Tepic, Nayarit - Visiting Victor and Diana

 Tepic, Nayarit

 

Agave, the Tequila plant

I don't know it's real name. I call it a "Dr. Seuss Tree"

05/04/24 – 13/04/24

I am writing this on Cinco de Mayo, May 5^th. The trip to Tepic was actually a month ago, but I was sick for a couple of weeks after my return and it has taken me this long to get back to writing.

 Originally, I had planned to go to Tepic on the last week in March, but I had to delay it until the week after Easter. I was going to visit Victor Youcha, a friend of Don’s that I had met down here, and Maria and Jesus, 2 of my former employees who lived a couple hours north of Tepic. Unfortunately, Maria’s mother got sick and had to go to the hospital, and I wasn’t able to spend any time with her and Jesus, because I had already bought my bus tickets and couldn’t change them at that late date.

 The bus going to and from Tepic were overnighters; a 14 hour trip each way. On the way out, we got stuck for 2½ hours waiting for an accident to clear; no an auspicious start. The bus was quite comfy and I had brought a pillow, but I still wasn’t able to sleep much that night. In the morning, the mountain views were beautiful and I could see a lot of spikey plants being cultivated on the slopes. I later found out that these were agave, which would be made into tequila.

 When I got to Tepic, Victor picked me up at the bus station and we went to his house and relaxed for a bit before going to dinner at a vegan buffet with his lovely wife, Diana. She doesn’t speak much English and my Spanish is still pretty basic, so Victor translated for us most of the time. The food was tasty and affordable and I enjoyed the ritual of dining out with friends. During the meal, Diana suggested that I stay with them instead of staying at the hostel; I gladly accepted, as it would save me several hundred bucks.

 That was the beginning of an enjoyable week in Tepic. Victor introduced me to his circle of gringo expats who were very welcoming. They extolled the virtues of living in Tepic and put a strong hustle on getting me to move there. We had a pleasant breakfast on morning and I was taken to the house of Cuyler, which was beautiful and huge, right in el Centro. He suggested that the place across the street from him would be up for rent soon and that I might like it. He later found out that it wouldn’t be appropriate for me nor in my price range.

 

At the top of Tres Cruces hill

Victor & Diana

During my time there, I spent a lot of time playing music with Victor, walking up the hill there (Tres Cruces, I believe), going to the beach one hour away, and sampling food at several eateries in town. Most of our meals were eaten at Victor and Diana’s house, eating gluten free vegetarian meals that were delicious. We went to the game store which is run by Diana’s sons and played a game one night. Also, Victor did some chiropractic work on me that actually seemed to help my bad shoulder and gave me some exercises to do to straighten out my hunched over posture.

 I did a lot of walking over the course of the week and learned a lot more about the area. Tepic, the capital city of Nayarit, is much larger than Atlixco, and it is surrounded by mountains, making for beautiful vistas everywhere you look. Out side of el Centro, it is quite hilly which makes for interesting walks. It felt like it was quite a bit more humid than Atlixco, and about 5 degrees warmer while I was there. I could live there, but I would like to check out some more areas before I make my final decision.

 When it was time to go, Victor took me to the bus station and told me he would look for places that I could live. The trip home was uneventful, but, as I wrote earlier, I came down with one hell of a cold when I got home. I was pretty much out of it for 2 weeks, although I only missed one day of work. Even now, almost a month later, I am still a bit congested in the chest and coughing up some phlegm. I am starting to do more walking again and I hope to be back to where I was last month very soon.

 Hasta luego.