On whale watching day, I got an early morning taxi to the main marina of Puerto Vallarta. It’s the same marina where cruise ships dock, along with many different private cruise operators with lots of tour options. I went with Beach Boys https://www.facebook.com/crucerosbeachboy, for 1000 pesos ($63) plus a 29 peso ($2) marina fee once I got there. I booked with my hotel front desk guy, who said all the tours were the same price, but I saw more expensive ones advertised. On board the catamaran were staff to feed us breakfast and drinks, the captain of course, and a marine biologist. Whales were tracked down right away, and we…

I arrived! After unorganized lineups to get out of customs, there is a huge area inside the airport lined with time share salespeople. I was curious to know what they would offer, but I ran the gauntlet with my head down and came out untouched. At the airport exit, I made a hard left, taking me over a pedestrian bridge to the other side of the road. Here I knew I would be able to get a taxi or uber for about half the price you would pay for the taxis lined up outside the airport. I ended up in a taxi for 200 pesos to my downtown hotel ($13),…

Why travel now? Well, here were are in a 5th wave of covid. The omicron variant is rampant, weather has been brutally cold, and Regina feels like it’s in lockdown. The government of Canada officially advises to avoid non-essential travel internationally. This was done due to the risk of the omicron variant entering the country. Well, that didn’t work, so I take that advisory with a grain of salt. We are not in any lockdown though, unlike all the other provinces right now. There are some serious restrictions across Canada in place, but they are not stopping omicron anyway, so in Saskatchewan are trying the opposite. We are only watching…

We had an 8 or 9 hour ride along winding roads through mountains to the coast to our final stop.  Surprise, we are staying in Puerto Angel, a port town close to the beach towns of Zipolite and Mazunte, where we were supposed to be staying.  The dive hotel here is the only accommodation for miles due to the Easter holiday and an obvious failure to book ahead by the tour company (Intrepid Travel, who has agreed to a partial refund of the tour price after a month to review my complaint).  I’m pretty low maintenance, but I have my limits and this hotel went below them. In the morning…

Arriving in Oaxaca late in the evening, we stayed in a hotel with cute courtyard half an hour’s walk from the old town.  We went for a cooking course the next day in this culinary capital of Mexico.  After we were treated to a breakfast of delicious tamales, cooked inside corn husks, then went to market with Oscar the chef to pick out chilies and other fresh produce to make the menu we had decided on. After a couple of hours of chopping, peeling, rolling, stuffing, etc. we sat down with our creations with beer and mezcal served by a handsome helper.  We had many courses to our gourmet meal…

We left by van in the late afternoon to Puebla, an industrial city of three million, with a beautiful old town centred by a massive church and zocalo (town square). We had some mollettes (deep fried tortillas filled with whatever) as street food appetizers, then tacos at taco joint. We made our way to the arena for Lucha Libre.  We were late and had to stand for two hours to watch the matches.  I first saw this sport a couple of years ago in Mexico City.  It’s like wwe in Canada I think.  Some of the fighters are enmascardo, masked characters.  They aren’t seen in public without their masks.  Lucha…

I checked out three museums within a few blocks of my hotel in the Centro Historico Saturday morning, sometimes dodging the homeless who seem to be set up permanently in their spots down the side streets. Muse de Arte Popular, with fantastic folk art, Museo Mural Diego Rivera, art and displays of the famous muralist, and Museo Memoria y Tolerencia, with disturbing displays of genocides around the world. I took a taxi to a hotel in the more upscale Zona Rosa, nicer but much further from most attractions. Here I met my tour group, and first on the agenda was a “taco crawl”. This consisted on one taco joint. We…

My free day in the historic centre was spent in museums and shopping. The museum in the National Palace in the Zocalo, the largest square in Central America, has murals of Diego Rivera. He is Mexico’s most famed artist, except maybe for Frida Kahlo, who he married twice. The first marriage ended when he slept with her sister. He really got around considering he was not incredibly attractive.He and Frida lived in her Blue House in separate areas until her death. I saw the museum now there on my last visit to Mexico City. The museum in the Palacio de Bellas Artes also has murals by Rivera and others. There…

I was up at 3 am for my flights to Mexico City.  I would not normally plan on a night out on a day that started like that, but…. Ballet Folklorico de Mexico plays Wednesday nights at el Palacio de Bellas Artes.  I bought tickets through Ticketmaster Mexico. I  went to pick up my ticket, then had a nap.  The show at this beautiful building started at 8:30, so I had time to visit Burger King.  I was ushered up to the front row of the cheap seats, where I looked down on the show with a queasy stomach.  There were eight different sets, one after the other, with up…