Feliz Navidad

Thanksgiving for us this year was dinner with a few friends in a tiny Mexican restaurant, and although the weather forecast looked promising, it started to rain that afternoon. So we had Thanksgiving dinner on the beach in the rain. The owner of the restaurant did his best to make sure the last-minute cover that he put up kept us reasonably dry. He also did an outstanding job with providing a traditional meal of turkey, stuffing and potatoes with gravy. 

Guadalupe float

Food stands in main plaza

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the 12-day festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This festival seems to be more important than Christmas for most Mexicans and it has just finished. Every day is filled with parties, and there’s always a copious amount of food. People from PV and surrounding villages form groups, whether from church, school or work and walk in processions through town in the evenings ending at the Guadalupe Cathedral.
The main plaza next to the church was jam-packed with stands offering food; there’s music and dancing and, of course, numerous fireworks. At 9.00pm, the church bells ring continuously for about 15 minutes and the people who had formed the processions go into the cathedral for blessings and a service. Everything culminates around that time, so there’s music and lots of other noises all happening at once. We only attended two of the nights as it’s a complete assault to the senses!

Pork Pastor tacos

Trying out the cheek cabeza taco

Another staple of Mexican life in PV is the taco stand. There is one positioned on nearly every corner. Recently one evening, we decided to take a walking tour where we ate at six different street taco stands, had churros (fried dough) at another and then finished it off with a glass of raicilla, a homegrown version of tequila or mescal (Jalisco’s version of moonshine). This provided us with a real flavor of Puerto Vallarta. The tacos here in Mexico generally use a type of corn flour, and are soft -nothing like the hard shells that are found in the US. Our tastings consisted of fillings ranging from red snapper and marlin to pork and beef. Steve was much more courageous than I and tried the cheek and tongue cabeza (from the head of a cow). Most of the locals eat at a taco stand a few times a week, and they all have their favorites. It’s considered some of the best food in PV. It took me a bit to get past my concern over possible cleanliness issues but now that I have, I have to agree that the food is excellent!

Yeah! Treat time!!

It’s beginning to feel as if we are now living here, rather than just being on an extended holiday. Our days are getting busier with a variety of activities, and it’s not just because of Christmas coming up. There are so many charity events, and the expat community is very social, so there’s always a lunch or dinner to attend. One of the charities that we will be supporting is a no-kill cat shelter, PURR Project, so we went on a tour of the “ranch” (1/2 acre) last week. There are 150+ cats at any one time, and when we arrived, they all came running because they know that visitors mean food! We each were given a small bag of treats to give out as we wanted. It was tough leaving without taking one or more back with us but we knew that our two wouldn’t tolerate a feline addition to our family.

Visiting the nursery

Love this little one-eyed wonder

PURR has several fund raising events, one of which is a luau on the beach that was held last Friday evening. Unfortunately, the rain gods decided to spice up their evening by making us their entertainment. It rained cats and dogs the whole evening (pun intended). People huddled under palapas, but they didn’t keep out much of the rain, especially if you were near the edge as I was. We didn’t get to watch the dancers that were planned, but it was still a fun evening and one that will be remembered for a long time. Come to think of it, eating on the beach in the rain seems to have become a theme for us. The next big fundraiser will be a fashion show in January, in which I will be participating. The best part is that I get to try on a lot of new clothes. Please let the weather be dry that day as part of it is being held outdoors.

Adding the toppings

Perfection -- and happy chef!

Steve has been honing his bread making skills and is, of course, approaching it very scientifically. This means that more days than not, we have a lump of dough on the counter or proving somewhere under cover. I do have to laugh at his use of a cooking thermometer inserted into dough and experimenting with proving times, temperatures, and amount of yeast, etc. He’s happy and our home constantly smells like freshly baked bread, which would be great except just the smell makes me gain 20 pounds. He’s still making pizza and we recently had friends over for a pizza night where he tried out a couple of new toppings. Each pizza was a big hit and he has already had requests for a repeat performance.

So, it’s now only a few days left ‘til Christmas and this one is going to be a bit different. We’ve spent Christmases in tropical locations before but, this is now our new “normal”; so it’s good bye to the cold and sometimes snow. Doesn't mean we won't visit cold and snow in the future but for now we are happy in the tropics. The stores here are filled with all of the Christmas decorations you could ever want but the little snowmen kind of don’t fit in. Rather than shopping for presents, we’ve had to either transfer money to a bank account or order gift cards. Where’s the fun in that? There won’t be any lovely Christmas cards to open this year as all those also have to be electronic. Any that were sent will probably arrive sometime next spring, if at all. We are having a friend come over for Christmas dinner and we’ll have a lovely day but it will be a quiet one. That’s not to say that it won’t be menos que maravilloso navidad (less than wonderful), it’s just going to be different.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and enjoy your time with those you love! 

Wishing you peace, joy and love!

Deseándoles paz, alegría y amor!

 

 

 

 

Tremendous Tequila Express Adventure

Guadalajara Cathedral

Steve’s birthday celebrations finished with a “smashing time” in more than one sense of the word! We drove the windy roads to Guadalajara for the weekend, arriving early Friday afternoon since we wanted to get in a bit of shopping before our big event of the weekend. The big event was a day-long trip to Tequila on the Jose Cuervo Tequila Express train. Practical things like mixing bowls and a proper pastry brush for Steve’s bread making plus some proper bread flour topped our list. We managed all of those and I managed to get a wonderfully smelling candle and some diffuser oils. Not very exciting!

That evening we headed to el centro (town center) where we were met with a complete assault to our senses with so many sounds and wonderful smells! At the heart of el centro is the Cathedral with its twin towers and central dome.

Fountain in front of Cathedral

It’s surrounded by plazas, all filled with people. Shops were still busy at 8 pm; tiny stalls were selling food every few feet; venders in little make shift stalls in the middle of the pedestrian streets were selling articles of every imaginable sort, it was almost too much to take it all in. We watched a couple of dances performed by an indigenous Indian (not sure what tribe). The energy that he devoted to the dances was just unbelievable. It left us exhausted just watching. Then we were hungry, so we went off in search of a restaurant. 

Ready to board

Saturday morning, we started off with a hot Mexican breakfast. I’d read the VIP car we’d booked had an open bar so I thought it wise not to begin on an empty stomach. We began the boarding process at 9.30, and as we were the first of 7 cars to board, we had plenty of time to settle in. The first glass of our on board tasting was waiting for us as we boarded. We were very good and didn’t take a sip until the tasting started. Soon we met and started talking to the lovely couple across from us, Gus and Veronica. But as Veronica sat down, she knocked over one of the tasting glasses, so my first taste ended up as a lap full of tequila. Not to worry – it was quickly replaced. 

The train pulled out of the station around 10.15 so only 15 minutes late. Not bad for Mexican time.

Agave fields everywhere you look

Our tasting started immediately with a blanco tequila, which has a more harsh flavor as it hasn’t been aged for as long. It also has the most alcohol. What a way to begin our tequila adventure! Although the village of Tequila is only 65 kilometers northwest of Guadalajara, the train slowly wound its way through vast fields of the blue agave plants. There were so many fields that in looking into the distance, they almost formed a blue haze looking leading off towards the mountains. As our trip progressed, we had two more tastings that were smoother and more mellow, the repesado and añejo. Following the tastings, margaritas flowed continuously for the next hour and a half until we reached Tequila. There was a well-planned snack about 30 minutes before we arrived. I think they wanted to be sure that wouldn’t have to carry anyone off.

We were divided into groups for the Jose Cuervo tour, and as most tours are in Spanish, we were in with some other English speaking visitors.

Ovens for roasting the agave

The tour was fascinating as we learned about the whole process, from harvesting the piña (the core of the agave), to cooking it in the ovens and then the distilling process. We also were offered a taste of the tequila just after the first distilling process, and it’s enough to really knock your socks off! A full 55 – 60% alcohol. One tiny sip that burned all the way down was enough for me. Then we went off to the barrels where the tequila is aged to develop the flavors of the wood and become the reposado and the añejo. Before heading off to our tasting at the Jose Cuervo factory, we were taken to the Reserva de la Familia, a cellar where some of the bottles and barrels of tequila from 200 years ago are kept.

Reserva de la Familia

During the tasting, we were taught how to taste and drink the tequila and were also taught how important the smell is. Everything you’ve been told about licking the salt and lime juice and then slamming down a shot is totally wrong. But then, that is usually done with a lower quality of tequila so maybe quickly slamming it down is the best way. One of the unique things we learned is that you can tell a respectable quality tequila by pouring a little into your hand and rubbing your hands together. The tequila should feel smooth and not sticky. A high quality tequila should be sipped and savored, which is what we did during the tasting. 

learning about tequila

Lunch was on our own so we made our way to a tiny little local restaurant and neither of us knew for sure exactly what we ordered. Steve had some taco dish, and when they were served, they were green. He couldn't tell what they were made of. I ordered tacos that I was pretty sure had beans in them but wasn’t sure what else. My dish was just little soft tacos with a tiny bit of refried beans in them. Nothing else, not even a sauce to spice them up or to help with the dryness. And to drink? A margarita, of course.

Following lunch, we had time to wander through an open market where venders sold items made from the leftover fiber from the agave plants. Jose Cuervo gives the fiber to the locals for their crafts. Most of the items are small things like woven bracelets and braided necklaces. An older woman at one of the stalls was crocheting a little bag, and her fingers were flying. These people are so creative to be able to make things from the leftover fiber.

Next, it was time to head to the Mexican show, but we weren’t sure of the start time, and we didn’t know where it was. Steve and I heard two different times from the announcement at the end of our tour, but we weren't sure exactly what time related to what. Since it was announced in Spanish and very quickly, we knew it was either 4.00 or 4.30. And neither of us caught the location. We knew the general direction, and that was about it. Following some people down a pedestrian street, we kept thinking there should be a lot more people making their way to the show, but we continued on. Once we got closer, we could hear some instruments warming up, so we followed their sound.

Mariachi band warming up

el jimador

Mariachi began in Jalisco and it’s very popular with all Mexicans. The 11-piece band played only some of the favorites and people in the audience were singing along with the band. The deafening sound filled the huge auditorium. Before the dancers came on stage, we had a demonstration from a jimador (a Mexican expert in agave growing) showed us how the agave is harvested. The whole “story” of the jimadors and the harvesting process was in Spanish, but one of the Jose Cuervo hostesses saw us in the audience and came and sat with us so that she could interpret. It was quite an involved and fascinating story. Once the leaves had all been removed and the piña (the core of the agave) split, it was time for dancing.

Flurry and swirls of color

Four couples provided us with traditional Mexican dances. The vibrant colors of women’s dresses were beautiful as they swirled around during their dances. The grand finale was a crowd favorite - the Mexican hat dance, and as they finished, a small cannon exploded and confetti rained down on the stage! We also had extra-large sparklers going off as the confetti floated down. The show was a spectacular end to the tour and it was time to head back to the train.

Our ride back gave us a chance to meet up with Veronica and Gus again and we talked the whole trip back while being supplied with more margaritas. At one point, the train slightly swerved while our table was filled with glasses, my (unopened) water bottle fell into a couple of the margarita glasses, smashing one of the glasses and knocking the precious tequila into Gus’ lap and on Veronica’s game card. At the time, we were playing a crazy game of Mexican lottery (similar to bingo at a very fast pace) and Veronica didn’t even stop as she was frantically trying to win. We had such a great time and lots of laughs.

Gus and Veronica waiting for their margaritas

As we got close to arriving back, we were given one last taste, and they had saved the best to last. We had the Jose Cuervo premium tequila, Reserva de la Familia. It was superb!

If you are anywhere close to Guadalajara, definitely take the Jose Cuervo tour.  It’s a must, and you should book the VIP car as that’s the one with the open bar to and from Tequila. It’s the only way to go!

More photos from Tequila Express trip https://plus.google.com/photos/102840684536112573599/albums/6215228592012444945

More photos from Guadalajara https://plus.google.com/photos/102840684536112573599/albums/6215250536757082801

Un Frenesí de Actividad

The one on the right is the scary one!

The past month flew by in a whirl and immediately after Independence Day on the 16th, red, white and green decorations were replaced by Dia de Muertos decorations. Witches, ghosts, pumpkins and more Halloween decorations are also available in several stores. Here in Mexico, there’s always a reason for a party, and Halloween and Dia de Muertos (2nd of November) is a great way of extending both holidays. Skulls and skeletons are shared by both holidays, but the meanings and ways of celebrating are very different.

We are enjoying an extremely social time with several friends. Our anniversary and my birthday fall in September, and since I had Spanish class on both dates, I baked a coffee cake and chocolate chip cookies to share with classmates. Our teacher sang the Mexican birthday song to me, and it went on forever. It seems the full version goes on for about 20 verses, but he only sang the first few.

Our anniversary lunch was a traditional meal for two at a restaurant overlooking the Malecon. Rather than reminiscing, we spent part of the afternoon trying to come up with costume ideas for a party that night that while having lunch we’d just decided to attend. Some friends were hosting a pizza and movie night with a showing of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  We were to come in costume which would be judged for prizes of 30 pesos (all of US $2). At such short notice I couldn't come up with anything other than jeans, so we focused on Steve’s costume. Not having a brown serape that we could think of, I dug out a scarf (later we found a blanket that would have been perfect). Both of us combed the Internet for mustache templates – yes, the pun is intended and with our creative juices flowing, Steve worked on his mustache. I found some “Hollywood tape” to hold it on (it’s what the stars use to hold their various clothes into strategic place) and made him a cigar from some brown paper from my card making supplies.

You can't miss "The Bad" one in the middle

We were attaching the mustache and scarf at the last minute as we got off the elevator to arrive at the party. When Steve walked into the room with his over the top mustache and cigar everyone broke into fits of hysteria – partly because of the costume but also because it’s the opposite of Steve’s personality. It was no contest as he won the prize as “The Bad”.

On my birthday, we went to dinner at a restaurant on a hill overlooking the bay. It was a beautiful evening with great lighting, great food and the church bells ringing in the distance. The grand finale for our meal was Mexican coffee made and served with a flourish! 

Flaming Mexican coffee

Mexican birthday cake

Two days later we met a group of people called the Friday Foodies. It’s a group that meets at a different restaurant each Friday for dinner. Our Foodies group is a fantastic way to get to know people and sample some restaurants so we can decide where to go back. The Foodies gave me a cake while the waiters sang happy birthday to me and this time it was the English version. The lights went out for a while due to one of our monsoons, and when it came time to leave, it was still pouring. Since we had no umbrella, we stayed on with a couple of friends and had another drink until the rain slowed to a drizzle.

When do we get to the tasting?

A couple of days later we joined in a “Mystery Tour” with a couple of friends and had an entertaining evening. When we booked it, we had no idea what was going to happen but it was loads of fun. It didn’t hurt that the organizers provided unlimited drinks on the coach. We started with a tequila tasting and were given samples while being told all about the different tequilas and how they are processed. We progressed a few kilometers farther for drinks at the botanical gardens where we had front row seats at the hummingbird feeder while sipping extra-large margaritas. 

We also found out later that we were a full-blown meal for lots of biting bugs. Our friend calls them “no-see-ms” because you can’t see, hear or feel them and the next morning you wake up with big welts that sometimes itch. Following the botanical gardens, we traveled to a tiny little village where we had a true Mexican dinner at a little mama and papa restaurant. They pulled out the stops and dinner was fantastic! Plied with plenty of drinks all evening, several in the group decided to sing on our way back to PV. One of the organizers sang some lovely Mexican songs while some gringos in the group should have just listened.

We’ve joined friends for more lunches, afternoons and dinners and we are enjoying getting to know them more. They all keep telling us that it’s been quiet - just wait until the season starts but I’m getting the feeling that the season is now beginning. We’ve had several cruise liners come into port over the past week where before it was only one a week. Stores that were closed during September are opening up, and downtown seems quite a lot busier already. I’m not sure that I’m ready for the town to be busier. I want the stores that I’ve been waiting for to open, but don’t want to have to deal with mobs of gringos. Yes, I’m already being possessive about my pueblo.

Normally it rains in the late afternoon but it’s been unusually dry. When it rains it comes down like a monsoon. So far it hasn’t stopped any of our activities although we almost had to swim back to our coach after our tequila tasting. We keep waiting for cooler weather with less rain but it's not happening.  When we’ve visited here in the summer before it was hot but not so humid, and it would cloud up every afternoon and then rain around 4.00pm. This summer because it’s been "unusually" hot and humid, we seem to have a constant heat haze with only a few clear days. I’m desperate for the “normal” beautiful autumn weather!

In the two short weeks that we had a reprieve from Spanish classes, Steve has spent an enormous amount of time in getting our various TV systems to work as we'd like. Nothing is straightforward, and our expat friends all have various means of “it’s not legal but not illegal” systems for getting English speaking channels, but they all seem to be Canadian. Steve has been working overtime on getting ours set up so that we can get British channels. Telmex doesn’t make it easy for a reason – called dinero! Something that we are desperate to find is a DVR but it has to be one that’s programed for Canada since that’s the main system we are using. Steve found one but the cost would have been about the same as a return flight to Canada and a purchase.

Steve's - best pizza in Puerto Vallarta!

We have also been getting ready for some hobbies. Thanks to being able to get some British programms (programs for those of you in the US), we are watching the Great British Bake Off which is inspiring Steve to delve into baking bread. It’s been a challenge to find the right ingredients, not to mention the actual challenge of making the bread. He’s downloaded some books from Paul Hollywood, one of the judges.

I’ve decided to resurrect a sewing hobby so we went in search of a sewing machine. I purchased one at a great price but of course, all of the instructions are in Spanish so it meant a google search for the manual in English. Recently my trip to a fabric store was a whole different experience from the US. For one thing, they don’t speak any English. Let’s face it, gringos don’t come to Mexico to sew, do they? You can’t pick up a bolt of fabric – you have to get an attendant (usually a teenage boy) to come to the bolt and you tell them how much you want. Of course, everything is in meters, not yards. The attendant cuts it for you and gives you a printout with the fabric info and price on it and then you take that to the cashier (caja) to pay. Once you’ve paid, you take your receipt to another desk, and they give you the fabric. When it comes to thread, it’s the same procedure – you don’t just pick up a spool of thread, you give your fabric to an attendant, and she will find the thread that matches and will give you a piece of paper. You take the paper to the same cashier you visited a few minutes ago and then go back to the pickup desk to get your thread. There are no dress patterns in any of the fabric stores, so thankfully, you can now download patterns from the Internet although it takes about 65 sheets of paper to print them off. Then you have to put all the sheets together to form the pattern pieces.

You would think we would have loads of time on our hands to just sit by the pool but this hasn’t been the case. For one thing, it’s been too hot and the sun too strong. And I can’t imagine this has been the quiet time of the year but I guess we are still learning every time we venture out just for a shopping trip.

PS -- the title for this post - Un Frenesí de Actividad just means a flurry of activity, which pretty much sums up this past month. So far, PV has been everything we wanted and more. In spite of some days where we have almost 100% humidity and constant scavenger hunts when shopping and the grueling Spanish conjugation, we’ve enjoyed every single day.