Friday and Saturday (27th and 28th)

 Friday- We did the Boca to Las Animas hike with Kitty and Jim today. We caught a taxi and had it stop to pick up our friends on the way. It has been 3 years since Dave and I have done this hike, it is Dave's absolute favorite thing to do here. Kitty and Jim have only done the hike 1/2 way, stopping at Colomitos, so the second half is new to them, and really the most beautiful part of the hike. I love the little village of Boca where we start.

We had a little entertainment watching the Rooster Boy! Not sure exactly what he was doing but he kept throwing his rooster into areas possibly trying to chase another rooster away? The boy was fearless with that rooster!

At the 1/2 bay Colomitos we see someone has set up a new little beach restaurant. Guess it has only been open for a week. 

 The second half of hike is the prettiest. 

Very close to the end of our hike to Las Animas we see a brand new ocean front restaurant type day resort. A whole lot of money has gone into this place......not sure who will be coming here???? Very unusual. We had heard about it from  Calgary Doug who does weekly hikes here, he showed us pictures he took just 2 days ago and said they were doing a photo shoot with models when he passed by on his last hike. There were so many staff members, probably 12 people in the kitchen working and the bar was amazing.....still wondering what this place is all about and who will be coming here, obviously not us hikers! The hostess handed us menus and encouraged us to stop there. But we were going to finish our hike!

We stopped at El Caracol, where we always stop for lunch, hot and sweaty!! We sweated out a lot of toxins! We enjoyed margaritas and beer. Kitty and Jim had fish tacos and fries, they reported the tacos to be excellent. Dave and I had chips, guacamole and fries.   The ocean was a bit rough so we didn't get in the water. I talked to a group of women who hiked all the way from Boca to Quimixto and back to Las Animas! The was a big hike, very impressive!

We caught a water taxi back to Boca (100.00 peso per person) Then caught the bus back to PV. 

Dave and I stayed in for dinner, heating up pot pies from the British Pie man, adding some frozen veggies.

Followed by cards. It was a wonderful day.

Saturday- We both went for runs. We really notice how the crowds increase on Saturday when we are out for our morning runs, we leave our place by 7:30 am. 

I made blueberry pancakes then headed over the the Saturday Farmers market hoping that by getting there when it opened it wouldn't be so busy, wrong! I got there 10 minutes after opening and the lines for the favorite places where miles long (not really miles, but sure they were standing in line an hour for bread or bagels). I was only here to pick up a couple of cottage pies from the British Pie Man and a couple bags of ground coffee, luckily those lines were not long, then I got out of there! 

We went to  the new Daiquari Dicks for lunch. It was bought by new owners a couple of years ago and was closed for remodeling our last 2 trips. We use to love this place for lunch. I had a clubhouse, not as good as the one the original but was just fine, Dave had a veggie omelet, he said it was filled with liquid type nacho american type cheese (which he hates) So based on our experience we were a little disappointed that our old beloved Daiquiri Dicks is not longer. We noticed a group of women who ordered what we thought was dessert after they ate their omelets and asked the waiter what it was, Carrot Cake French Toast. It looked amazing. 

We left and went for a walk up the river stopping at a new art museum we saw last year in the El Remanace neighborhood. It is a volunteer ran museum show casing some of the most influential artists from Puerto Vallarta. The volunteer told us they just opened about 10 months ago and have plans for a restaurant in the lovely courtyard. There is also an upstairs veranda area and a gift shop. We enjoyed our time there. 

We got a facetime call from Jared and June just as we were leaving the museum, so we sat along the river and chatted with them. It started to rain on us, luckily it was just a light rain.

We stayed in tonight for dinner since it was raining,  making veggie cheese quesadillas, guac, pico, and coleslaw. Finished the night with some more games of Gin, Dave keeps winning!

Wednesday and Thursday (25th and 26th)

 Wednesday- I put in over 30,000 steps today! We went for morning runs and then went out to the local fish market, produce stand and tortillaria, planning on making fish tacos for dinner.

Then we packed up lunch a spent a few hours on the beach.

We parted ways for the afternoon, Dave went to get a massage and I walked to the Woolworths store to check it out, I want to gather a  few toys for when the grandsons come. Woolworths had toys, but wow they were expensive. I think I was the only person in the whole store. I left empty handed.

We went up to The Sky Bar for happy hour drinks, love the views here. 

Then back to our place to make fish tacos, slaw, pico and guac for dinner, so yummy! Ended with yet another piece of birthday cake I picked up today!

Thursday- We both went out together for a morning walk. Was nice to walk today so I could stop and take a couple morning pictures, when I run I don't stop to take pictures.

We went back out for a big walk up to the Versalles neighborhood, Dave wanted to take me to the little restaurant he found the other day for lunch. Since we were a little early for lunch after walking up there we went into the Caracol Shopping mall and walked through it before heading over the the Huarache and quesadilla place.

I let Dave order for me, we both had tinga huaraches and pollo quesadillas, today they were using blue corn for the quesadilla. They were both so good! The owner told us about his original location in a market area behind Sam's Club, he said that location is so popular they close around 2:00 because they run out of food. He also showed us a picture of his farm and his 2 sons. 

The Versalles neighborhood has added a lot of cute coffee shops and restaurants.

Then we walked to La Comer, for some groceries but first stopped for a margarita at Basillo. We caught the bus from there back to Old Town.

We had dinner tonight at Los Liros, such great fresh seafood at this simple family restaurant. Dave could see the girl making the margaritas, she hand squeezed fresh limes into a glass until it reached the amount she wanted then added the tequila and triple sec. They are so good :) Dave had mahi-mahi and I had a shrimp burrito.

Love the view from our balcony, we are so fortunate to get to see this view every day while we are here! 

Tuesday, Jan 24th, Daves Birthday

 We went a a nice long morning walk around town then had breakfast at El Dorado, the perfect place for a beautiful leisurely birthday breakfast.

We get a kick out of the couples who reserve beach spots here daily and decorate their umbrellas, it seems it may be a bit of a friendly competition! They arrive around 9:30 and I still see them when I walk the beach in the late afternoon! Not sure how anyone can spend 6 or so hours every single day sitting on the beach! It is a lovely spot but wow, that's just too much sitting!

We walked around later and stopped for a quick lunch at Los Muertos Brewery, slice of pizza with some fries, always tasty. Some work was going on right behind me on the mess of electrical and whatever lines!

Kitty and Jim joined us in celebrating Dave's birthday. We all met up and walked to The Seahorse, we have been wanting to try it. We started with happy hour drinks in the outside bar.

The had an amazing dinner in the dining room. The chef came around and explained all of the specials for the night. I had delicious Chicken Marsala, Dave and Jim had lasagna, Kitty a seafood pasta. We all had salads to start along with homemade bread and a lovely bottle of wine and enjoyed the live entertainment from the young guitar player/singer. Beautiful views of the malecon and church from this lovely restaurant. 

Then they brought out some complementary birthday desserts and sang to Dave. It was a lovely night and we will be back!

On our walk home we enjoyed the fireworks from the pirate ship, it was a great way to end the birthday celebration!