Puerto Vallarta- Downtown Adventure & Final Post

After we swam with the dolphins, we went back to the resort and enjoyed every last bit of beach and sun that we could! It was a gorgeous day.

 And for the first time on our trip, the clouds and sun cooperated, and gave us an amazing sunset to marvel at.

 My favorite.

 Before the sun sank, we decided to walk down the beach towards a pier with a lookout gazebo. The pier was just a sidewalk with rocky walls on either side. As we kept one eye on the fiery sky and one eye on the ground, we walked.

 There were pelicans all along the rocks and bobbing in the water.

 And the sun pierced the clouds and made a spectacular hole...

 It was purely magical. For real. I was in Heaven. Sunset on the beach is my favorite.

In the gazebo on the pier, there was a random plaque of The Ten Commandments, in English.

 And we spotted tons of crabs on the rocks below. See them? Little gray things, crawling around?

 When we got back to the resort, we cleaned up and went to dinner to the Brazilian restaurant this time. Jake was looking forward to trying all the skewers of meat and roasted pineapple! I was too, and most of them said they were gluten free. About halfway through the meal, and having tried lots of things, the waiter told me that most of the things were not gluten free and he apologized. He said the chef would make me my own personal steak. I did not want a steak. But I said uhhh ok? About 20 minutes later, after we were both already done and full, my huge chunk of steak came out, topped with grilled veggies and a whole stalk of celery. I had to laugh, because it was massive and I wasn't hungry at all! But I tried to eat some, just so the chef wouldn't feel bad. It was kind of burnt on the outside, flavorless, and very fatty and chewy. Ew. Guess it's the thought that counts.

 We did enjoy a couple of little desserts, like tapioca pudding with coconut milk and mango creme, which was delicious. Then we went on our way to find some entertainment, which we found in the form of Minute to Win It in the lounge. Not as fun as a show in the theater, but still entertaining for awhile before we called it a night.

The next day was our last full day, on Wednesday, and we woke up and had a nice relaxing fresh breakfast. I wasn't very hungry, so some fresh fruit, gluten free bread, juice and a boiled egg was just the thing I wanted. Jake was able to get some yummy breakfasts of omelettes, pancakes, waffles, cooked buffet dishes, etc. Not a bad selection.

 Pedicure time! We still had resort credits left over, so Jake let me talk him into getting his first (and probably only) pedicure, while I got a manicure. He liked the rubbing and massaging part.

 Still feelin good. Right up until his lady started filing and clipping his cuticles and toenails, and snipped into his skin and made him bleed pretty good. Haha poor guy. She said "Just go in the ocean...the salt water will heal it." OUCH. It was pretty sore and red for a while, and he was not a fan of pedicures ever after.

 My manicure was dumb. She didn't really know what she was doing...or maybe they just do it differently in Mexico. But at least it was free for us and felt good to be pampered in front of the beach!

After that, we took a fun and wild adventure into the city center. When we left the resort on foot, we were determined to catch a bus that could take us downtown instead of a taxi. Taxi's run about $15 for a ride to town, whereas a bus runs $2. Tons of taxi drivers staked out near the bus station tried to talk us into letting them drive us, but we politely declined...more than once...and patiently waited for a bus to finally come. When it did, we hopped on to the old, run-down, crowded rickety thing and sat down with the locals. It was cool to feel like normal people, trying to experience what normal life would be like in Mexico.

The thing we didn't account for was how many STOPS the bus would make...at every resort along the road on our way towards downtown. Lots of people going home from working their long tiring shifts at the resorts...doing things like serving meals and cleaning up after people like us. Day in and day out...it made me exhausted for them! And more appreciative of how hard they work. After a rickety un-air-conditioned, open-windowed one hour ride, we FINALLY made it into down town Puerto Vallarta. We hopped off at what we thought was a good spot to start walking from, according to a little map I had, and off we went. I immediately loved this bright yellow tree on the side street.

 We found a really cool place that I had read about and hoped we would actually find. It's like a river walk with rope bridges and flea markets, hidden in the heart of the city. This skeleton was guarding a fountain.

 Aaaand I'm a nerd.

 We walked along and loved seeing all the bright colors of the flea market! It also felt like we were in a jungle, and the air was nice and warm and humid.

An authentic old rope bridge to get from one side of the market to the other! Very jungle-esque. 

 We came upon this AMAZING TREE. I'm a little obsessed with it.

 I can't even.

 I tried to capture a panoramic of my view. Kinda worked.

 It was just such a cool adventure, walking along the river and seeing all the wildlife and cool buildings and architecture. This mural was so bright and colorful!

 We found a kissing wall!

 Of course we had to reenact it. We found some fun vendors, too, and did a little shopping. I bought a spoon holder for my kitchen, and we got some cute little yarn animals and bobble head turtles for the girls. I kept thinking how nice it would have been to have a fluent Spanish speaker with us, though, because we had some trouble communicating at times. And it's tricky to figure out money conversions on the street! Bree needs to go to Mexico- I would LOVE to go with her...and use all her mad Spanish skills. :)

We walked through the streets toward the coast, and finally walked along the boardwalk next to the water. It was a beautiful day, but quite hot! I was pretty tired by that time, but it was still cool to see a few more statues like these Mexican dancers.

 And the iconic boy on the seahorse statue.

 This church was a popular landmark, and I can't even remember what it's called, but it was beautiful!

 Very Mexican-Catholic...with lots of statues and depictions of Christ and the crucifixion and Mary. After we'd seen all we came to see, we decided NOT to take the bus back to the resort, since we were also short on time before Jake's work group dinner that evening. A taxi would be much faster and more convenient. It was a funny ride, though. No seat belt for me in the back seat, windows down and the driver madly speeding around and making us nervous. Oh well, we made it back in one piece.

 The final reception dinner was set up by the beach in a grassy area by the pool, but it was too bad because it was catered food in the hot sun, and we kind of just wanted to enjoy our last dinner at one of the restaurants in peace. It was nice, though, and Jake presented the Megaplex boss with a custom hand-painted plate with Megaplex Theaters painted on it. Jake had found a Mexican guy who made things to order, and thought it would be a nice gift to give on the last night. Such a thoughtful guy! He was really touched. We got to enjoy another gorgeous sunset on the beach while we were eating.

 It's so weird how the camera inverts colors, but let me tell you....this sunset was bright colors surrounding a RED sun. It was amazing. I was mesmerized.

 I totally watched it sink over the horizon. Such a magical thing to watch.

 That night after the dinner, the resort hosted a Mexican Fiesta for all the guests! They had a huge Mexican buffet, dancers, a Mariachi band, music, games, vendors, etc. Don't we look awesome?

 What would a party be without a guy on stilts?

 I forgot to write in one of the previous posts....we also got a couples massage! That was a first for us, and a really nice relaxing experience. I was nervous to lay flat on my belly for the massage, but I didn't have any problems and was luckily able to relax. On our last morning before leaving and flying home, we had enough credits to get one MORE massage! This time, Jake got a deep tissue massage, and I got a reflexology massage. That meant laying on my back on the massage table with a nice smelling washcloth over my eyes, window open listening to the ocean waves, and getting a massage on just my feet and calves. It was amaaaazing! So relaxing and a perfect way to end our trip and get ready for our journey home.

 We soaked up every last minute we could of the beach that morning, before having to pack up and check out and head out after lunch. Haha my floppy hat looks nerdy, but it did come in handy. I also got this good quality name brand swim suit for like $3 at Savers before our trip. Score! And I borrowed this cute sarong from my friend and neighbor Laurie, who got it on her mission in Brazil. I need to get me one of those!

 The day of travelling was long and uneventful, but it was a rude awakening when we looked outside at the Salt Lake Airport and were welcomed with foggy, inverted, cold winter air. It's hard to go from 80 to 30 degrees! But these cute faces were waiting for us, and it was good to be home. Thank you SO much, Clark and Emma, for being amazing grandparents and watching our littles for those 5 days! They had a blast with you at our house.

We presented them with all our souvenirs...candy, ornaments, spoon holder, dolls, animals, and showed them our Dolphin encounter CD of pictures. It was fun to see their excitement. And seeing how the very next day was Valentine's Day, we were all able to be excited for that! Until next time, Mexico!