my travels in pixels

Our time in North America finished in mid-October so I needed to work out where we would spend the next few months. While we were in Puerto Vallarta (PV) last winter we booked an apartment for this coming northern hemisphere winter for December to the end of March, but where to go beforehand? Greece has been on my wish list for many years, so was a great choice for October as the weather is in the low 20°'s, so still warm. For November I decided on the south of Spain as it's warmer than the rest of Europe. While I have heard that northern Spain is nicer, it will have to wait for another time. We paid a deposit for PV in February when we had only spent just over a month down there. By the end of our stay in mid April I was wondering if four months was going to be too long. In September when we were due to pay the rest of the fee the owner cancelled the booking saying that he wanted it for himself. The good places get snapped up many months in advance, so it was going to be di...

Click on the picture above if you want captions with the photos. When you are in the album, you will need to click on the slideshow button which is on the top left hand side of the menu. Or, you can view them here, but the feed can't read the captions Other Mexico Posts: 1.  A very different place for us 2.  Life's a beach 3.  Living in Old Town 4.  A seaside village only accessible by boat 5.  Wrapping up Puerto Vallarta 6.  Puerto Vallarta Essentials

Puerto Vallarta has just been rated number 10 in the list of the most desirable places in the world to retire. So what do you need to know if you are coming here for the first time? There are many of these boards around in case you get a bit lost What to bring The weather is around 28°C (82F) during the day, sometimes a few degrees hotter but no more than 30°, so you will need light clothes. Nights are 10°C (15F) cooler but you will be fine in whatever you have been wearing during the day when you go out for dinner. Shorts, skirts, t-shirts, maybe one pair of light long pants and one long sleeve shirt and a light jumper (sweater). The streets are cobbled, so depending where you are staying you might need runners, rubber sandals like Teva's for walking on the beach as sand will ruin leather ones. You don't need to dress up here. Hat, sunscreen, water bottle, backpack. If you are only taking carry-on, you won't be able to bring any bottles larger than 100ml or...

Our 15 weeks here in Puerto Vallarta is coming to a close, so what has it been like to live with the Mexicans? As I sit here writing this, there is Mexican music blaring from somewhere in the street, I can hear the lady talking in the condo across the road because they have their windows open and we have our bi-fold doors open. I learn some local costs, how much she pays her cleaner, the quote to paint her room. A dog occasionally barks. The pastry man calls out trying to sell his goods. Some builders are using a grinder. A few roosters crow as if they're communicating. Car alarms go off in our neighbourhood most nights. It's the local boys playing soccer below just below our window. If the cars are new, it's not long before they have a few dents in their shiny exterior, and they don't look new anymore :( Most nights they play until 11pm, or someone is playing music or has their TV on, so we never plan on getting an early night's sleep. a typical house in ...

Yelapa, Jalisco Mexico Yelapa beach Yelapa is a little seaside village about an hour's boat trip from Puerto Vallarta, there is no road access from the rest of the country. We had checked the day before and were told that we didn't need reservations, just turn up at least 10 minutes before 11am at the Los Muertos Pier. Not wanting to miss out we organised to meet up with Bill and Michele at the ticket booth at 10:30. There are numerous people selling these tickets so it makes you wonder how often they overbook. At the dock our ticket was torn in two and on the back of the return portion he wrote Jack. It turned out we were on Jack's taxi and therefore had to return on Jack's taxi at 4pm. Most of the people get a seat but if you are one of the last four on, three of you will have to sit on the bow and one at the stern, no cushions, with water splashing included! Being early, we got a seat on the right hand side and with the canopy this meant we were out of the s...

We booked two different places on Flipkey for our stay in Puerto Vallarta because I couldn't get into the one I wanted for the whole time. Our first place was in a condo complex of about 25, with two swimming pools and a heated spa. The condo had a slight Mexican feel inside and out, but so do a lot of places in California, we could have been anywhere. It was a 20 minute uphill walk from town that really got our hearts beating and our legs aching. We aren't being precious when we say it was a hard slog. The property agent's car can't make it up the hill, so she leaves it at the bottom, and walks up.  One day a gas truck was driving up the road and Lindsay was able to out walk it - that is how steep it was. I'm not going to miss that hill. Moving next door to the locals We have moved right into the heart of town, with all that comes with it. Kids playing in the street until 10.30pm, garbage trucks picking up rubbish around 8pm nearly every night from the corne...

It's too early for the tourists who have reserved their seats for after a leisurely breakfast I love the sand anchor The surf can be too dangerous for swimming sometimes One of our favourite walks is along Los Muertos beach and then onto the Malecon. Lots of sculptures along the Malecon (beach walk) One of the few days the water spout was on Sandman waiting for his chess player mate who's being made up Most Saturday's we are down at the Farmer's Market (the tourists market). There are lots of things to try for lunch and a band plays for a while around lunchtime. Today was just instrumental The day before Valentine's Day, they had a singer who gave us red carnations Brewing Tequila Every night we hear fireworks going off around 9.30pm. It's the pirate ship pretending it's being taken over. They only let off about six a night and never at the same time, so we haven't tried to photograph them yet. the pirat...