Settling In

Settling In
Today I woke up dwelling on that apartment with the backyard patio. The more I thought about it, the more excited I felt. But I’m afraid to get my hopes up about it. So once again, I knew I should go for a run.

I didn’t get out till nearly 11 which I’ve realized is way too late to run here. Between the heat and humidity, I seriously started wondering if I was going to make it home without passing out. And I was too cheap to stop and buy a drink when I had drinks at “home in the fridge”. But it was really nice to run along the Malecon with the ocean right there. That part of town though is so weird to me. It’s full of white tourists, all speaking English and dressing all American with their white sneakers and Capri pants on the ladies, sunglasses and sometimes visors. I see them and think how they’re not really seeing Puerto Va11arta at all.

I saw some more apartments today but the one on Madero next to Bruce’s B@ck @lley seems to be the best so far. I met Bruce a few nights ago in an expat bar called Que Pa$a. He’s Canadian but definitely has a New York/East Coast vibe – a little type A. And reminds me of my friend/ex A who’s also heavyset, goatee, and a soft talker. Bruce is busy working on his new restaurant that is set to open around the 15th. It’s pretty cool to see the place coming together. Joe, another guy I met at Que Pa$a who’s also Canadian, is painting the place, and another guy Alden is here to train as a chef but also knows a lot about construction and is helping out. I already feel like the place is a little bit like my hangout although unfortunately it will be a fine dining steak house! But Bruce says during the day, he plans to have vegetarian options.

Alden is cool and says he has a recurring theme of mermaids in his life recently. He showed me some cool tile work he did that has a mermaid sort of draped over a bathtub. We also were brainstorming about the potential of doing a mermaid tile piece over the small pool on the patio of Bruce’s restaurant. I told Alden all about the Mermaid P@rade and my idea of starting one down here. I basically am telling everyone I can about it so the seed will be planted for it to happen. He also feels Va11arta is a perfect location for it.

Tomorrow I have plans to go to the beach with Ulises, see the apartment again, and meet up with a woman Pam (who’s starting the business for teachers to teach English to business people) and her dog Indio and maybe even see another apartment that she’s really enthusiastic about but at $500 is a bit out of my price range. But I’m trying to see as many places as possible (I’ve seen 12 so far) so when I see the right one, I’ll know it.