Visiting Ada

I was more than excited to travel to Washington, DC to visit my youngest daughter Ada and her boyfriend Will.  Dan and I moved the boat to La Cruz anchorage the day before I was to fly 8 hours on a Delta flight.  The backpack used, was 40 years old and my original one I took when I spent my Junior year of college in Sweden.  It served me well then and did so again.

 
As can be expected, it was a bit of a culture shock to go from the cruising life to a city life.  Fortunately, Ada met me at midnight at Regan Airport and brought me to their cute apartment in Alexandria,Virginia.  She had even purchased a blow up bed for me to use while spending 11 days with her.  (you can see it resting on top of their 4 bikes behind the couch).  It was so wonderful to see them both.  



We ate well as they both like to cook.  Here Will is making home-made pizza crust for a yummy Friday night pizza.



Ada was scheduled for shoulder surgery during my visit.  She has dislocated the shoulder way too many times and it needed to get stabilized.  She inherited my shoulder challenges and while a different surgery was performed, for anyone who has had one shoulder surgery, I need not explain any further  how challenging that recovery can be.  I needed and wanted to be with her.  Unfortunately, it will be a long recovery for her and I was only able to help out for the first week.  Here she is getting ready for surgery.



And now she is ready to go home!



Ada is settled in nicely on her pink couches.  Will and I did a fabulous job of taking care of her.  She was a real trooper!



It was difficult to keep her down.  We started taking slow walks and she enjoyed practicing her new organ.





I spent my time taking some walks in beautiful Alexandria, Virginia.



As Ada started to feel better we even got to walk along the Potomac River on the bike trail.



Ada is a yoga instructor at a local gym, so I had the privilege of working out there.  I purchased a introductory special pass to a wonderful yoga studio and enjoyed 5 or 6 classes while Ada was resting at the house.




Ada celebrated her 24th birthday while I was there.  We made a delicious carrot cake for the occasion.



We took my first Uber ride to downtown Washington D.C and did some errands there.  We visited George Washington University - a possible graduate school for Ada who currently has an undergraduate degree in Nutrition.







Of course, what would be a trip to DC without a trip to The White House?



Before I knew it, it was time to fly back to La Cruz, Mexico.  It was a wonderful trip and I was really glad to spend time with Ada and Will.  I was glad to help out during her first week of recovery but I am wondering if I left too soon, as she is still having difficulty and pain.  Shoulder surgery is tough and I hope she recovers soon.  

Visitors Visit - Day three and onward

I got up early and took a nice walk along the beach.  It is such a nice spot here.



What would be a trip to Bandera Bay in Mexico without going out on a boat?  Dan is away and without him I cannot drive the sailboat alone.  So, I had the clever idea of taking a "water taxi" or ponga to downtown Puerto Vallarta to explore the Old Town District.  In my opinion, this would be a fun, hassle free way to get there instead of a regular taxi or bus.  This 30 minute ride with Captain George worked out really well and was fun.



Captain George zoomed along at a pretty good clip.  All six of the passengers were placed in the bow of the boat probably to allow it to plane better.  The most difficult part was getting in and out of the boat because of waves/swells in P/V.

We explored some of the streets in Old Town.  There were lots of vendors selling their goods which took a lot of our attention as we looked over their wares.  The streets were festive and all were cobblestone - not the easiest surface for pushing a wheelchair.  Fortunately, Kara had good mobility with her crutches, so we didn't need the wheelchair that much.   I thought it would be nice on the malecón or boardwalk, but we never really made it to the section that had all of the interesting sculptures.



We both really enjoyed the tree bark paper craft that artists had for sale.




Once again at a palapa restaurant we enjoyed some music as we ate our lunch.



We had explored enough and were feeling a little too tired to explore the boardwalk.  That would have to happen on another trip to Mexico.  Instead, we enjoyed a water taxi ride back to Paradise Village.



On the next day, we went to Yelapa, which is a quaint village on the southern side of the bay.  It is surrounded by mountains and there is limited road access to this unique place.  I wanted Carolyn and Kara to have the opportunity to visit this charming spot.  After checking out several options, the solution was a boat ride on Kaleidoscope a large and plush catamaran.   It was the perfect solution!

We departed from our dock at 8:30am.  There were about 36 passengers on the boat with us.  We found a nice spot on the flat deck of the boat and settled in.  It was not long before juice, coffee and a continental breakfast was served.  Included was also a full bar for those that wanted.  Here are some photos of the deck area.







Captain Clyde built this boat and has been giving tours for many years in Cabo San Lucas and has only recently started doing them in Banderas Bay.  He ran a top notch operation and was very friendly too.




Carolyn really enjoyed the boat and spent a lot of time moving around taking photos.  It was a very smooth ride and the overcast sky made for a delightful passage.   As we got closer to Yelapa, Carolyn went out on the bow to take pictures and I got one of her!




As we motored closer you can start to see the village behind Kara below.



A ponga had to retrieve the mooring ball line and hand it off to the bow person.  It gives you an idea of how big the boat was.  The same ponga was used to transport people off the boat and onto the shore, another tricky maneuver with the breaking shore waves!



The ponga is driven right up on the beach to let people off.  The timing has to be just right, as when the wave retreats, the ponga often goes with it.  Then they power the boat forward again on the next incoming wave, only to be swept back out to sea again.  It is during the short landing time, the passengers have to quickly get out of the boat.  It is rather tricky.  The crew ended up picking up Kara and carrying her to the shore, as well as Carolyn!  The good thing was we all made it safely, although our clothing did get a little wet.



I think Carolyn is looking a little worried in the picture below,  as she was next.  Sure enough, the boat went back out to sea before she got off.  On the next wave, she was assisted off and only suffered some wet shorts.  It is difficult to tell, the sand was coarse and very granular making it difficult to walk in because you sink in quiet far.    On the return trip, the captain decided we could choose to walk to the peer and catch a ponga by going down a ladder - a nicer alternative.




We wanted to explore the village near the palapa (restaurants) and it was rather interesting.  The path was wide enough for walkers and ATV's.  We did not go too far.






Lunch was included at one of the local palapa restaurants and it was terrific. Carolyn decided she wanted to enjoy one of the fancy drinks and she deserved it!



We gave a birthday toast to our brother-in law David who was back in CT.



And then the Iguana was passed around.  He liked Kara the best!




By then it was time to walk over to the peer to catch a ponga back to the boat.  Of course Kara thought she should walk in the water, crutches and all.



These palapa huts were located on the way to the peer.



What a terrific day we had  - the boat ride and the visit to Yelapa.



The ride home was quiet.



The next day, Kara left for Salt Lake City, Utah and then Carolyn left for Hartford Ct the day after that.



Thank you both for coming to visit me!  Things have been rather quiet for me here since you left.  I miss you already!  Dan returns soon.

Family Visitors - Day two and onward

On Saturday January 27, Dan flew to Eugene, Oregon to take care of some things in the USA.  Later that same day Carolyn and I took a bus to the airport to meet my daughter Kara who arrived from Salt Lake City, Utah - crutches and all.

Can you believe it! She injured herself skiing in Utah only 2 days prior to her visiting me.  The fear was another torn ACL.  (As of this writing and further evaluations by her DR in Utah,  she badly bruised her knee but thankfully does not need surgery.) She debated about coming, however the plane ticket was bought and she could let the swelling subside in the warm climate of Mexico, under the care of her Mom and Aunt Carolyn.  The short Mexican vacation along with our terrific care apparently did wonders to reduce the inflammation and gave her time to learn that surgery was not needed.  We are very thankful now although the trip was not without some periods of emotional moments.



I have been walking around Paradise Village for a few days and I knew how difficult it would be to manage getting around on crutches.  (I measured our dock and it is .6 miles long.) As soon as I found out Kara was still coming, I went to the hotel concierge desk and inquired about renting a wheel chair.  They were most accommodating and for only $10 per day, I had one delivered the morning of her arrival.  It was very helpful to have available for not only Kara but also for Carolyn or even just to carry our bags.




I presented a few options for day trips that I thought would be appropriate and interesting.  First was a trip to La Cruz Market.  Second was a water taxi ride to check out old town Puerto Vallarta.  Third was a large catamaran boat ride to a quaint Mexican Village called Yelapa.  After each day trip, there was sufficent time to cool off or just take a rest at the pool or by the ocean before dinner.

We took a taxi to the Sunday Market in La Cruz.  In addition to seeing the crafts, enjoying some Mexican food and music, I wanted Carolyn and Kara to see this nice Mexican town and also the marina where we had previously stayed.  It has a very different feel from Paradise Village.  Even though I brought the wheel chair, it was mostly parked while we went through the craft and food booths.  Carolyn had great fun exploring on her own, while I stayed with Kara.  She loved sampling some of the Mexican items and knew much more about that style of cooking than I did.



It was a great time for me to let her pick out a couple late Christmas Gifts like this pocketbook.

 

Here is the artist who made this leather bag.  He needed to shorten the strap and did it while we waited.






We used the wheelchair to take a walk over to the marina and along the malecón which overlooks the anchorage.

We headed up into the town of La Cruz and of course had to check out this bull.




The restaurant had some fun sounding music playing, so we all thought it would be fun to check it out.  The band played a lot of oldies music which Carolyn and I enjoyed. The crowd was definitely an older gringo crowd enjoying a few drinks and music at 2:30 in the afternoon.



Kara liked the drinks, so put up with the music.  She also got some attention from the waiter who insisted she put ice on her leg and even get a special oil to help her leg heal.






















We took a taxi back to Nuevo Vallarta and immediately hit the swimming pool for a little R&R.  Carolyn even enjoyed a little snooze after a dip in the pool.




Kara wanted to try some cooking from the items we purchased at the farmers market.  Here she is working hard in our galley, otherwise known as a kitchen.



Stay tuned for the next few days.......