Our lazy life at La Penita

Well, we have been here one month and the time has just flown by. We start most days at 5:30 ( yes, AM) so we can join the 6:30 walking group. We do a brisk 5 km. ( feels much longer)  thru dusty neighborhoods, cobblestone streets, up "heart attack hill", out past pineapple fields, banana plantations & plenty of dogs. Unfortunately walking any later is just too hot. It has become a necessary part of our day to offset the eating & the happy hours.

pineapples

The rest of our day consists of eating, of course, birdwatching from our site, reading, playing Skip Bo, household chores & any outings to the market, walking in to town & day trips to explore the area. We landed on a wonderfully friendly "street", great folks & a very handy Happy Hour table, just 50 ft. from our door. We take in several park activities - Taco Tuesday with free margaritas,  pickleball (lots of fun), outdoor movie nights now showing the Academy award nominees, beer can races, hamburger nights & the odd bingo. We did not think that this scheduled routine would suit us but we are actually really enjoying it. There are a lot of restaurants close by, we have tried a few, taxi rides cost $2-$3.50. We have driven into Puerto Vallarta a couple of times, we have gotten new glasses at Costco for half the price of Canada. Only been out in the kayak once, our beach is too rough to launch so it involves driving several miles north. I had a haircut & a pedicure here sitting looking out over the ocean, both for $20!

pale-billed woodpecker

my view during haircut

Happy Hour spot

beer can racers

We have done 2 escorted tours, first to San Blas where we took a jungle boat ride at La Tovara thru the mangroves to a spring. We saw 8-10 crocodiles, lots of birds, a couple turtles & iguanas. Also on the tour was an old fort, stops for fresh banana bread, unique fruits (jack, guanabana, starfruit, guava) & tequila candy, then a stop to watch brick making by hand. Lunch on the beach as well.
The second tour was a bird watching tour to San Pancho, had to get up at 4:30 for this one! Our guide spotted dozens of bird species & could differentiate their songs. Of course I overdo it with the photos & have to spend ages deleting & cropping. We also drove to a nearby crocodile refuge where we got to hold young crocs.

iguana seen from our RV site

white ibis

Great Blue Heron

young crocodiles

golden cheeked woodpecker

streaked back oriole

white collared seed-eater

There is an unusual clinic here this weekend - Cancer de Mama - where approx. 450 Mexican women come here to this RV park to be fitted for prosthetic bras after having breast cancer surgery. The bras, wigs, scarves, clothing are all donated & brought down from Canada & the US. The organizers are here in the park but lots of volunteers are from the surrounding area, I have signed up to be a fitter & Robin will be put to work chopping vegetables for the cooks who prepare soup for all. Sounds like a busy 3 days, but a very worthwhile event.

We now have a shiny newer looking RV - we were approached by Mexican auto painters who offered to repaint all our decals, the entire lower section of the RV & the door & sand, wax & polish the white parts. All for less than $1700, comparable cost in the US was $15,000 or more. It took one week, done in our site while we continued to live in it. Quite amazing to see & looks sooo much better!

before

before, door yellowed

during, decals removed

during, newspapers to protect

new, improved, shiny!

new, improved!

We plan to stay here for February as well, we are planning a drive to Guadalajara which is about 4 hours away. It is the second largest city in Mexico, lots of colonial architecture, great markets & then a tour of a tequila making operation in the town of Tequila.

As usual, here it is 3:00, time for a shower before happy hour & dinner in town, where did the day go?