celebrating sara's and brian's 27th at the hen

cool to see everyone that showed up at the hen for sara's and brian's b-day!!! sara was impressed with the gifts, especially from randy and his wife (and nice touch on the chocolate)! knut bell played, they were a little loud, but cover some good songs and I like them. they definitely have some character! it was kind of funny to see brian and his friends reaction to being at the real hen, they had only been there before on wednesday nights which is a total college scene. I managed to not have a single beer/drink the entire night, a definite first, but I've been really sick the days prior and drinking was not in the cards (and DD that night anyway). sara got a classic b-day drink!

sara b day

Sara turned 27 today (the 23rd). Dinner at the parents. Night at the hen to follow

tacos al pastor

I love tacos at the taco trucks (I call them roach coaches), there is at least 2 or 3 of them in monroe alone. If you've never ate at one then the basic description is 2 4" soft tortillas with cooked marinated meat, cilantro, onions and served with lime and usually radishes.

I've tried ordering these tacos in "americanized" mexican restaurants, but they usually are nothing like the taco wagon tacos. That is until sara and I discovered this great authentic mexican joint in monroe (it's the place all the local mexicans go to). the food is excellent, fairly cheap, great margaritas, and they serve great authentic mexican tacos.

during our trip to mexico we decided to try one of the locals serving tacos, usually there is a variety of meats you can choose from but they were only serving "al pastor". I didn't know what this was at first but soon we found we were in for a treat that now even sara can not get enough of!!!

the just of tacos al pastor is it's a specially marinated pork taco with the pork being cooked on a peculiar upright flame rotisserie (I had never seen one until our mexico trip). it is best explained at this site: info on tacos al pastor

now I only hope our favorite mexican restaurant in monroe serves tacos al pastor style and I have just missed it on the menu in the past not knowing what it was! regardless, the place makes a mean pork taco, they stuff it full and one is usually enough to fill me up and at $2.75 that's a cheap dinner.

Mexico Day 8, Feb 20th 2007

travel day back... we packed and said good bye to our bungalow and san pancho. our flight was at 4:30 and we left san pancho around noon. so we drove into puerto vallarata and checked out the town a bit. it's huge, I didn't realize how spread out the place is. saw a big cruise ship in port and the lame motels and all-inclusives near port... I can't imagine staying at one of those places as you are stuck in the lamest part of town right in the center and you would never get to see anything because it takes so long to get in/out of the area. I wanted to see a bit of the inner city and we drove up on some of the local streets and hills. then off to our flight.

we had tacos for lunch, not as good as in san pancho, but still good. 4 tacos and 2 cokes was about $3-4.

for pics click here

Mexico Day 7, Feb 19th 2007

what a great day... we went to celcia's for breakfast again, I had one of the best omelets I've ever tasted and sara had their machaca which was also excellent. and if I didn't mention before, most all the restaurants serve a huge glass of fresh squeezed orange juice (or about any other type of fresh fruit) for about 12 pesos (about $1), it is so good!

we immediately set out for the cool surf/swim area on the south part of the beach in san pancho. there we spent most the day playing in the surf and sun. this is a great spot as the water is perfect, you can wade a long ways out and never have the water over your head or crashing hard, lots of fun. next time we plan to rent surf boards for the entire time we are there and this would be an excellent place to surf. there were people body boarding as well and that looked like huge fun.

after we had enough surf and sun time we decided it would be fun to get some booze and make drinks back at the bungalow. having had a sangria at a bar a few days back I decided to look up a recipe on the internet and we bought some vodka, orange juice, and red wine. back at the bungalow I added fresh grapefruit, oranges, and limes to the mix and it made for an awesome drink!

we enjoyed a beautiful sunset under the papala then headed into san pancho for some dinner. you'll never guess where we ate... more tacos al pastor!!! they are so tasty. sara loved them so much she had 3 and was wanting a fourth. afterwards we looked for some desert and found one of the locals selling flan, it was again extremely delicious like most everything else we ate!!!

for pics click here

Mexico Day 6, Feb 18th 2007

this was a pretty lazy day. the previous night my head started hurting due to an oncoming sinus infection that I think I got from water in my sinuses after being tumbled in the surf. so we headed into town for some breakfast and I bought some sinus relief medicine. for some reason there things were pretty slow in town that morning and most the locals restaurants weren't open, so we went to one of the more americanized places (pictured right) that still served mexican breakfast. turned out their food was excellent and we discovered this great mexican dish called machaca, basically a mexican scramble. then back to bungalow, sara laid on the beach while I stayed back and tried to get some sleep

for pics click here

Mexico Day 5, Feb 17th 2007

we headed out to sayulita to check out the beach there. supposedly in the day sayulita was much like san pancho, a small, quaint place, but it's now the party town for surfers and many tourists. still, the small village feel remains and it is a pretty cool place to check out.

the beach at sayulita is very nice. clean white sand and is not too crowded. there is plenty of areas to surf and swim. there is numerous americanized bars on the beach so it was nice to have drinks when you wanted or grab a bite to eat.

we played in the surf quite a bit here and also sun bathed a bunch. about lunch time we packed it up and headed for the bungalow to have some leftover bbq chicken! it was still very good and hit the spot.

we needed to hit an ATM so we drove south to bucerias. this is where we stopped for lunch on the day we arrived. we got the cash we needed and then headed over to check out the beach and town. bucerias reminds me of the mexican version of longbeach for some reason, probably because all the vendors selling both junk and nice things and numerous food vendors. we stopped for a churro which was delicious and only 15 cents, damn!

we left bucerias enjoying an awesome sunset on the drive to san pancho. when we got to san pancho we were both starving for dinner. we decided to stop at one of the locals that were serving tacos out of the front of their house basically. I was expecting the regular taco menu like I see at the taco wagon in the states but the girl serving us only stated they had "tacos al pastor". I had not heard of this but assumed it would be good and we both went for it. turns out tacos al pastor is basically pork tacos, my favorite, cooked in a special manner on an upright rotisserie. these were the best tacos I've ever had and sara could not get enough of them as well!

for pics click here

Mexico Day 4, Feb 16th 2007

This morning we had cereal in our bungalow for breakfast but still made the stop at the Italian bakery for my cappuccino. We drove North to explore making a few stops until we reached Las Ayalas. We drove up on the hill to overlook Las Ayalas and could see it had what appeared to be a nice beach for swimming. Once we actually drove into Las Ayalas we realized we were in a mecca of white tourism… it was littered with little shops selling mostly junk tourist type stuff and many food vendors selling more Mexican like but still tourist affair (e.g., skewers of shrimp and fish, pineapple drinks, etc.). The beach was packed with tourist and had a circus type feeling, it was interesting to check out but neither of us wanted to stay long and after taking a few pics we were on our way.

The drive back we both were excited to have some more bbq chicken for lunch! We arrived back at San Pancho and pulled aside to one of the first locals selling bbq chicken and ordered a whole chicken with rice and tortillas for 80 pesos (approx $8). We also bought some more beer and orange liquor for margaritas. At our bungalow we enjoyed our chicken only eating about 1/3 of it and saving the rest for another day.

After lunch it was back to the beach for some relaxation. This time we hit the North beach. We played in the surf some and then decided to explore past the rocks at the end of the beach. We discovered another beach just past the jetty of rocks. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera. One nice thing about Mexico is it's against the law to make beaches private.

For dinner we tried a Mexican restaurant in town, again cheap with are combined dinners and drinks being less then $12-15.

click here for more pics

Mexico Day 3, Feb 15th 2007

In the morning we headed into San Pancho set on a authentic Mexican breakfast. However, my first stop was the Italian bakery for a cappuccino to go. We also asked the lady there the best place for swimming and snorkeling and were directed to try Pointe Mita. We parked the Jeep and walked the streets looking for what would be our best bet for a true Mexican breakfast. We came across an older man cleaning the streets and he asked us what we were looking for and we told him breakfast. He began to tell us where we can find an “American” breakfast, but we informed him we wanted a Mexican breakfast and he indicated 3 different places but suggested one in particular if you also wanted a good strong coffee with your breakfast. This was Clicia’s, and the coffee was strong and the food excellent. Sara had a fresh squeezed orange juice, probably 20ozs, easily a $3 drink in the US and I think it was less then a $1. Sara also had a Mexican style omelet and I had huevros rancheros. Both came with beans that were delicious and side of fresh tortillas. And as we were beginning to learn you almost always have a guest at the local restaurants, one of the local dogs that are nice and do not beg. They just sit near you and keep you company.

After breakfast we were off to Puente De Mita. Initially I was not too excited about the place as when we pulled in it was obviously “Americanized” with pushy help that wanted you to park at their hotel/bar. We did park and initially were introduced to “Migquel” that had a boat for snorkeling, but we brushed him off and headed onto the beach. On the beach we came across a friendly guy named “fox”, he agreed to take us out for $1000 pesos, roughly $100, which was $200 pesos less then the others. We first had to drive to an ATM for cash but after that we were off heading to islands of Las Marietas.

Along the way to the islands “fox” spotted some whales and explained some of the local culture, plants, and animals. We arrived at the snorkeling location, which was a calm area next to one of the islands where there was also a cave that lead to a small sandy beach on the island. I had snorkeled in Hawaii and the fish were a bit more tropical looking, but it was nice being remote and our guide “fox” was pretty cool about explaining everything and swam with us pointing out various fish. Both sara and I eventually became cold and had enough snorkeling, so then fox showed us the remaining of the islands showing us the interesting aspects of it.

When we got back to the main land two things, make that three, were necessary… bathroom, food, and margaritas. I could not wait to take a piss and had to make a run for the bathroom while fox secured the boat. We paid him and headed for the restaurant fox recommended (the 2^nd one, the first was closed). Sara ordered lobster and I ordered mahi mahi in a spice sauce, and sara ordered a margarita on the rocks and I ordered a strawberry margarita. My strawberry margarita was one of the best I’ve had. Our food arrived and both our dishes were excellent with sara’s being especially great. We both ordered a 2^nd margarita and then paid the bill, I think it was 600 pesos with tip, which is about $60 American, one of our more expensive meals but not bad when you consider we ordered lobster, mahi mahi, and 4 drinks.

After dinner we ventured home and I steered off into small town and found a small dirt road to explore. There wasn’t much out on it but it gave opportunity for sara to pick some flowers.

Back in San Pancho we found the town to be livelier then the previous evenings and appeared more locals were out and about. We discovered a few small shops we had missed before and then had desert, Sara some ice cream and me some Mexican pastry. We also enjoyed an awesome sunset that evening.

click here for more pics