Mexico at the Beach

THE SCOOP: we moved into our pad last Wednesday. We are in Bucerias (the "s" is silent), 18 km north of Puerto Vallarta (PV) airport. Bucerias (pop 5,000) is low key: Mexican, cobblestone streets, lots of trees & flowers, main square on the ocean and an endless brown sand beach (good swimming). Two Mariachi bands roam the 5 or 6 seafront restaurants each day. Our holiday apartment is 3 short blocks from the beach and about 10 mins. walk from the main square. We are up a hill affording ocean, mountain, palm tree and sunset views. We have 2 bedrooms, DAILY MAID SERVICE (in our dreams), hot water, a full sized fridge that keeps the beer cold, a roof-top terrace (with commanding view of the bay) and a small swimming pool. It is fairly quiet: at night we listen to crickets, geckos, the ocean and the twirling of the ceiling fan. Mexican music prevailed on Saturday evening. There are no mosquitos. It is a half hour bus ride into the attractive city of Puerto Vallarta. To the north are some beautiful beaches which we have not yet visited. We swim every day. Our caretaker is called Jesus ("hey Zeus").

WHAT IS THE CATCH? The apartment furnishings are basic but adequate: bare light bulbs dangling from the ceiling (we later made lampshades), plastic table and chairs and the ugliest red vinyl couch in Christiandom. The area around the pool needs a paint job and clean-up (hopefully later in Nov). It is still warm (30-32C) but will slowly cool to 27C by January. The beach was affected by a September storm and lost sand and damaged some waterfront patios and stairs. The beach towards town is a little scruffy. The ocean water is still churned up from the rainy season; apparently, the water will become clear once the rivers dry up in Nov-Dec. The nearby resorts issue plastic bracelets to their guests in order to keep the riff-raff (us) from crashing their facilities. Tequila prices are high (crop failure) but Bacardi rum is cheap.

It is not paradise here. The beaches are not the world´s best but life ain't too bad here.

FOR THE RECORD

Banana Index: 10 for 1 USD

Tortilla Index: 2-3 kilos for 1 USD

Cucaracha (cockroach) count: 2 (in our apartment)

We passed the 3 month mark at the beach in ONE place. It has been a "grind"; day in, day out.

The daily "grind": Sunshine. 28C. A couple of hours under the palm trees at the beach. Swimming with pelicans. Reading, scrabble or tile rummy. Sunsets from the terrace. Banana flambés. Weekly trips into Puerto Vallarta. Low-tide coastal walks. Excursions to other beaches.

The "Villa": We are very happy with our comfortable apartment (Vista Mar, Bucerias) with its excellent view of the bay. Sheila´s home decorating skills were put to work, wall hangings, cushions and the innovative use of chicken wire for light shades. The antics of the superintendent (Jesus) provide endless entertainment.

Fiesta; The two week Bucerias fair in January was exhausting for most. We had a real midway, fireworks day and night, cultural events, plenty of drinking and ear plug defying live music that ran till 3:00 a.m.. To our relief, the burro barracho (drunken donkey) served free punch and gut wrenching cane liquor but the donkey didn't have to drink any of it. With all the activity, the local dog population became hoarse and needed a couple of days to sleep it off.

The real story of Jesus

The propane tank (cooking and hot water) lasts 5 days only. When it runs out, Jesus knocks on a tenant´s door, borrows money then disappears into town for an indefinite period and sometimes returns with a full tank. The tenants formed a gas fund last week.

- Jesus didn't pay the electricity bill in October. Our power was cut-off. Jesus ran a thin cord across the street to pull power from the neighbours. Jesus supposedly visited the power company and paid the bill, they promised power would be reinstated mañana. To this day (3 months on) we get our power from across the street.

- Jesus double booked several apartments for the winter with repeated assurances that the apartments were available. In one case (a sad and comic story) an unusual turn of events saved his skin.

- The story of Jesus falling out of a palm tree while saving his fighting rooster and the episode of his wife dragging him home at 4:00 a.m. from his mistress are now all local legends.

FOR THE RECORD

2001 tent nights: 1

Cockroach count: 2 (none seen since we first moved in)

Power outages: too many to count

WHERE: We picked Bucerias on the recommendation of a friend who had lived there a couple of years ago. It has plenty of pluses (proximity to Puerto Vallarta, decent beach, cleanliness, etc.) but we'd recommend Rincon de Guayabitos (40 km further north) with its better beaches, less expensive restaurants and more Mexican flavour. Other Alternatives would include the Barra de Navidad/Melaque area. Further south, the climate gets noticeably hotter (e.g. Puerto Escondido) and would be another choice. Further north (e.g. Mazatlan) temperatures cool and the American influence increases.

COSTS: We paid about 400 USD/month for our apartment (utilities included)and all other living costs were about 450 USD/month for two of us. Most other visitors spent more than us: we didn't eat out much. Mexico is reasonable but no longer a cheap destination.

FINDING ACCOMMODATION: We wandered the streets and made inquiries. The reasonably priced accommodation was in short supply. Bargains are hard to find by January. Rental properties listed on the internet are normally high end properties.

FOOD SHOPPING: There is a surprisingly good selection of foodstuffs available in Mexico, especially in larger centres (e.g. Puerto Vallarta). Many foods are cheaper than in the USA or Canada. Vegetables, fruit and fish are still bargains. Booze prices are lowish. Buy beer by the carton of 20!

WHAT TO BRING: Recreational & pastimes materials are useful and not always available locally (or of mediocre quality). That might include surf boards, boogie boards, snorkeling equipment, swim goggles, FM radio. The obvious personal stuff, clothing, etc: we rarely wore socks or long pants. We bought playing cards locally and made our own backgammon game, tile rummy and scrabble games from local materials. We read about a book a week. There are used english book stores and some book-exchanges around.

OUTFITTING AN APARTMENT: Other than furniture (provided), this is a basic list of household and kitchen items required for a 3-5 month stay. Apartments will provide varying amounts and quality of these items. More expensive accommodation would provide more that our place did. The items with a "*" were supplied by our particular apartment. The balance was purchased locally and cost about 150 USD.

ITEMS WE WOULD REQUIRE (for future reference):

· bed sheets, bed covers, pillows, pillow cases *

· plates, bowls, glasses, mugs*

· cutlery (forks, spoons, knives)*

· 2 cutting knives, peeler

· cutting board*

· large serving spoon*

· 2-3 cooking pots (* supplied but of poor quality)

· frying pan and plastic spatula

· colander

· plastic water basin (dish washing, vegie cleaning, etc)

· plastic salad bowl

· variety of plastic, ceramic bowl (for food prep, fruit baskets, etc)

· plastic juice pitcher

· plastic juicer

· small selection of "Tupperware" containers (also used jars, yogurt containers)

· vinyl table cloth

· sponges, absorbent cloths

· plastic bucket (laundry soaking)

· 2 pot holders

· coffee maker (portable plastic cone or machine)

· tea towels

· coat hangers

· cleaning supplies- broom, mop, fluids, maid service!

· tortilla warmer/holder

· two folding chairs for the beach

· other items might include: toaster, blender, garlic press, Bbq

VISAS: Whilst tourists are welcome end eligible for a 6 month stay, visitors arriving by air are mostly given 30 or 80 day visas. A "migracion" office granted us an extension to the full 180 days without charge, but other tourists were required to pay 20USD for their extensions. Visitors by land seemed to get 180 days.

GETTING THERE: Some Americans and Canadians drive down to Mexico, requiring a surprising amount of gasoline. Mexico is well served by buses and taxis so a car is not essential. Reasonable 6 month return air tickets are available from the airlines. Canadians are catered to by charter flights for short stays: over-stayers can return on expired tickets on a stand-by basis for $350 Cdn. Airline frequent flyer points are useful to fly either to Mexico or US cities close to the Mexican border. We flew into Puerto Vallarta (cheap charter) and flew out Houston using airline points.

FOOD HYGIENE: 19 litres jugs (garrofones) of drinking water are home delivered. We soaked lettuce and cilantro in clean water with a few drops of iodine. We washed other fruits and vegies in tap water and allowed them to dry. Mexican hygiene has come a long way: Americans and Canadians eat imported Mexican produce without home sterilization, so why get paranoid while in Mexico?