Viva Mexico - A Bloga-novela

Wow, where to start? Groom and I have just returned home from Mexico after taking a week long workshop studying new jewelry-making techniques with Richard and Jane Salley. I wrote about the magical way this trip unfolded in the blog entry Woo Hoo! Goin’ to Mexico…Thanks in Part to the Kalliope Artist Fellowship just in case any of you are interested in catching up.

We took 2,252 photos during the nine days we were gone. Within the first 24 hours I had used up my camera’s memory card and had to purchase a new one. So it is with great difficulty that we’ve been sorting through our photos, wanting to post the ones we feel might be of interest to you.

My tea bag came with the perfect wisdom tag this morning, “The purpose of life is to enjoy every moment.” Well, let’s just say that we definitely lived our purpose on this retreat.

To tell you that the expedition south of the border was amazing would be trite because it’s such an overused word, but from start to finish, this experience has touched on all the superlatives. It wasn’t just great, it was the greatest. We didn’t just have fun, we had the most fun. Well, you get the idea.

But who wants to sit in the January chill reading about somebody else’s tropical adventure? Even though we are giving this the big thumbs up, there were a few exciting moments here and there, like some blood and guts, our traveling companion falling on the rocks, slicing my toe and having it get infected (I had terrible visions of losing it, or my foot, or my leg…), seeing the immediate aftermath of two serious wrecks (uh-oh, we were riding the bus and one of the accidents involved a bus. Boy, did I ever have a Frida Kahlo moment…), and leaving my purse with everything in it – cash, credit card, passport identification on a bench along the Malecon, and not getting any sleep.

And as long as I’m in the confessional, we also met Jesus, and this next part is so embarrassing to admit, but what I learned about Mexico’s geography comes from watching The Love Boat as a teenager in the 70’s. I remember the Pacific Princess docking in exotic Puerto Vallarta, one of the cruise liner’s port o’calls.

Most of you probably already know this, but it was a new fact to me. Apparently Puerto Vallarta became a household name because of John Huston’s famous movie Night of the Iguana, starring Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr. It became a symbol of Hollywood glamour.
 

Puerto Vallarta is located on the Pacific side of Mexico about half-way down the coast, mas o menos (more or less). If you drew a straight line on a map from this resort city in the state of Jalisco to the United States, you’d run straight into New Mexico, so we had to move our watches forward two hours.

Situated on Banderas Bay (or Bahia de Banderas if you prefer), and surrounded by the Sierra Madres, the ideal location can boast, depending on who you talk to, that it is either the largest bay in Mexico or the second largest bay in the world. But no one seems to have the final word on that either. Poking around, Bengal Bay in the Indian Ocean claims numero uno while Hudson Bay vies for second place.

But whatever the case, it’s spectacular.

There is no way we can write and post everything in one day. So the plan is to make it simple; for you and for ourselves. Today was just the introduction and we intend to post more photos and episodes in the coming days, a bloga-novela if you will, so stay tuned.

Until then , que tengas un buen dia (have a good day!).