The West Commences: La Penita

Barbara and I swam every day; although, it would be more accurate to say we bobbed up and down in the waves until we were salty and sandy and ready to bike back to her place or walk up to a beach restaurant in Guayabitus for a cold refreshing beer in the shade. Barb hasn't been out in the kayak this year because the waves have been really rolling in every day. One day when we were in the ocean, Barb became aware of the fact that some young people just a bit farther out than we were seemed to be in trouble. I'm so blind I couldn't really see much and couldn't believe they were out deep enough to be in danger. Fortunately Barb kept moving towards them as quickly as possible. She was just realizing that two of them were in trouble and wondering how she could help both and not get pulled under herself when a man and woman approached with boogie boards. I saw them and heard the woman urging the man to go out with her to help. He didn't seem to want to and the next thing I knew he had given his board to Barb who thought she was going to have to bring two in on it when the woman got her board to one of them and she and Barb brought them in. I helped Barb with the girl as we approached shore. She recovered quite quickly, but both boys were much slower to recover. Barb had seen one go under for quite a while as she moved out to help. Eventually some official police or something showed up, but the other woman, who turned out to be from Saskatchewan, was talking with us later and we all agreed that the beach in Guayabitus should have some means of helping people in trouble because without the boogie boards one of those young people at least could have drowned. It reminded me of the time Jim and I brought in the man who was drowning south of Olas Altas on Christmas Day.

The tides seem to be higher than in other years too, so the estuary next to Barb's house is more open to the ocean and there are even pelican fishing just outside her casita. There are also a couple of turkey vultures that perch on the wall of the casita at times this year. The iguanas are still in the palm tree behind her place and the usual coots, stilts, egrets, herons, orioles, humming birds, etc.are endlessly entertaining. We always had our coffee and sometimes lunch or a drink there in the breeze, watching the action on the estuary, in the sky and in the horse coral in the yard behind Barbara's. There are a few horses, what look to be a couple of mules, some dogs that try to control them or just harass them with their barking and a few would be cowboys who put out food for the horses in pieces of old tire, keep small but amazingly bright fires going and generally live the cowboy dream. With watching all that as well as the locals and gringos crossing the estuary on the swing bridge, there's never a dull moment on the casita.

One day we took a collection of 'collectivos' to the beach at Chacala. It was an adventure. We didn't swim but were entertained as we sat under a palapa on the beach by a group of musicians. A lot of Mexicans hired them to play, and I gave them some money too because I was so enchanted that I took some pictures, including a video which I wanted to put on this blog but which seems to be too big for me to transfer from the iPhone. These things and a bike ride into the pineapple fields, which ended before we had gone too far with Barb's getting a flat tire, were the highlights of my holiday in La Penita. I always like being there.

I arrived back in Vallarta by bus on Wed.in time to have margaritas with Dick and Ellen and their friends. I knew the man, Rick, who had played tennis with Jim. We then joined other friends of theirs, a couple of whom Jim and I had known, for a Chinese dinner. Thursday's dental work was a success. I now have a porcelain crown. The tooth was prepared and the crown digitally made and installed in less than two hours. MILAGRO! Dick, Ellen and I then went to dinner at Las Brujas, one of their favourite places. We shared two orders of fajitas, one chicken and one shrimp, and still had lots left to give to the man who watches the door at their place. I remember they always used to do this and they did it both nights I was with them this time. They tell him where the food is from, so he has as good an idea as they do of what the restaurants are like in Vallarta. They are a wonderful couple and very good friends.

Greater downtown La Penita. The man with the wheelbarrow is carting off the outer layer of the sugar canes, which are then either pressed into juice or cut into inch long pieces, bagged and sold to be chewed on. I bought a bag, which I now remember I only ate a bit of and left at Barbs. It's quite a tasty sweet juice but can't hold a candle to a cold beer. I did buy a plastic glass full too. It was an unappetizing greenish colour, but with the addition of the juice of half a lime was quite tasty. I drank most of that.