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Cumpleaños Número Sesenta!

Bienvenido, loyal reader. Please join Bruce and Mary as they celebrate Bruce’s big six-oh… buen provecho!

Unlike Mary’s BD, we only celebrate mine for a couple days. So we start with treating ourselves to a flat screen video feed of  the Vikings/Packers season finale match-up, this day, Sunday, December 30th. We are at Steve’s, a sports bar just around the corner from our place. All the tables are taken but Gary is kind enough to offer us a couple of chairs at his. This is an extremely generous act as Gary is a Green Bay denizen and season ticket holder for 52 yrs.

This is Pat and Mary. Before we went to Steve’s we checked out Nacho Daddy, another sports bar on Basilio Badillo but there was nowhere to sit. While we were looking around, Pat, a blog fan as it turns out, breathlessly approached us and said, “Hi, I’m Pat and Ken!” All three of us laughed immediately. Well Pat and hubby Ken have a table but it is so far from the feed that we politely decline with the hedge that if we cannot do any better at Steve’s we’ll be back. About midway through the first quarter, Pat found us at Steve’s and told us that they had secured a table right in front of a Vikings feed so we joined our new friends.

Sorry, can’t take my eyes off the game for even a moment. Pat’s Ken is in the middle and then his buddy Victor. We find that Victor is a neighbor, he and his wife live just across the street! We end up consuming many beers (they’re Canadian, they can’t help it, eh?) and cheering our Vikings onto victory and the play-offs. Today is the 31st, the actual day of my BD and Mary is right behind me as we board a blue bus, I missed her cue to turn and face the camera. I never have been much good at taking direction. We are on our way to the Marina for a whale tour!

About a half hour later we are at the port. Now we have to find the right puerta.

Here’s Mary in the Cantina. We are early and have time to kill and this is a pretty comfortable place to do it. With people coming and going from the cruise ship at port and from the various tours, there is an infectious energy here.

The Celebrity Century is at port. We’ve never had a desire to do a cruise, but who knows, maybe someday.

In the open area in front of us at the cantina is a cool color coded map of Mexico painted on the concrete.

After much waiting we are finally underway and having a lot of fun. In the back you can see the open bar…

Which also contains their kitchen. They are prepping ceviche for our meal on the way back.

This is Hector, “The Protector”. He is our most excellent tour guide. He wonders if we want the tour in English as well as Spanish, but we decline as we are the only gringos out of 60 some passengers and besides Mary’s Espanol is good enough to get the gist of the information he is giving the tour group.

Here is our mesera extraordinare, Charlie! We have no trouble communicating, she takes my empty glass, I say, “Claro que si!” and presto, I have another margarita in my hand!

In an effort to convey the fun and uniquely ambiente Mexicano, Mexican ambiance of this tour, Mary records this video.

After chugging out into the bay towards Punta Mita for about an hour we have our first sighting of about a half dozen Ballenas Jorobadas, Humpback Whales, but we are never able to get very close. This is the best pic we could come up with…

 And this is what we were hoping for. This pic is courtesy my sis Cheryl, a research scientist who does a lot of work in Baja California, which is the final destination for our humpbacks. They are wayward whales on migration to the Sea of Cortez.

On the way back we get a little luckier.

We’re at Cafe Bohemio for my BD dinner. The whale tour ran late and despite being the tacaño, cheapskate, that I am, I do cough up the 80P for a taxista to take us to our door for a quick change and then we speed-walk here to find ourselves an hour late in this jammed house, but… the good people at Cafe Bohemio kept our two topper reserved, Que Bueno!

Sol is the owner/proprietor of Cafe Bohemio. I am glad to have the chance to see him before he heads out to prep for his show at La Palma, just around the corner. We, like many of the patrons here, are going to his 8:00 performance.

Skinny Alex is our favorite of the wonderful servers here.

We had planned on the 8 course tasting menu but there is no time so we order off the regular menu and the kitchen has been alerted that we are attending Sol’s show so our food comes very quickly. We have already devoured our black bean soup starters and here is Mary’s Veggie Chile. She loves it.

And my Paella Veracruzana. So this is what Seafood Heaven feels like. After treating ourselves to these dinners we settle up. Our food and a couple beers comes to 256P. Then we head out to La Palma Cabaret and Bar and we get there just in time…

To secure this stage front table.

Sol opens with Barbra Streisand’s I’m the Greatest Star. He knocks it out of the park.

Between wardrobe changes Sol, on a recorded voice-over, entertains us with fascinating Barbra trivia. BTW: Sol says, Babs could never get into this size 2.

Now Sol is reprising Sammy Davis Jr. He closes the song by tipping his hat onto his nose… classic Sammy.

With a little help from a friend in the audience Sol is back to Babs and entertaining us with Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long.

Too soon Sol’s show comes to a close but what fun! Sol announces that he will be doing a new show this February, we will definitely be there.

After the show we are on Calle Olas Altas where they have this awesome sound machine set up. We practice our Zumba moves for probably an hour or so on this closed off street.

More street entertainment: A visit by the Underwear Boys.We get home around 11:30 and retire for nightcaps to our laundry room where we are treated to these fireworks as we see in the new year. I must say this has been my funnest BD ever, Cheers!

Thanks for visiting, gentle reader. As you know Bruce and Mary love comentarios, so please feel free to tell them of your NYEve adventures. Hasta proxima Domingo!

January 6, 2013 · Bruce · 18 Comments
Posted in: Life in Puerto Vallarta

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