NOPE

I've vacationed on the Banderas Bay 4 out of my last 5 vacations since 2011, and I've never really noticed any bugs or creepy crawlers worth mentioning...aside from mosquitoes, geckos and ants of all sizes, my vacations here have been pretty uneventful in that department.  So, when we decided to move to Mexico, I didn't think much about the types of insects we'd encounter.  

HOWEVER.  Since arriving here a few weeks ago, it's become apparent that critter activity is a liiiitle bit different when the seasons are about to change.  In the Puerto Vallarta area, the rainy season starts around June or July and lasts until about September.  It's hotter, muggier, muddier, tourism dies down, restaurants close up and all of the 6 and 8-legged demons wanna come hide from the rain by setting up camp in your casa and disgusting the hell outta you.  And then there's me........"Um, NOPE."  

For those of you who are tired of seeing and/or reading my braggy posts about how sunny and beautiful and magical and vibrant Mexico is...please enjoy:

The first "eeeewww" experience was a small, dead cockroach on its back.  No big deal.  I made a sour face, grabbed a broom and swept him right out the door.  A few days later I saw another dead cockroach on its back while I was sweeping up after our sandy pup, so I just swept him into my pile...I went to get the dust pan and when I came back he was GONE.  Um, nope.  I caught that little faker trying to scurry away, and then my broom suddenly turned into a hockey stick and I sent him flying into a concrete wall before crushing him and letting out a girly squeal.  (They're crunchy, in case you were wondering.)

And then our little encounters with Mother Nature started to become a daily thing... We were watching a movie one evening in our living room with the screen doors closed (so, how the hell did he get in?) and a big, old beetle-looking bug (I assume cockroach but I didn't exactly wanna look at the thing too closely) made a beeline across the floor towards where I was sitting on the couch.  Of course, I put my feet up and yelled "NOPE!" and let Ty take care of the dirty work.

The following night we were on the couch again and Ty spotted a little roach this time scurrying across the floor and he squished it with his bare foot.  (Boys are gross.)  And then....he couldn't find it.  Realizing it was probably stuck to his foot, he started to do his infamous Irish jig dance moves flailing around the room yelling, "Ahhh!  Where is it?  Where is it?!"  He found the dead bug between his freakishly long toes.  Nope. 

The incident that happened next is the worst one, and I have yet to say it out loud because I'd like to pretend that it never happened.  I woke up one morning and Ty said, "You're being surprisingly calm about what happened last night.  I thought for sure you'd be freaking out about it today."  Ty loves to tease me incessantly and get me to fall for his dumb jokes and pranks so I said, "Shut up.  I'm not falling for it."  And then when I realized he was being serious, I said, "Don't tell me.  I don't wanna know."  But of course, he couldn't help himself. 

Apparently, while we were in bed the night before, he said he felt something crawling up his leg (NOPE.) and he did that shake-your-limb-as-violently-as-possible-thing that any normal person would do.  And he sent whatever was crawling on him flying, not knowing where it went.  It was dark, so he got up and turned on the light....just in time to see a 2-inch cockroach CRAWL UNDER MY PILLOW.  My pillow.  While I was sleeping.  Noooooope.  He quickly got me up and got it out, but I musta still been asleep because I didn't remember it at all the next morning.  When he told me, I said, "Welp.  I guess I'm never sleeping again."  

Amazingly, it gets worse.  The same day I found out about the cockroach under my pillow...this guy came to visit. 

I was walking through the living room and saw him running across the tile floor outta my peripheral vision and I honestly thought it was a mouse or lizard or something, because it was so big and fast.  He easily woulda spanned my whole palm.  (Look at your palm right now. LOOK AT IT.)  Sorry the picture is blurry... I was trying to keep my pup away from it while also calling Ty to save us from imminent danger.  Because, duh.  

And then I made a mistake.  I went down the rabbit hole.  I started Googling common (big ass) spiders in our area, I read terrifying articles like this one, I got on some of the PV expat Facebook groups we belong to and scoured the photos for crap like this.  Dumb girl.

A woman in PV found this beast in her bathroom and wanted to know what it was...and all 94 of those comments are other locals saying, "Yup, we get those sometimes."  Or...."I turned on the light the other day to find of one these guys munching on a cockroach."   NOPE!!!

That night it took me HOURS to fall asleep, even though I had thoroughly checked all the bedding and pillows for anything with a heartbeat (do bugs have hearts?)  As I tried to fall asleep, I thought every little movement or breeze or hair on my face was some up-to-no-good beetle bug or 8-legged demon, of course.  I definitely didn't sleep half-naked and uncovered like I had been.  I bundled myself up in the sheet and called it a bug burrito.  NOTHING was gonna crawl on ME.  

Thankfully, it was an uneventful night (that I know of) and I woke up the next day on a mission.  Marianne fumigates the houses before busy season and mentioned that she also treats the perimeter of the houses with Orson Home Defense spray, so I sent Ty to WalMart with instructions not to come home until he finds this magical, force-field death spray, while I sat at home and read about one million reviews on Amazon about it to assure myself that it was gonna work.  I also walked around the house like a friggen member of SWAT or Special Ops...opening cabinets, turning over cups, reaching into my purse or drawers like I might need to combat a vicious creature at a moment's notice. What a dork.  

So, far so good...the spray seems to be working.  The only cockroaches we've seen in the house in the past week or so were dead, which is exactly how I like them.  And things on the critter front have gone back to uneventful.  Well...unless you count the giant possum that wandered onto our patio a few nights ago.  But, no biggie. 

Welp.  I better quit typing about all the things that go bump in the night, because I started this blog post last night and ended up having crazy dreams about 8-headed cockroaches and iguanas munching on scorpions.  Oh, scorpions!  I forgot about scorpions!  We were officially warned to be on the lookout for scorpions at the start and end of rainy season, so we have that to look forward to.  Our maid's son was just stung last week by one at school and had to go to urgent care (he's totally fine, thankfully) so it's a very real threat here.  Awesome.  

Lastly, I found this guy (dead) today...and I've decided to call him the Gladiator Bee.  Not really looking forward to him flying through our house at 20 mph, but I'm sure it'll happen. 

Alright.  I hope you've enjoyed today's installment of NOPE.  Buenas noches! 

"Nothing is Ever Easy"

It's funny...this move has made me realize, more than ever, that problems or pet peeves or annoyances never go away, they just fall in line with your current situation.  Meaning...we still bicker and whine or get annoyed about things, but now instead of complaining about working 12-hour days, I whine when I can't find my flip flops, or when I accidentally leave a dirty dish on the counter and some ants find it....or that I have to get out of bed because the maid wants to clean our house.  (I know.  Someone smack me.)  Ty is no better...he whines when he has to get up to find a laptop charger, or when he has to put on a shirt to go into public, or complains when he gets mosquito bites even though he never wants to put on bug spray.  We've become super annoying humans. 

But at least we realize how ridiculous we sound when we complain about our life in paradise.  Every time we catch ourselves saying something we should be punched in the face for, we both bust up laughing and in unison say, "Nothing is ever easy."  It's turned into a sarcastic game around our house and we're always poking fun at each other.  Needless to say, life is good and we have absolutely no (legitimate) complaints about our new life south of the border.  We're very grateful to be here!

Let's see...what's new with us?   I was really hoping to post an obnoxious selfie today with the caption, "Guess who got their Temporary Resident cards today?!"  But nah.  After our second trip to the immigration office today in Nuevo to finalize our visas, they found a minor typo on our application and we have to fill it out all over again and go back again in the morning.  Argh.  ("Nothing is ever easy.")  

Here's an obnoxious selfie anyway....(when I asked Ty to take a picture with me, he asked, "Ugh.  Do I hafta put on shirt on?"  No lie.) 

Some tidbits about our 3rd week in Mexico:

• In case you were wondering, sugar is kept in the refrigeration section of the grocery store here and not in the "baking aisle" despite how many times you try to look for it there.  I guess it must melt or get sticky in the heat?
• I can join a gym (very similar to a 24-Hour Fitness back in the states) for 83 bucks for 12 months of unlimited use.  83 DOLLARS FOR A YEAR!?!  I couldn't even buy workout pants back home for 83 dollars.  
• We've been here for almost 3 weeks, and I have yet to drive anywhere.  Ty is making me drive to immigration tomorrow, so that should be fun/terrifying for both of us. 
• Ummmm, it's almost the rainy season here which apparently means creepy crawlers are starting to come out of hiding in search of shelter... My next post is gonna be about the cons of living in a semi-tropical climate.  For those of you who are sick of my annoying, braggy palm tree posts, you'll enjoy the terror I've experienced over the last week.  Stay tuned...
• We're learning more and more Spanish everyday, but it's slow-going and really frustrating at times... It took me about 45 minutes to translate an immigration form today into English and then translate my answers into Spanish...while I leisurely sipped locally-roasted coffee in my pajamas and gazed out over the ocean, mind you.  ("Nothing is ever easy.")
• I reeeeeally need to sit down and just memorize the friggen metric system already.  Just like not being able to speak the language, it's also embarrassing to not understand what the hell a kilo is, or what 400 grams would look like, or how many centimeters tall I am.  I mean...I could tell you how many feet long something is, or many pounds I think a bag of oranges weighs...but I just stare off into space when Ty tells me he bought a half a kilo of tuna at the market.  It could be five pounds, or it could be one.  I have no friggen clue.  (One kilo = 2.2 pounds, by the way.)  Also, any time I hear the word "kilo" I instantly think of cocaine for some reason... So, there's that.
• Much to our dismay, we haven't figured out how to watch Hulu here yet, or if it's gonna be possible.  Everything we read said we just needed a VPN, but we tried that and it still didn't work.  ("Nothing is ever easy.")  Any suggestions as to how to watch American TV shows in Mexico are welcome.  
• Pandora isn't available here either, which I already knew...but the Mexican equivalent, "Jango," kinda sucks a big....well, jango.  I've never even heard of half the artists on there and sometimes a cringe-worthy rap song will pop up on my Mumford & Sons station for some reason, and I spend more time giving the "thumbs down" than I do listening to music.  ("Nothing is ever easy.")

Okay, well...I think that's just about enough pointless blabbering for one afternoon.  I hope all three of you who read this are doing well!!  Ha.  Adios! 

Fun Facts

I've decided to compile a list of semi-interesting facts for your semi-entertaining pleasure of our new life so far:

• My face (aka wrinkles and dark circles and acne) look awesome and I've quit wearing makeup all together and using any face products.  However, the 79% humidity has NOT been kind to my naturally curly hair and I'm tempted to shave it off...but whatever.  
• We can eat really healthy (healthily?) for really cheap... We've eaten mostly local produce and same-day fish for a fraction of what it would cost in the states (I'll be posting our itemized budget and expenses at the end of June for comparison.)  And Ty, the foodie, has already made his own hot sauce, salsa, black beans, salad dressings, fish dipping sauces all from scratch and has plans to make sourdough bread, dill pickles, and tortillas in the very near future.  (As I type this I'm eating tempura-battered white fish, black beans, cilantro lime rice and a fire-roasted poplano sauce... It doesn't suck to be me!) 
• We've been drinking fresh-pressed orange juice every morning because we can buy 11 pounds of oranges for like 2-3 bucks and Ty's brother bought us a badass commercial citrus press as a going-away present right before we left.  Yes, please.   
• Our perfect puppy LOVES his new home and that makes me so wonderfully happy because I was so worried he'd be too hot and out of his comfort zone.  Ironically, Ty has been the most miserable and whiney about the heat even though moving to Mexico was his grand idea.  He has yet to wear underwear (and rarely shirts) in the 10 days we've been here.  The heat has been a non-issue for me so far because it's only about 85 during the day and about 75 at night.  I can't wait to see how whiney Ty gets in July and August.... 
• I can get fance lashes in Puerto Vallarta and for about half the cost as the states. Wooooot!
• The view from our couch never gets old.

• We're having our house cleaned (really well) three times a week and having our all our laundry done for about 44 bucks per month.  (Say, what?!?!  This is reason enough for me to never come home.)
• It's surprisingly hard to buy good coffee in grocery stores here... The fields must be owned by corporate giants like Starbucks and McDonalds or it all gets exported or something, because it's mostly cheap junk here. 
• The selection at Home Depot is disappointing!  And there are so many products that aren't even available here.  Did you know you can't even buy steel wool or Soft Scrub here??  Marianne asks guests to bring her items she hasn't been able to find in Mexico.... She has steel wool from Canada and we picked up Soft Scrub in Arizona for her on our trip down.  It'll be interesting to see what we ask our friends to bring us next spring!
• Our feet have been really sore since we've been here... We're not used to walking on cobblestone streets in flip flops every day!  (I'm sure we have your sympathy, right?)
• In an effort to acclimate to the heat and save energy and expenses, we have yet to use the air conditioner in our house... I've been totally fine without it, but again, whiney Ty is dying and gets annoyed if I come within a foot of him.  Snuggling is officially off-limits in Mexico, apparently!
• Much to Bloo's dismay, he has learned to swim in the pool... He's always been timid around water when he can't reach the ground, but Ty's been calling him over to the edge and awkwardly pulling him in simply to cool him off.  He looks totally terrified until he finds the stairs and crawls out about 20 pounds heavier...because his curly hair is like a sponge.  But as soon as he's out, he starts running laps and acting cocky, like, "Mama, did you see I just survived the scariest ocean ever?!?!"  Needless to say, he's less trusting of Ty when he's in the pool now... 
• AND JUST AS I THOUGHT I WAS DONE TYPING THIS POST....the biggest, nastiest cockroach I've ever seen just scurried across our living room floor!  I yelled, "NOPE" over and over again until Ty squished him.  GROSS.  

Happy Martes... And good night! 

Our First Week

So, we've only been living in La Cruz for a grand total of 5 days, but we're already settling into our new digs nicely... I keep saying, "Vivo en La Cruz" to myself, but it still doesn't feel real yet.  I'm sure the fact that all of our friends and family are like 2,600 miles away will hit me soon enough and that may or may not come with a bout of homesickness, but for now...we're just in shock and awe that everything we've planned over the past 9 months has finally, and pretty seamlessly so far, fallen into place.  It's hard to feel sad over dreary Seattle when you're in a place this beautiful...

We're currently shacked up in "Jardines" one of the beachview casitas at Simply Baku for the off season and we're helping Marianne and her staff spruce up the place a bit over the summer.... Baku is already stunning, but Marianne wants to make it even better by giving it a bit of a "face lift" this summer before the busy season starts up again in the fall.  

Our casita is perfect and exactly what we need for right now.  It has a large kitchen overlooking the swimming pool in the front yard, two huge sliding glass doors that open up completely so during the day you feel like the inside and outside are one big space.  Every room is decorated with authentic Mexican decor, tiles and colors.  We also have our own covered, locked parking spot, we're surrounded in palm trees and tropical flowers...and Bloo totally loves his new home and new best friend, Pancho.  Todo bien en Casa Engvall. 

We arrived at Baku late Sunday evening to a generous spread of cold drinks, dinner and breakfast items for the following morning... Monday and Tuesday were spent unloading the van, unpacking, going to Mega (about the equivalent of Fred Meyer) and Walmart for groceries, food staples, dog food and household items.  Wednesday we made the 10 minute walk to the marina/fish market next door and bought 800 grams of camarones for about 148 pesos (almost two pounds of shrimp for about 8 bucks) and sauteed them up for dinner.  Last night we went to our favorite taco place in the entire world (Tacos on the Street!!) to celebrate our house funds (aka retirement funds) coming through....  

Today we made the 20 minute drive into Puerto Vallarta to pick up a few things at Home Depot and Ty wanted to check out Costco.  Funnily enough, when we walked into Costco this afternoon...I felt like I was back at home.  It looked exactly the same (minus the surfboard aisle, of course.)  The surprising thing about Costco here though, is that everything is the same price, if not more expensive than, back home.  Needless to say, we don't really have any reason to go there anymore...we can get everything we need closer to La Cruz for a better price.  (Which is fine with me, because I've always hated crowded, chaotic, sample-happy Costco!)

We've also been practicing our Spanish with flashcards, label stickers, workbooks and Google translate for an hour or two every day, and purposely ordering and speaking in (really bad) Spanish at restaurants, stores and with the staff at Baku.  And in an effort to live and thrive here long-term, Ty has quickly adopted the Mexican way of driving which is about the equivalent of "wingin' it."  As a person who likes organization and calm, the drivers and traffic "laws" here stress me the hell out.  Hopefully I get used to it quickly...

Tonight we decided to wander around the cobblestone streets of La Cruz until we find a bar with live music and pop in for some dinner and entertainment before coming home and falling asleep to waves crashing and birds chirping.  Yes, life is rough indeed!!  Adios! 

From Nogales to Navojoa

Let's recap, shall we?  We left Seattle on Monday afternoon and drove to Tigard, OR... The next day to Twin Falls, ID...then Cedar City, UT....then the Grand Canyon (which turned into a huge letdown of a day)...next to Flagstaff, AZ...and finally arriving in the border town of Nogales, AZ yesterday afternoon.  A total of 1,964 miles in five days.  Wowzers. 

We purposely planned to arrive in Nogales during "business hours" because we had a few things we needed to take care of before our border crossing the next day.  We checked into the nastiest friggen motel (yes, I said MOtel) I've ever stepped foot in, then got to work.  And by "got to work".... I mean Bloo and I moped in our cigarette-smelling, wifi-less, disgusting turd of a room while Ty went to buy Mexican car insurance and to have the car serviced.  (There are limited lodging options in Nogales to begin with, but it gets even trickier when you have a big, hairy fur baby in tow....Motel 6 was the only place that would allow a dog over 25 pounds.  Boooo.)

So, while I was sitting in our nasty room wondering how many felonies had been committed in it, Ty bought a year of full-coverage insurance (for like 200 bucks!), and he got the oil changed, brakes checked, tire pressure checked, blah, blah.... We walked to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then went to bed early to be at the border when they opened at 6:00am.   Ty fell asleep in like 23 seconds as per usual, and I proceeded to lay there for hours and hours totally mortified by the general nastiness of my surroundings.  The cigarette smell alone was keeping me awake.  It actually caused me to have my first real wave of home-sickness knowing the home I loved (and my clean, comfy bed) were a million miles away and no longer mine... Long story short... Ty slept like a baby and I got a whopping two hours of sleep last night. 

This morning we got up early, loaded the car and drove the 3 miles to the US International Border and waited in line.  I'm the first to admit that I've been super nervous about crossing the border and about driving through Mexico in general.  I've seen too many Mexican drug lord and kidnapping movies not to imagine every worst case scenario possible.  I envisioned us at an inspection point with some machine-gun toting officials ripping our luggage apart and questioning everything (even though our mini van only has clothes, fitness equipment and golf clubs in it.)  I was especially worried about Bloo being let across the border even though we had all his documents in order.  In fact, we have a very neat and tidy binder full of all our official documents and were ready to produce them in an instant.  What nerds.  Nothing even close to that happened.  All 374 miles we traveled today were anti-climactic, really.  (Deep breath, mom!!)  

After we paid our toll at the border, we went about 12 more miles to the tourist visa center and where vehicle permits are obtained for visitors driving past the "free zone."  We already have 4-year temporary resident visas so that part was simple enough, but we needed a vehicle permit which may turn out to be a pain in the booty.  The clerk who helped us (who seemed very certain and spoke English well) informed us that we have to drive BACK to the border within 30 days to complete our permit process.  Uggggghhhh, say what?!?  Considering that would be a very expensive 4-day, 40-hour round trip drive, Ty's determined to find another way....we'll worry about that later.  We were given our temporary permit and were officially on the highway by 7:00am this morning.  

Highway 15 South is pretty well-maintained, much better than we expected, and large stretches of it are actually brand-spanking new or currently being redone.  I would say about 80% of the roads we drove on today were comparable to the United States (as far as smoothness goes.)  Again, not at all what I was envisioning.  Every so often there would be little "rest stops" where semi-trucks seemed to take breaks...complete with street vendors, beggar kids, and lazy, unleashed dogs.  Aside from these little blips of life in the desert, and the occasional toll booth....our ride was uneventful, at best.  It was mostly never-ending hot asphalt, vast desert in every direction and listening to the same playlists over and over.  And a LOT of boredom.

The most entertaining thing we did today was use the Google translate app to translate road signs... We practiced pronouncing them and tried to think of the U.S. equivalent...  "No Tire Basura" (Don't throw garbage)...."No Maneje Consado" (Don't drive tired....they really love this one for some reason!)  We probably learned 25 new words today just trying to entertain ourselves.  Only like, one million more words to go and we'll be all set. 

The hardest part of our trip was driving for 8 straight hours with only one 15-minute break halfway through!  There aren't real "rest areas" here like there are in the States, and we wanted to minimize being pulled over as much as possible.  So, we stopped at a bright, clean, new-ish gas station to use the facilities, grab a snack and let our poor, tired puppy out for a minute...and then we were right back on the road for the second 4-hour stretch.  

As I type this, we are currently lounging in a very comfortable, air-conditioned Best Western in Navojoa, Sonora for the evening...complete with room service and a pool.  Arriving here was easily the most wonderful part of our entire week.  We're all so exhausted and tired of the van.  Captain Ty has driven a total of 2,338 miles so far by himself without a single complaint!  

Tomorrow will be our hardest, longest and last day of driving.  We're going to wake up at sunrise and hit the road by 6:00am...and drive the 12 hours to our little La Cruz.  I'm already dreading the drive but looking forward to our final destination!!!  

We're off to the pool!  Buenas noches!

The Road to Mexico...

So, it's been a while since I've written anything and I feel like I owe my followers (aka my mom) an update... Since my last post the following things have happened:

• I left my 3 training jobs and Ty left his management job
• We listed our super cute river house for sell and sold it for full price (twice!)
• We sold both our cars and bought a mini van instead (Don't get me started.)
• Ty bought like 5 sets of used golf clubs for his wannabe Mexican golf business (Oh boy.) 
• We had a two-day yard sale and sold absolutely everything that didn't fit in the mini van... (No cargo carrier on top, no trailer....everything we now own fits into a mini van!!)
• We sold so much of our furniture that we had to sleep on the floor our last night in the house
• Over this past weekend, we signed papers on our house, made a couple trips to the dump and to Goodwill...cleaned the whole house, loaded the van and LEFT TOWN on Monday afternoon.  

Oh, wait... Have I mentioned that we're not only moving to Mexico, but we're DRIVING there??  I don't know if I have yet on this blog.... We're driving to Puerto Vallarta.  And we're about halfway there at the moment.  We're currently shacked up in a hotel in Cedar City, Utah with our perfect pup in tow.

We left Seattle Monday afternoon and made the short trek to Portland so we could see our cousins and my parents one more time... Then Tuesday we drove east from Portland to Twin Falls, Idaho.  Today we drove south to Cedar City.  About 1200 miles so far.... 

There have been a lot of surprising things about our much-anticipated road trip so far:

• The speed limit has been 80 mph for a lot of our trip!!  Idaho and Utah are like desolate for hundreds of miles at a time... We've seen more cows than cars. 
• Um, people still get pulled over when the speed limit is 80 mph.  Seriously?  
• Idaho smells like cattle and the rest stops specifically state that unloading livestock is prohibited.  Ha.
• Bloo has been the most well-behaved puppy gentleman of all time.  (Not actually surprising, because he's perfect.  Duh.)  But seriously, he's been such a trooper.  I'm pretty sure he's just stoked to be with both his humans all day.  And as I type this, he is currently enjoying a queen-size bed to himself for the second night in a row.  
• I haven't been totally whiney about being boooooooored nearly as much as I thought I would have by now. 
• I've only sang like 50 Adele songs at the top of my lungs so far. 
• And Ty has yet to complain about it...

Another fun fact about our road trip is that very LITTLE of it is planned out.  We've only booked hotel rooms hours before showing up (with a 100-pound dog, no less)... We don't really know our routes until the day of and we don't even really know when we're crossing the border (or where we're staying in Mexico our first night.  Yikes!!)  Needless to say, we've just been enjoying the ride....  

Tomorrow we're gonna visit some nearby National Parks and then head to the Grand Canyon, simply because I've never been... From there we move south through Arizona and eventually cross the border in Nogales...before making the 2-day venture to our little La Cruz and then living happily ever after.  

More updates to come!

Why We Chose La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

In the fall of 2012, we started planning our first real vacation together.  We both agreed that we wanted to go somewhere "off the beaten path."  We both love the sun and the beach so we started looking in Mexico... We had both already done the all-inclusive, swanky, crowded resort thing in Mexico and we were sorta over it.  What's the point of going to a foreign country to hang out with a bunch of Americans while eating American food in an American-style hotel?  There *is* no point.  We wanted to live like locals, walk or take the bus, explore local towns, cook our own food...and just "wing it." 

I found Simply Baku on Groupon of all places.  It was exactly what we had in mind.  We could have a fully-equipped "casita" right on a quiet beach and be within walking distance to restaurants and markets...all in a very un-touristy little fishing village.  Sold!  We didn't buy the Groupon because we couldn't travel within the required dates, but we booked it for the following March anyway because it was affordable and perfect.  (I just realized that we were there for the first time exactly 3 years ago today!  Happy birthday, babe!)  

From our first contact with Marianne, the owner of Baku and a retired American who had lived in Mexico for over a decade, we already felt comfortable and excited about traveling to little La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, Mexico.  Marianne picked us up at the Puerto Vallarta Airport and greeted us with a big hug...I remember feeling like I was visiting an Aunt or someone I knew.  I felt at home.  

When we arrived at Baku, just 30 minutes later, I remember thinking, "The photos don't do this place justice."  The gardens, the palm trees, the casitas...everything was stunning.  The inside of the casitas were even more amazing, each one perfectly decorated with local artwork and ornate Mexican tiles.  

The view from our patio.... 

For the next week, we woke up to the sound of the ocean, we watched the humpback whales breech in the bay while we waded in the pool, we ate at a different restaurant every day, we bought our own groceries at the local market and cooked a lot of our own meals, we bought a whole fish from the neighboring marina and made fish tacos for the 3 other couples staying at Baku, we hopped on the bus with no real plans, we walked 2 hours on the beach just to get to the next town, we listened to live music, we made new friends...and we were sad to go home. 

The following year I was in college and Ty was traveling every week for work, and Spring Break was a few weeks away...I asked him to take vacation that week so we could spend it together at home.  He surprised me by asking, "Wanna go to Baku instead?"  EEEEEEEK.  Um, duh!  We contacted Marianne right away and luckily enough she had an empty casita with our name on it... The second time was just as amazing as the first time, except we realized that the next time we came, we wanted people to come with us so they could experience little La Cruz too.  (Yes, we were already planning our third trip.)  So, in May of 2015, we dragged our cousins and besties to the beach and we all had the time of our lives.  And I came home with a surprise rock on my finger... 

Needless to say, La Cruz feels like our second home... So, when we decided to make a major life change and leave the country in the fall of 2015, we contacted Marianne and asked her to consider us if she needed help running Baku.  Luckily for us, she said yes and invited us down for the off-season.  So, here we are...packing and planning and preparing (and panicking!) for our big move to our favorite little town.  You only live once, right?