It's been nine days now and we are still at Paradise Village Marina. Frankly, If I can be permitted a small bit of whining - I will tell you that we really are quite bored and are looking forward to getting out of there. There really isn't anything "Mexico" about living in this marina in the centre of a large resort where the prices for everything, including the onsite grocery store, are much the same as in Canada and the USA. Whining aside, I shouldn't complain too much as we do have our choice of pools and many restaurants, including fast food and fancy.

The trouble is, they have us in a bit of a set of golden handcuffs hereÉ. The rate at the marina is about $30 a day for us. However, if we stay a minimum of 14 nights, we get the first four days free and the next four days at half price. So, unless my mind has really gone to slush, it makes sense to stay at least two weeks. That means that we really can't leave here until next Monday - five more days.

While we are imprisoned here in purgatorial paradise, we have been making the best of things. A few days ago we started to reacquaint ourselves with the famous Mexican bus system. Many people here don't own cars so the bus system is fantastic! Fantastic, that is, if you know how it works and where to change buses.

In our case, we don't know the PV system yet.

As an example, We wanted to go North about 10 miles to the town of La Cruz. We knew we had to get on an "ATM" bus, change buses at the highway, and head North. Well, the bus we got on was the right bus, but was an express version which meant that we didn't get on a Northbound bus until we were well south in PV. Then, we got on the right bus to La Cruz, but assumed that it would turn into La Cruz. Wrong again. We barrelled right by La Cruz at high speed. Before we could get to the front of the bus (no buzzers, of course) we had a mile walk back to town. All in a days work for a cruiser! Getting home was far better as we had relearned a few tricks of the trade.

The best thing about being here has been a few visits by friends. Dave & Lynn, sailing friends from Victoria are spending a month in town and came by for a few drinks the night before last.

My business partner, Karl along with his wife Leigh, their daughter Taylor, and her friend Maddy were also here on vacation. In fact, that's the reason that we are here in PV so early at all. They joined us for an afternoon of sailing on the boat out in Banderas Bay. It was a great time for all, and especially great for me as it allowed me to get all caught up on the local real estate gossip from Victoria. No, I will never truly let it go! Anyway, it was great to see them and has been the highlight of the week for us.

Now that they have gone back home, I guess we'll just have to go back our routine of sleep, eat, sweat, swim, sweat, eat, sleep. We've got another five days here and then we will move a whopping six miles across the bay and anchor off of the town of La Cruz. I think this will prove to be far more interesting. La Cruz is known for its character, interesting restaurants, and charm.