If it begins with a "T " we don't want it!!

Intrigued by the title?? We have just spent a week in Puerto Vallarta and got fed up with the endless hard selling of Trips,Tours, Tequila and worst of all TIMESHARE!!

Everything was a front for timeshare, half way through eating a meal........the waiter asks do you want to make 3000 pesos just an hour to look at a place........its raining today come for lunch and we will have a little chat about timeshare. Hey amigo I remember you from last year.......Yeh Yeh!! The worst bit was these sad people could not understand that we know "there is no such thing as a free lunch" and our time is our time not something to be bought and of course as house sitters we have access to free houses in exotic places.

So PV was not a great success, expensive, built-up, busy and honestly we could have been in any resort in the world. You couldn't even walk on the beach as each bit was owned by the hotels. Some bits were okay but we didn't even find a good Chinese as we had thought we might.

Chris did get his advanced diving certificate-but even then he said the diving wasn't very good.

Luckily we only had to stay one week and now we are in sleepy San Francisco, Nayarit........fondly known as San Pancho.  It is a world away, on the surface anyway!!

We are staying at Roberto's bungalows, we have a lovely first floor terrace -with outdoor kitchen, an air-conditioned bedroom and bathroom.There is a small pool to cool you down and the beach is about 10 mins away and not a private bit in sight. We sat watching the sunset last night and it is fabulous. It is pretty dammed hot though and the sun has been baking us since about 9 am.

Its a place that one of the previous Mexican presidents decided could get him know as a humanitarian to get the job as UN secretary of state........San Pancho got water, sewage, a hospital, schools, houses and full employment and he didn't get the UN job!! Since then it has been "invaded" by rich Americans and Canadians........luckily this is off season so its not too bad.

President Echeverría adopted San Pancho as the site for his particular vision of a “third world” “self-sufficient” model town. As a result of his special interest, funds were poured into the humble village that at the time did not even have electricity. Nonetheless, an infrastructure was constructed. Roads were laid and proper housing was built for the small population of fishermen and farmers. Not to mention schools, a fishing museum, industrial factory, and modern fully-equipped hospital were all constructed and inaugurated by the president as part of his dream of turning San Pancho into a “university of the Third World”.

While the factory that processed local fruits went on to provide jobs for the community well on into the 1980s, the rest of Echeverría’s vision for San Pancho was brought to an abrupt halt with the end of his presidential term and the miserable state of the Mexican economy at his term’s end.  Consequently, the ventures the President had proposed failed, and San Pancho drifted back into a drowsy tranquility. The fishing museum that had once housed perhaps the largest palapa in Mexico and was graced with elegant fountains, shortly fell into disrepair. Once the fruit processing plants closed down, and the “university” building went vacant without any students or professors to fill it, the overgrown tropical vegetation reclaimed the new developments and San Pancho went back to its sleepy existence. The town’s inhabitants went back to fishing and growing fruit, and with San Pancho still hard to reach, little changed.

Oh and the president fiddled public money to do all of this.....now there is a surprise in Latin America !!

The owner of the bungalows is American, his name is Earl.....yeh really!! He is a larger than life charachter and yesterday his neighbours let us chill in their garden while we waited for Earl to return from the airport. The food is lovely and met a lively Chilean guy who makes great bread in his restaurant. Last night I sat with a mango margarita.......well okay with 2.......... as we watched the sun set over the ocean.....knowing that the nearest landfall is 3,000 miles away. 

We had a lovely walk on the beach and have spent the day chilling by the pool. Hoping to cook tonight as a change from all of the rich restaurant food.

Sunday we are off to San Blas........where allegedly the mosquitoes are horrendous!! Returning to sleepy SAMAO on Tuesday. I've enjoyed the break but will be glad to get back to real life!! Will post some photos next time.

Bye........Norma xx