Reunited in Puerto Vallarta and it Feels so Good

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I have a big heart for the Puerto Vallarta area. The way the tropical hills pour into the sea is simply breathtaking. I couldn't wait to get out and explore with Ronnie and our friends Joellyn and Grant.

We arrived at our hotel before noon. We stayed at one of my favorite inexpensive hotels right on the beach and at the end of the Malecon (the long walk along the beach) Hotel Rosita has a bad rap on Tripadvisor, but I think it is just perfect. It was one of the first hotels in Puerto Vallarta and it holds that old Mexican feel I adore so much. Our room was huge! It faced the pool and the beach. We quickly unpacked and decided to take a stroll around the town. It was so fun to be in such a contrasting town from San Miguel de Allende. Almost all of the buildings were white instead of multicolored. The hills were familiar though. We stopped at a small torta shop and had some sandwiches and fruit smoothies. We did a small amount of shopping and then a quick siesta before our friend Grant arrived and met us at the outdoor bar for a margarita. After our first drink at sundown, we took a stroll along the Malecon while we waited for Joellyn to arrive. We saw a rooftop bar that advertised $1 margaritas so we decided to stop. They were awful. I guess we should have known being they were only a dollar. As we sipped our drinks, I got a bit of vertigo as my seat was right on the edge of the railing and there wasn't much between me and a 2-story fall onto the Malecon.

Running late, we hurried back to find our lovely Joellyn waiting for us in the hotel. We then went looking for a place for dinner when I decided to tackle one of the adventure salesmen. We talked him down to $30 each for a full day boat cruise, snorkeling, lunch, drinks and swimming at a waterfall for the next day. We were set.

We left the next morning from the boat dock a bit groggy from the night before. We sat on the boat and once it started to move, we were filled with excitement. It was a cool and misty morning. I stood up at the railing and watched the pelicans fly a little too close to the boat.

After about an hour, we arrived to the snorkel spot. The water was colder than we hoped, but we jumped in anyways. Unfortunately, the water was foggy and we didn't see much, but it was fun to be swimming nonetheless. We then arrived at the beach that would lead us to a waterfall.

We decided to take horses up to the falls as it was a long hike and we had limited time. There were a ton of horses ready to go, but we didn't get to pick which horse we wanted. Poor Grant got stuck with a crazy horse that kept trying to buck him off. He kept his cool as I was nervous for him. We crossed a creek and then climbed a super steep grade. I must say...it was very scary. The horses were annoyed and slipping on the rocks. Three girls behind me were freaking out the whole time. It was pretty ironic when we passed another tour group that were all wearing helmets. Not us!

We made it to the waterfall in one piece. We had to climb a wooden bride until we made it to the entrance of the waterfall. The waster was freezing!! But you can't say no to swimming under a waterfall, so we ignored our goosebumps and jumped in. We only had about 20 minutes of water time before we had to get back on the horses. We were all afraid to end up with Grant's horse, but we all made it back to the beach in basically one piece.

We headed back to the boat and then stopped at another beach for some fajitas. The boat ride back to PV was long and I couldn't help but take a little snooze.

That night, we were so tired from our adventure, that we just ate dinner at the Hotel Rosita and then took a night time stroll along the Malecon. We played on the statues and giggled about how we defied death on those caballos locos.

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