Dim Sum Is For Niños, Part Two

Puerto Vallarta--playa and malecón, with muelle at center right

Yelapa’s isolation has its downside. You want to buy drugs, the legal kind at least, you have to bounce on a panga, over miles of swells to Puerto Vallarta. But it’s a beautiful ride on a calm and sunny morning, and I had my face in the wind all the way. Like a happy dog in the back of a pickup, his front feet on the cab, ears flapping in the breeze.

Many of the locals and most of the ex-pats make the PV trip and back at least once or twice a month. The latter, as much for the big city hit or to see a friendly but unfamiliar face, as for taking care of business, like picking up roast beef at Costco. Going there to fill my prescription didn’t take much convincing on the recreational side. After my sweet wife had a real tough night with her sputum, I figured there might be valid medical reasons as well.

Old City Puerto Vallarta, chockablock
with farmacias and gringos

Marbella was the 9:30 panga. We had luxe accommodations--seatbacks, cushions, even a narrow center aisle--and we dropped off a gaggle of gringas at the little alternate port of Boca (de Tomatlan) where they had to wade the surf ashore. That left just me and two gringo graybacks another quarter hour on the panga before we easily mounted the beautiful new muelle at the unfortunately named Playa de los Muertos in PV. 

Farmacias in that ciudad are as common as coffee shops in Seattle. It’s a good thing; I stopped in a half dozen before I got the prescription expectorant, et cetera, filled. I’m not sure if there’s a co-pay system here for the locals, or whether it’s all gratis at the clinic, or whatever, but the cost on the boxes totaled $385 MXN--about $30 US.

After taking care of bidness, I had a pleasant stroll on the malecón above the beach and flirted with the idea of taking in a cerveza, but decided to take my business back to little Yelapa, making the noonish panga with only minutes to spare. The funky La Guera (loosely translated as “Blondie”) was also carrying our local celebrity chefs Ray and Susan on their way home with some delicacies for dinner.

Whether the drugs were effective for their active ingredients or as placebos, or maybe la tos (cough) had just about run its course, last night was much more peaceful. And as a happy side note, the Caltusine was not available in pill form, but as a syrup, like our beloved Delsym, AKA Dim Sum. Score!

Continuing this quest for a cure gives me a feeling of accomplishment. It's difficult to get words around, but I feel more firmly part of the daily round of the community for doing it.