Surf, Sun, and a little town called Bucerias

Peter on the jungle trail.

It all started with talk of a great open market and health food store, which is something I sorely wanted to find. Bucerias, is a fairly long bus ride north toward La Cruz. Rumor has it that a health food store is located on the funky side of the river and many grains and flours are available there, as well as spices. I took a day trip early in the morning with my friend, Peter, who lives on a boat and is an advent surfer. We made a deal that I would take shots of his surf day to post on his Blog and he would show me around the town. The bus ride to Peter's surf spot was past the town and up in the mountains where we exited the bus and hiked down a jungle trail that opened out onto a secret locals beach. The surf was way up and better then Little Dume in Malibu. See for yourself! You can check out Peter's blog at:

http://destination8degreesn.blogspot.com/2011/02/lets-go-surfing.html

Peter is headed to Ecuador early March to follow the surf. 

 

Trinidad on the bus with us, sharing a seat with Peters Surf board

Me on the jungle trail to the beach.

Peter catching a big one.

Trinidad had a great time and barked at every surfer who ventured into the sea.

Peter enjoying a Pacifico

After the beach we headed back to town for lunch and Peter took me to the health food store which proved to be not all i had hoped for. Other cruisers have informed me Wall-mart has a Gringo section where I can buy whole wheat flour and also there is a farmers market on Wednesday in old town that has some healthy grains. I will be checking that out.

The place we went for lunch had no name and was a real local eatery. The waiter gave us free shots of tequila for desert! 

Peter had the seafood special which had octopus, shrimp, squid, and veggies, all in a bullion topped with fresh avocado. It was pretty good.



The selection of hot sauce.

Very local.

I opted for the daily fresh catch prepared in garlic. It was delicious.

 

A Fish on a Dish is that what you Wish?



It's better to quit while your ahead?

Once you find it, the vegetable market and fish market of Puerto Vallarta is fabulous. After going there twice, it was still hard to find. Ask the bus driver and he will nod yes never telling you when to exit the bus. Last time I walked 10 blocks back and 8 blocks up to get there. I have hence established markers to find my way, as there are few street signs in PV. There is also a great tortilla factory in the same area as the markets. If you are in PV take the bus toward old town and exit before the pier at San Salvadore street. Walk 6 or 7 blocks up San Salvadore to Perdu Street and there you will find the markets.



Grouper waiting to be fillet

Tomorrow we have a dinner party and shrimp on the BBQ sounds like the ticekt. Paid $160.00 Pecos for 1.5 kilos of medium really fresh shrimp. (That's about $14.00 US) The vegetables were awesome and fresh off the farm.




Shrimp in abundance, all shapes and sizes

The shrimp were prepared as follows: shelled, and placed in the following marinade:
1.5 cups olive oil, 10-15 smaill limes squeezed dry of their tangy juice, 1/3 cup chopped celantro, 2 diced jalapenos, 4 large garlic cloves diced, 2 tablespoons cumin ground, 3 tablespoons chili powder. Wisk the lime juice with spices. You can use a food processor to chop the celantro, garlic and jalapenos together. Add to the lime huice and spices, then wisk in the oil. Add salt to taste. The jalapenos will soak in, so go easy as the first tastes do not reveal the heat. Marinate for 2 hours. Remember to soak your wooden scewers in water for a few hours before loading them with the marinated shrimp, so the wood does not burn up on the BBQ. Scewer shrimp with fresh pinapple chuncks (fresh works best) and red peppers. The peppers should soak in the marinade as well. BBQ the scewers until the shrimp are pink. Baste the shrimp frequently with the remaining marinade. This same marinade goes on the corn, which is roasted, cut off the cob and added to the salad. The marinade is used for the dressing, as all salad ingredients get tossed in it. Yummm.

Spicy shrimp and roasted corn salad
2 cucumbers scored and cubed, 4 tomatoes cubed, 1 large red onion diced, 1 can black beans rinsed and drained, 4 ears of sweet corn marinaded in the above listed marinade, roasted on the BBQ, cooled and cut off the cob and added to the salad. 2 jalapenos diced, 10 leaves of romane lettuce cut small and added to the salad. We use very little lettuce in this salad. Toss the salad with the marinade/dressing and let stand in the fridge for 1 hour to absorb all the flavors. Top the salad with the grilled shrimp and add a few blue corn chips stuck on top of the salad for visual effect. Serve and get rave reviews!

The salad had a photo but without Berkely, the dinner plate did not get a photo. The Blog will improve on food photos when Berleley returns March 16, as our illustrious 1st mate and photogaher.  


One of three contiguious markets.

Margarita Pizza, made all from scratch and served on deck.

 The pizza was a hit and this time I got it 110% perfection. Secret is to roll the crust thin, (I pick the crust up and streach it with my hands like the guys in the Italian parlors) brush the crust with olive oil, and make dents in the bottom of the crust with your knuckles. Let stand 10 minutes before adding the ingredients. This one had thin saucing with tomato basil sauce which I found in a jar at Walmart here in PV. It was a good brand with only 3 gram sugar, otherwise, all PV has is Prego! UGH!  layer fresh basil leaves on top of the sauce, top with fresh tomato slices, thin slices of mozzella cheese from costco or Trader Joes, the kind spiced with oilve oil and herbs. Grate some fresh parmesan over the top, very lightly and sprinkle with fresh chopped galric. (alot) My receipe for pizza dough is in a earlier post. Look forward to pizza when we are anchored on some island paradise with nothing but the ocean all around. Now to practise my bread making skills.



Mexico has these wonderful little juicy limes and you can not live without the hand squeezer.



The local art work at the market was not bad either.



Close-up of the delicious beauty.

For he's a jolly good fellow. Happy Birthday Ron



What a day! We took the dingy and motored over to La Cruz for the day. La Cruz has a beautiful Marina nessled in a funky little town, but amazingly enough there is great live music at Pylios and Anna Banana's. (Previous pictures were posted) Daz stayed for the seminar on crossing the Pacific, but Ron and I bailed out to keep from falling asleep. The eyes began to close at the part where everyone opted for matching teashirts with our names on them. Ron wants to steer clear of the mass crossing, as these folks have small boats and some will inevitably get into trouble. If you are closest to the problem you are obligated to help them out, get the picture? 

There was beer, there was tequila, good food and "the cake".



A good time was had by all


After lunch we wandered through the village to Anna Banana's and bumped into Captain Debbie. We met a great couple from Wisconsin who had just come from the airport to La Cruz and were in search of a place to watch the super bowl. Love those cheese heads and really hope the Packers win.



Ron and Captain Debbie. We made her wear the B-Day hat.



The CAKE!

Carrot Cake, Ron's favorite.

The cake had 1/2 cup date sugar to sweeten it and the fresh carrots and pinapple did the rest. The frosting was lite cream cheese sweetened with 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar and I added Rum and fresh orange zest, along with a touch of vanilla and cinnamon.

The gang at Anna Banana's sang a rousing happy birthday to Ron, in Spanish and then the tequila flowed like water. We were a bit tippsey but then, we were celabrating!



The sunset was awesome over the bay as we returned from our day of fun.