende is the name of a famous Mexican general involved with Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821.

What we liked about the town is its cleanliness – an army of cleaners hit the streets at 5 am every morning and “sweep baby sweep”. Vehicle tires literally squeak on the polished cobblestone streets.

Spanish colonial architecture is everywhere: beautiful dark wood doors open up onto hundreds of tranquil courtyards with fresh green leaves, shady tree bright flowers and lazy fountains.

The overall atmosphere is one of peace. Despite heavy vehicle and motorcycle traffic at times including many city buses, people are calm, relaxed, friendly and cheerful. The sidewalks are narrow. One must pay attention. It was Mardi Gras time and the kids were having fun cracking confetti filled eggs over each other.

There was some street theatre too.

The hundreds of little boutique shops, tasty food eateries, art stores and museums complete the picture. We loved it all.

For 3 days we ate tacos of every kind – Al pastor, fish, beef, vegetarian, All were incredibly cheap and yummy. We walked and walked and climbed hills and staircases until we dropped. We recuperated in our lovely 2 floor suite and then went out and did it again.

We attended Ash Wednesday Mass at Parraquia de San Miguel and thanked God for this wonderful place and our visit – hopefully to be repeated again someday soon. Highly recommended place to go.

A couple of days ago we paid our annual visit to La Cruz, a quaint little fishing village half an hour north of NV. Sunday is market day and they have some great food. We walked to the corner to catch a “collectivo” and then transferred to another one. These are small commercial passenger vans running local routes continuously. As few Mexicans own cars, these are well used by the locals. It took about 30 minutes and cost about $6 CDN.

The cobble stone streets in La Cruz are dusty and hot. We found our way to the local parish and attended a Mass. The church was filled with smiling kids and their parents. Average age attending I would guess was late 30s. The priest was very engaging and the kids loved him. Nice soloist and guitar music. Another great mystical cultural experience here.

We continued onto the market. It winds its way for half a km on a narrow isthmus between Banderas Bay and a large marina. We knew exactly what we were looking for so did not daly. Finally we found it. Takes a look. Can you guess?

The paella was delicious and well worth the long walk! There is also a huge fish market here where you can buy fresh fish. We then headed to our favorite stop, the Octopus Garden Hostel, an eclectic, relaxing and charming place run by a British lady named Aruna. Trees grow through the roof in the courtyard; there are several cats and a large turtle; a fountain spews water lazily; it is cool, friendly and shady; they have a great book exchange.

We chatted with Aruna for half an hour. They have 22 beds that she and her partner rent out with the help of several volunteers. Most of the clients are retirees. It is a nice escape from the real world that we look forward to popping into each year.

Not to give you the wrong idea, but here is the little joke about La Cruz which is no doubt true. Great place to visit in the moment while here.

We stay in a gorgeous beach front resort in Mexico to escape wintery weather up north. The resort consists of condos and a hotel that caters to visiting Canadians and Americans. There is not much Mexican culture on display anymore here. Everyone speaks English; the music played is American; they have a Super Bowl party.

In other seasons the place is filled with Mexicans so the vibe must surely be more Mexican. We have noticed a steady decline though. When we first started coming here there were weekly mariachi bands with trumpets and troubadours. This is a rare practice here now. Mexican fiesta night on Fridays is very subdued. They even stopped selling bulk pico de gallo in the local grocery stores.

If we want to have more of the feel of Mexico, we go into Puerto Vallarta. The streets are cobblestone, the sidewalks are dangerous, there is constant noise, restaurants, bars, mom and pop vegetable and fruit stores are open late and Spanish is heard in the streets.

We went in the other day to meet friends and go to an English Mass. While it was exhilarating, stimulating and interesting, after several hours, we were ready to return home. Give me the quiet life in Mexico.

Happily the Mexican donut boy still comes by on the beach most days at 4:30.

We felt the earthquake last night which hit 400 km south of us in the State of Michoacan. It shook our bed and the blinds were hitting the window. No damage done other than some cracked plaster. Hope all are safe.

Our first week here was punctuated by cool weather. One day the high was only 23C and we had a few showers. Had to wear a windbreaker last night for the first time here when we went out to Ernestos Good Grub.

The sandbar has reappeared now and it has warmed up again. You can walk for kms in your bare feet.

Managed to snag a small delicious Roca de Reis. Hoping to find a baby Jesus inside.

One of the highlights of our week is attending the local Catholic Church Mass on Sundays. It is held in a large modern hall. Parts of the service are in English. This year they have a fantastic soloist named Pedro. Enjoy.

We have settled in now for a great stay. More friends are arriving each week. We have a bunch of birthdays coming up to celebrate. Stay warm. Hasta pronto (see you soon).

We find ourselves in Mexico again. It’s safe here and safe to say that we find many blessings and much peace here.

We flew via Newark and all went well. Except we had to retrieve our heavy bags and pay again to check them because there was too much time between the connecting flights.

As well, Marie lost a shoe in security and we had to wait a few minutes.

It was an early morning flight to PV. We were in our condo about 75 minutes after landing. Best timing yet!

Our property agent met us and then took us to the grocery store. The next morning she returned and fixed up all the deficiencies in the condo we had asked for.

We have now been here a few days. We just returned from church and there was a great soloist. We have not picked up any bugs…The sun is shining.

Off to a great start so far thanks be to God. Hope things are going well for you so far in 2025 too.

Today after church, we went to Bucerias with Don and Heather for breakfast to thank them for their kindness to us. They have been picking us up, organizing the weekly Ernesto’s dinners, inviting Dave to golf, taking us grocery shopping and including us in their circle of friends at church. They have been coming here since 2006 and are very kind.

We went to the fabulous ‎Delicias Mexicanas restaurant. Things started off badly. We arrived at 11:50 but got no service for 30 minutes as they were really busy. When Juan finally arrived at our table he told us breakfast service was now over and asked would we like lunch? We were a bit upset but went with the flow. Some delicious coffee arrived followed by a great taco salad lunch. Yum.

Afterwards, the owner of the restaurant, a man named Abraham comes by and asks how we are doing. We thank him for the wonderful food. He then tells us his story which is somewhat familiar here.

Abraham had moved from Mexico to California and for 14 years lived the life of a Californian‎ – 2 cars, nice house, conspicuous consumption, go, go, go. He came to realize that his stress level was too high trying to hold it all together. So he returned to Mexico … and started up this very successful restaurant here.

Now, he ‎says his stress level is much lower, he is relaxed, having fun and even makes more money. Listen to your body and follow your dream was his implied advice. When I remarked that he has a very biblical name, he said yes, but that he is only the father of one child, not billions. We all had a good laugh and he let me take his photo. Thanks Abraham for the life lesson and Don and Heather for all your kindness