http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/HollyGo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from HollyGo en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 13:27:04 +0000 Tue, 21 May 2013 13:27:04 +0000 Thank you everyone for such kind emails and responses to my last post...but I have an epilogue Ronnie planned a quick trip for us to his home area back east before we both get locked down into 95 jobs here in California. We both have a passionate affair with New York. It is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world. The tiny restaurants every few feet the fashion that people show wi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-442381.html It has now been one month since our return to the San Francisco Bay Area. Our homecoming was everything we hoped it would be the soft chill of fog delicious home cooked meals warm blankets over huge queen sized beds familiar faces endless hugs and plans.Since our return we have been living with my mom and stepfather in the beautiful coastal town of Pacifica. It is about 20 minutes south http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/Pacifica/blog-438614.html It must be the top of summer because it has been boiling hot here in Bucerias. That kind of heat where you get out of the shower and even though you use a towel you just never dry off. The kind of heat where you walk around outside for about ten minutes and then you start to sweat. Not glisten...drip sweat all over. Ronnie and I have been hiding out in the sanctuary of our condo dodging the r http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Nayarit/Bucerias/blog-428003.html The days here in Bucerias have become very very repetitive and so I was very happy to be invited to help paint a children's home in Bucerias. Some call it an orphanage but all of the kids there have families the families just can't afford to house them.Sue a woman we have befriended picked me up very early in the morning so we could get to work before the sun got too intense. We drove for a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Nayarit/Bucerias/blog-425940.html It was time for another visit from the parents that call New Jersey home. Being from California myself I love having them as guests. They always crack me up with their stories and competitiveness while playing any kind of game be it water volleyball Mexican Train Dominoes or Up and Down the Ladder a card game. This visit marked a first for us as well. We had Ron and Janice stay with us in http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Nayarit/Bucerias/blog-421128.html Today July first was our first day in Mexico one year ago. I can't believe it has been a whole year and at the same time it feels like we have been here for ages. I went back and read a lot of my first entries and it truly is amazing how far we've come. To think of all the people we have met and the adventures we have had makes me even more overjoyed that we decided to have this grand advent http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Nayarit/Bucerias/blog-414252.html Time is a strange thing here in Bucerias. In the morning I wake up and make breakfast for Ronnie and myself while the boys go for a walk on the beach. We have breakfast then take a dip in the pool and oh my gosh It's only 1100am. Then in the afternoon we do freelance work draw and read and then oh my gosh It's only 200pm Next we have lunch watch a movie or work on art and oh my gos http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Nayarit/Bucerias/blog-412628.html Well Ronnie and I just said our goodbyes to our latest set of guests. We had a wonderful week with my mom and my Auntie Tia Linda visiting. It was the most relaxed of all of our visitors in our time in Mexico. Most of our days were just spent chatting swimming reading and eating. There wasn't much touring around. Only one night was spent in the town of Puerto Vallarta. Of course in thi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Nayarit/Bucerias/blog-407897.html I think I am in culture shock. Okay maybe not shock but like a stuck in the middle of two cultures swimming around trying to hold on to those familiar things in two countries that I now call home. In Mexico I miss the comforts of home. I miss sushi and Thai food all Asian food actually. I miss cold foggy mornings that I need to wear a comfy warm sweater to keep warm and drink hot coffee wh http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/West-Hollywood/blog-405028.html Our alarm clock rang at 400am. I sat up in terrible pain. For some reason we had decided that our last dinner in SMA should be at a restaurant we had never been to and we ate really rich food. Mine made me ill keeping me from sleeping all night. Hearing the alarm was a blessing as I was exhausted waiting for it.The car arrived at a quarter to five and I was fighting to keep down anything t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Nayarit/Bucerias/blog-393115.html What is there to say about our last moments in San Miguel de Allende Guanajuato So many kinds of emotions are rushing all around us that it is pretty hard to even see straight. We have left our usual and fairly predictable lives in San Francisco to move to this gem of Mexico and never really know what the next minute holds for us. We could be walking home from lunch and run into a long funera http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Guanajuato/San-Miguel-de-Allende/blog-392575.html On Sunday morning we overslept. The time jumped an hour ahead in the middle of the night and I had misread an article about what time processions start for Palm Sunday. We rushed to get ready and head out the door. We jumped in the first taxi we saw and were let out a couple blocks away from San Francisco church but we noticed the streets were almost completely empty. We were really confused http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Guanajuato/San-Miguel-de-Allende/blog-388334.html March has been a very busy month for us here in San Miguel. It seems like our adventures rarely slow down for very long and that is something I am grateful for everyday.One of our most amazing adventures was the invitation from our maid Maria Luz to come out to her familys rancho for an afternoon of carnitas. Our friends from the east coast Aaron and Beth were visiting at the time but sh http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Guanajuato/San-Miguel-de-Allende/blog-388042.html Our adventures in Puerto Vallarta rarely slowed down. One of the next adventures was out to Yelapa a small beach town that is only accessible by boat. Our form of transportation was a water taxi. They are just like street taxis except they are rickety little boats. Our water taxi was able to get us in front of our hotel but trying to get onto the boat with out getting taken over by the for http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Jalisco/Puerto-Vallarta/blog-384091.html I have a big heart for the Puerto Vallarta area. The way the tropical hills pour into the sea is simply breathtaking. I couldn't wait to get out and explore with Ronnie and our friends Joellyn and Grant.We arrived at our hotel before noon. We stayed at one of my favorite inexpensive hotels right on the beach and at the end of the Malecon the long walk along the beach Hotel Rosita has a bad r http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Jalisco/Puerto-Vallarta/blog-381192.html We arrived in Puerto Vallarta airport at 1100am and a day before our friends. We were able to get some great flight deals by flying in a day early and so we decided to leave it up to the fates as to where we would land and live for 24 hours. We used Hotwire and picked a hotel that was the cheapest for a 2 star rating. We were destined to spend the day in Marina Vallarta.Our hotel turned out to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Jalisco/Puerto-Vallarta/blog-380011.html The last two Valentines Days have started very early for Ronnie and I. Last year we got up at 330am to catch the first train from London to Paris. This year we got up at 530am to catch the first bus from San Miguel de Allende to Mexico City. The ride itself was uneventful except for watching The Dukes of Hazard in Spanish. We arrived to the bus station called Mexico Norte bought a taxi a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Estado-de-Mexico/Teotihuac-n/blog-378218.html I love Valentine's Day. To me it is more than just for lovers but also for friends. I remember in school sending Candy Grams to all of my friends and hoping that I would get one from a secret admirer. The excitement in my heart lasted the whole day. Here in San Miguel I can see the school children are going through the same thing.As Ronnie and I walk down the streets we see many giggling http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Guanajuato/San-Miguel-de-Allende/blog-373348.html Even though it is still chilly here in the mornings and at night...Spring is here in Mexico. Every year at this time San Miguel celebrates with the Feria de Candelaria. It means Candle Mass or the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple and is also for the Virgin of Candelaria. The main park in the city Parque Juarez becomes filled with plant and flower vendors from all over Mex http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Guanajuato/San-Miguel-de-Allende/blog-370657.html Our first week here in town came and went like a good tequila. Aside from shopping here and there for various apartment items we ended up walking to a lot of events we would have otherwise shrugged off.First off I joined up doing belly dancing again. I did Tribal belly dancing for a short time in college. I saw that there was a dance studio only one block from our place. When I checked out t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Guanajuato/San-Miguel-de-Allende/blog-368573.html