Some things that are hard to find in Mexico(weird stuff)

Here is a list of things I have looked for in Mexico that I can not seem to find no matter where I go. Strange, but that is Mexico for ya.
A quality mechanical can opener.(The ones here are CRAP!!)
Cool Whip
Instant pudding (of any flavor-but you can find Flan out the ying yang here)
Gold Bond lotion or powders
Fly paper(How ironic since there are MILLIONS of the little buggers)
An Indian Food restaurant(from the country India)

Well that is Mexico for ya. 200 different types of salsa or tequila but none of the above.

(One strange side note; I saw a Mexican the other day who had a lot of jail tattoos on his body(I could tell they were from jail by the quality of the work) and he had a swastika on his arm. I wanted to ask him if he knew what that stood for but I figure I better let it lie. A real genius of a guy though. LOL!!!)

Lightening storm

I experienced for the first time here a lightening storm. I must say it is a little different than the lightening in Colorado. In Colorado the lightning seems to CRACK loudly. Here is BOOMS and echos loudly. We got a gusher the other night with rain running down the streets in 3 inch streams. About 20-30 minutes later it was gone. Some say it was spin off from the hurricane that was near Mazatlan. Who knows. It was pretty and made everything smell fresh!!! And cooled it off nicely here.
Yesterday Oscar and I went to the beach.(Boys day out-while Mom stayed and tended shop-Her idea NOT mine.) It was fun. We played in the sea for about an hour and then walked the streets looking at the local merchant fare. I bought Oscar a toy turtle and Mom a bouquet of flowers. There's nothing better than making money while lounging on the beach huh? Just kidding, I stayed and did the closing duties so Leti could rest.
UPDATE: For those of you who read my motorcyclist crash blog I found out he is OK with only a few fractured bones. Who knows about the no class trucker who ran in front of him. . .

Some of the differences between here and there. .

Some people have been asking me so how do I like it now that I've been here for a month living. I like it a lot so far. Ill list some of the differences between here and Colorado that I have noticed.
The stars are far brighter and there seem to be many more visible in Colorado.
The sunsets here blow away any I've ever seen in Colorado.
The roads in Colorado(and most of the U.S. I've been in) have it all over the roads here.
The humidity is WAY higher here. (which I love for my skin-in Colorado we are lucky to hit 35% humidity at times)
The people here seem so much more friendlier and willing to go out of thier way for you if you need something.
And last. . .The food here is great but the variety is not, unless you go into PV. Pretty much all you find is Mexican food here. (Good thing I like it a lot!!)

But all in all I like it here a lot and we are doing well for our first month in(almost) paradise.

Interesting day at work . . . .

So I am working (making a hamburger or something-I don't really remember) when I hear what sounds like a 5 gallon bucket of tools being droped on the ground and then a thud. I turn around and everyone is running to help a guy on the ground on the highway in front of our business. (Our business is on a very busy highway(Hwy200) that connects all of the touristy type towns out here in the bay of banderas) Anyway it seems a Semi dump truck turned left in front of a motorcycle going very fast and the motorcycle lost. The guy in the semi got out looked at the guy, the blood and quickly walked back to his truck and sped away. Many many people got the truck description as well as the plates so hopefully they will catch the scumball. They guy on the motorcycle(now on the ground bleeding) was moving so I do not think he was mortally injured. The ambulance came and took him away so who knows. Well kids that is all the fun I have for today. More stories to come I'm sure. (Hopefully no more involving blood)

Business is off and running!!!

Well we started up the business on Monday. We bought enough supplies for the week from Sam's Club(yes there is one here) and opened for business at 6 am. Our business hours are 6am - 4 pm Monday through Fridays 6 am - 2pm Saturdays and CLOSED Sundays. Things went better than expected. In fact we had to go to Sam's Club again the first night because we sold out of a few things. We won't be millionare's soon by any means but for what we need we are doing pretty good. Starting things up are expensive though. You need a lot of supplies when you are selling food. Our menu is Tortas,(a sandwich type of thing)Tacos, Eggs(for breakfast) Quesadillas, hamburgers, hot dogs, chocolate shakes, frozen frappuchinos and fresh squeezed juices. For now that is enough, until we can get an actual building to work in. Right now we are on a covered concrete large patio. It is right next door to where our building will be after we construct it so it is good to build clientel this way. Then we can sell a much bigger variety of things. We plan on selling ice creams, special coffees, pies and other dessert items. And you can't beat the dress code, today I went to work in a tank top, shorts and flip flops. :)

Come and get your hot fresh food(or cold for those that want ice cream)

Well Monday we start up the business. I'll try to write Tuesday or Wednesday and let you all know how it went. We finally got everything together and are getting our things where we want them to open on Monday. We had to buy a big tank of gas(think kind of propane tank for a BBQ on a bigger scale) for our stove. I think we will be ready. We are only going to sell aguas(like lemonade, hymica,etc) fresh juices, ice creams, milkshakes, sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, tortas and tacos. At first only from 6 am to about 2pm. We'll see how things go and then adjust from there. SO if you know anyone around Bucerias tell them to stop on in on the corner of highway 200 where you turn to go to Tonderoque. If they say you sent them we'll give them a free soda. Oh and any of you who may know a good frozen coffee drink or anything else you think might be good for us to sell please send me your recipes via the comment section of this blog!!!
I have included a photo taken of Bucerias shore-line from the air. Talk to you soon.

Business things

Well yesterday we bought things to start the business. We will start selling on Monday in our temporary location until the permenent one is built. It should be a while but at least we will get some clientel going. We plan to start by selling tortas, tacos, fresh juices, milkshakes, ice creams, and pies & desserts. I knew all this lounging around had to end sometime. DARN IT!!! ;)

Bucerias

For all of you that have been asking me about Bucerias here is some info I found on it along with a photo. Below;

Bucerias, Mexico is only 10 miles from the Puerto Vallarta airport. Quiet, relaxed and a less expensive alternative to larger cities it is a charming spot for your dream vacation.
Small and lovely, it is not without all the conveniences you require for fun and happy vacations. The freshest seafood, restaurants, accommodations, golf, services, laundry service, doctors and most importantly beaches on the beautiful Pacific Ocean.
Located on the north shore of the Bay of Banderas, this stretch of beach is the longest on the Bay and one of the most beautiful on the Pacific coast. Whether boogie boarding, strolling in the moonlight, fishing, swimming, sunbathing, dining, doing tours, water sports, cruises, boating and sailing or watching for whales, it doesn't get better than this.
Maybe that is why the name Bucerias ( pronounced Boo-sir-e-us ) means "place of the divers". See map of town from the air.
Bahía de BanderasThe Bay of Flags plunges to around 1800m (5900ft), has 160km (100mi) of sensational shoreline and comfortably makes it into the list of the 10 biggest bays in the world (it's number seven). Ostensibly the submerged crater of a long-extinguished volcano, Bahía de Banderas is an environmental wonderland populated by giant manta rays, dolphins and (during their birthing season from November through March) humpback whales. It's also inhabited by humans, occupying themselves by diving, fishing, water skiing and generally dipping their collective big toe in the bay's waters.The highlights for divers and snorkeling are Los Arcos, a grand tangle of environmentally protected rocks just south of Playa Gemelas, and the Islas Marietas, a maze of reefs, tunnels and underwater caves at the mouth of the bay that's regularly attended by marine wildlife. Fortunately for those who get Steven Spielberg flashbacks and still aren't sure if it's safe to go back in the water, this doesn't include sharks, which are kept out of the bay by resident dolphins intent on protecting their young.
If you have not been here yet you really should check it out. And hey you have a friend here too to show you around!!

Back from Talpa and San Sebastian

Over the weekend we went to Talpa and San Sebastian. They were just gorgeous!! It was about a 2- 3 hour drive from our house to there. It was about 20 degrees cooler and just gorgeous! We went in the church at Talpa and it is HUGE!! A lot of the things there were made out of gold because there are many gold mines in the area.(I was told) San Sebastian was an adventure too. I have attached a picture of a church in Talpa for you, there is an article on that town if you go to Mexconnect.com also. Off the main road to Talpa you take a little road for about 8 miles to this little town that reminds me of Morrison Colorado. The streets are all made of cobblestone type rocks and it is very high up the mountain. We had a nice Italian dinner there(yes they have Italian places in Mexico ) Then we went through some of the art galleries there afterwards.
Other big news is that I found a friend here who is a teacher and part owner of a school here who is going to trade me out one hour a day of Spanish lessons for my one hour a day of English lessons. What a deal huh? He says also later he may want to hire me on as a teacher in his school to teach the kids English. Cool!!! Never thought I might become a teacher huh? Heaven help those poor kids. LOL!!!
See ya soon!!!

Lizards and insects

Today we started to clean out Leti's house. What a dust trap!! Well it did have about 8-9 years of no one living there. I was taking our pictures and came upon a wall mirror that Leti wanted moved so I moved it and clinging to the back was a 3 foot iguana that jumped down and ran. Leti was pretty freaked out. Me having owned lizards as pets for a lot of my life knew he would not harm us(much) unless provoked or scared. We saw all kinds of other large spiders(no scorpions though-surprise!) and very big bugs. Anyway I think we got through half of it and should complete the other half hopefully this week.
Tomorrow I think we will go in to Vallarta though for a slice of fresh coconut pie and american coffee.
Yesterday we visited a plant nursery owned by one of Leti's relatives and got a LOT of ideas for when we get in our house. We had (too much!) fresh mangos and guava's. The owner even gave us about a pound of each to take home of star-fruit, guava's and some other wierd fruit with spines all over it about as big as a football. Fun day all in all. Then I came home and watched Northern Exposure on DVD. :)
See ya soon Northerners!!

Punta de Mita

Today we went to Punta de Mita and points North of where we live and spent the day at the beach(yes again-hey what do you expect of a guy with no job!) It was fun. I body surfed and Oscar and Leti built sand ¨things¨. Punta de Mita is really expanding and has so much construction it reminds me of Las Vegas the last time I was there. In 5-10 years this place will be just like a little America I bet. Unfortunately that will eliminate a lot of the little Mexican charms it has now. It is VERY quickly becoming Americanized. It has gated home communities and everything.
Oh and the other day I found an AWESOME dessert place less than 5 minutes from our house(sorry if I already mentioned this-can you tell I am excited!) It is called Pie in the Sky and they serve just about any kind of pie and ice cream you can imagine. They also have a lot of American style capuccino´s(sp?), latte´s and coffee´s. Believe me it is hard to find a good American dessert in PV, Mexico without paying a small fortune for it. One last thing I have to comment on -the sunsets. The sunset here EVERY night is spectacular. All kinds of pinks, reds and oranges. This photo is one of the Malecon where they decorate the palm trees with lights at the bottom-don´t know where that came from but it does look cool at sunset and at night. Maybe this will have to happen at Hacienda del Goll?! LOL!!!