Got back Friday night. It had been three years since I've had a break from work, and I was getting to a very unhealthy level of stress. Going that long without a mental break from work is not good.
Thursday morning (the 8th) I called a travel agent and said “get me out of here.” Friday morning I was on a plane to PV. I had a preconceived idea of what PV was like, and was somewhat disappointed when I got there. The town/area is a lot bigger than what I thought, and is quite rough in the classic Mexican fashion. The area by the Marina is newer and nice, and the Malecon walkway is very nice, but other than that, the sidewalks and roads are a disaster, traffic is insane, and there’s basically just an endless supply of little shops and kiosks selling the expected Mexican bric-a-brac. The main street is loaded with WalMarts, and myriad other dreadful stores and industrial supply outlets. Not what I was expecting. And due to the economic realities of most people there, most vehicles are either old, and/or not maintained very well and therefore emit considerable pollution, which makes walking around town less pleasant.
The first (and last) day, I jumped on one of the local buses (which I'm convinced have no shock absorbers) and went to the Malecon walkway, and wandered all around town. I never went anywhere without my camera, and have about 600 images to go through and edit.
The second day, I went up to Bucerius by bus, and plunked myself into a chair on the beach for a couple of hours and relaxed. I walked all over and got lots of photos.
The next three days I did excursions with “
Vallarta Adventures.” The guides were great. The first one was the “Off-Road Adventure” which made a few stops at points of interest, and we wound up at Sayulita. Drinking while being in a vehicle seems to be just fine in Mexico – I recall a police car being behind us for a spell, and they didn’t care at all. People on buses drank beer too. Odd. I had too much tequila on that first excursion, but we had lots of fun.
The second excursion was called “Sierra Madre South” which was okay but lots of driving. They use these very heavy-duty Mercedes trucks from World War II era, and that combined with the rough roads makes for a long day.
The third excursion was to a little village called San Sebastian. We had a few stops along the way including a local organic coffee plantation. I bought a pound of espresso beans, and later a bottle of chocolate/coffee tequila!
One thing that strikes me whenever I travel is the
number of people in this world, and also the squalid conditions in which many people live. I saw places that were pretty shocking, even in town.
It was a good break though, with awesome weather every day, but I don't think I would return to PV; too many other interesting places to see. I guess many people are happy to lay around the pool all day, but I need something interesting to do.
Yes, I was considering Havana Cuba, but the flights & accommodations didn’t work out on that short notice, so I went for PV. It was a direct flight – nice. I’ll hopefully get to Havana one day.