Thursday October 21

Up at 6:30am, again at 7:30am to the alarm, make myself decent and sauntered over to Memo's Pancake House, starting point for today's orchid/bromeliad jungle tour. After finding out that Sher and her two amigas were unable to make the trip as planned due to three serious reasons, we ate pancakes or waffles, quaffed Memo's fine cafe and headed north with TJ as our fearless driver guide. Up, up, up we headed on a rutted dirt road as Angela remarked about her 200,000-mile journeys along such hidden Mexican byways, some departing San Blas. Around 5000 feet elevation, he pulled over and we headed into the jungle or wooded forest rocky land as I call it, by foot. Stopping every so often for a study of the local vegetation and crossing a creek about 20 times, we rested and turned around. No orchids blooming, but one large spike would be open in about 3 weeks. Many grouping on trees appeared to be at least 100-150 years old and TJ remarked when that certain species blooms, the clump would have 10-15 spikes each with 8-10 flowers...spectacular! We had a road mishap and found ourselves stuck in a deep rut with collapsing soft soil. Two young guys stopped and spent a long time propping and jacking to get the right rear tire out of its deep dilemma. Almost there, when a truck of road workers finished with the day drove up behind us and had to choice but to lift and shove freeing our stranded car. It took them all of 30 seconds and we were home free. Sigh. Trip down the road seemed to take 1/4 the time up and we were once again in town.

TJ took me to La Parota de Pancho Villa, renovated family seafood eatery Jim opened a little over a year ago, known for good quality and huge portions. We shared two beautiful fish and seafood platters of red snapper, shrimp, octopus, with rice and beans, salad, marlin taco, choco cake, and a kahlua if desired, all for 99p. Highly recommended.

Friday October 22

Met with two new amigos joined later by a local restaurateur for lunch and some discussion about Internet webpage plans. Finally got to Pastel du Village where French chef Eric Lenoir has opened a beautiful pastry shop with lunch items. We had quiche, ham and cheese croissant and chicken tarragon, all served with a tossed green salad and fresh fruit mixture. He is adding some favorite entrees to the menu next week. Noticed my legs and arms are full of scratches and thorn damage from the trek yesterday and my feet are swelling from the humidity. Off to farmacia...

I have been using my laptop in the hotel to write and organize, then transfer to a floppy disk, insert at the Internet cafe and copy and paste into emails. Saves online time and pesos, plus I can take my time editing, adding and correcting. Trying to remember everyone I promised to contact and arrange a get-together. Due to my legs and feet, I missed the CyC sunset fun and ended up later at Ocho Cascadas for their building Friday night party. Stayed and enjoyed a fine house-prepared Mexican dinner by cook Betty of mixed salad, guacamole and salsa fresca with chips, chile rellenos, refritos and rice, finished with a sautéed banana with caramel syrup. Just excellent, coupled with good conversation in a super lovely locale. Conchas Chinas certainly has changed [grown] over the past 26 years of my travels here! Back in town, hooked up online for several hours trying to catch up, then back to the hotel, relaxation and bed.