She Said...

First and foremost, once again, I thank all of you who have complimented us on the photos that were published on the front covers of the Tribune lately. You have made Javier and myself very proud.

I also owe an apology to the true "gentleman" from Joe Jack's Fish Shack whom I happened to bump into when I took the photo of the poinsettia market. I was parked across the highway, in the Terminal Maritima gas station, and the thought of carrying the pots of flowers I had purchased, two by two, across the eight lanes of crazy traffic was daunting to say the least. This nice man (whose name I never remember...) offered to drive me and my plants all the way around to my car, where he transferred the pretties into the back of my Tracker. God bless you, kind sir!

This past week proved to be yet another exciting, fun time for me. My cousins left their PV condo after a 3-week stay, and then my dearest, oldest friends from Montreal arrived to spend three weeks with us! I love having house guests. They always fill our hearts and our homes with love and laughter. And they also give me the reason to go out and revisit all the places that caused me to move down here in the first place.

Following our last Tuesday Night Charity Bingo game (until January 8th), I went to have dinner at Boca Bento with another winter visitor, friend of mine, who had never dined there before. Needless to say, he loved it. Owner Monica -Stewart’s wife- had suggested the specially prepared sea bass, which my friend ordered and proceeded to enjoy in little bites, just to titillate his taste buds for a little longer…

During our prolonged dinner conversation, he mentioned his recent visit to Barrio Sur. I haven’t had the pleasure to check it out yet, but he and his companion had a lovely time there. According to him, the service was absolutely superb, the ambiance most pleasant, the food excellent and the prices more than reasonable. Definitely have to check it out soon.

While on the subject of food... Does anyone know if the grocery shops and supermarket owners in Puerto Vallarta have some sort of grudge against all things that involve CHERRIES?

Way back when, Sam's used to carry some of the best, freshly-baked cherry pies I'd ever tasted. Obviously, others felt the same way because they'd fly off the shelves as soon as they were placed there. Then they disappeared. All they had were dozens upon dozens of pineapple pies -that no one wanted - and that were still sitting there at the end of each day. At the time, I figured that Sam's employees liked them, so they'd bake a whole lot of them, knowing they wouldn't sell, and that way, they'd be able to take them home at the end of the day...

When we spoke to the bakery department supervisor, we were told that the cherry filling was no longer available, that it was too expensive, that head office had issued orders to discontinue cherry pies, etc. etc. etc.

Now we can't even find cherry jam anywhere, even though the company that manufactures it supplies all the grocery stores and supermarkets with every other fruit jam in the world.
What's up with that?

A beautiful sight caught my eye as I was waiting for the traffic light to turn green the other day. Though it was early evening, it was already dark out, and the air was unusually crisp - as it has been the last few days. A young woman was standing at a bus stop, waiting. In her arms, she carried a very little baby, completely swaddled in a couple of blankets so it was invisible to all but her. She was talking, cooing to it, holding one of its tiny little hands, kissing it incessantly. It brought tears to my eyes. I’ve always maintained that if every child were to receive one dollar -or perhaps I should say Euro now- for every kiss it received from its parents, there would be no poverty anywhere in the world…

I think I should mention the Día de los Inocentes for the sake of our readers who don’t bother reading the message from the editor… or the «special frame» that explains the tradition. Just be careful what you read - and what you believe - among all the articles that are being published this week. El Día de los Inocentes is Spain and Latin America’s equivalent of our April Fool’s Day…

We received a letter from a gentleman, signed N.R., which read as follows:
«Dear Editor,
Your readers should be aware that the Santander ATM machine in Rizo’s is error prone.
In my case, the machine failed to deliver my pesos, but charged my bank account for them.
I sought recourse through the local Santander Bank branch, who declined to give me any assistance whatsoever.
It could be a sophisticated scam or simply a banking error coupled with banking arrogance and incompetence.
Either way, avoid Santander bank machines, particularly the one in Rizo’s, which is very popular with the many gringos who shop there.»

One thing I did learn is that in such cases, one must make a report to the bank that issued the debit card, and not the one operating the ATMs. There you have it. My two pesos’ worth.
Did you have a chance to look up at the night sky last week? Due to the clarity of the air, the moon and the stars appear so bright that they light up everything (unlike the night when I got lost up in the hills...)

Another thing that I've always enjoyed down here is that we see the moon in a different aspect at these latitudes. The "nearly" new moon looks like a Cheshire cat's smile, and the half-moons, like the one last week, is perfectly horizontal, while up north it appears to be vertical...

Apart from this unusually «cold» weather (25oC instead of 28o in the daytime…) we’ve been having, as I already mentioned above, and the crazy traffic in town that has caused so many of my friends and neighbors to declare, «That’s it. I’m not driving anywhere any more until next year …when this bedlam will be over», I really don’t have much else to share with you this Christmas week.

I wish you all a Merry, Merry Christmas, and please bear in mind that the municipal police has instituted a program to prevent traffic accidents. They will be looking out for drunk drivers, and they will be administering breathalyzer tests. This is no joke, dear readers, they’re really doing it. So if you know you’re going to be whooping it up, please, take a taxi!Feliz Navidad y Hasta luego! pvmom04@yahoo.com