Puerto Vallarta was truly amazing. We had a wonderful time. I want to pick up where I left off in Part One. While we were in Puerto Vallarta we had occasion to go out to eat virtually every day. I continued to swallow large amounts of Pepto Bismol everyday to line my stomach. Also I didn’t realize I was also lining my tongue with a black/green residue. Whatever. Whenever we went anywhere we took a cab. The streets of Puerto Vallarta were cobblestone which meant they were very uneven and any taxi ride was very bumpy. We stopped at a great looking restaurant in the downtown area. While we were dining there was a great commotion. There were police chasing other people all through the downtown area. They were yelling and blowing whistles it was crazy. We just sat there and watched. No shots were fired. Hopefully they caught whoever they were chasing and things returned to normal. It wasn’t uncommon to experience a similar situation at other times. Not that it was predictable, but it did happen several times that we witnessed. There were many street food vendors and we were tempted to try some of the food but opted to pass on that. We were told that some of the best tacos and tamales and burritos were available from these vendors…we were just a bit reluctant to try them.
I want to go back to talk a bit about our hotel. We stayed at a hotel named the Playa De Oro. It was the closest hotel to the airport so the taxi ride was relatively short. The hotel was beautiful, the grounds were covered with palm trees, lush grass, flowers everywhere. The one thing that was prevalent was the humidity. You could literally cut the air with a knife but the ocean breezes made it tolerable. There was a pool, pool side bar, tennis courts, beach and beach side bar and a huge Tiki Hut restaurant that could literally seat hundreds of people. It was quite a building. There were no televisions, radios, or telephones in the rooms…you can decide for yourselves if that is a plus or minus. No carpeting on the floor. An abundance of lizards; granted they were small, but they were everywhere. They were most noticeable at night generally around the lights. They also sprayed regularly for mosquitos. We would be relaxing around the pool in the late afternoon and this fellow would walk by carrying this noisy apparatus and fog the entire area. I don’t know what he was spraying, but I believe a steady diet would probably be hazardous to your health. A couple of other things regarding the hotel. Each day without warning the electricity would go out. These incidents sometimes occurred at a time when most people weren’t in their rooms, but on two occasions it happened at night when we were going to bed. In that climate when the air conditioner is off that’s an emergency. It also happened that on a regular basis the water would be off. This also occurred at random and this event could happen at very inopportune times.
When you sat on the beach there were vendors who would sell virtually everything. They would come up to you on the beach and you could buy clothes, souvenirs, hats, pinata’s, you name it. Puerto Vallarta literally comes by you on a rack while you are on the beach catching some rays. You could also barter with the vendors. It was crazy.
One day Henry and I went para sailing…what a thrill. They would strap you to a parachute that was attached to a speedboat. The boat would take off and lift you in the air and you would be dragged all over the bay. Eventually they would bring you back to where you started and you would land on the beach. What an incredible adventure. I would recommend it to everyone.
Puerto Vallarta was gorgeous. It was surrounded by mountains along the coast. There were many Americans and Canadiens who owned property there and also lived there. They were building many condos in and around Puerto Vallarta. At that time there were no golf courses but I understand that one was currently being built. It seemed to me that the whole town was under construction but nothing seemed to be completed.
Every time we went out to eat they had water identified as purified water. I had always been concerned about the water anyway but seeing these large containers labeled purified water made me less concerned. We believed that if we drank that water that we were ok. After we returned to the states I mentioned this to friends of mine. They suggested that maybe the “purified” water was nothing more than regular tap water. The labels were hand made and nothing was certified or in a closed container so I guess it is possible. I am going to give the good people of Puerto Vallarta the benefit of the doubt on that one.
One day Kathy and I went on a tour of the town. Our tour guide was a guy named Nicolas. We were taken to this area along the river. It was shocking. The people lived in these places built with scrap wood and cardboard, with dirt floors. There were no windows or doors. They did have meters on the huts for electricity so they had refrigerators, radios, and even TV’s but these were not much in terms of homes. There was a beautiful river that came down from the mountains. We saw hundreds of women in the river with their children and they were washing clothes in the river. It was apparent that this was more than a job of washing their clothes in the river, but more of a social event to meet friends and talk and a time for the children to play in the river. As we continued to go forward we came to this amazing hacienda. It was huge and almost palatial. It had a tile roof huge all tile swimming pool-lovely grounds, high brick and stucco fence all around, truly a gorgeous estate. The owner had a pond in the front yard with three small alligators that had come from the river. It turns out this person owned several restaurants in town. The owner also had a stereo and he had it cranked up to 8 or 9 and was playing the Village People…We heard YMCA and Macho Man. I viewed this whole scene as an unnatural one, but here in this primitive existence are hundreds of women washing their clothes to disco music—the contrasts were incredible.
That same day after the last scene Nicolas took us south of Puerto Vallarta to a restaurant that was famous for margueritas and for watching the sun go down. As we were a few miles out of town we came upon a regiment of federales. They were all in full battle array with M-16’s etc. We were stopped and without saying anything to Nicolas went through the glove box gave us a sober look and let us pass. We ask Margie what she thought that was about and she said they were probably looking for guns. We went to the restaurant, enjoyed our time there, had a drink and some appetizers, since the restaurant overlooked the Pacific we looked out onto the ocean and watched the sunset. Soon we went back to town. We encountered the same army regiment again. This time the guy in charge had Nicolas get out of the car and open the trunk. It was extremely unsettling. This was only about a week after an ABC cameraman had been gunned down in Nicaragua. Then the guy went through Kathy and Margie’s purses. I think, for me, it was simply unacceptable and irritating. Obviously none of us said anything and eventually Nicolas was allowed to get back in the car and proceed. Maybe they were just bored. Maybe they didn’t like American tourists. Whatever prompted the behavior it was not good. I must admit that that piece of local color was something that we could all have done without. We decided that was our last trip south of Puerto Vallarta.
The last day was interesting. We were packed up and getting ready to go to the airport to catch our flight home. Kathy noticed this Gecko on the wall of the room. She ask Henry and I if we could get it out of the room. It was probably a good thing that we don’t have video of that event. We knocked things over, took down some drapes chasing that lizard all over the room. We finally gave up, but the room was in shambles. We straightened it up the best we could and left for home. I loved our Hotel. I loved the people, the food was great, the deep sea fishing was out of this world, the snorkeling sucked but only for me, it was a grand adventure. My only regret is that I didn’t find out until after we returned home that the black/green tongue and the nasty taste was the result of taking Pepto Bismol and not some horrible disease from the jungle. We unfortunately didn’t take another trip like that one for years. I am sorry we didn’t because this one adventure gave us so much to remember.
A FEW TIPS TO THE TRAVELER
- Beware of restaurants with dirt floors
- Be ready for some new odors
- Be sure to keep your papers where you can find them
- Be ready for the US Customs check on returning to the U.S.
- Be ready to pay a fee per person to leave Mexico
- Don’t expect the people in the market place to drop their prices very much. Tourists have been too easy to barter with and the bargains are not as plentiful.
- Above all expect the people to be friendly and warm and you won’t be disappointed.
Some of the future trips were worth talking about and I will talk about those later on. Those include trips to Rome, Ireland, New Zealand, New Orleans, New York City and the Bahamas. Stay tuned.
