Puerto Vallarta

This past weekend Danny and I went with a group of international students to Peurto Vallarta. They took a bus from Tec while we booked a separate bus trip through Primera Plus. The roundtrip tickets only cost us about 50 USD each and it was the nicest bus I had ever been on. They gave us free drinks, lunch (which consisted of a Chewy bar and a pre-packaged ham and cheese sandwich), and we got to watch movies during the entire 4 1/2 hour trip to the coast. One extra bonus were the seats that leaned back almost completely into a bed and the continuous WiFi onboard. On the way, we got to see a lot of the Mexican countryside which was mostly agave farmland, huts, and small towns with roadside markets.

The Corona truck pretty much says it all

We arrived at our hotel after taking a taxi from the bus station. There was a guard stand at the gate controlling incoming traffic and the entire hotel in fact was gated and secure (we had to wear blue wrist bands during our entire stay so that the staff would know that we were authorized to be on the property). By the time we arrived, the sun was setting and we sat our stuff down in the room and went out to the pool area to watch the sunset and order some food that didn't come in plastic wrap. We later met up with the rest of the group, whose bus had taken almost 6 hours (!) to get to Vallarta, for happy hour at the hotel bar. Afterwards, we all walked over to Xtine, a hot club almost right next door to our hotel, that closes and reopens every few months with a different name, but is always popular. We called it an early night, returning around 3 am, and walked back to the hotel.

The next day we woke up and played on the beach. We laid out for awhile and then a few of us went parasailing and rode on the banana boat. While laying out on the beach, we were constantly solicited by the people walking around and selling t-shirts, crafts, and jewelry. I guess it serves us right for staying in the Hotel Zone (one of the most touristy areas in Vallarta). Also, there were gringos EVERYWHERE! I seriously hadn't seen many white people since I'd arrived in Mexico, but you could tell that ours was one of those hotels who caters to tacky tourists who just want to speak English (and LOUDLY) and sip pina coladas all day and never leave the hotel. Next time, I think we'll stick to a hostel downtown. Anywho, the parasailing and banana boating was super fun and here are some pics:

I'll admit, it was probably pretty risky attaching ourselves to a parachute hundreds of feet in the air tethered to a boat in Mexico, but when I asked if it was safe, the guys assured me "Si, Berry safe." Good enough for me, hombre.

Danny and I, poolside

Me, enjoying one of the rare moments I wasn't asked to buy a bracelet or hat

Sick of the mediocre (and overpriced!) hotel food, we decided to venture downtown in search of a restaurant I had read about in the Frommer's book that Danny's friend, Joel (thanks buddy!), had given him before we left. 

We took in the sunset before leaving for dinner 

The restaurant is in downtown Vallarta, a few blocks off of the Malecon, or boardwalk, and is called El Arrayan. They serve traditional Mexican food and even make their own crispy tortillas. The place was very charming and we ate and enjoyed the live music.

Chicken Mole, live music, mojito, festive tablecloth.

After dinner, we walked to the Malecon to check out some gift shops. There were tons of skulls and skeletons for the Day of the Dead and plenty of Sombreros and tequila. Here's me with SkElvis:

Later that evening we went with the whole group of International students who had come along on the trip to a cool club called Mandala, which was right on the Malecon.

We left Mandala around 3:30 am (all the clubs would still be bumping for another few hours), found a nearby late-night pizza place to grab a slice, and then took a cab back to the hotel.

The next day we decided to check out downtown in the daylight before our bus left at 2pm. We walked along the boardwalk and stopped in several art shops. I bought a yarn "painting" and Utsav, a guy in our group, bought a beaded sculpture of a dolphin. Both of these forms of art are pretty cool and come from the Huichol tribe who live in the mountains and feature symbolism of their religion. Here's some examples i found online:

Downtown Vallarta was very pretty in the daytime. We had pork tamales for breakfast which we bought from two nice ladies who were running a food cart in front of the cathedral.

The Cathedral in Vallarta

Before long, it was time to board our bus back to GDL, but we had a great weekend on the coast.

Hasta la proxima!