Las Caletas

Dan and I went to Rhythms of the Night, cruising across Banderas Bay to Las Caletas, where John Huston lived for many years, and it was definitely a highlight of our trip!

We left in the late afternoon from the marina.

 

The ship in the background is a Disney cruise ship.  Massive.  I'd never seen a cruise ship in person and was quite stunned by the immense size of it.  The guards are heavily armed as they patrol the marina.  I would have loved to have taken a picture of one of them with my sock-in-progress but I didn't have it along for the evening.  Of course it's entirely possible that the guards might have arrested me on the spot had I stopped them with pointy sticks in my hands (and that wouldn't have been good) but talk about a great picture if they had agreed to pose for me!

The boat trip took about an hour to get to Caletas and the staff made sure that everyone was entertained and served refreshments along the way.  The passengers had trouble standing and walking on deck while we were sailing but those guys could carry two drinks in each hand and climb the steps to the top level of the boat without spilling a drop.  As Dan said, they obviously had done that a few times before.

When we arrived at Caletas the sun was setting.  The shore was lined with tiki torches and the dinner staff waiting for us.  It was so beautiful!

Notice the little waterfall in the center of this picture.

As we walked up the path the dancers and musicians that would perform for us later in the evening welcomed us.  They represented ancient Mexican civilizations and wildlife.

Then we had a lovely dinner in the dusk, listening to strolling musicians and to the waves lapping at the shore..

After dinner we walked further up the path to the outdoor theater.  We were allowed to take some pictures of the warm-up part of the show but then were asked to turn off the cameras for the main event.

This guy was the comedian to warm us up.  Without speaking a word of any known language, he managed to crack everyone up.

And these guys up the trees right over us were simply amazing, giving us a taste of what was to follow.

 

The show was superb and reminded me very much of Cirque du Soleil.  I found out later that the creative director and choreographer is a retired Cirque du Soleil performer.

The only downside of a wonderful evening was hearing people calling for doctors shortly after the show began.  We weren't close enough to see exactly what happened but people around the incident were turning on their cell phones for light.  I heard someone say that he had a history of cardiac problems.  There must have been a doctor in the audience because he was bent over the man for a long time.  As we were leaving to get back on the boat, a woman was asking everyone for aspirin (not Tylenol, not Advil) so I assumed that she was looking for help for the cardiac patient.  We never did learn exactly what happened but it made me feel kind of sick to my stomach to think about a family dealing with a loved one's heart attack in such an isolated location.

The boat ride back the marina was lovely under the night sky.  Away from the light of the city, the moon and stars were bright.  The staff of the boat got people dancing for a while.

Then they mellowed the mood with romantic music and encouraged people to just enjoy the beautiful evening in the moonlight on the Pacific.

downtown Puerto Vallarta

Dan and I hopped on a bus to go downtown.

Buses are inexpensive and there are lots of them so it's easy to go just about anywhere in Puerto Vallarta.  Most of the locals use the buses for everyday transportation. 

The bus drivers take your fare and make change while pulling away and driving so you need to hang on.  No time is wasted.  Traffic is goofy in PV.  There don't seem to be too many traffic rules and the aggressive drivers demand right-of-way.  It seems as if driving is akin to playing chicken to see who backs down first.  In spite of that we didn't see any accidents.  It was fun to watch but I was glad that I wasn't driving on the congested narrow downtown streets.

When we first got on the bus it was full so we grabbed a post and stood but a man popped up and indicated that I should take his seat almost immediately.  The Mexican people are unfailingly polite and respectful.

We rode as far the the Malecon, the oceanside boardwalk where vehicles aren't permitted.

 There are beautiful sculptures along the Malecon including sand sculptures.

If you put a coin in the box under this sculpture, it moves!

There's a real live person under that sand.  Apparently someone frequently spritzes him with water so that he doesn't dry out and crumble.

The distinctive crown at the top of The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe dominates the downtown skyline.

A Lenten Mass was just ending when we were there in the early afternoon.

There was a group of school girls waiting for their parents to pick them up on the front steps of the church.  You can see one little girl in her red and white school uniform in the background of the picture.  The street in front of the church is typical of a downtown street, two lanes of one way heavy traffic.  Parents stopped their vehicles to pick up their children, effectively blocking traffic as there is no parking lane.  Cars abruptly cut off the other lane of traffic to go around the stopped car but nobody seemed at all put out about it.  It was fascinating to watch the traffic chaos and see how it all worked out without the  rules we are used to in Canada.

The downtown area is home to small shops, flea markets, and pubs.

There are colorful souvenirs and clothing as well as jewelry for sale.

Plants flourish in the warm climate.  I don't know what kind of flowers these are but there were a lot of them wrapping themselves around posts.

Walking along the Cuale River bank we saw this tree.

  A nearby vendor told us that it is a rubber tree.  It was so large that I couldn't get the whole tree in one photo.  So beautiful!  Going through these pictures this evening makes me long to go back.  I have no doubt that Dan and I will take another trip to PV in the future.

a little vacation pictures break in honour of St. Patrick's Day tomorrow

the beach

 Puerto Vallarta is blessed with consistently gorgeous weather during the winter months.  There is a cooling breeze off of the ocean and the sun is warm.  Because of its location in a bay, the water is comparatively calm.  We waded into the water and it was surprisingly cold.  The lovely warm pools are more attractive than the ocean to most swimmers and there are no sneaky undertows to worry about in the pools.

There are plenty of activities to keep you busy on the beach if you get bored.  The hotel provides Spanish and mambo lessons as well as massages.

If you feel the need to shop, there are lots of beach vendors that are happy to oblige.

I enjoyed finding another knitter on the beach!

She lives in Oregon and kindly agreed to have her picture taken when I explained that I have a knitting blog.

I can say with certainty that I was never bored.  It was lovely to relax on a comfy beach lounger knitting, reading, and people watching.

Then, as the sun was setting, this curious sight appeared.

We found out that there is a show aboard the galleon in the evenings called "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate (No beavers were hurt during the preparation of tonight's cruise)".  I guess you can tell that 70% of tourists in PV are from Canada.  I wonder if the organizers of the evening cruise know that Saskatchewan is completely land-locked.

PV, the beginning

We flew out of Regina late on a Saturday evening in a snow storm (a rare event here in this mild winter weather we've had this year).

It was only the second time in my life that I've been on a plane; hard to believe in this day and age, huh?  We found out that we'd been upgraded to first class on this flight which was a great thrill!

We arrived at our hotel at about 5:30 a.m.  I decided that I'd better take some sunrise pictures because I would not be up to do that any other time, night hawk that I am and all.

The hotel lobby was completely open to the outdoors on either side which blew my prairie girl mind - we have triple glazed panes and screens on our windows and the hotel didn't even have walls!  The notion of being completely open to the elements is very foreign to my mindset.  The lobby itself was gorgeous.

The hotel, Friendly Vallarta, lives up to its name!  All of the employees waited on us hand and foot with unfailingly cheerful and friendly eagerness, from the beach staff to the porters and maids.  With all of the bad press that Mexico has been getting, I have to say that we found the Mexican people to be completely delightful and respectful.  We felt welcomed and safe everywhere we went.  Tourism is big business in Puerto Vallarta and many depend on it for their survival.  It is a city of over 350,000 people so I'm sure there are unscrupulous people there but we certainly didn't experience any problems apart from charming and pushy time share salesmen.  We received excellent advice from our travel agent about what to expect and what to avoid and the airline had a representative employed at the hotel to provide guidance as well.  We wouldn't hesitate to go back.

I will leave you with a pic of our view of the water aerobics class from our lunch table in the buffet restaurant (look! no screens in the windows).

back from PV!

(Could we look more like tourists if we tried or what?)

 

 We had a great holiday in Puerto Vallarta!  I have hundreds of pictures* to sort through and will be posting more here when I get organized but here's a taste of our experience.

The view from our balcony:

looking toward the city

and the ocean front/beach/pool view of the resort.

It was so beautiful!

*I won't post all of the hundreds of pictures of course but if you're not a fan of seeing vacation pictures, consider this your warning to skip my blog for the next while. 

the winner of Blogiversary 6 is....

Cindy aka Yarndevil on Rav won the draw and I have sent her a message to arrange the yarn transfer.  Congrats Cindy!

and then there were 6!

Today marks the sixth anniversary of my blog.  The date almost slipped by me this year because I have been busy getting stuff done and organized before our trip.  When I realized that the blogiversary is today, I went stash diving for a couple of skeins of yarn for a give-away and these were the ones in my hands when I surfaced again.

 Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch

 70 wool/23 nylon/7 elite

Colorway:  712

100 g, 400 m

 

Lisa Souza Supersport

100% Superfine Superwash Merino

Colorway:  Electra

4 oz., 375 yds.

If you would like to enter the give-away leave a comment on this post by 10 pm CST, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012.  I'll use a random number generator and pick a winner.

Please note:  you must leave me your contact information, either your email address (spell out the @ and . parts to avoid getting spammed) or your Ravelry name, in order to win.

CVM/Romeldale

I bought a lovely CVM/Romeldale fleece from sheepgirl on Ravelry a few months ago.

Here is some of it after washing.

The discolored tips didn't completely come off after flicking but I decided to use that to my advantage by dyeing the locks semi-solid denim blue.  The tips took the dye differently than the rest of the fiber so add depth to the color.

 

Flicked then loaded onto the comb to be blended and dizzed off into puffy top.

 It's very soft and springy!

Oh, and I haven't shown you my new fiber prep station.

 

It's a marble-topped kitchen cart that was on sale at JYSK.  It's counter-top high which is so much easier on my back than table height and the tools clamp onto it well.  Extra storage shelves and wheels for portability are always good too.  The marble top would be great for its intended purpose of rolling out dough.  If I decide to do some baking I'll wheel it to the kitchen and give it a good scrub before I put food on it but the urge to bake hasn't hit me for a long time.

I finally finished weaving the Austin shawl and am messing around with beads to dress up the fringe.

Fussing with beads hurts my neck and shoulders.

some things accomplished

I've been bemoaning the fact that I haven't been getting much done the last few weeks but when I started pulling out various project I realized that I've done more than I thought.  It's just that I have so many things on the go that the work that was accomplished is spread out among them.

Here are the in-progress ones.

Pimpelliese using my fractal spun merino/silk fiber from Bee Mice Elf.  I have passed the half-way point and started the decreases.  I really love the subtle color gradation.  I think it's the perfect pattern choice for fractal spun yarn.

I succumbed to knitting the Noro Striped Scarf pattern and am on the home stretch.  I have no plans for it at this point.  It may be a gift for someone.

I have done some spinning too.  I finished processing some lovely Corriedale/Rambouillet fleece from Val (woolywoolofthewest on Etsy).

Each skein is about 320 yds. and 170 g, woolen spun from batts.  I dyed the fiber to co-ordinate with my winter coat and am thinking about making myself some Newfoundland mitts.

I spun up the Spunky Eclectic Emerald City fiber from my stash.  It's Masham and was the club fiber from November/10.  I spun it as singles and was pleased with the result.  Masham is a long wool, sturdy enough for singles.  It can get wiry if it's over-spun.

I got 300 yds from 220 g of fiber.

I couldn't resist taking another picture of it in direct sunlight because it's so pretty.

This skein will be for sale at Golden Willow when I get there next.

more fun in the back yard

 We have had two cold weeks this winter, one in November and the other a couple of weeks ago.  It's been lovely the last few days.  It was warm enough to be in the sunroom this afternoon without a coat!  It's unbelievable weather for the end of January.

The dogs and I have been happy to be in the back yard in such lovely weather.  I found out about a new game that Cooper adores.  Dan keeps saying that Cooper has no interest in doing his business and only wants to play when he takes them out.  Cooper keeps bringing in a little squeaky ball and Dan keeps throwing it back out because he says it's Cooper's favorite toy.  I didn't understand why he figures it's Coop's favorite toy because Cooper only retrieves it two or three times when I throw it for him before losing interest in it.

Turns out I wasn't playing the right game with the ball.  Cooper doesn't want to fetch the ball nearly as much as he wants to play goalie for a soccer match (I know that most people in the world call the game football but that's a whole different game in Canada).  Dan doesn't throw the ball - he kicks it.  So I tried it.  Goodness, that dog would play that game all day long!

I'm not very good at getting the ball by him.  Dan is much better playing faux soccer than I am.  Cooper doesn't seem to mind my ineptness though.  I captured a bit of the game on video for you yesterday.  I'm a worse soccer player when I'm holding a camera than usual and then Austin got into the game by "killing" my feet, to boot!  (Get it, feet/boot, I kill me.)

Meanwhile, Robbie knows he looks gorgeous against the snow.

 

So does Bentley (when he stands still) but boy is it tough to get an outdoor picture that shows his dark face nicely.

If you would like to see some real soccer moves here's a video of David Beckham impressing some cameramen while shooting a Pepsi video.  There is some controversy over whether it has been digitally enhanced but David Beckham says that it is all legit.

more wacky winter weather

The unseasonably warm weather continues here in the prairies.  We got a fair amount of snow last weekend and then it warmed right up again; most days have been above freezing.  I took these pics a couple of days ago.

The snow was melting and dripping off of the eaves and downspouts.  We don't usually see that happen until March.

The snow on the grass was slushy and wet.

There were lots of puddles in the street.

Environment Canada is forecasting 11 C for Monday!  That's 52 F at the time of year when we are usually in the deep freeze.  Snow enthusiasts aren't very happy with all of this warm weather but I say bring it on!

Thanks for all of your comments on my last post about leaving the dogs at home when we go to Mexico.  They will be safe and sound at my sister Darcie's place while we're away.  We're dogsitting her two dogs while they're away this winter and then she'll return the favor for us.  The dogs are used to going to her place with us but we decided to do a trial run by leaving them there for a couple of hours on Tuesday, just to see what they do.  They were fine so I'm much more comfortable about going away now.

in with the new

Happy New Year to all!

I have to admit that it doesn't feel like January yet.  Likely that's because we aren't seeing really cold temperatures.  Although it's cooler this weekend than it has been, the temps are bang on normal (-10C or 14F) and aren't supposed to stay cold for long.  In fact, Environment Canada's 7 Day Forecast is starred with an asterisk "denoting an abnormal temperature trend" because Tuesday's through Saturday's highs are above the freezing mark again, a couple of them at 5 and 6C (41 and 43F)!

So what do a couple of homebodies like Dan and me do when the winter weather is milder than I can remember?  Book a Mexican holiday, of course.  We are nothing if not ironic.

First, a little history.  The last time we went on a vacation was when Geoff was about 6 or 7 and we booked a rustic cabin at Clear Lake, MB.  It was a lovely vacation for the most part.  I'm not entirely sure why we haven't gone anywhere since.  As for flying, I've been on a plane once in my life at the age of 12.  Yeah, I know.  I might as well be a dinosaur.  So now that Dan is retired we have been tossing around the idea of a warm winter vacation.  Dan's sister recommended we contact her travel agent, the amazing Evelyn Poole, so I sent an email to her on Friday at suppertime and before 10 pm we had booked a week's vacation in Puerto Vallarta in late winter.

It hasn't really hit me yet.  At this point, I'm wobbling between feeling tentative and excited.  I hope my health problems don't flare up and I hope my dogs aren't miserable because they have never been without at least one of us around.  It's going to be particularly hard on Bentley because he is such a little velcro dog and I have spoiled the stuffing out of him.  On the other hand, it's Puerto-freaking-Vallarta!!

I will leave you with pics of said Dachshund.  I bought a C-shaped pillow (meant for nursing mothers) to have on my lap while spinning so that my shoulder doesn't have to support my arm in one position which caused tendonitis in my right shoulder in the summer.  The pillow was on the living room sofa when Dan called me to see how Bentley had burrowed through it.

"No, don't leave me when you go away!"

"I can't face it."