Cat Menagerie 2022: 3/30 - 4/3 | |
Our last couple of days in Bucerias. After packing, we spent time just wandering around, soaking up the sun, and discovering new restaurants. | |
|
Packing Daze 2022: Wednesday & Thursday, 3/30 & 3/31
Preparing to leave on a trip, whether coming or going, I get a little anxious. Did I forget to pack some essential item that will haunt me later on? This is fueled, of course, by the fact that I have forgotten many useful items over the years. Consequently, we organized, packed, reorganized, and repacked several times. Each time I managed to find something that fell under the bed, or behind a chair. It’s like herding cats, which we would become accomplished at - more on that momentarily. Finally, we got everything assembled and stuffed into our bags.
Now, back to herding cats. We are driving with Jeff. Besides having his van jammed to the brim with his music equipment and baggage, he is transporting six cats. To most people, I suppose, this sounds like a nightmare. However, Jeff is experienced at it as are the majority of his cats. He has traveled back and forth to and from Mexico with cats for the last five years. His cats are good travelers, as far as cats go. However, six cats are his largest number to date, so even Jeff is sailing into uncharted waters.
Anyway, Jeff came over to pick up our bags on Thursday morning. Yesterday, I helped Jeff rearrange his van twice. Today, we jammed even more stuff in. From the floor to the ceiling, the van was packed tight, leaving only one small seating pod for Wanda behind the driver’s seat; the passenger seat with most of the floor taken up by a big sack of snacks; the driver’s seat; and a few crevices for the cats to nuzzle into (or so we hoped).
| |
|
That done, Wanda and I went out for our last breakfast in Bucerias. Lately, we have tried some of the restaurants in the trendy quarter of Bucerias south of the dry riverbed. Armed with reviews from the Friends of Bucerias Facebook site, we have been pleasantly surprised by the hidden, but cute restaurants in the back street of this sector.
Yesterday, Wednesday, we ate supper at the aptly named, Delicias Mexicanas. Their molé (pronounced moe-lay) sauce over enchiladas was magnificent. Dark thick molé sauce is a delicate Aztec flavoring with a hint of cinnamon and chocolate. The restaurant is located in a well-hidden courtyard that we would never have found without directions gleaned from the Friends of Bucerias.
Today, we tried Luna Luna, another hidden restaurant. Luna Luna’s recipes feature bold flavors. My huevos rancheros were radically different from any other rancheros that I have tried. The flavors were strong yet I couldn’t get enough. Wanda’s Mexican scrambled huevos featured grilled cactus. Next year, we are going to try a lot more of these hidden gems in this area.
| |
Delicias Mexicana looks like a private driveway from the street. Once past the gate, it opens to a narrow but lush courtyard. | |
We ordered molé sauce over enchiladas with rice and black beans plus a mountain of guacamole with chips. | |
After packing on Wednesday morning, we roamed around Bucerias. | |
We will definitely try Café Bucerias next year. | |
This little kid is a well-known seasoned street vendor. | |
Yo Yo Mo’s is one of two sports bars in Bucerias. The other sports bar is LA 20 where we watched the super bowl. | |
These guys took over Jeff’s Wednesday afternoon time slot at the Sunshine Bar. | |
Shirley dancing up a storm at the Sunshine Bar. She never misses a gig. | |
Luna Luna is another restaurant that is hidden behind a tall wall. It opens up into a large courtyard. We had breakfast here on Thursday morning after Jeff picked up our bags. | |
This duo played the perfect soft jazz for the breakfast crowd. We had heard them several weeks ago at La Famosa Restaurant. I liked them a lot. | |
Luna Luna specializes in unique bold flavors. This is huevos ranchero and it was very different and delicious. | |
We also ordered Mexican huevos with grilled cactus. Grilled cactus is terrific - I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t tried it. | |
Luna Luna has a lot of cool art work and decorations. | |
|
Things began to unravel for the next 48 hours. I had my last dentist appointments at 3 and 4 pm today. After our Luna Luna breakfast, we took a leisurely stroll to absorb a little more of our winter sanctuary before returning to the house for the last time to brush my teeth and get ready for the dentist. We had a 1 pm meeting with Alejandra for our final inspection and to give up our keys. We would then go to the dentist and finally end up at Jeff’s house to spend the night. We hoped to leave for Wisconsin by 6:30 am.
As Wanda was talking to Alejandra I got a text message from the dentist, “you missed your 12 and 12:30 appointment. We are rescheduling you for tomorrow at 6 pm. We have no other openings today.” Do you know that sickening feeling you get when your world turns upside down and inside out? I was flabbergasted. I could have sworn my appointments didn’t start until 3 pm. I wrote back that I was leaving tomorrow at 6:30 am. I pleaded that I was desperate. I had stitches that needed to be removed. I had two crowns left to be completed. I wouldn’t be back in Mexico until next February. I could come straight to the office and just sit around and wait for any possible opening.
Dentoamerica felt my panic and agreed to let me come in and wait around. They said that they’d do all they could to squeeze me in even if they had to stay open past closing. We rushed right over to Dentoamerica.
As soon as I got to the office at 2:15, they immediately squeezed me in. The poor guy with a 3 pm appointment didn’t get in until nearly 4 pm. I was embarrassed and humbled, but what could I do? My mouth, however, felt wonderful. I paid off my bill. Two surgeries, an implant post, fillings, a root canal, wisdom teeth extracted, crowns, thorough cleaning and polishing, and diagnostics came to $3000 US. Next year I will have one more surgery, an implant crown, and a permanent crown to complete my ordeal. That will be another $1750.
We got to Jeff’s at 5 pm. There are two routes through Mexico that we could take. We kicked around the pros and cons of each one and decided on the Guadalajara to Laredo, Texas route. Google Maps claimed that we would save 3 hours on this route. That cinched it.
A couple from Michigan heard that Jeff was heading back to Wisconsin and that Jeff had five years of experience driving through Mexico. They asked to caravan with us. They had gotten lost around Guadalajara on their drive down to Bucerias last fall. That badly shook their confidence. Jeff agreed to let them follow. They lived just one block away from Jeff’s house. We made plans to hook up with them in the morning.
We set our alarms for 5:30 am and we all hit the hay around 9 pm.
Departure: Friday, April 1
Jeff’s obnoxious alarm blared us awake at 5 am. I thought it was a fire alarm going off. It did clear the cobwebs in my brain rather quickly. Except for some toiletries, the van was all packed. Still, it took a good 30 minutes to find all the cats. As soon as Jeff pulled out the dreaded cat carriers, the kitties fled to every nook and cranny in the house. Armed with flashlights, we hunted them down.
Once secured in the cat carriers we took them out to the van, got in, shut the doors, and released the cats. It was time for the cats to explore their new surroundings, including the dashboard blocking the driver’s visibility, and behind the brake pedal impeding the brake’s functioning. With the cats roaming around the entire van, we drove off at precisely 6:30 am to hook up with the Michigan couple.
| |
Jeff usually had one or two cats in his lap. | |
The dash was a favorite resting place for the cats. | |
|
Traffic on the way to Guadalajara was surprisingly light. This changed as we drove through the city of 3 million people. There isn’t a bypass, so we got to see the heart of Guadalajara. It looked like a modern city. It was here that we made our first gas stop. Exiting the van without losing a couple of cats became a challenge. We had to coax the cats away from the doors, and we had to get out one person at a time.
Overall, the cats rode pretty well. There was only an occasional meow or angry hiss. Although they wandered around the van a lot, they seldom got in the way. They do love Jeff. He often had one or two cats on his lap, one on the floor behind his legs, and one on the dashboard hunkered down low enough to give him some visibility. My task on this first day was to navigate. I monitored his Garmin GPS and cross-checked it with Google Maps. This worked out well. Mexican routes can be tricky but we didn’t miss a beat.
The plan was to find a motel in Monterrey sometime around 8 pm. Of the Michigan couple, both have a bad case of night blindness. It was already dark when we hit Monterrey so they were eager to stop. Both Garmin and Google Maps had us routed around Monterrey. Wanda and I tried to look up motels along our route but couldn’t find a thing. Everything was in town. Reluctantly, we drove into the city. The traffic was horrific. The hotels listed online were all very expensive 4 and 5-star hotels. We did manage to find a series of motels along one string-street that looked promising. We were all beaten from the 14-hour drive and looking forward to an early bedtime.
We drove into our first motel. It looked nice, but right off the bat, something was off. Each room had its own enclosed garage - that seemed strange. To get to the rooms you had to go through a gate. You needed a passcode to open the gate. The office windows were all blacked out. They could see out but we couldn’t see in. Then we saw a very curious sign that read 2 personas 4 horas 450 pesos. To add to the mystery, there were pictures of the rooms. One room had a pole for pole dancers. Another had a giant jacuzzi in the living room. We saw the word Kamasutra. It began to dawn on us that this was some kind of sex motel that you bring prostitutes to for a short tryst.
We all laughed. No problem, there were several other motels nearby. The traffic was brutal but after 20 minutes we found the next motel. Sure enough, it was the same thing. Then, the two next motels were identical. After an hour of fighting brutal traffic, and with nerves beginning to fray, we figured out that the word “motel” in Monterrey meant sex rooms.
Now what? It was after 9 pm. The Michigan couple could barely see straight with all the lights blurring their bad night vision. Jeff was tired. We decided to get back on our route and hope to spot a real “hotel” along the way.
Finding our way back to the bypass was no picnic. Even at 10 pm, the traffic was thick and the route was extremely tricky. Finally, we stumbled across a hotel.
It is difficult to find a hotel that will allow pets, not to mention six cats. Through experience, Jeff has learned that he needs to sneak his cats in. That means finding a motor-lodge style of motel that he can drive right up to the room’s door. This hotel required going through the front lobby past the registration desk. No way would they allow us to parade past with six cats.
We dropped off the bushed Michigan couple at the hotel and we drove on. This meant driving all the way to the border at Laredo, going through customs, and finding a motel in the US, where motel didn’t mean sex room.
When Jeff drove down to Mexico last October, he had to pay a refundable $460 import tax on his van. That way, if he sold his van in Mexico, he would have prepaid his import tax. If he drove his van back out of Mexico, he would get his money back. That was the theory. At 1 am, we had to find the special customs office, find a person to deal with, and hopely get Jeff’s credit card reimbursed.
The office was tucked away on a back street. The booth was unmanned and dark. Jeff was able to dig up some guy that spoke decent English. Of course, there was some paperwork snafu that didn’t allow the guy to directly reimburse Jeff. After 20 minutes of haggling, we left with the guy promising to take care of it later.
When we reached the border crossing it was nearly 2 am. The Mexican officials only asked if we were US citizens. They merely waved us through when we said that we were. The line at the US side was pretty short. When it was our turn, the customs officer grabbed Jeff’s passport and ran to a nearby pickup truck where he and a bunch of other officers handcuffed a guy and walked him away.
When the officer returned, he was all smiles. The six cats cracked him up. He decided not to open any doors as he surmised, correctly, that the cats would scatter if he did. He just pointed his flashlight through the windows. Of course, with the van jammed packed, he couldn’t see a thing. Still, he just waved us through after we assured him that we didn’t have any bodies hidden inside. We all laughed and we drove on.
We soon found a Motel 6 at 2:30 am. The reception lady, a gruff old woman, gave us two adjoining rooms, 218 and 219, for $79 each. We drove around a 2-story building with about 60 individual drive-up rooms, but couldn’t find our rooms. We circled the building three more times to no avail. I walked around and found a side door in a separate building where the reception desk was. Sure enough, I found the rooms tucked deep inside this other building. This building was set up more like a hotel. To access the rooms required walking past the receptionist.
All this driving around spooked the receptionist. She called the cops. Fortunately, the cop that questioned us was very professional and understood our difficulty in finding our rooms.
There were no parking places anywhere near the building with our room. Besides, our rooms were on the second floor, deep inside the reception building. This just wasn’t going to work. We decided to drive on to the next motel. We went back to the stern receptionist to get our money back. Instead, she gave us two adjoining drive-up handicapped rooms around back. This fit the bill perfectly.
At 3:15 am, it was time to stuff the cats into the cat carriers, no small task, and bring them into Jeff’s room. I finally drifted off to sleep around 3:30 am. What a crazy evening!
| |
Jazzy, in the Motel 6 window waiting to be put into the van. | |
|
The Longest Day: Saturday - Sunday, 4/2 - 3/3
At 10:30 am, we headed back on the highway. Traffic through the entire state of Texas, even for a Saturday, was thick and nerve-racking. After yesterday’s insanity, and with only a few hours of sleep, our goal was to make it to Witchita, Kansas, by nighttime. That way, we could make it to Minnesota by Sunday night, and be home around noon on Monday.
The first order of business was to find a fast-food breakfast. Jeff loves Wendy’s double cheeseburgers. It was already past breakfast time when we found a Wendy’s, so burgers it was. I had never had a Wendy’s burger so I gave Jeff’s beloved double cheeseburger a shot. At $6.50, it was more expensive than a gourmet La Famosa burger. I should have only ordered a single cheeseburger. The big double burger didn’t lay quite right in my gut, but it did fill me up for the rest of the day.
By 8:30 pm, Jeff was pretty shot. We hadn’t reached Witchita yet, so I took over the driving. I began lobbying for driving straight through the night and getting home sometime in the morning. Garmin and Google Maps were showing an arrival time at our house at 10 am if we drove straight through.
When I took over, we had a full tank of gas, the traffic was practically nill, the cats were pretty well settled in, and I was on a mission from God to get home. I put my earbuds in, cued up my “favorites” playlist on my iPhone, and drove through the night. It was glorious. The music kept me energized, the road was smooth, the traffic was none existent, and I was in the zone.
It wasn’t until we reached Tomah, WI, around 10:30 am that I came up for air. Jeff took over for the last hour or so. We reached our house a bit before noon. He dropped us off, we dropped off to nap, and Jeff drove up to his cabin near Minocqua.
| |
What is this white stuff? This is what awaited us when we arrived home. | |
|
CONCLUSION
There is so much to love about the Bandía de Banderas (Bay of Banderas):
1) THE PEOPLE. Of course, I have to start with the people. First and foremost is our landlady, Letty. She is an incredibly warm and lovely lady. We couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with. I hope that we were good tenants for her. All the people at Dentoamerica were professional and accomodating. Our waiters and waitresses were fun and attentive. Even the ex-pats were interesting and fascinating characters.
2) THE WEATHER. My goodness, the weather during the winter is magnificent. Back in Wisconsin, we have to include the weather in all of our planning. This planning headache just doesn’t exist in Mexico during the winter “high” season. We had 78º to 85º and full sun everyday. That calls for a simple wardrobe - shorts, sandals, and short sleeve shirts.
3) THE BEACHES. Again, spectacular and world-class.
4) THE FOOD. OMG, I could easily live on genuine Mexican food, especially in this Puerto Vallarta region. Unlike the crappy imitation Mexican food we get in the US, authentic Mexican dishes, from street carts to the finest restaurants, are culinary works of art. It isn’t spicy “hot” like we have grown to expect. Their cuisine is delicate, flavorful, and colorfully presented. You can heat it up with some hot sauces, but meals are never served spicey hot.
5) THE MUSIC. I am delightfully surprised that even the young people listen to traditional Mexican music, from the oompha polka-like style, to mariachi, to salsa jazz, to the soulful Mexican ballads. You almost never hear American rap or pop.
6) THE MUSICIANS. There is no lack of talent in Mexico. I have heard some of the best jazz, flamenco, and 80s rock right here in the Bay area.
7) TRANSPORTATION. The buses and colectivos may not be fancy or comfortable, but they are plentiful, efficient, and cheap. There aren’t many places that can’t be reached by public transportation for just a few pennies.
7) THE COLOR. Mexico is not drab. Earth tones and pastels do not exist in Mexico. Color is bold.
8) THE ARCHITECTURE. The bland boxy Miami building style has crept into Mexico, especially at the exclusive resorts, but the superior old-world traditional Mexican styles still flourish.
9) THE MEDICAL FACILITIES. Americans often stereotype Mexico as backward when it comes to modern medicine, however, that would be dead wrong. The Mexican medical system is top-notch and extremely affordable.
10) MASKING DURING COVID. Mexicans nearly universally wear masks in shops and on public transportation during this pandemic. They aren’t caught up in the silly politicization of mask wearing.
CONCERNS:
1) DUST. This part of Mexico has been in the throes of a draught for a long time. Winter is naturally the dry season, but from what we understand, it has been drier than average for several years. Also, all the building construction spews out tons of concrete dust. This make car washing a great street hustle.
2) ECONOMY. Bucerias has begun to bounce back from the lost COVID year (or two), but I believe it was hurt by it. The large pockets of poverty are heartbreaking. About half the bars and restaurants don’t run live music anymore. Those that still do have cut way back. There is more trash than I remember from two years ago. Several large building projects have been abandoned, presumably from lack of funds. I always thought of Mexico as part of the developing world. It is still developing, but it seems to me to have taken a step backwards.
3) BOUNCING BACK?! I sincerely hope that once COVID is fully in the rearview mirror that Mexico can get back to the rate of modernization that it had been enjoying. With all the new building going on in Bucerias, and neighboring communities, I think it will.
| | | | |
