Puerto Vallarta

Since our short trip to San Blas, we just hung out for 5 days and did beachy things with Pat and Gail, and apartment neighbours, Van and Lola, in Chacala. They are from Bellingham also and Lola has been busy getting things ready for the ukulele workshops. Gail will be running jam sessions during the workshops and Pat will be a gopher. So lots of excitement as everyone around us prepares to do their part. James Hill, the ukulele guru from Nova Scotia, arrived with his family and is staying with his mother-in-law, Dorothy. Chacala is small, so communication is pretty good.

On Sunday, after a significant Saturday rainstorm, all of us packed up and got ready for the next segments of our trip. It’s always a little sad to say goodbye but we know we will meet up sometime in the future. We just don’t where! It has been a fun 3 weeks with our old friends.

Pat and Gail moved into a hotel for a week and we got a bus to Vallarta. It was an extremely easy 2 hour trip to the bus terminal near the airport. We paid a taxi driver 200 pesos to take us right to our hotel, Hotel Eloisha, in the Old Town. Quick and easy!

I picked the hotel because it is in an interesting part of town, was a reasonable price, and at the far end of the malecon. There is a park directly across the road and the hotel has a rooftop patio and small swimming pool with a good view of the ocean. A light breakfast is served in the mornings.

We arrived before check-in time and we were offered available rooms. We actually chose an indoor room that ended up having a bit of a septic smell, so after the first night, they moved us to a room overlooking the park with a nice sunny balcony. We enjoyed watching the activities in the park. The huge patio on the rooftop was a great place to hangout and the pool was just right.

Walking on the malecon was a daily treat. One day, we stood and watched a big pod of whales spouting and causing waves. Another day, we watched a very tanned man stack large and small rocks, one on top of another. Quite the balancing act. There are lots of wonderful restaurants so one night we took a break from tacos and pozole and had a pasta dinner in an Italian restaurant with wonderful service and excellent food. I think it was called Dolce Vita. Another afternoon, we ate two Mexican favourites of ours - a guacamole and Molcajete - at a nearby place called Margaritaville.

We had a final laundry run before packing up and I got my hair cut. Mexican prices and service are the best!!! Our boarding passes for Our flight to L.A. were printed off in a nearby cyber cafe and we bought some didactic games for our grandkids at the Book Fair that was going on.

We loved the convenience of everything. We will miss Mexico...Read more