Day 4

After breakfast and coffee on our balcony we headed off for a walk up the hill past Casa Isabel, then along the river and up to Gringo Gulch. 

Checked out the local food market, always interesting. 

Passed by some adorable dogs in their yard, and a cat next door to them watching the going ons in the neighborhood. 

Then stopped for a lovely lunch at  Daquari Dicks on the beach before returning to our place for pool time reading. 

Headed out again to walk about, watched the sunset while having margaritas at Cheeky Monkey. 

Dinner tonight was at Archie’s Wok, we were ready for a bunch of veggies! So nice to be able to get right into restaurants this week!

It was a very low key but nice day :)

Day 3

Woke up at 7:30 again, think it’s because that’s when it is finally light out. I went for a walk, Dave ran. Dave really was hungry for a Cafe de Olla breakfast so off we went. Busy there on a Sunday morning, full of locals enjoying breakfast. I had noticed a couple of busses arriving and dropping of families Nationals, thinking they are arriving for the Holidays. 

I headed back to shower and get ready for the day while Dave wandered around. We planned to meet at Fedencios later. I arrived at Fedencios at the same time as Travis, Iulia and some of the group. Met Iulias friend and her family along with Travis’s dad who I haven’t seen in years. More of the group arrived later. Was fun to meet them all. Group so big Dave and I choose to sit a row behind them, right next to Sandra who we met there the other day. 

This is the only picture I took! The group as seen from my beach chair before all the rest of the group arrived. We had fun watching Marcus, 2 1/2 year old son of Iulias friend play in the sand as well as the 5 and 8 year old sons of Ben and Amy play for hours in the ocean, guess they had already played for 2 hours in the pool! To be young again :) after a few hours and lunch on the beach 

Dave and I went for a walk around town then back for a dip in our pool before dinner at Los Muertos Brewery for pizza. 

Notice all the wiring right behind our table :)

We had a nice low key day and I only took these 3 pictures! 

Day 2

Decided to skip walk and run today and have leisurely morning and breakfast on balcony before heading to the Saturday Farmers market. We ran into Linda, Kylee at the market, they had just done the climb to the cross. We were impressed they could find it by themselves, but said Iulia was with them, she speaks Spanish so was able to ask locals for directions along the way. 

We bought a cinnamon roll to share and just looked around. Then Dave headed out to find somewhere to get his haircut and I headed back, well after shopping more at the market and buying a dress :) 

Dave returned with a fresh haircut then we were off for the walk to La Playita on the beach at Conchas Chinas. Had a lovely lunch with lovely views and killer margaritas! While there we kept hearing a noise, then noticed right behind us was a parrot. The waiter told us he belonged to the owner and is very friendly. Dave tried to get him to hop on his finger but just couldn’t get close enough.

We walked up the road that leads to Villa Patricia, right next door to the restaurant. Our friends will be staying there so we wanted to check out the way to get to it from the main road. After walking to the top where it meets the highway we decided to just hop on a bus back. It was the most packed bus we have been on, well maybe not, but we have never been the last ones on to have to hang on at the door! Had to hang on tight around the curves! 

Walked back to our place for some pool time. 

We walked down the Malecón to El Barracuda for dinner. Coconut Shrimp and Beach Sangria for me, fresh fish fillet and beer for Dave. 

Enjoyed the festive walk back. 

(Backup) Day 1

Wow, we didn’t wake up until 7:30! Threw on our exercise clothes. Dave ran, I walked my old running route. Took a lot longer to walk it! Fun to walk along the Malecón and see the usual outdoor morning activities here,  dog walkers, runners, walkers, men and boys fishing, Zumba class, exercise class, a yoga class.

 Dave passed me on the way back but waited for me on a corner. Then on our way back to our place it happened, my first fall in PV! And I did it big! At least all I got was a scrape on my ankle! Gotta watch our for the wet soapy sidewalks. They love to wash the sidewalks here. I was careful in the side walk but stepped off into the cobble stone street and with wet slippery bottoms of shoes I just went down!

Breakfast on our balcony, view from these lower level rooms have lost their views but still nice to have our own outside space. 

We met up with the group at Fedencios got a wonderful day on the beach :) fun to catch up with family, meet Iulia’s sister and her family, and also with our favorite waiters. Poor Juan had pericarditis earlier in the year but doing fine now. Met a lovely lady Sandra from Vancouver BC she has become my new beach friend who will be here when I return ( added this so I remember her name!) 

Dave and I walked around Gringo Gulch area and found a beautiful restaurant, La Capelle, made reservations for another night. 

A funeral was going on at the church, full mariachi band playing and singing, absolutely beautiful. 

Took a dip in our pool and visited with Ken and Joanne who we met last year. They are here for 2 months. Ken is a retired fireman from BC, they get 60 days of trip health insurance from his pension. They could go home and return and another 60 days coverage would start. 

We headed to beach to watch sunset and decided to see if we could get a table at La Palapa on the beach for dinner, we did! Have only had breakfast and lunch here.  Dinner was amazing, such a treat and with exchange rate a bargain! No pics of dinner as it was too dark. We shared a couple of appetizers, coconut shrimp and beet salad, I had a fish entree, Dave a chicken entree. 

Wandered around after dinner and ran into the Friday night South Side Suffle along B Badillo street where we listened to some great music and saw some art. Then called it a night, it had been a wonderful and full day :) 

(Backup) PV Wedding

I have always wanted to experience a Puerto Vallarta wedding, suggested it to my boys and niece, who did think about it.... well no go for any of them. Had to wait a couple more years for nephew Travis and Iulia to choose PV for their wedding! 

It was a early morning for us, up at 2:00 AM, left for airport at 3:00. Supposed to be there 2 hours early, SWA doesn’t even open until 3:30 and TSA probably wasn’t open until about 4:00. Flight was 5:05, hate early flights....

I get to do it again in a few weeks, but I can’t complain,  I get to return to one of my favorite places :)

Flights were not full so very comfortable.

PV airport changes from year to year so always a little different. Customs line was long but have had worse. While we were in line we kept our eyes out for Linda, Andy and the bride and groom. Noticed a new flight arrived and lining up beside our line so kept a watchful eye and then they all appeared! So fun to see them all there. 

Weird this year was all bags arrived and pulled off converter belts and lined up before we even got to baggage pick up. Then lines to go through final random security check before exiting was very long but did move along at s decent pace. Yahoo! we got the green light so no baggage check for us! Taxi pay station is now to the right, right by the exit door, could be different next month! And as usual we get a very helpful man to assist us with our bags and stand in line with us to make sure we get a taxi to where we are going and load our bags, such service, and of course we feel worth a nice tip :)

Taxi area outside was packed, still 345.00 pesos to zone 2 where we are staying, they put us in a large shared van with a few stops, always different here each time you never know what to expect!

Denise gave us a nice greeting and offered us a glass of wine while we got caught up with her and what she had been up to then off to our room to unpack. 

We went with a lower floor room since we are only here for a week, the price is great! When I (we) return in a few weeks we will be in a nice view room. But our room is still great, we have a nice balcony and can hear the waves crashing :)

The wine kind of hit us after being up many hours and not much food! We headed out to walk along the beach. 

We decided the comfort food of Cafe de Olla was what we wanted. Had a great greeting and hug from one of the waiters who seems to somehow always remember us, and we are not that memorable!

After a yummy dinner of enchiladas we were feeling a little more revitalized and walked around a bit and bought some items for breakfast before heading back to our room at the villa. It has been a long day and we are ready to call it quits. 

Looks like tomorrow we will be meeting up for a beach day at Fedencios with the group that has arrived :)

Key West

We are up early enough to see a Key West sunrise.


Our Arrival time in Key West is 8:00 and I had reserved biles for the day with a pick up time of 9:00. We found out the night before we are required to go through customs after we arrive Key West, it will be done on the ship.  Our time slot for our floor is 9:40!  What! I am not happy about this because we can't get off the ship until we go through customs.  I try to let it go we are on vacation. We wander around the ship and an employee who is directing passengers to customs tells us to go to deck 1, we let him know our time is later and he tells us that is okay that it is actually better to go now, well okay! We go back to our cabin and get our passports and head to the customs line and walk off the ship and get to the bike shop shortly after 9:00 :)
We are given our old style cruisers complete with baskets and we are off to bike the complete loop around the island.  We make a few stops along the way for pictures.










This is what the bike path looks like for about 1/3 of the way



Dave gives me a hard time about not being very comfortable on a bike!  There are a few areas a tad worse than this due to traffic and narrow roads.  Dave keeps reminding me this a biking community and motorists are watching out for you.....well maybe not if they aren't from here is what I am thinking!





We stopped at a Starbucks hoping to find a Key West mug for our collection...nope only Florida ones and we have one already. We ride back to the cruise ship pier after about 2 1/2 hours of riding and lock our bikes up at a location the bike shop told us to, they will come and pick them up later.  I told Dave I just want to walk from here to enjoy the neighborhoods, too much traffic for me!
We get back on ship for lunch and try the Dive Inn for burgers and fries, they are yummy :)


Then we head out to walk around and find some good key lime pie.  We pass a bakery and I pop in to check it out.  I ask a couple eating pie if it is good. They tell me it is the best pie in Key West and they spends weeks here.  They tell me they especially like the coconut Key lime pie and that he suggested it to them as he liked their coconut pie and their key lime pie and suggested they combine them. Okay I am sold! I get a piece for Dave and I to share, he was right it was amazing!





We walk along Duval Street and back up to Eaton Street to find the restaurant the bike shop owner told us about, Bien, owner is from Spokane and has a restaurant in Seattle.  Dave has featured the Seattle restaurant in WA Grown! The owner doesn't seem to be around but Dave tells the girl working there, she does know about the Seattle restaurant and tells us a bit about them. Dave notices the menu is the same.



My knee is telling me its time to be done and we walk back to the ship.  We have some time to kill before dinner and watch a House Hunters International since we don't get that channel at home....it is probably a good thing!
We watch the famous sun set in Key West :)

Dave made reservations at Tamarind, one of the pay for specialty restaurants on board.  They were going around the pool deck the other day offering 25 % off, it looks great and is so beautiful we decided to try it, and we are ready for a change from the dining room. We enjoy our meal and the beautiful environment.
Fresh flowers on the plates.


We are given hand washing towels that expand when they put hot water into the bowl, along with jasmine tea.  Then they bring shrimp crackers with the 3 dips you see above. They have already brought up our left over bottle of wine from the dining room to be ready for us!
We order 2 different appetizers, satay sampler and soft shell crab.




We order 2 different sushi rolls.




I have a red chicken curry


Dave a lobster dish


We both have the sorbet trio of green tea, passion fruit and lime.


We felt all the food was fine, but our local Ginger Bistro at home is better!
After dinner we go to the show in the main theater, One World, is was very enjoyable. It was animals in nature footage from the BBC and shown on a big screen with the on board orchestra, young musicians from Amsterdam, playing the music to accompany.
Then we caught one last show in the BB King Blues Club. We have gotten to know several of the musicians as we have talked to them around the ship. They are such friendly guys! Cassie, one the the lead singers gives us a thumbs up when we dance, Dave had told him that he is a bad dancer but that their music makes him just have to get out and dance :) We will miss hearing them every night!
We head back to our room, need to pack up and put our suitcases out :(
We really enjoyed this one week cruise! We had perfect weather, great ports, met some great fellow passengers, and enjoyed the best music ever on a cruise ship! Tomorrow we head home to snow!!! Ugh!