AJ and Zizi are American Expats With a Podcast Called Cowork Life With AJ and Zizi, in Puerto Vallarta Mexico
AJ is a Freelance Writer and Zizi Teaches Music and Voice Remotely in Puerto Vallarta
Podcasters AJ and Zizi Uncover the Shared Experiences of Fellow Digital Nomads Working in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Listen to The Podcast
Contact Information For AJ and Zizi and Cowork Life With AJ and Zizi
- https://instagram.com/ajzizicoworklife
- https://instagram.com/cosmiccoffee9
- https://instagram.com/zizifjordansings
- https://instagram.com/64toinfinity
- https://www.patreon.com/AjZiZiCoWorkLife
- https://cash.app/$limitlessnine
- AJZiZiCoWorkLife@gmail.com
Hello fellow travelers, welcome this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel show. I am your host Barry Kessler, and I am just so happy to be introducing you to my favorite vacation destination, and maybe even yours, Puerto Vallarta Mexico.
That music you were just listening to is performed by Alberto Perez, the owner of the La Palapa Group of Restaurants. Those are La Palapa, Puerto Vallarta’s Oldest Restaurant on the famous Los Muertos Beach, and The El Dorado Restaurant and Beach Club right next door so you can enjoy that fantastic view of the Los Muertos Pier all lit up at night in beautiful colors, or during the day in its grand splendor for breakfast,
lunch or dinner, seated with your toes in the sand right at the water’s edge. It’s so romantic, it’s so, Puerto Vallarta my friends.
Cowork Life With AJ and Zizi
This week we are going to meet a couple of podcasters in paradise, AJ and Zizi, Expats who do the digital nomad thing in Puerto Vallarta.
These two wonderful people have a pretty cool story. We will find out how they make ends meet, what they eat and their perspective as foreigners living life in Mexico.
Also, I just got back from 10 days in Paradise as well, so I have some news to get to and announcements to make before we get to AJ and Zizi so let’s see what’s happening this week, the 30th of August, 2022.
One Year Since The Destruction Left by Hurricane Nora
It’s almost been a year ago now, the evening of the 28th of August and into the morning hours of the 29th last year. The daylight revealed the aftereffects of Hurricane Nora. Roads and bridges collapsed, the 62 year old Insurgentes bridge was swamped and buckled. Sand and mud swept over the Isla Cuale and into the streets all along the river, debris, trees and bushes, car tires you name it washed to the sea. Basements of the homes and businesses in the buildings along the river and radiating several blocks out from both sides of the Cuale became filled with water and mud ruining merchandise and personal belongings.
In Playa Grande and Pitillal, Homes slid into the raging Pitillal river as residents and bystanders could do nothing more than watch just watch as the sandy banks of that river gave way to the torrent inch by painful inch.
Two souls were lost, Curo, the son of Arancia from Babel Bar, and the young lady who’s car fell into the river in Paso Ancho and who’s body was never recovered. I’m sorry I don’t know her name.
And, unless you were near the rivers, the hurricane was a total dud. Most of the town went to bed not realizing what had happened meteorologically.
Hurricane Nora, instead of slamming into the coastline did an end around and ended up pouring rain on the town of Cuale. The downpour turned the Cuale and Pitillal rivers into walls of water.
I remember the event very well cause I was reading all about it waiting for my flight at the airport. I arrived at my condo surrounded by mud less than 20 hours after Nora hit. It was surreal.
Well, The bridge was finally completed a few months ago back in February, and it’s a very sturdy bridge at that. They also completed the rock walls along the riverbanks from the Mercado Municipal where the corner of that building cracked, remember? Well both sides of the river, the riverbanks have been reinforced with a rock wall all the way to the ocean. I have pictures of the reinforced riverbank taken from the footbridge over the Cuale towards Oscars, in the show notes as well as a couple of pics from the flooding last year.
Speaking of flooding, there is plenty of rainfall in Vallarta. It rained almost every evening I was in town with a couple of really big downpours thrown in for good
measure. Strangely enough, I didn’t have a single mosquito bite of bug bite the entire trip which I find amazing. I didn’t even break out the off the entire trip.
El Rio BBQ Open For One More Season
I learned a few interesting things I wanted to pass along One is that El Rio BBQ is going to be open for one last season. Somehow they wrangled a year more, maybe the new venue they had planned for that spot needed more time to get their stuff together, but
if you were having major sad moments pondering life without Hollis’s BBQ skills, the monster ribs and awesome side dishes with an extra side of good music, riverside, you can snap out of it now and make your plans for the final hurrah at El Rio. They will be reopening in October so stay tuned for that announcement.
The Ramadas of Boca de Tomates Are Being Bought Up By Developers
Also, I have word that the first of those I think eight Ramadas, those fish shacks down in Boca de Tomates near the crocodile reserve, right on the beach has been purchased by Vidante for a million US, which means this just might be your final season to enjoy the last vestige of Vallarta of old, the Ramadas. I took the podcast to the ramadas of Boca
de Tomates about 3 years ago and Sabino, the guey in charge of Ramada Sabino Ron told me back then that it was just a matter of time before Vidante would own the land he was born on. He told us they were knocking on the door and sure enough, the first door had been opened up.
Now some of these family-owned businesses may hold out for some time, but in the end, Vidante will get what they want. So, if you haven’t been, get on over there before they disappear. I have a link to the Ramada episode in the show notes.
Ramada Sabino Ron and The Ramadas of Boca de Tomates, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Beefed Up Police Presence in Puerto Vallarta
I noticed a beefed up police presence while in town. Back in February of 2021 I reported that Jalisco Governor Alfaro had made the decision to send in his state police force after the cartel hit of ex-Jalisco governor Aristóteles Sandoval. The governor was having drinks at Districto 5 when he got up to take a leak and was shot in the back, and died shortly after.
Well, the situation got pretty bad with the state federal police so they got rid of them, and replaced them with members of the guarda national…the national Guard.
So when you look at the patrol cars, the trucks, the will now see 4 persons per pertuya…per patrol car. Two cops, and two national guards in the back. So beefed up patrols basically.
JR is Doing Much Better, Buy a Tour From Vallartainfo.com
I had a chance to visit and hang out with JR who is making a good recovery from his dislocated shoulder which is now out of a sling. Now he needs to do some rehab for that shoulder and his hand, but JR is in very good spirits and is eating and moving around quite well. And taking reservations for tours at Vallartainfo.com.
Gary Beck is On The Mend
I also had a chance to sit and chat with Gary Beck. Gary wrote the Puerto Vallarta Restaurant Guide, and you all know him for two episodes he did with me. One on Beck’s Best, the restaurant Guide to Vallarta, and the other, theaters and cabaret’s in Puerto Vallarta.
Gary has been in and out of the hospital for at leas a year now, and he is doing physical rehab in a home he is renting up in El Caloso. He has some incredible folks working with him nursing him back to health and one of these days I’ll get Mexican caregivers to come on the show. I mean…we all are getting old. What would we do if we had to get a full time or a part time caregiver in paradise? Gary can tell you. Anyway, I had about an
hour conversation with Gary…this time without a microphone, but he is a wealth of information and we swapped stories. Gary is looking forward to getting well enough to get back to what he loves best, eating great food and seeing excellent shows, then reporting back to all of us.. So bet better soon Gary!
Learning Spanish Can Open A Whole New World
One of the things that would make easy for a gringo or gringa who needs the assistance of a Spanish speaking nurse or doctor would be the ability to speak Spanish. And it’s one of the things I’m so glad I did in my youth. I took Spanish language immersion in college and in Mexico City, and living in the southern California area, I’ve always used it in my business dealings as well. In the jewelry business and in real estate as well.
But this trip, I was staying in Colonia Pitillal, at Ray and Cheap Debbie’s lovely place, and every morning I would lock up the house and walk 2 and a half blocks to the town square and across the street from the main church where there was a taxi stop, a Sitio
set up, and I would ask how much to go to the romantic zone for example, and they would say 120 pesos, like $6 US, and off we’d go. I always sit in the front seat and do my best to chat up the taxista. I generally start the conversation with “where you from?” Then, I go to “how long have you been driving?”
Well, this day, the driver tells me he’s from San Luis Potosi, and that he’s been driving since 1996, and I mentioned that was a long time. And he says, “yes, but there was a time, about 4 years when I couldn’t drive because I had a really bad accident.” He went through the windshield, and he explained he had to have 4 vertebrae fused at the base of his spine, “and although they were able to save my knee,” pointing to his left leg which was working the clutch on his Japanese cab, “they replaced the crushed bones with rods, and my left leg is about 4 inches shorter than my right. So, I walk like this,” and he made a rocking movement in his seat, mimicking his exaggerated gimp.
I mentioned that he was lucky that they saved his leg so at least he could continue driving and he agreed. He praised the doctors who did the spinal surgery saying he can sit for hours in the cab with no back pain. As we drove along, he pointed to a four story building and said that 3rd floor window, I was in that room for two months.
He asked me what I do. Was I on vacation? Did I live in Vallarta? So, I told him what I do at home, that I sell houses in the LA area for a living, but when I’m in Vallarta I have this podcast, a hobby, a travel guide of sorts to Puerto Vallarta. He asks me if it’s just Puerto Vallarta and I say no, I go 2 hours south, two hours north and two hours up into the mountains. And he asks me “do you know Talpa?” And I say “yes, they have a virgin, right? And a pilgrimage, right?”
And he says right. “In 2008, I did the pilgrimage, 3 days I walked to Talpa”….and I looked at him and I asked him, pointing to his left leg and rocking sideways in my seat…”like this?” And he said “yes…three days.” So, I say to him “let me guess…you had a news crew following you the entire way, right?” And he looks at me with a sideways smile and says “yes” …..
Then he asks me about my family, I told him I have a wife and two grown boys. So he asks me where the wife was and I told him she seldom comes with me to Mexico, that she takes over the reigns of the business when I’m out of town but I can do my job remotely and handle almost any situation from my laptop or smart phone, wherever I am in the world. So he looks at me and says, you must have a bunch of Mexican girlfriends then. And I said no…I’ve been and will remain happily married. Over 34 years of marriage, we’ve built a lot of trust and respect for each other.
Well, he gets this sad look like he had made a mistake and said something wrong. So, he says I have a song for you….and he began to sing to me in a beautiful voice. It was a song about a woman, talking to her husband in the clouds in the sky and how they still love each other even though he wasn’t with her…imagine that…a taxista singing to me. We talked about his family and about how his wife was of indigenous ancestry. How she could cook and make him so happy. He sang another song about the woman of Mazatlan and before you knew it, the ride was over. 20 minutes had flown by and I reached into my pocket to pay the man. I almost felt guilty asking for change after the experience. I mean the serenade and all…but he gave it back with a smile.
Ah, the magic of speaking the language.
Now the next morning, I hopped in another cab in front of the church in Pitillal and happened to look over at the driver’s left leg and noticed he was driving a stick, and in his left hand he had a cane which he was using to push in the clutch and I’m thinking what the??? I pointed at his cane and said what happened to your leg? He pulled up his pantleg and exposed what looked like a peg-leg.
When I told him the story about the previous day’s encounter with the singing taxista he said yes…he’s my friend. We had a great conversation too, although he didn’t sing to me we did have a laugh about one legged taxi drivers in Pitillal. Go figure
Sunday Night is Dance Night in Pitillal
Talking about Pitillal, I ventured out of the house one Sunday night to see what goes on in the town square in Pitillal at night, and they have a stage, professionally lit, with recorded Mexican Music playing to dance to. Families get out and dance with each other, lovers, people courting one another, it was very …sweet.
I watched for a bit to see what people were doing, and noticed beer was being consumed, and the men were sitting on the cement bleachers watching the dancing,
and talking with one another. So I walked over to the OXXO and bought a six pack, then wondered over to the bleacher seats and sat next to a couple of guys, and had a blast just talking about Pitillal and their families. Again, the beauty of speaking Spanish.
Anyway, the party lasts Sundays I think they said 6 till midnight. It was a simple night out.
Phasing out The Mexican Tourist Card the FMM
Last week I talked about the note I got from listener Chris about the fact that the FMM, the tourist card was being phased out, and I was wondering if they were going to skip that step in the process that I go through when I fly to Vallarta from Tijuana.
I take a bus to the border and cross over the border using a facility built on the San Diego side of the wall separating the United States and Mexico, Using a walkway or a bridge, I walk over the wall and down into the Tijuana Airport.
As it turns out I did, have to fill out an FMM at CBX. So, we’ll see if that changes when I return for Dia de Los Muertos via Cross Border Express and Viva Areobus in about 2 months.
This time I’m coming down with my wife and her best friend, she refers to her as her horse wife, they share custody of a horse, and her best friends’, her horse wife’s husband for fun. I’ve been warned I can’t bring my microphones and that this will be a real vacation, with me as the tour guide. So I’m looking forward to that, although I don’t know if I can do that…I might beg her to let me stay a couple days longer so I can whip out my microphone once they return to cali….that doesn’t sound right…maybe I’ll change the wording…It will be my very first Dia de Los Muertos I will spend in Vallarta, so I’m pretty jazzed about that!
I have a bunch of things to tell you about my latest trip. The interviews were off the hook. People really were in the mood to talk. I mean an hour long interview became the norm…I don’t know what was in the air, or maybe it was in the water, but these upcoming weeks episodes are going to be good. I promise you.
This trip down, weed was in short supply to my local friends, so it took me a few days to get my usual, however, the local dealers, our friends the wanna buy a pipe, I got weed, how bout cocaine dudes on the Malecon were well supplied. But you pay for it. 1,500 pesos for an ounce of Mexican Cartel Dirt weed or about $75 US, as opposed to 500 pesos from your friend who buys it from their local cartel supplier in their hood or around $25 US. So yes…supply line issues….for weed? Other supply line issues included Pacifico in bottles also scarce all around town, with the exception of at Gringo Loco which had a corner on the Pacifico Market. No joke. Freeking cold too.
Okay, I wanted to touch on some national and international news but I’ll hold off on that till next week, let’s get to our interview shall we?
Cowork Life With AJ and Zizi in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
When it comes to guests on this podcast, the favorites of my listeners usually are expats who one way or another, make their way to Puerto Vallarta, and find a way to make life work, in Mexico. Some come to retire and do nothing, others are looking to fulfill a dream, a need, some come to volunteer, to find themselves, to escape someone or something. Some even come to die…I’ve met and can tell you stories about some of those.
Today, in our interconnected world and economies you find many people trying to make a living remotely. They are the digital nomads as we have grown to know them. They tend to be younger, unattached, and willing to make some sacrifices in terms of creature comfort in exchange for the freedom of a nomad life.
These two individuals you are about to meet really fit the mold of my ideal interview. For one thing they have a podcast in paradise called Cowork Life with AJ and Zizi in Puerto Vallarta. They also do a number of things to keep their pesos flowing which we will get to…like right now. Let’s go to one of my favorite places to conduct an interview
in Vallarta. To a restaurant overlooking the corner of Insurgentes and Lazaro Cardenas, across the street and upstairs from the big Farmacia Guadalajara and the taco stands, let’s go to Restaurant San Lucas for a visit with some fellow podcasters with a different twist on the place we all love. Let’s meet AJ Freeman and Zizi Fjordan, Cowork Life with AJ and Zizi, in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.
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Contact Information For AJ and Zizi and Cowork Life With AJ and Zizi
- https://instagram.com/ajzizicoworklife
- https://instagram.com/cosmiccoffee9
- https://instagram.com/zizifjordansings
- https://instagram.com/64toinfinity
- https://www.patreon.com/AjZiZiCoWorkLife
- https://cash.app/$limitlessnine
- AJZiZiCoWorkLife@gmail.com
Thank you AJ and Zizi, I have links to the podcast, to AJ’s Book and all the things we talked about just now and you can find it all at www.puertovallartatravelshow.com
Places AJ and Zizi Like To Eat
- Breakfast: Don Baguette….Favorite dish is Rajas con queso
- Lunch: Tortas Ahogadas in Versalles
- Figuroa’s Burritos
- Don Pancho Birria Pizza in Versalles
- Dinner: Langolo de Napoli
Okay, that should do it for today…next week Stay tuned for more on the ground reports from Puerto Vallarta Mexico, with travel tips, great restaurant and excursion ideas and more. Until then, remember, this is an interactive show where I depend on your questions and suggestions about all things Puerto Vallarta. If you think of something I should be talking about, please reach out to me by clicking on the Contact us tab and sending us your message.
And remember, if you are considering booking any type of tour while you are in Puerto Vallarta, you must go to Vallartainfo.com, JR’s website and reserve your tour through him, right from his website. Remember the value for value proposition. His experience and on the ground knowledge of everything Puerto Vallarta in exchange for your making a purchase of a tour that you would do anyway, you’re just doing it through him
as a way of saying thank you. It costs no more than if you were to use someone else so do it. Really. And when you do take one of these tours, email me about your experiences. Maybe you can come on-board and share with others what you liked or didn’t like about the tour. Again, contact me by clicking on the Contact us tab and sending off a message. Don’t forget his maps, his DIY tours and his revitalized Happy Hour Board. I have links to all of those in the show notes.
And once again, if you like this podcast, please take the time and subscribe and follow share with a lover of Puerto Vallarta or give me a good review wherever or however you happen to be listening. That way we can get the word out to more and more people about the magic of this place. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Remember I made it easy for you to do just that with each episode I create. But if you haven’t been to my website, you really need to have a look there. I have the links to the places we talk about, interesting pictures and the more all right there in my blog-posts and show-notes for each episode of the show so check them out for sure if you haven’t already all-right? All right.
Thank you to AJ and Zizi I have links and pictures and a way for you to subscribe to their cool podcast. And you can find all that information in the blog shownotes at www.puertovallartatravelshow.com.
And thanks to all of you for listening all the way through this episode of the Puerto Vallarta Travel Show. This is Barry Kessler signing off with a wish for you all to slow down, be kind and live the Vallarta lifestyle. Nos Vemos amigos.
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