My good friend and classmate, Wayne from Canada, was also not there this week because he ended up in the hospital over the weekend with a horrible kidney infection. But we did meet up after my class on Tuesday for coffee. He was extremely pleased and impressed with the level of care that he received at the small private hospital that will also be our hospital of choice here. For an emergency room visit, consultations with 2 specialists, blood work, and CT scan, his total bill was 2000 pesos or $150 US! Nice to hear this information first hand.
Tuesday evening Mike and I went to the PCC (Paradise Community Center) to watch Mud, a wonderful movie with Matthew McCanoughy. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! Every Tuesday night during high season, they show first rate movies right here in Old Town for only 60 pesos or $4.50/each. Add in a glass of wine, one beer, and a big bowl of popcorn and the total bill was $16 for both of us. Great entertainment with friends in a wonderful venue and right around the corner from home. Hard to beat!
Mexico has it's own "groupon" called Cupocity. Mike and I had been reviewing the Dailey offers but hadn't really checked it out until we saw an offer for 1 exfoliation, 1 relaxing massage, & 1 hydrating treatment all for $276 pesos rather than the usual $680 pesos - that's only $21 US for each of us. Since we were due for our monthly massage, we decided to try the program out.
So Wednesday afternoon off we went to get our coupons printed out and make our way down toward the salon, only a half block from the beach. Well, after 75 minutes of being scrubbed, rubbed, and oiled, I was a very relaxed happy camper. Mike would have preferred a long massage only. Still a good value that I will certainly take advantage of again. Nice having these little perks along the way to help keep expenses down.
Not feeling like going home just yet, we made our way over to NU, a tapas bar/restaurant that is in our new neighborhood, and had drinks while people watching. While there we started talking to two lovely ladies next to us, Kim and Jackie, from Kamloops, BC, Canada. We hit it off immediately and had a marvelous discussion about lots of things.
Then, low and behold, our good friend, Mel Enge, showed up with a good Facebook friend of mine that I've never met, JB Good. We were actually not supposed to see each other until Thursday night but JB's hotel is in the same neighborhood and right across the street from our new place. Anyway, it was a most wonderful meetup with lots of hugs and kisses. Mike has come to find these meetings a nice side benefit to my facebooking and one of the reasons he finally joined. He had actually befriended JB not that long ago, so he was totally looking forward to getting to know him too.
After sunset, everyone departed and went their own way. Mike and I decided to go upstairs and listen to the wonderful bluesy music of Chris Kenny for the first time. What a wonderful treat! And, while there having some wonderful food, in came David Guillmete, who hales from upstate NY but lives here and our good friend, Cindy Ramirez, who lives across the street. Not only do we love PV but we're really falling in love with our new neighborhood and all it has to offer. Can't wait to move in!!
Thursday was just a sit by the pool in the sun kind of day. Haven't had allot of those but have been finding time to just enjoy the sunbathing while plugged into my music. Have also enjoyed getting to know our Canadian neighbors, Barb and Jeff, more. And we're happy to hear that they will be staying close to us when they come next year.
The original plan had been that we - Mel, Jack, and us - were supposed to get together Thursday evening but Mel got a bit of food poisoning and wasn't able to make it. So Jack, Mike, and I met up at NU again. After a sunset drink, off we went in search of food. Place of choice turned out to be Langostino's where we go for expat Happy Hour every other week but had never eaten there. A nice surprise, as we found the food not bad at all with some nice guitar music to serenade us all.
What's been really fun is watching Jack fall in love with PV. He's never been here but has traveled to Costa Rico and Ecuador. In fact, that's how we became Facebook friends was through the Ecuador expat site.
And, then it was Saturday - moving day! After packing and cleaning, Mike went to let our landlord know we were ready for our final inspection so we could get our security deposit back. David, Anna and Jess traipsed through and gave us the thumbs up. So Mike went down the stairs with David expecting to get our money back, as agreed. Well, that didn't happen even after having given our months notice. The story goes that the accountant went on vacation to Australia and won't be back until April 3rd. So it looks like Mike will be haunting David on April 3rd.
But I have to say that the move went well and we were thrilled that we didn't have to hassle with a taxi. Mel you are a gem!! Gracias, mi amigo!!
This post is a bit late because the Internet at the resort stinks!! Which is why there aren't more pictures in this update. More about that in the next post.
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