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!