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The Expat Almanac

The Expat Almanac

Category Archives: Travel

What’s Next?

05 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Tom in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Home, homeless, Portland, travel

Highway-Sign

Traveling as we do, we meet a lot of people. Conversations ensue. Questions are asked, and among the first is, “Where do you live?” Then the familiar words: vagabond, expat, ne’er-do-well, and homeless.

Homeless.

After we tell the story of our travels — so well-rehearsed we can recite it in our sleep — comes the inevitable question: “What will you do next?”

Our answer has always been, “We don’t know.” But now, with less than sixty days remaining of our planned expat adventure — less than sixty days! — we have decided.

We’re going home.

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You Can Hardly Get There From Here

03 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by Louise in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Boca de Tomatlan, Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, travel, Yelapa

P1050257

“Pie lady! I’m the pie lady!”

She said this as though she were the Statue of Liberty. Yes, I’m what you’re looking for! We had indeed heard that when we got to the beach at the ancient town of Yelapa, fifteen miles southwest of Puerto Vallarta, we would find the pie lady roaming the beach, selling slices out of Tupperware. We bought a lemon meringue slice and ate it from our hands (she doesn’t offer forks) while walking down the beach.

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The Accidental Tourists

20 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by Louise in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Boca de Tomatlan, Casa de Piedra, Puerto Vallarta

(Click to enlarge)

(The beach at Boca de Tomatlan. Click to enlarge)

As in real life, which this is not, sometimes we set out to have a certain adventure, and then we have another adventure instead, which is probably better than the adventure we didn’t have. So it was with our trip south to the coastal village of Mismaloya. We didn’t know much about Mismaloya, including where to get off the bus.

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You Think We’d Turn It Down?

15 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by Tom in Gallery, Travel

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Los Tules, Puerto Vallarta

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“I have been authorized to offer you the villa next year at the same price.”

That was Brissa, our real estate agent. We told you about her in an earlier post. She was the miracle worker who found our home in Puerto Vallarta and made it available for six months this year.

And now, as it turns out, next year too, for we paid our deposit two days ago. We will return to Puerto Vallarta and our Los Tules villa in January, here to stay for another two months in the winter of 2015.

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Why We Eat Meat

12 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by Tom in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

La Caipirinha, Puerto Vallarta, steakhouse

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“Steak!”

“Huh?”

I uttered the word so unexpectedly that Louise almost spilled her Cape Coddah.

“Steak,” I repeated. “Now!”

Visions of a thick filet over a charcoal fire almost surpassed the vision currently upon us of sunset over Banderas Bay (pictured above — another episode of sunset guilt).

“As in this very moment?” Louise asked. But she needn’t: I was already on my way.

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And Then There’s a Party

03 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by Louise in Sentiments, Travel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Los Tules, Mexico, Puerto Vallarta

allyouneedtoparty.co.uk

allyouneedtoparty.co.uk

As I sit here I am surrounded by happy Mexican extended families  and their kids and dogs. Los Tules is crowded because of the holidays. And though these are well-bred, peaceful folks by day, they don’t seem to have a fixed bedtime, and neither do their children. The party rages on, late into the night.

Mexicans, we have decided, love to party. It is one of their most endearing traits. And as an excuse to party, they have a wickedly long holiday season. We are only halfway through.

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Embraced by Mexican Hospitality

01 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by Tom in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Los Tules, New Year's Eve, Puerto Vallarta

Fireworks over Puerto Vallarta

Fireworks over Puerto Vallarta

It often seems that life’s most memorable moments are unplanned. Case in point: New Year’s Eve — last night.

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Wally World is Closed

29 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by Tom in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Los Tules, Puerto Vallarta, rain

Those vertical streaks are rivers of rain, cascading from our patio roof.

Those vertical streaks are rivers of rain, cascading from our patio roof.

It’s Christmas Week in Mexico. For many it’s a week off, and in Mexico where the family is cardinal and most people live inland, Christmas Week is spent at the beach. Los Tules has beaches (a half mile of them) and swimming pools (seven). This is the place for Mexicans to take their families for Christmas Week, and scores of Mexicans have done just that.

There’s just one hitch: it’s raining.

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Christmas Eve in Portland

24 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by Tom in Gallery, Travel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Christmas Eve, Portland

Downtown Portland in gingerbread

Downtown Portland in gingerbread

Max, the light rail train, was waiting for us inside the airport. The fare was a dollar. It took us downtown, within two blocks of our hotel. We had arrived for Christmas in Portland.

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How to See 5,693 Shops in Three Days

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by Louise in Gallery, Travel

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Guadalajara, shopping, Superior Tours

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To prove what a great husband he is, Tom booked us on a tour to Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico. It wasn’t just any tour, though, it was a shopping tour, and I saw more different kinds of stimulating marketplaces in three days than ever in my long life as a black-belt agoraphiliac.

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