Moscota with our Mexican friends and family

Mascota is a small Mexican village located as the crow fly's east of Puerto Vallarta and nestled in the Sierra Madre on an old back road to Guadalajara. We were so excited when the opportunity came up to travel there with our Mexican friends and family from Puerto Vallarta. Alvaro and Monserat made the arrangements for us to stay in what they called a cabin. To me it was more like a house!

Monserrat and her grandmother prepared a delicious Mexican feast for us upon arrival.

This molcajete you see below was given to me by the grandmother. I told her I had been shopping for a good authentic one at a great price. What a generous gift that I will cherish!

Delicious salsa was finished in no time.

Here's Alvaro and Dente, the 10 month old boy, who's first word was AGUA (water). LOL

Grandmother and the grandfather came along to so that the grandmom could visit her family in town where she was born and raised.

Monserrat and Randi

A laid back trip where some relaxed and some went on the ATV's in the mountains. We visited the remains of a 125 year old cathedral put together with egg whites, catus juice, tiny pieces of rock combined and used as "mortar" along with huge chunks of volcanic rock. Yes, behind the church in the distance is a volcano.


It's one thing to be a tourist and have the opportunity to see things from a distance but I find it to be more meaningful, intimate, and interesting to experience a culture from the inside with wonderful local friends. Thank you Alvaro, Monserrat, and family for your wonderful hospitality and friendship.

Bad news turned into blissful moments with mother nature

My bad news turned into good news. For at least the last 2 -3 months I have been physically unable to go to the gym because my sacroiliac "locked up" and said to me, "no more"! Then a few weeks later, I had a herniated disc in my neck! So, that was frustrating in that I could no longer enjoy part of my routine, a vigorous work out at Golds Gym PV.

This whole debilitating ordeal sent me on a search for what I knew I needed, a GOOD chiropractor here in Puerto Vallarta. Easier said than done when you're in new territory. Everything takes longer than your wildest estimation and well you need to ask questions and listen in Spanish too. After one horrible experience, I was reminded of what I already knew, don't trust a tittle. This put me on a mission to find chiropractors to "interview"! Before I would pay them a thing, I informed them that I needed to hear their "sales pitch"first, period.

How do you diagnose? What kinds of treatments do you do? What do you think of physical therapy? Where did you go to school? Who have you treated?

So, that's what I did. And, Dr. Oscar Margain, passed my test. Please check out his website with testimonials here. Mind you, I have been treated successfully by 3 chiropractors over the last 20 years all in the US. Dr Oscar Margain is a chiropractor GENIUS who goes beyond the text book with great common sense!

So why the picture of the pool for this post? Combing pool exercises, mega doses of vitamin B shots, chiropractic adjustments, special floor exercises, and sonic treatments on my sacroiliac over the last several weeks are all part of Dr Margain's treatment plan. Good nutrition, lots of water, exercise, treatments etc. are all part of the approach. Guess what, it works!

What a beautiful way to spend my time checking out all 5 pools in the common area which are spattered across the condo complex. Doing 30 minutes of water exercise surrounded by the beauty of mother nature, wasn't so bad after all!