Corfu: Armchair Travel in the Time of Coronavirus

March 25, 2020March 24, 2020 / Curt Mekemson / 31 Comments

A view of Corfu with its multi-colored buildings and tree covered hills. I took this photo looking down from the Old Fort. — A view of Corfu on a misty day with its multi-colored buildings and tree covered hills. I took this photo looking down from the Old Fortress.

Seven years ago, Peggy and I made a trip to Europe and cruised the Mediterranean along with her brother John, his wife Frances, and two of their friends Lee and Kathi. Now that our wings are clipped due to coronavirus, I decided a little armchair travel might help satisfy my thwarted desire to travel. Instead of ‘wandering through time and place,’ I am wandering in place. You are invited along…

“The sea is high again today, with a thrilling flush of wind. In the midst of winter you can feel the inventions of spring.” Lawrence Durrell

I was visiting the Pioneer Bookstore in Placerville when I was first introduced to Lawrence Durrell and the Greek Island of Corfu. The bookstore was a favorite hangout of mine during my senior year in high school in 1960 and George Yohalem, the owner, had become a mentor, helping guide my 17-year-old mind to a number of good books. He and his wife Betty had retired to the foothills of California after long careers in Hollywood where George had worked as a screenwriter and she as an actress.

I had picked up a new book that had just arrived and read the first couple of pages. Since it looked interesting, I carried it over to George for advice. “It’s quite good,” he had told me, “but don’t tell your mother that I recommended it.” That caught my attention.

The book was “Justine” by Lawrence Durrell. The quote above is the first line in the book and Durrell is describing Corfu. He had lived there from 1935-40 and fallen in love with the island. “Justine” became one of my first ventures into serious literature and definitely my first venture into erotic literature— thus George’s admonition. The book transfixed me, not so much by the sex (well, maybe a little), but by the sheer mastery of the language and the sense of the exotic. I was picked up and dropped into Corfu and then Alexandria… the main setting for “Justine” and the other three books in the Alexandria Quartet. It was magic.

Durrell wasn’t the only author to find Corfu a touch exotic. Homer had the ship wrecked Odysseus land on the island during his long journey and Shakespeare used it for the setting of Prospero’s magical realm in The Tempest. In Corfu’s long history Corinthians, Romans, Venetians, French and English had occupied the island as a gateway to both the East and West. At one point, the feared pirate Barbarossa laid siege to Corfu and succeeded in enslaving a substantial portion of its population.

Corfu’s location in the Ionian Sea sets it apart from its Greek cousins Santorini and Mykonos in the Aegean Sea. We found no more sparkling white washed buildings perched on treeless terrain. Corfu is an island covered with over a million olive trees and its buildings are multi-hued with a well-lived-in look. Two massive forts serve as bookends for its main town, also known as Corfu. We wandered through its winding narrow streets, visited an Asian museum housed in a colonial British mansion, checked out a Greek Orthodox Church, and climbed the steep hill to the top of the Old Fortress overlooking the town.

The most magical place for me in Corfu was the Old Fortress. Dating back to ancient times, the Venetians updated it in the Fourteenth Century. In this photo, Kathi Saage walks around a corner of one of the tunnels leading through the fort. — The most magical place for me in Corfu was the Old Fortress. I was fortunate to capture Kathi’s silhouette as she walked through the tunnel entrance. Dating back to ancient times, the Venetians updated the fortress in the Fourteenth Century.

I loved how the fort seems to be an organic part of the hill.

This photo and the next, both by Peggy, also capture the ancient feel of the Old Fortress on Corfu. — This photo and the next, both by Peggy, also capture the ancient feel of the fortress.

This probably served as a a gun placement in the fort. — This room probably served as a gun placement in the fort. The clock tower peaks out on the right. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

The clock tower located on the Old Fortress of Corfu. — The clock tower. The sky provided a dramatic backdrop.

A final view of the Old Fort. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson) — A final view of the Old Fort looking Irish green. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

A Corfu Street scene. Once again we enjoyed the narrow, car-free streets as we did time and again in Europe. — A Corfu street scene. Once again we enjoyed the narrow, car-free streets as we did time and again in Europe. Peggy’s brother John and his wife Frances are walking in front of us.

Another view of Corfu buildings with their shutters and balconies.

Peggy found this pigeon hanging out on the broken shutters of an abandoned building.

Lamp posts don't get much strange than the one we found outside of Corfu's Asian Museum located in an old British mansion. — Lamp posts don’t get much more strange than the one we found outside of Corfu’s Asian Museum located in an old British mansion. Does it qualify as art, or just weird?

The Asian Museum, BTW, includes an excellent collection of art, as represented by this painting.

The adventure involved in travel is experiencing new sites and cultures. This was a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church we walked into. — Part of the adventure in travel is experiencing new sites and cultures. This was a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church we wandered into.

There are some things that I am almost guaranteed to photograph when I travel…

ColorfulfFruit markets... — Colorful fruit markets…

My obligatory cat photo. I caught this guy sleeping on the seat of a motor bike at the entrance to the Old Fort on Corfu. It may be a new definition of contentment. — And animals… I caught this kitty sleeping on the seat of a motor bike catching some rays at the entrance to the Old Fortress. She may be a new definition of contentment. It’s a good place to wrap up today’s post.

FRIDAY’S POST: We made it up to Crater Lake National Park last week, practicing social distancing the whole way. Snow added to its natural beauty.

Photo Essay Wednesday… Costa Rica

February 5, 2020February 3, 2020 / Curt Mekemson / 26 Comments

This fellow is a JC lizard from Costa Rica. Like Peggy and me, he likes to hang out in interesting places.

Today marks the beginning of a new series for me: Using Wednesdays for photo essays. When you hang out with cameras in lots of interesting and often beautiful places, as Peggy and I do, you end up with a few photos. Right? Our digital collection is approaching 90,000! What in the heck do you do with all of those photos? I have mainly used ours to illustrate blogs. Usually that involves looking at a hundred or so photos and reducing them down to 20 or 30. I’ve decided to use a few more by doing a “Photo Essay Wednesday.” It will be light on writing and heavy on photography. I’ll simply scroll through our photos, pick out an interesting subject, and download the photos onto WordPress. Voila!

It has an added advantage of being quick, which my more writing-focused posts aren’t. Given that I am now well into my next book, It’s 4 AM and a Bear Is Standing on Top of Me, I need to free up all the writing time I can.

My first photo essay is based on a trip Peggy and I made to Costa Rica in 2012. I blogged about it at the time but I am going to assume that most of you weren’t reading my posts then. Grin. Without further ado…

Costa Rica is a beautiful country that includes mountains and seashores on both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Peggy and I spent time in both settings.

Much of the country is covered in rainforest.

Which includes strangler figs like this. I think Tarzan would be excited.

Peggy spent a lot of time with binoculars looking for monkeys. We were up on a high walkway that perched above the rainforest when I took this photo.

This was the view down. We were fascinated with how this light green tree stood out in a jungle of dark trees.

We also visited a coffee plantation where Peggy was invited up to learn how to be a coffee taster. Sip and spit.

As you might expect in the tropics, plant life was both interesting and impressive, as with this daisy like flower.

Know what this is? It’s the head of an opening fern.

And how about this. It’s a want-to-be bunch of bananas waiting to grow up.

On a jungle night hike we found this colorful fungus…

And these strange ants guarding their perch. I was careful to keep my fingers at a distance.

One afternoon, a family of coatis stopped by for a visit. Their tails were quite impressive.

We rented a canoe and paddled into the jungle on the Caribbean coast. Crocodiles lurked in the shadows along the way.

While we enjoyed all of the areas we visited, my favorite was Corcovado.

One day we looked out and saw a boa constrictor slithering across our lawn. Of course it was a photo op we couldn’t pass up. The boa wasn’t very happy with me chasing him down and decided to coil up. 🙂

Down on the beach we discovered a treasure trove of skulls some naturalist had gathered.

I am always fascinated by carvings and traditional art, so I conclude my first photo essay with three. This guy reminded me of what we found lurking along the Caribbean Coast.

A Mayan sculpture and someone you would not like to meet on a dark night. That does it for my first Wednesday Photo Essay. Who knows where we will be next Wednesday. I don’t.

NEXT POSTS: 1) Clickety Clack 3. We travel home from Washington DC, to Chicago, to LA and back to Sacramento on Amtrak. 2) A preview of Peggy and my travel plans and blogs for 2020.

Adios, Puerto Vallarta

January 28, 2019 / Curt Mekemson / 37 Comments

Puerto Vallarta has always produced pretty sunsets when we have visited. Sometimes they have been spectacular.

“Postcard pictures” is how my dad used to describe sunset photos somewhat dismissively. He was a serious landscape photographer and considered them less than desirable as a subject. Yet, when he passed away and I was going through his photos several years ago, what should I find? Sunset photos. Lots of them. I just smiled. Who can resist a beautiful sunset?

Peggy and I wrapped up our timeshare and said goodbye to PV this fall. I know we will miss the city with its friendly people, culture, great food, beautiful art, interesting wildlife, scenic settings and camera grabbing sunsets. I know we will be back some day, but for now, like the cowboys and cowgirls of yore, we are going to ride off into the sunset!

Every day, this fellow would ride by on our hotel’s beach.

We rarely missed an evening of sitting out on the beach with a glass of wine or beer in hand to watch the sunset over Banderas Bay. And were rarely disappointed.

Some days, when there was limited cloud cover, the sun just seem to fall into the ocean. There was almost always a sailboat in the Bay somewhere. When our son, Tony, had gotten out of the Marines, he had actually sailed a boat with his future wife, Cammie and our nephew, Jay, from San Diego to PV.

When clouds were around, the sunset would linger however, often turning the clouds into almost unbelievable colors.

Pelicans, graceful frigate birds and leaping dolphins often added to the evening’s show.

As the sun sank into the West, it would often leave a gentle reminder on the waves and beach.

Our palapa always provided a convenient viewing location. And a sunshade.

While I always enjoyed and took full advantages of sunsets, I am more of a mountain man. Peggy enjoys the mountains, but she loves the ocean and beaches.

Thank you Puerto Vallarta for your many years of joy. We will return someday. It’s a promise.

NEXT POST: South on the PCT into the Carson Iceberg Wilderness

Meet The (not so) Subtle Rock Eater… Puerto Vallarta’s Malecon

January 11, 2019 / Curt Mekemson / 24 Comments

Walking down Puerto Vallarta’s Malecon is always interesting. The Subtle Rock Eater is one of the reasons. I think he might just as well be named The ‘not so’ Subtle Rock Eater or possibly Mr. Eggplant Man.

It’s time to return to Puerto Vallarta’s Malecon. In my last post about the seaside walk, I introduced you to some very strange creatures. There are more of the same today plus some graceful dancers, playful porpoises, a ferocious bandido, a unicorn of sorts, and PV’s iconic seahorse.

And Senor Rock Eater looking just a bit scary.

Love was in the air with this couple as they looked out to sea, or at least down the Malecon.

Another perspective. This one provides a view of the Malecon.

And a front view with the Bay of Banderas forming a backdrop.

Graceful Vallarta dancers under swirling clouds.

The Friendship Fountain reflects the relationship between Puerto Vallarta and its sister city, Santa Barbara, California.

This ‘whale’ included in the Origins and Destination sculpture had a toothy grin. Given its location, I wonder if it is saying “Make Mexico Grate Again.” 🙂

Our toothy friend had an interesting look as he swam forward to grate-ness.

Its companion had a strange look as well. Is our destination to become some kind of combination of animal and machine? If so, I wouldn’t mind flying.

What if you saw your children climbing a ladder and disappearing into the darkness?

The Millenia sculpture is located at the top of the Malecon.

Touching a unicorn is supposed to bring you good luck. But I suspect that you already knew that.

No trip down the Malecon would be complete without a visit to Puerto Vallarta’s iconic Boy on a Seahorse.

Today he is centered in a colorful Puerto Vallarta sign for the many thousands of annual photos taken by tourists.

A final view from the Malecon for this post. My next PV post will feature postcard pretty sunsets from the city as we say goodbye to Puerto Vallarta.

NEXT POST: Continuing down the PCT.

Imagination Plus Peyote… The Huichol of Puerto Vallarta

January 4, 2019January 4, 2019 / Curt Mekemson / 18 Comments

The shaman is a central figure in the Huichol culture. Capable of traveling between worlds with the aid of peyote, he brings important messages back to the members of his tribe.

Since Peggy and I first came to Puerto Vallarta years ago I have been fascinated with Huichol art and the Huichol people. Living in the Sierra Madre Mountains of the Occidental range, they have been able to combine their belief in numerous gods with art that is highly popular among tourists. For example, it’s unlikely that many Huichol have ever seen a moose, but when Peggy and I were going through shops along the Malecon, we came across this beauty featured below.

The moose is for the tourists, the designs found on the moose’s antlers and body reflect the Huichol gods. (This artwork was crammed in among hundreds of pieces so I used Photoshop to white out everything except the piece.)

A moose that Peggy and I found in Alaska.

The design on the right side of the Huichol antler is peyote, which is central to the Huichol religion. Each year, the members of the tribe undertake a 300 mile journey (usually on foot) to their sacred homeland to gather a year’s supply of the potent drug. The gatherer is expected to take a bite of the first plant he or she encounters. Maybe as a result, one of them saw a moose like the one I featured above. (grin)

Another example of an animal unlikely to be encountered by the Huichol. It looks a lot like the fellow I encountered at Busch Gardens.

The Huichol are quite familiar with the iguana…

One of the iguanas we photographed in Puerto Vallarta..

I am just as glad we didn’t encounter a jaguar. They still roam the mountains surrounding Puerto Vallarta.

The horse continues to be an important form of transportation for the Huichol, but with the coming of roads, trucks are becoming more common.

Cattle are raised by the Huichol. Here they have covered a skull with their beadwork.

Not quite sure what this animal is, I thought it was more dog-like than cat-like.

I am thinking a bit of acid-rock here, although peyote would probably work.

String paintings reflecting the gods are also quite popular among the Huichol.

And a blue painting to wrap up today’s post.

NEXT POST: I’ll be back to featuring rock sculptures found on the PCT in Mokelumne Wilderness.

There Be Monsters Out There… Puerto Vallarta’s Malecon

December 17, 2018December 15, 2018 / Curt Mekemson / 21 Comments

No doubt about it, monsters lurk along Puerto Vallarta’s Malecon. But they tend to be fun and weird rather than scary.

A walk down the Malecon is a walk down memory lane for Peggy and me. No trip to Puerto Vallarta would be complete without one, or two, or three. The ocean with its waves, and beach and sealife— like pelicans performing their insane dives— the attractive city backed up against the hills, and the art. Especially the art!

My next three posts will feature the work of the various artists starting today with the Roundabout of the Sea, a creative work by Alejandro Colunga from Guadalajara. It combines weird and fun at the same time. My kind of art. These photos have been taken on different trips at various times of the day.

Take this octopus, for example. It hangs up in the air on a high pedestal and stares down at passing folks.

And finally at night with out iPhone (having lost my camera).

Each of the pieces in the Roundabout is designed as a chair to allow people walking along the Malecon a chance to sit down and rest, or, more likely, have their photos taken.

Picture yourself leaning back here. (grin) Other chairs can be seen in the background. I call this piece Miss Golden Orbs. (Not sure how the artist would relate to the names I have created.)

Here is chair connected to Senior Long Snout. He is also featured at the top of the post.

Bugle Nose’s chair with the Bay of Bandaras in the background.

Couldn’t come up with a name for this fellow…

Finally, leaving the Roundabout wouldn’t be right without noticing the interesting feet these characters have.

NEXT POST: We continue our walk down the Malecon.

HOB-nobbing on the PCT in the Mokelumne Wilderness

December 14, 2018 / Curt Mekemson / 28 Comments

I was looking for the perfect camp location on Forestdale Creek when I noticed another man putting up a tent nearby. I went over to chat, or hobnob, so to speak.

The 65-year-old Hob McConville was on a mission: finish his second trip over the PCT. (His first trip had been back in 1976 when I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail in Maine.) He had already hiked the Appalachian Trail twice, and the Continental Divide Trail once. He and his wife had walked across Europe three times. In other words, hiking long distances is pretty much what Hob does. He didn’t know whether he would do the Continental Divide again. Large bears, i.e. grizzlies, worry him.

“I’ve camped under this beautiful sugar pine,” he informed me, “because it is my tent’s last night and I want to give it a good experience.” Obviously he liked his tent. In fact, it was well-loved, like a child’s teddy bear after five years of hard loving. The tent was literally falling apart at the seams and Hob had been repairing it with Post Office packaging tape. “My wife is meeting me at Echo Summit with a new tent,” he sighed, more sad than excited. Hob deeply believes that anything you purchase should be used until it is beyond use, and then a little longer.

I hated to tell him that his beautiful sugar pine was a white pine. I’m not sure why I did, except older mountain men like the two of us enjoy knowing our trees. He wanted to debate until I pointed out the cones. And the tree was a beauty, regardless of the type of cones it produced. I am sure that his tent felt well-honored. I wondered if Hob would take it home and bury it in his Connecticut backyard, like a favorite pet. Hob’s pack was in similar condition, but apparently it had a lot of miles left.

This gorgeous white pine with limbs askew sheltered Hob’s tent on its last night.

Hob’s backpack looked a bit threadbare, as well. But it hadn’t quite reached the status of being retired.

The next morning, our discussion turned to the PCT and Hob’s philosophy on long-distance hiking. “It shouldn’t be a race,” he proclaimed fervently. His feeling was that it was becoming more and more like one. He could foresee the day when companies like Nike might sponsor races to see who could finish the trail in the shortest amount of time. I agreed. Just completing the trail in a season leaves little time to appreciate the beauty of the region. Jumping from the already long 20-25 mile days to 30 or 40-mile days would make such appreciation much more difficult. I see nothing wrong with the pride through-hikers feel in finishing the trail; it is a pride well earned. And Hob was quite proud of his accomplishments. But the ultimate value of the hiking the PCT— beyond personal satisfaction and growth— is in experiencing nature and developing a commitment to protecting wilderness areas. The PCT is not a race track.

While the conversation had been stimulating, Hob had miles to go to meet up with his new tent (and wife), and I had more nature to go appreciate. We parted company with Hob heading north and me heading south. Here are some of the things I saw along the way.

No more than a quarter of a mile up the trail, I came on a beautiful flower garden that would make an English lord lust over having it on his estate. I promptly took a half hour off to admire it, which is time that few through-hikers could spare.

The garden was filled with a variety of flowers. I think that the daisy like flowers are asters. The yellow flowers are groundsel.

Not much farther along, I came on this small lake that demanded another 15 minutes of my time.

I passed a few more lakes and then the PCT did what the PCT always does.

I met a young woman who was talking on her cell-phone with her brother. “I just saw a bear up the trail,” she told me breathlessly. I didn’t see the bear, but I did see…

Rabbit bush with an iridescent blue butterfly…

A caterpillar chomping down on a leaf. When I tried for a closeup, it saw my shadow, assumed I was something wanting to eat it, and dropped to the ground.

Charteuse green on the rocks. This may not be Facebook, but I am lichen it!

A closeup of the lichen. A pretty rust-colored lichen is also found in the area.

I don’t have a clue what this plant is, but I am pretty sure it was left behind by a UFO-alien. I kept my distance.

Looking way down from the mountain I could see the Blue Lakes. The tiny dot on the road is a car.

The last time I had hiked through this area, we had walked around the lakes. The night before, one of my long time trekkers, Nancy Pape, had choked on pills. My friend Ken Lake had jumped in with the Heimlich Maneuver and saved her life. The time before, we had hiked out from the lakes to the small town of Markleeville, California and happened upon the Clampers holding their sacred initiation rites. Men were walking around with toilet seats over their necks shouting obscenities. They were quite upset that we had women along who witnessed the ceremony. The women were amused.

As I started down from the mountain, I came on this bunch of dead flowers that were reflecting the coming fall. I thought of it as a dried floral arrangement.

I also had a view of this Mokelumne Wilderness landmark that has been known from the days of the early pioneers up to today as the Nipple. Once again, smoke filled the skies.

And a tall, weird, flowering plant that is known as deer’s tongue. Why? I don’t know.

Corn lilies are another plant with greenish flowers. These were backlit by the sun.

I’ll close today’s post with this shot of hemlock trees silhouetted against the sky and forest. You can tell that they are hemlocks by the way their tops are bent.

NEXT POST: A walk down Puerto Vallarta’s Malecon and an exploration of the public art along the way. After that, I will do a post on Huichol art in PV and then another post on the PCT.

The Day of the Dead Ladies of Puerto Vallarta

December 12, 2018December 11, 2018 / Curt Mekemson / 32 Comments

As I went through my photos for today’s post, I noticed that almost all of the human size sculptures were women. I wonder why?

The Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos, is a seriously fun holiday in Puerto Vallarta and throughout Mexico where the dearly departed are celebrated with hopes that the celebration will help them on their journey. People dress up in dead-people skeleton costumes, altars are established, and special foods are prepared. Gaily decorated skulls and skeletons are everywhere. Peggy and I have yet to be in Mexico when the event takes place (which is at the end of October/beginning of November), but the skulls and skeletons are still around, lots of them.

The skulls seem to represent both sexes equally, although this one seems to have a feminine cast to it. The gold teeth made me think of the dentist’s chair, a place I am all too familiar with. Ouch!

Of the life-size sculptures, I photographed, I could only find one man. This led me to speculate, naturally, as to why. I don’t think there is a reason particular to the holiday. About an equal number of men and women die, right. So is it that the girls dress up prettier, or that their eyes are more beautiful, or is it some other attribute, like the colorful bosom of the top photo.

Obviously, clothing is important, and you can do so much more with hats!

And certainly this woman with her red flowers and curls is well-dressed.

The hat and the boas lit up the lady from an earlier year. But what’s with the dead roses?

And here. Same girl dressed up differently it would seem.

Remember the Red Hat Ladies. How about a long necked Red Hat Lady?

This gal had something to say. But I am not sure you would want to hear it.

Here was my only large guy sculpture. I had to go back in time to find it.

Smaller sculptures are found in the shops, often representing Huichol art.

Another example but probably not Huichol art since it is lacking in Huichol symbolism. (More on this in a later post.)

Peggy and I were walking down one of Puerto Vallarta’s road and came on this lady walking her dog.

And then there was this tile of a man out walking his dog— a dog that has a mission on its mind. Humor is an important part of the Day of the Dead.

And a lady on a dish. Once again, the hat is an important item of clothing.

And are creatively decorated, with clouds, for example.

You could have your kitchen decorated with Day of the Dead tiles. Maybe even peace symbols.

I conclude my Day of the Dead collection with this fellow. Just possibly, he had imbibed a little too much Huichol peyote!

NEXT POST: I am back on the PCT making my way between Carson Pass and Sonora Pass.

The Corsica Galeria de Art, the Galerie des Artistes, and the Cafe des Artistes… Puerto Vallarta

December 10, 2018 / Curt Mekemson / 27 Comments

The Puerto Vallarta Art scene is extensive ranging from public art to private galleries and extensive crafts. I found this delightful sculpture at the Corsica Galeria de Art. This fellow looked like he was commenting on my failure to check on whether the Cafe des Artistes was open for lunch.

Peggy and I were in search of a good place to take her sister Jane and brother-in-law Jim to lunch when they joined us in Puerto Vallarta. Both are quite talented cooks, a fact we have benefited from many times. Since we had fond memories of the Cafe des Artistes, it was at the top of our list. Unfortunately, as we discovered when we arrived, it was closed for lunch. (Whoops.) There was no danger of starving to death, however. Restaurants are rarely farther than a block away in downtown PV. More to the point, we found a couple of top art galleries located right next door: The Corsica Galeria de Art and the Galerie des Artistes. I remembered both from earlier visits. Both galleries welcomed us and told me to take all of the photos I wanted. They were quite open to my blogging about them. Publicity is publicity, right. I’ll start with the art I found at the Corsica Galeria de Art .

These Mexican Chihuahuas caught my attention immediately.

I was reminded of these two cuties we found on Puerto Vallarta’s Isla Cuale a few years ago. It appears that the light brown fellow was getting an earful! Maybe he forgot to take the garbage out. Obviously, he cares. Grin. (Actually, he was about to get his ear bitten. Teach him.)

The gallery featured several other colorful dogs in three dimension. I’m thinking boxer, here.

This one reminded me of a cocker spaniel from my youth.

The obvious companion to the sculpture I opened the post with. The shadow seemed a little sinister to me, like an evil twin sister. And what’s with the sort of scorpion, sort of cat, sort of person on her hand?

This was one of Peggy’s favorites in the way the eyes, mouth, teeth and tongue stood out, becoming almost real in comparison to the rest of the painting.

Peggy also was drawn to this hat with its many feathers. I found it almost surrealistic in its intensity.

Are you a person who finds clowns scary? The little girl with her balloon didn’t. The triple chins suggest a bit too much fast food!

I liked the colorful bull although the eyes suggest it could have been a member of the devil’s herd in “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” (One of my favorite songs when I was growing up.)

Remember Senior Fish Head from my post on the Furniture Mart. This fellow seems to have a similar problem with fish on the brain.

I’ll close my section on the Corsica with this sculpture. I found it quite unique. You can learn more about the gallery and its artists by visiting its website: Corsica Galeria de Art

The Galerie des Artistes was immediately down the hill from the Corsica and had a decidedly different feel to it.

I felt that this fellow could have been found hanging out in the woods of ancient Greece.

One artist used hot air balloons to connect his paintings. Here the balloon is offering cherries to the bear. Knowing what I know about bears, it is about to gobble them down.

This giraffe is either coming out of or morphed into a city, giving a new meaning to the term skyscraper.

Alligator with companions on a unicycle? I’ll bet the artist has some very creative dreams. What would Freud say…

Mixed medium skull. I’m starting to think Day of the Dead. (Next post)

I am not sure whether cat woman is facing forward or backward, but she was colorful. Note the extra pair of arms. I blew this photo up and found bears, owls and rabbits staring back at me. But as you know, I have an active imagination and I am pretty sure that the artist was okay with me seeing whatever I wanted to see.

More eyes staring at me. Is that a come-hither pose? Or is it Blake Shelton saying ‘choose me’ on Voice..

And finally, i was quite taken with this collage of floral images. I couldn’t find a website for Galerie des Artistes but apparently the gallery is on Facebook.

That’s it for the galleries, but it is not the end of the story. Peggy and I weren’t finished with our desire to revisit the Cafe des Artistes. So we made reservations and went there for our 28th Anniversary dinner. The ambience was superb, the waiters great, and the food delicious. Each year, Puerto Vallarta has a celebration featuring world-famous chefs and we ended up with one of the top chefs from Mexico City. It was a close to a perfect evening. We had to rely on our iPhone for photos. I had previously left my camera behind in a taxi and we weren’t able to recover it. The phone didn’t do well with capturing colors in the dim light, however, so I have rendered these photos in black and white.

We were greeted with a free drink. Cheers!

A free hors d’ouvre arrived at our table next. There were also rose petals scattered on the tablecloth. .

I had short ribs in a delicious mole sauce and Peggy had an out of this world duck leg that melted in her mouth.

We couldn’t believe it when our dessert arrived on a large mirror platter complete with Happy Anniversary in chocolate surrounded by small dollops of raspberry sauce. A candle lit things up and a large spun sugar heart provided the backdrop! And no, I wasn’t a two-fisted drinker. We had moved Peggy’s glass of wine for the photo. Needless to say, the waiters were well-tipped!

NEXT POST: It’s time for the Day of the Dead. We missed it by a few days, but there were plenty of sculptures and crafts around to remind us of the event. Get ready for some bone-rattling fun.

The Chalk Art and Murals of Puerto Vallarta 2018

December 6, 2018December 5, 2018 / Curt Mekemson / 20 Comments

Chalk art from the 2018 Madonnari Festival in Puerto Vallarta featuring a shaman and his spirit animal.

Half the fun of travel is coming upon the unexpected. Peggy and I were walking across Puerto Vallarta’s main square when we came across a number of people creating chalk art. We had happened upon the annual Madonnari Art Festival that the town shares with its sister city of Santa Barbara, California. Category competition ranged from children to adults. Here are a few of the highlights.

This was the young woman who was working on the shaman featured above.

Young people were working under colorful umbrellas to finish their work.

A pregnant woman provided quite a contrast.

Not sure you would want this guy around your baby!

I liked the colorful flowers this young woman wore.

A close up. Peggy and I visited the area a few days later to take more photos. Time was beginning to impact the chalk art, reflecting its impermanence.

Another artist worked on his masterpiece. I admired the young boy’s look of surprise or wonder..

And finally, never trust a smiling shark.

Mural art shares a lot with chalk art, both in terms of its limited time frame and spontaneity. Peggy and I revisited a number of the murals we had seen in past visits to Puerto Vallarta plus discovered some new ones.

I decided it would be fun to render the mural in black and white. I liked the results. I believe the symbolism represents Huichol art, which I will be doing a post on.

An interesting decoration for a woman’s restroom. Just how bad do you have to go to face up to a devil fish and devils?

Senior Iguana plays a banjo while an excited frog jumps out of the lake.

We found a couple of black and white murals.

This one reminded me of the popular books where you fill in the colors.

Shaman woman rising out of a lake, possibly working a little magic on you.

I’ll conclude today with this native woman who is holding a fawn.

NEXT POST: I head south on the PCT from Carson Pass, which is named after the explorer Kit Carson, who happened to be caught in a snow storm starving on his first trip across the pass. He reported that dog and dried peas made a tasty treat. I don’t know if I would trust the word of a starving man, however.

Wandering through Time and Place

Exploring the world with Curtis and Peggy Mekemson

Wandering The World