Puerto Vallarta

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Puerto Vallarta is only an hour away if we don't get hung up in traffic behind a very slow "doble remolque" that is, tractor pulling a double trailer going up hills, or some slow bus. The city is busy celebrating the holiday Virgin de Guadalupe, which falls on December 12, Tuesday. Some towns have a week of celebration leading up to the holiday. Bill and Dorothy Bell who publish the Jaltemba Express I told you about in the previous post, were in Mexico City recently and took interesting photos about Our Lady of Guadalupe

We found an economical hotel in the Old Town called Hotel Villa del Mar.

It is fun to walk around this old part of the city and eating Turkish food was a nice change from our usual Mexican fare in our small town.

Nearby, our friends Steve and Lisa were playing music in a restaurant-saloon called Zapatas, so we walked over there to hear them and they are superb musicians. What a treat!

Saturday morning we awoke to drumming outside, and stepped out onto the patio to find a parade of schoolchildren marching by. The ones in the front are dressed up in costumes:

For breakfast we ate fish (dorado) tacos and aguas frescas (tasty cold beverages made from fruit or grains). I had guayaba from the guava fruit and Victor had jimaica from the hisbiscus flower.

After grocery shopping in supermarket Gutierrez Rizo for some hard to find U.S. products like sauerkraut, certain spices, balsamic vinegar (although we did find some of these items at Walmart later that day) we took some photos of action on the streets and shops. Here is a happy guy at the tortilleria.

How about some coconut milk, or cut up coconut meat with lime juice and chili pepper?










Pretty ornate benches, strange hair like growth from the tree, Virgen de Guadalupe/Christmas window display, more street food.





I am trying to show some Christmas decorations in front of some one's home in Old Town, and their Christmas tree lit up in the front room. It is strange to me to have your front door open, with your home on view to the passerby walking the sidewalk in front, but this is so common in cities and smaller towns. In the U.S. usually it is the opposite, with closed, locked doors and winter brings even more isolation from the people and life around. I guess the warm climate here invites more socializing and openness here, which is nice.








It is strange to find snowmen decorations in the tropics like this one in front of Dominoes Pizza.











After checking our mail at MailBoxes, Etc. we ate Tamales for lunch, in banana leaves and in corn husks. I had pollo verde (chicken with green sauce) and a pina (pineapple) one.
A stop at Office Depot meant killing two bird with one stone - shop for office supplies while your car is washed! Pretty handy I'd say. This is the fourth car wash by this man, he does an excellent job.


Gee, sorry I don't have any fascinating photos of our last stops: Sam's Club and Walmart, my most detested final shopping duties of the day before heading back home before dark. By this time of the day, I am so tired and just want to go home. The only good part is eating strawberry frozen yogurt with chocolate duro (chocolate topping that hardens on top of the yogurt) available at Walmart just before leaving. Then I try to stay awake for the drive through the mountains on the windy roads, monitoring Victor's driving (which is excellent) and constantly coach him on when not to pass, which drives him nuts. One of these days (months or years) I will maybe get used to the curvy, hilly highway. Then it might be a 4 lane, but I sort of doubt it. Actually, it is kind of hard to imagine that, even though I wish for it. If that happened, this part of the Pacific Coast would just feel too developed and hurried and touristy.