Boulevard Fransisco Medina Ascencio Puerta Vallarta’s main road is called the Boulevard Fransisco Medina Ascencio. It runs from the airport through the Hotel Zone and ends before downtown in the south. Northbound and southbound lanes are divided by a strip of grass with palm trees. On either side run four lanes of traffic, which are…
Ah, the glamour of international travel. I thought this was cool. This is a package of toilet paper we picked up at the nearby Walmart on our vacation in Puerto Vallarta. Notice that the inner rolls are flattened to reduce the overall packaging size. I’d never seen this before. Since toilet paper is lightweight it’s…
Walking the Malecon boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta, Carmela and I saw these amazing birds diving into the water, beak first, hunting for food. It was amazing to see how well they could tuck in their wings and plunge into the water with nary a splash. This gives the birds the advantage of surprise against the…
Canada has summer too, eh I talked about how air conditioners worked in a previous post. Living in Canada, if houses have air conditioning they are usually tied into a central forced air heating system. Principle 5 – Merging The same fan, thermostat, and set of ducts and vents can be used for cooling or heating. Principle…
Rejecting heat Typical air conditioners use a pump to compress refrigerant. This compression makes the refrigerant very hot, making it easier to reject the heat in a heat exchanger to the outside air. As the hot gas is cooled it becomes a liquid. The compressor and this heat exchanger are the condensing unit. The now…
As I lay idly by the pool of my La Marina condo in Puerto Vallarta, I ask myself why the trunks of the palm trees are painted white. My research found that although palm trees are common in Mexico they benefit from a little help defending themselves against the blistering sun. Principle 32 – Colour Changes It…
“Did you ever notice that the first piece of luggage on the carousel never belongs to anyone?” Erma Bombeck Miss you already, Puerto Vallarta Carmela and I just returned from a romantic vacation in Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta. While we went all carry-on for the flight from Toronto there, we checked a bag for the return…