Sylvie's Travels Home

February 22 and 23, 2024

The waves were still crashing like crazy when we woke up. I read on Facebook that a lady died yesterday or the day before in front of Luma, the condos where Dee and Michel are staying at, because of undertow caused by those big waves. Red flags are all over the beach but people are still going in the ocean because they don’t notice the flags or there are not enough lifeguards to let them know. I saw what I thought was a crocodile on the beach but it turned out to be a tree trunk.

I went to PT, did laundry, then a group of 10 of us went to Boca to Tomates to have dinner. We first stopped to show Mario’s friends the crocodiles on the side of the road behind the fence. We saw at least a dozen. Then we went to the beach, walked by the ocean for awhile then chose one of the ramadas for our meal. Ramadas are restaurants with sand floor kitchens in the back away from the beach, with the tables where the customers sit, out front with a view of the ocean.  Boca de Tomates is also a great location to see Puerto Vallarta from afar.

Mario and Josée wanted to try the Nayarit style grilled fish called zarandeado, the specialty of that region. We went to the kitchen with the waiter and he showed us the fresh red snappers they had. He suggested on of almost 14 lbs to feed the 10 of us. They butterflied the fish then grilled it on the fire for about 30 minutes. The meal came with rice, two salsas and tortillas. It cost 300 pesos per person ($17 usd). It was soooo good! The waiter put the two humongous pieces of fish on the table and we just filled our plates over and over. We will definitely need to go back. We had had margaritas while waiting for the food but then had the wine we had brought with our wine glasses. Pogo hired mariachis and they played 3 songs for us.

We finished just in time to enjoy the sunset on the beach and it was a beauty.

We came back to Nuevo, stopped at Starbucks for coffees and desserts. Some of us went to get gelatos. It ended up being a really great afternoon and evening.

Friday morning, we went to Mama Nena for breakfast. It was the busiest we had ever seen it. Pogo dropped me off at the nail salon at noon where I met Josée for a gel manicure. She drove us back. We spend the rest of the afternoon on the balcony.

Pogo drove to the airport as well as Mario and Josée to pick up Diane, Alain, his son, girlfriend and their 4 month old baby. I decided not to go because of my knee. I can’t stand in the same spot for very long. I’m so disappointed that it’s hurting again.

Pogo and I went back to Tarantella for dinner and shared a Caesar salad, pizza and lasagna. It was way too much so we brought the leftovers home.

Maxime’s travels update:

She is now in Moalboal after taking a 6am ferry. She found an apartment there. She has been catching up on sleep mostly. She sent me funny pictures of her and Luna facetiming.