Friday, March 9, 2013 — Vallarta was fun

Along the malecon
— We thought they were a sand sculpture
until one of them moved to clarify the situation

Entering the bay at Yelapa

Enjoying the ride to Yelapa on smooth seas

The pool at Playa Los Arcos —We loved to swim in it at night

A busy building
right across the street from the Aztec dancer

An Aztec dancer entertaining the night crowd
just outside our hotel

One of the rewards we returned to our room for — A cheerful
gift of towel folding from our ever hopeful room attendant

The iguana in the tree
 just off our balcony railing at the Riverside Cafe in PV

One of many little guys just outside Riverside Cafe 

Our exotic Marguarita at Maximillian's — The title was
 something like Alta Ice or another referral to icebergs or the like.
 Looked like a cross between Mike's gin bottles and swimming pool blue

Kathy and I had a great time in Puerto Vallarta even though it was only four nights. We're actually in Yelapa now— the land of total relaxation, but I'm going to back up a bit and describe our short time in Vallarta before I catch up to the here and now. The real reason being that, as usual, there was too much construction going on along our hotel's street so the wifi was fading in and out the whole time we were there and I finally just gave up on writing much or posting anything. Now, I'm writing from our round, hand woven room on the edge of the beach at Yelapa. There is a young man practicing his paragliding moves right on the beach in front of us. We're watching many of them taking off from the cliffs to the left of the village and then eventually landing down at the other end of the beach beyond the river outlet. More about them tomorrow. Now back to our Vallarta adventures.

To begin with, for the first time ever, I managed to miss my connection from Oaxaca to Vallarta in the Mexico City Airport. I'm not a big fan of that airport anyway, but I'll certainly play it more conservatively next time I'm there. Suffice it to say that I caught another plane two hours later and arrived at Puerto Vallarta with no Kathy in sight. I looked in all directions and decided to take a chance on her having gone on to our hotel at Los Arcos. Yes, she had and all was well. We had a joyous reunion. Mother was not kidnapped. Mother was still in one piece. Mother was just happy to be at Playa Los Arcos and looking down at my favorite pool from our balcony room. So much for that. We had a great dinner watching the floor show from the bar lounge and then retired to an hour or two of reading before we drifted off.

I had finished Laurie Lewis's book, "Little Comrads" while doing my penance time waiting at the "right" gate at Mexico City, and I passed it on immediately to Kathy who was still reading when I drifted off. A very good read, I must say, Laurie. For several days after finishing it I pondered many a description of her young adult life in New York City. I was captivated by reading her description of being caught in a historically significant snow storm with several other couples, looking for food stores still open and walking down the middle of streets where there was no sound of cars or other mechanical devices. It reminded me of a picture Tim sent me from New York where he and Jorin enjoyed  frolicking from museum to museum in the absolute quiet of snowy New York streets.

Our time in Puerto Vallarta whizzed by. It included a bit of shopping for gifts to take home, walking the malecon, eating at our favorite watering holes.These included Maximillian's and Archie's Wok. As far as we're concerned, nothing can outdo those two spots. We found me a fun black and white polkadot  blouse I may wear to the Taurus party and then take it on the Italy trip in June. It seems absolutely retro to me but such fun I couldn't resist it. (For all who have not heard, Taurus will take place May 19 this year). Finding an ATM that dispensed pesos turned out to be our final challenge because, as I said, there was construction activity on our street that involved the replacement of our favorite three stall bank ATM. Finally found one three blocks away with the help of two very sweet and earnest guys who definitely knew the complete and up to date banking score. The next day we walked the beach and the streets some more and finally retired to our room to figure out how on earth we might fit all we had in the cases and bags at our disposal. Of course, we worked miracles, went for a final night swim and retired. Our only regret during this short stay was not seeing Jean Pierre and Yael while there. We still hope they might join us for a while in Yelapa. The last breakfast at Los Arcos was filled with great people watching in addition to good fruit and yogurt. We checked out, walked the malecon to our Yelapa boat at the newly built pier and before we knew it we were on our way to Yelapa. There were several neophytes on the boat so our driver took us for a lovely tour between the arches with a hearty tide moving through one as we drove between outcrops to add a touch of excitement. The trip was on very smooth seas and was certainly one of the fastest rides to Yelapa I've ever made. The unloading, at low tide was not at all fun or to my liking, but I have obviously, with help, survived to tell about it.  All's more than well here in this gorgeous place — one of the most relaxing spots on earth. Much love to all,  Jackie