January in Mexico

Last time we left off...we were shopping for furniture, and we were still wet behind the ears (not sweat!).

It is now mid January and Ryan lost his first tooth today. We were able to find some more furniture, so our place isn't so bare anymore. Believe it or not, we went to IQEA in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and it was the size of a large room with about 10 Ikea pieces. Sure enough...you can read Ikea right on the boxes. We got this Expedit which sells for $250 in Canada, but $330 here...so not too big a rip-off. Can you believe it that I come all the way down here, and buy Ikea, which by the way is Swedish for "crap". We found a nice lime green hide-a-bed at Sam's Club that looks modern enough for the living room...so we have room for 2 visitors now. We also got bar height table and chairs off a truck in the street. Gotta love Mexico for guys driving around with stuff to sell.

We also got our washer/dryer from Home Depot in PV. It's still very new, and the staff are all over the place (as in disorganized) and nowhere to be found at the same time. On one visit, they billed me about $6 for a nut. It took about 45 minutes for me to get a refund!

For a country where things are very relaxed, I do find one thing ironic. They are never in a hurry...except when they get into a car...and now they are in a rush to go somewhere!

I ordered my High Speed Internet with TelMex. Now TelMex is kind of a monopoly, so you can just imagine...add 1 part of "we don't care...you can't get it anywhere else", 2 parts "come back tomorrow", with a cup of "for sure they will install your line tomorrow!" I ordered Nov. 22th...and we are now January 16th! They at first told me it was going to be about a week. But...it's Mexico and you can't really get mad, you just wait, have a Cerveza and eventually it will get done.

Part of the challenge of living here is accepting Mexico for its faults. You just can't get angry when these types of things happen...you just smile. Here we are in these little towns that just grow at an incredible rate and you can't expect the people to have "big city" smarts or know-how.

When you are tempted to blow your top...stop...go to the beach...have a nice lunch and a Cerveza and everything is forgotten. We really enjoy Karen's Place for breakfast or lunch when you just want to get away. Listen to the waves crash on the shore and eat some good food. For the best tacos hands down is a little place in La Cruz called Tacos on the Street. Not sure the exact address, but it's in my GPS. It's pretty much of a given that every Sunday night we are there. We have tried elsewhere...but none compare! Of course The Shamrock Irish Pub is a great place for a burger (about $7) and a Pint, especially during happy hour. They even have a kids menu! They also have free Wi-Fi...so technically, I could work from there! We found a good little Pizza place with a wood burning oven the next town closer to PV. Some of these little places don't have liquor licenses, so you can bring your own beer, which makes it even cheaper!

They just built a Mega in our town, which is kind of like a department store that is half for groceries. The Mexican Loblaws! Now, we don't have to venture into Puerto Vallarta for supplies.

The kids are in a Mexican private school which is half Spanish, half English. It is called Colegio Bucerias. I am very impressed by how nice they are there. The prices are very fair. More than I was expecting to pay, but it's important that the kids have good schooling, so well worth it and reasonable.

We love our little town. It's just big enough to allow us many new things to explore, but not as busy as PV. Of course, being close to PV, we pretty much have it all.

I was back in Montreal for the end of the year...and that was depressing! Cold...damp...dark...I missed the sun. Although it was great to see the friends, roll around in the snow and jump back into the hot tub on New Year's, and do a few favorite restaurants...I was actually happy to be back! Wow.

So I will sign off for now...and report back soon.