Another Season, Another Reason....

I am sitting in my with my computer on my lap, AC on, no TV (too bad as this is the week with all the new programs)....the nightly tropical rain started and knocked out my television (it's a dish). When the rains start I know that tomorrow the weather will be cooler since the humidity will be lowered by the rain.

Checking my email I find emails from my seasonal friends who are back or will be soon so 'The Season' is starting! Within the next week or two some of the restaurants that closed for the summer will reopen. Bingo dates are being set, parties are being planned and (yay!) I'll have my first mah jongg game in months!

Last weekend a group of 10 of us took the first yacht trip of the season. We started with mimosas at a local private yacht club and then sailed to a private beach for breakfast...live jazz played on the top deck....wonderful!. My seasick pills worked and I had a great time with my friends, Patty, Ginger, Amy and one of Patty's visitors...a perfect day and a perfect way to get into the feel of the end of summer.

Road Trip! San Miguel de Allende

Shawn's mother (from Carmel) is thinking of moving to San Miguel de Allende so she has taken a beautiful home plus casita for the summer in San Miguel to try out the house which was #1 on her list when we were there. Shawn and Sandeep are spending the summer there (getting away from the heat of Puerto Vallarta) and they invited Dana and I to join them for a week. What a week it was! We took a day trip to Leon (the shoe capital of Mexico!!!) where we looked at hundreds of shoes...then off to Guanajuato. We did a few other day trips from SM but the best of all was SM which is a beautiful colonial city with a European flair.

Did I buy anything? Not much but did get a couple of pretty pots to put on my deck and put herbs in. Dana and I each bought a molcajate which it turns out is going to be a pain to season! If you click on the word molcajate you'll see for yourself.

All the stores and homes in San Miguel are painted beautiful colors. Businesses cannot put up big nor lighted signs so a place like Starbucks has "Starbucks" written with small letters outside it's beautiful wooden door (the doors in San Miguel are stunning). Inside of the doors one finds beautiful fountains and gardens--in fact there was a book I almost bought "Behind the Walls of San Miguel de Allende". None of the pictures did the place justice so I passed on buying it.

Since San Miguel is at an elevation of 6K feet it and the weather is similar to Monterey's it was a real treat to get out of humid Puerto Vallarta. We attended a party before we left an I met some interesting folks--perhaps I will house sit for them sometime next summer when the heat is too hot here--who knows!

Friend Patty babysat Armani and my condo . Armani acted a bit distant when I returned but he's back to normal again and follows me everywhere. After returning to PV I've had a few sick days, Dana fell while getting her picture taken--got bruised and Patty fell by her fountain and had a couple of days in bed....nice that we all had a good week before that! Will post more pics later.

Paramount Bay Night Out

Photos of a Paramount Bay night out in Puerto Vallarta. I live in a condo named Paramount Bay (BTW note: My ex-husband, Ed Rockower, and his attorney, David Parnie, monitor my blog and feel that because I post positive and fun events in my life and do not mention of any medical or stressful things in my life that I have no problems and I should not have fun EVER!).

Tonight several of us went to the local shopping center to see a flamenco dance display (note to Ed Rockower and David Parnie: it was free). After the show we went to a favorite restaurant, Pepe's. It is great to be back in PV and to reconnect with friends. Weather here is not as hot as it can be in PV. Loving being back in my own bed

Fun night.

Summer's Here!!!!

Summer's here...or at least it's beginning since it's heating up (I am very thankful for the pool). I head for California soon to see my doctors and to deal with some personal business--during this trip I plan to throw in some visits with family and friends--I'm firming up my schedule now.

Recently PV had what is called "Restaurant Week" in which three course menus were offered by some of the top restaurants here for either $18 or $28 (approximate exchange rates). I was able to sample some great menus (one was in Richard Burton's old home--beautiful).

Soon our rainy season will start. Somehow the rains (and they are notyhing like we had in California...they are torrential with loud booms that follow huge bolts of lightning--quite a show...like, I said nothing like I'd ever experienced in California). During this time TV often goes out so I've been stockpiling DVD's to watch during this time...my friend, Lary (yes, with one "L") is spending a few months in San Francisco so he's told me that I will have his large DVD collection to watch during this time. The funny (to me) thing about our rain is that it seems to always start at 6pm as if the weather knew we're done with our essential trips during the day and are ok with staying in during the night. Now that I've experienced a couple of rainy seasons I am looking forward to this one. There is something nice about being tucked in safe and sound during the booms and flashes.

Since what is known as the high season is over the fun begins for those of us who live full time in PV. Things slow down and we have time to enjoy more time with friends, we find parking spaces more easily, events for locals take place like afternoons in air-conditioned theatres-- a nice time to sit back, slow down and enjoy this paradise!

Almost End of Season

The Season in Puerto Vallarta lasts roughly from December 15 - mid April--during this time life gets very busy with parties, fund raisers, theatre, etc. Each week I think that I will have nothing to do but then the phone calls and invitations come in and I have to turn things down so that I can get some down time--never fails.

Tonight I will attend something at the new "Boutique Theatre", last night I played Mah Jongg with good friends from 6-12am. Tomorrow I will play Mah Jongg at Lindo Mar (restaurant with amazing beach views) in the morning and babysit one of a friend's (great real estate agent, Dana Scapa) penthouse listings. Thursday is another theatre event, Saturday is beach day and Sunday a movie. Next week brings a day at a hotel where 15 of us will spend a day at a luxury resort as a bridal shower for a friend--we will use all the facilities including restaurants, beach, bars, swimming pool, spa, etc...we've reserved two large taxi/buses to take us to and from the resort...also have a fashion show next week

Then guests start arriving and more fun which will probably involve dinners out, shows at The Palm, and some invites to my condo.

Somewhere in this busy time I will be visiting my family in Texas, Colorado and California...then back to more guests.

By the time Summer rolls around and friends leave I will be ready for quiet time with friends who live here full time (and of course some time away...maybe San Miguel de Allende with friends, a trip to California, or ?)

BTW I have a new addition to my family. A new kitten adopted from the Purr Project (a no kill cat shelter). His name is Armani. He has a twin brother who was adopted the same day and made his way to Denver. He is just the cutest ball of fur ever!

Christmas in Paradise

Since I'd seen children and grand children recently I decided to stay home for the holidays. My friend, Susan, came to stay for a month (it's payback time as I stayed with her for a couple of months this summer)...her son, Jon, and his girlfriend will be joining us after the first of the year--but I digress

Today was nice and lazy: watced TV--love the HGTV shows--read, a little swim, resting and even checked out the new gym which is coming along nicely but more on the gym later. At 7pm we joined friend, Lary (with one "R") for dinner at an outdoor restaurant and stayed until after 10pm when we decided to call it a night.

Weather doesn't seem to be as hot this year as last. I actually pulled out a blanket and around the middle of the night toss it over me (it's that cool!)

Not sure what Christmas Day will bring but I have some nice fat scallops in my frig that I think I'll cook up. Otherwise it could be a beach or pool day depending on what we feel like.

What have I been up to? Yesterday went out to a 'no kill' cat shelter for a tour. Picked out what may be my new daughter (cat)...waiting to see how she checks out with the vet and if she has any problems. Played Lotto and won one game (Lotto is the Mexican version of bingo but has pictures instead of numbers, each picture has a Spanish name so it's kind of a good way to pick up some new words.) The game was to benefit the cat shelter so I was doing a good deed by playing. Still playing Mah Jongg on the beach each week, beach ex-pat party last week, a couple of New Years party invites, writer's group on Saturday's along with the local Farmers Market and lunch after the writer's group with some of the members. Trips to Costco and Walmart.

The highlight of last week was the unveiling and sale of the new Bombaro's (Firemen's) calendar. As Kim sang "It's Raining Men" the featured firemen came out...hot! hot! hot! Screen in front showed photos that weren't included in the calendar. I crammed myself into a photo booth with a bunch of the Bombaros for a great photo...4 different poses and one was of them all trying to kiss me!...what fun that was!

Our new gym is turning out to be fantastically beautiful--as usual the builder exceeds our expectations. The view from the treadmills is not to be believed--guess you would call it a million dollar view. When I belonged to Spanish Bay Health Club (Pebble Beach) I thought the view they had was something...well, this is even more amazing! Hopefully the machines will be here soon and we can start using it.

For now I'm looking forward to the return of friends and to a wonderful 2011. Happy Holidays to you and may 2011 be your best year ever!

A New Awesome Phone Service!

In Mexico American TV and a USA phone service is right at the top for keeping up with life at home and keeping connected with friends and family . Today's blog has to do with telephone service.

I have lots of phones: a Mexican land line (comes bundled with WiFi whether you want it or not--there are other options but this is the easy/cheap way to do it), a Mexican cell phone, a USA cell phone (T-mobile), and some kind of phone with a USA phone number so one can receive calls from the USA without callers dealing with country codes & charges.

There's a new kid in town (phone-wise) and it's a winner! It's name is Rebtel and it's awesome!

I switched from Vonage ($29.95+ per month) to 1010talk ($10+ per month) to save money and I did save money (still using 1010 talk)...both are VOIP services...both allow me to have a working phone even if my computer is turned off (good in case family must reach me in the middle of the night)...decided against Magic Jack since I would need to have my computer on all the time and had seen some reviews of spotty clarity in transmission (yes, I get that with my VOIP too once in awhile).

Friend, Colin had told me about some service he was using that allowed him to use his land line and make calls for around a penny a minute. He calls the UK often and for some reason he's avoided using a VOIP service--maybe he used Skype. I really didn't pay a lot of attention the first few times he raved about this service but one rainy evening I "got it"...I guess I thought it was another VOIP service but I wasn't paying attention (mmmm....bad girl!)and this time I did get it...I could use my land line (great voice transmission, no need to worry if the internet goes down, etc) and I only pay when I use the service! I could give family and friends a phone # to call me at using their home phones (they get the area code from their city) and I get charged a penny a minute for their calls to me.

I got home and signed up for a free 3 minute trial and tried it out (Thanks Colin for helping me through the set-up process--I wasn't paying attention to the instructions on the website--bad girl!) ...it was awesome! I used my free minutes to call a friend in the USA and she said the transmission was perfect (not always the case). It's easy to use and I am keeping it as a back up to my 1010talk number. I put in $10 to start and have had the service for over a month and so far it's cost me $1.00US...I still use 1010talk as my main phone since the phone # is the Los Angeles number I've had for years and everyone knows that number.

Rebtel rocks!

Got to run. Tonight is Canadian Thanksgiving and I am meeting with friends for some turkey, stuffing and goodies....more later!