El Fin de Semana

I was in town trying to locate birthday cards for my two friends in Chch and one in Singapore when the earthquake hit Chch. Poor Chch!

Finding Birthday cards is a mission, people buy presents for EVERYONE they know here, and wrap them and present them in those gift bags (a booming business).. there are shops that only do gift wrapping and gift wrap options... or gift wrapping and paper, or gift wrap and piñatas. I saw two parents the other day leaving one of these stores with Woody, Jessie, BuzzLightyear and the Horse who{s name I can{t recall Huge Piñatas... that was one lucky birthday boy.

I had missed 4 calls and had a [urgent- text me* message on the cell. When my friend said [Did you hear what happened in NZ?* my heart dropped, but I am glad it wasn{t worse. It was one of the headlining stories on CNN news updates and local news too for a few days. The poor city is still feeling the aftershocks... at least no work and school??

On Saturday I planned to get up early to go to Mismaloya, the famous beach...
Side note: This is where the Richard Burton Film [Night of the Iguana[ was filmed. Before this film PV was not a tourist destination, and aparently there was only about 1/100th of what the city is now.
This beach is now dominated by one main resort, it is actually a very small beach. The river water once again takes away some of the beauty of the ocean. I wandered around a bit and there was a lot of deserted building over the left side.. I presume this is set left behind from the film.. but I haven{t seen it yet. The set looked so sad... you wonder what happened to these places... I guess it was just abandoned?= You can{t even walk around there, it has all been fenced off.
The ocean does, however, have the PERFECT temperature water for this place.. it{s got a chill to it, which is lake-ish, but perfect as 35* is cold here...

Yesterday there was the biggest rainfall I have been caught in... the weather is all extremes here - I have been woken up many a times by the vicious lightening and agressive thunder... it{s so strong you don{t feel safe in your house... it{s like the roof will split open.. anways, when it rains it REALLY rains.
With no drains streets become rushing rivers, the hill streets could sweep you away! At times I was up to my knees in water, and that{s before the buses go past making mini tsunamis. Between the river streets and water pouring off the roofs, walking around is like some kind of waterpark, like a river rapid with waterfalls or something. I wish I could{ve taken pictures, but I wouldn{t dare carry a camera that wasn{t waterproof and physically strapped to me out into that!