Oh What a Week!! Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

It's now been another week of getting the run around from our previous landlord.  He's come up with so many different stories that I've lost count.  How truly disappointing it is.  But we're not the first and won't be the last that this happens to.  However, we're not going away!! 

We met with our legal advisor again this morning and he said, after reviewing our lease and receipts given to us by the landlord, that the receipts aren't valid because he didn't use an "official" form. Who knew??  So the next step is that the landlord will be presented with a "legal" form stating that he owes us our $1,050US/12,870 pesos by May 7 or he will incur a 6% DAILY penalty.  If he doesn't sign this or if he doesn't pay after signing, we will go to Ixtapa (a small town) outside of PV where the prison is and we will file for a mediator to meet with us and rule.  You really don't want to go through the whole legal process, as it's laborious, time consuming, and costly.  Hmm, just like in the states.  So stay tuned as this adventure unfolds.

Mid week we went and picked out our drapery material for our triple wide sliding glass doors that go out to the terrace.  We found the fabric in a small local neighborhood shop rather than in one of the much larger Parisiana shops.  We were quite surprised at the lack of tasteful colorful fabrics in the larger shop.  But love the vibrant colors and pattern of the one we picked out!  All total for material, rod, and custom sewn we spent only $60  US and the actual sewing was a mere $12 US.  It's times like this that you just pause.  

Friday evening we met up with Bo and Dora DuBose, our blog followers, for happy hour at the Signature Lounge at the Pinnacle.  We hadn't been in a couple of weeks and they had never been there.  Love being able to introduce new people to new places and events here!  And, of course, we had some great 2x1 quality drinks and the only place that offers a very good wine at happy hour prices - 65 pesos - $5 for 2.

 

 

After watching a beautiful sunset, we walked down the hill into the Olas Altas area of Old Town.  They hadn't really explored this area either yet but knew they definitely would be after seeing the vibrancy of it at night. 

Our destination was to go to Nacho Daddy's to listen to Sean Moore and his Texas Blues Band and a bit of dancing.  We had a wonderful evening with lots of good laughs and many stories being shared.

But our evening was definitely not over!  After stopping in at Roxy's, we decided the music was just way too loud for us, so we moved on down to the Malecón.  Mike and I had not been out enjoying the town this late since we got here.  The club that pulled us in was Punto V with it's very good live rock band and lush appointments.  We definitely rocked on with our bad selves until 2am.  Seems that town was just coming alive.  Too bad, these older bones needed a rest!

 

 

This past week there was also the International Azteca Folklore Dancing competition.  It began with a beautiful parade along the Malecón Saturday evening.  This was one we did not want to miss and were definitely not disappointed with the beautiful costumes with stunning color and pageantry!  Represented were groups from Poland, Bolivia, Columbia, and several Mexican states including Jalisco, where PV is located.

 

 

Once the parade was over, Mike and I meandered back toward Old Town via the beach enjoying the sights and sounds of both tourists and locals alike.  We decided we would watch the sunset from the end of the Los Muertos pier where many locals go with their families to enjoy it also.  Just a wonderful happy place to be!!

 

 

I'm beginning to look forward to Sundays, which is when I usually plan on doing laundry.  Now with the new washer/dryer combo doing laundry is a piece of cake. And I know exactly how much time I have to do something else before I need to be back to take the very clean and dry clothes out to be folded because it tells me by having calculated the weight of the load to determine the washing and drying time!  It does take a bit more time because you can only do one load at a time but I'll take the tradeoffs.

Our curtain was supposed to be ready on Monday but she had a busy weekend.  She promised it would be ready on Tuesday.  We sure wanted to be able to have them up for our "dinner party" on Tuesday with our friends, Bert and Cindy Ramirez and Cindy's daughter, Christie.  Bert and Cindy were some of the first people we met after arriving because we had a mutual friend, Heather Austring, that we had met in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

It turned out that the curtain was ready for pickup at 4pm on Tuesday and company was coming at 6:30pm.  So we decided to go ahead and put up the curtain rod without having the benefit of the curtain actually being here.  We were trusting that the length would be as instructed since we were having to drill into poured concrete.  Here's the finished product!!  It just pulls everything together in color, style, and functionality to keep the late afternoon sun at bay.

Dinner was a success but simple and good comfort food of spaghetti bolognaise with green salad and fresh baked bread.  It felt so very good to entertain in our home with everything being comfortable for everything - from the comfortable seating to an ample kitchen to prepare the food and serve to a large 6 person dining table with comfortable chairs to linger at with our remaining drinks and good conversation. 

Because of our dinner plans on Tuesday evening, we didn't get to go to the Expat Happy Hour at Langostino's.  This morning I received an email from another expat here, Mike Altman, who is an insurance agent for expats.  His heading in the email said "Your Fame Spreads"! Here's a copy of the email: 

Dear Tricia,

I met a guy at the ExPats Happy Hour last night who had just come to Vallarta.

He talked about the research he had done to get up to speed with PV and (here’s the good part), asked me if I was the “Mike” whose wife writes the great blog on her travels and life here.

I told him that I’ not that “Mike” that I’m the “Mike” that helps expats and travelers with health insurance and medevac.

He was more interested in your blog than health insurance.

Oh well. Can’t blame him!

Saludos,

Mike

It still amazes me at how many blog readers there are out there!  So if you're this wonderful gentleman and you're still in PV when you read this, please give me a shout out!!  We would love to meet up and get to know you.  I'm on Facebook as Tricia Lyman or email at Tricia@TriciaLyman.com or just comment on this blog post.

After meeting with our legal advisor Wednesday morning to make our plan of action, we did a bit of errand shopping.  A few more Mexican tallevera pots were purchased at the City Market to replant the plants we had bought last week. And, my wireless optical mouse had bit the dust yesterday after leading a very tortured life during our travels so a new one was purchased today.

A nice lunch special of a huge piece of pizza, salad, and lemonade for me and a beer for Mike at Los Muertos Brewing was enjoyed for only $10US after all the walking through town.

I received our formal email from International Living today with regard to our speaking at the Ultimate Conference being held here in PV June 4-7.  Upon opening the schedule --- YIKES!!!!  We're the very first speakers!!!!  At least we won't be able to be compared right away and we will then be able to sit back and totally enjoy the rest of the conference. 

Tonight we plan on going down to Cuates y Cuetes to enjoy a live jazz band, tomorrow the dentist, Friday night to meet up with Facebook friends for the first time during their vacation here, and Saturday night we have a BBQ with Bo and Dora at their place and others that are living there.  So our schedule and social life is going well!!