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!