San Sebastian

We picked up our rental vehicle in Puerto Vallarta and headed out of town. We didn't plan to go too far the first day, just a few hours drive to San Sebastian del Oeste, one of the Pueblos Magicos. San Sebastian is obviously close enough to P.V. to get bus tours so there were quite a few tourists around during the day. But few of them stayed overnight, so it was quiet in the evening. Except "quiet" isn't  the right word because there was a festival going on which meant lots of bells and fireworks from the church. We stayed at Hotel Mansion Real, a nicely renovated 300 year old house with just 8 rooms. It was right by the church and the main square, which was good until the church bells and fireworks started at 5am the next morning!

We arrived mid-afternoon and wandered around town. We found a small organic coffee farm (Cafetalera La Quinta) just on the edge of town.



And a bit further, Villa Nogal (6 rooms) with beautiful gardens and a great view from their restaurant patio. (Hacienda Matel, across the road, also looked very fancy.)







We decided to have a glass of wine and enjoy the view. Turkey vultures were soaring by. They are graceful fliers even if not the most attractive close up. Even an interesting presentation of the bill.



Along the same road, we passed Jardin Nebulosa (misty garden?), a fancy bar and restaurant. We stopped for coffee mostly so I could take photographs in the garden. They had orchids and bromeliads and heliconia and more. Even some coffee trees/bushes in the back.





And yes, obviously aimed at tourists. But at least it wasn't Senor Frogs. And they'd put a lot of effort into the garden atmosphere which I appreciated. They had their own farm and served a lot of unique dishes with local ingredients. (We came back for supper.)











Back at our hotel, a beautiful wall display of glass bowls:



The next morning as we were leaving, I found a large (about 3 inches long) bright green katydid on the side of the car. It was missing one back leg, but otherwise seemed in good shape. Nicely camouflaged to look like a leaf, but that didn't work so well on a white car.





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Puerto Vallarta

Our goal was to go somewhere warmer and do some paragliding and scuba diving. We ended up flying to Puerto Vallarta. Mostly because we could get a direct flight from Saskatoon, which at least minimizes the fossil fuel and carbon cost of air travel. And it's within driving distance of most of the paragliding sites, if not ideal for diving.

We had no desire to hang around P.V. but we stayed a couple of nights just to get organized. We stayed in a small unassuming hotel in the old town, away from the beach, but easy walking distance. The hotel turned out to be close to the riverside park, which was run down and littered with garbage, but at least a little bit of nature, which I far preferred to the endless tourists and bars on the malecon. (Let alone the mega resorts and high end malls.) Near the beach the river splits and forms an island which is pedestrian only (no cars) which is a nice. The restaurants are quieter since they're away from the beach. And some overlook the river so you can watch the egrets while you drink your local Luba beer.

I love the rampant greenery and flowers of warm countries. So different from the prairies.



Considering it was in the middle of a city, there were quite a variety of butterflies. But with the warm temperatures and the abundance of flowers, they were in constant motion. I didn't spend much time chasing them, but managed to catch a few shots.









And I think this one is a moth.



I didn't see any geckos or lizards other than a few iguanas on the trees over the river.





It was good to see the usual brown pelicans and frigate birds. And the Snowy egrets along the river with their black legs and yellow feet.



And a few token tourist shots.







We managed to get out running both mornings we were in P.V. I thought the malecon would be deserted first thing, but that's the coolest part of the day and it was full of old gringos out walking. As opposed to us old gringos out running :-)

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In Flight Entertainment

For me, the best in flight entertainment is a window seat and a clear day.

My window seemed quite clean and unscratched for a change, but I was facing into the sun and that tends to exaggerate any marks. On the positive side, it made for some nice shine on the ice. (It was -39c when we left and we were delayed while they thawed out one of the brakes.)





The erosion makes interesting patterns:









The tops of these ridges made snowflake like patterns:



And of course, the mountains are the ultimate results of erosion.



Coming in to land over the forested hills on a hazy day.

Calendar Photos

As I've done for a number of years, I made a calendar for family and a few friends using my photos from the year. I try to choose photos with fairly general appeal and ones that hopefully stand up to being displayed for a whole month (the bugs went on the covers). I'm not sure if I'd call them my overall favorites, but close. I might include a few spiders if it was just for me :-)

Here are the photos I used, from front cover to back cover.





























I try not to inflict my photography on people too much since we're all inundated with a flood of pretty pictures these days. But if you'd like a copy of the calendar, just let me know and I'd be happy to get you one.

Running in 2019

"he wanted to run, to feel the sun on his face and the movement of air and the sweat race down his chest. He wanted the peace of the effort, and the certain knowledge that it was a good thing to be doing. Not all acts brought with them the certainty of goodness, but running did."
- Robert Crais, L.A. Requiem

My watch tells me I ran roughly 1500 km in 2019. That averages about 30 km per week. I'm satisfied with that. It's more running, more consistently, than I've done for a long time. Especially given our Saskatchewan winters, and my propensity for travel.

I am grateful that my body cooperated, with less of the nagging issues that have limited my running for the last few years. I give some of the credit for that to various run-walk strategies. I started the year doing 6 min run, 1 min walk and gradually moved to 9 min run, 1 min walk. Nowadays, unless I've got an issue, I only do run/walk on longer runs (over 10k), but I still regard it as an useful tool for lessening the impact of running. I'm still limiting my running to three times a week (Tue/Thur/Sun). Occasionally I'll add in an extra easy short run on Sat. It's a laughably far cry from an elite's 200km a week or more. But I'm not sure I could ever have managed that.

I've been trying to get in a little bit more faster pace lately. Doing most of your running at an easy pace makes sense to me, especially as I get older :-) But if I'm not careful I get a little too accustomed to that pace and it starts to seem "unnatural" to run at a faster pace even when I'm in shape for it. So I try to do some faster running, but not too much (whatever that is).

I started the year (more or less) with some beautiful runs in Big Bend National Park in Texas, just across the Rio Grande from Mexico.

And I ended the year (again, more or less) running on Vancouver Island and through the vineyards (and hills!) of the Okanagan.

In between were lots of regular runs around Saskatoon. I am always thankful for the trails along the river where I do most of my running, including the dirt trails that allow me to spend at least some of the time off the unforgiving pavement.

This year I managed 40 km in just over 4 hours, a half marathon (21k) in under 2 hours, and 10k in just over 50 minutes. The question for the coming year is whether I can do better than that before aging inevitably slows me down. Only a few years ago my 10k time was 47 minutes. It's not a war I can win, more of a delaying action. But occasionally I feel like I've won the odd skirmish along the way.

Of course, I'd like to run more. 30km per week is only about 3 hours. It's not really enough to get good. There are times when I probably spend more time reading about running than I actually do running. But it's a balancing act, if I do too much I get problems with knees or hips or feet and then I end up running even less. Sometimes restraint is the hardest thing. I'd much rather go out and push a bit than do a short easy run to let my body recover. It's like having a bowl of ice cream and only eating one spoonful.

I've always been reasonably light on my feet (helps to be skinny) and I continue to work on my form - keeping my cadence up, not over striding, and in general running as relaxed and smoothly and quietly as I can, and not letting that deteriorate when I'm tired. In the winter I usually warm up on the treadmill barefoot. Running barefoot tends to improve your form, and my theory is that doing that first helps sets the pattern for the rest of the run.

And above all, I try to be thankful every time I go out and run, not to take it for granted, to be happy that I can run, and not depressed because I can't do as much as I'd like.

Happy New Years to everyone and best wishes for 2020.

A Frosty Walk Home