Our recent visit

It looks like a trip reports are appreciated here, so here goes.

My wife and I arrived in the evening on Nov 7 for a 3 week stay at Casa Adriana, and were met by our hosts, Eduardo and Tania. They are nice people, and after we got our things inside they drove me to the Oxxo to pick up snacks. Our room on the top floor has a huge deck with a view to all directions but North.

My wife has a bum leg, so our intent was to goof off most of the time, and we were generally successful. We did get down to Barra de Pososi for a nature tour with Sharkboy. On the way there I had an encounter with a loose truck wheel, so I arrived with a bleeding foot, which Avi quickly patched up. Avi had a couple of young helpers with him, and our tour was great fun.
Our meal afterwards was wonderful.

We also took the sunset tour on the Picante. Most of the passengers came on a big bus from Ixtapa and were in, um, high spirits, which were higher still when we came back to the dock. It wasn't an obnoxious crowd at all, though, and the weather was perfect so we had a very nice time.

Another afternoon, we encountered a young guy named Roberto on La Madera. He was offering rides on his Hobie Cat, so we took him up on it. His boat is really well maintained and he is a skilled sailor, so we had a very pleasant ride for not a lot of money.

We got out to Las Gatas one afternoon and rented a couple of floaty things for the water while we weren't camped out at Arnoldo's. That beach is always full of surprises, and that day we saw a guy giving his pet iguana swimming lessons while we were entertained by, of all things, a marching band (complete with tuba)!

We visited some restaurants that were new since our last visit; El Gringo Gordo near La Ropa, La Portena on the Municipal beach, and La Tregua in the 'alley'. We also ate at old favorites like Don Memo's, Lety's, Rufo's, Elviras, Nardo's, Daniel's, Pizzas Locas, et al.

I don't suppose it's any suprise that, in 23 days eating lunch and dinner in restaurants, we didn't have a single bad meal ... not even a mediocre one.

We had the ribs at La Portena twice - they are a great bargain in an area full of great bargain meals, and their pizza is also tasty. La Tregua is a terrific new addition. Their food is wonderful, and we both felt very comfortable and at home there. The couple that runs the restaurant both have real sunshine personalities that make a visit worthwhile, even if you've already eaten. I'm happy to see in this column that others agree, and that they are doing well.

I'm not sure why, but it took me three tries to find 'real' arrechera this time. Gringo Gordo and Rufo's both claimed to serve it and I got decent pieces of meat at both, but neither were the tender skirt steak I'm familiar with. Salvador's grill on Adelita serves the real thing, though, so I finally got my fix on our last night there.

There were puppies in a yard on Adelita just before the beach, six newborns when we arrived. That's not news, but both mama and papa dog were there, and we often saw the male dog cuddling the pups while mama caught a break. That is something I have never seen, and we know some breeders who had to see a picture before they would believe us.

On our first Sunday it rained, starting late in the day. We have never felt so much as a drop on all our prior visits, and this made up for it. It rained hard, and was accompanied by a spectacular lightning display. That storm hung around well into the wee hours and the lightning never let up.

We flew on Aeromexico out of New York JFK. They had a great deal on a pretty convenient flight, so it was $800 US for both of us. Nice airline.

As usual, no complaints from us, at least none worth voicing in public.

Keith