What in the world have we been up to? Exploring Puerto Vallarta of course!
Why? We were asked last minute to join Neil's dad to accompany him to go and see his newly purchased vessel, a 46ft. center cockpit Cal. This boat is HUGE!!
I mean the pictures really do it no justice. Imagine if you will, for us smaller 34-36 footers, that you have a 14 foot beam, followed by enough deck space to literally put a scooter, a dinghy, a surfboard, a kayak, and still have room for a cartwheel or two.
The boat down below is quite spacious. A huge stand up engine room, that is the size of a small shed, a large walk around galley and kitchen setee, a overly large V berth and a HUGE master bedroom in the aft...2 full size bathrooms and showers..this along with the huge amount of storage for anything and everything...did I mention HUGE? Ha Ha...well for Grandpa Jamie, the shift going from land to water will not be too hard, not at all!! In fact he seemed to take to it rather quickly and had his laid back beer in hand pose down to a science in no time!
This guy looks quite comfy aboard his floating castle!
About the trip:
The plane ride was so neat because I saw where the sea of cortez started, it was gorgeous teal and blue.
Sandy beaches everywhere. Dry hills and mountains until we started to turn and head east. It became green and lush in no time, jungle everywhere!
And with that green luciousness came the hot sticky wet heat. It literally felt like a steam room, but it wasn't too hot. Of course this is the time of year that no one wants to go down there. It rains almost every day. It was the case for us, but it was always sunny and beautiful every day until about 5pm. Than the clouds would roll in off the mountains, and they would open up with such force. Mid week we were playing tourist in one of the local hot spots just outside of downtown and kapow! Rivers appeared out of nowhere! No one seemed to care, the kids played in the streets,
the motorcycles kept on going....
the cars kept going.....
..... they went until they could go no more!
Some of the locals used this as an opportunity to take a break and enjoy what nature had provided.
We found some amazing bridges to cross through town to avoid the flowing water below.
We found out later that this was one of the biggest storms they had so far this year.
There are a few who speak english here, but not everyone. We know little spanish but are learning that with hand gestures, some simple words, and lots of niceness, this place does not seem so foreign. The people are mostly friendly and even the ones who seem hesitant to smile, give in and let their guard down when they have 5 people smiling wide in front of them.
I had read a blog that stated that the markets were a dissapointment down here, but I must say that maybe living so close to the border that the shift was easy. Granted I picked out some God awful coffee but, hey, it's a learning curve. They have everything that we have, the labels are different of course, but it has been great fun shopping here. The bakery's are "fabulouso!" I have never seen so many treats. Breads, cakes, pastries, jam filled, chocolate covered, spicy chocolate...and yes, sometimes the children can't help themselves and you see a few with a bite or two missing. This makes me chuckle because I don't blame them, they are so yummy!! Ha Ha... we just reach for the ones in the middle. We had our fill of fresh and hot homemade tortilla's..these girls were fast and very professional.
The taxi's are everywhere and incredibly reasonable. This is the best way to do a grocery run. Otherwise it's the bus, along with the hard working locals, the kids, the grandparents...they are all old school busses with a few newer ones here and there. The fare is a whopping 7 peso's and yes folks, there is a bus that goes only to Wal Mart! So for about 10 bucks you can take a bus all day long to just about anywhere..not bad for 5 people.
We were fortunate enough to get an excellent deal on a shared condo on the beach. Since this is the off season the prices are cut in half, sometimes even more. For us it was a little slice of heaven.
The locals would fish every morninng and all day and sometimes into the evening if the conditions were right.
We swam right along side them.
I asked what they were fishing for and with a big grin he held up his catch and said Dorado and another fish that I had never heard of.
The views from the balcony were just simply gorgeous!
Off in the distance we saw these little islands and thought how cool would it be to take Jamie out for a sail and swim at the islands...
....and so we headed out, anchored the boat in front of the condo...
hopped in the dinghy and rowed to shore for snorkel gear...yes, we brought it with us!
Than off to the islands... which ended up being spectacular little caves that you could swim through...
..they were so pretty, but full of bats!!
It was hard not to just stay the night....
...it was so relaxing....
The water was a warm 80 degrees, a little cloudy from all the storms but you could dive down and see so many fish, or "FEESH!" as Katie and I say. I think I saw Dorie! I tried to get some pictures of them, but mainly took video... I may add a few pics later.
The condo had a pool that was nice but no comparison to the ocean.
We were 7 flights up and thought this was amusing and scary to see on the balcony above...I hope no one tried to jump from there!!!
As you recall I mentioned bats in the cave...well it was just after midnight, Stewart was up and we heard a commotion and a bit of a muffled yell..."BAT!!"
Loe and behold, enter the bat! Neil and Stewart shewed him right out with a bit of a chuckle.
The wildlife here was definately different. In fact I have never seen so many Iguana's running loose in all my life!
There were lizards galore...
leaf cutter ants...
and even some croc's!! Although we didn't get to see any...
The coconuts were plentiful...
We enjoyed the culture, the taco stands, the flea markets.....
and the cobblestone streets.
The day before we left we were able to go and do the Zip Line Canopy Tour. This is one of the tourist attractions here that help create big revenue for the people of the area. It is basically an oversized cabled "flying fox" that allows you to harness yourself to a line overlooking the jungle and at a high rate of speed go "whoosh" through the jungle. It was a lot of fun and even though Neil was only able to watch( he still had to wear the safety gear) it was something that we will never forget...the pictures didn't turn out as good as we would have liked, but here we are geared up and ready to go!
The best part was just being in the warm tropical climate...
the water....
the play fullness...
the adventure....
the appreciation for simplicity....
being with family.....
....I can't wait to take my own boat there...
we thank Jamie for this opportunity...it was not all play,
but it was a pleasure!
Oh and if you are ever to ride the bus please observe the rules below: Pregnant women, old people, and blind people sit in the front....and perhaps those with a nice rear end may as well....I sat in the middle!! ha ha.
