Dreary Monday

Man, the weather here has been really unusual this year. Unusual in that it has been heavily overcast and even a bit drizzly a lot. And that is very unusual for this time of year. Yesterday was no exception. Hopefully this will blow over pretty soon.

No glory yesteday. Picked up the Vallarta Tribune and there was no picture. Wasn't too surprised. When they took the pictures on Friday and said it would be in the Monday edition I didn't think that would give them enough time. It is a weekly publication and their stories are always about a week or more out of date. We shall see what happens next week.

The wife and I took a bus to the hotel zone and hit a few bars though, so the day wasn't a complete wash. Hey, we still have the sand and the sea.

295) Referee's Sports Bar

This place is on the main bus-route to the hotels from out of town, next to the Mega supermarket. The name of the avenue is Boulevard Francisco Medina Ascencio. There was a good-sized 3 sided reddish-brown formica-topped bar with a maroon vinyl arm-rest. Several brown wooden stools with brown-padded vinly seats made for a comfortable place to park oneself for the first beer of the day. There was a big area behind the bar filled with shelves, beer-cases, a large sink, and a couple of large coolers for beer. There were three televisons high on the wall behind the bar. Two were showing sports and the one with the volume turned on was showing Mexican videos. There was a decent looking pool table by the entrance.

There was a fairly large interior with nice looking tables and chairs. The tables by the windows had little padded booth-like seating. The was lots of sports memorabilia hanging about, mostly posters and pennants. The overhang above the bar had faux stained-glass team logos. My wife told me that the woman's bathroom, or banos damas, had many pictures of well-buffed, mostly naked men. Suddenly I had the urge to pee. No luck though, just pictures of scantily clad women in the banos caballeros. The picture of Madonna was a real stunner though.

I had a Negra Modelo

296) Citrus

Down the road a bit and back into Plaza Villas Vallarta was this relatively new, and new-looking place. It had a primarily salmon and white color scheme. The bar had a black marble top and a black cinder-block front to it. There were half a dozen black bar-stools with backs and salmon cushions. The back of the bar was also black cinder-block with light tan shelves holding a large selection of liquors. The lights above the bar were coverd by large, rectangular, fabric-coverd shades, one on top of the other. A lucky bamboo-shoot in a citrus-yellow vase sat at one end of the bar.

The back and side walls of the place was lined with tables and chair that matched the bar-stools except for the front-half of the back wall closest to the the glass entrance. That had salmon settees. The floor was vinyl made to look like light wood, but not doing a very good job. The outdoor area had the same type of tables and chairs as inside except for a couple of larger lounge chairs off to one side. The outdoor area was covered by a large salmon covered awning. There were overhead fans with lights.

I had a gin and tonic.

297) Le Petit

This place had at least three versions of the name on various signs and cards. Aside from the one above it was also referred to as Le Petite and Le Petite France. Take your pick. It too was on Boulevard Francisco Medina Ascensio, next to the Fiesta Americana hotel. There was a large life-like mannequin at the door to greet you. It had a large dark-wood bar with a real brass rail. It also had both tall and short barstools for which my wife, fairly short, was grateful. There was an octagon liquor cabinet in the middle with a fairly large metal sculpture meant to evoke the Eiffel Tower. Above the bar was a similar shaped wooden structure supported by brass poles. This held the overhead lights and was fronted by stained-glass patterns.

There were large and small paintings and posters by Henri de Toulouse-Latrek and fewer by other artists on the walls. There were a couple of victrolas on display and other knick-knacks as well. There was also an antique cabinet displaying antique silverware. This place had real dark-wood plank floors and a dark wood-beamed ceiling with lots of track lighting that might make it interesting at night. The dining area looked out over a well-manicured garden. The combination of a colonial French looking restaurant and the somewhat tropical looking graden evoked images of what Indo-China might have been like.

I had a Pernod on the rocks at the bar and then we had a late lunch, early dinner (it was 2:30 P.M.). Food was fantastic and I highly recommend the place if you are ever in town. We then caught a bus back to our part of time and I picked up a bottle of coffee liquor and made after-dinner coffees.

Three more bite the dust and 703 left to go.