Not exactly the cover of The Rolling Stone.....

But this way I don't have to buy five copies for my mother. She's in the picture with us -- along with Jeanette (of Jeanette's blog). The four of us were having breakfast at the only really good Italian restaurant in La Peñita -- Soley's, which is open for breakfast only on market days, since it sits right on the square and is an excellent place to "people watch." Evidently Bill Bell thought so, too. He's the publisher of the Jaltemba Express, and he was out taking photos of the market-day crowd.

Adventures in dentistry

This morning I'm taking Mom back over to La Peñita to yet another dental appointment. This, incidentally, is not a picture of my mother. It's one of the aquaintances we made at the crocodile farm south of San Blas. Crocs sleep with their mouths open, because they're cold-blooded and this way they keep warm.

Larry is also launched on a major project to bring him back to the movie-star good looks I married him for. Smile-wise at any rate. I've been sitting here thinking of some cute way to tie this picture in with his current adventure.

I'm up to six possibilities and none of them are truly creative. So, how about this. Let's have a contest. YOU do it. I'll be the judge. And the winner gets an all-expense paid (after you get here) jungle boat ride to see more of these beauties. And....you can get your teeth done while you're down here! Randy, you up for a $1,000 peso root canal?

Shall we gather at the river?

With a little help from some big machinery, the estero behind our house is finally draining. (Check Jeanette's blog for pictures). Larry and I are very close to the ocean shore, and the estuary is relatively wide and deep this far downstream. But the stagnant water was getting to be just a tad distressing to our neighbors farther upstream. The machine-made channel may last just a few more days, but having the tide flush in and out has made things a lot more pleasant for those folks with clothes pins on their noses.

I've sort of been caught up in this estero draining experience, because river as metaphor has been occupying my thoughts for well over a year now. Frankly, for a lot of that time, I've felt, both physically and mentally, stagnant and polluted. When I stumbled across the history of the biblical River Gihon, I was intrigued. The name comes from a Hebrew root meaning "to burst forth," and refers to the fact that the Gihon came out of a virgin spring which in really ancient times, was the principal water-source for the city of Jerusalem. But the super-macho king Hezekiah, in an effort to "protect" the water supply, dammed it up, and diverted it in a 1700 foot serpentine aqueduct around the city. It eventually emerged at the Pool of Siloam, which was essentially a brackish cesspool, the water ultimately fit only for watering some gardens in the area.

I identified with Gihon. In a number of areas in my personal and professional life, I was feeling blocked, bottled up, diverted and sent underground. I was also extremely pissed off at the U. S. administration for bogging the country down in a cesspool of a situation.

The whole change of scene when we came down here was fresh --including the estero behind us. The heavy rains kept the channel free and the river flowing. I felt myself free to "let loose" and "burst forth." On our first visit to Rincon del Cielo (see previous post), I was immediately drawn to the prayer flag that Juan and Maria have pinned to one wall in their "corner of heaven." Click on the image, make it bigger, and read the words.

I know, I know. Mexico has longstanding stagnant pools of corruption and vice. But there aren't too many places these days that don't. The cesspools of the world need our prayers. So the petition on the flag is for all places, including the country to the north, and the country here around me. The prayer is for me....and for Mexico.

Toes on the nose around the Pacific Rim

The way Larry got to know the Nayarit coast was surfing down here over the last few years with his Japanese friends. Larry "Cobbo" Cobb shaped boards for Infinity Surfboards in Dana Point for...well a LOT of years, and acquired quite a following of Japanese surfers who bought his boards through Ted Suzuki's Infinity shop an hour's drive from Tokyo. About once a year a group of Japanese surfers would come over to California and we'd put them up at our house in San Clemente for a week or so, and then they'd head south to Mexico with Cobbo and other Southern California surfers. Often the best way for all of them to communicate was in Spanish.

I just found out that two of those Japanese friends are following this blog, dictionary in hand. Nobby is an apprentice surfboard shaper. His long time surfer friend and brand new wife, Asako, provides all kinds of support for him in his chosen field. Much like someone else I know who did the same for HER husband.....ME!!!

But these surfboard shaper guys have a lot of "soul," and are generally pretty easy to live with. I haven't regretted one moment of Larry's career path. It's always made him so happy. So here's a picture of Asako, and a picture of a board Nobby shaped. I think with Nobby's choice of colors, he'd be right at home in La Peñita! I hope they come to see us soon.

A plug for our local newspaper and healthcare in Mexico

Today's issue of the Jaltemba Express is jam-packed with loads of information. If you're reading this later than March 2 (of which there is less than an hour left as I write this, so you probably are) click on my link to them over there on the left of the page, and then find their link to back issues.

Today they've got maps of the Fonatur development that will be surrounding us during the next fourteen years, and an account of the big new dam that will straddle the states of Nayarit (where we live) and Jalisco (where Puerto Vallarta and the airport are).

There's also information about dealing with health issues and buying health insurance down here.

The health issue I believe, is one of the main reasons so many Americans (particularly aging boomers) are moving south of the border. Or at least taking long vacations here. Just before she left, Mom cracked a tooth on a tostada chip at a Mexican restaurant in Lubbock. Her dentist told her that she needed an implant -- USD$3,000, and a crown --USD$800. So she decided to wait until she got down here. For the implant she'll pay $8,000 pesos, and $1,000 for the crown. Those are pesos, and at this writing the exchange rate is 11.7 pesos to the dollar. Do the math. Worth the trip!

But before she sees the surgeon at Oral Care here in La Peñita, she needed a full set of mouth x-rays. They don't do that here, so that was the reason for the trip to PV today. We did it for both her and for Larry, who has decided to quit looking like a snaggle-toothed old hippy. We went to a spotless, very modern facility, gave them name and money -- $240 pesos for a full set of x-rays -- and took the x-rays. No appointment necessary. We were in and out in under fifteen minutes. Larry carried his set of x-rays to his Oral Care appointment this evening at 7:00. (interesting hours for dental work, as well as for meal times!)

Concerns about "quality" health care are what most people bring up when we're back in the States and we're asked about our decision to move down here. We can speak from experience. Three days after moving here, I spent three days and two nights in Amerimed Hospital in PV. The hospital was pristine, modern, comfortable, and I had a large private room -- one of six available at that particular facility. Most of the staff of 40 spoke English. All were courteous, competent, and extremely professional. And gentle.

Part of my time there was spent in several hours of surgery. I was out of it, but Larry said there were six physicians, an anesthesiologist and several nurses in attendance. Among numerous other services, I received four units of blood. Total bill at check out time: a little over $80,000 pesos. We put it on VISA and counted our blessings.

The topper: a week or so later, we had a question and called the head surgeon directly. He had provided us with his personal cell phone number. He answered himself, and quickly dealt with our concern. I don't hear of that happening much in the States.

Changing tummy time

The people in the middle photograph are not limiting themselves to coffee. They have already scarfed down a number of freshly baked pastries drizzled with honey. That's my husband Larry sitting with our friends Chris and Ken mid-morning, mid-wander, in La Peñita.

There's something so civilized about being able to just sit and talk around a table without someone hovering over you or slapping down a ticket, or having to rush back to work. The Spanish word is sobremesa. It literally means "over the table," and it's practiced religiously by a large portion of the world's population which actually put their legs under a table rather than a TV tray on their lap. (Guilty as charged. Larry and I are usually found taking the evening meal in front of reruns of Law and Order or Without a Trace.)

But I've been making a conscious effort to have the main meal mid-day -- at a table. When in La Peñita, do as the La Peñitans do: early morning breakfast (we've smelled bacon wafting in the windows sometimes as early as 4:30 in the morning), a little "something" around 11:00, main meal and siesta from 2 - 4, and maybe -- if the tummy's growling -- some fruit or something light before bed. If you don't believe that late lunch thing, try to find a good sit-down restaurant in Puerto Vallarta open at 12:00 -- like we did today. Even Outback Steakhouse doesn't put out the abierto sign until 1:30. We were too starved to wait, so we settled for the new Chili's -- and had the place to ourselves. As we were finally leaving to head back to Guayabitos, a few people were showing up for the "noon" meal. Upside: driving home at that time, it was clear all the way!

A blue collar town with lime green walls

I’m going to do a few entries on the wonders of La Peñita. That’s the market town just over the river from us. It’s an easy walk over the “bridge of life,” a suspension bridge a short distance away (rats! I don’t have a picture right now) which members of our homeowners’ association built a few years back. It provides a link between the mainly tourist town of Guayabitos where tourists play and Mexicans work, and La Peñita where everyone goes for the serious stuff: dental work (more on that later), banking, getting keys made, ordering building supplies, buying hardware.

It’s a blue-collar town with walls to match. Or at least in colors that coordinate. Or maybe not. You be the judge. Here are a few shots I took the other day when we wandered around with our houseguests, Chris and Ken. I included the long shot of the fruit truck under the purple wall with lime green windows, just so you can see that you don't find the bright color spots on each and every block. But there definitely are enough of them to make your walk interesting.

Incidentally, my friend across the street, Jeanette, has become a blogging FIEND. She’s much more prolific than I am right now. I threatened the other day just to sign on to my blog each day and say “Go to www.jjinmexico.blogspot.com . If you want to see a photo of my latest haircut – and Larry’s lack of one – check out her entry for today.

Hasta mañana. We’re off to PV in the morning to get full mouth x-rays for Mom and Larry. Told you I’d talk about the dentist later…….