Frying in Mexico!

OK, so I’m an idiot. The day before yesterday I again spent the day on the balcony at Dave’s penthouse condo, out of the sun, marking and finishing up some website work. At least I believed I was out of the sun. I still think I was, since I remember the sun arriving on my feet and thinking, “better get those out of there, don’t want a burn” and moved inside onto the chair. All I can think of is that the reflection from the marble decking nailed me. I gave myself a fabulous burn over the my left leg, left arm, left shoulder and the left side of my neck. Seriously, I hadn’t put sunscreen on because i wasn’t in the sun! That sun is sneaky in Mexico, let me tell you! Oh well, now I need to burn the white skin to match the rest.

The three of us walked down into Old Town and down to the beach where we had a drink. We stopped in a bar on the beach with live music. The fellow was singing Heart of Gold, the next some sounded similar, except it was September by Green Day. In fact everything he sang sounded exactly like Heart of Gold. I couldn’t imagine Green Day sounding like Neil Young until today. The Malacon has been ripped up so, sadly, it’s closed off, all but a small section anyway. Along the beach, a vendor was selling various things, and among them was a small terra cotta bowl painted a deep blue on the inside…along with the words “Vancouver Canucks” and the Canucks logo. Dave HAD to have it and haggled for it. Spent way too much money but he saw it as an “omen” of fortune for the team. Let’s hope he’s right. It’s a hot, steep hike back up to Dave’s place, so we stopped for another beer before the worst of the climb, and then it was straight into a cold shower on arrival.

Yesterday we went down to the hotel we move into this afternoon, and met with a few early arrivals, including Dave’s girlfriend who also has a condo here in Puerto Vallarta. About an hour after arrival she disappeared and when she was finally located, she was suffering a terrible case of what we assume to be food poisoning, likely from something she ate before arrival. It came on fast and hit her hard. Off to medical with her and the doctor fixed her up but she’ll have to take it easy for a few days.

Finally, back to Dave’s place for dinner and a drink on the rooftop deck under the stars. I almost hate to leave this place for the resort. This condo is so peaceful up above the city. Well, peaceful in some ways, quite the symphony in other ways. The sounds are interesting. The birds begin singing when the sky begins to brighten and cicadas simply “start” at around 10am. At night the crickets fill the air, as does a donkey down in the valley behind the condo, and the dogs bark to each other up and down the hills. The produce truck comes up the road blaring his items over a loudspeaker, and the gas seller drives up with bottles of propane with a strange music coming over his speaker. We hear the odd siren, and sadly, a resident Canadian living across the road was stabbed to death the day we arrived, he apparently kept a lot of cash at his home and speculation is that he knew the killer(s) as there was no sign of forced entry.

This afternoon/early evening Kirk has to get to work and I start to explore alone. I have been trying to learn a bit of Spanish, I have picked up a few words and phrases. Some of it came quickly, many words are similar to Portuguese phrases I picked in in Brazil a few years back. Other bits are surprisingly easy and fall out of French and English, or are close enough that one can discern them. I’m looking forward to being down lower where I can wander a bit more and don’t have to face climbing Mount Everest in 33C heat to get back to home base.

So far this is an interesting place, and although I would take Greece over Mexico as a travel destination, I have to admit that its proximity to home is a bonus.

Now, if I can just avoid any further damage to my skin….