Puerto Vallarta, Bucerias, Feb 5 and 6th

Wednesday is a beach day for us. Another glorious day. I headed down to the beach by 6:15 am and reserved our loungers before coming back to our room and having our coffee. You have to be early to get the best seats. Already tons of chairs saved with towels on the pool deck and front row at the beach. Nothing opens here until 7am. 

After computers and coffee we head down to the buffet for breakfast. More people selling everything down on the beach!

Here are some views out the back of our room.

More horses on the beach. I don't know how much they charge, but it seems you only get a 15 minute ride.

I booked dinner at the El Mortero Restaurant for dinner through a tour guide. He booked it as our anniversary .... too funny. They even gave us an anniversary dessert.

Delicious ice cream filled crepe.

My first cucumber margarita, surprisingly tasty.

and of course the anniversary dessert lol

Dinner is pretty good here. We would go again.

Thursday after our morning coffee and breakfast, we booked an Uber and headed out to Bucarias, a small town about 10 minutes north of us. They have a huge market which we walked through and Ray got himself a great T-Shirt. lol Since wearing it, lots of people have stopped to talk with him as to where he got it. Of course they were Canadian too.

After wandering the market for an hour, we ate lunch at Fat Boy's which we're told is awesome. It is!

We were also told to have this item. Fresh Mahi Mahi stuffed with scallops, octopus and shrimp, then rolled in bacon with a cream sauce. Delicious. We should have ordered one and split it. Ray took half of it home to the room and he had it for dinner. :)

A big non-alcholic margarita for Ray

After eating, Ray walked down the beach for a few shots and then we continued walking a few blocks around the plaza.

Look at all those wires!

Street vendors.

After a few hours, I booked another Uber back to the hotel. Time for the beach. This guy's catching some shade on the grass by the pool.

Tonight's sunset while we eating at the Buffet.

Bucarias is a cute little town and with a great market. Prices seemed reasonable. The vendors are definitely more pushy than the ones we see every day down at the beach. Our tour guide told us the prices are better than the Puerto Vallarta market. The PV market also jacks the prices up when a cruise ship is in town. 

Last of the month and travel to Victoria for our trip to Puerto Vallarta January 26 - Feb 1st

Much busier days with a year old puppy in the house. lol Within 15 minutes of arriving at our house and checking for his family who are not here, he chewed apart 4 of his fuzzy toys with fluff everywhere. I guess he's frustrated. lol

Sunday, we took a drive to Osbourne Bay to go for a walk in the sunshine, bringing Olaf. A beautiful day on the ocean. After our walk. we ate lunch at the pub before heading home.

Still freezing outside. 

Ray finished off another puzzle.

Tuesday my new expresso machine arrived. 

We're busy, keeping Olaf busy.... eventually he rests lol

Wednesday the kids flew back to Nanaimo.  We decided to deliver Olaf and make the kids dinner. I prepped the chicken and veg, put it in the cooler and we headed out at noon. Unfortunately Kristi texted me, once we were on our way and almost in Nanaimo, that they'd landed at 1:10 pm .... early. Also Amelia came down with a cold during the flight with a lot of coughing and she isn't feeling very good.

We did a pass off of the cooler in their driveway and said they could cook it lol We don't want to get sick before our flight on Sunday.

The first snowfall of the season is scheduled for Saturday, so we booked a second night in Sidney. It's near the airport, so we don't have to contend with the Malahat summit on Saturday.

Friday we left the house around 9am. The rain quit for a bit, so it's a nice drive to Victoria. Ray called up our friends Ivo and Sara Olivotti and made plans to visit them for lunch. Sara is only 2 weeks out from hip surgery, so they preferred staying home. We parked at Elk Lake for a bit to use up some time, as we were an hour early for lunch. lol

Great catch up and a delicious lunch, specially their famous scones! Thanks guys. We left shortly before 3pm to check-in at our hotel. For a "budget type" hotel, the Wyndam Day's Inn in Sidney is relatively new, clean and very friendly staff. They also include free breakfast and a 20% coupon to eat at the pub next door. BONUS!

It turns out they also have a park and fly deal with a shuttle to the airport. Including this is a few more bucks, but half the price of airport parking. As we don't get in until 8 pm or so on the 16th, we booked that night too.

Saturday, after our complimentary breakfast, we just relaxed in our room. At 11 we headed out to Jacks on the Water, which used to be the Rumrunner Pub. Boy what a transformation with their remodel. We both ordered tacos, me prawns and Ray halibut. Both were delicious.

Tonight we were supposed to go to Dianne and Steve's son's place for dinner. Unfortunately Angie texted that Rob just came down with a cold and does not feel well. Thanks for the heads up! We don't want to be sick. Instead we were back at the Dickens Pub next door.

I went to reception and they will keep our leftover wine and beer in their fridge for 2 weeks. It's supposed to get really cold here on Wednesday ... -11C (12F) Burrrr. I like this place to stay, only less than 10 minutes to the airport. At breakfast we ran into the flight crew that were going to Cancun today. They will be our crew in a month :)

I also booked our one night's day coming and going to Cancun in March. They also give a discount of $20 per night as we live on the island. Yay!

Ray managed to get a few pictures in between snow/rain showers.

Tomorrow we leave and hopefully not too much snow on the runway!

Puerto Vallarta - Arrival, our first beach day and first tour of PV - Feb 2 to 4th

Sunday morning we slept in! Fortunately only by 20 minutes and I'd given us lots of time. I set 2 alarms, my watch and my phone, but somehow they didn't go when my devices were charging. An e-mail on my phone our plane departure is delayed 30 minutes, so it all worked out. We stayed at the Days Inn near the airport, which offers breakfast. With their shuttle service and park and fly, we're able to leave our car there for the 2 weeks at half the cost of parking at the airport. Bonus!

Sidney only recieved a dusting of snow, but we still waited for the plane to be de-iced before takeoff. Our departure time was 9am for PV. The plane made up time, so we were in the air for 4.5 hours. It sure is nice and warm here at 28C. 

Customs was a breeze and soon we found our ride to our resort. Unfortunately, there were a bunch of other people the driver was waiting for and they took a long time through customs. We waited almost an hour before we were on the way to the hotel. Next time we will take an Uber! We landed at 3 PV time and didn't get to the hotel until 5 pm.

Very tasty breakfast and lots of snacks.

Views from the window:

Snowy mountain tops

Almost there!

Shuttle from plane on tarmac to airport for customs. Within a few minutes there was absolutely no space, full with people.

Good thing we got out on Sunday as it was "Snowmeggodon" at home. Well over a foot of snow Sunday into Monday! These two pictures are from Pat's next door. Our neighbour, Mike, apparently plowed our driveway twice!. Thanks a bunch. Not missing that!

Our house. Look how full the utility trailer is!

Roy and June got home on Tuesday from Florida and came home to this. Hopefully it will be gone in 2 weeks when we get home. :)

Pic from Pat

After checking in to our room, off we went exploring the resort. It sure is big and beautiful.

View from the International Buffet

First Sunset

After our long travel day we were in bed at 10. (8pm) BC time lol

Monday, our first beach day. We managed to get a couple of loungers and enjoyed the traffic and vendors along the beach. I even got a foot massage. :) We realized that we left our sun hats in the hotel in Victoria, so will have to buy some here. I brought my pool hat, so not to bad for me.

These guys almost land on your head!

This lady and her hawk work the beach to keep the other birds away.

Lots of other vendors of jewelry, food and sari's etc. selling their wares up and down the beach. They're pretty good though and not pushy. I managed to snag a dinner reservation at the Asian restaurant Ayami, for tonight. All the A la Carte Restaurants require reservations 24 hours in advance. Their egg rolls were delicious but the rest just so, so.

Pool side drinks before dinner.

Tuesday we're booked for a tour to downtown Puerto Vallarta, tequila tasting and a small theme park called Kawitu, way up the mountain. It was a very long day. We were first to be picked up (9am) and last to be dropped back at (6pm). Too long scrunched into a big bus with no legroom. Won't do that again. Too much standing and sitting.

First up we were taken to the Cruise Ship Terminal by a small van to meet up with the rest of our tour. They took us to a "Chocolate Factory". Miss advertised .... One room where a guy moved chocolate around on his marble counter and then back into the bowl. Then they move to the shop portion to taste 3 miniscule pieces and then want you to buy.... 

Showing the history of Cacao

We didn't buy anything as it's expensive and would melt on the bus. We all got on the bus and headed to downtown PV to the Malecon. We didn't even get to walk any of it, just get our pictures taken at the sign. :( We will have to go back another day).

Hard to believe this person is real!

We then walked up to the Cathedral, Our Lady of Guadalupe for a quick walk through.

We were all gathered up again to walk a few blocks to a they called it a Jewelry factory and we got a special deal through the tour of 25%off. It turns out to be a Jewelry store and in the window is a sign saying 20 - 30% for anyone who visits.

Apparently Mexico has 26 different colours of fire opals here. Very beautiful stuff and good quality silver. 

Back on the bus and off to Tequila Tasting. The nice part of this is that they divided us into 2 groups, english speaking and spanish speaking so we didn't have to listen to the whole speal twice. lol

Our tour guide, Marietta

Back on the bus to go further up the mountain to Kawitu for lunch. It's a great spot along the river. The views very pretty and the food spectacular. This was a two hour break.

They don't hand out menus so you have to figure out what you want before you are seated. They do have a tray of cooked food to show you as well in this display.

While I sat at our table, Ray went to take some pictures of the area.

Look at that drink!

We ordered a seafood platter for 2. It's delicious, way too much food for us though.

Trail back to the bus.

Finally back home at 6 pm. After dropping off our stuff in the room, we headed to the buffet for a bite and finished off the night sitting in the lobby bar for a drink. All this sunshine and fresh air is tiring. lol

We have been unable to take "great pictures" as there have been too many people everywhere we go. lol