OCTOBER 2021

After four months of clearing and selling and packing my things, it was good to have finally arrived and be able to embark upon my new life. There was still, however, a lot of work to do before my condo would seem like home. Nevertheless, I was keen to establish as much of a normal routine as possible. I retrieved my kitten, Pinky (now a full grown, if small, cat), and resumed my early morning walks, right away. It was overcast and very dark in the morning. The hills were very green

after the rainy season.

A Little Color Made a Big Difference

My condo had never really been occupied and the walls were still a blinding, primer white. My first mission was painting. Once again, Karen came to my aid. She and I worked diligently to transform and personalize my space. What little time not spent painting was spent shopping for furniture. I needed a dining table and two bedroom suites, as well as a few pieces to complete my office. I combed every furniture store in Bucerias, Mezcales, Nuevo Vallarta, and Puerto Vallarta with no luck. Everything was either incredibly cheesy or outrageously expensive and nothing thrilled me.

Color Choice Was Limited by the Cabinets

Accent Walls Lent Spice to the Bedrooms

Anna Banana's was Crushed by a Falling Tree

Hurricane Norma had passed close to the area shortly before we returned. Puerto Vallarta had suffered a lot of damage when the Rio Cuale overflowed from heavy rains. One of the main downtown bridges washed away and someone was killed when a building collapsed into the stream. There was little damage in La Cruz, but Anna Banana's, the iconic cruiser hangout, was crushed when a giant tree fell on it. A permit to rebuild was not forthcoming. Anna's was history.

Even the Concrete Was Smashed

The other casualties of the storm were the sailboats Lazy Lion and Tequila Mockingbird that had gone aground during the storm. Lazy Lion was a small, fiberglass boat and had been salvaged and removed before I returned. Tequila Mockingbird, however, was a large steel boat. It had remained upright and there had originally been hope of refloating it. Unfortunately, that was not to be. It was carved up and the engine removed, but the bulk of the hull remained on the beach, where it filled up with sand and posed a general hazard.

Bulldozer on the Beach

One Friday evening, about sunset, I heard a horrendous shrieking of metal on stone. A large bulldozer was working its way down the cobblestoned beach access across from my building. Part of the walkway collapsed under its weight and the dozer fell into the drainage ditch, occaisioning more earsplitting grating of steel on stone as it extricated itself. The following morning, when I went for my walk, I found the machine resting at the base of the stairs.

When I returned from my walk, I found the bulldozer hard at work, attempting to pull the hull of Tequila Mockingbird free from the sand while the tide was low. I watched for half an hour, but it was just too heavy. The bulldozer could not shift the hull while it was filled with sand. I finally heard the driver give up and tell the supervisors that the sand would need to be removed, first.

Bulldozer Trying to Free Tequila Mockingbird

Since nothing was happening, I continued on with my day and the matter slipped my mind until that afternoon when I, once again, heard the horrible sound of steel grating on stone. The bulldozer had constructed a ramp over the stairway to the beach and the hull was being dragged over the cobblestones by two bulldozers. Eventually, it was loaded onto a flat bed semi and hauled off to be salvaged. It was barely recognizable as a boat and the whole thing was very sad.

Karen and I worked hard at the painting and had everything but the two murals in my bedroom completed and most of my art hung before it was time for me to return to Los Angeles to help my friend, Brad, sail his boat down to La Cruz.