What the heck do we do all day??

Now that we don't have jobs to keep us busy, and have rather decided to live a life of leisure, you are all probably wondering just what the heck we are doing with ourselves all day. Am I right? I thought so.... with that in mind.....

Getting up in the morning can be generated through varying influences depending on the state of slumber one finds oneself in at sunrise. Tree frogs chirping can be enough to set off my internal clock that ignites that urgent trip to the bathroom. So does a falling coconut when it is ejected onto our roof from an over-burdoned cocos nucifera swaying over our bedroom. Cyndi on the other hand seems to be able to snore through just about anything. It's my job to get the coffee started (Cyndi usually gets it all set up the night before and that is always helpful as my level of acute awareness doesn't really kick in until I have to get on the bus... but I digress – see previous post), and then I set about to see what I might do as early prep for our first culinary delight of the day. Let's see... peanut butter and toast? ...too complicated ....cereal in a bowl? ...is it the weekend yet, as that is when Cyndi suggests that I make her bacon and eggs and other great stuff ...perhaps I should wait a bit for Cyndi...

The morning sun shines into our living room window from across the surrounding mountains and the fronds from our palm trees are at just the right spot to help sift the light. That happens at about 8:00 am - it starts to get light at about 7:30 am. Our living room windows open from the center in both directions to a 6 foot width that gives us an open-air view of the gardens and the pool – awesome. Fresh air. I usually have a few moments with the “Off” can as the tiny early morning mosquitoes that sometimes visit are much more alert than I am. :-)

Morning tv is usually channel 5 from LA - nothing coming in from Canada on cable. A cup of coffee for me before Cyndi gets up, and then I assemble breakfast to meet Cyndi's beckon call. Cyndi usually has several items in mind for me to do – it's part of her dreaming process every night. Our various errands then get documented on the “honey do” list and then we head out to strike them off one by one. We try to aim for the early part of the day before the temperature gets too close to 30 degrees C. Multiple sheets of paper towel are always prepared and folded into my pocket for wiping away the ever present beads of moisture.

More often than not the list includes a round-trip bus ride to Walmart, Sam's Club, or Mega, for the longer grocery lists, or it might include a walk through old town Vallarta to the Farmacia, a stop at an OXXO, and poking our heads into the many well-stocked local specialty shops and markets. There is always the obligatory pause for a cool one (agua, cerveza or vino blanco – whichever comes first on the given part of the day) before I, the Clydesdale / Mule, gather the strength to lug everything back home again. The short “dreaded hill” from Olas Altas to Pino Suarez keeps me in shape.

Lunch is hit and miss depending on our mood, and we might even go to the beach with Patty and have a nice little snack there under an umbrella while trying to be polite to the beach vendors... "no gracias" has become a knee-jerk response whether we are sitting down or walking along the Malecon.

We then find a bit of time to address emails and Facebook, and do a bit of research on where we want to go next for some fun, and perhaps when we might actually find a place that teaches spanish....not rushing on the last one as yet...

The afternoon periods are usually much more friendly toward my body as much of that time is spent waiting for Cyndi to complete her afternoon nap. This is when I like to sit in a comfy chair with the afternoon breeze and write posts you are reading. ......It is interesting to watch a big bee or wasp fly in through the living room window and then cruise out through the front door, or to watch the little geckos that peek out from time to time....I digress... This is followed by a bit of hanging at the pool and interacting with other tenants in the complex. Then, all of a sudden someone yells “it's five o'clock somewhere” and ice and other ingredients are assembled into tall glasses. This is when things start to get a little hazy and some of the details about that subsequent timeframe becomes rather vague.... and then sunset happens. We take the time to watch and take a few pictures so we can share with friends and family - not that we want to make them wish they were here or anything like that - and then we start planning something for the evening meal, activities and visiting with friends.

It seems we are actually quite swamped and need to find some free time for ourselves once in a while - good thing we have nap-time booked every day. Our calendar is filling up so fast we had to go out and buy another for 2016.

Shopping for daily / weekly supplies takes up much of our activities and we enjoy going out holding hands every day. We keep getting called "honeymooners". :-)

I think we will address household shopping in a separate post but suffice to say that there is no need to bring anything to PV from Canada. Everything is available here.... some of the brands are a bit different but unravelling that to find your new fav's is part of the fun...