Jocie's Blog

Winter in Canada Well.. I tell ya.. I don’t want to do this again.   Seriously Canadians are tough.   They have to be.. they are constantly being tested.  I have been out of the country for the better part of a decade.. I am not this tough anymore!  I don't think I am passing the test.  It is that no-man's time.. those days between Christmas and New Years.. those travel days.  I am sitting on the highway between Creston and Cranbrook..in a nowhere land.. pondering, yet again, what I am doing on a Canadian highway in winter!? Someone has not been so lucky as I.  They aren't in their warm car.. watching the stars come out, listening to old CD's.  There has been yet another highway fatality.  We are tough.. but not invincible.  Sometimes we forget that. It is the small stuff that make us strong.  Simple things.. like putting out the rubbish.  Most Canadians have to watch where we put out our garbage becaus...

Lucy and her little grandson  I am so lucky to see Mexico before it changes… everything changes so quickly.   Puerto Vallarta is full of Baby Boomers who would struggle to retire at home.   The cost of living is just too high.   But here, in Mexico, a condo with a view of the ocean is the norm.   And as people from Canada and The US move here in droves, the local economy improves and more condos go up and the infra structure improves.. and.. things change.   PV is no longer a ‘sleepy little fishing village’.. San Sabastian from the first sister's house on the hill The apartment where I am staying is a converted little shop.   The owners decided that instead of being tied to a shop all day, where very little money is made, they could get regular income from a couple of suites.   They are small.. but new… and new to the family as well.   They are excited about their new enterprise.   They have one foot in this new Vallart...

I got an email from Kim “Blog Woman!” she says, and so has inspired me to give it a go yet again.   My plan was to do a lot of writing while I was here, but a tiny dark little room doesn’t inspire me much.   So I spend most of my time either watching Netflics or just plain old getting the heck out of here!   Almost everyday I walk along the Malacon.   I am staying about five blocks north of it, and the main expat community is an equal distance south, so it is a good walk, almost with a purpose.   I live in an area called 5 th of Decembre (roll the r) so I walk from there, through ‘Centro’ and into Old Town.   They each have their own personality.   I keep a few pesos in my pocket to pass out to one fellow who has cancer and is begging for money for meds, and a few of the street artists I pass.. the fellow that balances rocks on the beach, the small group that plays Peruvian pipes and ‘fall’ from a huge metal pole.   There is street art ...

There is going to be no end to this particular post.. I don’t know what will happen next.   I took a taxi from the bus station in Guadalajara to the community of San Antonio.   The taxi driver was lovely,   and while he seemed to understand the address.. he struggled with my English saying “we go to Walmart, turn left and then left again at the light”.   He was certain that it was down further..    But, we eventually got there.   Wendy and Ross live in a lovely complex.. their house is amazing and the pool.. again with the word amazing!   But they were also a little pushy.. (ok.. they were also a little happy!) and they insisted that life there was what ever you wanted it to be.   The weather was perfect, so, you could go swimming, or walk along the lake.   You could visit the very artsy town of Aijiji where artists from all over the world worked on and/or displayed their art.   You could head further north and buy ...