Puerto Vallarta is Heaven

It´s day 4 in Puerto Vallarta...really day 3 1-2 but it´s going to be another fabulous day. We arrived and settled in to our hotel and because it is such a large complex, we spent the night looking around and trying to get our bearings. Our hotel is in a larger condo complex and the grounds are nothing short of spectacular! Although we are probably 3 kms from town (a $4 cab ride), it is quieter and so beautiful. I´m glad we didn´t stay right in town..too noisy. Anyway, there are 7 swimming pools and because it´s so spread out, never crowded. A lovely restaurant on the premises for breakfast and we love it here.

We´ve gone into town the past couple of days to walk the boardwalk. It was a bit crowded on the weekend but should be much quieter through the week, although this is prime tourist season. Yes, I´ve hit many of the hundreds of stores and will get to the main silver buying through the week. Doug & Claire are going downtown today to meet her daughter who is travelling through so we decided to do the beach thing on our own and have a quiet day.

I love Puerto Vallarta and it´s everything people have said it is. The people are very friendly and once you learn the tactic of shutting down the damn time share people, you can walk and really enjoy the town. We´ve learned not to make eye contact and the buggers make out they are ´tourist information´places so you can´t stop to ask questions. The weather is spectacular, mornings are a tiny bit cool until the sun comes out and then it´s HOT but as soon as you step into the shade it´s very comfortable...no humidity. I can definitely see us coming back here and we may try to ask around about places to stay longer, ie 4-6 weeks.

Tomorrow we are going on the canopy tour...the Hussons aren´t keen so we´ll go alone and then everyone but Wayne wants to go to the bullfight on Wed night. I want to see all the pagentry involved but when it comes time for the poor old bull to die, I might leave.

Internet access is good at the hotel but sometimes the whole system shuts down in the middle of everything so any response is best sent to my hotmail account. I will spend some time today trying to download photos on a CD and then perhaps I can include a couple of photos with another blog.

No problems at all with the food or water. We get two big bottles in our room every day. After 6pm we don´t drink water anyway...it´s happy hour until 8 pm and pina coladas are terrific as are the margueritas. The first night we arrived is a bit of a blur...those darn fishbowls will get you every time. All that to say, we are having a great time and while we did get a bit burned the first day, the red glow is starting to diminish as is the pain, and we are starting to brown up.

Tune in again in a day or two and hopefully there will be some photos. Of course, the flowers are extraordinary and the grounds are just plain lush. This was a good decision.