Leap Year at the Zoo

Leap Year.  The last day of February already.  Time seems to pass at triple speed since I returned to Mexico.  How did December and January just disappear like that?

Yesterday I walked along the beach with Maddie.  Earlier, while I was washing some clothes in the kitchen sink, the 17 year old neighbour girl who loves my dog,  poked her head inside the grated iron front door of a my small abode in our very Mexican neighbourhood. She didn't have any college classes so we walked down to the beach together.  She seems and acts older than her years and we had a nice time chatting while watching the sunset on the Malecon.  The Puerto Vallartan street vendors were prolific.  We ate elote,which is corn on the cob cut off the cob and placed in  a plastic cup with powdered cheese, crema (sour cream) and then a myriad of salsas, salt and lime.  It is really good.  Maddie ran along the beach at full tilt, enjoying being a dog after having been cooped up in the house for a time.  She dug and then grabbed a tossed away giant skewer, previously  laden with grilled shrimp and ran with it, both sharp ends poking out of each side of her mouth,  hoping that we would chase her down.  She met other dogs on the Malecon, running around and playing with them.  She walked at least 6 blocks to get to the ocean where we walked for about two hours and was so tired on the way back that she sat down stubbornly and wouldn't move. I carried her a little ways.

Sandy Estela, is a voluptuous and lovely young college student, studying food prep at the big university in La Cruz, just on the border of Nayarit and Jalisco.  She takes the bus twice a day for at least an hour and a half.  She is young enough to be my daughter but we talked like girlfriends.  She told me about about her boyfriend, her family and why she lives with her grandma, who I thought was her aunt.  Sylvia can't be much older than I, but it is so hard to tell.  She is full of life and friendly, inviting me to sit with her on the sidewalk outside her house, while I was taking Maddie out one evening.  That's when I also met Sandy.  They were so curious about what my place looked like that I asked them in to see it, even in its unorganized state.  They were shocked when I told them what I was paying for it.  She said she would help me find another place, much less expensive.  Apparently she has a niece in real estate.

Today while reading on my bed enjoying a cup of tea, I got a call from Danielle, a young woman in her mid thirties whom I met at a presentation last week on staying positive in difficult times.  Danielle is sweet, full of love, been hurt and is at a big turning point in her life.  We have a lot in common.  We went to the zoo today and it was so much fun.  Way better than I expected from a Mexican Zoo.  I recalled the pathetic zoo in the Caribean island of Isla Mujeres I visited last May, and how I wanted to set all the monkeys free.  This one, as well, could have had better environments for most of the critters, but what was impressive was the sheer lack of security and easy access to get VERY close to the animals.  How many people can say they touched a giraffes tongue?  All the animales had all learned to beg at the chain link fence, and were very good at it.  Most were gentle.   Black jaguars, tigers, lions, leopards, white tigers, black bears, giraffes, wolves, camels, monkeys, and all sorts of beautiful birds.  I had never seen a Toucan or a Red Macaw; and didn't even recognize a few amazingly colorful and iridescent birds.  They were stunning.  We watched two tortoises mating; the male even making noise.  I had no idea tortoises had such ample appendages; but it would make sense seeing that he'd have to be large enough to get under that shell.  I was mesmerized watching them and then felt I should look away and give them their privacy.  The black jaguars also were "making out", but I think it was mostly for play.  They have three litters a year, mostly only one, but sometimes two babies. To see giant cats like that within 4 feet of me was amazing. Even two male monkeys were acting more like a couple.  I guess Spring is in the air.  Through the fence you could touch any animal if they got close enough.  And they did.  I swear they tried to smile and act goofy to get more food.  We had purchased bags of veggies and nuts to feed them.  One Zebra was a clown for the camera, although he wouldn't' stay still very long.  I finally got a good shot of him before my batteries expired.  There were baby animals all over; rabbits (big surprise) little pigs, goats, tigers and jaguars.  For 100 pesos, my friend Danielle got to hold a one month old baby tiger in her arms.  I took pictures.  They were both adorable.  

We had dinner in a touristy place called  Chico's Hideaway with an amazing view of the river, some waterfalls and lots of cool rock formations.  It was a great day and possibly worth getting some of the insect bites.

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A Morning on the River San Cristobal

Peddling quietly off on our bikes at 5:30am, with Maddie in the pack, we went to meet our 4 new friends and then walk all the way to the end of town.  It was quiet except for the odd person, up at this incredibly early hour, sweeping the streets or digging in his garden.  We passed a huge mango tree that was absolutely deafening with the song of grackles and their variety of sounds.

There were more people out than I would have imagined.  Shopkeepers starting their day as the dawn light was just bright enough to see.  Just past the bridge, Abrahim and his ponga awaited.  He took us out on the river and we spent a good few hours viewing the banks of mangroves, spotting the odd egret and then once we got up the river a bit, the bird life was stunning.  Our driver, a young fellow, sweet and very knowledgeable and obviously in love with this river, pointed out and told us the names of all the birds.  There must have been six types of herons, all kinds of birds I'd never heard of or seen; some nocturnal, some huge.  Black eagles, buzzards, ones that sounded like monkeys, others that sounded like tigers, seriously.  When the sun finally hit the mangroves, we warmed up a bit and then we couldn't keep up with the amount of life we saw.  We headed towards the flood plain to the pink flamingo nesting grounds and upon approaching it, realized its grandness from afar.  Every year the pink flamingos come back to nest on this bit of island in the middle of the flood plain at the end of the river.  We navigated carpets of water hyacinths as fish jumped in the water in front of us, sparkling streaks of silver in the morning light.  Maddie was intrigued and although it was her first time in a ponga, acted like she did this everyday.  Eventually she just lied down and rested, comfortable in the company of everyone.

The flamingos were stunning; they say they are pink because of their diet of shrimp.  All I know is that they are so beautiful and share their nesting grounds with storks (very funny looking) and black ducks, who make a very quick repetitive throaty sound, like Buddhist monks chanting in a hurry.  It was a flurry of activity as the young flamingos continually bobbed up and down to show their mother how hungry they were.  You could smell the ammonia from the guano depending where the breeze was blowing from.  There was nothing but an island of birds, bright morning sunlight, the sound of Abrahims paddle plunking through the water and everyone was speechless and taking it all in.  Sweet.

On the way back, we must have seen 18 crocodiles, about 4 of which were very very large.  They usually shot far deep into the water as we approached, but some were lying on the banks and were eerily prehistoric looking.  We spotted some tortugas aslo.  In fact the whole scene could have been the setting for a movie set in the mesozoic period.  

After the river, we went off to the beach and acted like crocodiles, doing nothing in the sun.

First Week: San Blas

After driving to the outskirts of Culiucan, a large city of vices, I stopped in a hotel which made MadDog very happy.  A dinner of Oaxan Tampequena was pretty good and cheap and so was the beer.  We even had TV, and watched Chiva (Mexican City soccer team) play against I'm not sue who. I was disappointed there were no Mexican soap operas.  In the am, we got ready for the next day's drive, to our destination: San Blas.  I had decided to stop there, with an invitation from a dear friend from Yelapa.  It's a chill place with good body surfing, he told me.  

And he was right.  It's a very chill place with very friendly people and not many tourists. Alan and I drive around on our bikes and just park them on the street and they stay there.  What kind of place can you do that in anymore in this world?  There's a fantastic beach, with perfect waves and a spot to lie in a hammock.  Maddie is starting to LIKE going in the backpack because it means she is going somewhere and not being left behind.  In San Blas, she goes into restaurants, bars, markets, everywhere.  She is having a sniffing field day!  She had her first ocean experience and actually wanted to go in the water.  Watching her running on the open beach is hilarious.  She digs in the sand and seems to be enjoying getting dirty.  Except for the insects, it is quite lovely and relaxing.  Okay, it's rather noisy also, but that's just part of Mexico.

First Night Back in Mexico: Guaymas, Sonora

After driving many hours, the day was ending and I was tired. So I splurged and paid too much for a lovely hacienda /hotel on the ocean.  I could have rented an RV spot with my van, but it was too nice to pass up.

Besides, they said I could bring Maddie as long as she didn't go on the bed.  Okay.

As soon as I got in the room, Maddie jumped on the bed and did her snuffling and scratching bit.  She LOVES this part!  I do too.   There was a pool and a stunnng view overlooking the ocean. 

It was beautiful.  I spent a couple of hours talking with a sixy something wood carver Juan Paulo,  while taking pics of the sunset and enjoying the ambience and his stories.  Then off to dinner where the waiters were so cool, both had been there for the last 40 years; Francisco and Camilo.  We watched women's boxing on the big screen and talked about the old days when the resort was always full of people.  They spend a lot of their days just standing around now, but seemingly still as happy as ever.

In the morning I had chilaquiles for breakfast and was so excited; sitting looking out onto a big plaza with the morning sun touching it,  was the biggest fig tree I've ever seen.  It was bigger than the oaks in New Orleans.  Stunning.  There had been a wedding the night before and the guys were sweeping up the square with big long homemade brooms like I'd seen in Venice.

I walked around the beautiful grounds in the morning sun, taking it all in before I packed up and headed south out of town.  

Day 1 in Mexico

After driving four days through the United States, I reached Tucson and was a little preoccupied about crossing the Mexican border.   I stayed on another day in the U.S. because I felt I needed a rest and to prepare more; get papers photocopied, go through my van,etc. 

The drive to the border was an hour from Tucson and the desert was stunning.  Huge Suaritas  (those typical cliche looking Arizona cacti) rose up from the flat desert as well as other really cool bushes with amazing protrusions; it was hard to keep my eyes on the road.  It was so cool to have driven through the Sonoran desert, and also to have touched on the Mojave desert and probably lots of other geographical interest points I haven't learned about yet.  The geography was really and truly stunning.

And on the way to Mexico it was also very pretty.  I crossed the border without ceremony. There was another sort of pass through with people and shovels and trucks and I just drove through it, too.  Then the highway took me to a toll booth where I paid $3.00 for something. Then a parking lot came up, for people who needed auto import permits.  This was the immigration part of "the border" but there were no signs and nothing looming or official like I'm used to in Canada.  In Canada or the US, you can't miss the border, which is of course, the whole point.

I jumped through the hoops necessary and an hour later, I was back in the car with my proper papers, import sticker, and the phone number from the man from the government bank "Bancomer" who is the  "line-up helper" informing people about what they needed and making them feel better for having to wait so long.  I didn't ask for his number, but he gave it to me anyway, just in case I wanted to go out with him when I came back through the border.  ha.  There is something just so Mexican about that.  And of course, I graciously took the paper with his number on it and wished him a good day.

The interesting thing about this moment in Mexico, with the people and the line-ups, was this fragrance in the air that completely took me back to the last time I was in Mexico.  I hadn't even known I had missed it until I smelled it again, and I still don't even know exactly what it is.  I think it's the hair pomade the men use.  It is just so so lovely and it floats about the air subtly whenever there is a group of people.  Very typical and a little thing that made me smile as I was standing there taking it all in.

I got in my van and wound my way towards the now official border crossing where you either get a red or a green light and I didn't see anybody.  I noticed my light was green and said "'pase" so I did, but it was like everybody was on a coffee break.  There wasn't even anyone with which to avoid eye contact!  Nobody looked at me or my dog.  So, off I went and kept on going, never to be stopped, until I reached the next state of Sinoloya, where a man checked my car import paper, looked at my drivers license, told me I was beautiful ("Que guapa!") and bid me adios.

Leaving Canada

I Packed up my stuff, and drove to Vancouver with Maddie as co-pilot at the end of the day.  It was nice and quiet on the road and all I could think was, wow, the roads are so nice here!  They have nice white lines, big shoulders, no potholes and good signage.  It won't be like this in Mexico!  I cranked my psych trance tunes on my ipod and before I knew it I was getting french fries at McDonalds in Hope.  I let Maddie out for a walk and as always I was overwhelmed with that fabulous smell of pine trees, fresh mountain air and cedars.  There is something so fabulously Canadian about the smell of wet pine forest.  It makes my heart ache.  I inhaled big breaths of it, so I could store it away for later.  I am already starting to miss my country and I haven't left yet.  

Not much longer till I was downtown Vancouver where my dear sweet friend welcomed me.  Maddie and I got to be city girls for a few days and it was really very nice.  I hadn't ever really spend a lot of time in Vancouver, so it was really enjoyable and so close to every amenity.  Maddie got used to being urban and pooping on top of the grates around which cities jail their trees. One of the greatest pleasures I enjoyed was picking up her business in my plastic baggie and walking one block to toss it in the garbage in front of the provincial law courts. I fantasized about smearing it on some lawyers, but well, that was just a fun thought and made me smile! ha.

I got to see some beautiful waterfalls on a Sunday up near Squamish and soon I was off to visit Victoria for a bit and stay with another wonderful friend of many years.  It was awesome and I really got to see Victoria with fresh eyes.  It's a fabulous city.  In fact both Vancouver and Victoria were sunny and most of the time I was there and I was impressed with many aspects of these two cities.

So the journey to this point was very fun and relaxing and then I left the country on a ferry to Port Angeles, WA.  It was another lovely sunny day and I drove to Portland where I stayed with another friend who I hadn't seen in years and years.  He treated me royaly and showed me his city, of which he's very proud.  I was also impressed a lot with Portland.  So pretty.

The drive to Sacramento was long, but there I met my old buddy I'd met in Mexico who had come the hour from S.Francisco to grab dinner with me.  This traveling thing is alright, especially when you can visit with people you know and haven't seen in a while.  But I knew that this was the last stop where I would know anyone.  Next day would be Mojave, and then Tucson.  Then I'd be out of the USA.  It was Thanksgiving weekend and getting out of Sacremento was challenging.  The I-5 was backed up for an hour, and finally I got off it and took another road, through farms, but it was better than being parked on the interstate.  It all worked out in the end.

There was some spectacular and stunning scenery on my solo voyage to the south; but also several very rainy moments while driving in Arizona.  Like I'd never seen before.  Fine except when it's dark and there's construction with no lines or lights and the only thing I could see was the taillights of some one in front of me.  Wow, that was challenge and I felt like I was in a video game!  But I got to Tucson and it all turned out well.  The Motel 6 is an amazing chain of motels; all close to the highway, all take pets, and have internet access.  Couldn't complain for less than 40/night.  Maddie loves motel/hotels; she is so glad to get out of the van, for one, and then she knows we can relax, so she snuggles the bed, rubbing her nose along the covers and snorting and pawing.  I love that. 

Tying up lose ends

I have been back in Canada for three months, working at getting back to Mexico.  I just caught the loveliness of summer in the Okanagan and was able to swim in the lake with my very good friend Aja, who is a cat person but loves my dog Maddie.  I reconnected with friends and enjoyed some good visits.   But mostly, I'm back to sort out things so I can leave again.   This includes: sorting and chucking many possessions, putting the things I want to keep in my other most wonderful friend's basement in Armstrong, selling my cherished Honda Civic, searching for and buying a vehicle to take me to Mexico and tying up lose ends, getting divorce papers in order, etc. Fast forward to the middle of November: It took awhile, but it all got done and when I was actually all ready to go, I started getting those butterflies in my stomach.  What helped was having friends at many stages in the process, so it became a voyage of many small steps.

I couldn't have done it nearly as well without help from dear friends like Jeff, Christine, Liz, Aja, Lisa, Javier, Alan, Ron, James, Rob, Jonathan, and of course, my mom.   I am so blessed.

So this next section of blogging will be my RETURN to mexico and the journey continued.  I have Maddie with me, and my Toyota Sienna and places I want to see!

Reconnecting

During my last week in Vallarta (for awhile), I have been fortunate enough to spend it in a suite overlooking the ocean.  Quite a change from living downtown in an overly hot apartment! Blessings to my Californian connection Jonathan for sharing his unused timeshare space with me; and for cheap!  

Being able to just chill for a few days, having said goodbye to most everybody and simply being able to think and watch the ocean from my window, was a nice way to end the journey that has lasted almost 7 months.  But somehow I feel like my journey is just beginning.

I met some nice ladies from California in this hotel/condo and we went for breakfast together at the Lindo Mar, a very pretty hotel up the road in Conchas Chinas.  The breakfast was amazing and so many choices.  I helped them all with the menus and with questions about what kind of food they might be getting if they ordered "divorced eggs".  Yes, that's a type of dish here, one side has salsa roja, the other has salsa verde.  I did all the talking to the wait staff and the ladies loved having someone who knew the ropes.  It felt nice being able to help and also teach them a bit more about the culture than they would normally learn just being a tourist.

I was surprised at how much I really liked helping them with the language, the money, the food, the people, etc.  I'm no expert, but I certainly know a LOT by now, and even I surprised myself.

From eating breakfast at the beach front gay bar/restaurant, I came to know one of the waiters who knows Juan, one of my waiter friends from work.   One day Alejandro invited me and a handful of his buddy waiters in his 4X4 Jeep to the jungle, after work to visit the waterfalls. We seemingly drove forever, (after picking up a carton of beer - 24 for 150 pesos ) up hills, into the country, through the jungle, through 4 river crossings, donkey trails, narrow roads up very high and FINALLY got to our destination:  Las Cascadas.  I don't know exactly the location, but I really thought for awhile that we would never get there.  At the end, we had to go through a barbed wire fence, one by one very carefully.

It was beautiful!  Waterfalls - rushing into a big pool, and then rushing again, into another pool. It was an hour til dusk when we arrived, but it was still hot out and the cool water was a nice reprieve.  We all jumped off the side of the cliff into the deep river and I got carried a little away over the rocks but one of the guys gave me a hand to get out.  Wow, the water is very powerful.  Another group of guys arrived 3/4 of the way through and for a minute I realized that I was the only female in a gathering of about 9 guys.  On the surface it looked crazy, traveling in a jeep over rocks and rivers with guys I hardly knew, drinking beer and listening to stories, in the middle of f---ng nowhere, where NO one knew where I was.  But I didn't dwell on it for long . . .  I totally trusted my one buddy who knew people I knew and mostly throughout the trip I was thinking to myself:  Cool, how many people get to be doing what I'm doing right now?

Sorry I don't have photos - Damn! You'll just have to believe me.

It didn't take long for the carton of beer to disappear and we needed to get back before dark.  The trip was more difficult crossing the bodies of rushing water and rocks from the opposite side, but Alejandro was feeling more confident now about his 4x4 experience.  He'd never taken it off road before.  I told him in Canada we buy 4X4's for a REASON, not just to look macho going over Vallarta's cobblestoned roads.  I really loved being in the jungle, breathing in the lushness of everything; the limes, avocados, hibiscus and enjoying the noisy music of the amazing birds.  We passed some very small and poor villages and dodged donkeys and dogs hanging around the roadside.  The rain, of course started to team down like it always does after sunset, making the roads more challenging than on the way up, when they were already challening enough.  All in all, a cool way to spend the early evening and i was back in my secure and air-conditioned suite with plenty of time to start on my packing.  It was great to connect with nature again.

The next evening, I had the opportunity to go swimming in a tidal pool that seemed like a natural jacuzzi.  My good friend Junior, who works on the dock is a marine biology afficionado as well as lifeguard, lover of the ocean, protector of tortoise eggs, and general wonderful person.  We met at the dock on day long ago,  and began chatting non-stop about everything. I re-connected with him last week when I finally had time and was in that part of the city.  We met one day after his work was finished and connected just as easily as before over a beer.  He is a very spiritual person and being able to talk with him reminded me that I have been feeling very disconnected to nature these past couple of months.  "Pues, conecta-te chica." he urged me and took off his special bracelet that came from his own indian tribe, took my hand and placed it around my wrist.  "This will remind you of what's important and help you when you need it," he told me.  "It's got good energy." I was touched to the point of almost tears.  I have been a bit weepy lately with the thought of yet another ending.  So this day, after our beer, we walked to the dock and watched all the local people fishing from the pier, he told me all the names of the fish that were lying there gasping for their last breath before becoming somebody's dinner.  Nobody needs a boat here to catch fish; they all seemed to be doing a great job tossing their homemade lines off the pier.    Down the beach we went and Junior led me to the swimming hole after taking me on a big walk across the beach, showing me the best views and also a grotto.  He entertained me with stories of how his father used to take him to this same pool and teach him all about marine life.   Junior also recounted stories of his time in the army.  He was in Chiapas during the uprising, had been shot several times and has the scars to prove it.  Also his retinas were burned while he was rescuing people from a fire; his eyes have one little white spot in them each. This small but gigantic-hearted man could have a book written about him.  I was inspired to write while talking to him, but when I brought it up, he said he didn't want to share his stories with the world, just with me.  Hmmm. still it would make an amazing book.

How many people get to sit in a warm ocean with life teaming around them, having true and amazing stories told to them?  And as if that wasn't enough, Junior sang me mexican ranchero songs, and quite well I might add.  He knows ALL the words!

As is the case every night, it started to rain heavily and we just soaked it out in the pool until it started getting dark and I was turning into a prune.  I was actually getting cold!  The walk back was disconcerting in the dark, I actually finally broke my 2-year-old $2 favourite Walmart flip-flops, on my second to last day.   Junior,  barefoot of course, (I don't think he owns shoes), led me step by step; till we finally got back onto the beach.  Everything changes when the darkness appears.   Things you once knew in daylight, take on a whole new ambience in darkness. Junior has lived in Vallarta since he was a small kid and he has a story for everything.  I'm convinced he could feel his way around the beach perfectly if he was blindfolded. I felt privileged that he would share this special place of his with me.  One more Mexican blessing.