‘Basting Away’ in Margaritaville, Mexico

We are basting ourselves with suntan lotion on this Travel Photo Thursday as we play on the sand and in the sea  20  miles north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 

We are in the midst of our first of two weeks on Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit; this week on Playa Destiladeras. So slide into that empty chair below, there’s a margarita just waiting for you as we celebrate another great day in paradise.



We drank the margarita pictured above at El Dorado, on Playa Anclote, near Punta de Mita, and a few miles north of where we are staying.  We’ve come to this restaurant for more than two decades to spend a few late afternoon hours and usher in sunset.
 
 

We’d begun our sunset celebration in this Mexican Margaritaville at another long-time hangout on this same beach,  El Anclote, which has been around since the mid-1980’s.  Our entertainment there was watching the beach vendors peddle their wares: jewelry, wood carvings, hammocks, rugs, and clothing  One of the most popular was the candy/nut vendor:



I wasn’t the only one pulled to his display like metal to a magnet:



Sunset and margaritas seem to go hand-in-hand in Mexico but this time of year the sun doesn’t set until after 8 p.m. – long after we’d sipped our margaritas. We toasted this day in tropical paradise with a glass of vino as we watched the sunset from our deck at the condo where we are staying.



Many of you know this trip is taking us down Memory Lane. It’s our first visit since we sold the last of our homes here seven years ago. It has been a blend of discovery and nostalgia. I’ll tell you more about our Memory Lane, the places we are staying and Bucerias in future posts.

For now it is Travel Photo Thursday so stop by Budget Travelers Sandbox for another great photo journey around the world.

Safely South of the Border, down Mexico Way

Two month ago, the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, issued a lengthy advisory about travel to Mexico. 
It notes that while hundreds of U.S. tourists and students continue to successfully visit our neighbor to the south, there are some places that should be avoided and others where common sense when traveling should be used.






We didn’t pay much attention to the early February warning because Mexico travel wasn’t on our radar screen then.

That’s changed. Not only did we take a short cruise to Cabo San Lucas  in March, we are soon heading to Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit for a two-week timeshare stay.

A few friends have responded to our south-of-the-border destinations with the skeptical raised eyebrow and almost whispered: “Are you sure you want to go there? It’s not safe right now is it?”

An answer to those questions:

We had two days to wander through Cabo San Lucas; around the touristy marina area and then on cobbled streets with uneven sidewalks into the town’s el centro, the center. On our two morning excursions we were on our own, heading where ever our feet led us.

I wore jewelry and carried a purse and camera. We felt safe . . . aside from a fear of breaking an ankle on those crazy Mexican sidewalks, pictured to the left,  that raise and lower without notice.

The streets were pretty much empty other than for shopkeepers and a few other tourists.

The only time we were verbally accosted was when a timeshare salesman called out. We stopped. He showed us photos of the development he was pitching and then of his family.

Ricardo Garcia Castro, director of Planning and Tourism Development in Baja California Sur, quoted in Los Cabos Magazine, may have said it best: 

“Mexico is a very large country and the lack of knowledge of geography by the American media make people [think] an incident in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua affects Los Cabos and the California Sur. It is like if an incident in New Jersey would affect Florida or Montana.”


Nayarit Advisory:
Out of curiosity, not concern, I’ve read the U.S. State Department advisory and this is what it says about our upcoming destination. (I’ve added the boldface highlight):

“Nayarit: You should defer non-essential travel to all areas of the state of Nayarit north of the city of Tepic as well as to the cities of Tepic and Xalisco. The security situation north of Tepic and in these cities is unstable and travelers could encounter roadblocks or shootouts between rival criminals. There is no recommendation against travel either to Riviera Nayarit in the southern portion of the state or to principal highways in the southern portion of the state used to travel from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta.”

Our planned safeguards: I will be leaving  jewelry in our safe deposit box at home, but by now you know I can’t travel without a camera. It will be with me, as will my purse.

We will travel using common sense when out exploring. But are we going to get out and explore our old haunts tucked away in the Sierra Madres between Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta?

You can be sure of it! 

What about you?  Been to Mexico lately? If so, what was your experience?

Note: Click the link in the opening paragraph to read the entire U.S. Department of State travel advisory for Mexico issued Feb. 8, 2012. Click the map pins for details.

Once Upon a Time. . .in Mexico

  Casa de la Playa.

‘House of the Beach’.   Our house on the beach . . . in Mexico.
  It seems, at times, so very long ago.  And sometimes, it seems only yesterday. . .

Bucerias, Mexico 1991

We first visited Mexico in the winter of 1991.  Six months later we bought a home there.  We were ready for an adventure at the time. Our ages hovered at just above and below 40; ages when our work life, peppered with limited vacation days, just didn’t curb our wanderlust.  

Just north of Puerto Vallarta, at the end of a rutted beach road in the tiny hamlet of Bucerias, the house that we would name Casa de la Playa captured our imaginations and fueled our dreams from the moment we saw it. 
"Why, it could be a Bed and Breakfast we’d run in our retirement!
 
Until then a vacation rental. . .

Si! Por que, no? – Yes! Why not?"

That was a time long before the area was known -- as it is today-- as Riviera Nayarit. Back then fresh oysters were sold from stands lining the two-lane road that bisected the town - the National Highway.


Our story and experiences that evolved are not unlike the stories told in books by Frances Mayes about Tuscany and Peter Mayle about Provence. The trials and the triumphs of foreign home ownership  have an uncanny similarity.

In our story, the chapters multiplied as we added three more homes to our holdings.  Our adventures really began in 1998 when we quit our jobs – long before reaching retirement age - to oversee the construction of two of those homes.

Our Mexican story ended with the sale of our last casa seven years ago.

We’ve not been back to the area since that sale. There have been far too many other places in the world to see.

Bucerias 2012

As I’ve written before, we’ve found timeshare ownership is now a better fit for our nomadic lifestyle. It’s  far-less stressful and labor-intensive. We send an annual payment for maintenance and our labor is done.

The most ‘stress’ we have with the timeshare is selecting one of the many destinations from which we can choose.  In fact Joel was looking at our menu of destinations a few days ago. . .  

Rancho Banderas, left; Bucerias, right pin

. . .when  he  noticed a resort in Riviera Nayarit, Rancho Banderas Vacation Villas, on Playa Destiladeras, a long stretch of flat, sandy beach, between Bucerias and Punta de Mita.

We reminisced about Playa Destiladeras, a  remote hangout for surfers and their fans during our time in Mexico. Then we talked of  long ago friendships, favorite restaurants and our favorite places along the coastline and in the Sierra Madres. . .

In less than an hour we’d booked our flights and secured a reservation.  We’re heading back to Mexico after far too long an absence. Our trip down Memory Lane will be mixed with  discovering this touristy Riviera Nayarit. 

Memory Lane. 

That’s the address now of that old enchantress, Casa de la Playa. Within months of selling our  ‘house of the beach'  to a businessman from Mexico City, he had it bulldozed to  make way for a small condominium building that now towers where she once stood.

How about you? Have you traveled a Memory Lane destination lately? Or do you have a Casa de la Playa memory?

I have put some of our favorite Mexico reads as well as Frances Mayes and Peter Mayle’s books on our Amazon carousel to the bottom left of the home page. If you purchase a book from it, we make a few cents on each sale but that doesn’t affect your purchase price.

Note to subscribers:  I re-posted this after Feedburner failed to deliver it to some of you.  I apologize if you've received it twice.

The Romance of Travel. . .

It’s February 14th, Valentine’s Day; a perfect time to immerse ourselves in the romance of travel. Romance, both in the cupid-arrow type, and that defined by Webster’s as an ‘emotional attraction or aura belonging to . . .adventure’.

Traveling down memory lane, these are some of our favorite travel romance destinations:

1. Paris, France. 

It is not a cliché – this is a romantic city. We don’t have any one spot to recommend, but I can tell you that strolling along  the Seine is romantic.

2. Cape Panwa House, Phuket Island, Thailand.

The Cape Panwa House restaurant is where I’d go for a romantic Valentine’s dinner.  This Sino-Portuguese mansion  made such an impression on us 30 years ago that I checked the Internet and was delighted to see it is still offers diners the exotic - and romantic setting - we so fondly recall.

3.  Stehekin, head of Lake Chelan, Washington State.

The only way into Stehekin is by boat, float plane or on foot. This remote  hamlet at the head of the 55-mile-long glacier- fed Lake Chelan is the perfect place to picnic with  bread, wine and cheese. (Buy a couple bottles of wine at any of the two dozen wineries in Chelan and don’t forget the picnic blanket.)

4. San Sebastian del Oeste, Mexico

Back when we owned vacation homes outside Puerto Vallarta, we’d break up our working trips with a getaway to the towns  tucked high above us in the nearby Sierra Madres. 

One of our favorite places was the old silver mining town of San Sebastian del Oeste, and our favorite place to stay was in one of the very rustic rooms at Hacienda Jalisco, just outside town.  Back then it was run by a lovable character, Bud Accord.  We’ve not been back to Mexico for several years and San Sebastian now has several accommodation and dining options, a web site and Facebook page! We can tell you there was no better place for star gazing than from our deck at the Hacienda – it felt as if we’d landed in the middle of the Milky Way.

5. Palace Hotel. Madrid, Spain

Our vote goes to the lobby bar at the Palace Hotel for the most romantic spot to sip a cava, the Spanish equivalent to champagne.  The dignified, library-like setting is perfect for settling into its comfy chairs and couches and getting lost in its old-world flair. . .or for watching other romantics.

6.  Le Sorelle Restaurant, Rome, Italy

On our last night in Rome a  few years ago we happened upon this small restaurant owned by two sisters (sorelle is sister in Italian) not far from the Spanish Steps at Via Bellsiana, 30. 
The food, wine, atmosphere and the sisters’ warm welcome, made us vow to return any time we found ourselves in this magnificent city.  We’ve manage to keep our pledge – twice. Once when the food was as good as we remembered it being and once when our single-night stay fell on the night they were closed – we were thoroughly disappointed!

7.  On deck a Greek ferry sailing the Aegean or Ionian Seas.

Despite the current economic woes and related unrest in Greece,  we can hardly wait to return to its magical islands. Anyone who loves the romance of travel would find a trip on one of Greece’s cruise-ship-sized ferries to be a magical experience.. .no matter which island you were heading toward.



8. Washington State ferries from Seattle, Washington

We can’t overlook our own backyard, so must make note of the ferries that ply the waters of Puget Sound providing great views of Seattle and wonderful trips to the San Juan Island port cities and as far as Vancouver Island, British Columbia. 

If you are not into ferries, take a trip up Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair Space Needle that continues, 50 years later, to be the Emerald City’s icon.  On a clear day (and we do have them sometimes) you can take a 360-degree tour of Puget Sound by walking the outside deck or dining in the restaurant.

9.  Ko Olina, O’ahu, Hawaii.

Ko Olina in Hawaiian means ‘place of joy’ and it has been that for us since we began our annual visits there five years ago.  Bird song at sunrise and sunset, swaying palms, gentle ocean waves, lagoons with tropical fish that find you as interesting as you do them, those incredible sea turtles, honus, in Hawaiian. . .ah, yes, a most romantic place.



10.  This one is yours.  What romantic destination – past, present or future - are you thinking of today?