knowing that Jill and i just got married, most people will assume that we went on a honeymoon, and they'd be right. so where are the pictures? well, a few of them are coming right up, and a few more will have to wait for a post of their very own, later.
after a couple of days in Salt Lake we took off for a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to stay in a condo that Jill's parents kindly provided. as an added bonus, all the traveling we had done in Asia last year had netted me enough air miles to fly both of us down to PV for free, so about all we had to pay for was food. to my surprise, however, i really didn't find Mexico, or at least this part of it, to be much cheaper than the US. granted, PV is a very touristy town, but there are some 350,000 locals, and Jill and i take some measure of pride in shopping where they do, and even still the Rizos supermercado was really not that cheap. as an aside, we did have a funny experience while in there: we were in the aisle with the American-type foods, thinking about buying some Oreos, but decided against when we saw they were going for a cool seven bucks. so as i put those down and checked the price on some Raspberry Fig Newtons, the lady next to me, who had been weighing up her options on American snacks, suddenly pointed at our Newtons (also about $7) and said, "son ricas?", meaning "are those good?" we assured her they were, and then wondered why we couldn't afford our own snacks as she hurried away with her newfound treats.
this one's for all the folks back on unit 5800 at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital who have been dying to see my pictures. the names may change, but the cereal remains the same.
what we did manage to squeeze into the budget however, were my favorite cereals, Frosted Flakes, which down Mexico way go by the slightly more charming name "Zucaritas". after this breakfast every morning, we were ready for anything, and there was plenty to do. one of our big adventures was to take an off-road, day-long tour through the Sierra Madre mountains North of PV. the company we went with,
Vallarta Adventures, has outfitted themselves with several of these large military-style, all-wheel-drive Mercedes-Benz trucks, which they have painted bright yellow and outfitted with seatbelts for all the lawsuit-minded tourists they pack into the back. luckily our tour wasn't full, so it was slightly less uncomfortable, but our crazy guide Manuel made us wonder what kind of outfit we were with as he almost singlehandedly drank all the cerveza and tequila he had brought for what he must have supposed would be a full trip. even after all this though, his English was still excellent, and his knowledge of the area very comprehensive; we found during the day that he had a degree in marine biology.
Jill and I in the back of the troop transport, during a brief break in the bumps.so the ride was pretty jarring, and we soon found that that wasn't the only thing about PV that might induce technicolor yawning. we were staying on the South side of town and would take buses into the old downtown area, known as Colonia Emiliano Zapata. then we would take the short walk to all the new sights in the Centro area, crossing the Rio Cuale as we did so. trouble was, someone had forgotten to tell the city planners that bridges aren't supposed to sway like playground swingsets; walking across the two footbridges gave sober people like us a sense of what it might be like to be one of the drunken tourists.
a lot more exciting than it looks.it was a lot easier to navigate what we called the Bridge of Death when crossing it alone, but all too often there would be dozens of people--actually the real drunk stupid tourists, mostly--tramping across the thing and trying to help you lose your lunch. so after all this unsteadiness, Jill and i decided to add some smooth to our lives, and we went parasailing. we got all ready in our swimsuits on the morning of, expecting that we'd be dragged through several feet of surf or just kicked of the back of the boat to take off, but we soon found that James Bond could have done it without even wrinkling his dinner suit. there were a few guys standing around on this tiny patch of beach marked off by a few flags, and they hooked us into harnesses that were then attached to a rope on a boat that was so far removed from the whole process it took a wave of one of the flags to get it to take off.
takeoff shots of Jill and i, and Jill modeling the harness gear. below, a video of my slow and steady descent.but take off the boat did, and no sooner had it done so than we were airborne. straight up, almost, just like that. and the altitude gain was quick, the noise of the streets below fading swiftly into the distance. The trip was a very brief one around the Bahia Banderas (Bay of Flags), about five minutes, which meant that each one cost about $7 (what's with that number in PV?), but they were well worth it. i was amazed by the smoothness of the ride, and the serenity of the flight; it was more relaxing than exhilarating, as i had expected it to be. but the amazing thing was the landing, which you will have seen for yourself if you watched the short video above. they brought us down so slowly, and always right in the same spot as we had left from, the few dudes just standing on the beach becoming a little more impressive in the process.
anyway not all on this honeymoon vacation was big money high profile activity, we got out and saw the sights, too. PV has this wide sidewalk sort of thing going all the way down the beach in the Centro area that they call the Malecón. the Malecón is home to many of PV's famous attractions, and also to loads of locals every evening. it's quite nice to stroll down it at night while the tourists are all getting loaded at the bars across the street and the townspeople are unwinding after a long day's work. in addition to the famous string of a few arches, Los Arcos, that appear to serve no purpose, there are a number of sculptures on the Malecón that don't seem to make much sense. among these is one pictured below:
the famous seahorse boy, and an imposter--you decide which is which. also, the landmark Parroquia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, or Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, perhaps the most renowned of PV's sights.
this church was pretty busy, and right in the thick of things off the main plaza. there were all sorts of people doing all sorts of things, but perhaps the most endearing image that Jill caught of all this activity was this one:
a little Puerto Vallartan feeding the pigeons just opposite the cathedral.seeing those birds eat must have made us hungry, because we made a beeline for
Pipi's restaurant, which had been emphatically recommended to us by somebody. we quickly decided that
El Moreno, the small taco stand we had been frequenting back in the Colonia Emiliano Zapata, was actually much better, but Pipi's did distinguish itself by way of its drinks. as you will see, the margaritas there are a justifiable source of pride--they're huge. a sign painted on the wall warns: "DON'T DRINK WATER DRINK MARGARITAS", and at five bucks for a virgin one, it's no surprise they're so concerned about visitors' health.
a very large marge, and a very welcoming pool at the end of those busy days.
after all the many activities of Puerto Vallarta, it was nice to come back each evening to a cool pool at our hotel, the
Playa del Sol Costa Sur. a little swimming, a few snacks delivered to our loungers, and then... more fun activities the next day. you didn't think i'd cover anything else, did you?
*according to our new PV friend Moises Guardado, honeymooners are lunamieleros: luna=moon, miel=honey.
