Quick trip....

[benito]

at long last i’ve made it back to puerto vallarta. the bank account has kept me away for a year. just a quick 5 day trip but worth every minute.
easy 3 hour flight from san francisco. not so easy to get thru the immigration and customs. i miss the old, small pv airport. they didn’t have enough immigration stations open so the lines were huge and slow moving. took about 30 minutes to get the card stamped. then there was a huge line for customs. you have to put your luggage thru an x ray machine now, then a new button to push, replacing the old traffic light. finally made it thru then the time share siege. wow! they really come at you now. i’ve always ignored them but they were coming at us in waves, way more aggressive than usual.
this was a fun trip because i brought my sister, who has never been....it’s fun to traipse around pv with someone with a fresh perspective and eyes wide open.
after settling in to the condo, i took my sis down to los muertos beach while my mom took a siesta. not much going on but saw a couple of my mexican friends working on the beach and the los arcos. made the obligatory stop at andales for the 2x1 happy hour...always a winner. sorry to hear that the daytime bartender hector is sick in a guadalajara hospital with a bad kidney.
as usual, pv is about the food....i wasn’t there long enough to hit all the usual taco wagons which is a shame because there are 4 world class taco wagons within 2 blocks of our condo. we did hit cafe olla twice...(good as ever), the lunch counter across the street from the rizzo. (great camerone tacos). los arbolitos (great guac, margaritas, y enchiladas de pollo). la hacienda, great breakfast al fresco. (on lazaro cardenas at aguacate) open until 2 pm. tacos cisneros, a taco wagon on aguacate between cardenas and carranza. they just opened a little restaurant at the taco wagon. realllllllly good burritos de camerones. also fredy tucans for a final desayunar. mmmmmm tocino.....
we arrived on day of the dead so the cemetary was in full marigold effect. we made a trip to the cemetary. i love the grave markers that are really simple and heartfelt. a wooden cross with a lone marigold, bunches of flowers on an old rusted metal cross.
my mom loves pitallal so we took a trip there. there is a really good bakery there, with the ac cranking, mocha cake and chocolate cake.
we also went out to punte negro to visit friends who have a condo there. great beach, i was the only person on it, and the ocean is perfect right now. warm ocean swimming, warmer than the pool....
noticed a lot of changes on basilio badillo. many new shops and many old shops missing. also some new restaurants, trying to remember what it was like last year. hopefully the economy will bounce back and more people will come down and spend their money. the locals could really use a boost. the beach vendors have been beaten down. they just kind of hang out together, knowing there isn’t a sale to be had.
i also had good luck with getting things fixed in the condo. anyone who has spent time in pv knows that everything in the tropics is temporary. we had a couch bite the dust with the help of termites and overweight renters. (just kidding). got a carpenter in to fix a hopeless case at a cost of 40 bucks, and arriving within 10 minutes of when he said he would . a new record for us...
was hoping to meet ellen but time and circumstances kept me from making the connection. sorry!!! mexican time moves twice as fast as american time.
pv is as great as ever!!!!....can’t wait to make it down again...will post pics in the next day or two....bueno!!!!!!!!