It’s been a pretty quiet week around here; I went back to work last Tuesday and both Nick and I caught a stomach bug. Nick went down first starting on Tuesday and was mostly recovered by Friday but he had 2 full days in bed and I can tell you in 20 years of marriage I have never seen him in bed for 2 days. No food, sipping on water and electrolytes and zero energy. I went down on Friday afternoon; I felt great in the morning, I worked out, started work early and felt like I was going to accomplish a lot. Then my ear started to hurt and the chills set in. I knew it was all over. I was in bed and didn’t get out for 36 hours. It’s the worst. It feels like your body is turning against you. I have just started back on solid food and so far so good. I think that ultimately we are getting cocky on our ability to swing back into Mexican street food. We just dive in, no gradual introduction. And then we wonder why we are sweaty and crampy at 3am.

The work thing is going well, it certainly feels like it eats up most of my day but doesn’t everyone feel that way? I don’t technically need to start until 11am my time so it is nice to have the morning to get a ride in or walk the beach. I am trying to structure my day similar to at home and get a workout in mid day but it is hot as hell by then and I am quickly realizing morning is better.

We did find the bike trail to Nuevo Vallarta and it is lovely. Dead flat and follows the beach from the Royal Decameron Resort in Bucerias to the Marina in Puerto Vallarta. We also found a beach access where the fancy hotels are that has an OUTDOOR SHOWER for public use. Never have I ever seen such a thing in Mexico. It is glorious, you can get sandy/salty and shower off before getting back on the bike to cycle home. Round trip it’s about 20km which a perfect distance in 30 degree heat and 95% humidity.

We have also found several neighbourhoods that we would live in. Away from the beach and up on the hillside with sweeping views. The roads are paved (mostly) and they are predominately Mexican areas with lovely tiendas, restaurants, and of course, our favorite, taco stands. Now to be clear, we don’t want to live in Bucerias but we do like to fantasize about such things when we travel.

The carnival is in town. Sigh. These are travelling fairs that set up in the Barrios for a week or so and it is very disruptive. They set up on the street (like blocking peoples houses) around the plaza mainly and festivities start at around 7pm and go until 2am. There is live music and the sounds from the rides, kids screaming, dogs barking, etc. It is chaos. Plus the carnies sleep in their vehicles beside the rides and garbage is everywhere. The locals love it though and the kids are having so much fun on the rides. They have a mini roller coaster, merry go round, this spinny thing that goes very fast around a track and finally a pirate ship that swings back and forth like a pendulum. These rides have been banned in the North decades ago I am sure but you better believe that both my kids enjoyed all of these rides in Mexico when they were little.

Nick and I are getting to know the lay of the land better and we now play frogger to cross to the highway just like the locals. It has become abundantly clear that it is safer to cross between intersections than the intersections themselves. Plus we like cross near the private hospital, less distance to travel if something were to go terribly wrong. We know the best roads to take that are paved but not to busy and today we were shown a trail that takes us to a beautiful grocery store. We hadn’t gone before because we thought you had to get on the highway to Puerto Vallarta and we are not willing to do that. It’s like a Mexican Whole Foods. I’ve decided Nick and I will go on a date there.

We did do one morning ride last week, just a quick zip out to Valle de Banderas and back We stopped in town at a streetside juice stand and got completely taken for being gringos. We should know better by now. We roll up, order a large orange juice and do not ask the price. Duh. Of course, she charged us 100 pesos and we had to pay it. I guess we could have argued it but seriously? It was our own fault and lesson learned. Plus I won’t stop there again when we ride out there this week.

Other things I learned this week: horses like watermelon rinds, I really don’t like to touch the sea floor when swimming, don’t order beef stew at a streetside restaurant (think ventricles) and finally, most importantly, don’t leave the house when you have a Mexican stomach bug and bathrooms are scarce.