It was a long time coming but Peggy and I are finally back on Vallarta time! We left rather in a hurry back in March of 2020, earlier than we had planned. The Covid pandemic was closing in, Mexico was starting to get hit hard, and we were concerned that the US border would shut down as Canada’s had. Besides, if we were to get Covid, chances were pretty good that it would be severe, so we wanted to be back in the US where our health insurance is valid. So we left, not knowing when we would return but fully expecting to return in the fall.

It didn’t happen. That fall, cases were high everywhere. We were self-isolating at home, getting our groceries brought out to the car at the market, and not going anywhere. We eagerly followed stories in the press about vaccine development, but we weren’t eligible until January of 2021, and got our second dose in February. By then, it was too late to come. So even though we continued to pay rent in Vallarta, we basically wrote the year off and did our best to enjoy our time at home. 

This fall, as the date for our flight approached, we waited anxiously for our Covid booster to be approved. It was, just in the nick of time, and we arrived on time, on our planned date of November 1. I can’t believe we’ve already been here a month!

Since our apartment had been vacant for so long, we really didn’t know what to expect. Our landlord had arranged for a cleaning just before we arrived, which we really appreciated. When we walked in it smelled a little musty, some things were out of place, but in general it was fine. When we sat down for the first time in our accustomed spots it actually felt as if we had never left! We did have some repairs to deal with, some plumbing issues, a tired air conditioner, and a misbehaving water heater. But now all the most pressing problems have been fixed and we feel right at home. 

It has been so hot! It always is for the first month, the weather doesn’t “flip” until around the first of December. During our year off, we lost all the latent acclimatization we may have had, so it has felt even hotter.  I’m talking steam-bath, instant-sweat kind of weather, ninety degrees Fahrenheit and high humidity. So we have pretty much stuck to staying home, going out only occasionally and sitting on the beach in hopes of catching a sea breeze. But now things are improving, and daytime temps are coming down. Nights are finally cool, in the high 60’s, so even though our a/c is working better than ever we haven’t turned it on the last few nights. 

It’s just as well that we’ve mostly been staying home, since we remain cautious about Covid. Restaurants and stores are mostly masked and many places take your temperature as you enter. On the beach, the waiters and vendors are required to wear masks. But when walking the streets there are many maskless people, maybe 25 percent. So we’re careful.  If we go to a restaurant we try to sit apart from other tables, and there are many outside dining opportunities. At home, we order lots of restaurant meal deliveries. 

Starting in December, many of our Vallarta “tribe” will start to arrive, our friends for many years. We always look forward to being with them. However, now the news of the new Omicron Covid variant is giving the world pause, and we aren’t sure how it will affect our time here. Will our friends be able to come? Will we have to leave again? We just don’t know. 

We do know that for the first time in our Vallarta travels we will be going back to the US for Christmas with family.  We plan to be in Merced, California for a week with the daughters and grandson. We’re really looking forward to it!

Here are a few pictures from our first month here.

Morning view from our apartment out onto the terrace.

 

Looking down the hall towards the front of the apartment.

 

View from the terrace.

 

Night view.

 

Our troublesome water heater! This is the “before” picture; it’s all fixed now, soot washed off and ready to re-paint.

 

On our first morning, with no food in the house, we went out to a favorite place, Vitea, on the Malecón. (No, those aren’t our dogs!)

 

The seawall on the Malecón across from Vitea, looking south.

 

Same place, looking north.

 

 

Finally back on the beach in our spot; not too crowded yet.

 

Peggy beachin’ it.

 

We were surprised by our friend Kris Connoy, who wasn’t supposed to be in town yet!

 

The “pirate ship,” the Marigalante, a tour boat, on its morning run. It’s closer to shore than usual. At night, the tour trades “cannon fire” in the form of fireworks with the town.

That’s it for this edition of OnVallartTime. See you next time!