Day 35, 36, 37 - Puerta Vallarta

I think the most wonderful part of being here is waking up every morning and knowing that when you throw that curtain back, the sun is going to be shining! When I get up the sun is just coming up over the building behind us and it is wonderful watching the reflection on the bay as it gets higher. I find the sun comes up later and sets earlier in the evenings but what happens in between is marvelous! No humidity at all which makes it nicer.
On Sat night (Day 35), one of the 'long-timers' at Los Tules had a cocktail party and had invited everyone he saw for the three days previously. He does it every year...everyone brings an hors d'ouvre of some kind and it was lots of fun. I'm guessing there were about 60-70 people there, from every state/province and people mixed and were very friendly. Gary, our host, calls it the Sunset Club as we gathered about 6:30 and watched the sun go down. We learned that of the 245 units in the various buildings that make up Los Tules, only about 14 are owned by Americans/Cdns...the rest are owned by Mexicans or hotels that have bought units to rent.
The was a holiday weekend for the Mexicans...yet another day to recognize a revolution where they fought the Americans/Spanish/French for freedom so there were lots of Mexicans in the resort. It was noisier that we've ever seen it...kids everywhere...and lots of parties. We went downtown to the malecon (seawall walkway) and there were thousands of people there, both tourists and locals, enjoying some fabulous entertainment. At one of the permanent stages there were dancers, in traditional costume, from various cities/provinces around PV. At another stage were dancers in Aztec costume doing their thing and bands or mariachis...there was so much to see. Again, I didn't have my camera but there is another festival next weekend so I won't make the same mistake again. I've been very lazy since we arrived and haven't taken many photos.
Today was a very special day....we had Shrove Tuesday on Monday....this was especially for Wayne who misses pancakes on Shrove Tuesday more than he ever gets them. He has to take the van in to have the brakes adjusted tomorrow (Tues) and so we celebrated with a huge breakfast at Freddy Toucan's downtown this morning. His pancakes also included lots of strawberries and gobs of whipped cream so he was happy. Afterwards, Gail and I let them go their own way and we spent the rest of the day shopping. I love buying shoes here! They are beautiful, cheap, and very different. I'm almost sorry I'm not working any more as I stick to sandals and casual shoes but some of the dress shoes are gorgeous!
Tomorrow night we plan on going out on the pirate ship for dinner and show which is lots of fun and very entertaining. Wayne and I know we aren't ready to even think about leaving PV yet so we are going to speak with the manager and see if we can have our room for an extra week. We know the weather will get cooler as we head north and aren't ready to leave the sunshine and warm weather yet.
Until next time, we miss and love you all.