Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Puerto Vallarta

When we awoke on Thursday morning and the ship was docked at Puerto Vallarta, I didn't think it was anything special. Not like the first glimpse of Cabo San Lucas. We didn't have a plan. So we got off the ship and went for a van ride with "Hector" in his white van.

Our first stop was Wal-Mart Mexico where Eric was trying to find the "cane sugar" Cokes. Because it was all in Spanish, we couldn't read the ingredients on the can and the poor Wal-Mart worker must have thought we were a bunch of crazy Americans trying to know whether there was sugar in a Coke. Whether it was made with sugar or not, I got a Coke. Bianca bought a cool Mohito Squirt, which I wished I'd gotten. It was amazing.

After that, Hector took us to a catholic cathedral.







We walked down to the beach from there. Bianca had to use the bathroom so we learned a little Spanish "Banos, por favor." The bar by the beach didn't mind. The Burger King later, however, when Portia had to go said we had to buy something before we could use the banos. We'd have to wait. We wandered up the beach, visited a marketplace, and made our way back to Hector in the van.



Next, Hector took us for a quick stop at a jewelry store where they didn't mind letting us use the banos. Then we went higher up in the city to see some scenic views. Wow, this city is picturesque!


 Here are mom and Eric:




Our next stop was at the jungle. There was a restaurant there but we didn't eat. In fact, the entire day, no one even mentioned food at all. Not even Portia. We really had been eating way too much on the ship. In the jungle, we just explored. A lot. Most of us (even those in tennis shoes) got our feet wet trying to walk across the stones in the river.

I love this tree trunk. It looks like it could wake up any moment and slither away.




Bianca with her cousins, Ethan and Aidan. 
There was plenty of dueling with their walking sticks.





There were even some parrots there.


Our last stop was the beach. The kids played in the water and Bianca got her hair done while sitting on the beach. We bought a handkerchief dress for Bianca and a swan ring. Portia didn't ask for anything except for water to splash through. She definitely got that.




Surprisingly, Puerto Vallarto was my very favorite place on the trip. 

1 comment:

Joe and Marci said...

I felt the same way about Puerta Vallarta, definitely a highlight of the trip. It's so pretty there! It's so fun to see you on this cruise, and I'm glad you guys had such a good trip! Too bad our timing wasn't better, we couldn't been cruise-mates :)