criplomats

I’m so glad that John came down for the weekend – we really had a good time. After dropping him off at the airport in the early afternoon on Sunday, I had the taxi driver take me to a local charro, or rodeo. I was hoping to catch the women riders, who do some type of formation riding, but they weren’t on the program that day. Instead I watched bull and bronco riding, and bull and bronco roping. I couldn’t really stomach the bronco roping – much to violent for my taste – so I headed on home for a walk on the beach. I was glad that I went to the event, though. There definitely weren’t a lot of gringos there! I enjoyed seeing the Mexican cowboys in their fancy sombreros performing their rope tricks, and just seeing the whole community come out on a Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My last night in Vallarta, I was incredibly lucky and got to see two sea turtles (Olive Ridleys) laying eggs on the beach! I was walking along and saw one come out of the water. I and several bystanders followed her up the beach and watched for the next hour or so as she dug her nest in the sand and laid her eggs. Volunteers were on hand to collect the eggs; they take them to a nursery on the beach where they are protected from predators. After she was finished, she covered the hole and went back into the ocean.

I left that scene feeling really lucky, then lo and behold, I saw another one laying eggs about five minutes up the beach! I ran back and got the volunteers, and we watched the mom return to the sea. I really can’t believe my good fortune to come across these two creatures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was busy at work, as well. On Monday I paid a visit to the district attorney to discuss arrest cases, and Tuesday morning I attended a large breakfast meeting with 50 city officials (their monthly meeting). It was great to meet many of them in a relaxed setting.

I returned to Guadalajara on Wednesday afternoon, so it was back to the grindstone in the office on Thursday. It is good to be home, though, with John and Flavia!

The whale watching company sent photos from our trip last Saturday – here are three!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click to see all my Puerto Vallarta photos.

It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it. I came down to Vallarta on Monday afternoon to cover for our Consular Agent while she’s out of the office. It’s a busy office and I really enjoy interacting with the U.S. citizens who are resident down here or vacationing. We see all kinds of cases. On Friday, I did a few notarials and passports, then I and one of the consular assistants here went to see a judge who’s handling a case regarding an American citizen. We can’t interfere with the Mexican judicial process, but we do monitor the status of cases. Afterward, we visited a U.S. citizen in prison, then headed over to a small private nursing home to check on the U.S. citizens there. Then we found out in the late afternoon that two U.S. citizens were being held at the airport for bringing in illegal substances, so we ran over there to explain the legal process to them. I was pooped by the end of the day, but it was fun and a good service to the American people.

When I got back to the hotel, John had arrived. We had a nice steak dinner at Rincon de Buenos Aires, not too far up the road.

Saturday morning we went whale watching! They’ve had a very bad season here without the usual amount of whales due to El Niño, but we got really lucky. We found two mothers with their babies out near the Mariettas Islands and we watched them for over an hour. They normally stay near the surface because the moms are teaching the babies how to swim and dive. One of the babies was very playful and stuck his big head out of the water several times and did a lot of tail flipping. Other times they just slowly floated near the surface and made the arc where their backs come out of the water – first mom, then baby. Toward the end, the mom flipped up her tail as if to say “goodbye” – we were are thrilled that we got to spend so much time with them! (pictures to follow!)

In the afternoon, we indulged a bit in the spa, then for dinner we went to the Blue Shrimp and had, well, shrimp. It was quite good and overlooked the estuary, so we also saw some birds.

This morning we’ve been lazing on the beach reading and listening to the waves. The weather’s great this time of year – not nearly as hot as it was last October when we were here. Also, I’ve finally started to feel better after fighting a virus all month – I think the salt air is good for me!

I’ve been really worried about Mom’s kitty since Aunt Bonnie died – he had moved in with Bonnie when Mom got sick and the caregivers were in the house. But I super good news this week when Cousins Sue and Ann offered to take him – I just can’t thank them enough. So far he seems to be settling in with Ann OK! This is a huge relief for me!

We watched an excellent movie this week – “Bridge of Spies.” Also, I watched “Still Alice,” about early onset Alzheimer’s – also a very good (and terrifying) movie.

Here are a couple of photos from this week.

A man and his Bassett (named Toby)

Vallarta Sunset

Shell art on the beach

John and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this week! It’s so hard to believe that we’ve been married so long – it really seems like yesterday that we got hitched! It’s been a wonderful 20 years and we’re looking forward to many more!

We really enjoyed James and MaryBeth’s visit last weekend! On Sunday we walked to Dainzu, our favorite Oaxacan breakfast place, where we had a lovely breakfast outside. Then we drove to the Guachimontones (the round pyramids), followed by a lovely lunch at Hacienda del Carmen. We really appreciate them taking the time to come see us “in our natural habitat,” as James says.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday night John and I went to a happy hour across the street where we saw an old friend from Pakistan – he was here for a conference. We really enjoyed catching up with an old familiar face!

John and I are starting to look at bidding options for our next post and have spent some amount of time talking about it this week. It’s stressful but exciting at the same time!

Sad news this week – Aunt Bonnie passed away. She was Mom’s little sister who lived in the house behind her. I have such fond memories of going to see her in Manhattan Beach, California, as a child. She always seemed so glamorous to me. She will be missed.

I skipped a week of blogging – we were traveling last weekend and I was sick, to boot, so it just fell by the wayside. We made a quick trip up to northwest Arkansas to surprise my father-in-law Pete on his 80th birthday – fun!

We flew into the northwest Arkansas airport (thank you, Walmart!) and John’s brother Philip picked us up at the airport. We had a great time visiting with him, Michele, and the twins (already 16!) and enjoyed a delicious smoked rib dinner.

The next morning we drove over to Mountain Home, surprised Pete, and spent the night over there. The next day, they drove us back to Fayetteville to catch our flight back to Guadalajara.

This past Thursday evening, my cousin James from San Antonio and his wife MaryBeth flew in to town. We spent Friday in Tlaquepaque and Tonala, and went to Tequila yesterday to tour the Herradura distillery. We have another day of fun ahead of us today!

Luckily Monday was a holiday here, so we were able to extend our vacation a little bit before setting an alarm clock. I didn’t realize that the four-hour time difference would give me such jet lag, but it did, so it’s been a struggle to sleep well this week. Add to that the fact that I had to start carrying the duty phone this week, so even when I have been lucky enough to get to sleep, invariably an AmCit calls in the middle of the night with some sort of problem (usually one that could have waited until day light, but hey, it’s what I get paid to do!).

Thursday night we hosted a good book club meeting. We read “Thieves of State” (the author’s thesis is that government corruption leads to terrorism or contributes to it) – we had a good turnout, plus had a friend Skype in for the discussion as well.

John went to a game night Friday night (I opted out) and had a good time. Looks like we’re getting some new folks in who like to game, so that’s good.

Saturday morning I went on a Hash House run/walk (sans the beer drinking). Guadalajara is blessed with their version of Central Park – lots of gardens and walking trails. It’s one of those places I’ve been meaning to go to, so this was a great introduction to it, and I’ll go back. Afterward several of us went to a great taco place for breakfast, then I drove over to the zocolo in Zapopan to wander around a bit.

So, it was a great vacation, but it’s back to the real world now!