Bananas, mangos, melons!!!!

Robert:

I often have to make the drive over to the official county seat, a little farming and ranching town, just a few kms inland, called Valle Banderas.

Until about four years ago, you had two bad options to get from Bucerias to Valle Banderas. You could take the long, paved way, backtracking down the highway to Mezcales, then winding inland through San Vicente, then San Jose, then left toward Valle. It was a 45 minute drive or more, depending on traffic.

Coco palms alongside the now-paved back road.

Or, the even worse option was the washboarded gravel and dirt back road, direct from Bucerias to Valle. I did this backroad a few times years ago, and while the route was much more direct and much shorter as the parrot flies, you would arrive in about 40 minutes with the fillings shaken out of your teeth, and your shock absorbers in cardiac arrest.

"Yes, we have mo' bananas... we have mo' bananas today."

(P.S. If that caption above sounds positively idiotic...it is. But there's method to the madness, inasmuch as it's a twist on the title and lyric of one my dad's favorite songs, "Yes, We Have No Bananas." It was a novelty song that was a major hit in 1923, when Dad was 11 years old. He used to sing it around the house.

From Wikipedia:

 (Yes! We Have No Bananas" is the title of a novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn from the 1922 Broadway revue Make It Snappy. Sung by Eddie Cantor in the revue, the song became a major hit in 1923 (placing No. 1 for five weeks)^[1] when it was recorded by Billy Jones, Arthur Hall, Irving Kaufman, and others. It was covered later by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, Spike Jones & His City Slickers, and many more. It also inspired a follow-up song, "I've Got the Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues", recorded by Billy Jones and others in 1923.)


Okay, back on track to Valle Banderas;  about four years ago, the municipio (county) paved that back road road nicely, and now you can leave Bucerias at noon and arrive on the plaza in Valle at 12:18 and 14 seconds. More or less.

Plus, it is a very beautiful country drive. I love it.

You wind for 8 kms along the foothills, through ranches and farms, with some very rugged, forested mountains rising up ahead and to the left of you.

The best time to take the drive is late afternoon. The angle of the sun low in the west is just right for dramatic golden light against the mountains. Gorgeous.

Ripe melons! Tempting to sneak one into the car. But, I'm not a melon felon.

Coming back from Valle today, I stopped by the roadside and snapped a few quick pics of the typical crops you see. I didn't get them all.

Mango orchards everywhere. Not in season at the moment.

For example, there are really lush and beautiful cornfields, beanfields, and sometimes tobacco and papaya. I'll have to snap those next time.

Latka Gravas Alive and Singing Rap In Slovenia?

Robert:

What's my favorite mobile app? Well, that's hard to say...there are so many interesting, useful or fun apps. But right at the top of my list is one called TuneIn Radio. I use it on my iPhone and iPad, but TuneIn Radio is available for Android systems and PCs as well.

TuneIn lets you listen in real time to radio stations all over the world. And it is crystal clear. You can browse by language, by location, or by genre. Then save your favorites.

Because of my particular interests, I mostly listen to music stations in Madrid, Paris, Munich, and Salzburg, and news/talk stations in Madrid and Munich.

Most of the music stations I listen to play a good portion of the standard international hits; lots of familiar American and British music. But they often mix in artists from their own culture and language, and sometimes there's a real discovery there just waiting to be made.

The Paris station I like mixes in some terrific French rock and pop; on the Madrid station I've discovered some great Spanish rock and pop artists that I would never have heard otherwise.  I've now downloaded these tunes and have them on my iPod in my car.

Last night, for no particular reason, I was listening to radio in Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia. They mixed in a pretty cool Slovenian cover, in the Slovene language, of Tequila Sunrise! It was  pretty darn good! Then later, they mixed in a song by a Slovenian rapper!

Meaning no disrespect to the artist or the language, but this was quite a curious sound to my ears. The rapper was of course trying to put the usual menace and swag into his voice; but in that Slovenian accent, it sounded like Latka Gravas from Taxi, getting angry at Alex and Elaine. To my American ears at least.

Latka tells Louie a joke (classic Taxi scene)  CLICK HERE FOR LATKA'S JOKE

To the Slovenian audience, I'm sure it was just the ticket...cocky and cool. :)

http://tunein.com/mobile/ 

Lambert Penthouse, Paradise Village, El Tigre

Robert:

Lambert Penthouse, in Green Bay II. The owners have formally closed on this now, which enables us to list it in both MLS systems here. Lily is working on that process today. Lots of online forms to fill out to get it done.

It is a remarkable value. In effect a 2 bedroom 2 and a half bath penthouse on El Tigre golf course in Paradise Village. And, it comes with the fabulous Paradise Village Country Club and Beach Club membership, called, officially, the Social Membership. This has amazing amenities.

View from living rm, master bdrm, and terrace.

Custom wooden cabinetry, doors and closets.

This penthouse is a steal at $199,900 USD. Low maintenance fees include gas and water. To go to the main web page for this condo, with lots more photos and data, CLICK HERE

Street Sax Player! What's That Song?

Robert:


The street in front of our office is Lazaro Cardenas...it runs parallel to the beach. Today, starting a few steps away from the office door and extending for a long block was a cool little street fair.

It was a culturally mixed affair. Hot shot chefs with their elegant samples, next to the campesina selling strawberries and blackberries from Michoacan.

Notice the very good and properly soulful street saxophone player toward the end of the video below. Can you identify the song? Suuure you can...it's from 1973, title song of the album. One of my all-time faves.

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What Kind of Person Parks Like This?

Robert:

Ran across this photo on the sports commentary site DeadSpin. Hard to believe this person (the driver of "HERCEDES" )  is not a jerk. But then again, perhaps there is some perfectly reasonable (albeit non-apparent) justification for having parked like this, encroaching way over into the handicapped spot. 

Lifetime warranty?

Robert:

I'll boldly stick my neck out and offer a lifetime guarantee on any property we sell that you will never have to shovel snow off your roof.

Hinterstoeder, Austria; 2 meters of snow in 2 days.

If you do (climate change and all that, so who knows?) I will personally shovel it off for you. I have vast experience with the business end of a snow shovel, having lived at 9100 feet in Colorado for 20 years.

Deal? Okay.

Dragon Man In Bucerias? What's That Smell?

Robert:

Maybe I should hire this guy for an open house at one of our fire sales. Or just have him stand in front of the office doing his thing to attract attention.

But, I'd feel guilty because this has got to be horrible for his health. It smells like pure kerosene.

To see the Bucerias human dragon breathing fire, step right up ladies and gentlemen and  CLICK HERE!

Tranquility Break: What Zero Gravity Does To Your Hair!

Robert:

Astronaut Sunita Williams gives a fascinating and delightfully charming tour of the ISS (International Space Station).

Float along through the different rooms and sections of the space station with her by CLICKING HERE.  (Check out what zero-gravity does to her hair! :)

In The Plaza Last Night

Robert:

It's great weather for strolling the Bucerias plaza in the evening. Always lots of yummy street food, and always a lot of energy; families out for a walk, and kids having a blast.

Mutant Hairy Iguana?

Robert:

Hmmm...who was the barber/stylist? Edward Scissorhands?

I'd be tempted to get the "iguana cut" myself...although it might not do much for clients' confidence when they walk into the office. You think? And I don't have enough hair left anyway; maybe they could give me a tiny gecko in the back.

This could be a new toupee concept line. Baldies could keep an entire drawer full of animal toupees. "Hmm, today I'm feeling randy...think I'll go with my rabbit toupee." 

No more popcorn and "pipi" smell...

Robert:

Man o man is this area growing and changing quickly. When I first moved here in 1995, the only "picture shows" were three old-style movie houses, in old Vallarta proper. You know the type. 1950s throwbacks with ragged seats, sticky floors, big upper balconies (always closed), and that weird smell of popcorn and "pipi." I actually went to the movies a couple of times in the one just south of the inland bridge over the Cuale River. That's what an old timer I am here.


It was the last one standing, actually functioning as a movie house until four or five years ago. One of the others, also on the south side of the Cuale, tried operating as an "adult" movie house for a couple of years. But, the proliferation of you-know-what kind of sites on the internet destroyed that market completely.

Meanwhile, modern multi-screen cinemas have sprung up all over the place. 16 screens in a shopping center in Pitillal, located right where the old Pitillal cock-fighting arena used to be; multiple-screens in Galeria Vallarta; multiple-screens in the Mezcales/Walmart/Lago Real shopping center; multiple screens in the new Macro Plaza, close to Costco. There might one or two more. I almost can't keep up.

Almost everything is available in either English, with Spanish subtitles, or the reverse. Take your pick. Only the kids movies are in Spanish only.

3D? You betcha.

And I've been away from the USA so long I don't even know what a movie costs there anymore. Here a first run movie averages around 60 pesos. (About $5 USD). Not bad.

Right now I'm wanting to see Life of Pi. Here, they call it Una Aventura Extraordinaria. Tip: Even for the English versions, they advertise the Spanish title. That can lead you to think the movie you want to see isn't playing here. But, it may be, just with a different Spanish title, even though there will be an English version.

Sweaters, jackets! What fun!

Robert:

Finally...after two days of steady, moderate, cool rain, and temps in the mid 60s, we are back to more normal weather. A brilliant, washed-clean blue sky, and temps in the upper 70s. Perfect.

But, while I felt bad for the people here on short term vacation, most of us locals got a kick out of the freaky, cool, rainy weather. It reminded us of home, or Europe.


In fact, I have a sweater I bought in Munich in 2010. I had had no excuse to wear it since then, until yesterday. I felt sartorial (well, almost) in it all day.

I also noticed that Lily, our secretary, and Patty de la Mora (who was on floor duty) had on clothing I had never seen them wear before.

We all got a laugh out of how it was fun to put on something different for a change.

I still have my long johns I bought on the last ski trip to Germany. Hopefully I will never need anything that extreme here. That would be no fun at all.

Cool Rain? In the Dry Season? Yep.

Yesterday was oddly cloudy; gray and with sprinkles. I figured it wouldn't amount to anything. It rarely does here in the dry season months (November to May). Most years, there's not a drop of rain all those months.

But, Mother Nature loves to keep things interesting. A steady cool rain started in the night and continues this morning. I just checked. 68 degrees. That's our tropical version of an arctic blast. Brrr, pull up the blanket.

Maybe the rain will help wash away the hangovers for those who got a little too happy last night.

But bad luck for people here for a short stay, expecting the usual sun.