TGIF, amigos! Hope you are all having a great week so far and are looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend. Here's what we have been up to lately--
WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO THIS WEEK?
Greg-- I started studying Portuguese this week and am having so much fun sharing every little new thing with Hillary (she may kill me!) I'm using Pimsluer which we both highly recommend for learning languages. I am starting to walk a little on the broken foot and am feeling really good about that healing up quickly.
Hillary-- This past Sunday was my birthday and we spent all weekend celebrating! Greg surprised me with scheduling a massage and it was wonderful. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast followed by a piña colada and french fries on the beach. The next day I had donuts and pizza--do you guys see a theme here?! It was the best birthday ever and Greg really made it so special!
THE BEST FOOD OF THE WEEK
There's a new place here in Puerto Vallarta (well, fairly new anyways) called "Casa Nicole" right in Zona Romantica. It is a very, very nice boutique hotel with a beautiful patio restaurant inside. Each time we walk by, I always stare inside wondering what it looks like from the inside and this week we finally tried it out! We enjoyed breakfast on the quaint patio and it was fabulous!! The service was also really, really nice. We recommend the avocado toast and the chef's burrito-both were delicious! After breakfast, our server showed us around the property and the hotel rooms here are N-I-C-E! We're hoping to be able to visit again and show you guys around a bit more, but until then, we highly recommend their breakfast! You can check out their menu here. Address: Pino Suárez 207, Zona Romántica, Puerto Vallarta
SPANISH TIP OF THE WEEK= MULETAS VS MALETAS
muletas=crutches
maletas=suitcases
As Greg hops around town every day on his muletas, people often ask what has happened and how he is healing, etc. We explain that while he is healing really well, the crutches are difficult to use on the streets, beach, and sidewalks. But here is the difficult part--before Greg's accident, we never used the word 'muletas'. On the other hand, because we travel a lot, we often use the word 'maletas' or suitcases. Every time we start to attempt to say 'muletas' we have to concentrate extremely on the minor difference so we don't accidentally explain to people that its difficult to get around town on these suitcases...because that wouldn't make much sense :)
If you're like us and are looking to improve subtle pronunciation differences (or looking to start from scratch), we have two different resources we would recommend:
♦︎ Pimsleur Spanish Program: We would recommed Pimsluer if you are starting from zero or have a basic understanding of the language, but want to advance to a more intermediate level. You can try a lesson for free and then the cost is $20 per month for access to the entire Pimsleur library. The great thing about Pimsleur is that it is a great value for the amount of Spanish that you will learn in 1-3 months' time.
♦︎ Baselang: We would recommend Baselang if you are more of the beginner-intermediate level and want to take your fluency to the next level. Baselang is $150 USD per month and include access to unlimited one-on-one personalized classes with live instructors via Zoom. We have yet to find such a complete, well-rounded program that will most definitely help improve your Spanish! Baselang has its own curriculum that you can follow, tons of electives to choose from, or you can use your class to talk about or study whatever you want!
Try Baselang for one week for just $1 dollar! THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
This week we visited Punta Mita for the very first time (videos coming next week!) and had a great time exploring around this pueblo. We saw that there is a Four Seasons hotel there and, out of curiosity, looked up the nightly price to learn that it costs around $1,000 USD per night. As we were sitting on the beach, I had this thought: no matter how much money you have, no matter how much you spent on your hotel room for the night, we are all enjoying this exact same sunset. That's one of the special things about sunsets to me--they don't discriminate. Whether you're in between jobs, struggling to make ends meet, or you're at the Four Seasons (or anywhere in between), we all have the opportunity to enjoy the same sunset :)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The crutches are beginning to fall apart rather quickly on the cobblestone streets, so last week we decided to take out the wheelchair for a spin! Our neighbor let us borrow this chair but after one ride, we're going to stick with the crutches :)
PLANS FOR NEXT WEEK
We have some travel coming up at the end of next week so for the next several days, we're planning to enjoy the beach, sunshine, and good food and of course you are all invited to join us!
Hope you all have a great weekend!
PS-if you're looking to travel soon, you can check out some of our favorite AirBnbs by clicking HERE. If you're looking to book a hotel, you can book through our affiliate link HERE and we will earn a percentage of your booking at no additional cost to you! Thank you so much for supporting our work :)
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P.P.S. If you are looking for a good travel credit card for 2020 (or maybe 2021? 2020 wasn't a great year for traveling!) we have a few good recommendations for you :)
