Days Go By

The days seem to blend together as the time in Bucerias adds up. A few nights back, we headed into town and decided to have dinner on the beach in front of the plaza. We got settled in at a table on the sand where we watched people passing by and horsemen trying to get tourists to go ride on their horses. Our evening entertainment: drunken tourists staggering down into the waves, families burying each other in the sand and an impromptu dog fight right in front of the tourists ordering up their shrimp plates and margaritas. 

We had come in on the shuttle figuring to have a leisurely meal and then hit the AA meeting afterwards. The Fat Boy restaurant added a whole ‘nother layer of leisurely to our schedule. About 45 minutes into the dining experience, we realized we weren’t going anywhere else but here for the rest of the evening. It was o.k. though, we were both feeling a little funky and witnessing the pit bull showdown didn’t help PJ’s overall outlook on the night.

The food finally arrived and PJ’s fish was surprisingly good. We took our time, soaking in the sunset and the gently lapping waters of Bahia de Banderas. In an effort to ameliorate the long wait for our meal and encourage a more generous tip, the waiter brought us a couple of Kahlua and cream shots. PJ and I just laughed and flogged them off on a couple of honeymooners at a nearby table.

One day, we did a major wandering around the quiet country neighborhood behind the Colibri resort. Lots of Canadians and Yankees have erected fancy homes in the bucolic pastureland about a kilometer up from the beach. Interesting combination of expensive luxury vacation homes abutting old school Mexican campesino homesteads. Just past a gentile marble fronted villa, a couple of shirtless cowboys were smoking a fat spliff and feeding their chickens with the stereo cranking out ranchero ballads.

The dogs were digging the outing and the extra fresh air. Nothing like a big sniff of musk du donkey to get a dogs heart rate going.

This week brings a festival to Bucerias blessing the fishermen and shining God’s love onto their watercraft. A big street fair with rustic carnival rides and awesome homespun pyrotechnics has ascended onto the downtown streets. Thirty foot towers of bamboo and gunpowder are erected in the town square and at ten o’clock, a match is put to the fuse to create an eruption of explosions, sparks and spinning wheels that occasionally come loose and go flying through the energetic crowds.

We strolled past the carney games and petted a hairless dog before hitting the plaza for a plate of Reina’s famous fish tacos. The locals are partying heartily and the kids are frolicking all over the park, going on rides and jumping on the double decker trampolines set up on the main drag. Traffic has been thick as half the roads are closed for the wide array of vendors: food stalls, game booths, cheesy souvenirs and entertainers. Occasionally, there are parades where even more roadways are shut down leaving drivers to figure out an alternate route. The entire festival will culminate next week when a torch bearing boat leads all the fishing vessels onto the sand where the village priest will bless all of the boats for the coming season.

Other than a few visits to the plaza, we have been keeping busy going to Spanish school and packing things up to move to a different casita. Some folks have had reservations for Casa Cereza since last year, so we have to vacate the premises. We’ll be heading over to another casita, a two story apt., for a week or so then into the RV for a few weeks, then into at least three other houses before finally settling back in to our spot for the long term. I call it our witness protection program. Don’t keep us in one place for too long. We are actually looking forward to moving over to Lo de Marcos for the months of March and April then back to Los Arroyos Verdes for May and June. After that we’ll figure out the next move in our master plan.