Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2016 2:32:44 PM
Subject: Report #134 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico May 13, 2016 Friday Partly cloudy & a hot and muggy 84 degrees Part # 1 of 3 88 Pictures
Welcome to Puerto Vallarta
The view from the promenade deck at 9am
Going to be a hot day we suspect
Pier area was really green
People were out and about
A pirate boat excursion
Blue waters of the harbor
Pirate boat was filling with families this morning
Condos on the harbor
Sierra Madre Mountains nearby
The Mexican flag flies over the shops
Shopping area near the dock
Want a photo with the locals???
The walk to the shops
Many taxis and vans
More nearby shops
The start of our walk
Driveway to a hotel
Very clean streets today
A new Starbucks
Used to be a restaurant upstairs
The first small creek we crossed
It was full of birds……egret and ducks
New construction near the harbor
The new shopping mall will be really nice
The Grand Venetian Hotel
An acrobat competition was being held
Landscaping outside the hotel was nice
Quite an improvement from two years ago
The sidewalk leads to Old Town eventually
Fiesta Americana is usually where we stop on the way back
A nice complex
Tall palms were great for their shade
OK, had to rest a minute…..it was 1000 degrees out
The shopping mall nearest the ship
Palms are growing bigger every time we come here
Look, bananas growing wild
Another creek
A night heron stalks some fish
Pale yellow hibiscus
Streets empty in the morning
Another creek, but there was a breeze here
Graffiti
A landmark in Puerto Vallarta
Sheraton Buganvilias
Bouganvilla
A mango tree
A pleasant walk
Two shades of bouganvilla
Senor Frogs…..one of many
The main street to downtown
OXXO is like 7Eleven
The only part of town not developed
Small cafes
The start of the typical souvenir stalls
A side street to the beach
Roasting chickens
This is where we are
A kapok tree
A square on the way to downtown
Streets are getting busy
Starbucks below a Mexican restaurant
The start of the high end jewelry shops
Beach art
Ice cream shop
Start of the Malecon – no cars allowed
The only fresh fish market
Street artists
Banderos Bay
A flea market we missed
Sculptures along the Malecon
Nice with no traffic
This pole demo has a lot of ancient meaninng
The name of the art was not posted
But we have seen it done in Cabo San Lucas also
Vibrant colors
Another very different sculpture
Inviting bay, but few swimmers
A very nice walk
These were toys, not the real ones
Stores along the Malecon
Famous statues
The Zoo, a restaurant
Cool an clean beach
Banana boat ride
Laughing Cow
Look at these bronze statues
Subject: Report #134 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico May 13, 2016 Friday Partly cloudy & a hot and muggy 84 degrees Part # 1 of 3 88 Pictures
Well, today is our final stop in Mexico at a most famous place on the Mexican Riviera…..Puerto Vallarta. Located in the state of Jalisco, Puerto Vallarta is built in the heart of Banderos Bay, and has a population of 250,000 people. At one time, it was rated the friendliest seaside ports in the world, as recent as 2003 and 2010. But some isolated incidences have deemed it not as safe as it should be. More than once, this port has been cancelled at the last minute, due to violent crimes aimed at locals as well as cruise ship passengers. We have even seen signs in restaurants saying "no cartels here", enticing the folks to come inside to dine.
Way back in the 1970's, Puerto Vallarta was a relaxing vacation spot with a few activities. A tour we did back then was a ride up the river, going past the area where the classic movie "The Night of the Iguana" was filmed starring legendary Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Funny there is no mention of this on tours anymore, because the younger crowd doesn't even remember the actors or the movie anymore. But the "hot" news of those days was the romance between Taylor and Burton at Casa Kimberley – now a bed and breakfast inn. The film was set in Mismalaya near Los Arcos, six miles south of town. Now it is a favorite spot for diving and snorkeling. Anyway, time marches on, doesn't it?
Today there is a wealth of things to do and see with pleasant temperatures in the 80's most of the year. Except today, when the humidity made things seem twice as hot. Some of the tours offered here today included five ones with a lunch. They were between 3 to 5 hours and were swimming with dolphins or sea lions from $109 to $170. You could tag along without swimming for $40. You can go to a Mexican fiesta with a PV tour for $90. Tours of the town, country, and tequila tasting was $45, while a taste of Mexico and city tour was $60.
If you wanted adventure, an excursion for 5 hours called Canopy Adventure was $109, or Flyboard for 2 hours was $200. Outdoor challenge was 6 hours with a boat ride, off road drive, a mule ride, a rappel down waterfalls, and a zip line 250 feet above the ground. All this for $135.
Finally, since we would be staying until 11pm, a tour was added called Rhythms of the Night for 4¾ hours for $100. It started with a cruise to a cove at Las Caletas to beachside tables for a grilled fish, chicken or steak dinner. Music and dance was included as well as an open bar on the boat ride back.
We left the ship around 10:30pm, and decided to take the long walk to Old Town, perhaps about a 4 mile hike. We have to say the town has shaped up nicely the last couple of years since we were here last. The entire way to Old Town is now completely lined with 5 star hotels and resorts, with a brand new shopping mall being constructed fairly close to the ship's terminal. The weather was unusually hot today, so we brought along several bottles of water with us. Had to stop in the shade along the way to try to catch a breeze. The palm trees have finally gotten tall and dense enough to provide some of that needed shade.
Eventually, we reached Old Town where the streets are criss-crossed with cobblestone paths with the historic Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in its center. The crown-shaped bell tower makes this church a distinctive landmark. The Town Square below the church hosts art and cultural demonstrations frequently, but not today.
The Malecon begins here, Puerto Vallarta's boardwalk, closed to traffic. It has wonderful views of the sea with shops, restaurants, and souvenir stands galore. It is here where Sunday nights are the big socializing evenings in town. The bands and street artists gather to entertain the locals and tourists alike. And if you are looking for those high end stores? You will find them all here……diamonds, tanzanite, watches, opal, and silver shops are on every corner.
Across the street is Banderos Bay with the famous beach called Playa de los Muertos, named for the legendary pirate raids in the old days. With the backdrop of the Sierra Madre Mountains, this bay is where you can see giant manta rays, tropical fish, humpback whales, and sea turtles. Only this is not the right time of year to see the wildlife, as far as we can see.
For the foodies among the crowd, you'll find plenty of hot spots in town. Try Cheeky Monkey, Senor Frogs, Joe Jack's Fish Shack, The Blue Shrimp, si Senor, or Chez Elena. What you will not find is a Hard Rock Café, because they pulled out of town a few years ago.
We headed beyond Old Town to the Cuale River. In the middle of the split river, is Cuale Island, a peaceful spot with gardens, shops, riverside cafes, and a museum (which was closed for repairs). We learned that a lot of damage occurred when floods devastated this area last year, actually destroying the stairway that led to our favorite restaurant.
And that was our next destination…..the Rivercafe, located right on one side of the Cuale River. We were seated on their patio at a table for two, where the kind waiter aimed a pedestal fan towards us. It was such a perfect table to see the many large and small iguanas climbing in the tree branches, munching away at the leaves. We thought of Barbara H, our location guide, who usually eats lunch here with other staff members. Although she adores the food, like us, she is totally afraid of the lizards. Give her the creeps, she says, like snakes. We love to tease her as we see these lizards crawling around the banks of the river, then up the trees. Too bad she had to go home in Ft. Lauderdale this year, as she missed some pretty good Mexican cuisine.
As for us, we ordered several cold beers with beef nachos and a chicken quesadilla to share. They had a good cheesecake too, so we split one of those…….the last of our lunch treats for a while. Sitting in the shade of the patio for a long time was priceless.
But it was time to go, because in this heat, we knew it may take hours to get back to the ship. Re-considering, we ended up taking a taxi back, which we usually don't do. No doubt, we would have had to stop a couple of times in the resorts on the way back for cold drinks. With all of the traffic, it still took about ½ hour to get back to the pier. And it was unbelievably hot in the taxi even with all the windows down. Not sure the driver had air-conditioning, and if he did, his car may have over-heated. Funny observation: at every intersection, our young driver blew his horn repeatedly. Every taxi driver did the same thing. We call it "blow and go". Guess it works here, but we feel sorry for the folks that live on these corners.
We got back onboard by 3pm, where we saw a table for the guests to check in their booze purchases. Many bottles of tequila were being tagged for later delivery. It is convenient for the folks getting off in Vancouver with no flights. We headed right for our cool room. Perfect place to work on photos and drink the last of our soda and water stash. Sure has been nice to have a steady supply of free drinks for the duration of our trip, a very much appreciated President's Club perk.
Did we mention that all of the news stations were shut down today when we got into the port? When we inquired this afternoon about it, we were advised that the channels were shut down because they were working on the system. Made no sense, because ESPN was still on. Eventually the channels came back, but not until well after midnight. So we ended up watching one of the older movies," Like Water for Chocolate", all about life in Mexico years ago and old traditions that may still be true today.
There was a BBQ on the Lido deck from 5:30 to 8pm this evening. A Mariachi Band was brought onboard to entertain the diners, and from what we could see, they were having a lot of fun. The usual BBQ fare was offered with grilled steaks, chicken, and roasted pork. There were many customers enjoying the special drinks and buckets of beer.
We ate in the dining room, and glad we did. Not too many folks were present tonight, so we had personal service from our waiters. The dos frijoles soup was excellent and hot, and our entrees of Kolbi beef ribs was equally as good. Dinner was done by 9:30pm. And we had an extra hour added by putting our clocks back tonight. One more hour to go, and we be back where we began on January 2nd.
There was no live entertainment in the Queens Lounge, but they did show a fairly new movie, "Truth". The ship pulled out of the harbor by 11pm, and we were on our way towards San Diego.
Bill & Mary Ann
Welcome to Puerto Vallarta
The view from the promenade deck at 9am
Going to be a hot day we suspect
Pier area was really green
People were out and about
A pirate boat excursion
Blue waters of the harbor
Pirate boat was filling with families this morning
Condos on the harbor
Sierra Madre Mountains nearby
The Mexican flag flies over the shops
Shopping area near the dock
Want a photo with the locals???
The walk to the shops
Many taxis and vans
More nearby shops
The start of our walk
Driveway to a hotel
Very clean streets today
A new Starbucks
Used to be a restaurant upstairs
The first small creek we crossed
It was full of birds……egret and ducks
New construction near the harbor
The new shopping mall will be really nice
The Grand Venetian Hotel
An acrobat competition was being held
Landscaping outside the hotel was nice
Quite an improvement from two years ago
The sidewalk leads to Old Town eventually
Fiesta Americana is usually where we stop on the way back
A nice complex
Tall palms were great for their shade
OK, had to rest a minute…..it was 1000 degrees out
The shopping mall nearest the ship
Palms are growing bigger every time we come here
Look, bananas growing wild
Another creek
A night heron stalks some fish
Pale yellow hibiscus
Streets empty in the morning
Another creek, but there was a breeze here
Graffiti 
A landmark in Puerto Vallarta
Sheraton Buganvilias
Bouganvilla
A mango tree
A pleasant walk
Two shades of bouganvilla
Senor Frogs…..one of many
The main street to downtown
OXXO is like 7Eleven
The only part of town not developed
Small cafes
The start of the typical souvenir stalls
A side street to the beach
Roasting chickens
This is where we are
A kapok tree
A square on the way to downtown
Streets are getting busy
Starbucks below a Mexican restaurant
The start of the high end jewelry shops
Beach art
Ice cream shop
Start of the Malecon – no cars allowed
The only fresh fish market
Street artists
Banderos Bay
A flea market we missed
Sculptures along the Malecon
Nice with no traffic
This pole demo has a lot of ancient meaninng
The name of the art was not posted
But we have seen it done in Cabo San Lucas also
Vibrant colors
Another very different sculpture
Inviting bay, but few swimmers
A very nice walk
These were toys, not the real ones
Stores along the Malecon
Famous statues
The Zoo, a restaurant
Cool an clean beach
Banana boat ride
Laughing Cow
Look at these bronze statues