Bucerias (Boo-sir-REE-as)

I went to Bucerias today with some out of town friends. Vera and her husband Bill have been here since last Monday. Vera has been here once before, over a year ago, and Bill has never been here. They are great fun! They are up to doing anything I suggest and even took the bus to Pitillal (a true Mexican neighbourhood) by themselves the other day just to "look around". They somehow ended up in Ixtapa (north of the airport) but had a wonderful time retelling their story that evening over dinner. Bill has been peppering me with questions since he arrived. Most of them I can answer but some of them I can't. He is very inquisitive, open-minded and interested. In my opinion, this makes a very good tourist.

I thought it would be nice to take them to a pretty beach for the day, since they are leaving tomorrow. My other friends, Mike and Zdenka (long term seasonal tourists here), decided to join us. OH! Before I go any further, I want to put in a plug for Los Tres Delphines (The Three Dolphins) just off Olas Altas near the Los Arcos Suites Hotel. We ate dinner there last night and all had one of the specials. Four of us had shrimp and Bill had beef fajitas (he is allergic to shellfish). Each dinner came on a platter with rice and steamed veggies. We all had 10-12 large shrimp done different ways (garlic butter, breaded, el diablo). One drink was included in the price of dinner which was only 90 PESOS! The food and service were excellent. Cute location too with a lot of plants and terrific bathrooms. :)

Anyway, we caught the city bus in front of Cine Bahia just before 10AM. We transferred to the ATM bus across the street from Coppel department store, at the HSBC bank. The cost was 4.5 pesos for the city bus and 10 pesos for the ATM bus. Total cost for the return trip was 29 pesos or just over $3CDN. We travelled for one hour to downtown Bucerias. Once off the bus, we walked west, towards the Bay, down the "main drag" in Bucerias which is actually a two lane street with a boulevard down the middle. We walked to the waterfront, searching for a restaurant with beach access, good food and reasonable prices. I chose El Chivero for a couple of reasons. It wasn't crowded, they had a palapa at the back by the beach for shade with loungers and they had drink specials: 5 beers for 45 pesos in a bucket and 2 for 1 tropical drinks for 45 pesos (***Goddesses, PLEASE TAKE NOTE!!!***).

The menu was quite extensive with various dishes of seafood, chicken, beef and fish. Prices were very reasonable (30 pesos for tortilla soup, $60 pesos for chicken quesadillas and $70 pesos for beef fajitas). For the record, the tortilla soup was one of the best I've ever had! Tons of avocado (which I love), cheese, sour cream and tortillas in a light tomato base. It was a little bit salty but I'm wondering now if that was the cheese. The chicken quesadillas were tasty, greasy and served with beans and guac. Pop and coffee were $10 pesos each and Diet Coke was $15 pesos a bottle. The bill for all of us was $400 pesos for the day. We never did order any beer ... the beach was lovely and goes for miles in both directions ... the waves were a little high but not as bad as Los Muertos. All in all, a wonderful day with wonderful friends.