"Really enjoy reading new articles up on your website...happy to hear that you have a fresh, excellent source of local vegetables. I'm quite interested in the ACA project and probably will drop by and meet the folks involved if I get that way again." Wendy Devin

We want to move to Puerto Vallarta

We fell in love w/ PV the first time we vacationed there. Any hints on how to get started & where to find a rental on a month to month basis for 3 month to 1 year would be welcomed. Since we cannot generate an income in Mexico, we will need to stay on a budget. Is renting for $600 to $800 reasonable..... (more) from Lisa & Rick

Robert responds

You will have a wide range of properties to choose from in the $600 to 800 per month area. Obviously, if you sign a year's lease, you may have more negotiating clout. Be wary of month to month deals. They'll shoot up dramatically when high season hits.... (more) by Robert Foster

...The ‘casa’, turned out to be a hundred and fifty square feet of rotting boards, crumbling adobe, rusting sheet metal and fermenting palm fronds. The parking space was an overgrown foot trail leading from the muddy road. By carefully backing the bus I nudged the pintle hook against the front of the ‘house’. And by backing Nellie Belle against the bus, it gave two or three inches of clearance between the front of her and the muddy trail that led to town. The neighborhood well produced clear water, but I subsequently boiled every drop vigorously or laced it with chlorine....Day two the ants appeared.... (more) by David "El Codo" Eidell

•Mexico’s Lake Chapala and Ajijic:
The Insider’s Guide to the Northshore for International Travelers

•Cuba

•Popcorn at the Beach

While Carl & Lorena are here, our days fall into an easy pattern. I'm usually the only one up to greet the dawn; they pull themselves out of the tent at a more leisurely rate. I don't think I've ever seen Carl this laid back! We begin to worry about the perhaps permanent woven pattern indenting his back from a severe case of hammockitis, a condition endemic to the beach. His back looks a little like some exotic Tahitian tattoo has been executed in dark pink..... (more) by Tina Rosa

•Perfect Popcorn

Over the years, Lorena and I have expended a great deal of time and energy in our restless search for perfection: The Perfect Mexican Beach, The Perfect Camping Spot, The Perfect Hammock, etc. Now, after decades of ceaseless research and no small number of old maids, we are pleased to offer you the recipe for... Perfect Popcorn.... (more) by Carl Franz & Lorena Havens

We made a deal with El Valiente to cut all the old coconuts from the palm trees. El Valiente didn't climb the trees like Tarzan did - he used a machete blade tied to a long piece of bamboo. Actually he had several of these in different lengths - some of the palms are really tall. Boom, boom, boom, the cocos fell. He only worked until noon, because that's when the wind comes up and sometimes the cocos fall by themselves. You certainly wouldn't want to be under a tree and have one of those puppies fall on your head.... (more) by Dobie

Once I got up early to be first in line at a laundromat in Oaxaca. I hurried past the Juarez market as vendors set up their shops, sanitation workers swept, swept, swept, and bicycle messengers delivered magazines, ice, bundles of sisal. I ignored the glorious lush cool air and arrived two minutes before the scheduled opening of the laundromat. I was first in line! The only thing was, there was no sign of the owner at opening time.... (more) by P.G. Meier

Known mainly by prospectors, Tarahumara goatherds, smugglers and a few widely scattered ranchers, this vast territory of forested plateaus and precipitous canyons is both a paradise and a paradox for hikers: without a reliable guide, getting lost in the Sierra Madre's topographic maze isn't just easy, it's almost guaranteed.... (more) by Carl Franz

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