Balancing compassion and self-preservation

This morning I practiced balancing compassion with self-preservation. It wasn't easy, but I'm glad I did it.

Since my arrival, this time share guy has been asking me to go to his timeshare presentation. The deal was that I would get $100 for my time and he gets a $50 comission. I didn't want to go because of my experience with the first one. It's a tonne of high pressure and all in all a bad way to spend time here. But on the whole, he's been pleasant to talk to, the $100 would be nice and I wanted to help him. He needs to make a living too. So yesterday I gave in and agreed to go this morning.

However, all night I dreaded the event. The pressure is gross and I'm obviously a potential target (a softy). So this morning, I talked to Alfredo. I wasn't going to cause I didn't want to be scolded. But I needed to talk it out and get an opinion. I'm glad I did.

I went to meet the guy where we had agreed. (I never tell any of the "guys on the beach" I meet where I live, I'm not that silly!) I fought his sob story with mine. I told him I couldn't go. I had been sick all night thinking about the high pressure of the timeshare presentation. And please don't ask me again to go. It worked. He coudn't argue with that and was gracious enough about it.

I'm proud because I know I have compassion, I really did want to help him if I could. But I'm also proud because I know that I can value my needs as much as someone elses. At least sometimes.

A picture of me, being happy, on teh beach in San Pancho.

Drinking with the ladies

Yesterday started off gently and ended in a fun drunken dance party!

Joan, a lady I met at the mosaic class here the last 2 years, and her friend Darcy, and I went to a very small town called San Pancho, about one hour from here. The goal was to visit Shelby, the mosaic class teacher, at the house she built in San Pancho, and to spend the day there.

It started very gently. Joan had arranged to have a car and driver take us there. The driver, Mike from Michigan, was nice enough and interesting on the way there. He grows blueberries and other fruit in Michigan in the summer and stays in PV in teh winter and works odd jobs driving people around.

Shelby's house is very nice. It has the most amazing sunny shower area with only screening for a roof and a lovely back yard with a pool. The backyard faces a corn field that is owned by a school and will likely never be developed into housing. We sat and chatted there for about 2 hours.Very relaxing!

Then we walked down main street, to a restaurant on the beach. San Pancho is pretty touristy, but also kind of hippy-ish. There is a cooperative that does recycling, and a community organic garden that grows veggies for the local school kids. And several artsy tourist thing shops.

I had yummy fish with garlic for lunch while my feet were in teh sand.

Then we got ready to come back. Only this time, Mike was pissy. He had originally told us he needed to be back by 6 pm. OK. Perfect. Now, he was mad cause he wanted to be back earlier. He speeded and weaved in and out of traffic all the way back, barely spoke, and was impatient when we were figuring out how to pay. I'm proud of myself. I didn't feel bad for Mike at all. He made $15/hour plus gas for two hours of driving and 5 hours of sitting on teh beach reading his book. You can be sure I'd never hire him again!! I'll take the bus, thank you.

But the best part was teh evening. We went back to teh hacienda where the mosaic class is and had a coupe of maragaritas. And laughed and talked like real girls. Then we went to the Vaca (cow) Grill a restaurant very close by. We drank a bit more, ate, and danced like fools to the live music. I was good though. I called Alfredo to tell him I'd be late so he wouldn't worry, and to invite him to join us, which he did. yeah!

Pictures: The pool and view from Shelby's back yard, some 5 week chihuahua puppies and a protective mother we saw in a store, Joan, Shelby, and Darcy shopping in San Pancho, and a man making a hamac (it takes about 4 hours he says).

What a neat action packed day!

What a neat day! So many little things happened.

The first neat thing is that I took a test to see what level of spanish I have so I can take a class next week. I'm very pleased to say that I'm a level 5. I think there are 10 levels in all. And really I don't care that much, but level 5 sounds pretty impressive to me, so I'm happy! After my course next week, I will actually receive 1 credit from the University of Guadalajara. Too cool!

After the test, I finally managed to buy 30 broken watches from the watch repairman who stands/works on the bridge near my school. Why you ask? I saw a picture of a picture frame that was decorated with watch faces and mechanisms. Andre really likes watches. So I thought he'd like this picture frame.

Then, I found a used clothing store! I bought a tank top and a slong sleeve top for $40 pesos, about $2.75 canadian. That even beats value village!

There was a funny. I went to Alfredo's office to see if he wanted to have lunch, I was near his office and gonna go to a taco stand he likes. When I asked for him at his office, I explained to his colleagues that I am his "companero de cama". I was proud to use my spanish until I realized I made a mistake. What I meant to say was that I am his room mate (companero de casa). What I actually said was that I was his "bed mate". We all had a good laugh!

Then I went to the beach to study, with a drink. I did study for a while. But then Tym started to chat with me. He owns a sunglass shop in Banff Alberta and is very interesting. So we chatted for the rest of the afternoon and early evening.

I came home.

Pictures: The "normal" beetle is Alfredo's car. The convertible in one of the variations that are here in PV. The interesting parking space belongs to a medical clinic that specializes in something radioactive. And the chicken lives down the street from me, almost across the street from the radioactive clinic!!

It's a school week

Hola amigos!

I have officially signed up for spanish classes at the University of Guadalajara. The campus here is the upper level of a building above a bank, with a nice patio.

My maestro is Magdalena a retired high school and grade school teacher. I really like her. The class is a "level 6, Intermediate" conversation class. Yesterday there were 3 other students in my class: George from Ohio(?), Beverley from Vancouver, and Denise from Rouyn Noranda. It was a trial class for me (I didn't have to pay or go back if I didn't like it). But it was a really good mix and class size so I signed up for the week.

Today there was another student: Louise from somewhere in Quebec. Unfortunately, this makes the class a little too big in my opinion. Or should I say, Louise and Denise together talk too much and don't have very good spanish so I'm not learning very much from them. Beverley must be a bit frustrated because her spanish is the best of all of us and she doesn't get to practice or learn much. Oh well! If I do a total of 20 hours of class, I'll actually get a credit from the University. What a hoot! So it's my goal. If I study enough, I might even get an Intermediate/Advanced credit!

The University also gives english classes. I cannot teach there now because I have to get an FM3, a Mexican work permit. I would also need to commit to at least 6 months of work. However, the coordinator did say I might be able to give private lessons. He just got a request from a Mexican who is travelling to Canada in 2 months who wants lessons. I'm not sure if I can do it without the FM3, bit I'm gonna see!

Pictures: Big marshmallows for 15 pesos (about $1.20 canadian); a cute sculpture of sheep on a bicycle; a bicycle patter in the cement floor of the art store with the cute sculpture (and yes, my fairly new sandals); and surprise! Andre an me at a toboggan hill in December, before I left!

that is shared with "Amistad International".

An adventure trail along the ocean

Today was a lot of fun.

Alfredo drove us to Boca de Tomatlan, a very small village along the south coast of the bay, where we parked his little green VW beetle and started our walk on a trail that follows the ocean and leads to Las Animas beach. The trail was very varied. Often, it was a cement and rock path that went thought people's backyards. Sometimes, it was a dirt path that went up and down. And sometimes it was a little rickety bridge. That part was kindof scary, but fun too.

When we got to Las Animas, we had a drink and snack and chilled for a while. Alas, the weather was not great. The waves on the ocean have been big for a couple of days now. As we sat there on the beach, the wind was picking-up, and sky was darkening, and the waves were getting bigger. Getting back along the path might have been tricky in spots becuase of the bigger waves so we decided on a water taxi. Fortunately, the waiter at the little restaurant was kind and told us that we should go asap cause the water taxis would stop operating if the weather got worse. Sure enough, it took a few tries to get all the passengers from the dock to the boat, and the "captain" told one lady that she would have to sleep in Boca de Tomatlan because he couldn't bring her back!

The water taxi ride was exciting. The swells were about at least 10' high (maybe more cause I said 10' when we went whale watching and this was definitely bigger!) and it was pretty choppy. One lady was actually scared. I thought it was fun!

Unfortunately, that was not the only adventure we had. Alfredo got a flat tire on the way back. It was so bad that the tire got shredded and will have to be replaced. Fortunately, he had a spare and all the tools required to change it, and he was very calm about the whole thing.

Tonight was very domestic. We had dinner together at home and watched "The March of the Penguins".

A night at the theatre

Yesterday was really nice. I explored the old part of PV; I got a better understanding of the geography of the city and discovered some new areas. The most interesting was the cultural centre which is on a little island between the "downtown" and "old vallarta".

This is the area in which "Night of the Iguana" was filmed. The film won several academy awards and John Huston (director) and Elizabeth Taylor had a public affair here during the filming. So its a big deal here. It seems that a part of the movie "Revenge" with Kevin Costner was also filmed here. There was a plaque that told me this.

At the cultural centre, there was an art school and a theatre. The school offers classes in painting, sculpture, carving, and music. I bought a card that shows how 2 girls painted their house all holiday festive like. The funds from the sale of the cards enables them to go to art school. Another neat thing is that there was a play last night and so I went. I didn't understand very much but it was interesting anyhow.

Before the play, I had dinner (a strawbery daiquiri and fajitas) on the beach and watched kids surf in the huge waves with my toes in the sand. Sweet!

Around the cultural centre, in the afternoon, there was a show with kids demonstrating the dances they had learned. Very cute!!

It was about 10:30 when I finally got home. It was kindof funny. The first thing Alfredo said was that he had been worried about me. After I teased him about it, we agreed that he would teach me how to use the public phones and I would call him next time I come in after my "curfew". (Of course you know there is no curfew, but this is the latest I've come back at night and he feels a little parental like.....)
Pictures: kids dancing, a neat tree on the rio cualle island, the waves at dinner, and an add for some yummy! Michael Jackson chocolate and white ice cream (I wonder if its a big seller??)

A new phase of the adventure begins

The adrenaline of the beginning of the trip has worn off. For days, I had soooo much energy. Today though, I had some uncertain moments -what am I doing here? what's my goal? what do I do now? do I wanna go home early?

That's when I remembered "winter". And how lucky I am to be here with this time to do whatever I want. So I reminded myself to chill and do what seems right at each moment.

I went to the beach and did my exercises. I went to swim, but the water was too rough, the lifeguards actually said "no" don't go in. After observing the crashing waves - over 10' high sometimes- I saw they were right.

As I was leaving the beach, a drunk guy tried to help get sand off my feet. No thanks! Then the jetski guy chatted me up - he couldn't work with the waves. He's the second beach guy I meet who used to live in teh USA and had to leave due to issues with the law. The first guy got busted with 25 kg of cocaine, this guy was involved in a drunken shooting event. They both seem nice, and remorseful. But, I assure you, I will not socialize with either beyond pleasant chat at the beach!!!

Later, I went to an English school just to see what might come of it. They were ready to hire me, but They needed me to be here longer. It made me feel good though, to gather some facts.

I'm gonna check out a Spanish class on Monday. I think I wanna take one after all to accelerate the process a bit. I've been a bit lazy about actively learning during the last couple of days. I'm also gonna look into volunteering somewhere, to feel involved and practice spanish, meet new people, and feel useful.

The pictures are: a makeshift home on the beach - check out the stuffed iguana, chair, and bottle of tequila in the closeup; the little store where I get a lot of my groceries cause its close and teh guy is really nice; a nice white house on my street; and the marina from where we went whale watching yesterday.

Whale watching

Hola!

I went on my first "tourist" excursion today, I went whale watching. It was very nice. We were on a small boat with only 14 passengers. Which means we were nimble and could get closer than the bog boats due to regulations.

The mission was to find humpback whales. We did, in fact, see several. Mostly just coming to the surface to breath and then dive again. These sightings were cool cause sometimes we were pretty close to them.

A couple of times, from further away, we saw some playing. Twice we saw one jump almost completely out of the water. And once a baby rolled over its mother's back and exposed its side fins and belly a bit. Very neat! Then we saw some dolphins and some of the clients actually jumped into the water to swim with them. It didn't last long, but it was cool to watch. I did not go in because I did not have my bathing suit cause I didn't know that this would be an option.

The same company offers a trip that is just about dolphins and swimming with them. I was thinking about doing that- we'll see.

Yesterday, I met Sam and her friends for lunch, and then dinner. Sam is the woman who owns the hacienda where I took the mosaic classes last year. Her friends Terez and Debbie were super nice people. The picture is of us at the beach for lunch. There was a jewelry sales guy and the ladies were busy looking!

The last picture in this group is of some boats we saw at the marine while preparing for whale watching. We thought the guy in the little row boat was too funny! He was paddling with a kayak paddle, backwards in the boat, and if one of the pelicans had landed on his boat, he would have gone under!

I spoke to a guy today

Today was fairly domestic. I spent most of my time helping Andre with some documents he needed to write for work. It's amazing how easy it is to communicate using the Internet, and its kindof weird to do "office" type work here, in Mexico. But that was kindof the plan. This is an adventure, not just a long vacation. So it works for me.

Between writing sessions I went for a walk downtown. I'm very addicted to walking here. It's so nice to walk along the beach, and theres still lots in the city to discover! My mission was to bring some sandals that I brought with me to a local church for donation to the poor. They are Teva sandals that are too used for me, but can still be used by someone less fortunate. (Yes, I'm a bit of a princess when it comes to my feet. Comfort and good shoes are important to me because of my various structural defects. Did you know I have a mild case of scoliosis, my left hip bone is too thin, one of my legs is a bit short, and so I wear orthotics to recuce wear and tear?) Yeah, I know, whatever!!!

While I was standing watching the sunset over the pacific a man stopped and stood beside me. He's from Minnesota and was nice enough. He even bought me a popsicle! Fortunately it was a good popsicle and a great place to be cause HE chatted for about one hour, almost non-stop. I think I managed four sentences during that whole time. He said it was nice to be able to talk to someone cause no one wants to talk. Hmmm I wonder why?

Again, it was all nice except towards the end when he told me about a tour he went on. It was a "red district" tour. Apparently the tour takes clients to four different strip/and related clubs in the city. He described how there were only men "entertainers" at the first club but that it took a few minutes to know they were men. At the second, the ladies charged "only" $1200 pesos per night (about $110 canadian). it seemed like a bargoon to him, but he was too drunk to really be able to use the services offered. At the third place, patrons were expected to buy the "ladies" a drink for their company. Drinks for clients were about $2 each, but the drinks for the "ladies" cost $10 each. I suppose that's one way to pay for the "ladies" time. He didn't say anything about the 4th place but he did say that it was the second time on the tour for one of the clients...

Happily, he really did seem to only want to chat for a while. And it was all very safe because we were on a busy boardwalk.

I do not have a picture of him or of my sandals. But, this is a picture of the "fare box" on the buses here. It costs $65 pesos per ride, about 50 cents canadian. This is also a picture of the local skate shop. I'd really hate to be the guy who has to keep the ice nice here! Notice the people in the back of the pick-up truck!

Little critters

Todays theme is bugs and reptile type critters. When I arrived here, the house was very clean. No sign of any type of critters. This is what I expected because a friend recommended this place and I had seen pictures that gave me confidence that I would be living somewhere decent.

And it is. But it is still the tropics and there are lots of openings to the house, without screens.

On day two, there was a cockroach in my bathroom. I wasn't pleased. Fortunately, Alfredo was here and he killed it for me and cleaned it up. He explained that the place had been fumigated the day before my arrival. And this accounted for the fact that the cockroach was very slow moving. It was.

That night I slept a bit poorly because of the timeshare stupidity (as you may recall) and because I pictured other critters walking across my bed at night. Major YUCK!!!! But there were none and the one roach seemed like an exception.

So far it has been, there have been no other roaches. But, I'm a bit concerned. In the last day or two, there has been more "wildlife" in the house than before. A few teensy ants in the kitchen, a few flies in the bathroom, and the cutest little gecko in the bathroom too. I can live with all of these critters, no problems at all. But, is that a sign that the fumigation effects are wearing off? Will there be other roaches?! When will the landlord fumigate again? Please tell me its sooner than later!

I had a picture of the gecko, but I accidentally deleted it. It turns out there is a way to delete all of the pictures in my camera at one time, I just did it at the wrong time. But I thought you might like the picture of the iguana I saw in the old part of PV. It was one of two that i saw. They were each about 1 meter long. Very cool!!!

A day at Punta Mita Beach

Alfredo and I went to a beach in a very small community called Punta Mita, on the end of the bay. On the whole the day was very calm and relaxed. We had a couple of drinks, swam, and sat around.

But there are a few highlights. The first is that I am no longer a tattoo virgin! OK. It's a temporary henna tattoo, but that counts in my books. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's all I'll ever want. I think there may come a day that the "unmarked ones" will be unique? valued for their unmarked hide? hmmm, maybe that's not so good, but be that as it may, I'm not fond of the idea of injected ink. I tried to take a good picture of my new art, but it's pretty hard to take a picture of your own ankle ....

The second notable event was lunch. I ordered a fried red snapper. I knew it would come whole on my plate, complete with eyes and fins and head. And Alfredo told me that he likes to eat all those parts. But, what I wasn't quite prepared for was his entusiasm. Before I even got to my fish, he had literally scooped/stabbed one of the fried eyes out! Soon after, he took the head and started to eat just about all of it, including the little teeny teeth, what looked like a small brain, and the cheeks. He finished with the tail/fin. It was all so natural to him that it wasn't gross, just fascinating. I guess I'm glad there was no waste.

In case anyone is wondering how I feel about the adventure, I should say "very good" on the whole. I'm super glad to be doing it. But, it's interesting to note that I think I'm going through phases with it. When I first arrived, I felt very apprehensive. Normal enough I guess cause I was exhausted and it was really really hard to say bye to Andre at the airport. Then, once the timeshare stupidity was under control, I had a honeymoon phase. I was thrilled just to be here and walk around and exist here. Now, I'm still glad to have lots of time here, but I'm a bit daunted at the thought of having another 6 weeks here, most of it "by myself".

I'm thinking I have to plan some formal activities like tours and maybe spanish lessons. I've mostly given up on teaching english cause i'm not sure i wanna work that hard and no one is "jumping" at the potential opportunity. I was planning on taking formal spanish lessons, but several people said i should just continue to practice with alfredo and other people i meet. I'm not sure. I also want to spend time planning and preparing my painting company web site. That's very important to me so i gotta make it hap

A little bit of sighseeing in the "real part" of PV

I started today by helping Alfredo to transplant a palm tree for his house - very domestic and nice. It's interesting to compare gardening knowledge/techniques.

Then I walked for a few hours, as is usual so far. I like the touristy areas, but I also like to see the more "real" areas in order to better understand the area, country, and people. It's easy to check out the real areas here cause the city is fairly small and its very safe. The things I saw that were of particular note were an outdoor squash court, a taco making business, some street repair guys, and a cute art shop.

At lunch, I experienced a "weirdness" . I was alone at a table in a small, non-tourist type restaurant. Two people just sat down with me to order and eat their lunch. I guess its a normal practice cause there was another table that seemed to have a "composite" group of patrons. The weird thing was that my "guests" just kept to themselves. They asnwered the few questions that I asked them, but didn't try to talk otherwise. I guess beause of teh language barrier and their personalities. Oh well....

No swimming today, the ocean was too nasty. Apparently, there's been weather in the USA and we're feeling the effects.

It rained today and was a bit chilly...awwww

I know, I'm not gonna get much sympathy from anyone. Yes, it rained and I had to wear a sweater, but I still have my sandals on so I cannot complain at all.

It was a "chill" kindof day. Faxed the stuff to VISA, caught up on emails, studied spanish at a small restaurant while eating "carne con salsa mexicano" (very spicy!), and walked on the beach at sunset. I found out that there's a lifeguard station on the beach not too far from my home. This is good cause I'm trying to swim everyday and, truth be told, the ocean intimidates me a bit. It seems to be always wavy, the breakers are often as tall as me, and there aren't many people in the water. So I swim with a flotation device (a dry bag filled with air tied around my waist with a rope) and I'm gonna get a whistle tomorrow in case I need to draw the lifeguard's attention. While in the water, if I'm in distress of course!

Mind you, Jose, the lifeguard I met today was very sweet and had a lovely smile. I might have to talk to him more, just to practice my spanish of course!!

PS The pictures are the front of my house. I live upstairs in the pink part. The blue part is the balcony. The other image is my street.

I'm starting to get into the groove of things

Hola!

Today was kindof the first non-stressful day of this adventure. I still have some following up to do with VISA and the timeshare mess, but I'm pretty confident that it will be resolved and therefore feeling way less dumb about it.

My "mission" today was to walk to the old part of Puerto Vallarta to look around and visit my host, Alfredo, at his real estate office. There is a main road that connects the neighbouhood I live in to old Vallarta. But, I've walked most of that road several times already and wanted to try the secondary streets. I had a map with me, but wanted to "wing" it. I walked for about 1 hour and thought I was very close to my destination, but wasn't sure about where I was since street signs are often absent here. I was starting to get tired and wanted to be sure of where I was, so I asked a man in a store. Oh my! I had walked almost in circles and was nowhere near close to my destination. I gave in and spent my 50 cents on the bus....

In case you're wondering about Alfredo, he's very nice. He's 46 years old, is Mexican, speaks excellent English, and is very sociable. He's also very tidy so we are compatible that way.

Hasta Luego!

Thank you Profeco and Visa !!

Today was much better than yesterday! Thanks to the Visa (credit card) folks, Profeco (the mexican consumer protection branch), and Alfredo (my house host).

When I told Alfredo that I bought the stupid time share but wanted to cancel the contract, he suggested that I contact Profeco before going back to Royal Holiday because Profeco would "force" Royal Holiday to give me a refund. And without Profeco, Royal Holiday would not likely give the refund to me.

Based on what I saw on the internet, I thought Alfredo was right, I would definitely need a back-up. Fortunately, the Profeco office and the timeshare office are both in walking distance to my "home" so it was easy enough to go between the two places.

As Alfredo said, Profeco prepared a letter for me to give to Royal Holiday. When I arrived at Royal Holiday, I was happy at the impact the letter had. The salespeople went from "sit, lets talk" to "OK we'll give you a refund". Royal Holiday seemed angry that i went to Profeco. I really really hope that it's because Profeco really does have some power. The good thing is that I have a letter stating that Royal Holiday will cancel the contract and provide a refund. The bad thing is that I have to wait 15 days to get it. If they do not issue the refund, I still have 2 tools available: escalate the issue with Profeco or ask Visa to issue a dispute. It might take a while but I think I'll win this battle. Too bad I wasn't clever enough to avoid it in the first place!!!

On a better note, I spent the afternoon at the beach! I swam, did a few exercises, and chatted in Spanish with some of the local "banana boat, parasail, and horse ride guys" who offered to help me if I had problems in the water (the surf was safe but was still intimidating and no one else was in the water). I can't be sure that they didn't do it mostly to sell me stuff, but it was nice and all was well!

The picture are of my "home". It's clean and well located. The balcony is a decent size but the plants are out of control!!! and some are awfully picky!

I should have followed my instincts

Hola!

Day one of my adventure, the travel day, was a bit tough but I received an interesting good omen. My flight was at 6 am so I was pretty tired cause I didn't get much sleep the night before. When I'm tired, I can easily get discouraged and sad, like a small kid. I might have been feeling that way on the flight here, already feeling homesick and wondering what exactly I'm doing. But during the flight, while looking in the "Skymall" catalogue, I saw an ad for personalized "Rosie the Riveter" posters. Amazingly, there was one with my name on it, spelled exactly the way I spell it. Check out the picture! I cut out the page and put it in my wallet. I'll look at it whenever I need to during this adventure!

Unfortunately, I may need some luck fixing what I did today, day two....At the airport here, there is a gauntlet of timeshare people waiting to trap you as you dash for the exit door. Knowing they would give me a free taxi ride, breakfast, and some free activities if I agreed to sit through a time share presentation, I agreed. I was determined to not buy anything, NOTHING!!!! But they're good. They worked me hard. Now, in my defence, I made sure there was an escape clause in the contract that would enable me to get a refund if I wanted it. When I got back "home", I checked them on the Internet-Royal Holidays. Tomorrow, I will go there and demand my $ back. I expect it will be OK. I have 2 big tools to help me. First, the contract says I paid $2000 more than I did as a deposit. My VISA wouldn't let me pay more, but the contract was already printed. And, I have lots of time to stand at the hotel and tell all potential clients that Royal Holidays has LOTS of complaints against them on the US Complaints Web page. (http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/royal-holiday-club-c12248.html)

Wish me luck!!!!

A preview of things to come

There are four days before I leave for PV. I'm excited and a bit scared. I'm looking forward to leaving the snow and cold behind - I can almost feel the sun and warm air.

But, I've truly enjoyed the time off I''ve had here. It was nice to get a chance to do research and think and get things done. But I'm especially grateful for all of the support everyone has given me. Hopefully this internet thing will work and we really can keep in touch.