We've been keeping very busy since our last blog update. The days, weeks and months just seem to fly by. Here's what we've been up to!
We drove to El Quelite on October 26th with our friends, Eva and Rene. We had lunch together at a Restaurant called Los Arrieros, then we walked through the local church which was really quaint and quite beautiful.
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| Touring the Church in El Quelite |
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| Church in El Quelite |
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| Kim, Eva & Rene at Los Arrieros |
On October 31st our boat was hauled out of the water at Fonatur Boat Yard Services for bottom sanding and painting by Active Marine Service. Fonatur is a Boat Yard that also offers dock moorage with electricity and water. It has a nice pool, washrooms, showers, laundry and guest lounge with wifi service included. It took 12 days to complete all the work on our boat and we were very happy with the finished product. We spent 9 days/nights on the boat while it was in the yard being worked on and found it to be quite pleasant. The only difficultly was climbing the ladder to get in and out of our boat numerous times a day. It was hard on the knees and a little intimidating for me as I'm squeamish with heights.
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| Dock Party by the pool at Fonatur |
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| Just hauled out and in need of sanding and painting |
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| Sunset while at Fonatur |
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| Kim and Douglas cooling off in the pool at Fonatur |
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| 50 Ton Travel Lift is ready to put us back in the water now the work is completed |
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| Kim & Douglas on the Melacon in Puerto Vallarta |
On November 1st Kim, Douglas and I left the boat at Fonatur to drive to Puerto Vallarta for a 3 day/night stay there. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. The last time we were in Puerto Vallarta was about 20 years ago and to be honest, we found it really hadn't changed that much.
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| Jan & Douglas on the floating bridge in Puerto Vallarta |
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| Kim & Douglas enjoying a stroll on the beach in very pet friendly Puerto Vallarta |
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| An evening in Puerto Vallarta's town square enjoying live music and dancing |
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| Kim & Douglas enjoying a more traditional breakfast at Johnny's Diner and yes, Douglas was welcome in all the restaurants we went to |
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| Kim & Douglas in our room at the Rio Hotel in Puerto Vallarta |
We stayed at the Rio Hotel on the Melacon in Puerto Vallarta. It wasn't fancy but it was clean and in the perfect location. We were just a short block away from the ocean and all the activity of the town square and the Melacon.
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| Jan and Douglas at the Rio Hotel in Puerto Vallarta |
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| Parade on the main street in Puerto Vallarta - picture was taken from our hotel room |
While we were there we took a drive to Nuevo Vallarta (Paradise Village Marina Resort), La Cruz Marina, Punta De Meta, then finally Marina Vallarta. Douglas was not allowed on the Paradise Village Marina Resort property so I stayed behind with him while Kim went to check out what they had to offer. He said it was a very nice resort but after reading their rules, we learned Douglas would only be allowed on part of the dock, and not on the grass or in the resort area. We decided that wouldn't work for us so we went to check out the Marina in La Cruz. It was also quite nice but had a very tiny pool that didn't look well maintained. It was far away from restaurants, shopping and activities so not an ideal location for our daughter and grandkids visit with us. Next we drove to Punta De Meta which we had visited 20 years ago. It's a small fishing village that we thoroughly enjoyed back then but like people say, sometimes you just can't go back. We stopped for drinks on the beach there at a local restaurant and were surprised at just how expensive it was, with all prices now posted in American dollars.
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| Kim & Douglas having drinks on the Beach in Punta De Meta |
Our last adventure was to scope out Marina Vallarta. Years ago it was a very ritzy Marina so we thought it would be the perfect location for our grandkids visit as it's close to downtown Puerto Vallarta. We were disappointed to learn it was extremely expensive and didn't offer a pool, washrooms or showers. Apparently it had been in receivership and the new owners are just pulling permits for improvements that may or may not happen over the next few years.
Needless to say our trip was very enjoyable, educational and worthwhile too. We decided we won't take the boat to Puerto Vallarta or to La Cruz this season. We will keep the boat in Mazatlan but we do plan to take some more driving trips. We plan to go to La Paz in mid January for a few days. We can take a Ferry directly from Mazatlan to La Paz then stay in a Hotel there. It's a 15 hour Ferry ride so should be quite interesting. We are also thinking about driving inland to check out the city of Durango, possibly in January or February. We will sail our boat over to Stone Island and anchor there for a few days sometime in December too.
Our boat is back in the water at the El Cid Resort again now. It's sure nice to be back in the water! We are enjoying all the friends we've made here and all the amenities El Cid has to offer.
I went to the local Church on Thursday morning and helped make 450 sandwiches for the poor. The church does this every Tuesday and Thursday and they're always thankful for volunteers. It was truly a humbling experience. Once the sandwiches are made they are taken out to 3 villages and to the local dump as well where people actually live. Volunteers are invited to go along for the ride to distribute them but I just couldn't do it. I felt it would have made me way too sad. I was very happy to help make the sandwiches though.
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| The guys bottling water for delivery to poor villages |
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| The gals making ham and cheese sandwiches for the less privileged |
On Thursday night we went out for Turkey dinner with 15 friends from the El Cid Resort (to celebrate American Thanksgiving). The food was delicious and the company was great!
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| Our friends from El Cid enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner together at La Marina Restaurant
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| Kim & Jan out for Thanksgiving dinner |
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| It's wine o'clock - and just the right amount of wine for Jan to walk the very scary high wall after dinner
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Saturday morning I joined 12 ladies from the El Cid Resort and attended a benefit breakfast called 'Desayuno De Los Pollos' at a big warehouse where cruise ship tourists arrive at. There were about 600 people in attendance for the event. All the money collected for the event goes to purchase frozen whole chickens that are distributed among the neediest citizens in the most humble dwelling sites. Last year they collected enough money to purchase 2200 whole chickens and 1000 dry goods that were distributed on Christmas Eve and benefitted about 10,000 very needy people. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to know it was for such a good cause.
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| Breakfast fund raising event called Desayuno De Los Pollos |
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| Enjoying breakfast at Desayuno De Los Pollos |
Friends of ours from home arrived on their boat here yesterday, Judy and Wayne. Judy worked for the Ministry of Health too and retired about a year before me. They are thoroughly enjoying life aboard their boat, Curiositas. They came aboard our boat for a visit last night and we're planning on going out for a nice meal with them later this evening.
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| Kim, Jan & Douglas out for dinner at La Mona at Marina Mazatlan |
We are continuing to enjoy our walks along the beach, playing cards and dominos with friends, watching movies outdoors by the pool, playing pool volleyball, attending dock parties, going for bike rides, and so much more. We are looking forward to a visit from our daughter, Amy, and our grandkids, sometime in January. We are hopeful that our son, Jason, and daughter-in-law, Tanya, will make it out sometime next year for a visit with us here too. We are still finding every day to be a new adventure!
