03 Monday Feb 2014
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
“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.
03 Friday Jan 2014
Posted in Sentiments, Travel
Tags
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.
02 Saturday Nov 2013
Posted in Gallery, Sentiments, Travel
In Mexico the whole Halloween thing is overshadowed by a more ancient version of the holiday: a combination of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day called Dia de Muertos (“Day of [the] Dead” — which this year is today, November 2nd). On this day the Mexicans celebrate the lives of the people they’ve lost, with altars. The altars typically have a picture of the late dearly beloved, as well as bottles of whatever libations and vices the person preferred, favorite foods, and symbolic objects.
Continue reading
09 Wednesday Oct 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
Sometimes when you go to visit friends in third world countries, you are asked to bring something desperately needed and locally unavailable. Peanut butter. Clinique cosmetics. VooDoo Donuts.
Continue reading
07 Monday Oct 2013
Posted in Travel
Tags
Well yes: you can Google Walmart and read about their oft-quoted unfair labor practices in the US, but in Mexico — where benefits aren’t expected and a living wage is a fraction of what’s required in the US — people love the place. It’s only about two miles up the road. Naturally, we had to pay it a visit.
11 Wednesday Sep 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Short, Travel
Tags
My Galaxy Tab, along with the keyboard/case that I bought to accompany it.
I have a modest laptop. Not too big; not too small. Enough oomph to render a video (slowly) now and then. It has now traveled to Mexico, Spain, Greece, France, and Italy and served me well. It is named “Gulliver,” in honor of its many travels.
Alas, with accessories, Gulliver weighs more than five pounds. He travels with case, a power brick, a wireless mouse, a charger for the wireless mouse, and a backup hard disk.
05 Thursday Sep 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
Tags
Years ago, a British friend, encountering me after one of life’s inevitable missteps, exclaimed, “Tom, you have landed butter-side up!” He meant that I seemed to have recovered well. I’ve been fond of the expression ever since.
The same can be said of the Puerto Vallarta crisis described in the previous post. Here’s the story:
03 Tuesday Sep 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
Tags
24 Wednesday Oct 2012
Posted in Sentiments, Travel
Tags
We are here scoping out a place to spend next winter, after our European adventure. We hope to land here just about one year from now, in October 2013.
03 Monday Sep 2012
Posted in Sentiments
Tags
Today I posted a quick note on the Puerto Vallarta Forum at Trip Advisor.com. It was just a hello, a brief self-introduction. I announced that we are about to become serial expats and that we’re considering the Mexican Pacific coast for next winter.
The Expat Almanac 