Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Puerto Vallarta! Sand, Sun and Sea...


Although the sea was wonderful and the company couldn't have been better - what will be forever seared into the mind of my husband will be the driving nightmares we experienced on this trip! Yes, this past weekend our family traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! We drove, and drove, and drove - little did we realize that we would be driving through the Sierra Madre Mountains! The winding, curvy roads were fun to drive although harrowing at times! We saw tons of Blue Agave plantations (the Blue Agave cactus is used to make Tequila) we also saw signs for festivities hosted by the "Jose Cuervo Foundation"! We saw many burning wildfires that were charring the Mexican mountainside and the smell permeated our car - the landscape is already very dry and the fires were burning and smoldering over much of the mountainside.

At one point as we approached a highway tollbooth we noticed lots of people gathered at the toll booth with no cars nearby, interesting, you say... well, we found that we were driving into a migrant worker uprising - the workers were taking a stance against the Mexican government and they had seized the toll booths along highways! We were grateful that we were waved through for free with only a leaflet to tell us what exactly was happening! (After the drive my husband probably wished he had a 'few rounds of Jose Cuervo'...) But, after all the craziness; We made it!

The ocean was beautiful, the sunsets perfect and our hotel room (although decorated in what must be described as 'rustic Mexican')had a lovely terrace overlooking the ocean and "La Playa Conchas Chinas" - located just a bit south of the city center! Once we checked in the kids couldn't wait to get down to the beach and I was a bit hesitant to throw on a bathing suit that my husband bought for me in the U.S.A. but, after reminding myself that I knew noone here our family trekked down to the beach! We went down at high tide and waded around, played in the sand (built a HUGE sand castle with three security walls - engineered by our own dear "Daddy") and our family stood together on the beach as we watched a beautiful sunset together!

Also while in Puerto Vallarta we walked the world famous Malecon - the Mexican version of the Boardwalk. The statues pictured are some of those on the Malecon. We watched sand sculptures being made, went down and threw rocks into the ocean and heard some great Mexican music being played on the stage at "Los Arcos". While in town we were able to visit the square and see the main cathedral. The kids loved feeding the pigeons - they were so comfortable with humans that they would eat right off your hands!

We had a wonderful time and my husband surprised us all with a room service dinner out on our terrace overlooking the ocean! He made sure to order me fresh Lobster! Our family had a wonderful time! We loved the ocean, the little town and the ocean! It was an experience not to be forgotten!

7 comments:

fijiangirl said...

What a beautiful place! The ocean is gorgeous. I can see why you guys had such a great time there and why that is such a popular destination. Looking at those pictures makes me miss Hawaii and especially Fiji. How far of a drive is it anyway? If it is only a couple of hours I would be there every other weekend!

Anonymous said...

Your family is so great ...I really love your emails and slide show - miss you all!

Love,
Bill and Diana Gooch

Emily said...

Great pictures! It looks like you guys had fun! Were you the designated photographer? Because I saw Jimmy but not you in the photos! I'm sure you were there though . . .

Jacqui said...

It looks like you had an awesome time. You would never know about the horrible drive and the fact that you'll never do it again! :) At least you got to experience it once! Love and miss you!

Anonymous said...

I got a new slide show today. As allways it is great. I wish I was there.

I keep thinking about a trip to visit you. What problems do I need to work on to make the trip?

Looking forward to the next side show.

Your friend

J. Howard Davis

GramGrampsGazette said...

Sounds like quite the adventure but ended up having a nice time once there! The pictures look nice--sunsets, terrace dinner, fun beach, etc. We're looking forward to joining you in some of these adventures in August !

Jason said...

That looks like a beautiful vacation spot. I'm glad it all went well and that you had such a great time. Thanks for sharing the pics!