These four guys, dressed in native clothes, climb to the top of this very tall pole. They turn the square they are sitting on until the rope is wrapped around the pole. Then they let go, and as the rope starts to unwind they flip upside down and spin around the pole! Our tour guide said they do it to welcome in the new season.
For my birthday dinner Sam and I went to a restaurant called El Panorama, obviously named for the fact that it sits up in the terraced hillside and has a beautiful panoramic view of the city and the ocean. It was actually kind of funny - Sam and I were sitting at our hotel earlier that afternoon and Sam turns to me all of a sudden and says, "Hey, what day is today?" I said, "Sunday, why?" He says, "Isn't it your birthday today?" We both had completely forgotten my birthday!
This is the view overlooking the city from El Panorama.
Sam and I after dinner!
On Monday we took a walking tour of the city and visited Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral.
Inside the cathedral
Close-up of the altar
A wrought iron picture over the main entrance of the cathedral
Tonight we had dinner at a place called "Pipi's" - known for their fajitas and GIANT margaritas! Here I am just starting on my margarita - I was impressed with myself, I was able to finish almost half! Alright!
Sam of course had no trouble finishing his margarita...
and when he found out in Mexico you're allowed to take your alcoholic drink with you in a to-go cup, he was absolutely ecstatic that he could finish my margarita too!
I thought these paper mache banners that stretched across the streets were so beautiful!
We also did a tropical tour where we took a bus outside of the city and visited the rainforest and this Tequila factory, where they actually make tequila and offer tequila tasting! As you can imagine, Sam was very into the tequila tasting! I barely did more than smell my samples, so Sam finished off mine and his samples. By the end he was sweating and his eyes were all blood shot and bulging out of his head! Good times!
They give you a quick demonstration of how the tequila is made. This is the blue agave plant that tequila is made from. They actually only use the "pineapple" part of the plant that is underground.
After they cut off all of the leaves you see above, they take the "pineapple" and smoke it in a pit like you see below for 72 hours.
This is a smoked "pineapple." The pulpy chunks are then removed (which we got to chew on!) and put into a wooden barrel to ferment.
We had lunch right by the tequila factory, which was just 2 miles from the location of where the movie Predator was filmed!
Here we are at lunch with Sam nursing his fruity Mr. Pineapple head drink!
On Tuesday we took a book cruise around the bay! This is one of the giant cruise ships that come to port at the marina!
Here's our little boat coming!
Sam and Em chillin' on the boat!
Our first stop was for some snorkeling at Los Arcos, the giant rocks you see below.
Sam, suited up and ready to snorkel!
Our next stop was a little town down the coast that had a neat waterfall you could hike or horseback ride to.
We were told it was kind of a long up and down hike, so Sam and I decided to go by horseback! I might have reconsidered though if I had know that "up and down" in Mexico is not simply going up and down a gently rolling hill like we might find at Brown County! No, no...in Mexico apparently "up and down" translates into the "scariest, deepest, most uneven, and rocky canyon imaginable." Now, not being very comfortable on horses anyway, I was traumatized pretty much from the start. I was so scared that a little kid had to lead my horse on a rope all the way down into the canyon. It as so steep at some points that I was leaning so far back on the horse as to offset the weight and not fall off that I was actually leaning back against the horse's hind quarters!
Once we got down there though, the waterfall was quite amazing!
Here's Sam swimming in the little water hole and climbing the rocks!
On Wednesday night we had the most romantic tour experience ever...it's called "Rhythms of the Night." You take a boat cruise to a really remote area down the coast that is only assessable by boat and has no electricity! When you first arrive you see this very cool show of an ancient Mayan tribal wedding dance (sorry, but no photos were allowed) and then you have a wonderful dinner, where they actually set up tables in the sand on the beach just a few feet from the water! It's so romantic...there are thousands of candles everywhere! You look down the coast line and all you can see are candles dotting the beach! It was gorgeous!!!
Here we are on the boat to "Rhythms of the Night"
We've arrived at the little town
Our after-dinner picture!
So, as soon as we stepped off the airplane we were accosted by a group of people selling time shares (as it turns out a very profitable business in P.V. You can hardly walk into a shop without someone trying to give you an "invitation" to come see their hotel). At any rate, the guy we talked to offered us two free tours and a very discounted price on "Rhythms of the Night" if we'd go the next day and listen to their time share spiel. So we thought, sure we'll listen to a guy's spiel for an hour and a half to get a bunch of free stuff! Well, long story short, in a glaring tribute to impulsivity, we are now the owners of a time share in Puerto Vallarta! It's not really a time share, it's called fractional ownership and it's too complicated to get into here, but if anyone is actually interested to know how it works just ask! Anyway, here is the hotel we "bought" below.
The hotel lobby
The one bedroom villa that we "bought"
The view from our balcony!
Some of the friendly critters that populate the garden and pool areas of the hotel!
An albino peacock!
This was a sportfishing and tackle shop that's in downtown P.V. We thought it was just too funny to pass up taking a photo!
