Puerto Vallarta

Welcome to Mexico! We arrived today in Puerto Vallarta - a large city in one of the many Mexican states and renowned for its large port. We decided after many arguments to do two tours as we weren’t sure what the country was like and how easy it was to get around. We had previously gone to the travel talk seminar put on by the ship who mentioned it was difficult as not a lot of English was spoken.

Deciding on doing two tours caused twice as many arguments, after which we eventually decided on the Tequila and Old Town tour as well as “Expert Hiking”. We sought the advice of the Peruvian tour girl on the ship who clearly had never been on the hike as she said that the hike went around the bottom of the mountain! So based on her advice that it was suitable for a fit pregnant woman we booked.

The tour left early and we drove through the city to get to the countryside. The city was more developed than I expected and the country was completely different to what I imagined. I don’t know about you, but when I think of Mexico I think of deserts, cactuses and Corona! Puerto Vallarta has largely rainforest-covered hills with slightly dry and dusty towns.

We got to the ranch where the hike began. We walked thru one of the old towns which was looked quite primitive (houses made of cement and holes for windows) and started our walk to the hot springs. The first 2hrs was walking up a hill - and I mean a steep hill! It was like walking up the 1000 stairs 10 times higher (and not on steps!). To add to that it was 30 deg at 9am! HOT AS! Getting to the top came with mixed feelings - we knew how tough it would be scaling down. To top it off we had to listen to a whole lot of old American women whinging and moaning about having to slide on their arses. Quite amusing really… Once we got to the bottom, we were at the natural hot springs. Call me a cynic, but the natural springs were in tiled concrete baths. Nevertheless I was advised not to go in, so I did not. Nor did Steve.

Then to the challenge of getting back. The lovely tour lady neglected also to mention (to everyone) that we would need to make a river crossing. We thought, ‘so what if we got our feet wet, not such a big deal’. When we started to cross the river it was a different story. As you can see from the pix, the water was waist deep. It was unbelievable. And we were lucky to have such a diligent camera man like Steve to take photos of everyone struggling to keep their feet whilst crossing with the strongest currents ever! If it wasn’t bad enough that it happened once, it happened twice. Although second time around Steve learnt from his previous experience and this time helped his pregnant wife across the river.

The second tour started at a local Tequila factory. Before all the tastings, they explained how Tequila was made. They use this plant called the Blue Engabe (or something like that) and I am convinced it is the same plant which mum planted next to our front door. They use the pineapple-looking part of the plant (bit in the ground) and cook it. Then they squash it, mix it with a little water and distill it for 6 months plus. Pretty interesting really. Then the group got to taste test. For someone who claimed not to like spirits, Steve certainly downed these shots. We went to two factories and I am pretty sure he had about 15 shots! Following the tequila we had a bit of a drive around the old part but probably wasn’t great as it was a little dark.

Following a hectic day, we stayed on the boat for dinner and it set sail at 9.30pm

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