November 17, 2014
Once again, I got up early to run. This time, I ran nearly three miles before
heading for the showers. I stopped to
check my email for responses regarding my apartment search, but hadn’t heard
from anyone. Just about the time I
finished my morning coffee, my phone started to ring. The owner of the apartment building got back
to me. He seemed to consider three and a half months
long term enough and was eager to show me his available places. We agreed to meet at 17:00.
Don and I flipped the dinghy over and soaped
it down in search of the leak in one of the pontoons. We had assumed it would be the valve or one
of the seams leaking, but they all seemed OK.
Finally, we soaped down the whole pontoon and, though I never did see
any bubbles, I could hear the leak. It
turned out to be a tiny pinhole in the fabric.
We pulled out the patch kit and glued a patch over the hole. Later, we visited the owners of Deborah Rae, who were getting ready to
return to Southern California until January and wanted to give us some of the
fish they had caught. We received a nice
filet of dorado and some wahoo steaks.
Back at the boat, I got a text from the owners of the other
possible rental, wanting me to come over and see it ASAP. The house was right in town, close to the bus
stop. When I rang the bell, I was
surprised to learn that the owners were a couple I had met the previous year
when they had been partners in the Gecko Rojo.
They had a big house with three upstairs rooms that they rented. Their nightly rate was $40, but they agreed
to a rate of 6000 pesos (about $462) a month for the 3.5 months of my
stay. The room was large and airy, had a
private bath, and a small outdoor kitchen.
The rent included house privileges, utilities, and internet. There was a large shady yard and a rooftop
patio. I liked them and liked the idea
of living in a house where everyone I knew in La Cruz would be coming and
going, but wanted to see the other apartments before making a commitment. While Greg and Jen assured me that beds could
be found if I had guests, I still liked the idea of having two bedrooms.
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| Exotic Point Condominiums |
At 17:00, I picked Kathy up at the beach club and we climbed
up the hill to look at the apartments.
The Exotic Point complex was at the top of a hill overlooking La Cruz. Getting there involved climbing a few blocks
up a steep cobblestoned street. The
owner’s son, with whom I had spoken, had told me that it was below the big
white cross, but there were two big white crosses, so it took us a few minutes
to determine where to go. When we
finally got there, we were greeted by the caretaker, Benito. The first apartment that we looked at was at
the bottom of a long flight of stairs and was so large that I mistook the
kitchen and living area for a common area.
The ad in Craigslist had said the two bedrooms were something like 325
square feet, but they were closer to 325 square meters. The first one we looked at was nice, but the
second one he showed us was really spectacular.
It had two large bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and a huge
kitchen/living area. The living area had
lovely murals and was completely fronted by opening plate glass windows that
offered a view of the entire Banderas Bay.
A built in circular banquette faced the windows. At 8000 pesos per month (less than $600) it
was a steal. We also looked at the
studios and one bedrooms, which were nice and somewhat cheaper, but nowhere
near the value of the two bedrooms. I
decided to take the second two bedroom apartment.
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| View from My Apartment |
The owner didn’t require a deposit, but wanted me to pay 50%
of the season’s rental as a deposit and the rest upon move in. I didn’t have that much on me and explained
that I could only get about 7000 pesos per day out of the ATM. I gave him the 2600 pesos that I had and
promised to hoard as much cash as I could over the few days before I could move
in. We agreed that I would move in on
Thursday.
Kathy and I were in a celebratory mood as we walked down the
hill. The owner of La Glorieta de
Enrique (a restaurant) had invited me inside every time I passed last year and
commenced doing so, again, when I returned.
This time we decided to stop in for at least a drink. Enrique tempted us with the idea of coconut
shrimp with mango salsa and we ordered what we thought would be an appetizer
and turned out to be enough food to make dinner for both of us. The prawns (too big to be called mere shrimp)
were about five inches long and we got five of them. They came served with rice, salad, and a
baked potato. I had a beer and Kathy
ordered a margarita that, even with my assistance, she was unable to
finish. By the time we dragged ourselves
back to the boat, cooking a full dinner was out of the question. I made some guacamole and Don had chips and
guac for dinner. We all retired early.
November 18, 2014
Our mission for the day was to get a temporary import permit
for Don’s boat. We went into Puerto
Vallarta to visit Banjercito, the naval bank that issues the permits and
collects the fees. Kathy decided to come
along and visit her timeshare further down the coast to take care of some
business there. We took the bus into
town. Our stop came up rather
unexpectedly, so we made a quick plan to meet at the entrance to Marina
Vallarta at 17:00 unless Kathy texted us with a different plan and Don and I hopped
off the bus. We got off too soon, but
didn’t walk nearly as far as Scott and I had, last year, before I realized we
were in the wrong place. We got on
another bus and managed to disembark directly in front of our destination the
second time.
Getting a temporary import permit (TIP) for your boat is the
worst hassle about cruising in Mexico.
You are supposed to get it before you arrive and can supposedly do it
online, but I don’t know anyone who has ever succeeded in doing so. They keep changing the requirements and
always seem to need some additional document.
The offices where they can be obtained are few and far between and there
isn’t one in Cabo. The previous year,
Scott and I had obtained ours in Puerto Vallarta just the day before SAT (the
Mexican IRS) agents stormed the marina and impounded all the boats without
valid TIPs.
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| Banjercito in Puerto Vallarta |
We arrived at Banjercito just after noon and soon learned
that we would need a copy of the invoice for the dinghy or dinghy registration
in order to get the TIP. At first, we
were stumped. We had the packing list,
but that was not acceptable. Don’s new
dinghy had never been registered in California, so we couldn’t go that
route. We had an order confirmation in
an old email on Don’s tablet, but they wouldn’t take that, either. They had to have an invoice, which Don had
never received. We retreated to the
shopping mall across the street to get something to eat and think while
enjoying the air conditioning. While we
ate tacos, I emailed Defender, where Don had purchased the dinghy, and they
miraculously responded with a copy of the invoice before we finished
lunch. Fortunately, I knew where to find
the internet café around the corner because we had had to go there to use the
copy machine the previous year. We
printed out a copy of the invoice and headed back to Banjercito.
It was about 14:00 when we got back. The clerk was satisfied with our paperwork
and set about entering all the information into her system. The system kept crashing and it took her four
or five tries to get to the stage of printing the actual TIP. TIPs are holographic and printing them is a
two-step process. The clerk had no
trouble with the first step which just involved feeding the form through a
normal printer, but had terrible difficulty with the holographic printer. She just couldn’t get it to work. We waited for two hours while she called her
IT department and grappled with the equipment.
The security guard locked the door and drew the curtains. All of the other customers left and we were
still there. We were afraid we would
have to come back another day, but about 16:15 she finally managed to get it to
work. We completed the process, Don paid
the fee, and we just had enough time to take a bus down to Zaragoza Marine to
do our shopping before meeting Kathy at 17:00.
Zaragoza Marina is a huge store and has a marvelous
selection of boating parts and supplies, fishing gear, and water sport
equipment. Don needed some snaps to
replace the cheesy ones we bought in Cabo that deformed when we installed
them. It took some digging on the part
of the clerk, but he eventually found some nice stainless ones. I picked up the gallon of teak oil that Scott
had requested I buy for Fool’s Castle and some teak cleaner for good
measure. I had withdrawn 7,000 pesos
from the ATM at Banjercito, but wanted to try to get some more. While Don waited for Kathy, I tried a couple
of different banks, but the network seemed to be down. When I got back at 17:10, Kathy still hadn’t
arrived. The battery on my phone had
died, so we didn’t know if Kathy had tried to text or not. Someone had called me earlier in the day but,
when I called the number, no one knew a Kathy Smith. My voicemail was not set up, so I couldn’t
access any messages she might have left.
We waited until 17:45 and then decided she must have gone home without
us. We took the bus back to La Cruz.
Kathy was not at the boat when we returned, but her phone
was charging on the chart table. I plugged
in my phone and, after it charged for a few minutes, could see that someone had
called again from the same number. I
compared the number to the listing of resorts and determined that the call had
come from Kathy’s timeshare but, when I tried to call again, they still had no
idea how to find her, since she wasn’t a guest there. Apparently, there was a large 35th
anniversary party going on. Don and I
hoped that Kathy had just decided to stay for the party and would try to call
later. We heated up some chili for
dinner, since the fish I had planned to cook was frozen solid, and settled in
for a quiet evening. Kathy finally
returned about 11:00, having stayed for the party and then taken the bus back.
November 19, 2014
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| Front View of Exotic Point Condos |
I needed to get more cash, so I got up and set off to the
Santander bank in Nuevo Vallarta.
Unfortunately, when I got there, I was still unable to withdraw
money. I had an appointment to meet with
my new landlord at noon. I had hoped to
have more cash to give him, but went up there with the 7,000 pesos I had. Jorge, the owner, was much more understanding
than his son had led me to believe he would be.
Figuring that maybe I could only withdraw cash once in a 24 hour period,
I stopped in a little roadside restaurant for a bowl of meatball soup before
walking up to the Oxxo (convenience store) on the edge of town to try the ATM there. That ATM would only give me 2000 pesos at a
time, so I didn’t want to waste what might be my only opportunity for such a
small amount. I got on a bus and went up
to the Mega in Mezcales where there were a couple of banks. None of them would give me money from my Bank of America account. It dawned on me, while I was
there, that I also had a Citibank account, but had left my Citibank ATM card at the boat with my US dollars and other stuff I never use in Mexico. In desperation, I withdrew 7000 pesos using my
credit card. Then I hurried back to the
boat to say goodbye to Kathy, who was flying out that afternoon.
It seemed like I barely had time to walk Kathy up to the bus
stop and talk to my bank about unfreezing my ATM card before it was time to
head up to the Gecko Rojo for Wednesday night Mexican train dominoes. I knew about half of the players from last
year, but things had gotten serious and they were now playing for money. This left me in a pickle, since I had a
severe shortage of cash. After I lost
the first round, Mike from PV Sailing had to lend me 10 pesos so I could stay
in the game. It was fun to see folks,
but the game broke up early because Mike and Katrina had to get back to the
marina for the pre-opening party at Frascati, an Italian restaurant that used
to be on the circle at the entrance to town, but had just moved to the location
upstairs at the marina. I had some fish
to cook at Don’s boat, so took the opportunity to duck out and return to the
boat. I made a salad and fried the last
yam. We barbecued the wahoo that our neighbors had given us. We had thought about going out to hear some
music after dinner, but neither of us was that motivated. We stayed in and watched a bootleg copy of Interstellar that Don had picked up from
the video vendor near the bus stop. It
was a terrible copy and it was often hard to tell what was going on. It seemed like a good movie, despite being three hours long. I barely managed
to stay awake until the end.
November 20, 2014
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| Interior of My Apartment |
With Kathy’s stuff out of the boat, it seemed very spacious
in there. I got up and started
packing. My next task was to return to
the Santander bank to get more cash for my landlord. This time, I remembered to take both ATM
cards, so was able to get 14,000 pesos.
When I returned with the money, Don and I loaded all my belongings into
a dock cart, wheeled them up to the parking lot and called a cab. Don came along to help me move stuff. After he left, I unpacked and put stuff
away. I walked down the hill to the
local market and bought a few food items and some cleaning supplies. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning.
The place looked tidy when I moved in, but was actually fairly dirty. Soon it was time to return to the marina for
movie night.
November 21, 2014
The sun really shone into my apartment in the morning. The bedrooms were screened from all that
brilliance, but it was rather shocking once I wandered out into the main living
area. I had volunteered to help John, a
blind skipper, move his boat from Paradise Village to La Cruz and was due to
meet by fellow volunteers at the marina at 9:30. I walked down there and met the guys at the
dock. Then we walked up to the bus stop
and took a bus to the Sam’s Club in Nuevo Vallarta where we were able to catch
another bus to take us to Paradise Village.
John had a very nice Ericson 34 and it was a beautiful day,
although there wasn’t enough wind to actually sail. We motored across the bay to La Cruz and
visited the fuel dock before delivering John to his slip. It was amazing to see how well John was able
to get around his boat and up and down docks without being able to see. It scared the heck out of me when he hopped
off the boat onto the dock when we arrived, but all went smoothly. The whole process was completed before
noon. Since John’s slip was on the same
dock as Comet, I stopped in to say hello to Don. Then I decided to take advantage of my free
afternoon to take another bus trip to the Mega for groceries and household
items.
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| The Daunting Hill |
I didn’t mean to purchase more than I could carry up the
hill, but I started coming down with a cold while I was at the Mega and knew
that I wouldn’t be up to carrying anything up the hill, anyway, so I bought
most of what I needed and then took a cab back up the hill. My place was nominally furnished, but lacked
much in the way of dishes, cooking utensils or towels. I bought some cheap items that I wouldn’t mind
abandoning at the end of the season. I
was feeling pretty sick and had a terrible sore throat by the time I got
home. It was all I could do to put
everything away. I made a pot of hot
Tang and retired to the couch. I planned
to sleep there all night, (The couch is much more comfortable than the bed.)
but the neighbors were having a loud party that lasted literally all night and
they finally drove me into the quieter bedroom about three in the morning.
November 22, 2014
Being sick and not having slept well the previous night, I
slept late. My throat was killing
me. Eventually, I got up and walked down
the hill to the farmacia to get some aspirin and throat lozenges. I picked up my laundry from Sonja on the way
back. Visiting with Sonja was always
enjoyable. She was usually eager to
converse with me in Spanish and I got caught up on all the gossip from the
marina. Climbing back up the hill with
my laundry took what little energy I had and I spent several hours napping and
lounging on the couch.
I would have been content to stay right there on the couch,
but there was a big party at PV Sailing at 16:00 and everybody was going to be
there. I didn’t want to miss the
opportunity to meet people, so I hauled myself over there. There were cheap beer and delicious fish
tacos and a big crowd of sailors and marine purveyors. I met a couple of my neighbors from Monte
Calvario (the name of my street and the hill on which I live) and got filled in
on the upcoming social calendar. Don
arrived fashionably late. We stayed
until the party started to wind down and then walked through the darkening town
to the grocery store. Don picked up a
few groceries and I bought a broom and dustpan so that I could do battle with
the alarming quantity of dead gnats accumulating on my apartment floor. We parted there, agreeing to meet at the
farmers’ market the following day.
November 23, 2014
Still not feeling too well, I slept and lounged in bed until
11:00. I got up and decided to sweep the
floor. When I moved in, I was concerned
about the lack of screens on the windows because I feared that mosquitoes would
get in. Mosquitoes weren’t a problem,
but gnats were. They weren’t bothersome
while living, but died in droves, littering the white and light blue tiles and
window ledges. After two days, the place
looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for a year.
I had to sweep the kitchen floor twice a day. Three quarters of the way through the
project, I realized that I had been supposed to meet Don at the farmers’
market. I finished the floor, grabbed a
quick breakfast, and headed out the door about 12:15.
My first stop was the smaller market in the plaza. There had been a nut vendor there that I had
frequented the previous year and I was happy to see him again because it is
hard to find good almonds in Mexico. I
bought half a pound and he insisted on giving me a handful of candied pecans,
which were delightful and way too tempting to ever buy any. The woman selling tamales was there, too, and
I bought several.
The farmers’ market
was still going when I got there, although not as busy as it had been the previous
week when we got there earlier. I bought a t-shirt for my friend, Cynthia, and strolled along, keeping an eye out for Don, until I came across a poster for my
favorite band, Luna Rumba, at a stall selling coffee. I had just started talking to the vendor, a
gringo I recognized from last year, when Don came up behind me and startled
me. He distracted me, but not before I
learned that Luna Rumba would be playing five concerts at Philo’s over the
course of the season. They must have
been doing well because, instead of playing free shows every Wednesday night,
they were now selling tickets for 100 pesos.
I was dismayed to discover that I would be in Chiapas during their first
show and would have to wait until late January to see them (at least at
Philo’s.)
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| Band Playing at the Farmers' Market |
Don and I strolled out to the point and bought some cool
juice. There was a fun mambo band
playing and we enjoyed the music, especially the horn section, in my case. Don wanted to see the vendors in the park, so
we stopped back by there on the way to Don’s boat. I was starting to flag, but needed to pick
up the jar of coffee I had left on the boat.
I collected the coffee and lounged in the cockpit until I collected
enough energy to make it back up the hill.
Returning home, I camped on the couch and pretty much remained there
until the following morning.
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