Month: January 2024

We are walking to the tour meeting point and head out a bit early.   Who’s that hanging with Allan? 

Walk on and we see an iguana in a tree.  Can you spot him/her?

It’s now tour time in old PV complete with tacos and taquila!

The meeting point is Lazaro Cardenas Parque now known as “El Parque de los Azulejos” translated means “The Tiled Park”   Edgar, our guide, explains as little as 3 years ago, Puerto Vallarta artist Natasha Moraga, came up with a brainstorm and begun transforming the not to pleasant, wouldn’t want to be there, town square into a magnificent place where people want to hang out.

Problem – the Mexican government had no money to fund.  Ever enterprising Natasha’s idea was to have businesses and even indivuals fund a bench.  The idea caught on quickly and the park was transformed. Some individuals who lost a loved one added their ashes to the mortar.  We didn’t see it but apparently, it isn’t unusal to find folks crying at a bench of the recently deceased.

  This is Vallarta Food Tour’s bench Click the link above on the park’s name or here to get the low down.  It is an interesting read.

This is our group’s first stop. There we are in the back!We had 8 stops, walking 4ish hours, enjoying a specialty cocktail including tequila, pulque, mezcal and local agave spirit Racilla at each stop. We ate tacos from various regions, each one seemed better than the previous.  We ate & drank more than we took photos, here’s what we captured in no particular order.

   

Guess who bailed on this cocktail complete with an orange with a GRASSHOPPER? Grasshoppers are very nutritious. They’re about 40 percent protein, 43 percent fat, and 13 percent dietary fiber. They have higher protein content than many other animal and plant sources like chicken, eggs, and beans.

It’s just “a hunk a hunk of burning meat!!” Shoulder that is!  Flames are at the back, he continually turns to cut off the cooked portion

This tree is over 300 years old; there were several but the other were chopped down before the city issued a “don’t chop” order.

We stopped at a tequila shop and got Edgar’s idea of which was best!

We learned churros were originally brought to Mexico by the Chinese, of course the natives perfected them and called them their own 🙂

Our final stop!

It was a fun tour with lovely folks and a great guide.  I’d recommend it early in  your visit.

Full Moon time!       

Today’s adventure!  We walk, it’s a mere 1h11m.Our walk takes us past the harbour.  This is a huger than it appears in the photo cruise shipThen we encounter…This massive yacht moored in the PV harbour, of course I had to get the story!  Notice the helicopter in the front.

Super Yacht (click for photos), never heard that term before; is owned by Dennis R. Washington (born 1934) who I also never heard of.  He is an American billonaire industrialist who owns, or co-owns controlling interests in, a large consortium of privately held companies collectively known as the Washington Companies and, in Canada, another collection of companies known as the Seaspan Marine Corporation..

Key Takeaways    

• Estimated to be worth $200 million, the AV Yacht’s annual running costs are thought to be around $20 million.
• The AV Yacht, formerly known as Palladium, is an epitome of luxury sailing, built by Blohm and Voss and designed by Michael Leach Design.
• With an amazing interior design by Michel Leach, the yacht accommodates 24 guests and is managed by a skilled crew of 33.
• The yacht is powered by two MTU diesel engines, capable of pushing her to a top speed of 19 knots, with a comfortable cruising speed of 16 knots.
• Owned by billionaire Dennis Washington, the yacht has seen previous ownership under Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
• The yacht caught media attention when US comedian and The Late Show host Stephen Colbert visited Mikhail Prokhorov in Russia and discussed the yacht and his lifestyle.

Want more yacht info, click here

Now onwards with our day!

We are here! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

This heat and walking sure does ddeserve rewards!!

The marina, how much money is in here.  Probably not as much as the super yacht

There are multiple croc sightings here, we won’t risk itDone here it’s time to head back to the condo.  We’re determined to go by bus, they all pass us by so we walk a little further.  Finally we get one… The transit system here is, well, unpredictable..

Walking from the drop off we see Rosie and clan, there are more of them than we thought!

Wonder where to put your garbage?  Yep right there in the middle of the street!Crazy sky!

Today’s adventure begins at a bank, Citibanamex, to exchange some pesos bills for coins to pay for the buses we are taking to Bucerias.  We’ve heard buses do not give change so want to be prepared.  This is yet another experience, walk in to find a dude at the entrance speaking with someone.  Those in teller lines all have a paper this dude gives them,  there are several tellers behind glass, in front of them there are evenly spaced chairs some with folks.  A woman in front of where we were standing speaks English; she explains we must speak to the dude and tell him what we want.  We, somehow explain we want coins for cash.  He sends us to teller 7.  We get our coins, now time to catch a bus.

Walk down the roasd, find a bus stop, many buses go by  that say “Bucerias”

Allan  does the Googles and determines we need a bus to Walmart, from there we catch a Bucerias bus.  There are no transfers.  This is the front of the Walmart busThis is the Bucerias bus, oh ya he gives change 

Made it!  *Who’s that by the I?” Bucerias means divers… 

After mucho haggling we bought hats, 200 pesos each ($15.73/ea Cdn).  Aren’t we cute!!

After wandering around some more it’s lunch time at Miguel Angel’s

Allan had the Mexican Combo and I had the most delicious Mushrooms with Shrimp.  They call it an appetizer but it’s more of a huge meal, made especially better cause I rarely get mushrooms or shrimp.  Most know Allan is not a fan of either.

After much more walking around, a quick drink on the beach before we Uber it back.

Oh the sunsets are so lovely Wonder what Tuesday will bring?

 

We’re having a down day but for  let’s walk to the first place we rented.

First Allan builds us a delicous breakfast 

We pass this carved door a lot, it makes me think of my friend, Mags, she’d apprecite it. Street signs are not plentiful here, we finally found one!                       Do not adjust your sets!  Yes it’s a street sign, NO you can not read it.  Faded galore.

Let’s walk around to find a green house!  We are such adventurers! 

There it is behind that tree!  We did good by selecting where we are now.  This green house is not in a gated enviroment, the only place to sit outdoors is in the drive way.  We love our roof top

Off to the beach, this is the inaugural run of Allan’s beach shoes

        Who’s that tip toeing on  the other side of the stream?

Sand walking is hard and we’re a little tuckered out, so REWARD time!                              This one has a delicous salt ring   

Let’s take this baby for a spin! 

Did a stop in 

There are tons of little shops but almost all are closed as it’s Sunday.  We shall be back!

I’ll leave you with this…

What do you see????

In case you’re wondering:  WestJet’s call came in as requested  No credit yet but he did say it would be issued.  Will see what the next few days bring.

Malecón here we come.  We are learning to dodge the cars and have determined the most considerate drivers and are motorcylers.

The sun worshipper! 

      We too are happy to be here 🙂

It was an hour walk here so it’s that time!  We settle at Océano Azul on the beachThere are pelicans galore!       

These guys want to share our drinks!

Turns out there are pretty smart.  This dude feels them and they sure know it!

We got to meet the area croc.  He just ignored us preferring to sunbathe.  It’s a thing here.

 

We need food!  Today it’s Costco & the local grocery store “La Comer”  The walk there is about 15 minutes

First breakfast; a ceasar salad for me and some type if chicken roll for Allan.  The salad is huge with massive chunks of chicken.  Couldn’t eat it all, also couldn’t get the container top back on, believe me we tried, so had to toss the balance.

Our haul:  Time to Uber back 

  Stuff put away it’s happy hour on the roof

At La Comer we bought store freshly made taco shells as well as a tray with taco stuffing-chicken, peppers, onions.   WOW so delicious!! Chef Allan outdid himself 🙂

Tomorrow after calling Westjet, to try yet again to get our refund for the Lethbridge to Calgary & Calgary to PV legs of our trip,  (It’s so crazy trying to get through the them, we discovered they have a “Request a Call Back from WestJet” form) the plan is to go to the Malecón Boardwalk.  Looking forward to that!

Our very first AirBnb!   Trying to settle in but.. our coffee stopped making coffee at half a pot.  We thought the pot was toast.  The microwave cuts in and out, plug in my computer = not charging!

      It’s the electric plugs!

Juan to the rescue…     

It’s taking awhile to repair, Allan heads off to bring back street tacos for breakfast.  For months I’ve been hearing “dinner when we arrive will be street tacos and cerveza.”  Didn’t work out on arrival night, did the next day. Delicious and only a 2 minute walk from the condo.

   Plugs done, now to tackle the ac

Our fancy water dispenser, refill 40 pesos ($3.14 Cdn)   

The repairs completed we head up to the terrace.  The view from the roof top

Then off for a little walk in the area.

Wanna make a call?   

 Note to self!  Drivers have the right of way!! Don’t Cross Streets Without Looking: The streets in Puerto Vallarta tend to be very busy, and like anywhere in the world, you need to be cautious crossing them. Pedestrians don’t always have the right of way, and accidents happen. Look both ways before you cross the road, every time.  This is even true in crosswalks; cross at your own risk.

The nearby beach, we will walk it another day

Enjoying my first margarita in 26 C temp   

Meanwhile somewhere in Canada, hot tub time   

  The turtles are happy in this merky water

Back at the condo, we for the first time, notice the coffin across the court.                         What the heck?!?We end the day on the roof top, when we were about to leave the fire works begin

Lethbridge to Puerta Vallarta:

Saga:

Begins:  Friday the 12th @ 330am cab pick up for the drive to Calgary’s airport for the  1035a Westjet flight departure.

Ends:  Monday the 15th @ 849pm when we settled in our PV condo for our first drink

In between: I documented Friday’s delays and cancellation in my previous post so onwards we go.

Westjet’s famous text, after “your flight has besen delayed” or “your flight has been cancelled” is “you will receive an email within the hour with further instructions”.  That didn’t happen so we called again and again before them accepting the call to be placed on hold.  The initial recording was something like the cue is too long, please call again later.  We thought we hit pay dirt when they put us on hold.  This call started about 6pm, we were on hold for 7ish hours before they pick up.  The flight to get to PV takes less time!

We are in heaven.  Online there were no seats available but the agent got us 2.  Scheduled to depart on the 13th at 1035a.   We arrive @ YYC 3h early as required, actually earlier; they change the gate 3 times.  Then the departure time changed to 1205p; then 1305p, then WHAM cancelled!  Next flight tomorrow at 745a.  Do we believe it, HELL NO!  We’ve received so many of these and have basically lived our lives at the airport.  4 days in the airport feels like forever.

 We’ve had enough of Westjet and book our first ever Flair flight.  With our luck Westjet will fly tomorrow and Flair won’t!

  Westjet didn’t fly

01/14: Just another night in Calgary!  We are so depleted we opt to stay at the Delta attached to the airport.  This way we can dillydally a bit more in the morning.  Besides who really believes we’re going anywhere?  Our view from the room

01/15:  407am  While happily sleeping a text comes in from Flair saying “We are sorry to inform you that your flight has been delayed due to late arrival of the crew on the previous flight.  New departure time 11.40”  Next text the same with a new departure of 12.25, next up 1330

Well golly gee we are LOADING!  Not all that excited cause yesterday we spent about 3 hours on the runway in a Westjet.

1321:We have take off!!       

   We made it and cleared customs in record time! 

7:43p:  Arrived at the condo in the pitch dark.  Where the heck is the front door?  Fortunately, existing residents arrived almost the same time and showed us the ropes 🙂

We take our bags in and head to the nearby Oxxo (Oxxo is a Mexican chain of convenience stores and gas stations, with over 21,000 store) to get “cerveza y vino tinto”

Back at the condo with our goodies, should have paid closer attention on how to open the dang door.

We’re in!!     

         It’s been a stressful few days, now time to chill

A quick look back:  October 01, 2023 was an exciting day. It was the day we solidified our Winter getaway in Puerta Vallarta!

Why not the Southern States in Bailey?  Cause there is an 180 day rule. Longer our medical kicks out and the IRS comes a calling.  We’re hoping to do races this summer so need our available days for that.

Back to now: We leave on January 12 with Westjet. Countdown began when we got home from Kyle & Megan’s.

Whoa! Let’s learn how to pack again!  Didn’t have to while in Bailey we had it all.

Got it done, yes me early, yes Allan last minute.  All set to fly out on the 12th, we’ll be flying out of Lethbridge as we did to get to Victoria, to Calgary then yahoo off to PV.

Late on the 11tth Thursday, we get an email from Westjet…  sorry but your flight on Friday the 12th to Calgary has been cancelled due to mechanical issues.

They didn’t site weather conditions even thoughThey changed our Lethbridge (mechical issues) to Calgary flight to the 17th  at 7:20pm, flying out to PV on the 18th at 8am.  What do we do for those 12 hours but more importantly the 17th is 5 days into our BnB we want to be there not just pay for it.

We’re smart cookies however, let’s beat this nonsense and cab it to Calgary bypassing the Lethbridge leg which appears to be the issue. Allan was on the phone, mostly on hold, for 2h40m but got us changed to leave from Calgary.  Cab pick up at 4am  Jan 13th Saturday to ensure we are in Calgary for the 1035a take off.  (Cab $385 tip included).

We arrive at 610a plenty of time for breakfast and to get some steps.  There’s our flight WS2246       

Breakfast at Chili’s, includes Rickards Red & a Ceasar yum

There’s a plane close to our gate but no, not ours.

Then the fun begins… gate change to D81, within 15 minutes gate change to D78, then take off time changes to 1105.  Not really concerned because the same thing happened to yesterday’s flight that did take off.   What did concern Allan more than me was that the flight now says it’s CLOSED.  Asked the attendant and she said it meant the previous flight left.  Makes no sense. This is Allan trying to figure it out       

Here they are de-icing other planes                                               Seems like a good thing

Next change take off delayed to 1205

Followed by further delayed take off to 105

Followed by at 1233

The Flair Airline flight to PV did take off.  What gives Westjet???  When the rep giving the “cancelled” speech was asked how Flair was able to take off her reply was “I’m not going to address that”  The gate next to us was supposed to be flying to Mazatlan. They got cancelled at the same time.  Imagine how happy that area was.

Here we are collecting our bags.. to go where….

To add insult to injury the recording saying what carousel to pick up our luggage says… Those arriving from Puerta Vallarta your baggage is on carousel one.  Welcome to Calgary!

Room are hard to get as there are many flight cancellations, Allan finds us one at the Comfort Inn.

Glad we have someone watching our house We finally got to be on hold with Westjet again, initally calls just said they have too many callers so try again.  Guess that means we should be privileged for being over an hour to try to get another flight.

Wonder what tomorrow will bring but suspect it will be at least another night in Calgary!