Monday, November 8

Once a year, all people of the world celebrate their favorite day, the super birthday of Gary. Cards, letter, flowers flow in...oh, well a couple and all but two of those were by email, but a huge rich chocolate cake ordered by that mysterious ultra-famous vixen of Florida is delivered to our casa by special private van and Fidel informs the lucky superstar celebrity upstairs lounging agelessly by the pool signing autographs and posing for all the town's paparazzi that the specially made pastry awaits my tasting with a multitude of friends and employees downstairs. Wow, and this is only 9:30am!!! Fans cannot be controlled, rainbow balloons swell in large clusters over the bay as far as the eye can see, the parasailers carry greeting signs, bi-planes soar overhead spraying pure white smoke spelling out letters of well wishes, thousands of fireworks are readied for darkness, every top chef in town is preparing his/her special creations in hopes his entourage will grace their place and enable them to be pictured on the front page of every local paper and magazine...oh, it is time to awake and shower. Where was I? Yawn. At least the cake, van, Fidel part did really happen...really, honestly! Now the question of the week, what does one do after devouring a slab of ultra-rich triple choco cake, besides jog, and my ankle will definitely not allow that? I opted for a warm shower and a short walk to greet all the well-wishers. Even the maid and downstairs desk clerk received a large piece of the decadence. Still lacking a whole lot of ability to hike for blocks shopping and stopping for a bite to eat for lunch, we aimed for nearby ¡Chile's! where mi amigos had not been yet. Always a treat and even though this day was shaping to return to past weeks of high heat and humidity, we snared a table in the rear in the jungle where light air currents cooled the shaded area. Pure joy. Chicken and burgers are the top faves here and do them well indeed at very good prices. Spit-bbq chicken 59p [ready around 11:30am] over potato chunks is wonderful as are the plump hamburgers 53p [best in Vallarta?] and potato salad. Mi amigos treated me in grand honor of my birthday. Gracias.

Recovery was in full force and I was able to walk to my local A/C cyber cafe and catch up with emails from people writing to set up appointments for conversing, exchanging, discussing work in and around PV, trips and other social events, in addition to trips to condos and villas to look around and become familiar with their locations, amenities and desirability. I always have my organizer handy [my life's blood] and my digital camera with an extra set of batteries as they do not last long between charges. I also found it worthwhile to include a small bottle of mineral water, a pen and a small street map in my shoulder bag which carried all these items snugly and securely. Look for the guy with the black and orange tote! Completely organized and prevents losing valuable items or leaving them in the casa where they will do no good. Roomies were off buying up the town and I meandered the cobblestone streets, passing small cafes and taco stands, some bustling, others empty, jotting down pertinent information for use late and checking the small tiendas offering everything from cheap souvenirs to tee shirts to dressy clothes to fine ceramics. Hmmm, maybe a little mango ice cream has my name on it? Quality shops for cold helados in SouthSide are Pie in the Sky [from Bucerias], Once Upon a Time and Dolphy. Time to head home and sit gazing from the balcony as the bay beckons me with its hypnotic waves. The sun is slowly dipping lower in the western horizon earlier than a few weeks ago, aided by the loss of daylight time. We learned that the hard way when we planned our Las Carmelitas sunset excursion! Enjoyed two phone calls from well-wishers and ended up lounging on the sofa a watching the news for a bit. In come the amigos and time to decide a difficult daily dilemma...where are we having dinner tonight??? Yes, no, maybe, vote, go. Sorry, it still had to be a taxi for means of arrival and off we sped to a transplanted historical landmark only visitors or residents from the '50s to mid-'80s would be aware of:

Tony's Please, Lázaro Cárdenas 446 near Jacarandas OT/SS. 5:30-11pm, high season 4-11pm Closed Sunday.
Tony's son serves up well-priced eclectic menu of Andalusa [garbanzo] soup 30p, garlic egg soup 26p, frogs' legs 98p, Mexican tenderloin tips 72p, Mexican plate 72p, chicken crêpes 70p, chicken livers 72p, chicken tetrazzine 88p, fish filet white wine shrimp cream sauce 90p and fish filet Veracruzana 88p. Father owned the 1960's-80's original on Encino near Río Cuale, which was a huge local favorite complete with pool table, rowdy customers and long lines. Menu here remains almost identical with same cooks.
Remarkably, the food swills in my mouth taking me back, waaaaay back, to when our group, some gone now, ate nearly every night at father Tony's spot right by the Río Cuale years ago, where Liz and Dick and the who's who of Hollywood dined amid the drunks and revelers. We used to sit around a busy pool table and waited for nephew Alex to inform us our table was ready. He always knew what each diner would be drinking and a tray of cold ones appeared without even being asked. I had worked my way through the extensive eclectic menu and loved every dish I had. The old story goes two ways as to how the restaurant got its name: 1] A painter of the wall next to the door did not know ho to spell 'place' so it came out Tony's Please; 2] The name stuck because everyone would hail a taxi and tell the driver, 'Tony's, please.' Maybe we will never know which is true, or neither! He made what many of us considered a huge blunder by abandoning this location for a new huge site up on the highway with fine view under an enormous palapa. No one ventured that far and he slowly lost money except for the few loyal guests as us and the large number of beer-drinking pool players [he now had 4 tables]. Then he disappeared with his son to later surface at this location with the same employees and menu. Good to be 'sort of' home again to that same wonderful and reasonable food of many nationalities. Feeling really good and pleasantly full, I agreed to walk down to the main drag, passing Celia's place of pozole [still not been there] and an herb tienda where I will return to purchase dried hibiscus flowers for making the red Jamaica refresher back home [high in vitamin C].

Tuesday, November 9

What? Two full days left. Just cannot be true, really? But when I think back to the first pages of this record of my activities, some events seem so distant, like I really only met that person 3 weeks ago and now we are seeing each other so often and warmly? Time flies, for sure, but what a lot has come down and so much progress has been made. I thought that my May trip with meeting condo/villa/shop and restaurant owners and managers, bopping from place to place, was really great and now this even longer trip has led me on a far different course, one of meeting many people from all walks of life, quite a few from Internet connections, and the common thread has been the friendliness and reality of these fine people. I so hope some of these friendships will continue and grow in the future. OK, off my soapbox. Up very early, tired of sleeping and half asleep thinking about all the tasks I wish and need to accomplish soon, cafe'd, up to sunny rooftop pool and meet my roomies, one in the sun [the blood] and the blond in the shade reading! Stayed out of the water so as not to cool my foot, I sat at the pool's edge and talked with a young couple with 2 kids who were in town for an expansive wedding at a villa in Conchas Chinas. Vows on the beach at sunset with champagne toasts and buffet dinner spread out with the wide city and bay view below. The rehearsal dinner was held at the prestigious Cafe de Artistes the night before, for a pretty penny I am certain. Oddly I had sat on our balcony looking south and spotted a large villa bathed in amber lights, top to bottom and now I wonder if that was the place, which I had never seen lit like that prior.

Off to a coffee appointment with a lady who runs a sailing company. Great venture filling a void in PV's activities. We met at Dee's Coffee Company and I had to try her iced Chai tea frappuccino, what a cool refreshing dream. We caught up on past and current events and had a delightful time discussing her ideas and hopes. We all wish her best of luck. Had to run after our drinks were consumed and meet for lunch at the Beach Café [The Green Chairs], Amapas 177 on Playa Los Muertos OT/SS. We sat upstairs in the newly painted expanse overlooking the palapas and beach activities plus that beautiful bay and city view. Great for when you do not wish sand between your toes but not miss much of the happenings. We had a fine fresh mahi mahi burger with tartar sauce made to order and good fries. Talked a long time with the manager and he informed us that their musical program would restart soon with performances daily 4-8pm with styles ranging from pop to Latin to R & B to rock to reggae, etc. Sounds like a great way to spend that 'empty' time between lunch and going out. Forget the siesta. Bid adios as my friends went off shopping on their last day in Paradise this trip and I headed back to my laptop and rest in the shade. I did manage to stroll to several spots checking menus and prices. Took my camera out later for a few needed shots of the area for use on websites. I burned a CD at my cyber cafe for 35p and emptied the memory card to zero. Now I have plenty of space for tomorrow's needed pictures if I connect with my driver, which I should, with instructions of our final missions.

My roomies last night, so no taco stand for us. We went through the various choices and they opted to go somewhere that they had never visited, good idea. Off we walked on Restaurant Row to Roberto's Puerto Nuevo, Basilio Badillo 283 OT/SS.222-6210, 222-4959 www.robertosptonuevo.com <;http://www.robertosptonuevo.c...; Noon-11:30pm
Since 1988, seafood is all that you find here and he serves it many ways, all Pacific and fresh. Creative dishes include smoked marlin 66p, seafood-stuffed chiles 60p, gazpacho soup 42p, fried calamari 60p, 6 mussels 60p, mahi mahi [Dorado] 4 ways 105p, fish filet mignon with bacon 105p, whole huachinango [red snapper] 105p, garlic butter fresh catch 94p, shrimp diablo 187p, huge seafood platter, octopus, spaghetti marinara 138p, seafood casserole 132p, chicken au vin 105p and rib eye 154p. Very popular, ranked high, a local favorite and right on Restaurant Row, you may opt for the second floor interior A/C room.

I have felt for a long time that he serves up some of the freshest seafood and most creative dishes. We were not disappointed, not one single dish being below wonderful. I love the use of banana leaves for steaming filets to keep them very moist and flavorful and the idea of wrapping my mahi mahi in a strip of bacon before grilling added a wonderful unexpected extra flavor. Very tasty soups too, though the mussels we wished to share were unavailable. Since the whole fish was smaller than usual, he sent out two fish with the flesh flaking off with a wonderful crusty skin imparting terrific pleasure. Winners all around. And a great send off from beautiful visit for mi amigos. Time to head home early since they had a lot to prepare and pack before a very early departure time tomorrow 'oh dark hundred'.